outside lighting

I don't get wash-out in my game. I found the spectral lighting outside pleasant. I do, however, get frustrated with how little adding lighting helps outdoors at night. I always feel like I have to add 400 street lights/outdoor lighting options in order for it just to be as bright as my real life porch light.

My interiors are always very dark, but it helps to lower the ceiling if the walls are tall. Screen settings may also factor in. But I reckon some folks use different ReShade presets to combat the lighting imbalances.

I had that problem at first and was putting in like a zillion lighs everywhere in-game. Until I realized all I had to do was adjust the brightness/contrast on my monitor. ;)
Then where I had all the zillions of lights it was way too bright! Though sometimes like Oasis Springs can be too bright, (it does fit the environment), I can just switch my screen to 'Night View Mode" temporarily if I want.

@Admiral8Q :D Thanks, that pulled me out of some negativity I was dealing with.

when in build mode, i try my lots in both day and night, but the day options make everything look so bad. morning isn't bright enough, afternoon is too bright, and ev. er. y. thing. is. orange. tinted. that's not how the sun works. we get orange tints during sunrise and sunset, but during midday, you can see colors just fine. let me show what i'm talking about.

https://i.imgur.com/M0ur5Uf.png

that's the able sisters shop from animal crossing new horizons.

https://i.imgur.com/qDRKxpE.png

this is my sims replica (WIP). both of the screenshots were taken at the same time of day (in-game), and the colors of the walls, roof, sign, and awning are the EXACT SAME COLORS as the original. i know two different games use different lighting programming and stuff, but TS4 is the only game i've played that has this issue. even TS2 for PS2 didn't suffer from this. i can NEVER find the right colors for exterior things because of the tinting and the brightness. and it's not my computer because the brightness and contrast is fine everywhere else. i feel like if i adjust the in-game brightness and contrast, it'll be fine outdoors, but too dark indoors, because it's already too dark indoors!

https://i.imgur.com/COJghBh.png

able sisters roof indoors with four ceiling lights.

this makes it so difficult for me to take screen shots to make thumbnails and previews for my CC, sometimes i have to move an outdoor object indoors just to take a more accurate picture of it since you can adjust the lighting brightness and tint. i don't have any shader mods, a little too afraid to try them, i don't know why.

"Reitanna;d-980065" wrote:
i don't know if it's just me, but the natural lighting of the sun in this game seems to be very poor. it doesn't look very realistic, and it washes EVERYTHING out. i don't know, it's just frustrating. was wondering if anyone else had a problem with this.

I don't know if you've been out a lot or not, but where I live, at noon, everything does look washed out cuz it gets so bright out. :D To me, it's realistic. But then again, I live near the Equator and so maybe the sun is just a bit more gruesome here and we don't have a lot of clouds either.

@Reitanna I don't use any shader mods either. (what ever those are)

I like how you are re-creating something you like. The comparison from the 'animal crossing'? to Sims 4 is quite good.

I can see the glare in your first screenshot. Though it is comparable to the other game screenie. A bit less glare would be nice, I agree. Hmm...
I'm guessing the second screenshot is the same roof. You want it to look darker green? Like indoors under the "zillion-lights" (as I call them) Subtle saucers, I know. ;)
Those have a base lighting of 'soft-white' almost blue. So a green under soft white/slightly blue will look darker green.

Unless I can download your building and try it out myself, my guess is the world you built it in. Looks like Sulani? If you have weather, it's not always that super-bright sunlight. Same thing happens in Oasis Springs. The weather does change depending on how you have time and settings for your game. (A bit random) If the scorching sun weather passes, then you will get better outdoor lighting with less glare for your screenshots.

Natural lighting in (free) build mode can be a bit too much. It does however depend on the world you're in.
What I do when I showcase things, is go to live mode and use cheats to get the right weather (I usually opt for "sunny warm"). Then I just let time pass while on the lot. In build mode you have four set times with their respective lighting, in live mode you go through every shade in between of those 4, meaning that at some point you come across the exact right amount of light. Whether that is morning, noon or evening depends mostly on the orientation of the lot towards the sun.

I have the opposite feeling. I love the look of the sunlight in the game. I always marvel at the gorgeous shadows the sun casts.

"MDianaSims;c-17638496" wrote:
Natural lighting in (free) build mode can be a bit too much. It does however depend on the world you're in.
What I do when I showcase things, is go to live mode and use cheats to get the right weather (I usually opt for "sunny warm"). Then I just let time pass while on the lot. In build mode you have four set times with their respective lighting, in live mode you go through every shade in between of those 4, meaning that at some point you come across the exact right amount of light. Whether that is morning, noon or evening depends mostly on the orientation of the lot towards the sun.

i'll try that, thanks