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The game's dark skintones are lacking

This has bothered me for a while and the recent makeup additions brought it to my attention again. The game's darker skintones (and some of the lightest ones too) have been disappointing since the beginning. Most of them are gray and ashy-looking and I exclusively use CC skintones for this reason. The very lightest skintones also tend to look very yellow. There's not that much base game makeup that looks good on a darker-skinned sim; the MAC blushes only have two or three shades that work, the rest are basically invisible. I didn't notice much difference with the extra skin tones that were patched in either. It's disappointing that EA acts focused on diversifying the game but this issue still hasn't been fixed.
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Comments

  • tommynocker001tommynocker001 Posts: 187 Member
    #simssowhite, because it's all I ever see in the gallery!
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    Yeah I commented about this before the MAC update. I notice it has become an issue awhile. The clothing colors and wall colors are really ashy looking too. As someone who is a pyro Simmer, looks like the makeup, clothing, and wall colors have all been burnt in a fire.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • CynnaCynna Posts: 2,369 Member
    Could part of the problem also be the game's annoyingly pervasive blue light?
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  • KhrisstyneKhrisstyne Posts: 368 Member
    I don't know if they know how to fix it though. I'd like to see a change but it's been like this for years.
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  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    Cynna wrote: »
    Could part of the problem also be the game's annoyingly pervasive blue light?
    Yeah I noticed the game had a green/blue hue to it. I guess it makes sense since the whole Sims theme colors. My dad used to fix televisions and I would go to work with him, so only reason why I know weird things about screens like that. Electronic motherboards are really cool especially when fixed.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • heartlacingheartlacing Posts: 24 Member
    i feel like i've never seen anyone irl with some of the undertones present in the darker end of the default skintones lmao
  • trillveetrillvee Posts: 2 New Member
    I swear they all look so dry and ashy skin tones, that’s why I got cc skin tones they look 1000 times better
  • DianesimsDianesims Posts: 2,867 Member
    Yes, they look ashy, it makes sims look sick. Also some skin tones are orangey.
  • NorthDakotaGamerNorthDakotaGamer Posts: 2,559 Member
    All the skin tones are too orange, even the lighter ones. My IRL pale skintone has a blue undertone, and I am not even represented in the skintone choices we have available.
  • VividVivid Posts: 44 Member
    There are quite a lot of skin tones, but they somehow managed to only make a couple of them look okay.. It's quite a shame! It really bothers me too. The really light skin tones look off as well.

    I actually downloaded a mod to remove the MAC makeup from CAS, because all my townies looked so ridiculous wearing those weird eyeliners. The MAC makeup update to me really is time and effort they could have spent on much better things.
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    edited June 2020
    Vivid wrote: »
    There are quite a lot of skin tones, but they somehow managed to only make a couple of them look okay.. It's quite a shame! It really bothers me too. The really light skin tones look off as well.

    I actually downloaded a mod to remove the MAC makeup from CAS, because all my townies looked so ridiculous wearing those weird eyeliners. The MAC makeup update to me really is time and effort they could have spent on much better things.
    I like the lipsticks, blushes, and eye shadows with it. Honestly rather have game balanced out more in other CAS sections than just heels and young adult female crop tops and short skirts and ripped jeans that all look the same. Got enough preppy school girl outfits as it is. I want more variety than the stereotypical suburbia look that looks like it came out of a Hallmark movie. I want gameplay and build mode not focused on just rich suburbs too. At least women my age use MAC products unlike the Moschino pack which no one can afford.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • MovottiMovotti Posts: 7,774 Member
    I feel the game has Matrix lighting.
    Even many of the lighter skin tones have a sickly look to them.
    The dark tones are ashy, the mid tones are often redish-orange, and the pales are greeny-yellow
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  • esquoiresquoir Posts: 28 Member
    i feel like the game needs more pale skin tones as well as darl and brown ones.. people are more than just yellow, orange and chocolate tones
  • Shadow_AssassinShadow_Assassin Posts: 1,670 Member
    edited June 2020
    That's what we need a color slider/wheel
    In TS3 there's a special slider for skintone, there's 3 natural skintone slider: olive, bright, dull. I always think the olive skintone is a bit reddish for Asian sims(TS3 vampire has unique skintone, honestly their olive skintone is more similar to most of Asians). TS4 has "more olive" skintones, but even the second skintone(obvious olive) is more pale than those "white"(don't know this type's true name) skintones.

    And I don't know why those dark skintone are... have strange effect on lipstick, even the most black lipstick won't so black
    One of my sims, it's the most black lipstick
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    But IRL
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    I haven't play TS4 for a long time, don't know if this fixed
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  • darlingdeviantdarlingdeviant Posts: 36 Member
    I agree. I'm brown with warm undertones and trying to recreate myself or people I know in the game without CC means my sims either look racially ambiguous or ashy because the undertones on the darker skintones are awful. That same pinky-cool undertone is used, or a really weird red undertone, or just a grayed-out ashy skin. The fact that CAS is unplayable for me unless I use CC skins (xmiramira's melanin packs have saved me) and makeup is ridiculous.
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  • DianesimsDianesims Posts: 2,867 Member
    edited June 2020
    These lookl weird. The first one is so orangey ! (She might have been wearing the new blush but it's barely noticeable anyway).

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    Post edited by Dianesims on
  • OnverserOnverser Posts: 3,364 Member
    Sadly agree, I don't really play with black sims so I hadn't noticed properly but I was trying to make some caribbean sims the other day and yikes it really is awful! The colors are either a "tan" type color or literal black-grey
  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    edited June 2020
    I agree, the darker skintones are not good, some even have bad textures as Grimcookies pointed out in a video. And the new MAC makeup has bad textures on the darker skintones as well.
  • KatterayuKatterayu Posts: 3 New Member
    I agree I feel that there is a lack of skin tones in general, at least good ones. The paler skin tones are way too yellow and the darker ones are too ashy, middle tones could have been a little better too, most of them makes your sim look sick. I generally just use one of the pale skin tones that look alright, but when I make a dark-skinned sim, I just pick one because I gave up on finding something that looks decent or realistic.

    I don't really need a color wheel for furniture or other things, but a color wheel for skin tones would have been great for versatility for everyone, you could pick a skin tone that resembles yours, you could pick a skin tone that could work with any kind of fantasy character you have in mind. We are so limited with the premade skin tones.

    I could also say the same about the hair colors, so a color wheel for that too would have been nice, but it's less important for me honestly.
    One of the blondes are pretty much a waste of space, the black is sometimes more of a dark blue, I feel like there could have been more of a variety of browns, maybe a lighter brown.

    There are always going to be things that could have been better.

    But I hope that Maxis will consider fixing some of these things, especially the skin tones.
    And if they do, I want them to use their time to make sure they look good.
  • Teh_CheshireTeh_Cheshire Posts: 17 Member
    I am honestly at this point shocked that for the base items like skin tone, hair color and basic clothing a HEX style color block hasn't been introduced that allows for finding subtle in between shades for skin tone especially. I can understand the limitations on walls, floors, and cloths with designs as the texture needs to be considered in the augmentation of pigments to ensure they look correct (color theory issues of some colors changing when put next to others)

    And I do think the lighting plays a huge part of it. Many monitors gamers use are already "blue light" spectrum because of the LED or other back lighting technology it may be using his heavily reliant on blue to act as a modifier as red or green often create heavy conflict. Most technology functions in the RBG color spectrum which makes balancing a bit of a headache.

    I saw a mod a few days back actually from one modder that was to correct the lighting in game to be more accurate. I wonder if such a mod or patch could be made for in game?

    And back to the color theory thoughts - since it is a bright blue background it could have heavy impact on the tone of the skin as it is rendered because it effects it visually.

    Can anyone who uses CAS get a modifer for their CAS screen and show comparison shots? I don't have the ability to post pictures yet.
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