The Sims 4 should get a lighting update
For all intents and purposes the lighting is good and fits the vibe of the game but i would like to see it get a bit more detailed, esp on the highest settings. For example:
1. actual shadows and detailed lighting on the sims. As it is now, sims use a different shader from the rest of the world to make them smoother and imo more noticeable in the environment. In the sims mobile, though, they gave the sims the same shader as everything else in the game, making them blend in just a bit more, and look more appealing, especially when standing outside.
2. higher resolution light path textures. besides overall fixing the lighting so that both mac and pc have the same look (currently, 2025 jan 25th, on mac furniture doesn't cast shadows) i believe that the resolution of lighting should be improved as well. I refer to light path textures as the pixelated line between light and dark that you get when a light gets partially interupted with a wall and gets blocked off, which, since the 2014 release, has not been upscaled. Improving this part of the lighting would make the game seem more detailed and realistic, as well as more pleasing to the eye. The light path also has a weird issue with items placed on the diagonal, which i believe would technically be fixed by upscaling the light path textures as well.
3. ambient light. I feel that the sims 4 lighting falls flat in shadows, whether its outside or inside. If there was automatic ambient light, like there is a faux ambient occlusion, the game would get more depth visually. Rooms with smaller windows wont look completely engulfed in darkness, lighting could get more dynamic, with a less drastic falloff, buildings on the outside would look less flat when in shadow etc. It would solve the issue of buildings that dont look to the sun at noon looking flat and undefined - a reason why many players or youtubers tend to not play in certain lots.
4.simplistic raytracing. This would need to be a separate box that would appear on raytracing-enabled devices (RTX GPUs, M3 macs or equivalent) . What i mean by simplistic is that instead of using cubemapping for reflections or light path maps for lighting, it could be all automated with simplified raytracing. For example - roblox's newest lighting engine, Future, but with softer lights. Also Sims 4 is far more closed off and optimised than sims 3, which had fake raytraced reflections, so i believe adding such a feature to the game wouldnt be that performance heavy.
5. More visual processing. I feel like the game could benefit from having a bit more of a bloom effect, not as extreme as sims 3 had, but more than it does now. Also i feel like sims 4 would benefit from some contrast, making well-lit interiors less flat and more homey in my opinion.
Extra: This would extend to the worlds themselves, rather than lighting, but i would also like to see more world-specific effects since the game can take advantage of more resources. Like you could see effects of sand getting blown around in oasis springs, dandelions appearing in the spring, all plants subtly moving like trees, more birds and insects flying around all worlds, subtle/rare wind line particles etc. just stuff to make the game feel more alive.
