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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…)

Polycount:

HLOD 9k! MLOD 2k LLOD 1k

Young Adult/Adult Female

Everyday, Formalwear, Not Valid for Random

12 Presets + 1 Recolorable (2 Channels)

All Morphs there's clipping on the belly during third trimester, sorry :(

TS4 Original by Babyetears

Download: SFS

More Previews :3

First of all, my specs:

Why am I sharing this? Because I think it's always good to know what a person is running with before you install their entire mods list. Just in case you're wondering if your pc would be able to handle the same amount of mod load.

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10850K CPU @ 3.60GHz, 3501 Mhz, 10 Core(s), 20 Logical Processor(s). RAM: 32 GB GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB VRAM Storage disk my game is installed on: 1TB SSD SAMSUNG MZVLB1T0HBLR-000L7

Game version: Steam edition.

How I improved my game's performance:

DXVK: this has stopped *all* access violation crashes in my game since I installed it. I know I'm probably jinxing myself by typing this, but I for real haven't had my game crash to desktop since I followed these instructions.

Nraas Errortrap, Overwatch, Mastercontroller, Saver: Errortrap catches in-game bugs and glitches and fixes them by resetting the sim automatically for you. Overwatch cleans up the game overnight. Mastercontroller (+ cheats and integration modules) gives you compact mode in CAS and allows you to fully reset the town which is recommended to do once every sims week or after you had a big party event with many sims. Saver prompts you to save your game every 30 minutes as 'Save as...' and this will save your life from losing your game to a crash after hours of gameplay.

Sims 3 Settings Setter: Sims 3 Settings Setter is a collection of patches that improve your game's performance. You can enable them by opening a save game and pressing insert. Make sure to save your settings by clicking 'file -> save settings' at the very top of the UI, so you don't have to redo them each time you open your save. Here are my enabled patches, but please see for yourself what feels good for your game. Don't enable uncompressed textures UNLESS you have DXVK installed and plenty of VRAM.

GPU Patch: I have a very new GPU and need this for my game to recognize my graphicscard. It is basically mandatory to do this unless your pc is over a decade old.

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility: I overclock my CPU with this program. I sincerely advice against you doing this unless you are 100% sure you know what overclocking is, whether your CPU is capable of overclocking, and what a healthy overclock speed is for your CPU. I use IETU to do this, but your computer might have a built-in tool that lets you overclocks safely.

Tweaking my GraphicsRules.sgr: I honestly only do this because other guides told me to. I have no clue if it actually does something. But change these settings to these numbers. They're at the top of the file: seti cpuLevelUber 4 seti cpuLevelHigh 3 seti cpuLevelMedium 3 seti cpuLevelLow 3

CC Magic: USE THIS FOR YOUR CC. Like, for real, USE IT. It is a life saver. I feel like an idiot for spending over a decade playing this game without CC Magic. Follow this video for easy instructions.

Regul Save Cleaner: I use this every other session to keep my game clean.

Turn off memories, lessons, online features, interactive loading screen: yes, these all cause lag in your game. If you still want to keep some of the memories, use this mod instead.

Set the max amount of fully active/rendered lots to 2 or 4. This will reduce camera lag. I recommend setting it to the amount of houses in the direct vicinity of your sim's house. So if there's only 2 neighbors set it to 3, if there's 3, set it to 4. Don't go any higher than this and don't set it to 1.

Tip: Do not throw the entire Sim 3 store in your game. Handpick what you want to use and only download/buy those. The sims 3 store is 5gb worth of content and having it all in your game severely lags out your CAS and build mode, making it take way longer to load everything.

Just a rule: don't use Sims3Packs. Don't install CC through the Sims launcher period. You can use Delphy's Sims 3 Pack Multi-extractor to turn Sims3packs into .package files. Installing through the launcher works alright, but uninstalling stuff through the launcher is not clean. It leaves behind a lot of bloat. Keep your CC organized and clean, otherwise you'll regret it when you're years into playing Sims 3 and everything is an unsolvable mess.

How I make my game look pretty:

Some of these things work smoothly in my game because I have a very good graphics card. Not everyone can run all the stuff below and still have good game performance. I recommend trying these things one by one and seeing how your game handles it. If something makes your game an unplayable mess, just uninstall and forget about it.

Uncompressed textures patch from Sims 3 Settings Setter: This highly improves the quality of your sims in-game. They will look more like their CAS model and are a lot less blotchy/pixelated. This honestly replaced my need to increase the simrendertexture through the Graphicsrules.sgr, because sims look really good with this patch turned on! Only do this if you have DXVK installed!

Reshade 6.4.1 (with add-on support): Allows you to use Reshade presets that will change the look of your game entirely and make it look a lot better (depending on the preset you choose). Here's a full guide on how to install Reshade 6.4.1.

Shadowmapsize tweak: In my Graphicsrules.sgr, I have set the Shadowmapsize to 8k. That way the shadows in game will look less pixelated and more real.

Lazyduchess Shadow Extender (8k preset): this makes it so that the shadow draw distance in game reaches a lot further.

S-club's 3D lashes: Gives your sims nice 3D eyelashes, available in the eye-liner make-up category and in accessories. Don't forget to download the sliders. And also, I recommend downloading the mod that removes EA's eyelashes. Apologies for the TSR link, they're not available elsewhere.

Mango-smoothie default skin replacement: Nice, smooth HD skin replacement. there is also a link for non-defaults if you prefer it. I also use a bunch of other non-default skins but these are the main ones.

Yumedust's Eye love set conversion by Brntwaffles: my default replacement for the eyes. I use V2.

Agnelid's default hair replacements: these are proper low-med poly and give me the least render issues out of all those default hair replacements out there, so I highly recommend them.

Angelsimoleon's make-up default replacements: These are really good, because now default make up doesn't look like your sim is trying to be a clown anymore. I also recommend the color presets default replacement.

Default replacement for eyebrows: ugly EA eyebrows begone.

Default beard replacements: ugly beards BE GONEE. Also, more beards here. Can't have enough beards.

Muted Maxis Cloud UI: really pretty UI that looks light blue in my game with my reshade preset which I find very pleasing on the eyes.

Plants default replacement: Omedapixel made a lot of default replacements for plantable crops. They only work for newly planted crops. Please read their instructions carefully, it requires some set-up.

The Sims 3 Project Renaissance: replaces a bunch of textures from trees and plants, making them more HD.

Sims 3 HD Textures terrain: I use the 1k version because I was too scared of overloading my game with HD textures. Still makes a nice difference though.

Uranesia Lighting mod PLUS: I use the version with darker nights and intense blue water. Makes your game look very pretty with better shadows and pretty sunsets.

Milky Way Night Sky: For the amazing startfield you see in my nighttime screenshots.

Realistic Clouds: For some pretty clouds.

Simsi45 Improved EA Lights: For better indoor lighting.

Sims 3 Medieval facial expressions override: I've been playing with these for so long I don't even remember what the normal facial expressions used to look like.

Pigtails glitch fix: Ugly pigtails on every random sim, begone.

LazyDuchess Random Sim fixes 2.0: Fixes the puddingface syndrome and the ugly green-blonde haircolor some sims were born with. Also comes with some other minor fixes. This also makes male sims gain body hair on age up, which is tuneable.

Sliders: for better sim creation.

How I make my game more fun:

Nraas Storyprogression: I also have the modules Career, Extra, Money, Population, Relationship and Skill. This mod is absolutely essential to me. I can't play this game without it. However, it is a heavy mod. It will cause some lag in your game. To me it's absolutely worth it. I highly recommend setting the speed to 'snail pace' to make the lag problem minimal (except maybe pregnancy, I have that one manually edited to speed 500, because I need people to make lots of babies, okay.) and to turn off notifications for anyone who's not related or romanced with your sim, it'll save you some hassle.

Nraas Retuner: essential for more autonomy control. It requires a bit of practice to be able to use it properly. I highly recommend you go into the settings of this mod (City hall -> Nraas -> Retuner) and turn on the retuner menu for objects. That way you can, for example, click on the computer, go to the retuner menu, and turn off autonomy for playing computer games. Or click on the radio and turn off autonomy for sims to turn it on.

All other Nraas mods I have: Consigner, DebugEnabler, Dreamer, Gohere, Hybrid, OnceRead, Porter, PortraitPanel, Register, RelationshipPanel, Tagger, Tempest, Traveler, Woohooer, WrittenWord. Just check out their respective pages to see what they do. They're all useful because they either help you control your game more (Register can turn off paparazzi!!), or they add other handy gameplay things. There's even more Nraas mods that I currently don't use (yet), feel free to check them all out.

Simler90's Gameplay core mod: This fixes a lot of annoying stuff in the game. However, if you want to use it alongside Nraas Overwatch and LazyDuchess Random Sim Fixes, it requires a small bit of tuning. To make it compatible with Overwatch: change the Overwatch clean up hour to 5AM (default is 3AM). You can do this in the game by clicking City Hall/any computer -> Nraas -> Overwatch -> Settings. To make sure Lazyduchess puddingface fix takes priority over the one in Simler's core mod (I did this because the one by LD is better), you need to open Simler90's tuning file in S3PE and set the puddingface fix to false. If you don't know how to do this, here you go. There's more things to tune in this mod, so learning this is a good idea regardless. Put it in your overrides and keep Nraas in packages.

More interactions mods: There's a bunch of them. I highly recommend the following: - Moar Interactions - More Pregnancy Interactions - More Baby Interactions - More Toddler Interactions - More Romantic Interactions - Outdoor activities for Toddlers - Toddlers Can Ride Rocking Rider - Children Can

No Mutant Hair or Eyes: No more mutations in haircolor or eyecolor, because these were way too common in the Sims 3. Your sims will now always inherit their eye and haircolor from a relative (parent or grandparent etc.).

Expanded Genealogy: adds a lot more family relations to your family tree, so your game will recognize more sims as family members. Like 2nd cousin and such.

Neuroblazer's Random Genetics: overhauls the genetics system so your sim babies become more of a blend between the two parents instead of copy-pasting 100% of their slider values. I only recommend using this if you move town often and keep the gene pool fresh, because if you stay in the same town for a bunch of generations this mod will cause everyone to slowly crawl towards the 0 slider value puddingface. This mod will lag your game a little bit at the start of your save while it loads.

Painting Replacements: Makes the painting skill a ton more fun because it adds so many painting variations to the game!

Routing fixes and less whiny sims: Sims 3 is a lot more fun when your sims aren't constantly suffering from routing errors or blocks. Here's a whole list of them: - Ohrudi's routing fixes - Twoftmama's routing fixes (need a free Sims Asylum account) - No whining about motives - No whining about route fails - Better routing for game objects (need a free Sims Asylum account) - No foot tapping - More Entry Points: This one makes it so sims don't wait in line forever to go into the school building and such!

Human Lifespan for Supernatural Sims: If you're like me and you avoid occults like vampires or fairies because they tend to live forever, this mod makes it a lot more fun to play around with occults. It gives them a regular lifespan, like any other sim.

Traits enabled for all ages: Tired of your born sims all having the same traits because the choices are so limited at a young age? This mod enables all traits for all ages.

Autonomous toddler skilling: makes teaching toddlers their skills fun, so sims will do it autonomously. Requires a free Sims Asylum account to download.

Faster Gardening: I have picked the 50% option. Now my gardening sims can finally have a life again since weeding and harvesting doesn't take them all day.

No Social Groups (Uni only): Your sims won't instantly turn into nerds just because they like to play games or browse the web. I picked the one that does enable the groups in the university world.

CrossEye Fix: No more crossed eyes when Sims age up.

Be Productive: sims will clean up after themselves more often.

Opportunity Phone Call Fix: If you have into the future installed, this fixes the bug where you'd not get any opportunity phone calls anymore.

New Lifetime Goals: Normally, when your sims complete their LTW, the Midlife Crisis LTR to pick a new one will disappear. Your sim can therefore only complete one LTW by EA's default settings. This mod prompts your sim to pick a new LTW once they have completed theirs, so they always have a new goal to strive for.

Famous Artists: changes the celebrity system so you earn celebrity points for skills and jobs that actually make sense.

No Autonomous Pranks: Because pranks suck unless you actually want them to happen and then you can just do it yourself. You can also just do this with Nraas Retuner of course, but it'll be a bit of a hassle.

Scolding mod: will prompt you to ask you whether you actually want to scold your child instead of it becoming an interaction you can't cancel.

Baking mod: adds a baking skill to the game

Flower Arranging: adds a flower arrangement skill to the game.

Medical career reworked: adds all sorts of extra stuff for the medical career.

Writing is fun! Makes it so the writing skill adds fun instead of depleting it, also extends the royalties to 12 weeks instead of 6 and decreases the amount of books you have to read to get a (hidden) writing speed bonus. Writing is a big hobby of mine and it never made sense to me that it'd deplete the fun bar.

Abigail Outfit OUTFIT FOR AF 4.4k polycounts (with bodie) 5 presets - all recolorables - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Amelia Pump SHOES FOR AF 1.5k polycounts 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Apoli Corset TOP FOR AF Painted on bodie , with 3D butterflys (616 polycounts) 2 presets - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Clemence Dress OUTFIT FOR AF 5.1k polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

CozySole - Sandals1 SHOES FOR TF-AF-EF 5k polycounts (all) (with bloom feet) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

CozySoles - Sandals2 SHOES FOR TF-AF-EF 5k polycounts (all) (with bloom feet) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

DreamySteps - Heels SHOES FOR AF 5k polycounts (with bloom feet) 1 presets - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Eleanor Outfit OUTFIT FOR PF-CF 4k polycounts (all) (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Estelle Dress OUTFIT FOR AF 5.2k polycounts (with bodie) 2 presets - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Filbert Outfit With Blazer OUTFIT FOR AF-AM 4.7k polycounts (all) (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Ha Yun Dress OUTFIT FOR AF 5k polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Marlene Outfit OUTFIT FOR AF 4k polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

PolarGlam - Jacket TOP FOR AF 4.9k polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

PolarGlam - MiniSkirt BOTTOM FOR AF 996 polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

RupertoBoots SHOES FOR TF-AF 904 polycounts (LONG) 816 POLYCOUNTS (SHORT) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Teresa Dress OUTFIT FOR AF 3.7k polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

Twilight Boots SHOES FOR CU 2.2k polycounts 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random

VintageDreamsNighgown OUTFIT FOR AF 6.6k polycounts (with bodie) 1 preset - fully recolorable - Custom Thumbnail All Lods // Disable for Random