Better graphics and screenshots for newer cards

Nature looks astonishing, as always in Sims 3. One of the main reasons I can't quit the game. (Although I've resorted to star map mods and skylight mods, haha) A skylight mod is well worth it if you like looking at stars. Do you have all the settings set up to maximum? I can't remember if I've got a bit of jagged shadows like that.

I can give people some examples of my graphics card. It's a "Geforce GTX 650", so honestly not the most powerful one, and I sort of wish I had just gone full out when I was buying one, but it was affordable and I figured it was going to be good enough. Sims3 as far as I remember, could be really finicky with the older graphics cards.

I seem to have high noon shadows on the simmies, but not so much on the simmies themselves rather than the objects. I can't remember what my settings are, but I believe most, if not all, are set to max. So not sure as to why I had such a hard time finding screenshots of any random simmies with a shadow across their bodies. Hmm. But I am using a lighting mod, (Brntwaffles' mods, sorry I might have butchered their username haha). How are your settings in the game?

Here's a collection of screenshots, I might have had different mods throughout, but any light mod I use, has been from Brntwaffles I'm almost sure. (+ the sky map, I don't remember who made that)

https://i.imgur.com/r7tTwHm.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/JSTQ677.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xuuIj34.jpg


here you can see they have shadows underneath them but not on their bodies
https://i.imgur.com/AXGg93w.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/20Hjplz.jpg
I believe this is SuvaDiva Resort?

https://i.imgur.com/n0cgK9L.jpg

I still have some banding in the sky. I had a lot less banding with custom sky mods, and I've been told there will be less banding if you print screen rather than screenshot, but I don't know. The banding has always sort of annoyed me.

https://i.imgur.com/iJZa3gI.jpg

As you can see, there's less banding in that sky than normal. Would love to see more of your screenshots, especially the before and after. I honestly can't tell any different between your first and after, (I mean that in a good way haha), it looks fantastic either way. Very crisp and clear without jagged edges. How does your night sky look?


edit: oh apparently imgur crashed on me for some reason so no images are working. bah.

Oooh, I thought you just had a foggy day, haha. Yeah, then I know what you mean. Hopefully we'll see more comparisons from you and maybe even some screenshots from others so we can compare between ourselves!

I don't know after which series exactly but at some point, the jagged shadows become an issue with Nvidia cards. Could have started after the 800 series. (Possibly AMD as well but I don't remember.) I've experienced it with both a GTX 980 and now a GTX 1070. The fix can be done by editing the GraphicsRules.srg file. Steps taken may be different for a Mac user.

Find the file GraphicsRules.srg in this location C:/Program Files (x86)/Electronic Arts/the sims 4/game/bin
(This location may be different depending on where you have installed the base game.)

Make a copy of the original GraphicsRules.srg file just in case. (adding something like Orig or Backup at the end just so you know.) Keep that copy somewhere separate from the game folder.

Open GraphicsRules.srg with a text editor like Notepad

Press ctrl+f keys and a search window should appear. Type in

prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 2048

and click Find Next.

Change the numbers 2048 to 3840 for 4k or 7680 for 8k.

Save the file and open the game to see the results. Make sure Lighting settings are set to Very High.


*You may notice the GPU working harder. I recommend starting off at 3840 before jumping to 7680. Even with having mine adjusted to 7680, it's still slightly jagged but much better.

I feel silly for not knowing what this banding is? Can you guys explain it? If it is what I think it is... I have it too I'm pretty sure.

Ok, after Googling I can confirm my game has this banding issue... I try to ignore it but it is ugly. I take screenshots with Fraps which is a screen capture program. I'm not sure if it's any worse without Fraps. @Pary I don't think a graphics card update would fix this. It's most likely the game.

Ah okay, thank you, it's nice to know it isn't my hardware then. I just use the in game camera to take screenies; Mortia directed me to Gadwin, but I haven't set it up properly yet.

@shakeninsane I can see your screenshots now, and they're lovely. I especially like the overhead of the tropical island. Lighting mods can make scenery really stand out.

I don't have any night sky ones right now—I just wanted a few easy comparisons. The biggest difference I can see is that the water has less diffuse white coloring, and what's there looks more like a bit of mist or fog blowing across the surface of the bay. The churn from the waves is also more detailed. Those screenshots were all taken between 8 and 9 am. The ones of the sim were from around 11 am, when I got a good look at the shadows. They don't show up as well when they fall across clothing, so that may be why you're having trouble seeing them. The angles also matter.

And yes, I maxed out the graphics settings for both before and after.

I have a GF GTX 750 Ti, and I also get a lot of banding in the night time skies. I hate it, because I can never take any nice night time pictures, but I don't know how to get rid of it, other than upgrading, which I don't really want to do just for the sake of it.