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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 27th Jul 2018 at 11:19 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Neighborhood view
Hellooo, I have a bit of an issue with my neighborhood view/graphics in my custom neighborhood.

So on neighborhood view, the grass surrounding lots looks sparse and discoloured, the ocean is a grey/black colour, and the trees are all permanently stuck in winter mode, with no leaves on them whatsoever.

Similarly, the water in my actual lots is black, and while still functions normally, is a bit of an offputting sight.

These problems do not seem to occur in any of the already existing neighborhoods created my maxis (Riverblossom Hills etc), so not sure if it has anything to do with my graphics or something?

Any help would be appreciated, thank you!
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Undead Molten Llama
#2 Old 27th Jul 2018 at 11:39 PM
Do you have a water mod installed? Specifically this one? If so, then you need to have at least one pool square on lots or else any water, both on-lot water and any neighborhood water visible from the lot, will be black. You can hide the square(s) under stuff, if needed, so long as you have moveobjects turned on. I usually put a flower square over them.

As for the grass, you might have the low-spec grass that looks like hay. Don't know why you have leafless trees, though. Have your run the Graphics Rules Maker?

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 27th Jul 2018 at 11:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by iCad
Do you have a water mod installed? Specifically this one? If so, then you need to have at least one pool square on lots or else any water, both on-lot water and any neighborhood water visible from the lot, will be black. You can hide the square(s) under stuff, if needed, so long as you have moveobjects turned on. I usually put a flower square over them.

As for the grass, you might have the low-spec grass that looks like hay. Don't know why you have leafless trees, though. Have your run the Graphics Rules Maker?


As far as I'm aware I have no water mod installed, and yes the grass does look somewhat like hay. I'm not sure what the Graphics Rules Maker is sorry, I'm not very good with these sorts of things. I generally just download, play and hope for the best
Undead Molten Llama
#4 Old 27th Jul 2018 at 11:54 PM
Yeah, well, unfortuntely, TS2 doesn't know how to talk to new graphics cards very well. Although, I'm not sure why such issues would not also affect the Maxis neighborhoods. That's weird. But, in any case, it's a good idea to run the GRM anyway. Can't hurt, anyway! So, go here: https://www.simsnetwork.com/tools/graphics-rules-maker Download, run it, follow the instructions, and see if it helps.

Also, pics of what you're talking about would be helpful, if you can toss some screenshots on Imgur or something. (Last I heard, the forum's image-hosting server here was not accepting uploads.)

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#5 Old 28th Jul 2018 at 12:00 AM
You can attach an image to your post in this thread.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#6 Old 28th Jul 2018 at 3:52 AM
If your pond water in lots looks black, I am 98% sure you do have the water mod installed. it's very easy to pick up stuff without realizing. One time my female sims had a double row of nipples because I had somehow picked up a body default which added them + my skin default which added them-hence ending up with doubled nipples. I have no clue how or where I got that body default only that it was in there and took a whole 50/50 search to find. It was most definitely NOT something that I wanted! I was about ready to stab it with a fork by the time I found it looking like a jumble of letters and numbers. Probably got it with a random sim and if you have downloaded lots away from MTS that would be my guess at how you picked up the water mod. Quickly draw one square of pool water, if your water now looks fine it's the water mod.

These days you need the graphics rules and the 4gb patch if you want to play any kind of decent looking game. Look over the sticky threads in help.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Turquoise Dragon
retired moderator
#7 Old 28th Jul 2018 at 4:08 AM
would you mind copying your config log text from your logs folder in your documents/ea folder and pasting it under a spoiler here? It has some info. I have seen that error once before with the black water that wasn't from the water mod, and I believe it occurred in an intel graphics card. There is a cheat you can put in your cheat file that solves it.

the config log will tell us if you have that problem.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 2nd Aug 2018 at 1:28 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
If your pond water in lots looks black, I am 98% sure you do have the water mod installed. it's very easy to pick up stuff without realizing. One time my female sims had a double row of nipples because I had somehow picked up a body default which added them + my skin default which added them-hence ending up with doubled nipples. I have no clue how or where I got that body default only that it was in there and took a whole 50/50 search to find. It was most definitely NOT something that I wanted! I was about ready to stab it with a fork by the time I found it looking like a jumble of letters and numbers. Probably got it with a random sim and if you have downloaded lots away from MTS that would be my guess at how you picked up the water mod. Quickly draw one square of pool water, if your water now looks fine it's the water mod.

These days you need the graphics rules and the 4gb patch if you want to play any kind of decent looking game. Look over the sticky threads in help.


Searched my downloadfor the pond/sea water mod and there it was - managed to get back my blue water and healthy looking trees but still have the strawish looking grass and water is now a rather unappealing block blue, so presuming that has to do with graphics as the screen often seems to flicker as well.

I'll look into graphics rules and patches, thanks!
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