RUSSIANS, YOU HAVE ALREADY SPIT HITLER IN YOUR CRUELTY. Congratulations! But we are not despair and kill your russian occupiers very successfully. We will defeat you /// (I will not post anything about Sims in the near future, because I'm not up to it now, I have a war in my country)
Here's this lighting mod I cobbled together, up for public consumption for anyone who might want to give it a try. It's a "default" lighting mod, which means it will affect all worlds in all saves that are in the same game folder as the lighting mod, except for the dystopian/utopian futures in Oasis Landing. So, if you use a custom or EA world that includes special lighting that you like, you don't want to use this in that game folder because it will replace that lighting.
Before I start babbling, here's the download link upfront.
There are two versions included in the download. One file includes default replacements for the clouds, sun, sun halo, moon halo, and stars. Then there's a folder that contains two separate files, the lighting mod by itself and the default sky objects by itself, in case you don't want the clouds, stars, etc that you see in the pics and just want the lighting mod. (Or if you don't want the lighting mod but do want the sky objects, I guess!) The pics all use the "combined" version, but you can install only what you want, if that's more your cuppa.
This mod's "base" is Burntwaffles's Dream Dimension lighting mod, specifically version 2.5 with Lucky Palms water and no auroras, except that I changed the sunrise/sunset times back to the standard 6AM/6PM because I use NRaas Retuner to create appropriate seasonal sunrise/sunset offsets instead. It still has Lucky Palms's water, both because it's my favorite and because I don't know how to change it, but pretty much everything else has been altered at least slightly, from slightly brightening and color-adjusting the color ramps to mucking around with light angles and distance fog settings. So, not too much is left of Dream Dimension except the basic colors, but it's still at its core. I also looked at lighting mods made by @boringbones and @gruesim and compared the values they contain to Dream Dimension's values. None of the values I ultimately used are from any of those mods but they were all guidance that helped me to pinpoint values to change to get the look I wanted, so credit to those creators.
My goals for the mod, all of which I more or less accomplished, were:
1) Less-intense shadows, mostly in order to reduce harsh shadows on sims, especially in outdoor lighting, as well as too-dark bits of building exteriors, like covered porches and recessed entryways.
2) Desaturated but bright colors with less contrast, because my old eyes don't tolerate saturated colors and high contrast for long. Somehow, EA's lighting manages to be both very color-saturated and dark and often dismal at the same time. Meanwhile, most lighting mods are too bright and/or too saturated for my likings. I wanted less saturated but brighter, which seems to be a rare combination. Dream Dimension is already desaturated, which is why I like it, but I increased the brightness and warmth a bit on the color ramps because it could also be a bit too dark and "cold," in my opinion.
3) Improved natural-daylight indoor lighting. I somewhat accomplished this one, though there are still issues like too-dark ceilings and some too-bright walls, which I don't think are fixable with just a lighting mod. However, lowering the light angles seems to make the EA windows with fixed lighting (that mod is linked behind the cut) work better and gives pretty good results, which you can especially see in the WIP pics I've posted, since I didn't include a lot of interior pics on this post. I can make no promises about this issue on lots with custom windows, however.
4) Dark but not unrealistically black nights, including darker ground level lighting at night. Dream Dimension already had this, but I lowered the contrast so it's not so hard on the eyes and also made it a little bit brighter so that if you've got your sims in an unlit area far from from any artificial light sources, you can still see what they're doing. It also doesn't have the obnoxious blue tint that EA night lighting has.
Like the WIP pics I posted here, here , here, and here, the above pics have no Reshade or Photoshop editing applied to them at all, other than cropping/resizing in Photoshop. They are all taken in various EA worlds instead of all in my rebuild of Meadow Glen, as all the WIP pics I've posted have been. They are best viewed at full size, and I think they give a good representation of what the thing looks like, including flaws, assuming that you use the same appearance-improving stuff that I use on a decent-enough machine to run all this crap and still be able to play the game. I have tried to be thorough and transparent about my machine's specs and the other mods and stuff that I use that contribute to what my "naked" game looks like. That's all behind the cut.
The WIP pics I've posted have a larger sun and moon than you will get from the mod as uploaded. You can see the "included" sun/moon sizes in the above pics. I like those things to be larger, so my personal copy of the mod has larger sun/moon sizes, but I figured other people mostly wouldn't like that. The mod as uploaded has I believe slightly larger-than-EA values for those things, but not ridiculously-large like I like. As uploaded, there is also no sun halo, which to me results in a sun that looks like a ping-pong ball floating in the sky, but whatever.
I was going to write up and include instructions on how to mess with sun/moon sizes and other things in this post, including how to "reactivate" Burntwaffles's "auroras" if you want them. (Those are really just colored clouds, though; I prefer to use this mod for auroras, and it is shown in one of the pics above.) But I've decided to do all that in a separate post or two at a later time because probably no one will read this massive wall of text as it is. :)
For the sky objects replacement: They began life as parts of @wasset-asekara's "Enchanted Environment" mod, but I have edited them over the years. I don't remember all that I have done, but I do know that I edited @nilxis's clouds a bit and put that in there, and that the stars are an edit of ShojoAngel's starfield because I like its gazillions of tiny stars better than EA's sparse field of large globs that are apparently supposed to be stars. (One day I will make my own starfield from scratch that's more of a "happy medium" between those two, but that day hasn't arrived yet. LOL ) I'm pretty sure I didn't edit Wasset's sun halo, though, and it's included. You can see it in this pic, but as I said the uploaded mod has the sun halo size set to zero, so it will not appear unless you go in and fiddle with the sun and sun halo sizes yourself. As I said, I'll make a separate post about how to do that, if you don't already know.
And now for the section where I'll list my computer's relevant specs, mods that I use, and other stuff I have installed that affect how my game looks, for transparency's sake and so that you can get some of this stuff if you don't already have it…
My computer's relevant specs:
Core i9 "Rocket Lake" processor (The one before the Alder Lake one that requires a patch for TS3 to work right). It runs at 3.5GHz
64GB of RAM
The game and all CC is installed on an M.2 SSD
16GB RTX 4060Ti GPU
So, it's pretty high-spec. If your machine is lower-spec, I can't guarantee that this lighting mod plus all the other crap that most serious TS3 players use will result in a good gameplay experience. On the other hand, lighting mods aren't resource-intensive by themselves. They are literally just numbers and a handful of tiny images. It's just that people, myself included, tend to couple them with resource hogs like Reshade as well as appearance-improving mods and graphics rules and things, plus a mass of gameplay mods, and the cumulative result is one big resource drain. So, bear that in mind.
Mods:
More light through windows
This fixes EA windows so that they work better and create more natural lighting. However, if you use a lot of custom windows that clone the unfixed LITE resource from EA windows, it will not help you at all.
Improved EA Lights
Similar to the above, this fixes EA lamps and wall/ceiling lights and stuff so that they cast artificial light more realistically. It will also not help you if you use a lot of custom lights that clone the LITE resource of unfixed EA lights.
Fixed tileable item shaders
This makes it so that lighting isn't weird on tiled bookshelves and sectional couches and stuff. Alas, it does not seem to fix uneven lighting on tiled windows. :( And, again, it fixes EA stuff, not custom stuff.
LazyDuchess's Sky Banding Fix
It used to be that I used Reshade mostly to fix the gradient banding in the sky. With this fix plus this lighting mod, I can completely ditch Reshade, yay! (Of course you don't have to ditch Reshade; I just didn't personally use it much other than to deband and desaturate.)
Default replacement moon shown in the pics
I use the Quartz color. You can use any replacement you want, of course. Or you can stick with the ugly EA moon.
NVIDIA Settings
Used for better antialiasing, the addition of ambient occlusion (which affects shadows), and a few other things. I listed the settings I use on this post. I imagine you can alter these settings if you use an AMD card, too, but I'm an NVIDIA girlie, so I don't know how you'd go about doing that. I'm sure there is info out there on the Intertubes, though! Bear in mind that many Reshade presets, if you use them, include better antialiasing and activating ambient occlusion, etc. via the various shaders used in the preset. Generally, you want either/or here, and I personally feel that NVIDIA settings give better results. However, with Reshade presets, you can disable individual shaders used for ambient occlusion and antialiasing and such to make them more compatible with NVIDIA settings.
A so-called "HQ mod."
Which isn't actually a mod at all but just edited graphics rules that change a few numbers so that the game uses higher-resolution images for stuff by default. This is necessary because, generally speaking, the game doesn't "know" that newer graphics cards that it doesn't natively recognize are capable of using larger textures, so it defaults to lower-resolution ones. If you haven't already done so, it's best to edit this yourself because graphics rules are rather machine-specific. General instructions on how to fart around with the graphics rules are here, and if you google around you'll find other tweaks that you can apply or not, as you choose. I personally edited mine for higher-resolution shadows and textures, both of which contribute to the pics of this lighting mod.
In-Game Graphics settings
All of mine are at maximum except for the game's native antialiasing (AKA "Edge Smoothing"), which is turned off since the NVIDIA settings handle that.
Various default-replacements.
The most obvious in the pics of this mod being @asabinsims "Project Renaissance" which default-replaces the textures for many of the game's trees, shrubs, and flowers. The "large" version is used in the pictures, but I use the "small" version for gameplay. Also, the sims in the pictures are using the default skin, eye, hair textures, and brow/facial hair replacements I use, but before the game "updated" them, they were briefly "wearing" the hideous Maxis stuff, and there were still no weird shadows and stuff on them.
Stuff that I don't have/use but that could possibly make this look even better:
LazyDuchess's Shader Framework and Tweaks
LazyDuchess's Split-Level Lighting Fix
(I don't use these only because, last time I tried to use them, I couldn't get the game to load with the shader framework installed, and the split-level fix just didn't work. But maybe it's time to try getting them to work again…)
And also: @katsujiiccfinds (But feel free NOT to reblog this, because it is a ridiculously massive post because of my thoroughness kink, and I would totally understand not wanting to pass that around. :) )
Hi, a reminder that Boosty is a russian platform and buying/ordering commissions/making any payments there (or to any russian tbh) gets transformed into ballistic missiles on our heads!
Here is a list of just some artists you could support instead: click here.
Here is a guide to spot russian artists (because they love hiding themselves, and I wonder why): click here
- 4t3 Serenity The Big Day Collection conversion pt.1 -
Sooo this was long overdue... but I finally finished converting this stunning set~
all credits go to @serenity-cc - these are not my meshes nor textures! Original here;
ROSALIND DRESS
Morphed - All LODS
Formal, Not valid for random
FAYE DRESS
Morphed - All LODS
Formal, Not valid for random
Adjusted Bonedelta to avoid major clipping of the arms in the dress during animations - depending on the cc pose (like in the preview) it might still have clipping
OPHELIA DRESS
Morphed - All LODS
Formal, Maternity, Not valid for random
ROSALIND VEIL
All LODS - Hat slider compatible
Ring category
Formal, Maternity, Not valid for random
The transparency can vary in CAS with certain hair or when accessories get layered, it will show up normal in Live Mode
OPHELIA SCARF
Morphed - All LODS
Necklace category
Everyday, Formal, Sleepwear, Outerwear, Maternity, Not valid for random
FAYE SLEEVES
All LODS
Gloves category
Everyday, Formal, Maternity, Not valid for random
SYLVIE SUIT TOP
Morphed - All LODS
Everyday, Formal, Career, Maternity, Not valid for random
SYLVIE SUIT PANTS
Morphed - All LODS
Everyday, Formal, Career, Outerwear, Maternity, Not valid for random
Lifehack - the ballistic missile air alert would not be able to wake you up in the middle of the night if you haven't gone to bed yet 👌👌👌
Also fuck all russians! Those who made the missiles, those who loaded them up, those who pressed the buttons and set the coordinates and then celebrated when those missiles hit the residential buildings and killed people. Fuck those russians who did all this and then went home to their families. Fuck their families too.
After that, try look me in the eyes and say that I'm 'bigoted xenophobic terrible person' for hating russians.
This mod simply lets your Sims actually practice cooking just like they would practice painting or guitar until they're actually good at it. I mainly use it for my aspiring chef sims :) Enjoy!
New Fridge Interactions
🍳 Practice Cooking
Click the fridge & choose practice cooking. Your Sim will continuously cook random recipes they already know to build their Cooking skill. Once they finish one meal, they'll immediately start another until you tell them to stop. Finished practice meals are automatically cleaned up so your house doesn't fill up with hundreds of plates.
🍲 Practice Recipe Until Mastered
Click the Fridge and choose a specific recipe. Your Sim will cook that same recipe over and over until they've mastered it. Meals remain after they're cooked so you can actually eat or sell them if you want.
🛑 Use Stop Practicing Cooking to give your sim a break. Click the fridge and choose Stop Practicing Cooking. Your Sim will finish whatever they're currently cooking and then stop instead of starting another meal.
Notes
STBL xml included for translators
Sims still need the proper appliances for each recipe (stove, grill, microwave, etc.).
Only Teen Sims and older can practice.
Custom script mod- should not clash with any other cooking mods, but as always please let me know if you run into any issues!
Russians are obsessed with raping culture, especially if there are Ukrainians
Svitlana found out she was pregnant at 23 weeks—it was already too late for an abortion. That’s how her youngest son came into the world, a child she gave birth to after being raped by a Russian occupier.
Law enforcement is investigating this war crime: the woman has been recognized as a victim, and investigators continue to search for her assailant. Meanwhile, Svitlana is raising six children. Her youngest son hugs and kisses her without prompting, and she admits that only now is she learning to be the gentle mother to her children she always wanted to be.
Svitlana is finally alone in one of the rooms and silently stares at her reflection in the mirror. After about ten seconds, she steps away. It seems like if she’d stayed just a moment longer, she would have started crying.
Only then does she begin to speak: “I have six children; the youngest is from the occupier. To be precise: exactly three boys and three girls.”
In early March 2022, Russian tanks rolled into the village of Mala Oleksandrivka. The occupiers began going door to door—looking for men with military experience, young women, and children, Svitlana recalls. All of her neighbors had fled, so she and her children became terrified. So she moved to a neighboring street, to Oleh’s house. Even there, the Russians tried to abduct her youngest son—they came into the house and threatened her. She recalls: “The Russians were wandering through the rooms and searching for who knows what on the roof. One day they came in and said, ‘We need the little one; we’re taking him to Russia—let him live there.’ And then they added, ‘Don’t even think about it—we can just kill you and take him.’”
In the end, the Russians didn’t take the child.
Svitlana mostly stayed at home, while Oleh went out more and more often. She thought he was out mowing the lawn somewhere. But then her husband started coming home later and later, and more and more often drunk. She didn’t know until the very end that her rommate had been drinking with Russian soldiers. In May 2022, Oleh arrived at their yard with two Russians. He called Svitlana out of the house. She recalls: “He said, ‘Meet them—this is Shah—that’s his nickname—and this one… I don’t even remember his second nickname—he’s his brother.’ I went out, said something in reply, and left.”
A few days after that first meeting, the Russians came to the house again, this time with Oleh. After lunch, a white minivan pulled up, and her roommate told Svitlana, “You need to go with them.” She tried to refuse: “I begged him in every way possible. I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t want to go anywhere. In the end, I decided to go. As soon as I reached the gate, they put a black mask—or some kind of dark green one—over my eyes. They didn’t put one on my partner. He was in the car too.”
Fifteen minutes later, the car stopped, and the Russian soldiers removed Svitlana’s mask. She saw a market, a bank, and stores—and recognized the neighboring village, Velyka Oleksandrivka.
“My roommate said, ‘Go with him,’ and pointed to ‘Shakh,’” Svitlana recounts. — I didn’t hesitate, because this Russian had a grenade, a knife, and a gun with him. We went up to the second floor of the store. I looked out the window, but there wasn’t a single person in sight. Should I shout, ‘Help’? They wouldn’t have heard me anyway. But I shouted out the window anyway.
The door closed, and he took off all those weapons… I didn’t even know where to hide. There were some oilcloths and clothes on the floor… The grenade stayed next to him during the rape, which lasted, I guess, about five minutes. I didn’t want to, and I was crying. He kept saying, “Don’t cry, don’t cry.” I already realized that crying meant nothing to them.
“Don’t scream,” he said, and he covered my mouth so I wouldn’t scream.”
After the rape, the soldier put his weapon back on: “I just ran out and shouted, ‘Help!’ And he said to me again, with that peculiar accent of his, ‘What are you yelling about? No one’s going to hear you anyway.’ There wasn’t a single person around at the time. There was shelling and explosions.”
Svitlana was afraid to go to the Russian commanders because her rapist might find her and kill her. She had heard a similar story: “Not far from here, in the village of Davydiv Brid, a woman was raped in front of her husband. They went to complain to the Russian commander, and both of them were killed immediately.”
Svitlana lived in Mala Oleksandrivka under occupation for seven months. By then, only 300 of the original 1,500 residents remained. Ukrainian troops liberated the village in early October 2022. The very next month, Svitlana left. She says she couldn’t stay there any longer—everything reminded her of what she had been through.
Law enforcement officials have recognized Svitlana as a victim in a war crimes case. According to Igor Demyanyuk, head of the Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kherson region, investigators have identified several Russian soldiers who may have been involved in the rape, but Svitlana did not recognize any of them. The investigation is ongoing. The Kherson Regional Police are investigating 270 crimes committed by Russian soldiers during the occupation of the Velyka Oleksandrivka community: the Russians killed two people and raped two others.
Svitlana makes no secret of the fact that she wants the harshest punishment for her attacker. She says he should face the same consequences as the rest of the Russian soldiers who committed sexual violence against Ukrainian women: “Let him sit in captivity, just like ours did. The Russians locked our people in a well, in a cellar—just ordinary people who did nothing wrong. They should lock him up like that and forget about him for a while. Let him face punishment. Let all the Russian soldiers who abused women face punishment. I consider them scumbags who came here and did such things in Ukraine… I’m suffering, and besides me, how many other people… How many are they killing? They’re not people—they’re animals.”
I am so so so sick of seeing AI generated previews for CC. I knew it was running rampant in TS4 but now I'm seeing people doing it for TS3 (in particular this one guy in the Sims 3 CC Tumblr community, iykyk) and it makes me sick. Instead of using the game to show game assets, we're making up random shit from stolen images to show game assets that look nothing like they do in the actual game. Like. Are you well??? Do you need me to call someone for you??? It makes literally no sense to anyone whose brain isn't riddled with AI psychosis. Knock it tf off.
This mod allows you to manually adjust your vehicle's speed while driving.
A new mod from LORHANDAGOTH, now beside hearing you favorite music (several updates has been done since my post) you can choose the speed you drive.
All credit to LORHANDAGOTH
snowghoul
areudirty
dailybridgerton
pixelskylines
