Lights not spreading off the edge of the lot

Claeric

Can we PLEASE get some official stance on this?

An early patch broke the lighting. Lights used to spread over the edge of lots. Now they don't. It looks horrible.

Lights will light objects off the edge of lots. Lights off the edge of lots (in the hood but not on a lot) will light lots. But lights on the lot stop abruptly at the edge. This was not something that happened when the game came out- an early patch broke it.

Tech support is made up of idiots who keep asking me for a dxdiag report and such, but it's not a personal computer problem, it's an issue with game functionality on EA's end from a patching error.

Has ANYONE from EA said anything about this? Is there any indication that they're ever going to bother to fix it?

Writin_Reg

Apparently this is EA's new bloom effect lighting - which most of us can't stand, but it was intentional to make lighting look more realistic at night apparently. It is not a glitch or bug.

The one saving grace is you can cut down the glare on surfaces by clicking on the lights as they now have different settings you can set every overhead light but you have to set each light individually. (In EA's eyes it is the fix for reality and not an error.)

iammypersona

It's supposed to be a fix. :?

Writin_Reg

Yeah, and I have yet to meet anyone at all that has anything nice to say about this bloom affect lighting. My sims kitchen tables blind me unless I lower the light intensity on the overhead light. But there have been huge conversations all over the web on this crappy lighting that no one likes. Sometimes realism is not everything it's kicked up to be. Who the heck cares how it looks at night? But apparently for the film makers in the Sims it is supposed to bring more realism. I'd much rather have the lighting we had to start with.

If EA wants to work on realism they should start by fixing most of the games windows as many of them do not seem to cast much light at all if they cast any, and put back the original overhead lighting we had.

Claeric

Uh. No. I am not talking about bloom.

I am...talking about lights not...spreading over the edge of the lot. I dont know how to simplify that, or how you could confuse it for bloom.

IamMamainred

Claeric wrote:

Uh. No. I am not talking about bloom.

I am...talking about lights not...spreading over the edge of the lot. I dont know how to simplify that, or how you could confuse it for bloom.

I do think a patch changed how the lights worked (not a bloom issue). Though you may not like it, it actually is a plus in how the game functions, lighting up more than the lots that the lights are on takes more for the game to keep up with.

Nichaedemus

Hi,

You can try adjusting the Draw Distance setting to High from the Graphics Settings screen, in the game options.

Writin_Reg

Well at the same time they created the bloom affect for indoor lights the outdoor lights lost their spread and so outside you cannot see as well as you could. It seems the only exception to this is using the tall tiki lights which seems to light up everything.


In other words the lights seem to go more directly down and do not spread out and as you say do not seem to spread out off the sims lot at all even when placed near the lot edge. But this all started happening in many of our games with the bloom affect for the indoor lights.

Over on Maty they had a complete discussion about this including pictures showing how it was and all the changes including the lighting problem you mentioned and no one can see how it is a benefit - way back when this was added to one of the patches.

I now just use tiki lights for the most part outside so my sims can do whatever outside after dark.

It's been like that quite some time now, I believe it was well before WA even came out. I keep thinking it was in the patch that gave us the ability to recolor fences and stairs.

Claeric

...You guys have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

the edge. of the lot. The edge. Where you cannot build past? The edge? The light stops at it. It shouldnt. It didnt used to.

It has nothing to do with bloom.



Look:

This is what happens when a light OFF THE LOT, IN THE WORLD is next to the lot. It lights the lot just fine. See?

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2880/screenshot272c.jpg


And now look what happens when I put a light on the lot. It does *not* go over the edge as it should, like the streetlight did. It stops. At the edge.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3325/screenshot275.jpg

And now look here: The light is lighting the bush. The bush is OFF the lot. Objects off the lot light up, but the terrain doesn't. This is not supposed to happen. This has NOTHING to do with bloom.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/7886/screenshot276a.jpg

Lights should spread OVER the edge of the lot, like the streetlight does. But they don't.

Evergreen226

Mhm.

So it doesn't light the lot next to it. I really don't think it ever has.

Looks like you'll have to suck it up and deal with it.

theRealDeal09

Evergreen226 wrote:

Looks like you'll have to suck it up and deal with it.

Eh, I haven't really noticed it, but if it looks different, he has a right to say it bothers him. No need to be mean. :[

Pary

Actually, IIRC garden lights used to light up objects / terrain outside of the lot. I remember when I first began playing the game, what an improvement I thought it was, until they introduced this ridiculous bloom lighting, that is also incredibly blinding indoors.
Now, each lot looks like an unnatural illunminated square box if they have lighting in the yard.

Crazycatldy

Pary wrote:

Actually, IIRC garden lights used to light up objects / terrain outside of the lot. I remember when I first began playing the game, what an improvement I thought it was, until they introduced this ridiculous bloom lighting, that is also incredibly blinding indoors.
Now, each lot looks like an unnatural illunminated square box if they have lighting in the yard.

I just started my game so I could see what mine does and I don't remember their being a cut off like that but now there is.
So it is different now I guess.
Looks bad in my opinion.

Claeric

The lights did initially spread off the lot as logic dictates they should. It's not built like this, they broke it with a very early patch. It's not reasonable for it to stop at the edge. It's a mistake.

Evergreen226

Sorry for rude post above. Lack of sleep and annoying teachers makes me a crabby person XD

I do see the issue, though I've never really been bothered by it.

Pary

Touching on a remark Writin_Reg made above ...
Personally I fail to see how sims movie makers can find this lighting more realistic, when a light placed in the corner of the garden illuminates an area reminiscent of a right angle triangle.
I agree with Claeric, I wish this would get fixed, but I won't hold my breath.

Claeric

Also, this:

(Obviously the two pictures are at different graphic settings, do not get distractd by that)

Before-
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r427/Goggalor_Pics/Sims3/Screenshot-29.jpg

After-
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r427/Goggalor_Pics/Sims3/Screenshot-58-1.jpg

What you are meant to notice is that the first floor lights no longer light the second floor. Which also looks downright idiotic.

KarinL

I think it looks absolutely ridiculous, and it really bothers me. Especially the floor issue - it looks absolutely ridiculous in my gym, which is two floors high.
It also looks very weird on some of my smaller community lots, where the light from the lot no longer lights the sidewalk - so I can no longer add street lighting. But at least that will be changed in Ambitions, or so they say - we should be able to place lights on the sidewalk...

Claeric

Also:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simprograms/4311693710/in/set-72157622468798168/

Thats a HELS promo shot. Note that the lights spread up both floors. In HELS.

So apparently the people at EA have a game that DOESNT have this issue. Good for them, but what about us?

uknortherner

There's more of a chance of the world ending in 2012 than there is of getting EA to actually listen to their paying customers and even less chance of getting a response out of them. Such is the new age of gaming: Pay up and shut up.

I'm bumping this thread up because there are a lot of us outside the BBS who are getting fed up with the lighting issue too, and we're fed up of being ignored.

Either fix the problem or stop putting out clearly-Photoshopped images that bear no resemblance to the game millions of us are playing and paying for.

Diskette66

I have noticed changes in the lighting too. I'm not sure exactly when they came onboard but I don't like them either.

I hadn't really paid attention to the lot edges before but I do see what you mean in the pictures you've posted. I think it looks much less realistic when the light just stops so abruptly.

I have been mostly annoyed with the changes to lighting INDOORS. Lights are pretty much worthless at this point. They shine directly underneath only and fail to light up the room (or any real portion of the room). It's generally not my decor preference to have to have 32 lights just to have decent lighting in a room. I find the only way it is bearable at all is to turn the intensity on bright, all lights, but that does little to nothing to solve anything for lot edges in particular.

Hopefully this is something they will address in the next patch (for Ambitions).

Claeric

I've never heard of that, it sounds like a personal issue. Are you using CC lights or hte same lights all the time? You may be using CC lights made improperly, or something. Different lights have different ranges and spreads. It should take no more than 3 typical lights on bright to light the entirety of a, say, 12x7 room.

Sometimes lights turn off even when on, when placing them, and if you change the color they'll pop back on, that might be it too. Plus keep in miind that objects do cause significant shadows on floors and such and taller objects might be hiding light.

But what you're talking about doesnt sound familiar at all. INdoor lighting is beautiful for me.