1. SEGA Support
  2. FOOTBALL MANAGER
  3. Football Manager 27
  4. Technical Support

Error Messages

Updated
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What should I do if I receive a "Locomotion' or 'Skeleton" file error message when attempting to launch Football Manager?
  1. Close Steam
  2. Open File Explorer
    1. On Windows, press Windows + R, type C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\appcache (or your custom Steam installation directory), and click OK.
  3. Find the appinfo.vdf inside the folder
  4. Right-Click on appinfo.vdf and 'Delete'
  5. Relaunch Steam

Alternatively, you can try the following steps:

  • Verify Game File Integrity
  • Clear the Cache and Preferences
  • Remove Custom Mods or Graphics
  • Run as Administrator
  • Clean Reinstallation of game

If you're still having issues, please submit a support request for further assistance.

What should I do if I receive a "Warning: failed to find a default database to use. Please make sure your installation is not corrupt" error message when attempting to launch Football Manager?
  1. Go to the following location - C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\[Football Manager title]
  2. Right-click the FM application file and select ‘Troubleshoot compatibility’

If the above doesn't help, please create a new Sports Interactive/[Football Manager title] folder.

If you're still having issues, please submit a support request for further assistance.

 

What should I do if I receive ‘Unable to create dump directory’ error message when launching Football Manager?

If you receive ‘Unable to create dump directory’ error message, it is likely you have enabled controlled access for your Documents folder on Windows.

  1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard
  2. Type "Controlled Folder Access" and press Enter 
  3. If the toggle is on for "Controlled folder access", go to "Allow an App through Controlled access"
  4. Click “Add an allowed app”, and add ‘fm.exe’ and ‘crash reporter.exe’ which you can find in your Steam installation folder, typically: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\[Football Manager title]
  5. Launch the game

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I encounter an 'Unable to Initialise Steam API' message on the launch Football Manager?

If you receive the error message 'Unable to initialise Steam API' when trying to launch the game, it is likely there is some kind of conflict. Please try the following troubleshooting guides:

  1. Please make sure you are starting the game through Steam library and not the .exe file.
  2. Check if your anti-virus program is conflicting with FM or Steam

 

If the above doesn't help, try starting Steam as an Admin:

  1. Exit Steam.
  2. Navigate to C:/Program Files/Steam (This may differ if you've changed Steam's installation path).
  3. Find "Steam.exe"
  4. Right-click on the files and select Run as administrator
  5. Launch game via Steam library

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive an XML error message when launching or running Football Manager?

If you receive an XML error message when running Football Manager, we recommend completing the following troubleshooting steps:

  1. Remove any custom graphics or editor files (e.g. uninstall any Steam workshop downloads) 
  2. Remove your cache and preferences folders
  3. Verify your game files
  4. Launch the game (still without any custom files)

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:

C:\Users\[YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME]\Documents\Sports Interactive\[Football Manager title]\Tactics

 

If you're still struggling, please try creating a new Sports Interactive\[Football Manager title] folder.

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive 'Football Manager is already running' message?

If you receive the error message ‘Football Manager is already running’, we suggest you check if FM is already opened via Task Manager:

  1. Right-click on the Windows bar and select 'Task Manager'
  2. Check if "fm" is opened
  3. If it is, right-click on "fm" and select "End Task" to close it
  4. Launch the game

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive a 'Unable to find Essential Data' when attempting to launch Football Manager message on Steam?

If you experience this message when attempting to start the game, configure the compatibility mode for Steam using these steps:

Windows 10 and 11

  1. Close Steam
  2. Right-click on Steam shortcut
  3. Select ‘Troubleshoot compatibility’
  4. Following It attempting to Troubleshoot, select ‘Try recommended settings’
  5. You can now try the game

If the above doesn't help, we’d recommend uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Any save games will be kept safe during this process, as they can only be removed manually.

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive Steam error message ‘An error has occurred while installing [Football Manager title] (missing app configuration)' when attempting to install Football Manager?

If you’ve encountered a message which states ‘An error has occurred while installing [Football Manager title] (missing app configuration)' when attempting to install [Football Manager title], please try the following:

  1. Shut down Steam
  2. Delete this file located at the following location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\appcache\appinfo.vdf
  3. Launch Steam and install the game again

If the above doesn't help, please submit a support request stating exactly what you've tried so far, and a member of our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive 'Missing File Privileges' message on Steam or when launching Football Manager?

This can sometimes occur when anti-virus programs block Steam or FM. To fix this, you can configure your anti-virus program so it won't interfere with Steam and the game.

If upon doing the above, you now receive an error message about a 'Content File Locked', please read our FAQ for a solution.

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive an error message when trying to purchase the Football Manager In-game Editor?

If you receive an error code/message when trying to purchase the In-game Editor, it is likely to be related to a connection issue with the store, please try the following:

Steam  Microsoft Epic

 

Error code 1000

First, please make sure you're not running under a proxy or any DNS/VPN settings that might interfere with your connection. If so please set the 'Sports interactive' folder to be available offline.

Otherwise, please do the following:

  1. Disconnect any DNS/ VPN's, and play through your home wifi
  2. Ensure any anti-virus software isn't interfering with Football Manager
  3. Completely log out of and shut down Steam and log back in
  4. Remove all third-party content (logos and faces etc.)

If you require more assistance on resolving the connectivety with Steam, please see the following support articles:

If nothing above works, please submit a support request stating exactly what you've tried so far, and a member of our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive an anti-virus or malware warning when trying to run Football Manager?
Windows macOS

 

On rare occasions, Football Manager can be incorrectly identified as a threat when being launched.

To avoid this occurring, we would recommend marking the Football Manager.exe as exempt or marking it not as a threat. Details on how to do this depend on the specific version of anti-virus you’re using, so we would recommend using the anti-virus’s website for full instructions.

If you use Windows Defender, which is the default program for Windows 10 and 11, please follow the steps below:

  1. Open the Windows Security app
  2. Select 'Virus & threat protection' -> 'Virus & threat protection settings'
  3. Click 'Manage settings'
  4. Under 'Exclusions', select 'Add or remove exclusions'
  5. Select + Add an exclusion, and specify its type (File, Folder, File type, or Process)

If nothing above works, please submit a support request stating exactly what you've tried so far, and a member of our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive 'Football Manager is running dangerously low on Memory' error message?

If you receive an out of memory/running dangerously low on memory message at any point. Often it can be related to custom graphics, so we would suggest removing all custom additions to the game and see if this resolves the issue.

If you no longer have the issue with the graphics removed, try adding them back slowly bit by bit to try and determine which exact graphics file was causing the issue for you.  

If you're still having issues without any custom graphics, please try the following:

  1. Make sure your Anti-Virus isn’t interfering with FM
  2. Remove cache and Preferences
  3. Verify the game files 
  4. Make sure your Windows Updates, DirectX and Net Framework are installed and up to date

Suppose you have completed all of the above without resolving your issue. In that case, we suggest you also check how many leagues you're running and what sized database, as these could also affect the processing performance.
 

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive ‘Content File Locked Steam Error’ message or ‘Disk Write Error’ while updating Football Manager?

If you receive a message which states 'An error occurred while updating [Football Manager title] (content file locked)' or 'Disk Write Error' then we would suggest uninstalling and reinstalling Steam.

If you have a large number of other games installed via Steam, we'd suggest backing up the Steam files before completing the installation. We'd suggest uninstalling Football Manager. Save games are kept safe during the uninstall process and can only ever be removed if they are done so manually via the user.

If you're on a Mac and are seeing this error, in some instances it will be due to a permissions issue and you need to allow full disk access to Steam. To do so, follow these instructions:

  1. Go to System Settings
  2. Select Privacy & Security
  3. Select Full Disk Access, click the + and authenticate
  4. Go to Applications, Steam, then click "Open"
  5. Ensure the button is over to the right next to Steam in the apps list to indicate it allows full disk access

Mac_Access.png

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive 'An error occurred while updating Football Manager 27 (unknown error)' error message when downloading Football Manager 27?

If you see the “An error occurred while updating Football Manager 27 (unknown error)” error message when downloading Football Manager, it is likely that your system is below the system requirements.

In some instances, this can be resolved by simply upgrading the Operating System on your device.

Windows macOS

 

If you’ve encountered the above error message on a PC, it is likely an indication that your system does not meet the requirements to run your FM.

We suggest you check whether your system meets the game's minimum requirements.

Suppose your system is below the minimum system requirements. In that case, you will likely need to upgrade the hardware to play the game.

If the above instructions don’t solve your problems, please contact our team by submitting a support ticket.

 

What should I do if I receive a DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE error message when playing Football Manager?

A ‘DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE…’ message at any point when playing or attempting to launch Football Manager indicates that there is an issue with your graphics card. 

Example error messages:

  • DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
  • DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG
  • DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_RESET
  • DXGI_ERROR_DONTKNOW

We recommend you follow the steps below:

  1. Checking your system against Football Manager’s minimum requirements.
  2. If your system meets the minimum requirements, try uninstalling and reinstalling your graphics card drivers.
  3. Launch the game
Intel GPUs  Nvidia GPUs

If you have an Intel processor which is low or below spec. You can try and launch the game with the following instructions:

  1. Open Steam and access your Games Library
  2. Right-click on [Football Manager title] - Properties - General - Set Launch Options
  3. Type this in the box: --config very_low
  4. Click on OK, close the window and launch FM through Steam

In addition, GPU drivers from AMD, Nvidia and Intel can occasionally cause this issue. If you're getting a DXGI issue frequently, we recommend uninstalling your graphics card drivers and getting the graphics card drivers listed on your manufacturers' website.

For example, if you have a Dell laptop, whatever VGA drivers are listed on their website for your make and model. Likewise, for all other makes (Lenovo, Toshiba, HP, etc).

If nothing above works, please submit a support request stating exactly what you've tried so far, and a member of our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive "Unsupported Operating System" error message?

If you encountered the “Unsupported Operating System” error message after launching the game, it means your computer is running an operating system (OS) that is below the minimum requirements.

If you are on a supported OS, and still see this error, it is likely that you are running Football Manager or Steam in compatibility mode on Windows. Compatibility mode allows you to run your machine ‘emulated’ as an older Windows OS.

To address this, please disable compatibility mode by following the below steps:

  1. Disable compatibility mode for Steam
  2. Restart your computer
  3. Launch the game

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive 'Game Unavailable Message' or game no longer launches after Football Manager has updated?

This is most likely due to the game encountering an incomplete install or update.

You should be able to resolve this issue by verifying the integrity of your Football Manager game files.

If you find nothing above helps, please submit a support ticket and our team will try to help.

 

What should I do if I receive "[Football Manager title] will damage your computer, you should move it to the bin" error message?

On rare occasions, Football Manager can be incorrectly identified as a threat when being launched

To avoid this occurring, please follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Full Disk Access window via Privacy & Security
  2. Go to Steam Library and right click on FM26 -> Manage -> Browse local files
  3. Drag the 'fm.exe' to Full Disk Access
  4. Relaunch FM26

The app is saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it, just as you can any authorised app.

If nothing above works, please submit a support request stating exactly what you've tried so far, and a member of our team will try to help.

 

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