Dark computer screens in Nightlife

[Bruce Banner]

  Does anyone know if there is a fix for the computer screens problem introduced by Nightlife please ?  When placed indoors ( where most people would obviously place them  ) since installing Nightlife all computer screens are ( unrealistically ) dull and you can barely see whats on them whereas with University and before the computer screens were bright as a computer screen should be 

[Emma]

LOL I haven't noticed this! I'll have to go play, just to have a look Yeah-like I needed an excuse to play...

[Bruce Banner]

  The screens also emit a ' glow ' when the computers are off so I'm guessing Maxis messed up with Nightlife and somehow the wires got crossed as far as when light should be emitted from the screens ( obviously when they are on not off  )

[BlueSoup]

And these are Maxian computers as well as custom?  I hadn't noticed either, I rarely zoom in close enough to see. 

[Bruce Banner]

ALL computer's I have tried have this problem including all 3 Maxis ones and any custom ones . If th computer is placed outside the screen is bright as it should be , but the normal thing is obviously to place a computer indoors and that's when you can see how dull the screens are compared to how they were previously . The screens are bright enough if games are played on the computers because then they use a different video file . But when sims check their emails or chat on their computers etc the relevant screens are now extremely dull .

[nectere]

Do you have a lighting mod?

[Syera]

I don't think I've had this problem.  Rather, I've experienced that every time I go into a lot, the computer will make noises as though someone's playing SSX.

[Bruce Banner]

I have no lighting mods in my game at all and I first noticed this problem immediately after installing Nightlife months ago . I've been looking for a fix for it since then and hoped the official Nightlife patch would fix it , but obviously it didn't . I know it isn't a massive game problem and at the end of the day it's only the computer in the game , but after paying so much for the game and expansions I see nothing wrong in looking for fixes for EVERY glitch in the game no matter how trivial they are  

[nectere]

I only asked about a lighting mod, because I dont have this issue (and do not have the lighting mod), but I know the lighting mod does effect things like this to some extent. Good luck.

[Bruce Banner]

  To be honest I've always steered clear of lighting mods , but I'd maybe use one if it fixed this 

[angelyne]

I found that a lighting mod made things so dark that I had to install dozens of lights, and that it lagged my game.  Worst of all, the house was dark even during the day, as no light came from the windows.  When I was building a house, it was a problem, since the inside was pitch black, as if I had no windows at all.  Finally I took it out.

There was a long discussion here about how the House of Falling Trees was changed by Maxis to be darker.  The thread explained how to change the value of a file in order to fix the problem.  I wasn't able to find the thread, but maybe it will shed some light on your problem ?

[Bruce Banner]

  Thanks for the info . I'll have a look at that thread if I can find it , although the computer screen is the only lighting problem in my game to be honest . I'm guessing the problem file is the actual picture , movie or whatever that is played when sims email , chat etc rather than any of the actual computer objects themselves and that's why the problem appears on all the computers . I don't have a clue where that file might be though or how you could possibly edit it to fix this . The screens now though look like LCD's where the backlight has gone or is fading whereas they should ( and did so prior to Nightlife ) glow brightly like a real computer screen 

[vilia]

There was a long discussion here about how the House of Falling Trees was changed by Maxis to be darker.  The thread explained how to change the value of a file in order to fix the problem.  I wasn't able to find the thread, but maybe it will shed some light on your problem ?

I think it was setLotLightingFile clear to restore the normal settings.  My HFT brightened up considerably after I did this.

[Swiftgold]

I've noticed this too. And, I'd really like to know how to make the Falling Trees and other lots brighter again. It doesn't happen with every house, but there's a couple pre-NL houses I have which I can hardly stand to play anymore because whenever night hits, I can't see a damn thing! There are lights everywhere, the environment is fine, but they shed hardly any light. I'll have to look for that thread mentioned...

[Bruce Banner]

  I've already tried the set Lot lighting cheat ages ago and it did nothing to help the computer unfortunately 

[Winklesim]

i've noticed the computer screen problem as well and its always vaguely annoyed me.

[Bruce Banner]

  I've looked into this problem with 2 of my friends at my own forum and they say this is a bug , and in GunMod's Radiance Lighting 2.1 thread ( the guy's a bit of a game Lighting expert ) he says himself this is a bug caused by Maxis . Unfortunately ( for us , but good luck to him ) he has retired from the Sims community now so asking him about it is a no go . So I wondered if one of the hacking minds could also take a look at this bug please ? 

[Bruce Banner]

  For those that are wondering what I'm on about this is what the computer screen used to look like ( see pic in the zip file below )

[404'ed!]

[Bruce Banner]

  And this is how it looks now , like someone turned the brightness fully down on the monitor ( see pic in zip )

[404'ed!]

[Pegasys]

I just wanted to say I've noticed this as well and it's annoying but not a big gameplay issue for me. Still, I agree it should be fixed. Have you posted on the official Maxis bug report page?

[Emma]

Yes, you can see a difference! That is quite bad really.

[Bruce Banner]

I just wanted to say I've noticed this as well and it's annoying but not a big gameplay issue for me. Still, I agree it should be fixed. Have you posted on the official Maxis bug report page?

  I didn't even know they had an official bu report page to be honest  I posted in the BBS there about it in the hope someone from Maxis would pick up on it and just got drowned in an ocean of ' benes ' posts 

[HeidiGrrrl]

ALL computer's I have tried have this problem including all 3 Maxis ones and any custom ones . If th computer is placed outside the screen is bright as it should be , but the normal thing is obviously to place a computer indoors and that's when you can see how dull the screens are compared to how they were previously . The screens are bright enough if games are played on the computers because then they use a different video file . But when sims check their emails or chat on their computers etc the relevant screens are now extremely dull .

Yeah, I've noticed that, too.  They look like they're off, but there's a bluish glow on the floor around them, and if you click on it, one of the pie menu options is 'turn off'.  If you zoom in really close, the monitor screen is a very dark brownish black.  I don't know what caused this, either.  I used to be able to tell if a computer was left on just by looking at the screen.  Now I have to look for the glow.

[miramis]

I have noticed this, but for a while had put it down to my new lcd monitor being moved higher (got a new desk).  The monitors look like they are off until you get up fairly close.