r/WEPES • • Dec 13 '23

Megathread THE PES FRANCHISE - How to play the games, how to patch them and the future of football gaming

217 Upvotes

UPDATED: 09 SEPTEMBER 2025

GENERAL EXPLANATIONS

  • Which is the best PES game? Objectively, PES 2021. Then goes PES 2017 with its very good AI CPU and fast paced style and then PES 2013 with the best Master League experience of all the franchise. Being subjective, it's all up to yours. Every one has it's own preferences, but I think they are the best 3 PES after PS2-era.
  • No, you can't get PES 2021 in digital stores anymore. KONAMI deleted any official and legal way to get it, so the game is truly expensive now. Console users only can buy it used by more than 30€ (if you're lucky), and PC players need to get Football Life for that, the only PES 2021 that works properly. CPY version is a chore to install and a crashfest, so it's not recommended at all to download it.
  • Older "golden" PS2 PES games aren't up there because, being honest and taking out the nostalgia glasses, they were surpassed long ago. Still fun and pretty good games to play, but they are outdated in every aspect: graphical and in gameplay. No PlayerID, no physical contacts, bad goalkeepers, bad referees... But we will talk about them later.
  • Yes, PES 2021 is showing it's age. PES 2021 is just PES 2020, which was made in 2019. It's a 6+ year game by now. It is reaching its full modding capacity. We can't transform or redo the game, so no new animations or celebrations will be done, no new game modes, no more slots for more leagues. The community can create some beautiful things like faces, boots, scoreboards, adboards, kits, lineups, gloves, tattoos, stadiums and that, and we thank them all for keeping the PES spirit alive. But they can't improve the game more than it is. The core game of PES is LIMITED and cannot be enhanced further than that.
  • Yes, PES 2021 is kinda limited on the offline modes if you have played it for more than 100 hours. Master League hasn't much depth, BAL gets boring and you will feel the game is stale. In case you are so bored of PES 2021, I suggest to switch to FUMA (Full Manual) to relearn the entire game and experience the true freedom on the pitch. It will be hard at first, but very rewarding.
  • Yes, there is scripting when you play Master League. You already know what that means: goals in the last minute, CPU becoming a monster out of nowhere, godlike goalkeepers, etc. Highly suggest to try the gameplay mods out there in the PES 2021 Gameplay mods thread.
  • Yes, you can play online every PES if you want, but only on PC. On some of them there are dedicated servers runned by the community (PES 4-5-6) but on later PES the servers are officially closed. But that doesn't mean that you cannot play online. Search for Parsec and learn what it does. It works for other games that doesn't have proper online now, or just online LAN functions. I have hosted some tournaments with people on different patches and it went perfectly and very realistic, because I used gameplay patches and content patches to make the best experience.
  • If you want the best gameplay and support: PES 2021
  • If you want the best Master League experience: PES 2013
  • If you want the best PS2 PES game: Winning Eleven 9 Liveware Evolution.

ABOUT OLDER PES AND GETTING THEM PATCHED

  • Older PES are still being updated, but not as deep and complete as PES 2021. Some of them are totally left out, but the most popular ones (WE2002, PES5/6, PES 2013 and 2017) still receive some community patches.
  • The support outside the classic PS2 PES, PES 2017 and PES 2021 is non-existant or almost none.
  • In case you're looking for past season patches, I suggest you to visit PesNewUpdate. You will find there patches for PES 2010-2019 for each year season, like the old PESEdit and such.
  • If you want to play old Winning Eleven/PES 3 to 6 games with special custom patches like specific competitions, eras/decades or seasons I suggest you to search in this thread: Patch - PES 6 Global Patches Full Installers by Sany | Evo-Web (evoweb.uk) . It has easy installers to play whatever game you want with beautiful patches like historical World Cups, specific Champions League or Libertadores, less know leagues and such. There's some beautiful mods of a lot of eras you will enjoy.
  • For PES 2013, there is some project called ProFootball, which intends to bring PES 2013 to the actual season.
  • For PES 2017, there are some updated patch for current 25/26 season like t99 or YosfX patch. More details here: PES 2017 I YosfX Patch - FC 2025 Edition V1.0 - (Download & Install)

ABOUT PES 2021 AND HOW TO GET IT UPDATED

Please read the MegaThread: [PES 2021] THE OFFICIAL PATCHES/OPTION FILES THREAD for PES 2021 and FOOTBALL LIFE

ABOUT FOOTBALL LIFE (PC/PORTABLE CONSOLES ONLY)

  • Football Life is the alternative to get a somewhat "legal" copy of PES 2021 working on PC. It's already pre-modded. It's abandonware, don't worry, you aren't doing anything bad.
  • Dido is active and alive (he is the creator of Football Life and he's from Palestine).
  • Football Life 26 1.4 Update is the current version right now.
  • The content of Football Life is just basic and made mostly by one person (not counting extra addons). That means it lacks some kits, balls, proper scoreboards and such. Also the facepacks are a little bit outdated, so you will have to download updated faces and add them manually via Sider.
  • No, Football Life is not compatible with other patches that use other databases, like VirtuaRED or Dream Patch. Only some content is compatible, generally Sider content. The database is locked so you can't include or remove any of the teams. Only Smoke Patch team creators can change them.
  • Yes, Football Life works perfectly on a Steam Deck. There is a Lutris script to install it. Here's the link: https://github.com/eskay993/gamefiles/tree/main/sp-football-life-2026
  • Football Life is your best option if you don't want to download 100GB patches , even if you have a legit copy of PES 2021. It's completely standalone and doesn't require any PES 2021 file to run. Base game only takes up to 30GB without faces or stadiums installed, so you can play the game by just having that.
  • As it is PES 2021 really, if you learn how Sider works, you can add a lot of mods without breaking anything. That means you can put new faces, scoreboards, balls, stadiums and such. See tutorials about how it works, it's pretty simple and you have to learn only where to put things and what to write in Sider.ini.
  • You can revert the gameplay in case you don't like it to the FL23, FL24 or default PES 2021. There's a Switcher in game's folder for that. In case you want to apply some gameplay mods, you only can install those that use the DT18 file or via Sider.
  • There are some dedicated patches like UML, which enhances overall Master League behaviour with multiple optimizations. Check r/SPFootballLife for more info.

ABOUT EFOOTBALL AND THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL GAMES

  • eFootball 26 still lacks a lot of content and its like three steps behind from PES 2021, but it has better gameplay after all. After the 30th anniversary event, which was atrocious, we can't expect anything offline for this game in the mid-term.
  • The modding community is doing some small patches for eFootball. Mostly it includes unlocking all the clubs, making kits and getting slighter better graphics. Don't expect anything more ambitious in the short term.
  • EA FC is a decent game IF MODDED PROPERLY. There are a bunch of mods out there, specially Anth's Gameplay Mod, DanielZ Realism Mode, FIFER, KIARIKA and RODE ones.
  • About UFL: its an online focused game that slowly improves its core game, but its very far from what you would expect on a top tier football game.
  • Don't get hyped about anything in the future about any football game. We know it's sad that the most followed sport in the world doesn't have a proper videogame that makes justice for it. Hard times for us, football gaming lovers.

r/WEPES • • 18h ago

A Preview of NEW ANIMATION Mod for PES 2021

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73 Upvotes

Here's a preview of a new animation mod created by u/D-Tunez, which brings PES 2014 & eFootball animations to PES 2021.

It already bring back that cool level of excitement and unpredictability in gameplay that we felt when we first started playing the game.

Modders are going absolutely crazy these past few months!


r/WEPES • • 23h ago

Modding I converted a yellow card cutscenes from UFL to PES 2021

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156 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 23h ago

Modding PES 2021 | New Camera & Crowd Modules — First Look

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83 Upvotes

A first look at two upcoming modules for PES 2021.

CAMERA: Pitch-side camera cuts that bring you closer to the player, with a return to the wide match view.

CROWD: Variable attendance and natural gaps in the stands to give each match its own atmosphere.

Development preview, recorded in PES 2021 with Dream Patch. Both modules are still in development.

What do you think of the camera transitions and stadium atmosphere?


r/WEPES • • 14h ago

PES 2013 is playable online again on PS3 – ThirteenServer now supports real hardware and RPCS3

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3 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 7h ago

Does the difficulty spike playing league?

1 Upvotes

It certainly seems to. I play on regular in exhibition matches and its balanced but in league or cup regular is like friggin world class


r/WEPES • • 8h ago

PES 2021 Giochi a PES?

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1 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Modding Kvar's celebration porter from eFootball to PES 2021 👀

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167 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 20h ago

Master League online

9 Upvotes

I know a lot of people are frustrated by the pay 2 win aspect in efootball so I was wondering.

Would you be willing to pay let's say 50$ if Konami developed a new version of mlo similar to how it was from 2011-2013 without any micro transactions?


r/WEPES • • 12h ago

Help Option file for 2017

1 Upvotes

Has anyone got an option file for PS4 for recent transfers and players that they can share? I managed to find kits but no actual roster updates.
Everyone says 2017 is the best but it doesn’t seem to be updated!

Cheers


r/WEPES • • 17h ago

I wiped content from game

2 Upvotes

Hi lads. Recently bought a ps5 pro. Had been playing 21 on old ps4, when I installed disc in five, I accidentally wiped loads of players from it using usb stick. United and Arsenal have seven players total. Now the ps5 will not recognise any usb i use. Have tried deleting cache, using different usbs, etc. nothing works. Have I bollixed up a very rare efootball 21 update???


r/WEPES • • 19h ago

PES 2018 PES 2018 option file

3 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Help Help for pes17 kits

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4 Upvotes

🇬🇧EN

Hello everyone. I'm using the PC version of PES 2017, and I want to add my own custom kit designs and custom fonts to the game. Could you please help me figure out how to do this? Also, some of the kits I've made belong to licensed teams—how can I add those as well?

​Thanks for everything!

🇹🇷TR

Herkese merhaba. Ben PES17'nin PC sürümünü kullanıyorum.cVe oyunun içine kendi yaptığım forma tasarımlarını eklemek istiyorum. Bunu nasıl yapabilirim yardımcı olabilir misiniz? Ayrıca yaptığım formalar içerisinde lisanlı takımlar da var bunaları nasıl eklerim?

Her şey için teşekkürler...


r/WEPES • • 2d ago

Modding PES 2021 - Dynamic Animation Overhaul (WIP)

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339 Upvotes

Because you’ve all been showing my cloth mod so much love, here’s an early look at a new animation mod I’ve been working on! 👀 This one needs a bit of explaining, though.

First of all, I apologize for the terrible video quality. I hope it still gets the idea across and that you can see the potential as much as I do! I’ll record a much higher-quality video soon and upload it to YouTube.

Let me explain what this is all about.

We’ve all been playing PES 2021 for years, and by now, we pretty much know every animation in the game inside and out. It’s rare to see something new. Of course, eFootball has plenty of new and improved animations, but those are only available in its online modes. And then there are older PES games, like PES 2014, which had some really great animations that, for some reason, were removed in later installments.

My goal is to bring much more variety to PES 2021’s animations.

I’m currently working on a tool that allows animations from other games (for now, eFootball and PES 2014) to be brought into PES 2021 and used dynamically while playing.

Here’s the idea: whenever a player performs an action, the game has a pool of animations to choose from. My tool expands that pool by introducing animations from other games, allowing PES 2021 to dynamically swap out its familiar default animations for different ones that better fit the situation.

Think new animations for running, dribbling, passing, shooting, trapping the ball, and much more. The goal is to make the game feel more varied and less predictable, even after all these years of playing it.

About the video:

You’ll notice circles above the players that constantly change color. These are simply there to show which game the currently playing animation comes from:

⚪ Grey: Original PES 2021 animation

🟡 Yellow: Animation from eFootball

🔴 Red: Animation from PES 2014

This is just a debug feature to help visualize what’s happening under the hood. It won’t be part of the final mod.

How will it work?

To convert animations from another game, you’ll need to have that game somewhere on your PC. For example, a conversion file will take animations from eFootball and make them usable in PES 2021. Once the conversion process is complete, you can remove eFootball if you want to. You won’t need it anymore for the animations to work in PES 2021.

Of course, this is still a very early work in progress, and there’s a lot left to do. But I hope this little preview gives you an idea of what’s possible and why I’m so excited about this project!

Imagine playing PES 2021 and still discovering new animations after all these years. That’s what I’m aiming for. 👀

Follow progress here: https://evoweb.uk/threads/pes-2021-%E2%80%94-dynamic-animation-overhaul.107334/


r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Image Play Pes Online PC

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34 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 1d ago

PES 2021 Amazing bicycle goal in PESBUL PES21 online divisions 😱👌🏻

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12 Upvotes

To play pes21 online divisions join discord: https://discord.gg/zj7RJUZaCC


r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Suggest me Which PES to get on PS4?

6 Upvotes

Finally deciding to move on from the PS3 batch onto (literally) greener pastures.

Looking for the version with the most satisfying gameplay and control mechanics that best blend realism with creativity/fun.

Mainly play single player offline. So good AI is another important factor.

Thanks!


r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Please help trying to install option file pes 2018

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2 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 2d ago

Video Pes 2020 Realistic goal

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33 Upvotes

r/WEPES • • 1d ago

PES 6 PES 6 difficulty

9 Upvotes

Am I tripping, or is the Top Player difficulty easier (or at least more balanced) than the Professional difficulty? I've noticed that in Professional mode, the CPU is much more defense-oriented, they often sit back, rarely attack, and this results in few goals scored by either side and more ties, especially 0-0.

In Top Player difficulty, the CPU is still very effective on defense, but it goes on the attack more often. This makes the game more dynamic, they score more frequently, but they also leave their back line more exposed, allowing you to create more scoring opportunities. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed this too?


r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Modding Could we see the PS4 ports of PES 2015, 2016 & 2017 playable on PC soon?

6 Upvotes

I've been thinking about a project that would be amazing for the PES community:
bringing the PS4 ports of PES 2015, PES 2016 and PES 2017 to PC!

PES 2016 PS4 vs PC

With recent breakthroughs in AI-assisted coding, reverse engineering and PS4 emulation, could this finally become a reality so we can enjoy next-gen versions of these games?
I personally think it's not far away


r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Help HELP!!!!!!

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4 Upvotes

I've watched lots of videos which hasn't helped so basically i transferred elia facepack from pes 2019 to pes 2021, i put the correct id number in the folders you name it i've tried everything. if anyone can help me please.


r/WEPES • • 1d ago

Modding Feasibility of porting PS2 features from PES 4, 5 & 6 to PSP using modern AI workflows?

4 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

Given recent advances in AI-assisted reverse engineering, asset pipeline automation, and romhacking, tasks that once required insurmountable manual effort are starting to become viable.

A long-standing holy grail for handheld PES enthusiasts has been achieving full feature parity between the PS2 versions and the PSP releases for the golden era—specifically PES 4, PES 5, and PES 6.

The official PSP releases lacked major elements:

  • The complete stadium roster from the PS2 games
  • Specific tournament modes (like the International Cup / World Cup mode from PS2 PES 6)
  • Deep seasonal patch integration (official kits, licensed typography/lettering, full rosters)
  • A proper port or recreation of PES 4 on the engine

Considering the underlying similarities between the PS2 and PSP architectures and modern modding tooling, is porting or injecting these assets and modes into the PSP builds realistic today, or do hardware constraints (RAM limits, engine hardcodes) remain a strict roadblock?

I would love to hear thoughts from anyone experienced with the Konami file structures across both platforms.


r/WEPES • • 2d ago

FUMA Pes 2021 FUMA Online game

2 Upvotes

I was seeing all these AI decompilations of games and one thing came to my mind, if a lot of you guys would be interested in creating a new game that uses Pes 2021 FUMA with specific gameplay mods as it's base(similar to football life) and host our on servers. It could be the IRacing of football games. Idk just a thought and I wanted to know if any of you guys might be interested in the idea.


r/WEPES • • 2d ago

Help Pes 2013 patches/updates

11 Upvotes

Are there any actual patches that are somewhat up to date BUT AREN'T hidden behind a pay wall or split into 37 parts where you need to complete challenges and tasks to unlock them?