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Original Poster
#1 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 3:10 AM

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Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Lighting Too Bright In CAS Screen and Head Skin Doesn't Match Body?
Hey, guys,

I'm wondering if anyone can help with this. I'm having this weird issue in CAS where the lights are way too bright or something, because certain parts of sims will sometimes be rendered white because the light is so blinding. That's how I'm interpreting what's happening anyway. I've tried searching for solutions, watching videos and trying fixes from YouTube and I'm coming up empty. This isn't game ruining, but it's still sad to not see a lot of things properly in CAS.

Here's an example. This is my favorite male sim. When I first got into CAS on my new computer I thought the wings were ruined or something, but when I turned him I saw that it's just the light causing them to look white.


And probably half of my outfits look super washed out, but heads are fine? Sometimes it's just the body skin that's washed out, and sometimes it's the outfit and skin. (And it's not just because the one dress is white. I have white dresses that are fine and black dresses that are washed out. They all used to work back in the day. I'm on Windows 11 now and just got Sims 2 functioning again). Also, having a problem where the heads and body skin don't match.
First pic you can see the dress is fine but the chest and arm skin is washed out. Second pic both dress and skin are washed out. Last pic is of a maxis sim with no CC at all and you can see her head and body don't match.


I tried doing the boolprop turn shaders on thing but it made no difference.

Any insight is much appreciated. Please ask if you have any questions. Thanks in advance.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 4:04 AM
Bright CAS-issue.

Two ways to fix - either fix each accessory, or use LD's fix here: https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post...-bright-cas-fix

To fix the accessories/hairs/clothes, you need Milkshape and SimPE. Extract the mesh, and fix the "comments" for the mesh groups (not morphs) so all of them has these lines, the 3rd one in particular, which is usually the one missing with this issue. Then reimport. Usually does the trick. For hairs and clothes, and some accessories, it's enough to just fix the mesh.

ModelName: [subset name]
Opacity: [number]
HasTangentArray:
NumSkinWgts: 3

(Full tutorial and explanation here)

For accessories, also make sure the TXMTs are set to "SimStandardMaterial" in the "cMaterialDefinition" tab, as they can get a weird shine + see-through effect if they have the "StandardMaterial" setting (it's a bug when cloning accessories, lots of old accessories have it). This one is a texture/material issue, so all recolors need to be fixed.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 5:18 AM Last edited by SimmerVacation : 6th Mar 2024 at 5:53 AM.
@simmer22 Thanks for responding.

The amount of CC I have is pretty overwhelming to fix each thing individually. I don't even know which files are which. My downloads folder currently has 21,098 items. X_X

Will the LD fix everything at once? Do I need to make a backup of my CC first just in case or anything?


Though, it does seem like the more involved way is probably a better fix... Maybe I could just do it for the pieces I really care about? Which way do you think is better?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 5:54 AM
Made a backup of my CC and installed the mod from LD and it worked like a charm (and I'm not getting any of the pink flashing issues people were talking about, so that's great)! Thanks so much!

Now I just have the heads not matching bodies issue to deal with.

I'm seriously so happy though! Thank you thank you! You made my day!
Mad Poster
#5 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 6:30 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 6th Mar 2024 at 6:53 AM.
I use LD's mod because a lot of older items I've got in my game have this issue, and there's no way I'll ever get around to fix all of them. I've fixed some individual items I use a lot, because they've had some iffy effects on-lot (which drove me crazy - didn't figure out why it was an issue until I switched computer and all the items including the ones I had issues with suddenly weirded out in CAS), plus some of those items needed other fixes anyway (they had other issues that needed to be addressed).

The face/body not matching tends to be a very spesific Mac (Super Collection) issue, but since you're on Windows it's probably not that one...
- Does the sim have a regular EAxis skin (not a default replacement?)
- Is it just the light skin (S1), or is it the others too?
- Do you have any face/body overlay mods?
- Have you tried temporarily taking out your CC and see if the skin corrects itself? It could be a bad piece of CC that defaults itself onto all skins of a particular color (usually happens with hair or clothes, but skins could likely be a problem as well. backup your hoods first, though. They don't like if CC and mods go missing, even if it's temporary. Could be a good idea to use a test hood.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 7:42 AM Last edited by SimmerVacation : 6th Mar 2024 at 8:59 AM.
1. As far as I know, no, there is no default replacement. It's just a maxis skin.
2. Tested it just now and I believe it's only S1.
3. I don't think so, but I also downloaded all my mods over the course of over a decade and I don't specifically remember. I'm going to be honest and say that I'm not even sure what an overlay mod is. Something that goes over a skin? Would it be found in glasses or something? (A lot of things are even though they're not glasses. Never understood why the vast majority of CC jewelry wasn't filed under the proper jewelry section but went to glasses instead.) Definitely never downloaded anything to change the color of someone's head...
4. I tried taking out my Downloads folder and gave myself a mini heart attack cause after I put it all back my CAS room was all messed up. Got it fixed. Removing all the CC does solve the problem, so apparently something in my 21k files is causing this. I don't use the maxis skins anyway, but it's just annoying knowing it's broken. Might just get a mod to hide all maxis sims and body shop things...


This is completely unrelated, but you seem like you know what's going on in general so I'll ask just in case. When I try to open some download pages on MTS I get an error screen kind of thing that says:

There seems to have been a slight problem with the Mod The Sims database.
Please try again by pressing the refresh button in your browser.
An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, who you can also contact if the problem persists.
We apologise for any inconvenience.


When this happens does it just mean the download is dead? (Because in my experience whenever you get an automated message telling you people are being notified so stuff can get fixed it never actually gets fixed).
Mad Poster
#7 Old 6th Mar 2024 at 9:14 AM
Avoid mini-heart attacks by doing a backup before testing stuff (seriously - I did warn you ).

Finding the problem piece of CC should be relatively simple with the 50/50 method (even if you have a lot of CC). This one looks to be a file that either causes the problem or not, so if you follow the method you should be able to narrow it down fairly quickly (weeding out mods or non-spesific items the same way is much harder).
50/50 method: https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...he_50.25_Method

As for the error, if it goes to an old download (old links, often meshes for older clothes/hairs/similar), chances are it's a download topic that's been taken down or lost, for some unspesific reason. Could be the creator wanted their downloads taken down, could've been a temporary server meltdown that wiped out a week's worth of downloads, links and files broken + creator gone + nobody had the files so taking down the topic was easier, or something offensive that eventually got weeded out, or some other reason. Moderators can't always fix the issues.
Forum Resident
#8 Old 8th Mar 2024 at 4:16 AM
Re face/body mismatch, I've had this happen a time or two. You may want to use SimPE to open that particular Sim's DNA and Character files, and check to see if there is a mismatch between appearance and heredity. If there is, it's an easy fix - just renumber the entries to the skin tone you prefer.

I had one Maxis-generated Townie (or was she a Downtownie?) Sim age up dramatically from S1 to S4. She looked better as an S4, so that's what I set her to.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 8th Mar 2024 at 5:24 AM
^ In this case the issue seems to be apparent in CAS and shows up with the S1 skin, so it's most likely a CC issue.

It's usually a CAS item that's got a wrongly input setting somewhere in the textures or a reference (tends to be TXMT or PropertySet) that makes it override some of the skin textures. It will usually also mess up skin defaults.
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