FAQ

Frequently asked questions

updated: 02/Feb/2023

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Hello,

due to the massive number of new users and after releasing football life, there is a huge amount of reports and issues users are facing, it is a little bit hard to keep up with individual reports, I will try to cover most issues in this section, finding the best answer for the frequently asked questions and reply to comments as much as possible, reports that are duplicated and resolved issues will be removed from the main thread to tidy up the comments section.

if a report is not mentioned below it is because I don't yet have an answer or the issue will be addressed in the coming update.

this section will be updated regularly.

Dido/SP

Common Issues from missing system files:

(will fix many reported cases )

* be sure to have the latest update installed.

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* Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime

- be sure your system has updated DirectX software, you can update it from the official Microsoft source: 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35

if the directX is not up to date it can cause various issues including failure to start the game or error of missing DLL files

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* Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable

- be sure the visual C++ is updated from the official Microsoft source:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145

this will fix issues like the sider not working or settings not starting.

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General issues:

notes and remarks

* test with an unmodified game to be sure the report is valid

we can only help with problems that concern football life, problems caused \by user manipulations is at the user's risk.

* do not let antivirus or defender delete any of football life files

all the files on the smokepatch website are safe and free from viruses or malware, we use BAT scripts to install and run the game, antivirus programs usually mark all BAT-based files as dangerous, and we cannot afford to buy a digital certificate, as the price for that is insane, do not let the antivirus delete or block the installation

* start the game from the game exe (FL_2023 start.exe)

this is the only file that we test on, any other way to run the game is not valid.

* run the installer as an administrator

always run as administrator so the installer and game can have access to the save folder.

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Frequent Issues

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- Cannot save edits, settings.exe does not save the changes

the game and the settings need access to the save folder that is located in the documents folder (some systems use OneDrive documents), if the access is blocked or not granted then the system will prevent writing the save.

try the following:

- be sure windows defender or antivirus are not blocking the access of football life or settings.exe

- be sure you have administrative rights on your system

- be sure the system is not missing any files (see Microsoft links above)

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- Cannot run settings.exe

many users faced this issue, with the settings.exe cannot run it will not be possible to run the game properly or change any settings, to correct this try the following:

- be sure windows defender is not blocking the settings.exe

- be sure the system is not missing any files (see Microsoft links above)

- run settings.exe as administrator 

- be sure the antivirus did not delete any files from football life, a missing DLL can cause settings not to open.

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- Starting lineup looks wrong:

if you see a strange starting lineup in teams it means the edit file is not installed, if the edit file is not installed you will find other issues.

reinstall football life and update, be sure to run as administrator so the installer can access your save folder and install the appropriate files.

some users might have a customized documents folder, in this case, the edit file might need to be moved there manually respecting the folder structure.

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- Lag or crash using a laptop with two GPU

for a gaming laptop, there are two GPUs, football life needs to run on the powerful one, 

to be sure the correct one is assigned run settings.exe and check the specification tap

assign (FL_2023.exe) and (Settings.exe) in the graphic card software

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- Cannot find the game executable (FL_2023 start.exe)

this is the football life start file, this is a customized script to run the game in a specific sequence and CPU launch commands, this might be flagged by the antivirus and deleted it.

all the files downloaded and installed from the smokepatch website are safe, we create and share contents, not viruses, and do not let anything delete the game files.

a reinstall is needed to recover any deleted files.

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- Overheating or lag after update 2

* This issue is resolved in version 2.01

the new game start file is modified to run most generation CPU, if you don't have 12th gen processor it is possible to revert to the previous start file:

in the game folder

1. remove (FL_2023 start.exe)

2. rename (original start.bkp) to (FL_2023 start.exe) and start the game from it

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- Error stuck in the loading screen

this error is due to selecting a theme in the previous version, themes are not included and this function is not working and is disabled in later versions, 

to correct this, open the save folder of the game from documents and delete (SYSTEM00000000)

run settings.exe so the game would create a new one.

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- Customized sider addons not working after the update

football life update will copy and replace football life files, including sider files as described in the update release notes, if users made any changes to the files including sider.ini they would need to redo them.

to add or change mods please make backups.

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- How to connect a controller

1. XInput and steam:

connect via Bluetooth or USB
select XInput in settings.exe
install/run steam (it has all drivers and configurations needed for controllers)
in steam, click (add a game), and select (FL_2023 start.exe)
now starting the game from the steam app will make the controllers work

2. DirectInput:
connect via Bluetooth or USB
select DirectInput in settings.exe
use a freeware called (DS4Windows) and configure the controller

please see connect controller tutorial here

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- Gameplay of Football life

the gameplay we created for football has been in development for more than a year, never been included in smokepatch for PES, it is different than pes and we like it, some users may like the gameplay of PES21 better, in this case, use the switcher to apply the standard PES21 gameplay, or use any other dt18 mod that is made for pes21.

FL Switcher.exe is located in the game folder.

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- Crash with 12th gen processor

many games have issues with the new 12th generation of processors, 

in update 2 we have added a new modified (FL_2023 start.exe) as it runs the game with specific CPU instructions to make it work on most new generation configurations.

if users still have issues even after installing update 2:

- perform a clean install of football life and update 2 to be sure the crash is not caused by another issue.

- update Microsoft DLL files from the links at the top of this page.

- be sure to run the game from the (FL_2023 start.exe) installed with update 2

* We try to cover all system configurations, but some 12th gen systems might not work with our solution, if this is your case then maybe wait for intel CPU driver updates.

read more about this issue here

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- How to import png in edit mode:

although this is still not available due to using sider, there is a workaround to import png kits to the edited team:

1. start the game without the sider by running (FL_2023.exe)

2. import the png kits then save and exit

3. restart the game from the main executable (FL_2023 start.exe)

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- Created players have contract problems

this is a known issue due to the change of the game starting year, no fix is available for this, but it can work if the starting year in the master league is reverted to 2020,

see this temporary workaround to bypass this issue:

change starting year tutorial

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* some reports are still under investigation

* some reported issues are fixed and will be included in the coming update, more details will be available soon.

* Previous FAQ section for smokepatch for PES is available here

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Comments:

please be aware that comments might be removed for any of the reasons below:

X - if the answer is in the article (do not comment on a page without reading it)

X - reports that have already been addressed (check previous feedback)

X - includes any unauthorized external links

X - political, religious, racist, or insulting comments.

X - non-English comments.

X - wrong section

X - requests of personal preferences.