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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 2:13 PM
Default TS3 is soon a decade old game, what are your favourite default replacements and other graphical improvements?
I am very curious to see how other people have modded their games especially in the looks department since Sims 3 is going to be 9 years old this year. I bet we have gone a long way since 2009. Although I think sims 2 has the most impressive visual mod I have ever seen. Mind you, there probably are heaps more but I haven't been playing sims in years. How I wish the sims 3 game engine was more easily tweaked.

My favourite eye defaults are Oh my Eyes that were released in 2010, lol. But, I think Kurasoberina's skin NSFW is my new go-to skin.

I'm in the process of testing reshade but haven't found anything earth-shattering yet other than boy, it eats your frame rate quick.

I appreciate any comparison pictures between your vanilla game and having all your mods on. It would be very interesting to see all the different setups.
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Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#2 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 2:20 PM
Off topic, but I can already feel Grijze Pilion frantically going through his screenshots. Expect a picture-laden overkill post in 3...2...1
Lab Assistant
#3 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 2:43 PM
This is PERFECT! I just installed my new graphics card (and along with headaches of trying to fix it which involve reformatting my computer) and I would love to try something new!
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#4 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 3:10 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Don Babilon
Off topic, but I can already feel Grijze Pilion frantically going through his screenshots. Expect a picture-laden overkill post in 3...2...1


Haha, love it. Exactly what I want! Everyone keep them coming!

@Disspleased

Hehe, I got a brand new pc with a good graphics card as well.
Forum Resident
#5 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 3:17 PM
Slightly off topic but that title made me feel old. I started playing Sims in the late Sims 1 era so if Sims 3 is almost a decade old...
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#6 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 3:29 PM
I also started playing sims 1 around the time pets came out!

This year sims 1 is legally allowed to drink.

Oh no, so are the actual people who were born year 2000. I think im in crisis now, send help pls
Mad Poster
#7 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 3:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Don Babilon
Off topic, but I can already feel Grijze Pilion frantically going through his screenshots. Expect a picture-laden overkill post in 3...2...1

Well, if you say so...
Now these are just some shots I picked randomly. I'll have to do some more digging in my screenshot mines to find anything that I have both "on" and "off" versions of.

early morning, sun and a bit of depth blur


sunshine, a bit of bloom, a bit of lens blur, and some ambient occlusion


depth-based fog and depth-based blur - can be very pretty


closeups can be fun


And I absolutely agree @MeowMixPls, that TS2 mod is quite something. I wish we had something comparable in TS3 even if the TS3 lighting engine is essentially that and more already.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Field Researcher
#8 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 4:02 PM
I use these to enhance my gameplay experience they make huge difference even though I can't play with advanced rendering on. (THEY DON'T REALLY CHANGE THE LIGHTING,but make game prettier)

http://nilxis.tumblr.com/post/14627...ready-made-some


http://nilxis.tumblr.com/post/16457...nd-caw-add-some

http://wasset-aseskara.tumblr.com/p...eplaces-sun-sun

http://anime-boom-v.tumblr.com/post...s-in-the-sims-3
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#9 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 4:23 PM
@GrijzePilion very nice, looking forward more pics especially comparison ones.

@blyneliaivel I was meaning to google if there are any shadow fixes but you linked me one! I already had that clouds replacement and now will check out Egyptian pirate's replacements! thanks!
Theorist
#10 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 4:23 PM
Default Sims is a game where you are in charge...that's why we keep coming back for more!!
I'm going say I like the player inspired worlds. So many talented people dedicating their time to "de-crap" the game and make worlds playable for us, improve on old worlds, and design new ones.

They make me want to play the game after crashes, borks, and other hair pulling stress....

I'm playing Aluna Island now (https://jamesturner.yt/tss/Aluna-Island). It's small enough to run well on my computer, yet not too small to customize. It's also beautiful. I don't have any enhancements necessary which is a good thing since this is not a gaming computer.

As far as "graphics" I like realistic Sims and (again) all you talented people keep me coming back for more. I've been Simming since 2000 so there is something in this franchise (thanks to the artists in our community) that draws us into this shared experience.

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers
Theorist
#11 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 5:04 PM
I don't know...Ts3 is a laggy game to begin with, and graphics enhancements just make it more laggy in my opinion. I find it best to just put the graphics to the highest settings and just upgrade your TV once in a while.....
Of course, new skins and the 'less blue nights' mod I have are exceptions to that.

#BlairWitchPetition
TS3 NEEDS: TENNIS COURTS > BUSES > PIGS/SHEEP
Can't find stuff in build and buy mode? http://www.nexusmods.com/thesims3/mods/1/?
Scholar
#12 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 5:22 PM
Strangely, the things that have made the most difference for me in this game are downloading every eyebrow that caught my eye of Pralinesim and Serpentrogue on TSR. When I look around the world, I see that everyone's eyebrows look different and suggest the unique personalities they possess. I love having that for my sims! I probably don't need this many eyebrows, but I have so much fun playing with them in CAS! My other big love is Buckley's A-Z female hair and Hysterical Paraxism's default replacement hairs. They're simple enough for a service sim, but nice enough for a main character.

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=563152
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=563294
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=515592
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=515576
https://www.thesimsresource.com/art...ory/sims3-hair/
https://www.thesimsresource.com/art...ory/sims3-hair/
Mad Poster
#13 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 7:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by tizerist
I don't know...Ts3 is a laggy game to begin with, and graphics enhancements just make it more laggy in my opinion. I find it best to just put the graphics to the highest settings and just upgrade your TV once in a while.....
Of course, new skins and the 'less blue nights' mod I have are exceptions to that.

That's....not how it works. That's not how it's supposed to work. The graphics and the simulation are handled by entirely different code, run through entirely different parts of your system. Most of these graphics mods simply increase the number of draw calls or shader calculations. Sometimes neither. These are handled entirely by the GPU and can only affect framerate, not simulation speed. The simulation is the part that causes the lag. TS3 can easily run at a stable 60 on modern PCs, in fact it rarely if ever doesn't on my end. But the simulation lag is what's dragging you down. And as far as I know, most of the chugging that comes from the game loading in lots is CPU-based as well.

I've gotten a number of comments on my postprocessing shader about how it's actually not as much of a performance hog as expected. So as much as certain graphics mods can reduce performance - and mine certainly does - it's usually not by a huge amount. I find that if I'm on a huge lot and I'm only getting 15-20 FPS, turning the shader off really doesn't help much. Best case scenario, I'll get 25-30 FPS.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 12th Jan 2018 at 11:48 PM
For me SweetFx is that girl, along with Burntwaffle's dream dimension lighting mod, with Buhudain's global dynamic lighting mod, potato ballad sim's moon moon, and Nilxis' realistic clouds/milky way night sky. I also use a gaming PC for it. This is my game now:






I use to use mahamudo's enviromental lighting tweaks and/or dDefinder's lighting tweaks. For Modeling/my aesthetic pics I used the HQ mod. Unlike SweetFx the HQ mod had to be used sparingly. Here's some screenshots from my older games which were on my old laptop:


With HQ



@blyneliaivel did not know about wasset-aseskara thanks looks great

I talk to myself but no one answers ;_;
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#15 Old 13th Jan 2018 at 1:12 PM
Quote: Originally posted by tizerist
I find it best to just put the graphics to the highest settings and just upgrade your TV once in a while.....


What.

I agree with GrijzePilion, apples and oranges. With the simulation lag nraas and world fixes help plus the numerous other things mentioned many times.
For example, HQ mod makes my GPU work hard and textures load slowly yet I can easily run the game with ultra speed.

@HCAC oh yes, custom neighbourhoods are a must especially if you wish to have all your eps' special features. I have been playing in legacy island 3 cos been too lazy to build my own.

@tunafishfish love me some brows! It is the one thing I can't seem to be able to delete. I'm pretty good at culling furniture, clothes and even shoes lately. you might like these and you probably have these already! http://kurasoberina.tumblr.com/tagged/downloads and http://puchi-house.blogspot.com.au/...al-eyebrow.html the amazing Cher sim here uses one of the latter brows, looks so natural!

hhm, i really should look for makeup since i'm using HQ mod now

@Natrocity Nice! Also really impressed with that tree texture in the last pic for some reason.
Mad Poster
#17 Old 14th Jan 2018 at 11:45 AM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
I suppose those who clicked disagree are those with a level 7 or higher Nvidia GPU, so they never noticed the difference.

Meaning, a 770, a 970, a 1070 etc? I suppose that could be true.
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Now, if you use SweetFX, reshade, or even the custom AO, AA functions of the Nvidia GPU, there IS a way to recover your FPS loss if you are using a GPU level which suffer the FPS tax. Since those improvements are "overlays," you can essentially disable or drop your game "corresponding" GPU details to the lowest - such as lighting and shading. Think about it. The "enhancement" are rendered "separately" and then imposed onto your game's graphics, so any rendering done by the game itself is "overwritten" or "covered up" by the overlay. There is no reason to have the game generate highest lighting and shadows when the improvement overlay already does it. It is a redundancy.

Interesting notion, that. So, obviously, I'll now want to look what I can lose without compromising my visuals. Now before I go digging into the GraphicsRules file, I'll have to find out what it is that the ReShader is replacing or substituting completely.
I've indeed noticed that the AO and RBM shaders in ReShade do indeed alter the image instead of simply drawing on top of it. So that must mean some part of the ambient lighting model is being taken care of by ReShade. I don't know how much FPS I have to gain there, but it's worth looking into anyway.

EDIT: So how about artificial light sources then? I do a lot of interior decorating with lights. Different colours, intensities, angles, lighting types etc...I'm guessing I'd lose that with lower settings.

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( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#18 Old 14th Jan 2018 at 1:58 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
I don't know why people click disagree with this comment b/c it is factually correct in many regards.


Well, if your pc cannot handle a few default replacements without getting laggy, it would not run high detail lots in the max?! High detail lots are pretty useless resource hog anyway during regular gameplay since most of the time would be spent on a lot making the sims do stuff. I'd add high tree detail to the list too. Only now I truly have every setting in the max but I do have a 2017 gaming pc and sims 3 was released in 2009. Also, how many is going to even notice if sims is getting stable 30 fps instead of 60? I know I don't.

With my regular old laptops, I had everything on high expect tree and lot detail plus heaps of cc and what I have personally experienced the worst lag came from completing WA and having bloated personal inventory and lots of sims in the relationship panel. Best fix was to move your family to new town with one of the nrass mods and everything was smooth again.

FPS tax recovery, very interesting! I'll look into it once I get more time to actually play and fiddle with reshade. That cat picture is such a perfect picture to demonstrate the difference with and without AO. I haven't tried forcing it with nvidia inspector I'm kinda assuming reshade would do a better job at it?
Mad Poster
#19 Old 14th Jan 2018 at 2:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by MeowMixPls
FPS tax recovery, very interesting! I'll look into it once I get more time to actually play and fiddle with reshade. That cat picture is such a perfect picture to demonstrate the difference with and without AO. I haven't tried forcing it with nvidia inspector I'm kinda assuming reshade would do a better job at it?

I've found the ReShade AO to be a bit sketchy. There's a number of various shader models and they all have their own downsides. The one I'm using right now, for example, is excellent with Sims and foliage, but it has a weird grimy-looking texture to it that can easily ruin the whole look of it, and it fades out weirdly in some places. The one I used before that didn't have these downsides but it looked really bad up close.

So despite there being 6 entirely different AO models, I regularly find myself wondering why they're all so damn flawed.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Scholar
#20 Old 14th Jan 2018 at 3:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by MeowMixPls

@tunafishfish love me some brows! It is the one thing I can't seem to be able to delete. I'm pretty good at culling furniture, clothes and even shoes lately. you might like these and you probably have these already! http://kurasoberina.tumblr.com/tagged/downloads and http://puchi-house.blogspot.com.au/...al-eyebrow.html the amazing Cher sim here uses one of the latter brows, looks so natural!

hhm, i really should look for makeup since i'm using HQ mod now


I don't need more brows. I don't need more brows. I don't need more brows...
Mad Poster
#22 Old 14th Jan 2018 at 3:13 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
If you're using a level 7 or higher, I don't think you need to worry much about it. It really is for us folks with level 5 and lower. I actually do not play with AO on b/c I just can't stand the FPS tax even if I turn down the in-game shading/lighting. I only use it to take screenshots.

The weird thing is, I can comfortably play with everything on. The whole deal. Framerate's always somewhere between 20 and 30. But when recording footage with Fraps, it usually drops down to well below 20. And as much as I don't mind a framerate like that myself, it's not exactly ideal for Let's plays et cetera.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Mad Poster
#23 Old 15th Jan 2018 at 3:34 PM Last edited by GrijzePilion : 15th Jan 2018 at 6:39 PM.
@MeowMixPls I got you some more of them screenshot thingies because I happen to know you like them.

Same Sim, two ages. I really love how much the colours pop in this screenshot.


When it's cloudy, the entire city seems to change. Instead of a stark, bold blue sky, there's a strong white hue. It tells us that yes, it's daytime and yes, it's still a very nice day.


One of the most gorgeous things about Bridgeport, but especially about this apartment, is the view. That's the Atlantic Ocean out there, and all that separates us from 3000 miles of nothingness is downtown Bridgeport.


In case you hadn't guessed it, I like bold colours. Goes with the whole 80s schtick, but also with just about everything else. Like these buildings.

insert signature here
( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Instructor
#24 Old 16th Jan 2018 at 7:14 PM
Quote: Originally posted by blyneliaivel
I use these to enhance my gameplay experience they make huge difference even though I can't play with advanced rendering on. (THEY DON'T REALLY CHANGE THE LIGHTING,but make game prettier)

http://nilxis.tumblr.com/post/14627...ready-made-some


http://nilxis.tumblr.com/post/16457...nd-caw-add-some

http://wasset-aseskara.tumblr.com/p...eplaces-sun-sun

http://anime-boom-v.tumblr.com/post...s-in-the-sims-3


@blyneliaivel do you use all of them together, combined? I wonder since I already have the Nilxis' clouds and night sky and the Wasset ones seem to edit the same things if they don't conflict/override each other?
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