Blue Gamba

The rerelease of The Sims 2 introduced a fix for the black rectangles under Sims. You may have experienced this bug in the Ultimate Collection version.

As the creator of the Sims Shadow Fix, I was curious to know how it was done. But first, I'd like to explain what the problem with Sim shadows is.

What's the cause of the shadow bug?

When the game works as intended, a Sim shadow texture is a light bluish blob on a white background. It also has transparency, but it's unused. It looks like this:

However, many modern graphics cards render the texture as plain black with transparency:

That's why black rectangles appear under the Sims.

What does my mod do?

My mod is only a workaround for the bug. It uses the transparency to recreate the shadows.

The first versions released in 2015 and 2016 were achromatic, while the original shadows were bluish. Back then I didn't even know why and how my mod worked.

On 2 January 2025 I released new versions based on my research into shaders. I also recreated the original bluish shadows.

How does the Legacy Collection fix the shadow bug?

Thanks to @ivycopur I was able to examine the code. It uses a workaround, just like my mod.

In fact, it looks almost exactly like the really not misty 0.4 version of my mod, which, ironically, is now legacy. The shader code in the Legacy Collection contains the same nonsense. And a bit more.

Code comparison

The left side is the original code extracted from the Materials.package file in The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection. The right side is my code or the Legacy Collection code:

The differences between my code and the LC code:

the debug part: I removed it from my code as players will never see it. The LC has this feature untouched.

alphaBlend srcFactor: despite the difference, it actually changes nothing. Explained later.

The identical changes:

alphaBlend dstFactor,

the same colorScalar has been added,

textureBlend.

Nonsense #1: textureBlend

The textureBlend defines how the colors of the incoming texture are transformed. The first argument is responsible for the color channels, the second – for the transparency.

Originally it's just:

textureBlend select(texture) select(texture)

And it means that the texture is taken as it is.

My and LC code transforms it though. The colorScalar is defined as a partially opaque (40%) black color. The transparency argument takes the transparency of the original texture and darkens it with the 40% factor:

multiply(colorScalar texture)

And this makes sense. The color channels argument takes the transparency part of the texture and makes it pure black, because the color scalar is black:

multiply(colorScalar texture:alphaReplicate)

It's pointless. I could go:

select(colorScalar)

instead. It would be effectively the same.

The texture after the transformations looks like this:

Nonsense #2: alphaBlend

The alphaBlend defines how to mix the source colors (in this case the transformed texture from the textureBlend step) with the destination colors (in this case, the ground under Sim's feet).

The srcFactor argument defines the source color transformations, the dstFaction – defines the destination color transformations. And then they're put together.

Originally it's:

alphaBlend srcFactor(destColor) add dstFactor(zero)

The srcFactor says that the shadow colors are darkened with the ground colors. The dstFactor doesn't really matter because it's multiplied by zero (black). Also, transparency isn't used.

If I understand correctly, you could achieve the same effect with:

alphaBlend srcFactor(zero) add dstFactor(srcColor)

And the final effect is:

My and LC code had to do it differently. The dstFactor says to darken the floor color with inverted transparency:

dstFactor(invSrcAlpha)

It sounds complicated, but the inversion actually means that black becomes white and vice versa. So the transparency texture, which is a dark gray blob on a black background, becomes a light gray blob on a white background.

The srcFactor is actually useless because the shadow texture (from the textureBlend step) is black. So it doesn't matter if you use:

srcFactor(one)

like I did, or:

srcFactor(destColor)

as in the LC code, it will always be black because you can't make black any darker. To make the intention clear, I'd personally go with:

srcFactor(zero)

instead. The final effect would always be:

It's different from the original intended effect. You can even see the difference in the official screenshots:

Source 1 | Source 2

Conclusion

It doesn't look like a coincidence. The cause of the shadow bug hasn't been fixed, and I doubt that an experienced shader creator would come up with such a workaround. There are better ways.

Before you point out that it's against my terms of use to take my code and sell it, especially without credit, hear out. It doesn't matter – EA's policy allows it. And I'm not even angry. It's just funny that they trusted such a messy code. I wouldn't be surprised to see other creators' fixes in the Legacy Collection.

OKAY. Gadies and Lentlemen.

I have seen plenty of these around, but I wanted to share my process!

The whole business of turning OSMPs invisible and then having to find them again in buy mode always puts me off from using them. Thanks to Lamare's tutorial, this will now be done automatically!

These OMSPs will automatically turn invisible when entering live mode and become visible again when entering buy/build mode. They are edits of JohnBrehauts More OMSPs and Even More OMSPs sets. Filenames are identical, so you can just let them overwrite the original files if you already have those in your game.

If you download the invisible recolors from the original sets, you can recolor them like you normally would and the recolor will stick when switching between live mode and build/buy. This is especially useful for lot builders who want to include OMSPs in their builds but don't take pictures with a family living on the lot.

Download here (SFS)

You may know that the Sims 2 uses cubemaps to add a reflective effect to certain objects/materials. The details of this are explained in Part 2 of Pixelhate’s ‘Exploring the TXMT’ series.

This document also explains how to make a custom one… but the result is not functional, at least in my all-EPs, all-SPs game. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix:

‘EnvCubes’ are not regular texture images. They contain six different “blocks”/subtextures, one for each side of the cubemap. Thus creating a custom EnvCube involves extracting and renaming one of Maxis’, and replacing the various subtextures. (Unlike SpecularMasks, these don’t mind the DXT1/3/5 formats. Error messages may appear if you import a texture bigger than the existing ones, though. In that case, commit and close the ressource, save the package, and open the ressource again.)

So TL;DR, I made a bunch!

I'm making this post both because I like to group things under one post and because I need it as a link to add to my tracker, but still I think it will be useful for many!

# Gunmod's Radiance Light System 2.4 by dDefinder on ModTheSims - A realistic, extremely dramatic, sometimes very dark lighting mod that increases the intensity of colors, lights and shadows and adds sunrise and sunset to the game (they don't exist in the vanilla game)

#Gunmod's Radiance Light System 2.5 edited by @dreadpirate - An updated version of the aforementioned lighting, with much more compatibility with many shaders and less blue nights! Every Season it have they own lighting color: Summer is vibrant, autumn has warm colors, winter has cold colors, and spring has a little yellowish "filter".

#Maxis Match Lighting Mod by Dreadpirate - The environment is more saturated and bright, removes the dull gray tint that vanilla game has. Everything is smoother and more uniform. The shadows are calm, exactly like the ones in the vanilla game. Each season has its own lighting, the nights are black instead of blue and it has many compatibility with many shaders. This one also has sunrise and sunset.

#Cinema Secret by Dreadpirate (@veronavillequiltingbee) - A perfect mix between the Gunmod Radiance and the Maxis Match Lighting mod. It use elements of both, such as the shadows and calm colors of the MM Lighting Mods but the intensity of the lights of the Gunmod Radiance (especially noticeable when using neon lights). It has many compatibility with many shaders, the nights are black instead of blue, it has sunrise and sunset and every season has its own lighting.

#SpookyMuffin Lighting Mod - Recommended by a user in the comments! I don't know how to talk about this Lighting Mod because I've never used it, but the post on the site explains what it consists of!

#The Sims 2 Beta Lighting - By opening the link you will see a YouTube video by @boringbones that will explain how to have The Sims 2 Beta lighting! (The download can be accessed from his Discord link in the video description)

#Neighborhood Lighting Remedy by Criquette - This lighting mod is ONLY for the neighborhood and you can use it together with any of the three lighting mods mentioned above. Fixes the direction of the lights and shadows to be consistent with that of the lot imposters and makes it more consistent with lot mode.

#Accurate Neighborhood Terrain Lighting by @simnopke - This lightind mod is like the above one. It is only for the neighborhood and can be used in conjunction with a DP & dDefinder lighting mod but NOT in conjunction with Criquette's NH Lighting Remedy.

EDIT: simnopke said: "My Accurate Nhood Terrain Lighting mod does something different than Criquette's Nhood Lighting Remedy and can be used with it. Moreover, my mod has two versions intended for use with Criquette's mod."

#Minimalistic CAS Lighting Mod Replacement with Custom Light by Dreadpirate - This lighting mod is CAS ONLY and can be used together with a dDefinder or DP lighting mod and a lightind mod for the neighborhood. Using similar lighting to the MM Lighting Mod, it makes the CAS more saturated and smooth. You have to change a value in a lights file within the game install path but it's worth it!

One small problem I've noticed is that when used with lighting mods other than the MM Lighting mod it often doesn't work well even if the value is correctly changed. For example, when I changed the lighting mod and switched from MM to Cinema Secret, it triggered the super lighted sims bug in CAS which I didn't have before. But then again, this could be just my problem. There is fix by Lazy Duchess for this bug but you need to be very careful. Sometimes it conflicts with some shaders (as in my case) and unleashes an absurd pink soup even in bodyshop even if bodyshop shouldn't have anything to do with it. But AS ALWAYS, maybe it's only a problem of mine because I'm very unlucky.

EXTRA SHADERS BUT NOT REQUIRED

#Better Nightlife by @criquette-was-here - Even if it does not change anything graphically with colors, lights and shadows like a lighting MOD it adds shaders that allow the deco hoods to light up during the night. So for example, by downloading hood decos compatible with this shader you can have street lamps that light up on the street (in the neighborhood), buildings lit up at night, lit bridges etch.

#Blue Shadow No More by Dreadpirate - This shader removes the blue tint that snow creates even if you use lighting mods that make the night black instead of blue. Many DP lighting mods (Like MM Lighting Mod) have this shader already included, so you don't need to download it, this is an individual shader if you don't use their lighting mods. To be honest, neither the shader INSIDE the lighting mod nor the shader by itself has never worked for me, but I think there is a problem in my download folder at this point or I am very unlucky.

#Overly Bright CAS Fix by @lazyduchess - As I have already explained before, this mod fixes the bug of super enlightened sims in CAS. Sometimes it can conflict with something (which I don't quite understand with what) and trigger an absurd pink soup, so if you suddenly start to notice more pink soup than usual try to remove it and see how it goes.

Maybe it just conflicts with some lighting mod or some shader. In my case it could be the DP's lighting mod for the CAS.

#Moi Shader Roof by niol on ModThe Sims - This shader fixes the lighting of roofs which sometimes appear much darker than their texture. Many lighting mods from DP have this shader included OR are compatible with this shader. So check the descriptions under their lighting mods before downloading it.

#Brighter Roofs...But Not Too Bright! by Deastrumquodvicis on ModTheSims - Same as the previous shader, but makes the roofs less bright than they show with the aforementioned shader. This shader uses Moi's shader as a base, so you can NOT use both. Use only one. Many lighting mods from DP have this shader included OR are compatible with this shader. So check the descriptions under their lighting mods before downloading it.

#Moi's Neighbourhood Water Global Mod by niol on ModTheSims - This mod changes the water color of the neighborhood. Nothing more nothing less. Many DP mods are compatible with this shader.

#Pond & Sea Water Overhaul by Voeille on ModTheSims - This mod changes the water of the sea and ponds and makes it more realistic using The Sims 2 Castaway water shaders. Many DP mods are compatible with this shader but for some shaders like Better Nightlife it needs a little more attention. For example, if you use Better Nightlife you will need to use the version of these shaders provided by the Better Nightlife link to be compatible. So you have to delete these for use their shaders if you want both.

You can't use this together Moi's Water.

Then when we REALLY didn't it was like "OH JK, It's not part of the mainline series. Another 10 years of TS4!!!" So they're basically telling us without telling us like "yeah,,, we don't really believe in our product either. It's uh... not great."

Each piece of news is more hilarious and confusing than the last. Like, at this point, I really do feel like the higher ups are just sort of giving up on the series and being like "Let fucking Paradox figure this shit out."

I legit just don't believe that EA thinks they can make another mainline windows-based sims game because the market has changed too much and they don't think it's viable. I may be wrong but if I had to guess they're chasing the casual market and that market's mostly on mobile now and easier to manipulate with micro-transactions.

I think they're wrong, I just think that they don't understand that their audience changed. In like 2006, you had a bunch of teenagers who had computers and NOTHING else playing The Sims.

Now? Your audience is going to be mostly older life sim players and a much smaller group of young people.

Turns out alienating your older dedicated fan base to chase a much smaller group of 12-18 year olds that, let's face it, just don't care about the brand is a losing strategy.

The WILDEST thing about this is that The Sims still has ALL sorts of brand recognition. You say "The Sims" to any girl in America and most of Europe and she's like "OMG I LOVE(D) THAT GAME". Any man and he will tell you that his sister LOVES the sims, his girlfriend built a whole ass computer just for it, etc.

EA thinks that The Sims needs to be "more hip" and "more cool" to get the kids interested.

That's the problem, we've talked about this before and there was a whole video made by someone else about this. KIDS. Kids are no longer the largest consumers of video games. Computer gamers ESPECIALLY. So basing your growth ENTIRELY on them is not going to work.

One of the BIGGEST computer games right now is Baulder's Gate. EVERYONE is talking about it. The game that has options for which fucking COCK you want to have. By no means should The Sims be THAT crass but "Sugary Sweet Teachable Moments: The Game" isn't exactly flying off the shelves.

Meanwhile TS4 is over here holding your hand and making you play fucking captain planet. They have no fucking idea who their audience IS. (Which is wild also because even when teens were the most active part of the player base the sims still had WAY more teeth than they do now)

They knew who their demographics WERE. They know who they'd like them to BE. But they have no idea who actually drives community engagement and thus there is a disconnect. Players think it's preachy and saccharine. Even younger demographics who are interested in the genre think it's trying too hard.

I made this table for myself because it was taking me too much time to find a good mesh to put my images on each time, and then editing them to fit. It turned out very useful, so i'm sharing this as a spreadsheet. Like the Hair Database, other people are welcome to add information about custom content meshes. It includes the information about the Maxis paintings, that I took from @simlili's blog post, which is how it all started. She made an excelent post about it, I just wanted it arranged in a table. I also added a few more cc measurments by now. There are about 70 items there so far. How it works: Items are arranged by size in pixels, width first then hight. For each painting I added it's ratio of WxH, this way I could quickly search for aproppriate meshes throughout the database. No need to figure out if a 256x130 mesh is as good as a 170x98.. There's more basic info about each item, a link to it's picture, and maby some notes about recoloring it. I've put a link there to Simlili's post for more info by her.

I accidentally stumbled across something rather... controversy-inducing.

A lot of The Sims 2's furniture is just 90s IKEA.

No, not just the IKEA stuff pack - that's mid-2000s IKEA, get it right! I mean 1990s IKEA.

Canopy crib, anyone?

I'll add more in a reblog, but those are nearly 1:1 with items in TS2.

The catalogues online are in Swedish but I have the English versions in storage in my garage. Besides the language change and a few small differences local to Sweden such as locations, colours, offers, and prices, the furniture was identical around the world.

I think the egg-shaped "Shoji Table Lantern” is originally referenced to the Akari Light Sculptures by Isamu Noguchi (1951) - Akari N1

for those who don’t know what the internet archive is, it’s a virtual library full of media. books, magazines, recordings, visuals, flash games, websites - a lot of these things either don’t exist anymore or cannot be found & bought. heard of the wayback machine? that’s part of the internet archive. it is the most important website to exist, and i don’t say that lightly. if the internet archive goes down, the cultural loss will be immeasurable.

so how can you help?

boycott the publishing companies involved in this. they’re absolute ghouls, frankly, and don’t deserve a penny. the companies involved are harpercollins (imprints), wiley (imprints), penguin random house llc (imprints), and hachette book group (imprints). make sure the websites are set to your location as it may differ worldwide.

learn to torrent. download a torrent client (i recommend transmission), a vpn (i recommend protonvpn - sign up and choose the area that’s closest to your continent/country), and hit up /r/piracy on reddit for websites. with torrenting, you can get (almost) any media you want for free in high quality, with add-ons such as subtitles, and with no risks of loss. i would also recommend getting into the habit of watching stuff online for free. the less you can pay to a giant corporation, the better.

get into the habit of downloading and archiving materials. find a TB external hard drive, ideally the higher the better. it’ll probably cost around $60 for 1TB and continue to go up, but they’re so so useful. if you can’t afford a drive, look for any GB harddrives or memory sticks you have lying around and just fill them up. videos, pdfs, magazines, songs, movies, games - anything you can rip and download and fit on there, do it, because nothing is permanent.

donate to the internet archive. this is the most important option on the list. the IA relies entirely on funding, and it’s going to need more to fight this case. whatever you can donate, do it. i promise it’s helpful.

and finally…