Most of the addons featured below are custom data files that either tweak certain aspects of how the game works or add more depth to what's already there.
Thanks to Daveincid for helping me curate this list of addons.
Certain addons are available as packs which include multiple files. And since these files are created by different people, there are some cases of files that do similar things, so you'd have to choose just one to avoid data conflicts.
I'll briefly explain what all the different files do, where to find them, and when you need to make a choice to avoid possible conflicts.
So, let's get to it.
DLC for a More Realistic Football Manager 2021
GUI
Trophies Megapack
Almost 1200 real trophies to add to all playable nations in the game.
Trophy Podiums Pack
Improve the look of your trophy lift with competition specific podiums.
Press Conference Backgrounds
Custom press conference backgrounds of teams and competitions.You can only use 1 of the 3 competition color patches below.
Realistic Competition Colors
Over 400 competitions with inaccurate color schemes are updated and fixed.
Competition Colour Fix
A facelift to in-game competitions which are not licensed or are using their nations primary / secondary colours.
Nik33's Competition Colours
Official competition colours for UEFA comps and Copa Libertadores.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Match Day Experience
Fez's Enhanced Turf Textures
New enhanced look of grass textures making the turf look more realistic.
3D Balls Mega Pack
3D Ball Pack for over 150 Competitions! Use a ball for each competition!
Realistic Weather
Real-life annual weather data was used to optimize current weather patterns, and create new ones.
Better Crowd Colors
Turn that sea of orange to a sea of neutral colors. A mod for more realistic crowd colors.Nik33's Club Colours
Changes club titlebar colours to their correct ones based on their logos and football tradition.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
You can only use 1 of the 2 audio patches below.
Audio Commentary Patch
Audio Commentary, improved and adapted from previous versions. Includes crowd sounds.
Better Crowd Sounds
Realistic Sound patch for crowd sounds that are better than the default ones. Only crowd sounds.Skins
DaniDots 2021 Realism Mod
No Attributes and No Stars to guide us on player assessment but there are ways to work this around.
FLUT Skin (alternative version)
No visible attributes in FLUT's alternative skin version. An idea by richbell who also did the majority of the changes.Licensing
Real Names License Fix
Fix fake name of competitions, clubs and awards with their real names in Football Manager 2021.Nik33's Competition Abbreviations
Updates 150+ competition abbreviations to match their licensed names.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Transfers & Finances
Transfer Update
This is the best Football Manager transfer update and it comes with daily repacks.Current Currency Exchange Rate
Replicates the financial situation of all Nations more accurately to their current situation IRL.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Club Transfer Preferences
Certain clubs have a strong affinity for a specific nationality of players in the past and present. This is now a criteria in Visions of each Club.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Club Finances Fix
Sugar daddy fix, finances of top clubs adjusted, added debts to clubs, adjusted Barcelona's financial situation.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Ticket Price Adjustments
Worldwide ticket adjustments to avoid weak teams in financial poor nations are paying too high ticket-prices.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
You can only use 1 of the 2 transfer value patches below.
Realistic Transfer Values
Real life transfermarkt data applied to 30 nations. Better than default Transfer Values.Improved Market Values + Salaries + Sponsors
Adjusted Market values to replicate transfer fees better. Increased potential Salaries for Top-players. Decreased salaries for some Nations.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Leagues
You can only use 1 of the 2 league expansions below.
Complete Pyramids Megapack by Weiry
100% authentic footballing pyramids from 155 nations all around the world. Real Rules and Real Clubs.
Around The Globe Megapack by Dave
Realistic leagues around the globe made in the advanced editor. With added focus on realism.UEFA European Cups Fix
Fix for teams from same nation being drawn against each other in qualifying rounds for European competitions.Injuries
You can only use 1 of the 3 injury patches below.
Realistic Injuries
Added 90 NEW injuries, and reworked 90% of injuries to be more logical.Nik33's Extended Injuries System
Updates current injuries and adds 70 more to a total of 202 types for more diversity and realism, while slightly lowering some severe injuries odds.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Daveincid's Realistic Injuries
A better representation of injuries, as well as some new ones. You will get more injuries, more variety and more frustration.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Languages
You can only use 1 of the 2 language patches below.
Language Overhaul by majesticeternity
Added 80 New languages, 62 NEW Dialects. Edited 100 Nations and 1,500 Regions.Geographics and Languages
Better distribution of place of birth's for newgens, influences sponsorship deals & fitness of players. Better representation of the diversity of nations, change the way how you are scouting for players, etc.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Media
You can only use 1 of the 2 media patches below.
Media Overhaul
Adds 4,240+ real media, 1,000 real journalists, 80 bookmakers, along with their styles & personalities.Nik33's World Media pack
About 250 new media sources of every kind from all around the world.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Agents
You can only use 1 of the 2 agent patches below.
Nik33's Agents pack
Adds more than 1.000 real life agents and their connections to 13.000+ players/clients, including every relevant relationship status as well.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Real Life Agents by pr0
With specific attributes & clients adding more realism to the game.Part of Pr0's Data Packs.
Players & Staff
You can only use 1 of the 2 wonderkid patches below.
New Wonderkids by JG & SirTAVARES
An extensive database update that adds multiple young talented players to your Football Manager 2021.Part of SirTAVARES' Data Tweaks.
New Wonderkids by pr0
Newly created young players, aged U20 with a potential ability over -75, making them the future world class players.Part of Pr0's Data Packs.
Nik33's Career Plans
Adds career plans to players/staff taking into account their real life choices, interviews and social media posts.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Nik33's Player Partnerships
Adds/updates player partnerships, a new feature that can add great real life partnerships like Kane/Son, Lukaku/Martinez etc.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Nik33's Relationships
Adds more than 110 new relationships depending on player interviews, social media posts and other incidents. Also adds players' idols.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
New Players & New Staff by pr0 (2 files)
New players and new staff created who don't exist in the current database.Part of Pr0's Data Packs.
You can only use 1 of the 2 ability patches below.
CA / PA Changes by pr0
Adjusted attributes, current ability & potential ability numbers.Part of Pr0's Data Packs.
Nik33's Abilities & Personalities
Updates player/staff attributes based on their real life season form and after extensive comparison between all top leagues' players. Fills many empty attributes and also deals with attribute anomalies.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Newgens & Reputation
You can only use 1 of the 2 reputation patches below. Daveincid's files can be combined.
Nik33's Reputations
Updates reputations for Clubs, Nations, Competitions & adjusts nations' youth ratings.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Alternative Youth Rating
Changes the National Youth Ratings, Game Importance and state of development for each Nation.League Reputation Fixes
Lowers the gap slightly between the Top-Nations and all the others in Europe. Boosts Top-Nations outside of Europe slightly.Club Reputation Fixes
Contains small reputation adjustments for some Brazilian, Argentinian and Mexican Teams.Club Data Fixes
Adds a lot of missing data for almost 700 1st and 2nd division clubs in 150 nations worldwide.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Awards
You can only use 1 of the 2 award patches below.
Awards Overhaul
160 New Awards, along with a entirely reworked reputation system.Award Fixes
Fixes all missing and illogical award-reputations in all nations and in all international competitions as well.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Derbies
You can only use 1 of the 2 derby patches below.
Derbies Overhaul
550+ NEW Derbies added, reworked all to create realistic national and world reputations.Note: This might create problems with team reputations in less known leagues.
Worldwide Derby Fixes
Adds 300+ missing derbies from clubs and nations in over 50 nations.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Nations
Nations Agreements by DaveTheEditor
Adds 24 agreements between nations.Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Citizenship Fix
Corrections for 95 nations for "years to gain nationality".Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
Other
You can only use 1 of the 3 patches with general changes below.
Other Changes by pr0
Changes in general which include second nationalities, affiliations between teams, new stadiums, favourite personel etc.Part of Pr0's Data Packs.
Nik33's Generic Changes
Fixes player/staff info (DOBs, POBs, nicknames, histories, heights, weights etc), national team status, season stats, pref. squad numbers, language knowledge etc.Part of Nik33's Data Packs.
Data Tweaks by SirTAVARES
Around +130,000 changes to improve the gaming experience. Also created people missing from the game.Note: This might also conflict with new players and new wonderkids by Pr0.
Data Bundles
Many of the addons listed above are included in the following bundles and you can grab each of them as a single download. Realism Increase Megapack by Daveincid |
 Data Update Packs by pr0 & Transfers by FMTU |
 Nik33's Data Packs |
I will keep updating this list from time to time to ensure it always reflects all the quality addons that raise the realism in Football Manager 2021.
If you think something's missing and should be added, let me know in the comments.
Enjoy!
![[FM24] Leagues Mega Pack by @Timo@ (10 Nations)](assets/downloads/fm24/fm24-leagues-pack-by-timo.th.png)
Discussion: How to make Football Manager 2021 more realistic
12 comments have been posted so far.
Teams should focus more on their youth. No inflation of wages. Better financial balancing for long-term saves.
Part of Daveincid's Realism Megapack.
What file does "Finances Mod" refer to? There are two files in the Megapack to do with finance:
Daveincid's mods_club-finances fix v1.1.fmf
Daveincid's mods_financial behaviour improvement v1.4.fmf
Which is the one you are recommending? It's not clear...
@Fattie: Which file are you referring to?
@SirT: I've fixed the link 2 weeks ago just when you reported it. Thanks for noticing.
@Nigel: Yes, you need a new save.
Also the file doesn't have any conflict since it was done way before the others. The others being in conflict depend on the other files creating the same players/staff than i did.
I take it none of these add ons work unless you start a new save?
I had asked the guy on sort it out SI who made the star attributes. But he said he’d prefer to deal with the skin creator.
I said fair enough but I have spoke with him as he’s a friend on here and it’s not something he’s interested in doing. But with Flut’s MASSIVE help he helped me get it to work. Don’t want to say his real name but what a bloody amazing bloke. Just like you Stam and many other long time standing members
I thank you and dip my hat
@richbell82: I'll ask Flut to consider adding that as an optional feature.