I need to explain it bit more, basically, Sims 2 lots, if you are not currently on the lot the other lot, is pixelated and low in detail. I got a computer I believe can run a mod or something that can make lot prettier than pixelated


How can I make it look more realistic looking than just ugly?

You can't. Lot imposters are what they are. Unfortunately.

There are some things you can do in SimPE that will temporarily make some things -- like lighting and roofing -- look better, but the changes you make won't "stick." As soon as you save the game, they'll revert back to low-res. So, IMO, it's just not worth the fiddling. Criquette talks about it on their tumblr, if you want to look into it, though. (Sorry for the lack of a direct link to a relevant post, just don't feel like looking for it now. But you'll find it if you go back a ways on it.)

Is there a file which manages lot lighting and that so I can change it sightly

Criquette talks about altering neighborhood lighting on their tumblr, to reduce shadow intensity and whatnot. But I don't think this affects how neighboring lots look when you have a lot loaded. I'm pretty sure it only affects how things look in neighborhood view.

In any case, you'll want to have a look at Criquette's tumblr. Lots of info there about this kind of stuff. I'm afraid I don't personally know much about it, myself, so any questions you have are probably better directed at Criquette, as they're the most knowledgeable person about this kind of thing, as far as I know. I don't think they hang out on MTS anymore, but you can send them an ask through their Tumblr, even if you don't have a Tumblr account yourself.

Here's a direct link to that tutorial:
http://criquette-was-here.tumblr.co.../the-roof-is-on

Ah, thanks for posting the direct link, simsample. I hadn't saved a link to it because I decided that it was too fiddly to mess with, especially because it doesn't "stick," and I just didn't feel like scrolling to find it.

...Although now that I'm looking at it again, I'm guessing doing this will only affect how things look in neighborhood view, not how neighboring lots look when playing a lot. But maybe I'm wrong about that. Either way, it's a TON of fiddling.

And of course, it pretty difficult to use for residential lots, as the changes will be lost when you save.

But maybe useful for people who want to build an empty hood and take photos.

Thanks, I will tried that once I got SimPE and try mess around with it

As I understand it, it's when you resave the lot (not the whole game) that the old Lot Imposter reasserts itself. You can get round this - I do it for some community lots which I don't save often - by hanging onto the improved graphics files and reinserting them after a save. It's a fiddle though and only for a marginal improvement. I only do it for lots I rarely edit. Lived in lots, there's no point.

IMO you get a better improvement by trying to force visible objects (and some that are not normally visible) to use their in-game lot meshes rather than LOD90 neighbourhood meshes. This means when you view them from both neighbourhood view and (other) lot view, objects placed outside look better because they're using their in-lot meshes. You have to watch it though since you're asking the game to render higher poly objects and it can cause lag in neighbourhood view. Having said that, trees and other plants especially benefit from this and it can improve the appearance of the neighbourhood markedly. The slight (IMO) downside is that Lot Imposters don't update with the seasons (I think - maybe I'm wrong about that, haven't actually tested and most of the original in-game plants aren't properly seasonal anyway). As you are always in summer in build mode, empty lots will always show their flowers blooming even under snow.

You can also use hood deco buildings. Criquette would have some.

The lot imposter issue, which is what you see there, we all have. This is due to the game coming out in 2004 and there isn't really anything you can do about it for everyday play.

I admit, this is one advantage that Sims 3 has over Sims 2. I could stare down streets for hours with Sims 3. There are other things that can irritate about that game, but the scenery is not one of them for me!

Oh, well. I live with the pixelated backgrounds in 2!

Well like I always say, I am not here to play the scenery but the sims. If anyone ever manages to make a fix for lot imposters though- They will need a medal.

I guess my question is kind of related to this... is it possible to change which objects the game chooses to display in neighborhood/lot impostor view? I have a few lots where it's a minor headache and a couple more where it's a major headache that the Grey Lady of SimCity statue doesn't show up, for example...

iCad knows how.

Yeah me too Gazania - I like the higher res nature of TS3 neighbourhoods - not much else unfortunately.

Here you go, Z: http://dramallamadingdang.tumblr.co...-how-to-do-this

Just be aware if you do this a lot, you're adding lots of high-poly stuff to neighborhood view/when viewing neighbors in lot view, as Maxon said. This can cause lag in lower-spec machines. So, use judiciously. It'll help with things like plants and statuary and such; buy mode stuff, mostly, in other words. It WON'T help with things that become part of the lot imposter, which is most build-mode things like doors/windows, walls, fences, stairs, etc.

ooo thanks iCad - I had thought about trying to write down what I did with the Shape and the Cres to make it work but it's been a while and I forgot. That's really helpful.

NB - you can do the same with custom objects though of course you're not extracting the CRES and SHPE with those as they'll be in the file already.

Personally, I think plants benefit the most from this and can make the neighbourhood look much nicer. Outdoor stuff also helps but I do it less. Though having said that, I never thought about doing statues which makes complete sense now I think about it. Attached are pictures of what it looks like when I did the base game flowers (same method as iCad's basically).

PIctures are
- an on-lot overview Little Carping's flower garden in the park
- a shot of what it looks like from neighbourhood view overhead by default
- a similar shot of what it looks like after I fiddled with the Shape and Cres resources for the plants
- what it looks like from another lot
- a close up showing the flowers using their in-lot meshes. This is where you have to be careful about polys and rendering. You can see the other plants that already have their LOD90 meshes look very low poly in this view. It was made like that deliberately to reduce stress on lower end machines from the 2000s. But even with our modern machines, you need to be careful because the game is not great at memory management. It seems silly when we think about playing other games (I'm currently playing Subnautica and it looks gorgeous) but it's not just the machine architecture that makes the difference here.

I built that lot when M&G came out - I was trying out the new flowers. I used all of them in that lot.

If I want the Maxis object to appear on neighborhood mode look nice, it is better I reduce the bit of poly to make it more compatible with an older computer? The texture I think will be okay I think it just much much poly I should remove to make it 1. compatible with older computer and 2. to look petty

Is there a way to modify the lot impostors to make texture on roof, wall, window, door look better?

Just the way mentioned up thread by iCad and linked by SimSample.

Out of luck...