Splotchy sims - upgrade monitor?

MadIris

My computer is just over a year old, runs great (will add specs in next post).... and I never noticed how my sims looked up close until I began paying attention to the gorgeous, smooth and even skin everybody else's sims have.




Different skins make no difference either. Is there a setting that will correct this or should I just get a new and preferably cheap monitor (which is very old)? Any answer appreciated.

MadIris

iBUYPOWER - Desktop - AMD FX-Series - 8GB Memory - 2TB Hard Drive - Black/Blue - Larger FrontiBUYPOWER - Desktop - AMD FX-Series - 8GB Memory - 2TB Hard Drive

Product Features

Microsoft Windows 8.1 operating system preinstalled

AMD Quad-Core FX-4300 Processor with NVIDIA GTX 750 graphics

8GB DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB.

4MB L3 cache memory

2TB Serial ATA III hard drive (7200 rpm)

NVIDIA GTX 750 graphics
Feature 2GB dedicated video memory for lush images with rich, intricate detail. An HDMI output allows simple connection to an HDTV or other high-definition display (not included).

3 USB 3.0 and 3 USB 2.0 ports

igazor

Your specs are fine, provided that you have the video card's frame rates capped using the Nvidia Control Panel or a suitable tool and have verified through the fps on cheat that its rates are staying under the refresh rate of your monitor (usually 60 Hz, so 60 fps).

I know you said changing skins doesn't help, but this does look like it could be a skin issue to me. Have you tried running on a clean game folder (so no CC skins at all, along with no other forms of CC or custom made sims) to see if that helps clear things up?

Are your graphics options turned up as far they can be? If none of this helps, then yes it could be the monitor but it could also be a failing graphics card. The only way to tell for sure is to try a different monitor and see if you do get better results.

MadIris

Thanks for coming to my rescue igazor!

Hmmmm, never capped the frame rate and I positively dread the thought of removing all of my cc, lol

I honestly haven't had the nerve to mess with the graphics options (doh), but I will try that first and post results after trying that and the rest above.

igazor

For future reference perhaps, this is what I mean by playing on a clean folder. No need to permanently remove anything just to run a check on things like this.

- Pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents to the Desktop for safekeeping. The game will spawn a new, clean game folder with no content on its next launch.

- Startup a new test game in Sunset Valley or one of the EP worlds. Look at the resident sims and see if they look/behave better (or whatever it is you are testing out).

- When finished and you've quit the game, get rid of the clean test folder, put your original game folder back in place, and resume.


To check the frame rates you are getting in-game, ctrl + shift + C to bring up the cheats console. Type fps on (enter). The value that displays in the little circle near the top as you play and move the game camera around is your actual fps rate. It should never wander far above the refresh rate of your monitor, which again is usually 60. To make the display go away, cheats console again and fps off (enter).

If the rates are wildly fluctuating into the hundreds and beyond, this really needs to be capped or you run the risk of graphics glitches but also that of burning out your graphics card and the system board it is attached to. Unlike newer games, TS3 does not have a built-in frame rate limiter.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14991412#Comment_14991412

phoebebebe13

Not capping the fps can ruin your video card. Hopefully nothing happened to your card. Make sure your video drivers are updated too http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/115487/en-us

SimplyJen

Since you have never messed with graphic settings, that's something I would definitely try raising. You will need to experiment with the different settings to see what works for you. Make sure to restart the game after confirming setting changes. From your screenshots I can tell you're probably not on high settings.

It's important to have frame rate locked regardless so do that as mentioned above. Driver updates are important as well. Keep in mind after updating drivers, vsync will be reset along with game settings. Get the graphics driver done first.

Resolution can be a factor in graphics. This involves the monitor. However graphic settings will have the most impact. You don't necessarily need to play in high resolution to have a good looking game but it does help. Considering you just got your monitor and I don't know your native resolution, raise in-game graphic settings for now.. (after updating graphics driver first). 720p (1280 x 720) seems to be the sweet spot resolution for your card without performance loss.

MadIris

UPDATE: Thank you everyone!

Drivers updated and removed some mods, looks like the weird splotch on the neck/chest area is gone, but even on the highest game settings and max resolution on this ancient monitor (1680x1050), the textures have a weird over-copied .jpeg look to them. Also did the fps cheat, it fluctuates between 60 and 59, but moving around it drops and scrolling around outside it goes down into the 30s and 20s.

Oh, and there is no option to change resolution to 1440 x 900 so I set it to the highlighted one in the pic. Closer to the suggested looked...odd.





Gotta say, my freckle-faced Jess looks great here..

SimplyJen

Whatever resolution your monitor supports is fine in this case. It's normal for FPS to drop while rotating the camera unfortunately. Avoid max fast forward speed too if possible. This is a personal preference most of us here share, High Detail Lots set to 1-4 instead of 8. The game preforms much better this way not having to load other surrounding lots. I should have mentioned this before (sorry).

I'm not seeing anything weird about this screenshot. It looks normal in my opinion and much better from the first two.

SimplyJen

Are you referring to the texture around the neckline? That's just how EA clothing sits on sims unfortunately. Over time the texture of clothing improved as they created more content for store and packs.

MadIris

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

Are you referring to the texture around the neckline? That's just how EA clothing sits on sims unfortunately. Over time the texture of clothing improved as they created more content for store and packs.

I mean the blue lower part of the wall behind her in the second pic...that's normal?

igazor

I'm afraid I'm not seeing much wrong with these newer pics either. You can fiddle with the advanced settings on your graphics card for things like anti-aliasing (some of this is beyond me), but you run the risk of making things worse with each change instead of better.

This won't help really, but in addition to High Detail Lots being set to a lower number I would suggest turning down the Mirrors and Water settings a bit. On Super, or even the one just below that, this setting can use a tremendous amount of graphics processor power for very little benefit. Also be sure never to place two mirrors across from each other as the ensuing infinite number of reflections can crash the game for some players.

SimplyJen

MadIris wrote: »

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

Are you referring to the texture around the neckline? That's just how EA clothing sits on sims unfortunately. Over time the texture of clothing improved as they created more content for store and packs.

I mean the blue lower part of the wall behind her in the second pic...that's normal?

Yes and that wall paneling is also from the base game. As I said, textures got better over time. You gotta remember this game is from 2009. Still manages to look pretty darn good even in 2017 if you ask me.

MadIris

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

MadIris wrote: »

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

Are you referring to the texture around the neckline? That's just how EA clothing sits on sims unfortunately. Over time the texture of clothing improved as they created more content for store and packs.

I mean the blue lower part of the wall behind her in the second pic...that's normal?

Yes and that wall paneling is also from the base game. As I said, textures got better over time. You gotta remember this game is from 2009. Still manages to look pretty darn good even in 2017 if you ask me.

Wow, forgot how old this game was

Thanks to all for the help and reassurance.