Poor Body Textures Outside of CAS

[OpiumGirl]

It's not terrible but, once I get into play/live mode, the body textures look nowhere near as nice as they do in CAS.
In CAS the skin is very high resolution, crystal clear and really smooth.  Once I get the sims out of CAS and into play mode, it seems like the skins have been replaced with lower resolution textures or mip maps...Nothing at all like the ones in CAS.
I have a pretty solid computer and get around 150+ fps with all settings maxed, on a normal sized lot with a couple people, so it's not due to lacking hardware or graphics card (4870x2). 
Has anyone else noticed this distinct drop in sim quality outside of CAS?  Is there a difference in how they render the two states which would cause such a drastic quality difference? They would look really amazing if the quality carried over to play mode.

I should note that the quality isn't literally terrible or unbearable.  The textures just look disappointingly dull once they're out of CAS.

[Caraleede]

Lrn2Srch?

http://linna.modthesims.info/download.php?t=343769

 

[OpiumGirl]

It wasn't a mod I was looking for.
I wanted to know about the default skins and if other people were experiencing the same thing with the quality difference because the CAS skins are so amazing that no mod would be needed if they were used at their full resolution in-game.

Lrn2Read?

Anyone have anything useful to bring to the conversation? 

[Doc Doofus]

I've noticed it too, even with HP's new default skins.  I'm not sure why this is, but it seems that the game runs with higher graphics settings in CAS mode.  The lighting of the faces, in particular, seem more stark in CAS, so it may be that they temporarily reset shadows and lighting to Highest in CAS.  In mygame, I have been using Sim Textures at Highest and everything else Low.

Perhaps you also noticed how much better the Sims looked in the start up video.

[OpiumGirl]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about. 
After playing a little more, I've noticed that the weather lighting effects are really terrible as well. Even at highest detail, the sims look completely dull and even worse at certain times of day (pink/purple morning anyone?).  I'd much rather use what's available in the game rather than use that mod, or any mod.  I hate the work people do on skintone faces...It scares me more than the original skin tones. 
Does any tech savvy person have any idea what the difference is? I mean, in CAS, do they possibly use much higher quality meshes and textures?  Or is it purely the lighting. I'd love to see a way to force the same settings, if it's at all possible.

Anyone actually know this stuff?

[mibsywibsy]

Or is it purely the lighting.

Pretty much. The lighting in TS3 is absolute ungodly shit.

There is a system of swapping out low-res textures for higher-res ones once you close in to a certain distance, which might be a factor if you're not zoomed in really fucking close on your Sims all the time. Sims generally always have looked better in CAS, what because of all the zooming in.

[simsdesperado]

I don't like the lightning either, shadows look too dark, especially on objets inside rooms. Now that you mention it it might be possible for them to use different skins in CAS than in game. But then again, I think they just used very small textures on lots of objects, not just sims. The cheap fridge looks particularly pixelated. And sometimes clothes too show pixellated areas here and there. The night sky also seems to have the different colours set in layers without blending between then. But then again it could be my videocard.

[kazebird]

To tell the truth, from what I've seen, most of the graphics are worse than The Sims 2. Even the Plumbobs were better in 2!

[Captain Swooptie]

The global lighting in 3 is pretty weird. Part of the reason the CAS view looks so good is because it's set up like a photo studio, with several bright lights evenly illuminating the sim. If you turn your sim around so his back is facing you, though, you can see the shitty lighting in the mirror reflection. It wreaks absolute havoc on the face. If you put a sim in a room and face him toward a handful of bright, white lights, you'll get a decent illumination. Take him outside, and it falls apart.

The lighting, in my opinion, actually looks quite good where objects, terrain, and structures are concerned. But it seems exceptionally flat and dull on a sim's face. Two games I can think of off the top of my head that have a similar effect are Everquest 2 and Oblivion. Whenever the sky goes overcast, the lighting changes and you get that same flat lighting on the face that shades the geometry in weird ways and makes a big mess.

The textures shouldn't have that much of an influence on the look of the face in-game as there's not much going on in the default skin texture to begin with. There'll be banding in the gradients, sure, but there's not much detail (pores, fine lines and wrinkles, blemishes, etc.) there to lose clarity.

I do not know why sims' faces seem to take the lighting so poorly, but I do hope someone will be able to modify it in the future.

[TashaYarrr]

To tell the truth, from what I've seen, most of the graphics are worse than The Sims 2. Even the Plumbobs were better in 2!

I've made the mistake of loading up TS2 today after a few weeks of TS3. I say "mistake" because I think that might have spelled the end of me and TS3. The 'look and feel' in TS2 is so much better than TS3 it's ridiculous. I hadn't played TS2 in a couple of months, and I'd forgotten a lot of little details, like the fact that hair was actually animated. And that my Sims are able to look different from each other. And attractive.

I'm suddenly far more invested in completing a half-finished medieval TS2 'hood I'd started a couple of years ago than dealing with the TS3 crapfest any further. The only thing I'm going to miss (and have gone to reach for a few times) is, of course, Create-A-Style. I would have paid the damn fifty bucks for EA just to cram CAST into TS2 and call it a day.

[kazebird]

Glad to see I'm not alone in sticking with TS2.

[OpiumGirl]

I just got around to installing Sims 3 for the first time (a couple of days ago, to avoid confusion)....I had to keep checking if it actually said Sims 3 because the graphics were SO similar, it looked as though it could have been an expansion.  I don't think I've ever seen a game come out YEARS later and still have the same graphics engine....only it's far worse on most people's systems.
I hadn't been playing Sims 2 for awhile so I am not missing it but, I'm totally unimpressed at this point.
As was mentioned, the thing that has totally blown me away (in a good way) is CAST. But, once I started actually playing, I felt like I was playing Sims 2 again with far worse lighting. Even the sims are just as ridiculously stupid as they were....or worse since I had no mods to de-stupidify them, ha.

All of the process of making them has been really vamped up, and the same with building...But once I started playing, I was totally unimpressed with the way everything looked and felt.  
When I saw the skin tones in CAS, I was really stoked, thinking they'd carry over into the game but they're nothing like what you get when you start actually playing.  It's terrible how ugly they look.

I have to say that Sims 2 CAS looked very similar to the Sims in the game, at least on High settings.  The quality was the same in my experience.
Does anyone think it would ever be possible to figure out what happens to the bodies once they leave CAS?  Can we force the loveliness upon live Sims? Demand that they remain pretty?  

[Chain_Reaction]

I just got around to installing Sims 3 for the first time....

  Is anyone else confused? You made this thread and hinted that you were playing but then you went and said this. Am I missing something?

And yes, I've noticed the same issue. The sims I made in CAS were good looking but once I got them into game I sat glaring at the screen wondering what the hell just happened. There's so much detail loss that they don't even look the same. I guess it is for the better though, CAS seems to be famous for making video cards over heat and the exceptional detail is likely the cause. If we had that in game, there would be more crashing and lag unless you had a super computer. Though it might not be higher detail, it could be the zoom and lighting. They really screwed up the lighting on this one. I have to have a million lamps in one room or it's so damn dark.

[OpiumGirl]

I meant just *recently* got around to installing (as in recently within the last few days), not just today.  
I went ahead and amended my previous point to avoid further confusion though I never expected to run into any. 

[kiki]

Am I one of the only ones that has zero complaints about the lighting and the textures? I have a very high-end graphics card backed by tons of ramz and I've never noticed any problems with my textures OR my lighting; in fact, I'm really happy with my lighting...in TS3 for me it's like GunMod's raidiance (dDefinder ed.) is built into the base game here. I'm not at home so I can't provide screenshots right now but later on when I'm home I'll provide examples - it may possibly be shader settings on your graphics cards that are causing your game to look a bit less than schmick.

In summary: ewe needs moar ramz and grafiks.

[OpiumGirl]

It must be a matter of taste..
I have been playing a lot of very highly graphical games that are absolutely stunning...I realize that this may be why everything looks so dull and plastic to me with the Sims.

There will always be some who have no issue with the terrible anti-harmonious lighting colors.    The thing is, I like my green floor to look green, always.  Not completely purple in the morning, navy blue in the evening or anything other than said green color. 
That's just me, though. 

[Solowren]

Am I one of the only ones that has zero complaints about the lighting and the textures? I have a very high-end graphics card backed by tons of ramz and I've never noticed any problems with my textures OR my lighting; in fact, I'm really happy with my lighting...in TS3 for me it's like GunMod's raidiance (dDefinder ed.) is built into the base game here. I'm not at home so I can't provide screenshots right now but later on when I'm home I'll provide examples - it may possibly be shader settings on your graphics cards that are causing your game to look a bit less than schmick.

In summary: ewe needs moar ramz and grafiks.

What graphics card do you have, Kiki? Sims 3 has made me decide to look into upgrading my three year old card.

[OpiumGirl]

In summary: ewe needs moar ramz and grafiks.

I haz 8 gigs of rams and ma grafiks card be kickass. I agree that the sims in CAS look vastly different (read: better) than when in game. It's frustrating and really annoying. I'm not sure why kikis are so speshul they haz no problems but I are not happy cat. 

Amen, amen.

[TashaYarrr]

Have played it on an NVIDIA 8800 GTX OC, 9600 GT, and GTX 280. I'm not sure how RAM is going to make graphics looks better, but all machines have 4gb or above. Generally using a 1920X1200 widescreen. I've tried a variety of in-game and NVIDIA control panel settings. The game continues to look like ass, particularly the sims and their portraiture. As mentioned, though, personal taste is also involved.

[OpiumGirl]

 Indeed. Good to know it isn't just me, then.
Does anyone know anything about lighting adjustment?  What would make a world of difference in this game would be the ability to turn off the ambient shaders?  As in, go back to the good old days where it was just light and dark and no failed attempts at creating ambiance.  It would be amazing to see light changes, just no color changes. Anyone know if that's possible?

 I hate to have to run over to MTS and ask. 

[kiki]

Am I one of the only ones that has zero complaints about the lighting and the textures? I have a very high-end graphics card backed by tons of ramz and I've never noticed any problems with my textures OR my lighting; in fact, I'm really happy with my lighting...in TS3 for me it's like GunMod's raidiance (dDefinder ed.) is built into the base game here. I'm not at home so I can't provide screenshots right now but later on when I'm home I'll provide examples - it may possibly be shader settings on your graphics cards that are causing your game to look a bit less than schmick.

In summary: ewe needs moar ramz and grafiks.

What graphics card do you have, Kiki? Sims 3 has made me decide to look into upgrading my three year old card.

I have a gaming laptop with an Nvidia 9800 GTX in it that has 1 GB of DDR3 ramz on its own but can borrow another 1 GB worth of ramz from my system ramz if it wants to, depending on how little is actually being used by the system - for TS3, it takes the extra so I'm essentially running a 2 GB graphics card for the game.

[Mire Krisma]

Spore seems to have the same problem with textures being crisp during creation, but very muddy during gameplay. I agree, though. This restriction is retarded, seeing as many PCs far outdo the system reqs.

I bet that it's just an unmodifiable setting that bring things down to a certain level. The textures are there, they just aren't being used to their potential.

[OpiumGirl]

It would be amazing to see light changes, just no color changes.

Screw that. I want a camera hack. The camera movements are fucking shit and I despises them. 

Yeah, I hear ya...especially the Neighborhood view. (or is it Edit Town now?)

To clarify what I was saying....I meant keep the light changes from day to night (and in between) as they are. Just take out the horrid colors. Nothing too fancy. That would suffice to make it bearable for me.

[Doc Doofus]

Kiki mentioned Gunmod's Lighting hack, and that is what I was reminded of, as well.  Gunmod experimented with different tweaks that changed the lighting of the game.  I suspect there is a more sophisticated lighting configuration used in CAS than in-game.

I tried boosting my graphic specs in TS3 setup to see if it would make the faces look like they do in CAS.  No, it doesn't.  There was an improvement, but it didnt' look nearly the same -- still very puddin'ish, just crisper, better defined puddin'.  And slow.

Tip for those not blessed with high-end cards: The best improvement of Sims appearance versus speed lag cost seems to come from boosting Sims Texture Detail to HIGHEST.  Lighting, shadows and reflection have less payoff and they lag the system more.   I suggest keeping everything else at lowest setting and pushing the Sims Texture Detail as high as you can go without lagging your system.

[EdenNintyNine]

My only complaint thus far graphics wise would probably be that no matter how hard you work your sim, they will never get abs; seriously, I was very disappointed.

Though I have noticed the occasional texture fuck up- when playing around with terrain I get mysterious flying water and of course the already establish texture issues when sims face water. Other than that, I think it looks great; and my PC has no where near the awesomeness which you described Kiki. How much did that laptop set you back?