PES 2018 is pretty good, but if there's one thing you'll hear constantly as a criticism about PES, it is a lack of team licenses, reducing the likes of Manchester City to Man Blue, and culling the entire Bundesliga. What if there was a way to rectify that? As with the last two years, PES 2018 allows you to do just that.
How to add licensed teams to PES 2018
PES 2018 allows you to import kit and team data, and as a result, there are some frankly smashing kit wizards out there who fill the gaps and produce kits,emblems and logos that are almost indistinguishable from the already-licensed teams and competitions. It's fairly easy to make PES more accurate at depicting real teams and leagues, and even make your own teams and kits with PES Universe's neat kit creator tool on PC. So follow our handy guide on how to import the Option Files that make PES even better.
First up, you'll need a USB stick and a PC to make the magic happen for you. It can work off a Mac too, but reports suggest that the results may vary.
How to download and import PES 2017 option files
1. On your USB stick create a PES-specific folder to store the option file. The file needs to be called “WEPES” for your console or PC to recognise the folder.
2. Head onto your PC and download the option files from one of the myriad PES-dedicated sites, or you could go for PES Universe or PES World, which we've used and recommend, download the zip and extract its contents. Then, click and drag the files onto your USB stick and into the PES folder.
3. Start up the game and head into Extras - Edit, scroll down to Data Management - Import/Export.
4. After selecting “Import Team” a text box will appear stating “You can import images saved onto USB Flash memory.” It'll warn of a cap on the number of imports, but don't worry about that.
5. Select all of the files in the list and select ‘'next''. Leave “select team import data” and Apply player and squad data” un-ticked and hit next. The game will then begin to automatically import them into the game for you. All the files will process while twiddle your thumbs for a bit.
6. After the processing has finished, save your game. Now you're all done! The kits will be in the game and you can finally enjoy them in all their glory.
How to create official licensed PES 2018 teams
7. The option files we've referred to automatically adds on the crests, managers, rivals, and stadium photos as well as the kits, but beware! There has been some teething issues with the files causing the game to crash mid-upload, and that can make some of the files go a bit haywire. You have two options in this case. One is to go back, scrub everything and try again, but only importing 10-15 team files at a time. The other is to fix the errors yourself and manually change these.
8. For competition logos, go back into import/export and click “import image”. Select “competition emblems” to import images in the correct image size, otherwise they'll look a bit off. Tick “import selected images” and choose all the league badges you want to bring across. You must then, after importing, choose which emblem goes where. It's a bit time fiddly, but the results are more than worth it.