Lighting and Dark Sims

[Marishkah]

Hey all, I am not sure if this has been posted yet or not, but...
Ever since day one of playing Sims 4, my Sims family looks dark.  It doesn't look like they have any lighting showing on their skin at all.  I have an obscene amount of lights through each room.  Does anyone else have this problem?

[Katluvr]

The lighting in TS4 seems much dimmer than in TS3, even with the lights at the highest intensity. 

There are a couple of mods available that can fix this - see this thread for more information on them.  I have been using one of them without any problems and it has completely fixed this issue.  My tired, old eyes are much happier now. 

If you are a purist or are not comfortable using mods you could try adding more lights to the rooms in your house.  Not sure if that will help or not, but would be worth checking out.

[Marishkah]

Thanks for the advice. I have been adding more lights, and didn't seem to help much.  Will see about maybe changing lights and their locations.

[Stormi71]

I did see some setting in the options for lighting. I changed this, but it's still dark for me, too. I have a sim with the almost white complexion, and she looks dark grey in the house. I have never used mods before, but I think I will have to if they don't patch the problem.

[Devin]

The lighting mods make a lot of difference to the amount of light that you have on your sims, but by themselves, they aren't the whole solution.

My advice is to use the most expensive indoor wall lighting and put them everywhere, along with a ceiling light above where the sims are. When I'm in public places, I change the lighting to make sure that I can see the sims and get good photographs of them.

This is by design, but my understanding is that the Gurus are working on improving the lighting. The intention is to allow players to select higher "quality" lights (based on their cost) that will light the entire room, but this doesn't work on its own, which is why you'll want to install one of the lighting mods to make up with the difference.

Be aware that pure white light with a mod installed can be too much, so consider cooling your white light or setting some lights in the room to different colors in order to soften the brightness.

Also, white or light colored walls, floors, and furniture will reflect the natural light (no mods) to make your sims somewhat brighter.

[Marishkah]

I didn't want to use any mods for Sims 4, but may have to on this.  But like I mentioned early, I will play around with the locations and perhaps do as you suggest and get the most expensive lights to use.

[Devin]

The key for me has been -- with or without the mod -- to use the wall lights in combination with the most expensive ceiling lamps. You may need to pause and move them during the game in order to get the brightest lighting, and there is word that they are planning on fixing this.

Like you, I use as few mods as humanly possible. Right now I have the lighting mod, no mosaic, and replacement default eyes, since these are mods I can't live without when I'm taking a lot of photos in-game.

[Marishkah]

The key for me has been -- with or without the mod -- to use the wall lights in combination with the most expensive ceiling lamps. You may need to pause and move them during the game in order to get the brightest lighting, and there is word that they are planning on fixing this.

Like you, I use as few mods as humanly possible. Right now I have the lighting mod, no mosaic, and replacement default eyes, since these are mods I can't live without when I'm taking a lot of photos in-game.

What is no mosaic, and replacement default eyes? 

[Devin]

No Mosaic removes the pixelization (mosaic) from bathing, showering, using the toilet, and breastfeeding. Replacement default eyes gives the sims more attractive eyes, matching the default colors (i.e. they aren't contacts). If you want the links I have them. I reblog everything on Tumblr.

[Marishkah]

No Mosaic removes the pixelization (mosaic) from bathing, showering, using the toilet, and breastfeeding. Replacement default eyes gives the sims more attractive eyes, matching the default colors (i.e. they aren't contacts). If you want the links I have them. I reblog everything on Tumblr.

Ah I see.  Thanks for that information. 
I changed around/bought new lighting, oh and I changed the settings to the highest setting as well.  It's a little better I think? OK so after looking at Kaleigh, she is still somewhat dark.. bleh!  Well, will just hope they fix this soon, or my house will be nothing but lights! hehe

[kanzaki]

Laptop mode removes lighting effects on sims. I suspect that's what you are running in.

[kellie13]

Laptop mode removes lighting effects on sims. I suspect that's what you are running in.

Great!  I had to put my computer in laptop mode to "de-mutate" the babies. Now I get non-mutant babies but they live in the semi-dark. Nevertheless, loving the game!

[Marishkah]

Laptop mode removes lighting effects on sims. I suspect that's what you are running in.

Hmmmmmm, I will check that out now.. I did recently put it back in laptop mode..

[kellie13]

Hmmmmmm, I will check that out now.. I did recently put it back in laptop mode..

I read that there is a problem with the Intel chips as well causing the mutant babies. If you have both an Intel Chip and a graphics card, make sure your game is running on the card and not the chip.

[Marishkah]

Okay, so here is a comparison shot.  I went to settings and turned off laptop mode.  Which, looks like it helped?







So looks good now, huh?

Oh kanzaki, when I had mutated babies, the patch fixed that!  So no worries on mutated nooboo's anymore