Lazy Duchess
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[TS3] Split Level Lighting Fix Mod
🕑 Added 2024-01-23 16:02:58 +0000 UTCHeya!
So here it is! A sort of fix/workaround for the missing split level lighting in TS3!
Consider this still in testing - I did a lot of work to make sure it's optimized and it works right, if there are any issues do let me know :)
Currently only works with lights - not windows.
Installation
Extract the .zip file anywhere you like, using a program such as WinRAR or 7z.
Inside, there is a "Bin" folder, a "Packages" folder and a "Packages - CHOOSE ONLY ONE" folder.
Place the content from the Packages folder into your "Documents/Sims 3/Mods/Packages" folder.
The "Packages - CHOOSE ONLY ONE" folder has different pre-tuned flavors for the mod. As the name says, copy only one of them into your "Documents/Sims 3/Mods/Packages" folder.
The available flavors are as follows:
- [ld_SplitLevelLightingFix - Active lot only.package] - Only the active lot will have fixed split level lighting. This might impact performance negatively a little as it will have to generate split level lighting as you move the camera to different lots, but might lessen the memory load on the game and reduce crashing.
- [ld_SplitLevelLightingFix - Inactive lot outdoors only.package] - The active lot will have full split level lighting, while inactive lots will only have outdoor split level lighting. Same as above, this is to reduce the memory load and try to prevent crashes albeit with a small performance cost.
- [ld_SplitLevelLightingFix - Default.package] - Default tuning, all lots get split level lighting.
As for the Bin folder, its contents should be placed into your "(Sims 3 installation folder)/Game/Bin".
Caveats
Split level lighting only shows in live mode, outside of Buy/Build. This is for performance reasons.
Split level lighting for lights you turn on/off or change in any way will update only when the game is unpaused. Chances are I'll fix this eventually, just worried about the performance implications it might have at the moment - will have to test a lot.
![[TS3] Split Level Lighting Fix Mod](https://img5.leaqio.com/storage/9/jd/it/9e04c0-019e8305-14f1-7d45-810c-8c7d7b90008d.jpg)
![[TS3] Split Level Lighting Fix Mod](https://img10.leaqio.com/storage/6/ye/nb/9e04c0-019e8305-14f2-71e1-9d9b-f3f789077098.png)
![[TS3] Split Level Lighting Fix Mod](https://img10.leaqio.com/storage/4/nf/yy/9e04c0-019e8305-14f2-7394-9ae3-ab684d20f984.png)
Comments
Boring Bones Tv
Worked!! Thank you! :D
Lazy Duchess
This only fixes split level lighting, lot edge lighting is a whole different thing i have no idea how to solve as of now
Lazy Duchess
Heya! Try increasing the Delay in the RPCLib.cfg to around 2000 or so
Boring Bones Tv
I don't know if it's just me, but I noticed several XCPT being generated in the Ts3 folder in my documents since I placed the files in the bin folder. The game does not open, it generates these files. Then I need to try 2 or 3 times until the game opens normally "type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x0ca42000 address: 0x6b2941a8 "C:\Program Files (x86)\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\RPCLib3.asi":0x0001:0x000031a8" This does not bother me. But if I delete the The Sims 3 folder in my documents and open the game to generate a new one, it no longer opens and cannot generate the default folders/files
PatreonRoo
does this work to get lights to cast beyond lot borders. Is that a possible fix you can do if not
Boring Bones Tv
intro (opening the whole game xD)
Around the Sims
OMG, once again, you're fixing something where I had given up all hopes for years!! Thank you so much! I
Julius MA
When you say "Entering the game", do you mean we load a save file/start a new game or the moment when the intro starts?
Lazy Duchess
Hey! My mod doesn't bring back the native feature - basically just makes invisible copies of lights. The pool does look a little weird, though I'm not sure I can do much about it. I'll keep that in mind tho!
Lazy Duchess
Heya! Have you tried disabling bloom in your game? The green glow sounds like the full moon lighting.
Joshua
So I know this doesn't work with "window" lighting, but I got a weird green glow and every single window, reflective surface etc was green. Does this mod impact lighting on lot edges? or just split level lighting?
SimMattically
Oh, and also, I just read that the original feature was removed because the light was clipping into the basements that came with World Adventures, and I see that happening with your mod installed. All the lights from the ground level are hitting the basements below. Not something that really bothers me too much, but I wanted you to be aware of it.
SimMattically
No worries! Thanks to you, we still got more than we could have ever hoped for from EA, so I'm grateful. One other thing I noticed - I wonder if your mod is flexible and allows for custom modifications to the lighting, or if it just brings back the native feature that EA broke? I think the lights would look better if they could spill over to the adjacent floors, there are a lot of dark spots on the foundations. The best example is the Sunset Valley gym at night, the area around the pool was unaffected before, so it had the default blue lighting of a room with no lights, but now with the fix it's pitch black because the room is affected by new lighting but the small pool lights don't reach the floor around it. Here's what it looks like: https://imgur.com/a/x9TySrA
Lazy Duchess
Thank you! It might be possible, but a little convoluted, I'll look into it.
SimMattically
Great mod! I've been waiting for this for years. It works pretty well, but I noticed that other light sources like glowing plants (like a flame fruit or life fruit) are not affected by this fix. Is it possible to make them work as well?
Anime_Boom
I had a feeling this was intentional for performance reasons but wanted to make sure just in case. Happy to hear its not a bug! :D
Boring Bones Tv
If you disable the reshade/gshade before entering the game, and only enable it after the game has opened, it might work. With Ansel, that's how it worked for me. There may be something to do with the shader loading priority, I don't know, but starting the filters only after the game loads seems to work
Lazy Duchess
Thank you Boring Bones!
Lazy Duchess
Heya! Does it work without reshade/gshade? I don't use either so I wasn't aware it could be a problem
Simmer
Any way to have this work with Reshade/GShade installed? :') Getting the same "RPCLib ASI not loaded" issue and the ddraw.dll file is already in my bin.
Boring Bones Tv
It happened to me too, but if I enter the game with Ansel filters disabled, it works. Maybe, if she is using reshade, disabling it might help. By the way, you did an excellent job with all of this, LD. Congratulations! I knew it would work out one day
Lazy Duchess
Hey! The ddraw.dll file is required for the mod to work, not having it in causes that error. What OS are you using?
VMSims
When I start the game I get a sign that says "RPCLib ASI not loaded" and I'm not sure if the mod is working. I installed the files as indicated, except for "draw.dll" because if I install it my game doesn't open. I have Ultimate Collection version 1.67
Lazy Duchess
Aaah my bad! I completely forgot to mention it - This is intended, unfortunately it would be too performance intensive to update it live on Buy/Build.
Anime_Boom
This is amazing! Thank you for this, for 10 years it has been broken and now it has a fix! :D Quick test in game its working! In build and buy it seems to turn off reverting to the broken state then going back into live mode fixes it. I am on game version 1.67 steam. Images - https://imgur.com/a/0RbLL1c Thanks again this is amazing stuff!! :D
