I also have this bug, luckily a while back in this threat I read about reshade. Which really make the issue less bad for me. On the pictures below you can see reshade deband set to max vs non. I only use reshade with deband, no special preset as I simply just use a lighting mod.
So for everybody who doesnt have it yet, I would advise to get reshade.
My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
Reshade is great option, but for me - who takes pictures for my stories - you can't get good pictures with it unless you play in Windowed mode. (Otherwise the pictures are dark when playing in Widescreen). I have to play on Widescreen, windowed drives me nuts. That's more of a picky issue though.
I just wanted to point that out again in case anyone would like to know.
I wish there was something like Reshade that would allow me to play in Widescreen mode and still get lovely pictures. Anyone know of anything like that?
@Cororon I play on an odd resolution size, cause my monitor is an old 32 inch widescreen we got 12 years ago! (It's a thick one for a widescreen! ) Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without right??
The size in my Nvidia control panel is 720p, 1176x664 which I'm beginning to think I should resize it because my sims look wider/fatter in game when they really aren't. (But they don't come out that way in the pictures.) Just tried to do that...The other resolutions look terrible!
I think I need a new monitor.
@Emily4331 That is a lot of information most of which I don't understand but thanks!
I have tried the color banding option in Reshade and like it to some degree. What I don't like is that it blurs face detail, for example freckles. So usually I keep it turned off. I've also tried HQ settings but it lags my game to play with those.
Just to say, this annoys me when I'm playing but I've learned to live with it. What is really annoying is trying to film around all the pixil vomit.
@Cororon I'm remembering some things. When this first happened (December 2019) I was on chat with NVidia for hours, two days in a row. They walked me through changing multiple settings and nothing ever helped. They said that it was not their driver causing the problem because if it was, then doing a clean install of a previous driver would have fixed it. I think that it is something with their driver combined with something in Windows. No idea what. This is just to give you further information in your quest.
My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
@emorrill Have you tried Windowed Borderless Gaming? The game window should take up the entire screen but give you the effects of windowed mode, including (hopefully) making Reshade screenshots look right.
By the way, what's the native resolution of your monitor, and what resolution is it running at now? Right-click on your desktop and select Display Settings; you should see the recommended and available resolutions. Whatever the recommended resolution is, try choosing that and then setting the Control Panel to match.
My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
I also (finally) had the white lines that @GraceyManor mentioned; it probably took a while because I put off a certain Windows update for at least six months. Anyway, I found one object in-game that reliably had the white lines, and I was able to get rid of them with these Control Panel settings:
Antialiasing - FXAA: On
Antialiasing - Gamma correction: On
Antialiasing - Mode: Override any application setting
Antialiasing - Setting: 2x
Only the third one was actually necessary to get the lines to disappear; the fourth is the default when antialiasing is enabled. I didn't notice any improvement when running the game at 8x either, although I only looked for a couple minutes. The first two settings helped get rid of some subtle but very ugly jagged lines when viewing objects at a certain angle.
I wasn't using Freestyle, Reshade, or any other graphics-adjusting tools.
This didn't do a thing for the texture issues, but that's no surprise given the cause.
@budewarmin That looks nice, and could well be a good solution for many with this problem. It doesn't really "repair" anything, but the main thing is that you can happily continue playing.
@emorrill Can't blame you for using "old stuff" until you wear them out. I used a standard 19" CRT until three years ago. Now I'm on a 27" 60 Hz IPS monitor with 2560x1440 resolution and take screenshots that size, and editing those screenshots it much more fun as there are so many more pixels to work on, so I can get the little details like I want.
2560x1440 is the sweetspot for a 27" I think, because on a 1920x1080 27" the screen's pixels get larger and can be visible and annoy some people. For many modern games you'd want one of the faster graphics cards to deliver enough fps for 1440p, especially if the monitor has higher refresh rate than 60 Hz. But for Sims 3 a 60 Hz 27" IPS at 1440p and my GTX 1060 is an excellent combination. Yeah, I investigated this a lot before replacing my old monitor.
@ZeeGee Thanks for the additional info! I've been following this thread and I did read about the suspicions that a Windows 10 update could be the culprit. Since something has indeed happened, and both Windows 10 and Nvidia have been blamed, plus that something seems to be going on in the game itself (the weird dither pattern) I suspect that there is a conflict somewhere.
I don't think we know the whole story yet. @Emily4331 thinks the compressions of the DXT textures causes it, and I don't think it's the only explanation since something has indeed happened, but she might be on to something anyway. The strange dithering pattern seen when the textures look blocky I suspect comes from the game. Clothes and objects don't just use one map, but several, and maybe some are shown at the normal 1024x1024 resolution but other maps at 512x512 which shouldn't load in close up but only be seen on sims and objects in the distance, where the dither pattern wouldn't be seen either.
That's why I want EA to acknowledge the problem. If there is a conflict causing this, then EA and Nvidia should work together on solving it. Everything can seem normal on either side. EA haven't changed anything in the game, and things might look fine for Nvidia and their drivers.
Think of a graphics conflict as putting boots on a sim wearing jeans. The boots are fine and so are the jeans, but when the sim walks you can see the jeans poking through the boots! They are "clipping", not working right together. It's a kind of conflict. The boots could be like Sims 3 and the jeans like Nvidia's driver. They are both ok, but not together. Where Windows 10 fits in in all of this, I don't know, but it's possible.
My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
@puzzlezaddict That windowed borderless gaming is great to know about! Thanks for sharing.
By the way, what's the native resolution of your monitor, and what resolution is it running at now? Right-click on your desktop and select Display Settings; you should see the recommended and available resolutions. Whatever the recommended resolution is, try choosing that and then setting the Control Panel to match.
^I just checked the display settings and it's at the same size as what I have set in the Nvidia control panel. 👍 It recommends a size up, but when I choose it, the screen becomes too stretched and I can't see the windows bar down below or some of desktop items. What can I say? I have a weird monitor.
Yeah, I investigated this a lot before replacing my old monitor.
^Lol! Nothing wrong with that. You gotta go with what you know you'll like when you spend that kind of money.
I hope you can find some kind of solution to the blockiness on clothes and walls, you're pretty computer literate unlike myself.
Think of a graphics conflict as putting boots on a sim wearing jeans. The boots are fine and so are the jeans, but when the sim walks you can see the jeans poking through the boots! They are "clipping", not working right together. It's a kind of conflict. The boots could be like Sims 3 and the jeans like Nvidia's driver. They are both ok, but not together. Where Windows 10 fits in in all of this, I don't know, but it's possible.
^Love this analogy. *sigh* I wish EA would care - like they did back in Sims 2 days - and do something, but sadly, as you mentioned before, I don't think they will unless they do an update through Origin (or a 64 bit remaster) and I don't want to shy away from my disks. Origin su'cks! (Plus when your internet is down you can't play the game and y'all wouldn't BELIEVE the internet issues we've been having lately! )
@emorrill You can log in and play games offline on Origin. Well, unless the game itself has to have an internet connection, which TS3 does not. Origin and similar applications, as long as you have logged into it while online at some point in time, will remember you and doesn't have to be online for subsequent log in attempts to be successful.
Sittingbear on the NRaas forum thinks it has to do with the bloom effect in the game:
I installed my 1660 Super into one of back up computers to take a closer look and it also looks like a bad reaction to bloom that is used in-game as opposed to CAS which doesn't use it. When the bloom is at a certain level it can cause the effect you're seeing as it primarily uses the gamma channel. It doesn't look like the driver is handling the games bloom well which does make sense as more modern games use a different lighting system. Modern games still use bloom just not to the extent as older games.
Incidentally that back up computer uses Win 7 and it's happening there too. This is solely a Nvidia problem not a Win 10 and Nvidia but just Nvidia.
@emorrill AMD cards DID have the issue but according to some posts over on the NRaas forum, they fixed it. Nvidia hasn't. I almost bought a computer with AMD but because it had the same issues I didn't. Dang. That was a mistake.
Everyone go post on Cororon's thread on the Nvidia forum if you possibly can!
My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
@ZeeGee I see. Cause I was gonna say I was seriously considering maybe getting a new computer with an AMD card or seeing if the computer place here could swap my Nvidia out with one. Both are not very cheap options... *Sigh*
That's good to know. I sure hope Nvidia gets their act together!
Comments
So for everybody who doesnt have it yet, I would advise to get reshade.
I just wanted to point that out again in case anyone would like to know.
I wish there was something like Reshade that would allow me to play in Widescreen mode and still get lovely pictures. Anyone know of anything like that?
@Cororon I play on an odd resolution size, cause my monitor is an old 32 inch widescreen we got 12 years ago!
The size in my Nvidia control panel is 720p, 1176x664 which I'm beginning to think I should resize it because my sims look wider/fatter in game when they really aren't.
I think I need a new monitor.
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
I have tried the color banding option in Reshade and like it to some degree. What I don't like is that it blurs face detail, for example freckles. So usually I keep it turned off. I've also tried HQ settings but it lags my game to play with those.
Just to say, this annoys me when I'm playing but I've learned to live with it. What is really annoying is trying to film around all the pixil vomit.
@Cororon I'm remembering some things. When this first happened (December 2019) I was on chat with NVidia for hours, two days in a row. They walked me through changing multiple settings and nothing ever helped. They said that it was not their driver causing the problem because if it was, then doing a clean install of a previous driver would have fixed it. I think that it is something with their driver combined with something in Windows. No idea what. This is just to give you further information in your quest.
https://westechsolutions.net/sites/WindowedBorderlessGaming/
By the way, what's the native resolution of your monitor, and what resolution is it running at now? Right-click on your desktop and select Display Settings; you should see the recommended and available resolutions. Whatever the recommended resolution is, try choosing that and then setting the Control Panel to match.
Antialiasing - FXAA: On
Antialiasing - Gamma correction: On
Antialiasing - Mode: Override any application setting
Antialiasing - Setting: 2x
Only the third one was actually necessary to get the lines to disappear; the fourth is the default when antialiasing is enabled. I didn't notice any improvement when running the game at 8x either, although I only looked for a couple minutes. The first two settings helped get rid of some subtle but very ugly jagged lines when viewing objects at a certain angle.
I wasn't using Freestyle, Reshade, or any other graphics-adjusting tools.
This didn't do a thing for the texture issues, but that's no surprise given the cause.
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
@emorrill Can't blame you for using "old stuff" until you wear them out. I used a standard 19" CRT until three years ago.
2560x1440 is the sweetspot for a 27" I think, because on a 1920x1080 27" the screen's pixels get larger and can be visible and annoy some people. For many modern games you'd want one of the faster graphics cards to deliver enough fps for 1440p, especially if the monitor has higher refresh rate than 60 Hz. But for Sims 3 a 60 Hz 27" IPS at 1440p and my GTX 1060 is an excellent combination. Yeah, I investigated this a lot before replacing my old monitor.
@ZeeGee Thanks for the additional info! I've been following this thread and I did read about the suspicions that a Windows 10 update could be the culprit. Since something has indeed happened, and both Windows 10 and Nvidia have been blamed, plus that something seems to be going on in the game itself (the weird dither pattern) I suspect that there is a conflict somewhere.
I don't think we know the whole story yet. @Emily4331 thinks the compressions of the DXT textures causes it, and I don't think it's the only explanation since something has indeed happened, but she might be on to something anyway. The strange dithering pattern seen when the textures look blocky I suspect comes from the game. Clothes and objects don't just use one map, but several, and maybe some are shown at the normal 1024x1024 resolution but other maps at 512x512 which shouldn't load in close up but only be seen on sims and objects in the distance, where the dither pattern wouldn't be seen either.
That's why I want EA to acknowledge the problem. If there is a conflict causing this, then EA and Nvidia should work together on solving it. Everything can seem normal on either side. EA haven't changed anything in the game, and things might look fine for Nvidia and their drivers.
Think of a graphics conflict as putting boots on a sim wearing jeans. The boots are fine and so are the jeans, but when the sim walks you can see the jeans poking through the boots! They are "clipping", not working right together. It's a kind of conflict. The boots could be like Sims 3 and the jeans like Nvidia's driver. They are both ok, but not together.
^I just checked the display settings and it's at the same size as what I have set in the Nvidia control panel. 👍 It recommends a size up, but when I choose it, the screen becomes too stretched and I can't see the windows bar down below or some of desktop items. What can I say? I have a weird monitor.
@GraceyManor ^And you still have the white lines showing up?
@Cororon ^Lol!
I hope you can find some kind of solution to the blockiness on clothes and walls, you're pretty computer literate unlike myself.
*sigh* I wish EA would care - like they did back in Sims 2 days - and do something, but sadly, as you mentioned before, I don't think they will unless they do an update through Origin (or a 64 bit remaster) and I don't want to shy away from my disks. Origin su'cks! (Plus when your internet is down you can't play the game and y'all wouldn't BELIEVE the internet issues we've been having lately!
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
Wall with a flat color pattern (you can see some dithering):
Sunset sky (color banding has been reduced):
It's not perfect, but definitely much better than before.
How'd you fix it?
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
Strange mystery, this. Did you play another game between your Sims 3 sessions?
Everyone go post on Cororon's thread on the Nvidia forum if you possibly can!
That's good to know. I sure hope Nvidia gets their act together!
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
Weird...
Is it a desktop or a laptop? I wonder if that makes a difference
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/