#and reshade change coming in 5..4..3...2..

“Hey... dad’s here. Texted me when he pulled up but figured mom would want to chat with him before we head off for two months.” 

“I got the message too.” 

“And you know we’re going to grandma’s house right?” 

For my Amazing Digital Circus fan-comic Your Big Brother!

Centered around Jax and Ribbit and written before Episode 7

Can you truly run away from home? 🐸🐰

Buy YBB Merch here!

Comic Cover New Comic Cover

Chapter 1 - Knock Knock

Promo image Chapter 1 Chapter 1 RECOLORED

Chapter 2 - Mousey

Promo image Chapter 2

Chapter 3 - Ragatha

Promo image Chapter 3

Chapter 4.1 - Ribbit

Promo image Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4.2 - Ribbit

Promo image Chapter 4.2

Chapter 5 - Jax

Promo image Chapter 5

Chapter 6 - Push & Pull

Promo image Chapter 6

Chapter 7.1 - The Last Adventure

Promo image Chapter 7 post 1 Chapter 7 post 2

Credits:

The Amazing Digital Circus belongs to Gooseworx and Glitch Productions

Circus lobby, Dorm Hall, and Ragatha's room background set created by blueambiance

Shoutout to Dungeon Meshi and Witch Hat Atelier for paneling inspo

Disclaimer from Author [2026/04/12]: This guide is outdated, and contains unoptimised recommendations that can cause performance issues. I no longer endorse this guide, nor will I provide troubleshooting support should you decide to follow it. Check out this updated 2026 guide on how to install S3SS, DXVK, and ReShade instead.

Today I am going to show you guys how to install Reshade and use Direct3D 9.0c (D3D9) instead of Vulkan as rendering API.

This tutorial is based on @nornities and @desiree-uk's awesome guide on "How to use DXVK with The Sims 3", with the goal of increasing compatibility between DXVK and Reshade. For users not interested in using Reshade, you may skip this tutorial.

If you followed nornities and desiree-uk's guide, it is strongly recommended that you start from scratch, meaning you should uninstall DXVK AND Reshade completely. Believe me when I say this: it will save you a lot of time, frustration, and make your life so much easier.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I am on patch 1.69.47 and running EA App on Windows 10, but it should work for version 1.67.2 on Steam and discs, too. This tutorial does not cover GShade.

Let's get started.

1. Portrait Zone

The first thing that triggered me in her face is her dark and "muddy" cheekbones. It was the skintone and the blush itself fault. Skintone have multiple colors on the face (some zones are yellow and some are pale & bluish) and it was disturbing to constantly remove this effect on portraits. Now this problem solved! Her face now have smooth colors with warm pink/peach undertones (which i usually remove to get the "porcelain" skin) and smooth cheekbone line. The other important part that may be not really visible is that her neck got shorter to fit the resemblance.

2. Face Proportions

When it gets to the skintone changing - sims may lose some details that makes them resembling. It does happened to Antje but it wasn't that terrible, because i blended some parts of her previous skin (Ephemera's Fresh) and the newest one (Simpicient's Tranquility) I blended eyelids, nose and lips to save the definition. I've added a cheekbone definition to make colors smoothly looking (makeup part not really worked with her) and it gave me an ability to make cheekbones a little lower which looks more accurate. Some little touches i've made: slightly reshaped the lips (they've got "sharper") and widener the jaw. I think i will do some changes in future, because chin and eyes are slightly off to me. Yeah, i'm the perfectionist, but anyway, i love how she comes out in general.

3. Clavicle & Cleavage Details

When i seeked some photos of Antje for references, i noticed that her clavicle and cleavage are not that subtle as my Antje. It's more soft and flat. Anyway, previous version looked unrealistic to me when i took the pics of her body in lingerie. Something was off to me. That's also the reason why i decided to experiment with skinblending. But in fact, i didn't changed the body. I just took original from Simpicient and i really liked how it looks on her. Textures are more realistic and details are smooth like Antje should have.

4. Belly & Spine

Honestly, i don't like how previous belly looked like. It's kind of dystrophic for a middle aged woman. It should be just flat in my view. And again a yellow tone looks a bit odd. Yeah, she still have ribs at the second pic but they're not that obvious now. And a neat button as bonus, lol. Spine is my favorite thing about Antje. She have unusual body shape for a woman - reversed triangle. It's always called "less feminine" and etc. but i found it very sexy. I really love how her spine looks like especially with wide shoulders.

5. Legs

It's the most boring part for me, lol, but they look fine in both variations. That's all. Second ones are just better textured as the whole skintone does. Knees are slightly controversial to me. Maybe, i will rework them later.

6. Misc Parts

These are the smallest improvements, but i decided to show like everything (except nude parts, sorry, but we're on tumblr).

That's all i wanted to show you. It's a little, but honest work :D I love the way Antje transformated just by changing a skintone. She became "older" and that's what i wanted to get. I wasn't sure that i have any luck with skinblending, because all my previous efforts were too bad. This one is a small but important step for developing my favorite character.

Was tagged by @changingplumbob

Thank you Kirsty!

Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc),

Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims),

Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas),

Writing the dialogue/story,

Editing the photos.

Send to three other story simblrs and get to know more about each others favorite and least favorite part of this crazy process!

OOOOH, Shannon my beloved!! You're really out here trying to break our brains with such difficult questions, aren't you? 🤣

Okay okay (takes deep breath and tries not to second guess the living hell out of myself)...

5. Writing the Story- For me everything stems from this point - the posing, scene setting, styling, editing - so it will always be the most important part of the process. It’s where ~the inspiration~ really happens, and without some sort of written starting point, I find myself rather adrift in the rest of the process. This is why I spend so much time in my writing/planning docs, making sure I have a cohesive vision/plan before jumping to the other stages.

4. Posing the Sims - I think especially as we have gotten into the ~emotional messiness~ of the story, this step has become increasingly important. I want to feel the writing come to life, and I really try and capture/impart that in the screenshots too. This means that seeing the most specific emotions or smallest of details has become so crucial, and so searching for that perfect pose to bring the written to life is really the next most important thing to me. Of course now that I'm making about 50% of my own poses, the time spent in doing so is rather substantial too 😅

3. Setting Up the Scene - I love a visual story running alongside the writing (both in the scene and the sims appearance). I think I only place this above styling because I'm more comfortable in build mode than I am in CAS. I spend alot of time cluttering sets and giving us little cues to things like the passage of time, character traits, or the overall mood in every little detail. Its something that I truly love doing and I will change things in the background for almost every scene (slowly replacing the green corn with dead stalks I'm looking at you).

2. Styling the Sims - This ties in with No. 3, except I feel like I don't focus on it quite as much as the set background. I do enjoy giving my sims a new outfit or hairstyle to show the progression of time or their character growing, and I love little scene details like shoes or gloves coming off, or when characters would have their hair unstyled, etc etc. I also love studying fashion magazines and reading articles, so I would include that here too (especially when it comes to CC hunting for pieces that can mimic historic dress). But even still, this step is often more just icing on top of the cake once it’s already baked.

Nobody tagged me or anything, but I saw it going around and wanted to play too. This will be more of a "through the years" retrospective than a one-to-one comparison.

This is my very first screenshot in FFXIV. It's dated 10/07/17. I'm sure most of you can recognize the scene. When I first created Aeluan, he was always meant as an RP character and based on a WoW paladin of mine that I almost never played because I planned to keep playing WoW and didn't want to translate over characters I played regularly. Originally, he was meant to have a bit of a "hick" accent to his Eorzean, but that didn't stick around. Neither did the blue dots on his forehead.

Ten days later, he got his first hair change.

On 11/12/17, I figured out how to Gpose. I really haven't gotten that much better.

Bonus: Aeluan with the earliest iteration of his little brother, Hinan. (2/5/18) Hinan belongs to @chocoblep.

A year and ten days after that first screenshot, he lost his forehead dots. Those have never come back.

On 7/3/20, I started playing with the precursor to Anamnesis. I haven't really gotten that much better with that either. (Bonus: my husband's character, Arli, in her signature orange. Arli belongs to @canalstreetbaker.)

By 4/4/21, I'd figured out GShade (which I no longer use - ReShade ftw) and mods. Aeluan had a stint where his scales were pure white.

One of my favorite shots of Aelu, dated 2/13/22. I might not be great with posing, but I do love me my ReShade filters.

By this point on 4/27/22, he'd settled into a fairly consistent canon look. His lore had settled down a lot too, as I finally understood much of the game's story and where Raen fit in it. (Not great, at least, until Radz.)

Here he is vanilla vs. mods right before Dawntrail. The big tail was one of the first mods I threw on him and it's been there ever since. I always feel strange when he's vanilla with his bitty (and still biggest the game allows) tail.

And here's my most recent screenshot of Aeluan, dated 12/17/24. The piercing eyes never changed and neither did the skin tone, but the rest of him took some refining before I found precisely the look I wanted with him. I'm pretty satisfied where he is now. RP-wise, he's gone all sorts of places I never imagined, but he's always been my Lawful Good paladin - even if he fights with a two-hander like a dark knight.

Got tagged by @esotheria-sims​​, thank you. :)

1. What’s your favourite sims death?

I try to avoid death in my games when it comes to my favourite Sims.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

At the moment it’s more maxis match, mostly with clay hair but for my Sim Hendrik I also like to use Alpha hairs sometimes.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

Never. I let them do what ever they want.

4. Do you use move objects?

In my test hood all the time when it comes to picture taking, but in normal gameplay I don’t use it that often.

5. Favorite mod?

Can’t say, I have way to many which I always need in my game.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

It’s always with Pets, no matter which Sims part it is. ^^ I need pets in my games. :)

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

I don’t know what it means or why it’s important. o.O

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Julia Zimmermann. :)

9. Have you made a simself?

Yes. Mary-Jean Baker was my first self-Sim, the newest version was Avalonia.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself?

Lazy, cat lover (is there a trait for shy introvert?)

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color?

The red looks nice. 

12. Favorite EA hair?

I will steal this one from Esotheria:  hairshortcombed . ^^ It’s always the only one that I never have a default for in my game.

13. Favorite life stage?

Adults, sometimes teens (depends on the Sim).

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I’m bad at building worlds or houses- I’m mostly in for gameplay or CC testing in my test hood.

15. Are you a CC creator?

I wouldn’t call myself a creator. o.O I sometimes upload stuff I made, but not on a regular basis.

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

I made some friends on here and I hope they are not angry about me when I don’t reply messages that often. :(

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)

My first love was TS1 and now it’s TS2. The other two are only fun for me since I recreated Hendrik.

18. Do you have any sims merch?

No.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I guess this picture answer it very well. The one in black is how my original Hendrik Hupfner looked like, that’s how my game 10 years ago looked like, with glittery skin, more realistic hair and eyes. The other version of Hendrik is how he mostly looks like in my TS2-game, more maxis match skin and eyes, tattoo boxes (who ever invented them, they are the reason why Hendrik finally can look like he always should: with lots of tattoos. ^^)

21. What’s your Origin ID?

I have one but I gave it to only one person on here, I have nothing to offer over there.

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator?

There are so many wonderful people that make great CC that I love in my game. To name everyone would take years!

23. How long have you had a simblr?

My first post was in April 2016 so I guess that was the start.

24. How do you edit your pictures?

I sometimes use Reshade (different sets) but never for CC previews! Next to that I only crop my pictures, that’s all.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

Not planing to get anything for any Sims soon.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

All EPs with Pets (all four games). ^^