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Problem with sunlight through windows

Not quite sure where to post, as I don't expect to find a solution to my problem. I guess I'm mostly curious to find out if anyone else experiences the same...

Well, on pictures from other games I often see those sunny tiles hitting the floor and furniture inside a room. Typically in the morning of a sunny day, I guess, when the sun is still not so high up there on the sky.

In my own game I never ever saw this light inside of any room. Instead I often see it outside on the lawn! I could understand seeing the light formed like square window panes on the lawn if it was dark outside and that room was lit, but it happens in bright sunshine.

It feels like my game shows the light effects on the wrong side of the window object... I tried flipping the window object, in case there is actually one side that is meant to be facing the outside, but nothing changed.

Someone in the past suggested that my house had a problem with the roof. So I removed all roofs and place just one big roof object that covered the entire building. I don't see how the roof can let sunlight through if the roof is only one object covering a square house. But still, the light was showing a perfect window figure on the lawn...

So, I wonder if it is my video card that is not up to the job? But if it was not, why would it manage to create the perfect light pattern on the wrong side of the wall/window?

Do anyone else have this problem with sunlight through windows?
Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg

Comments

  • StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
    I have never experienced this problem. There is another thread here which talks about a specific line of AMD GPU's where mirrors are rendering what is behind them instead of reflecting what is in front....maybe it's a similiar kind of issue.

    There was another thread where someone had issues with natural lighting in their kitchen with higher wall heights that went away if they lowered the wall heights. Does anything change if you alter that?

    I'm spitballing here...sorry it's probably not much help. But at least the bump keeps the thread near the top. :)
    This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
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  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    Thanks @Stormkeep I have no problem with mirrors, but I'll experiment a bit with wall heights. The house I'm currently playing has the medium height, I think.

    It's not a major game breaking thing, it would just be nice experiencing the sunrays inside a room just once :)

    Btw, is the sunlight in the room default, like do everyone get it, or is it a top-line video card matter?
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
    edited January 2022
    I would think everyone "can" get it; Light shining through windows is a pretty old trick by computing standards. That said, whether a person actually does have it in their game or not is probably tied to one of the adjustable graphic options settings.

    Edit to add: found an old thread on the same subject, may be worth a read through: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/888755/is-new-lighting-working/p3
    This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
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  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    I checked your suggested link, learned a bit about the feature, but did not find anything about getting the sunlightwindow showing outside on the lawn.

    I'm experimenting with higher light settings, will post what I find. Might need to wait for a sunny day though, assuming the effect is not there on rainy days.
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
    edited January 2022
    I checked your suggested link, learned a bit about the feature, but did not find anything about getting the sunlightwindow showing outside on the lawn.

    I'm experimenting with higher light settings, will post what I find. Might need to wait for a sunny day though, assuming the effect is not there on rainy days.

    It's definitely not there on cloudy days in my game. I had a day recently where it was so cloudy that I thought my sims woke up too early at first because of how dark it was in the house compared to normal.

    As far as your outside light issue, are you sure what you are seeing outside isn't the indoor light casting outside through the windows? That happens too. I only see it at night though, but if you're having an overall problem with natural light the game might be casting light out through the windows as if it were night time.
    This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
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  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,295 Member
    edited January 2022
    I had that dark cloudy day two Sim days in a row. In fact, it was so dark I had the same reaction @Stormkeep. I had to take a look at the game clock to realize it was in the AM, not the PM and since it was 9 AM, obviously it was daytime. :open_mouth: Would have been a perfect rainy day.

    As for the window light on the lawn I have no clue what causes that. Seems as though you've checked out a possible cause in that you turned the windows around. Sorry to learn that wasn't the problem. Have you contacted EA about it? Maybe it's something simple that none of us are even thinking about that causes it. When we first got this feature, I thought it was rather cool. Imitates what happens in a real-world home.
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  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    Stormkeep wrote: »
    I checked your suggested link, learned a bit about the feature, but did not find anything about getting the sunlightwindow showing outside on the lawn.

    I'm experimenting with higher light settings, will post what I find. Might need to wait for a sunny day though, assuming the effect is not there on rainy days.

    It's definitely not there on cloudy days in my game. I had a day recently where it was so cloudy that I thought my sims woke up too early at first because of how dark it was in the house compared to normal.

    As far as your outside light issue, are you sure what you are seeing outside isn't the indoor light casting outside through the windows? That happens too. I only see it at night though, but if you're having an overall problem with natural light the game might be casting light out through the windows as if it were night time.

    Might be so, but when I see it during daylight, there is also the shadow of the house seen on the lawn, and I doubt the shadow will be displayed during night time because it would not be there.

    I think I'll better test this all in a separate save with a very plain building where no other factors can have a say.
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    I had that dark cloudy day two Sim days in a row. In fact, it was so dark I had the same reaction @Stormkeep. I had to take a look at the game clock to realize it was in the AM, not the PM and since it was 9 AM, obviously it was daytime. :open_mouth: Would have been a perfect rainy day.

    As for the window light on the lawn I have no clue what causes that. Seems as though you've checked out a possible cause in that you turned the windows around. Sorry to learn that wasn't the problem. Have you contacted EA about it? Maybe it's something simple that none of us are even thinking about that causes it. When we first got this feature, I thought it was rather cool. Imitates what happens in a real-world home.

    I will test it on a test lot in a test save. Then I can also easier check whether all windows perform the same error. If it's only a few, the problem decreases. About clouded days, I love the weather changes, and also that some worlds feels darker than others.
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • GreylingGreyling Posts: 163 Member
    Is this what you are experiencing? (image attached in post #3) https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-INPUT-Window-shadows-cast-outside-on-Lighting-settings/td-p/6806377 - sorry that it doesn’t come with a solution to the problem if it is what you’re seeing.
  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    edited January 2022
    Update: YAY! Setting the lighteffects to "very high" helped! Sunray in the rooms, and no sunrays on the lawn! And this is on low-end computer with integrated video card. My game used to have lighting on "medium", which obviously shows the same sunray but on the lawn on the opposite side of the house instead of in the correct room.

    I love the idea of knowing what side of the house is facing the morning sun etc. It makes the house more dynamic, and even the floor plan gets a new aspect.

    Unfortunately "very high" makes my game lag a bit, so I tested how it looks on "high". Just a very subtle light effect from the window on "high", nothing worth keeping. I'm allowing "very high" for a rotation or so, hopefully turning "sim detail" one level down might reduce the new lag.
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
    Awesome that you got it sorted. Hopefully the performance hit isn't too bad and you can get used to it.
    This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
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  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    Greyling wrote: »
    Is this what you are experiencing? (image attached in post #3) https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-INPUT-Window-shadows-cast-outside-on-Lighting-settings/td-p/6806377 - sorry that it doesn’t come with a solution to the problem if it is what you’re seeing.

    Thanks! Yes, that is exactly what I'm seeing. I just found that my Lighting was set to "Medium". On "Very high" the light is showing inside the room. I also tested on "high" and the lighting effect was in the room but hardly noticable. I'm wondering why settings has to do with this, as the quality of the window sunray looked perfect even on "medium", just on the wrong side of the window. Well, I think I'll see if I can live with the lag, and rather return to "medium" for video recording and stuff that needs minimum lag.
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    Stormkeep wrote: »
    Awesome that you got it sorted. Hopefully the performance hit isn't too bad and you can get used to it.

    It's at least good to know that it works when needed. I can use it for picture projects, and I can remove it or video recording. I don't mind some lag in my regular game sessions :).
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • StormkeepStormkeep Posts: 7,632 Member
    This thread now has me curious if I'll notice anything different with how things look in my game if I turn lighting effects up to "Very High". I had it just on "high" all this time. I'm going to change it right now and see. :lol:
    This post will be edited by StormKeep at some point.
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  • GreylingGreyling Posts: 163 Member
    edited January 2022
    Greyling wrote: »
    Is this what you are experiencing? (image attached in post #3) https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-INPUT-Window-shadows-cast-outside-on-Lighting-settings/td-p/6806377 - sorry that it doesn’t come with a solution to the problem if it is what you’re seeing.

    Thanks! Yes, that is exactly what I'm seeing. I just found that my Lighting was set to "Medium". On "Very high" the light is showing inside the room. I also tested on "high" and the lighting effect was in the room but hardly noticable. I'm wondering why settings has to do with this, as the quality of the window sunray looked perfect even on "medium", just on the wrong side of the window. Well, I think I'll see if I can live with the lag, and rather return to "medium" for video recording and stuff that needs minimum lag.

    I know nothing about settings, but glad to hear you figured out a way to get it to show what you wanted to see :) And images of sun rays through windows do look absolutely beautiful. I’m not a fan of lag, though, but as you mentioned, you can see how bad it gets and then just use the very high settings on specific occasions :)
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