Download The Director v0.63.9

Free. Football Manager 26 on Windows, via Steam. Tested against FM 26.3.

Before you click. This is an unsigned mod, so Windows may warn you when you open the zip or start the game the first time. On a SmartScreen box, choose "More info", then "Run anyway". The first FM launch after installing takes about a minute longer than usual while the loader prepares itself; FM has not frozen. Both happen once.

Download for Windows (41 MB zip)

SHA-256 of the zip, to check your copy is the one we built:

6996f4418bd7964f3a93144eee1572a12faf55c0c46fa8f0597f7ec599028504

In PowerShell: Get-FileHash .\TheDirector-v0.63.9.zip. Scanned on VirusTotal: the mod itself is clean on every engine; one minor engine flags the loader's proxy DLL with a generic heuristic, as it does for every BepInEx mod. Downloads only from this page or the GitHub release it links to; copies elsewhere are not ours.

Install, three steps

Find your FM26 folder. In Steam: right-click Football Manager 26, Manage, Browse local files. Usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 26.
Copy everything in the zip into that folder, so that winhttp.dll, doorstop_config.ini, dotnet and BepInEx sit beside fm.exe. If Windows asks about merging the BepInEx folder, say yes.
Start FM26 as normal. A console window may open and close on the first start. That is the loader, once only.

Nothing else to install. The loader and everything it needs is in the zip. No second mod, no Python, no terminal.

First run

Load a save and save it. The Director reads the save file about ten seconds after you save, and again every time you save.
Press F7. The panel opens over whatever screen you are on; F7 again closes it.
Open the Setup tab: pick how the chat reaches a model (hosted with a code from Patreon, your own API key, or Claude Code), and spend five minutes on the club's philosophy. He argues from that.
Play a day and save again. A save made before the first day carries no staff attributes, so until then he does not know how good his own judgement is.

Uninstall

Delete winhttp.dll from the FM26 folder. The game runs clean again; the rest of the files are inert without it. To remove everything, also delete the BepInEx and dotnet folders and doorstop_config.ini. Your saves are untouched: the mod reads them and never writes them.

What leaves your machine, exactly

Your save file never leaves your machine. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
When you ask a question, the question and a text briefing the mod builds from your save (squad, targets, budgets, a few hundred lines) go to the model you chose. With the hosted route, that means the ImmersiveFM server, which passes it to Anthropic's API and hands back the answer. The server keeps a count of your questions and the token totals so your allowance can be tracked. It does not keep the question or the answer. With your own key or Claude Code, nothing touches the ImmersiveFM server at all.
Checking a pasted code contacts the ImmersiveFM server once. If you link a Patreon account, the server keeps your Patreon name and email so we can help if a code stops working. Nothing else about you.
No telemetry, no usage ping, no crash reporting. Those are the only connections the mod makes. The loader does not connect either: the support files it would otherwise fetch once are in the zip.
Everything the mod stores lives in BepInEx\plugins\FMDofProbe: one database per save and your chat threads. Delete the folder and it is gone.
The log file you may be asked to send, BepInEx\LogOutput.log, records how long each question and answer was, never the text.

If something goes wrong

FM did not start, or crashed on start.: Delete winhttp.dll and the game runs clean. Then send BepInEx\LogOutput.log to #install-help on the Discord.
Windows Defender removed a file.: Restore it from Defender's protection history and add the FM26 folder as an exclusion. Then tell us the exact wording; it goes on this page.
F7 does nothing.: The panel needs a loaded save. If FM has bound F7 itself, a panel_key.txt in the plugin folder rebinds it.
He says he has nothing to read.: Save the game. He reads the save file, not the screen.
He does not know a player I know.: He knows what your scouts know. Nothing hidden is revealed, on purpose.
Mac, Linux, Steam Deck, Game Pass, Epic?: Windows on Steam today. Mac is in testing and will be announced the day it genuinely works. Linux under Proton is untested. Game Pass and Epic are unknown.
Non-English FM?: The panel works and a card on the Overview says if your language is untested. Some parsing is English-first; language packs are on the roadmap.

Version history

v0.63.9, 7 September 2026. Ctrl+V paste in the panel's fields; the first Mac build alongside (not yet released).
v0.63.4, 7 September 2026. The alpha build sent to the first tester.