Poor Body Textures Outside of CAS

[Chain_Reaction]

I am very upset....

Oh Annie, cheer up. The sun will come out tomorrow!

In other news, I got the HP skins and I don't care for them. It makes the sims look even worse. The "imperfections" look like blobs of crap. What's with the big color difference on the forehead of females? I'm going to remove them soon unless I want to pretend my sims forehead got attacked with bleach. I only got them for the hair on the males and it's blurry.

[Ambular]

I tried HP's replacements too, and didn't care for them...

[minx]

I have a REALLY hard time believing this is an issue of "get better hardware". I'm running with 8GB corsair dominator RAM and ATI Radeon 4870x2 gfx card on 1680x1050 res, everything maxed and running perfectly smooth. I have hardware to spare.

Regardless of all of this, my once lovely looking CAS created Sims go from looking fantastic and remotely human and attractive by Sims 3 standards, to Miss PlayDough '09 the second I load them up in game.

Case in point:



gross. In CAS they're infinitely cleaner and crisp looking and you can actually make something that looks good. In game they turn to mush even at full settings, and the shit-tastic lighting that miraculously turns every skintone into some horrific shade of mystic tan day-glo orange doesnt help. Its pretty similar to the blurring that covers every bedspread, fabric, or texture when actually placed in-game. Sims 2 looked worlds better, which is pretty pathetic.

I use HP's replacements for the record... like everything else, they're great in CAS and way better than the defaults, but the second you go ingame it looks almost worse because of the game's apparent inability to handle detailed textures, which results in a smudgey mess that makes my sims look like zombies or burn victims. Lets not even go into toddlers/children. That shit is the stuff nightmares are made of.

[Shazaam]

Wow, The different is huge.

Many people said TS3 is a hunger of resources game, and many people already complain about the slowness and low framerate.

I can't iimagine if the lighting and texture in CAS applied in the game. It will be very very slow....for many people who has slow computer.

Do you think the lighting and texture setting is broken? Like Story Progression option?

May be someone need to take a look and fix it.

[minx]

Wow, The different is huge.

Many people said TS3 is a hunger of resources game, and many people already complain about the slowness and low framerate.

I can't iimagine if the lighting and texture in CAS applied in the game. It will be very very slow....for many people who has slow computer.

Do you think the lighting and texture setting is broken? Like Story Progression option?

May be someone need to take a look and fix it.

It wouldnt be hard to have a decent slider for textures/lighting. There are alot of people with gaming computers that could more than handle a much higher graphical load than max-setting sims 3 in live mode currently offers.

[Drakron]

There is a "slider", its options that control the levels of detail.

I taken a look inside GraphicsRules.sgr and I have NO IDEA why the hell CAS looks one way and ingame things look different ... see for yourself ...

option SimQuality
   setting $Low
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimLODDistances "2, 8, 15, 100"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimTextureSizes "512, 512, 256, 128"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimUseSpecular  "0, 0, 0, 0"
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapWidth 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled false
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSimpleHairShaderEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASRenderTargetSize  512
        prop $ConfigGroup MinSimLOD 1
   prop $ConfigGroup ActiveLODLimit 200
   setting $Medium
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimLODDistances "5, 25, 75, 150"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimTextureSizes "1024, 1024, 256, 128"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimUseSpecular  "1, 1, 0, 0"
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapWidth 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSimpleHairShaderEnabled false
       prop $ConfigGroup CASRenderTargetSize  1024
      prop $ConfigGroup MinSimLOD 1
   prop $ConfigGroup ActiveLODLimit 200
   setting $High
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimLODDistances "5, 30, 85, 250"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimTextureSizes "1024, 1024, 256, 128"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimUseSpecular  "1, 1, 1, 0"
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapWidth 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled false
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSimpleHairShaderEnabled false
       prop $ConfigGroup CASRenderTargetSize  2048
      prop $ConfigGroup MinSimLOD 1
   prop $ConfigGroup ActiveLODLimit 200
if ($isMac)
   if (match("${cardVendor}", "ATI"))
           prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled false
           prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled true
   endif
endif
   setting $VeryHigh
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimLODDistances "25, 50, 100, 1000"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimTextureSizes "2048, 2048, 512, 128"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimUseSpecular  "1, 1, 1, 1"
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapWidth 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled false
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSimpleHairShaderEnabled false
       prop $ConfigGroup CASRenderTargetSize  2048
      prop $ConfigGroup MinSimLOD 0
   prop $ConfigGroup ActiveLODLimit 200
if ($isMac)
   if (match("${cardVendor}", "ATI"))
           prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled false
           prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled true
   endif
endif
end

[OpiumGirl]

I am very upset....

I actually suggest that you try them out.  While I'm not particularly a fan, I think these skins look quite nice.  I have a feeling that I'm not alone so, I say, try them out and see for yourself.

I have a REALLY hard time believing this is an issue of "get better hardware". I'm running with 8GB corsair dominator RAM and ATI Radeon 4870x2 gfx card on 1680x1050 res, everything maxed and running perfectly smooth. I have hardware to spare.

Regardless of all of this, my once lovely looking CAS created Sims go from looking fantastic and remotely human and attractive by Sims 3 standards, to Miss PlayDough '09 the second I load them up in game.

Case in point:
Snipped Picture

Great, great comparison screen.  i actually never took such an in depth look, though I knew they looked terrible.  This is unmitigated proof! Thanks for that.

[Shazaam]

setting $VeryHigh
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimLODDistances "25, 50, 100, 1000"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimTextureSizes "2048, 2048, 512, 128"
       prop $ConfigGroup RenderSimUseSpecular  "1, 1, 1, 1"
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapWidth 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled false
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSimpleHairShaderEnabled false
       prop $ConfigGroup CASRenderTargetSize  2048
      prop $ConfigGroup MinSimLOD 0
   prop $ConfigGroup ActiveLODLimit 200
if ($isMac)
   if (match("${cardVendor}", "ATI"))
           prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled false
           prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled true
   endif

If we look at the Very High setting above:

        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapWidth 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled true
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled false
        prop $ConfigGroup CASSimpleHairShaderEnabled false
       prop $ConfigGroup CASRenderTargetSize  2048

There's CAS word in it, Does it mean only applied in CAS only?
And in the real game, those setting above is disabled.

   if (match("${cardVendor}", "ATI"))
           prop $ConfigGroup CASLightMapFilteringEnabled false
           prop $ConfigGroup CASSinglePassShaderEnabled true

Does it mean the ATI card doesn't support "CASLightMapFilteringEnabled". What it means with Light Map Filtering? Is it bad to be disabled?
I have ATI Radeon 4850, does it mean nVidia card better?

[tizerist]

Look at the difference in the angles of the lips and lower eye lids in the comparison shots.

No wonder I kept going back to CAS and reducing the lips..

[Drakron]

There's CAS word in it, Does it mean only applied in CAS only?
And in the real game, those setting above is disabled.

Yes, its the texture size but if you look the texture size for CAS and close up ingame is the same, there are settings for how close the Sim is since its a waste of resources to display 2048 textures zoomed out.

Does it mean the ATI card doesn't support "CASLightMapFilteringEnabled". What it means with Light Map Filtering? Is it bad to be disabled?
I have ATI Radeon 4850, does it mean nVidia card better?

No, you missed "if ($isMac)" were that is only applied on Mac computers.

I guess its disabled because of drivers issues on the Mac.

[OpiumGirl]

I tried HP skins....and no thank you. I think I'll just have to get used to TS3 looks till someone finds out how to make them look better

That bad, huh? Avoid the painted faces like the plague if they are anything like the ones that were so popular in Sims 2.  Scary.

When you tried them out, did they look any different to you than the original (vanilla) ones?  What was it that was worse in HPs, in your opinion? 
I'm just wondering out of pure curiosity, what it is that seems to make them look worse.
 
I don't like not being able to actually view the contents of the mod package to check out what these skintones actually look like as textures.

[Salomon]

Look at the difference in the angles of the lips and lower eye lids in the comparison shots.

No wonder I kept going back to CAS and reducing the lips..

What happens is that in real virtual life the sims have a neutral face, while in CAS they are smiling, if you make them look neutral in CAS, that's the effect you get in gameplay, once you set CAS to a neutral face you can see how really the lips will end looking like.

[jonas]

Just to make certain - I had all graphics turned up when I began my game but I still had to manually turn up the "Sims Quality" so that may be a factor as while my sims have some weird texture to a degree, they are not nearly as blotchy as the pic above.

Regarding the skin, I go back and forth on whether or not I like it.  I think they did a very good job of making the male skins look as though there is an element of body hair on the arms and chest especially. The underarms are a little weird. 

I'm having a bit of a difficult time with the lips still - another reason I want me some Awesomemod (trying to wait as long as possible for the mod's shininess to be fully polished) and sometimes the skins just aren't attractive.

Speaking of attractiveness, there's something that's been nagging me but is growing each day. 

That is, the fact that when I play Sims2 - I'm especially good at making any teen females(and up) look downright physically beautiful, which makes me want to play that sim a lot more.  I'm having a difficult time finding/creating beauty out of any born-in game sim.  This, paired with Story Progression making my grown kids disappear, is really starting to affect my Sims3 love.  Either I'm just not getting it yet or the makeup in Sims3 is lacking in it's ability to make a sim look better.

[Captain Swooptie]

I'm having a bit of a difficult time with the lips still - another reason I want me some Awesomemod (trying to wait as long as possible for the mod's shininess to be fully polished) and sometimes the skins just aren't attractive.

There's no reason not to go ahead and get Awesomemod. It won't destroy your game.

[J. M. Pescado]

There is no point in "waiting" for it to be more polished. AwesomeMod is an ongoing development and will remain such, presumably, for the next 4-5 years.

[Shazaam]

Just to make certain - I had all graphics turned up when I began my game but I still had to manually turn up the "Sims Quality" so that may be a factor as while my sims have some weird texture to a degree, they are not nearly as blotchy as the pic above.

What do you mean with manually turn up the "Sims Quality"?

Do you mean we still can tune up the graphic setting of Sims model beyond EA setting? Can you share us a trick for it?

[Ashkitty]

Just to make certain - I had all graphics turned up when I began my game but I still had to manually turn up the "Sims Quality" so that may be a factor as while my sims have some weird texture to a degree, they are not nearly as blotchy as the pic above.

What do you mean with manually turn up the "Sims Quality"?

Do you mean we still can tune up the graphic setting of Sims model beyond EA setting? Can you share us a trick for it?

I think they meant that all their graphics sliders IN sims were up, except sim quality maybe got toggled lower somehow and they upped it.

That said, I did get a nice little boost to AA and some better lighting on sim skins after I went and fooled around with my graphics card settings in Nvidia Control Panel, or whatever the advanced graphics settings are now. Really love the visual quality of my game, and my performance has taken no obvious hit.

But my computer is a monster, YMMV.

(Preview button =/= post button.)

[Doc Doofus]

I played around with my graphics settings to see what would give me the best bang for the buck in terms of better looking sims, and the slider that seemed to help the most was setting Sims Quality (middle/bottom right slider) to VERY HIGH.  If you're tweaking your settings, that's the very first place to start.

Lighting came second in terms of improvement.  There was a substantial lag impact from boosting that.  The best improvement came from the highest setting, which had the worst impact, so I just leave that completely off. 

My graphics card is old, so it's considered low-end now: an ATI 9700 w/256mb on card.

[minx]

The comparison shot I posted was with graphics all set on maximum.... like i said in my original post. Theres no slider to increase - everything is as high as it will go. It is very zoomed in and played on an extremely high resolution - from afar, the smudgeyness isnt as noticable. I also noticed when playing on my sisters laptop, which plays on a much lower resolution, the difference isnt as obvious because the CAS sims dont look as good to begin with. Dunno.

 My video card is an ATI HD4370 x2 and my computer is godly, so its certainly not a hardware issue. All drivers are up to date. I suppose i can play around in catalyst a bit and see if anything changes.

Also, these arent default skins.. again. They are HP's replacements. Great looking in CAS, FAR superior to default.. turn to blurry smooshy messes in live. The defaults are way lower quality, so there isnt much to ruin when it comes to cas vs live there. It seems the better the original texture, the more it gets destroyed in live vs cas.. it blows at rendering fine detail.

[AllenABQ]

Gah... well unless and until they fix this, any of the fine detail work I did for TS2 for male body hair on the skin tones would be completely useless applied to TS3.

[Shazaam]

Do you think the poor quality of skin texture is because of video card RAM?

Mine has 512MB of RAM, and the skin texture look bad in dark skin. There's an artifact on the skintone, something like skin disease, or import/exported multiple times from TS2 bodyshop.

Does anyone here has 1GB of video card RAM, do you still get artifact on the dark skintone?

I also download custom skintone and the quality is one step lower than EA original. I get artifact in bright skintone that I never get when using TS3 original skintone.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

To me it looks to be pure and simple better skin and hair shader in use in CAS.

In CAS you see individual specular highlights coming from what appear to be more than one light. In-game I never really see much specularity on the skin except from the global light and when its not directly in front of your Sim you get a bleed around issue for faces of the model that are almost parallel with the light direction. So in eye sockets that should be dark you will sometimes get the specular showing up from the sun being behind them. Same effect can easily be reproduced in CAS as well if you spin your sim to face the mirror you see a fugly lighting on the face with bleeding effect occur.

[Doc Doofus]

Do the artifacts look jagged?  Perhaps they are shadows.  Like this.



Not sure why they look that bad.  I gave up and turned lighting&shadows to low.  High lighting just slows the game down and it makes the Sims look weird, with little boxy squares around their noses and ears. 

[OpiumGirl]

Also, I noticed the darker skin tones are terrible as well.  In fact, I have a very hard time wanting to use them because it just looks so terrible.  My Sims 2 neighborhood was filled with all types of skin tones, at least as many darker complexions as white.  I find myself using the lightest color that could be considered "black" and then putting ethnic hair and the like because, as Shazaam mentioned, they look diseased and blotchy the darker they get, unless you use pure black.

I have noticed the same ridiculous shadow pixelation too, Doc Doofus.  I never actually considered turning them down lower, though. I'll have to try that out.

[Doc Doofus]

Heh, the pixelated shadow looks like something out of an old Sega arcade game.  I'm glad to know I'm not the only one seeing that.  I wondered if it was just a shitty graphics setting.

I noticed it at first when I saw the weird little square artifacts on their faces, especially around the nose and the ears.  I think they are just shadows being rendered in the same pixelated manner.