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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 23rd Nov 2022 at 11:35 PM Last edited by chitownriverscum : 27th Nov 2022 at 4:19 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Seasons
Default “Avatars” in the “shadows”
Moderators, feel free to re-categorize this... maybe it's a glitch, rather than a graphics issue.
Anyone know offhand what it is that causes the Sims’ avatars to look like they’re hiding in a dark room? The appearance of the Sims in the game is not altered, just their “portrait”… as well as their “3-D model” or whatever you want to call it, when you’re doing a Gussy Up plastic surgery. That’s also darkened, to the point where you really can’t see what you’re doing. In this case, it’s just the kids and teens in the family, but sometimes it’s everyone, sometimes nobody.
In this particular instance, I had recently I Sim-Blendered the kids back to their correct ages after a mysterious aging-up (but where their appearance hadn’t changed)… but whether that was the cause, I have no clue.
If there’s a way to prevent this sort of annoyance, I’d appreciate the knowledge, but really, I’d just like to know what the fix is for this. There was a case where I changed something about a Sim whose picture was darkened, and it reverted to normal, but I can’t now recall what the action was.
I attempted to send a picture along with this post, but I’m on my iPad posting this, so it turned out gigantic... but you can clearly see what I'm talking about, at least.
Screenshots
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#2 Old 28th Nov 2022 at 10:18 PM
I get this sometimes, but my sims then look backlit in their icons and normal onscreen. Think yours looks slightly backlit, but can't tell.

Anyway, if they are backlit at the same time, open the cheat console with Control-Shift-c, then type vsync off. Your screen should go blue for a bit, then your game will reappear. Open the console again, type vsync on, and then continue playing after your game reappears.

It's a rather obscure glitch that happens in Mac games and took me a lot of googling to find this solution. I'm still not sure what purpose vsync serves so that's why I turn it back on, rather than leaving it off. Hope this works for you.

It seems to happen to me more if I've been playing a long time, if I've been building, especially on a lot with a lot of sims and objects, or if I've been playing a lot that has ghosts, but it doesn't happen every single time I do this, so who knows.

If your sims' icons are dark all over, then I don't know. Vsync off, then back on might still help.
Instructor
Original Poster
#3 Old 1st Dec 2022 at 2:23 AM
Interesting… I will give it a try next time it comes up. However, I remembered what it was that I did to fix it last time… it was Christianlov’s Custom Skintone Selector, which of course also works great if one’s Sims’ actual skins have mysteriously changed color.
Thanks!

Quote: Originally posted by SIMposiast
I get this sometimes, but my sims then look backlit in their icons and normal onscreen. Think yours looks slightly backlit, but can't tell.

Anyway, if they are backlit at the same time, open the cheat console with Control-Shift-c, then type vsync off. Your screen should go blue for a bit, then your game will reappear. Open the console again, type vsync on, and then continue playing after your game reappears.

It's a rather obscure glitch that happens in Mac games and took me a lot of googling to find this solution. I'm still not sure what purpose vsync serves so that's why I turn it back on, rather than leaving it off. Hope this works for you.

It seems to happen to me more if I've been playing a long time, if I've been building, especially on a lot with a lot of sims and objects, or if I've been playing a lot that has ghosts, but it doesn't happen every single time I do this, so who knows.

If your sims' icons are dark all over, then I don't know. Vsync off, then back on might still help.
Forum Resident
#4 Old 2nd Dec 2022 at 3:06 AM
Sounds like it doesn't happen to you as often as it does to me. That's good, and it's an easy, if temporary, fix to the shadowing problem.

I might give the Skintone Selector a try too, hadn't known that it could fix skin lighting issues.
Instructor
Original Poster
#5 Old 8th Dec 2022 at 8:44 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SIMposiast
Sounds like it doesn't happen to you as often as it does to me. That's good, and it's an easy, if temporary, fix to the shadowing problem.

I might give the Skintone Selector a try too, hadn't known that it could fix skin lighting issues.


Let me know if that works for you - Since I suggested this, I've run into instances both where it worked, and also where it didn't do anything for me, so... inconclusive at this point, I'd say.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#6 Old 8th Dec 2022 at 9:40 PM
Try resetting the sim. Move object>delete>reload the lot. I had a baby glitch like that one time and resetting fixed him.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Forum Resident
#7 Old 11th Dec 2022 at 10:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by chitownriverscum
Let me know if that works for you - Since I suggested this, I've run into instances both where it worked, and also where it didn't do anything for me, so... inconclusive at this point, I'd say.


Funnily, I haven't had that happen in my game since I responded to your posts here. But if it happens again, I'll let you know if the Skin Selector did anything.
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