I hadn't been playing the Sims 3 for a year or so, suddenly when I booted up the game last year, my graphics were horrible. This is on the same computer I've been playing the game on since 2019. I've added some pictures to help describe exactly what's going on. My graphics card has been recognized, I've reset all of my Nvidia setting to default, all of my in-game settings are maxed. I'm honestly at a loss and so frustrated. This is a fresh reinstall of the game, no CC or mods have been installed. This is the default EA skin. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong!

I don't see anything out of the ordinary. TS3 is not a graphic-intensive game, therefore is why visuals were not top priority so the majority of fans and newcomers alike could be able to play without needing a gaming computer. Because of that, TS3 does have some color banding, artifacts and dithering and always has since the day it was released. When some upgrade their monitors and get higher resolutions, or use HQ mods, or adjust their graphics card settings, or use shaders, etc, they notice more. Because yes, higher resolutions/sharper images will make the color banding, artifacts and dithering a lot more prominent. Though it is possible how it may look depends on how the graphics card/integrated card can render. Also, when it is dark in the game or the Sim is dark, the color banding can be more noticeable than in well-lit scenes. Another reason is the textures used are not the highest quality because TS3 focus was to not raise the system requirements too much. One more thing, taking a break from the game and playing other games, or not, possibly can distort one's perception of what they think the game looked like compared to what it always looked like.

https://www.nraas.net/community/cha...191496e0aa26a2a

https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/di...xilation-issues

Some examples from my game.

Thanks for the reply! The issue is, these are not normal graphics for my game. Nothing has changed with my setup since 2019 and there is a serious change in quality. The pixelation is much worse in my game then the pictures of yours. I can share some older screenshots from the same PC if it would help. It seems to be an issue with a graphics card update, I was wondering if anyone had the same issues and found a way to resolve them. The skin textures do not seem to be loading properly, they are very pixelated. I also added photos of paler sims because the issue is still relevant on them.

Have you been updated recently? I have had my graphics completely messed up after an update, for whatever reason. Still playing with getting things to look as they did. As for neck seams, I do not see what you refer to. Several, are base game EA. Neck seams generally come from 2 sources... bad CC where the normals were not properly fixed, or skins with shading differences between body and face/ head.