How to remove the loading screen in Football Manager

This is a trick you can use in FM23 but also in older Football Manager versions to get rid of the loading screen.

By Stam on Nov 05, 2022 61004 views 10 comments

FM Tutorials - How to remove the loading screen in Football Manager

This is a trick that a lot of users have been using for a long time.

If you're like me and can't stand the long wait to get into FM, then you need to try this. A timer saver for sure.

What is the loading screen

The loading screen is the first thing you see when you launch the game that shows all the credits and social campaign logos.

The loading screen in Football Manager 2023 appears to be taking quite a long time. Depending on your computer, it might take between 30 seconds and 2 minutes until you can actually get to the start screen.

How to skip or remove the loading screen

If you want to save yourself some time whenever you wish to fire up FM23 and play, all you need to do is delete a specific folder.

The folder you need to find and open is "movies". This contains all the video clips that are played when the game is launched.

Delete everything inside the "movies" folder, so it becomes empty.

The next time you'll try to launch the game, you'll get a black screen for a few seconds (2 seconds or more, depending on your computer) before getting to the start screen.

Where to find the "movies" folder

I'll provide the default paths to the folder on Windows and Mac for both Steam and Epic.

Windows

Steam:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 2023\data\game\movies

Epic:

C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Football Manager 2023\data\game\movies

Mac

Steam:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Football Manager 2023/data/game/movies

Epic:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Epic Games/Football Manager 2023/data/game/movies

Obviously replace "yourusername" with your own username.

How to restore the deleted files

If for any reason you regret removing the loading screen, there are 2 ways to bring it back.

1. Keep a backup of the files somewhere, so you can simply move them back.

2. Verify game files to restore the deleted files ("verify the integrity of game files..." on Steam and "verify files" on Epic).

Credits

Thanks to Max from Evidence Based FM who brought this to our attention.

He has even created a brief video tutorial that you can check out.

Enjoy!

Discussion: How to remove the loading screen in Football Manager

10 comments have been posted so far.

omjhon • 1 year ago

which doesn't work with the above method, try leaving only 1 file license_in.ivf

my fm 23 work

Don Logan • 2 years ago

Not working 19/05/23. Just get a black screen for a few seconds and then it crashes. This is on a Windows laptop.

Veux • 2 years ago

Used to work for me. Now it just gives black screen and I never get to the game menu

gee_simpson • 2 years ago

This no longer works for me after the most recent update.

Stam • 2 years ago

@franck: It saved nearly 1 minute for me. Black screen lasts for 12 seconds, while all the other stuff needed 68 seconds.

@colinmid: Yes, it also works with FM22.

franck69 • 2 years ago

Doesn't work. Black screen, no time gain

colinmid05 • 2 years ago

Great tip. Will this work with FM22? I'm waiting until after Christmas to get FM23

Rivanov • 2 years ago

@Stam: Nearly the same. I recorded my screen with the loadingscreen movies and without. Results are the same. Approx. 40 to 44 seconds.
Very strange.

Loadingscreen: https://streamable.com/p5804k
Black screen: https://streamable.com/6n6pxz

Stam • 2 years ago

@Rivanov: 44 seconds is a lot of time. How long did it take before? A friend of mine on his MacBook also had a black screen but only for 2 seconds. In my own test, the game would get to the start screen after 1 minute and 8 seconds with the loading screen and only 12 seconds without it.

Rivanov • 2 years ago

For some reason it doesnt do very much on my 14" MacBook Pro with M1 Pro. I removed the splash_fm folder from the movies folder. But I still see a black screen for 44 (!) seconds.