I can confirm in my game this problem is fixed! Thank you, thank you so much to the team for getting this taken care of before the pack release. I'm so happy to have my trees looking like they should again!
@BryonyRae Thanks for replying.
I've tried all of the things you suggested. I don't use mods and I completely removed my Sims 4 folder (the one in Documents\Electronic Arts) and let the game generate a new one. This would have reset the cache files, obviously. I've also tried repairing my game.
I even went as far as completely reinstalling the game. Twice. And both times I made sure there was no trace of the previous install (folders) left behind.
I've loaded old saves and started new ones and the problem persists. I've started a new game in spring and transitioned into summer and still fully bloomed trees display "dead" shadows. I've tried starting in Summer and the same thing happens.
It occurs everywhere. No matter the lot. I've tried several lots in Newcrest and several others in Willow Creek - most recently the empty corner lot across from the BFF household. Here's a screenshot:
Thanks for the added information @bsozz. Have you also made sure that your graphics drivers are fully updated? I was asking about which season you started in because it looks to me like the game is using winter models for the tree shadows, and I thought it might be glitching after going through a winter season. However, if you start a new save in a different season and are seeing them, I'm not sure what could cause it. I am not able to reproduce the behavior in my game. As there are two of you (at least) with the issue, I wonder what you both have in common. Do you both have the same packs installed? Speaking of which, I was a little confused about whether you have Seasons or not... Do you perhaps have the same graphics cards and operating system? If you could both share your specifications, it might be helpful.
Drivers are fully up to date. I do have Seasons, but I also tried installing the game without it and the problem still exists.
I hadn't played the game for a couple months. The last time I played, which was before the patch that preceded Seasons, my shadows were fine. I went back and checked past screenshots to confirm this.
When I logged in to Origin a few days ago, the game patched itself and I bought Seasons. Since then I have this issue. I have never had a problem with the game previously.
My specs are:
i5 6402 @ 3.0 GHz
8 GB of RAM
RX480
Windows 10
I also clicked Me Too and have an AMD card. I wonder if this is an AMD issue then? I know I saw a report on Twitter about this and they were also an AMD card owner.
This just started happening to me with the Seasons patch, I think, it might have been the last one before today in July. I haven't playing a lot, so I'm not terribly sure. It's not a huge issue for me, but a bit annoying nonetheless.
AMD R9 370 4GB
i7-5820k 3.3GHz (factory overclocked to 3.6GHz)
8GB RAM
Windows 8.1
ETA: I'm running older drivers, because all of the newer Crimson drivers cause my card to crash.
@manzana0807 The AMD theory is very interesting. That might explain why this issue has gone mostly unreported, given AMD's smaller market-share. I couldn't find anything on this issue before posting here, but now it sure seems like it isn't a one-off, isolated issue.
