osu! skin troubleshooting: quick fixes

Installed a skin and something looks off? These are the problems players run into most, and how to fix each one.

The skin doesn't show up in the list

Make sure the folder sits directly inside osu!/Skins/ and isn't nested one level too deep (for example Skins/MySkin/MySkin/skin.ini). Restart the game or press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S to reload.

Elements look blurry or huge

HD elements need the @2x suffix (for example hitcircle@2x.png). If only the non-@2x version exists, osu! upscales it and it looks soft.

Combo colours are wrong

Beatmap colours override skin colours unless you tick "Ignore all beatmap skins" in options. Check the [Colours] section of skin.ini too.

osu!mania keys are misaligned

Each key count has its own [Mania] block in skin.ini. Adjust ColumnStart, ColumnWidth and HitPosition for the layout you play.

Hitsounds are missing or too loud

Skins can replace normal-hitnormal.wav and friends. Delete the file from the skin folder to fall back to the default sound.

Where to find well-made skins

If you'd rather start from a skin that already works, osuskins.org collects osu! skins with previews, so you can compare cursors, hit circles and mania layouts before downloading.

Notes by ZentaoLabs.