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UPDATE 9-2-20 Has your Sims 3 game been affected by the recent pixilation issues?

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  • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    @Nikkei_Simmer Did the graphics change in the run of play, or when you first loaded the game? Have you restarted your computer since then? As silly as it sounds, sometimes that's all it takes to get everything working again.

    If you're still seeing the problem even after a restart, it would be useful to see a dxdiag. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxidag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can load it up to the filehosting site of your choice and link it here. A dxdiag doesn't contain any identifying information.
  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    edited September 2021
    My game has not been affected
    Cororon wrote: »
    This one is CC, but it happens on EA objects to such as beds and chairs, and also on some of my sim's necks

    Yeah, I have seen it on beds and sometimes had to retouch it on screenshots. Not sure if it has gotten worse? I know that those annoying seams have been visible in the landscape since the game came out.

    It’s annoying and I wish there was a fix the funny thing is none of this shows up on my laptop with a nvidia graphics. add but shows up in desktop with nvidia
  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    My game has not been affected
    Not sure if this will help anyone with their issues, but it has helped me in the past and I just realized everytime my graphics card updates
    or my pc, it resets the settings which is why it looks bad.

    https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5035
    Even though I don't have 2 cards, for some reason changing from let windows decide to use optimal power, works!
  • sims3freakAdamsims3freakAdam Posts: 393 Member
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    Hey everyone! Just to let you know I think I’ve found a fix for the strange transparent/white lines that people have been getting on sims and objects.

    *note that this fix is only for nvidia graphics card users so apologies if you have a different card this won’t fix the issue for you*

    I had this issue on objects mostly as I’ve mentioned in my Reddit post here:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/thesims/comments/ktyg8p/the_sims_3_i_keep_getting_these_small_flickering/

    After spending a long time trying to figure out how to fix it and trawling the internet for answers, I finally came across a post from a user on the EA forums:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-white-lines/td-p/9559480/page/8

    In post #78 the user SunflowerSimmies mentions that downloading nvidia profile inspector and applying the anti aliasing fix to The Sims 3 executable file should fix the issue. (They also mention that you need to download an older version of nvidia profile inspector, but I have found that is not the case the most recent version is perfectly fine and includes the fix)

    My next issue was finding the official download for the profile inspector as it’s not an official nvidia programme so google was bringing up all different links and the link in the YouTube video that the user above mentions seemed sketchy. However after doing some research I found out that the official recent version download is from GitHub from the user Orbmu2k (the person who created the programme).

    I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link to the download as it’s technically a third party programme but if you do a google search of ‘nvidia profile inspector’ it should be the first link at the top (the one that leads to GitHub), once there it should be the 2.3.0.13 version (this is the most recent version at the time of writing this post).

    Here’s what you need to do once you’ve downloaded it:

    Extract the files using winrar or 7zip > double click the nvidia profile inspector application > once it’s open in the top left you should see a drop down menu next to where it says ‘Profiles:’ > click the drop down menu and search on the list until you find ‘Sims 3’ (there will be other Sims 3 listed games here, usually World Adventures and Ambitions. These are not important it’s just the Sims 3 one you need to edit) > click on this and the screen will change to a list of options > under ‘Compatibility’ you should see ‘Antialiasing fix’ > click on where it says off and a drop down menu should appear > on the drop down menu click ‘on’ > next click ‘apply changes’ in the top right and then exit the application.

    This should hopefully fix the dreaded white lines for you! I hope this helped somebody, I’m just so happy I can finally play the game without the irritating flickering lines all the time.
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    edited October 2021
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    @sims3freakAdam Thank you so much for sharing this! :star: (With the exact steps on what to do too. 👍 I always appreciate that. )

    I'll give it a try and see if it takes the lines away in my game as well cause they started showing up on various objects since Windows 10 updates and they've been driving me nuts!

    I'm hoping maybe it will take the pixel blocks off sim clothing as well? Guess I'll see. No because that's a dithering issue, not antialiasing. Sorry. :p

    I'll let y'all know how it goes.

    *Edit to add. It works! :grin: On one of the beds I could see a line when zoomed out, but zooming in makes it disappear. It took the lines off another bed completely. I haven't checked out my Moonlight Falls save yet to see if it takes away the long line running at the base of the mountain, but I'm sure it will. Thank you again!
    Post edited by emorrill on
    52607642900_bbbac3a314_c.jpg
  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    edited October 2021
    My game has not been affected
    Oh gosh! that is different from how I was told to use nvidia profile inspector, when I used it last it didn't work, will try this way
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    Now my question is: is there a setting in the Nvidia Profile Inspector that will basically turn dithering back ON and get rid of the pixel blocks on clothes and Sims? If one of you is a computer guru and can figure that out, I'll love you forever! :blush:
    52607642900_bbbac3a314_c.jpg
  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    My game has not been affected
    @emorrill
    https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/nvidia-and-dithering-controls-how-to-enable.436621/
    This was all I could find about the issue, but I'm too nervous to edit this kind of stuff LOL
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    edited October 2021
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    @GraceyManor Wow. Yeah that kind of stuff goes WAY over my head. :flushed: And I'm way too nervous to edit it too. Thanks for sharing though.

    Just wish Nvidia would make it possible to turn dithering on or off in the control panel. So silly they did away with it.....

    Guess they're all about what games are hip and hot right at this second and anything over 2 years old is trash. :unamused:
    52607642900_bbbac3a314_c.jpg
  • sims3freakAdamsims3freakAdam Posts: 393 Member
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    @emorrill I'm really glad this worked for you! o:)

    As for the pixelated clothing and colour banding, I've still not found a fix for it yet and I agree those steps above that @GraceyManor linked to are far too complicated for me. I'm also scared to go messing with the settings too much. I guess I'll have to put up with it for now until someone with more knowledge can help.
  • KelvinKelvin Posts: 6,899 Member
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    I am extremely late to the party but has anyone found a fix for the blotchy-looking non-default skins on the sims yet?

    I have both Kurasoberina's HD specular default replacement and buhudain's you are real installed but the resulting images are still extremely-blurry looking even at maxed out sim-detail settings.

    Screenshot.jpg

    It looks even worse on female hands, especially that tangled-up pixelation at her wrist.

    Screenshot-6.jpg
    chicken-run-ginger-i-just-decided-i-dont-care-idc-gif-20619284.gif
    ._.
  • ZeeGeeZeeGee Posts: 5,355 Member
    edited November 2021
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    @sims3freakAdam Thank you so much for helping us find a solution for the lines, yaaaay!!

    @Kelvin This happened a couple of years ago and no one has found a fix. In fact some think we're imagining it.

    All I know for sure is I was happily playing my game, which looked incredible on Saturday night and the next afternoon I booted up and noticed my options had been reset and even once I reset them, my sims faces and skins and clothes and walls were pixilated and looked like crap. My sims used to look better in the game than in CAS. Now they look better in CAS. Oh well. My little gripe session. Haven't had one in awhile so it was due. :D
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    @ZeeGee Vent away chica. We're here to listen. <3


    While @sims3freakAdam 's fix gets the lines off of objects, unfortunately in my game it doesn't get rid of that gosh-awful line going across the mountain in Moonlight Falls. :(

    Randoms-10-21-6.jpg

    Even when I zoom all the way up to it, it doesn't go away:

    Randoms-10-21-7.jpg

    Maybe fades a little...

    I guess that's just a world glitch though? I think I remember someone saying that before all the Windows 10 update issues. 🤷‍♀️ Anyway, just thought I'd bring it to y'all's attention.

    Happy Simming. :)
    52607642900_bbbac3a314_c.jpg
  • GravityWellGravityWell Posts: 7 New Member
    Hey! I've been lurking and watching this thread for a really long time and just found the first possible real fix. The problem is that it will probably take several people who know how to edit shaders to join in and help another modder. Lazy Duchess has an unpublished mod that uses her shader replacement framework and reduces banding. It's not compatible with her main pack of shader tweaks, I'd assume because they edit the same core game files.
    https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post/665335435825905664/unpublished-mods-so-this-is-something-that
    https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post/659682513795563520/ts3-wip-pixel-shader-modding-framework

    So it looks like now that the framework is out it's possible to fix this. She has written a wiki on her github to teach people to customize shaders.
    https://github.com/LazyDuchess/D3DShaderReplacer/wiki

    Hope this helps, or at least gives some hope.
  • ZeeGeeZeeGee Posts: 5,355 Member
    edited November 2021
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    @GravityWell Thank you! I have been fiddling around with these shaders and googling terms all day! I did find out one thing, turning your shaderskincompositing to false gives you that really ugly pixilated looking skin like this:

    oczMpLl.jpg

    It's recommended to do this so that the body hair looks natural but when you do, it messes up the skin.

    I don't know enough to fix this and also wonder if it would be the same thing as using Reshade? I don't know enough about it. :) I did stick LD's shader tweaks in to see what they would do but haven't noticed a huge difference yet. I don't think they're working. Maybe a conflict with something else I've done.

    P.S. Anyway, if someone has this horrible blotchy looking skin (which looks worse in game than in the picture), go to your graphicsrules.sgr file and change out the skin compositing shaders to 'true' instead of 'false' and maybe that will fix it. :)
  • GravityWellGravityWell Posts: 7 New Member
    @ZeeGee You seem to have read LD's instructions backwards. She says to turn shaderskincompositing back ON with her shader replacements installed because her shader fixes the body hair. Lots of people turned it off years ago because until now there was no true fix for body hair.

    https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post/659682540714704896/ts3-shader-tweaks?is_related_post=1
    Quote: "Body hair has been fixed and now displays properly in-game with shaderskincompositing enabled."

    Also you probably installed the framework and tweaks incorrectly if you can't tell a difference in game.
    https://imgur.com/a/EyNnWku

    In one of those pics you can see a faint green tinge to my female sims skin, that's a bit of reflection from the new shaders bouncing green light from my horrible neon green wallpaper. The whiskers on my cat and dog are from LD as well. I notice my sims hair all looks better now as well, the layers stand out more with better shadows.
  • ZeeGeeZeeGee Posts: 5,355 Member
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    @GravityWell Thank you! I will try it again.
  • AstroAstro Posts: 6,651 Member
    ZeeGee wrote: »
    @GravityWell Thank you! I have been fiddling around with these shaders and googling terms all day! I did find out one thing, turning your shaderskincompositing to false gives you that really ugly pixilated looking skin like this:

    oczMpLl.jpg

    It's recommended to do this so that the body hair looks natural but when you do, it messes up the skin.

    I don't know enough to fix this and also wonder if it would be the same thing as using Reshade? I don't know enough about it. :) I did stick LD's shader tweaks in to see what they would do but haven't noticed a huge difference yet. I don't think they're working. Maybe a conflict with something else I've done.

    P.S. Anyway, if someone has this horrible blotchy looking skin (which looks worse in game than in the picture), go to your graphicsrules.sgr file and change out the skin compositing shaders to 'true' instead of 'false' and maybe that will fix it. :)
    I’m using LD shader fix and I also use Reshade, one of the effects I use is debanding. I think all these things together make the game look a lot better (plus MXAO, a good lighting mod, etc.)

    In screenshots you can’t tell there’s any pixelation issues, and it’s only slightly noticeable in game.
    (All unedited, btw)
    XsksC4o.png
    qGbU25K.png
    QYTnva3.png
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    @Astro That male strip'per dressed as a Police Officer in your game! :open_mouth::love:

    What's MXAO? And what lighting mod do you use? I've only used lighting mods from burtnwaffles and...no matter which one I use there is still pixelation on skin, clothes, walls, etc.
    52607642900_bbbac3a314_c.jpg
  • AstroAstro Posts: 6,651 Member
    edited January 2022
    @emorrill Haha, yeah I built a club with themed dancers. It’s an interesting place to go to on a Friday night, lol.

    MXAO is ambient occlusion, it basically gives a drop shadow to everything in the game which in turn gives it more depth and overall the game looks more realistic with it. It’s a Reshade effect and one of the many that I use, not just for screenshots but during regular gameplay. If you want to download Reshade and need help getting it set up feel free to PM me! :)

    I also use this lighting mod…
    https://potato-ballad-sims.tumblr.com/post/121954130739/ive-heard-your-calls-to-bring-clear-bright-to/amp
    It gives the game brighter, clearer days and darker nights, which I love.

    I also live and die by this skin, it’s definitely the best skin out there, imo.
    https://kurasoberina.tumblr.com/post/137273135579/an-hd-skin-for-all-ages-uhd-2k-faces-4k-adult/amp
  • emorrillemorrill Posts: 8,110 Member
    My game has been affected but it doesn't bother me
    @Astro Aww, you're so sweet. Thank you. <3
    I've tried Reshade out and...I didn't like how it requires a different key to take pictures (not C) and then my pictures would come out dark... I dunno what I was doing wrong, but I didn't like it. :confused: I also have a VERY old computer monitor (old flat screen tv) which could be the issue too. But yeah if I ever decide to revisit it, I'll for sure let you know. :)

    I think I'll give that lightning mod a try and I 100% agree that KBPrimer skin in the best out there. :blush: It's what I've had in my game for years and I can't part with it. :star:
    52607642900_bbbac3a314_c.jpg
  • AstroAstro Posts: 6,651 Member
    @emorrill You have to play the game in a borderless window (it’s full screen but alt-tab doesn’t work) and then the screenshots come out great! It took some getting used to but I couldn’t play without Reshade now.

    And you’re welcome. I always like to help out those who want to get a better graphical experience out of their game. :)
  • Emily4331Emily4331 Posts: 10,850 Member
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    @Astro Which shaders do you use for Reshade? I could never get Reshade to work, but I do have Reshade shaders compatible with Nvidia Freestyle that I use. Your game looks awesome! And the themed dancers is hilarious! :lol: Another question: Might you remember where you got cowgirls fringed vest?
  • AstroAstro Posts: 6,651 Member
    @Emily4331 I use MXAO, Delc_Sharpen, FXAA, and SMAA. FXAA and SMAA are both superior forms of edge smoothing, so in order for those effects to work you have to turn off edge smoothing in the game settings. Delc_Sharpen is just a sharpening overlay that makes the game look more 'crisp'. MXAO is tricky to set up because you have to make sure the depth buffer is working correctly. If you want to give it another shot I could always help you!
  • Emily4331Emily4331 Posts: 10,850 Member
    My game has been affected and I'm upset
    @Astro Awesome! I'm going to try these out when I'm next in game. My problem with Reshade was always that my game wouldn't launch with Reshade's dll in my game's install folder. I tried to find other people with the same problem, even with other games, but always came up with nothing. It's been an issue I've not been able to solve for a few years now, so I've pretty much just given up. :lol: But! That isn't so bad since someone made Reshade shaders compatible with Freestyle, so I just use Freestyle these days anyway. :smile: But I appreciate the offer to help. :heart:

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