If you receive an XML error message when running Football Manager we recommend completing the following troubleshooting steps.
If you are running any custom graphics or skins, remove them before doing the following:
Remove your preferences and cache folders
Once you’ve done do not re-add any custom aspects and try the game again.
If the error message still appears, we’d recommend decreasing the number of custom tactics you have stored.
Your tactics folder is located by default at the following location - C:\Users\[YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME]\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2023/Tactics
If the error message still appears, we’d recommend changing the launch options of the game to see if that makes any difference. Details on how to do so below:
- Go into Steam and right-click on the game
- Select 'Properties'
- Click 'Set Launch Options...'
- Copy the following into the dialogue box: --disable_flip_discard
- Close the panel by clicking the 'x' button and launch the game
If you're still struggling after doing the above, try as follows:
First of all, right-click on your desktop and select 'New' -> 'Folder'
Create a folder and name it something to distinguish it (say ‘SI backup’)
Once you've done this go to your Sports Interactive folder found within 'documents' which by default is at the following location - C:\Users\[YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME]\Documents\Sports Interactive\[Football Manager title]
This should contain folders like 'games', 'crash dumps' etc. Please cut every folder from here and paste them into the folder you've created on your desktop.
Once you've done this and the Sports Interactive\[Football Manager title] folder is now empty, launch the game. If it works, copy back the files from the desktop folder and hopefully it should now load without any issues. If the same issue re-occurs when you copy back, it may be something specific within those folders like custom files, so we'd suggest removing those. Remember, if you delete any save games from within these folders manually, they cannot be restored.
If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.
- In the Epic Games client click your profile icon then 'Settings' in the top right-hand corner
- Scroll down until you find a list of all games you currently have installed
- Select Football Manager 2023 to expand it
- Click 'Additional Command Line Arguments'
- Copy the following into the dialogue box: --disable_flip_discard
Then try the game again. If that still hasn’t resolved your issue, try uninstalling and reinstalling the game.
If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.