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Advanced Rendering - What in the Sim blazes is it you ask? Well read on..
elvintp10
Posts: 268 Member
Hey guys,
Just here to write a post regarding an important aspect for the game so I hope this helps bring some clarity and slightly clear up the murky waters that is, the unpredictability of the gameplay of the Sims 3. Before you ever begin a Sims game on a new computer, you always have to take your computer's hardware configuration into consideration. The graphics settings menu has 3 check boxes along with several sliders which can help TS3 players customize and with some degree of experimentation, optimize the graphics settings to the level of graphics processing ability of their computer system.
I'm here to talk about one key aspect of the graphics settings in the game, and that would be advanced rendering. When a user places their cursor over this setting, the game only goes so far as to informing the user that enabling the option will fully utilize 2.0+ shaders.
Advanced rendering very simply improves the look of the graphics in the game. For instance you'll see great looking reflections in reflective surfaces (very noticeably swimming pools and/or other bodies of water) but it will affect the speed/performance of the game so when you adjust your graphics settings, do take that into consideration. You will see quite an improvement in gameplay speeds when Advanced Rendering is turned off but the quality of graphics will dip so I suppose it's up to you on what settings you choose to have the game at and whether you feel it's worth turning on this option. Do bear in mind however that if you were to ever turn on/off advanced rendering, the game will immediate prompt you to restart the game for the new setting to take into affect to prevent any in-game file corruption.
Ideally you should be adjusting your graphics settings to the performance capabilities of your computer, more specifically, your computer's GPU (Graphics Card(s)). Taking into consideration the performance level of your microprocessor as well as the type and amount of RAM you have installed is important too. This particular graphics setting takes full advantage of the capabilities of your GPU. If you use a high performance graphics card(s) depending on your hardware configuration, you'll be able to pony up the GPU cycles and play the game at its highest settings and enjoy optimum performance. However if you have a lower end card or integrated graphics for that matter, you might not be able to exploit this setting to begin with. It really enhances the visuals of your game and gives it a more natural appearance to lighting and textures of sims, animals, objects and the environment with this option enabled.
Personally, I switch it off when I go into build/buy mode because I'm not deriving any additional benefit but I do turn it on when gameplay resumes and I have observed an improvement in the visuals but I've also noticed that the game crashes more often than not with Advanced Rendering turned ON which I can only deduce it coming down to the game taxing my system.
For better game performance, I personally recommend turning this option off if you have a computer that would not be classified as a gaming computer. I have been privy to these events and from my personal experience, activating another Graphics Setting called the 'Enable Object Hiding' feature really helps boost performance and consequently enables me to take advantage of the Advanced Rendering option. For more details on the 'Enabled Object Hiding' feature, check out the article in the link below.
From my exposure to the computer industry, there are 6 fundamental levels of computer users and I've classified them in accordance with the performance level of their computers (on a 10 point scale, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best) along with the amount of money the user would usually budget for their computer's hardware:-
CATEGORY #: 1
CLASSIFICATION: Browser(s) / Email Checker(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 1 - 2
HARDWARE BUDGET: $
CATEGORY #: 2
CLASSIFICATION: Home User(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 3 - 4
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$
CATEGORY #: 3
CLASSIFICATION: Home Office / Small Business User(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 5 - 6
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$
CATEGORY #: 4
CLASSIFICATION: Graphic / Web Designer(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 7
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$
CATEGORY #: 5
CLASSIFICATION: Gamer(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 8 - 9
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$ / $$$$
CATEGORY #: 6
CLASSIFICATION: PC Enthusiast(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 10
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$$$$ OR GREATER
Now I understand some of you maybe wondering what sort of hardware would classify each category of user and my ratings along with the other category criteria appear arbitrary and abstract but this only to give you a general idea of the type of users. If you'd like to know more, feel free to do a little research. If you'd like me to articulate on the type of hardware recommended for Gameplay, I can create another post for that but for the purposes of this post, the information above should suffice.
Unless you have a computer in Category 5 or 6, I would NOT recommend using advanced rendering regardless of your graphics settings. You could probably use it on a Category 4 computer but I'd recommend that being the threshold of when TS3 players should start using the 'Enable Object Hiding' setting, a feature I have elaborated on in the article which the link below will lead you too.
Some of you may think that there aren't too many differences between gamers and enthusiasts and you'd be half right. They both have high performance computers that are able to perform but enthusiasts spare NO expense and purchase the best and latest in computer hardware so their rigs are always at BENCHMARK level when it comes to personal computing systems so there you have it.
Now the reason I used symbolic scales for both performance as well as user budget is because of how quickly technology is advancing and depending on when you'd ever come across this post, the information I put on here would probably be outdated if I got right down to the excruciating specifics so I created those scales for cost and performance in such a way that, it will transcend time regardless of when you read this post. Thanks for reading and happy simming.
Enable Object Hiding feature: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/759268.page
Just here to write a post regarding an important aspect for the game so I hope this helps bring some clarity and slightly clear up the murky waters that is, the unpredictability of the gameplay of the Sims 3. Before you ever begin a Sims game on a new computer, you always have to take your computer's hardware configuration into consideration. The graphics settings menu has 3 check boxes along with several sliders which can help TS3 players customize and with some degree of experimentation, optimize the graphics settings to the level of graphics processing ability of their computer system.
I'm here to talk about one key aspect of the graphics settings in the game, and that would be advanced rendering. When a user places their cursor over this setting, the game only goes so far as to informing the user that enabling the option will fully utilize 2.0+ shaders.
Advanced rendering very simply improves the look of the graphics in the game. For instance you'll see great looking reflections in reflective surfaces (very noticeably swimming pools and/or other bodies of water) but it will affect the speed/performance of the game so when you adjust your graphics settings, do take that into consideration. You will see quite an improvement in gameplay speeds when Advanced Rendering is turned off but the quality of graphics will dip so I suppose it's up to you on what settings you choose to have the game at and whether you feel it's worth turning on this option. Do bear in mind however that if you were to ever turn on/off advanced rendering, the game will immediate prompt you to restart the game for the new setting to take into affect to prevent any in-game file corruption.
Ideally you should be adjusting your graphics settings to the performance capabilities of your computer, more specifically, your computer's GPU (Graphics Card(s)). Taking into consideration the performance level of your microprocessor as well as the type and amount of RAM you have installed is important too. This particular graphics setting takes full advantage of the capabilities of your GPU. If you use a high performance graphics card(s) depending on your hardware configuration, you'll be able to pony up the GPU cycles and play the game at its highest settings and enjoy optimum performance. However if you have a lower end card or integrated graphics for that matter, you might not be able to exploit this setting to begin with. It really enhances the visuals of your game and gives it a more natural appearance to lighting and textures of sims, animals, objects and the environment with this option enabled.
Personally, I switch it off when I go into build/buy mode because I'm not deriving any additional benefit but I do turn it on when gameplay resumes and I have observed an improvement in the visuals but I've also noticed that the game crashes more often than not with Advanced Rendering turned ON which I can only deduce it coming down to the game taxing my system.
For better game performance, I personally recommend turning this option off if you have a computer that would not be classified as a gaming computer. I have been privy to these events and from my personal experience, activating another Graphics Setting called the 'Enable Object Hiding' feature really helps boost performance and consequently enables me to take advantage of the Advanced Rendering option. For more details on the 'Enabled Object Hiding' feature, check out the article in the link below.
From my exposure to the computer industry, there are 6 fundamental levels of computer users and I've classified them in accordance with the performance level of their computers (on a 10 point scale, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best) along with the amount of money the user would usually budget for their computer's hardware:-
CATEGORY #: 1
CLASSIFICATION: Browser(s) / Email Checker(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 1 - 2
HARDWARE BUDGET: $
CATEGORY #: 2
CLASSIFICATION: Home User(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 3 - 4
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$
CATEGORY #: 3
CLASSIFICATION: Home Office / Small Business User(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 5 - 6
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$
CATEGORY #: 4
CLASSIFICATION: Graphic / Web Designer(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 7
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$
CATEGORY #: 5
CLASSIFICATION: Gamer(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 8 - 9
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$ / $$$$
CATEGORY #: 6
CLASSIFICATION: PC Enthusiast(s)
COMPUTER PERFORMANCE LEVEL: 10
HARDWARE BUDGET: $$$$$$ OR GREATER
Now I understand some of you maybe wondering what sort of hardware would classify each category of user and my ratings along with the other category criteria appear arbitrary and abstract but this only to give you a general idea of the type of users. If you'd like to know more, feel free to do a little research. If you'd like me to articulate on the type of hardware recommended for Gameplay, I can create another post for that but for the purposes of this post, the information above should suffice.
Unless you have a computer in Category 5 or 6, I would NOT recommend using advanced rendering regardless of your graphics settings. You could probably use it on a Category 4 computer but I'd recommend that being the threshold of when TS3 players should start using the 'Enable Object Hiding' setting, a feature I have elaborated on in the article which the link below will lead you too.
Some of you may think that there aren't too many differences between gamers and enthusiasts and you'd be half right. They both have high performance computers that are able to perform but enthusiasts spare NO expense and purchase the best and latest in computer hardware so their rigs are always at BENCHMARK level when it comes to personal computing systems so there you have it.
Now the reason I used symbolic scales for both performance as well as user budget is because of how quickly technology is advancing and depending on when you'd ever come across this post, the information I put on here would probably be outdated if I got right down to the excruciating specifics so I created those scales for cost and performance in such a way that, it will transcend time regardless of when you read this post. Thanks for reading and happy simming.
Enable Object Hiding feature: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/759268.page
4
Comments
Happy simming, and a Happy Snowflake Day.