Blackout UI - Dark mode mod for The Sims 3

by simstateTS3 Posted 28th Jan 2025 at 12:55 PM - Updated 19th Feb 2025 at 2:19 PM by simstateTS3
 
89 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 63 Feedback Posts, 25 Thanks Posts
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Scholar
THANKS POST
#2 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 4:00 PM
Amazing! Thank you for sharing. I always wanted black UI for sims3
Scholar
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#3 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 4:06 PM
Thank you, @redandvidya! I really enjoyed testing this out and it's so much better for my eyes!
You did an excellent job 👍🏾
Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#4 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 4:57 PM
Woooooow, I haven't words to express how nice this is! Congrats!!!
Inventor
#5 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 5:39 PM
I can't even imagine the amount of time it took you to make this, but I have a bit of constructive criticism: the black is waaaay too black and contrasted with the white letters and icons, it hurts my eyes probably more than the regular UI. The idea of a "dark mode" is to rest your eyes a bit. I think that if the background was a dark grey, rather than a pure black, and the white wasn't so bright, it would feel much better. But it's pretty good already, and I'm sure most people won't have any problems with it.
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 5:42 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Naus Allien
I can't even imagine the amount of time it took you to make this, but I have a bit of constructive criticism: the black is waaaay too black and contrasted with the white letters and icons, it hurts my eyes probably more than the regular UI. The idea of a "dark mode" is to rest your eyes a bit. I think that if the background was a dark grey, rather than a pure black, and the white wasn't so bright, it would feel much better. But it's pretty good already, and I'm sure most people won't have any problems with it.


I have the same issue. I don't wear glasses but it hurts my eyes. Also the UI elements just blend together and it's hard to distinguish between things.
Test Subject
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#7 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 10:03 PM
I'm glad to see you uploading this UI to public access. In the past I even paid for a month of your Patreon to have access to the download link on your Discord. And I see that it's better now than before.
Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#8 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 11:31 PM
I've been waiting for this for so long and its AMAAAAZINNGG!
Test Subject
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#9 Old 28th Jan 2025 at 11:36 PM
OMG
Test Subject
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#10 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 12:01 AM
Omg! Ty I Waited Years For This!
Lab Assistant
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#11 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 1:55 AM
off to install ASAP!!
Test Subject
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#12 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 1:55 AM
I've been wanting this for YEARS thank you so much this looks so gorgeous i made a whole account on this website to thank you
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 1:57 AM
The mod is amazing, I've been using it for a few hours. I used to use Clean UI, but it's a project that's still very unfinished. This one is extremely well done. However, I noticed some details like: Some menus have the background colors and font colors practically the same, which prevents me from seeing what's written. These are usually context menus (I noticed this when I was putting the menu in the oven at the bistro and also inviting a Sim to a place).
The settings menu is also very difficult to see, but it's hardly used.

What people said about the mod being very dark, even too dark, ended up bothering me a little at times because it really is difficult to distinguish certain things, the HUD loses its definitions and the task being performed by the Sim is almost invisible, which makes me have to constantly check if the Sim is doing the task or not. One small detail is when that "processing" loading appears, it has a frame that is darker than normal, making it blink all the time.

Now what unfortunately bothered me is that the search button for the Lazy Duches mod, which allows you to search by name for objects in the catalog, has disappeared. This mod is very useful.
[TS3] Catalog Search Mod
I tried clicking on the region where it would usually appear, but for some reason it opens the EA store.

But I was shocked at how well this model was made. It must have been a huge amount of work. EA could never.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#14 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 2:12 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Naus Allien
I can't even imagine the amount of time it took you to make this, but I have a bit of constructive criticism: the black is waaaay too black and contrasted with the white letters and icons, it hurts my eyes probably more than the regular UI. The idea of a "dark mode" is to rest your eyes a bit. I think that if the background was a dark grey, rather than a pure black, and the white wasn't so bright, it would feel much better. But it's pretty good already, and I'm sure most people won't have any problems with it.


It took me around 1.5 years. I like the deepness of the black- Reshade use is one of the primary reasons I made it, and if you've ever used Reshade you know how it messes with the UI, so that was a strong priority for me.

Feel free to adjust the UI with Photoshop for your own personal use. For example, if you want it to be brighter, extract all the IMAG files in the package and batch edit them with Photoshop (increase the Brightness) and import them back. That should hopefully help you with the UI being a bit too "deep" color wise
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#15 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 2:14 AM
Looks amazing
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#16 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 2:21 AM
Quote: Originally posted by vaddish
The mod is amazing, I've been using it for a few hours. I used to use Clean UI, but it's a project that's still very unfinished. This one is extremely well done. However, I noticed some details like: Some menus have the background colors and font colors practically the same, which prevents me from seeing what's written. These are usually context menus (I noticed this when I was putting the menu in the oven at the bistro and also inviting a Sim to a place).
The settings menu is also very difficult to see, but it's hardly used.

What people said about the mod being very dark, even too dark, ended up bothering me a little at times because it really is difficult to distinguish certain things, the HUD loses its definitions and the task being performed by the Sim is almost invisible, which makes me have to constantly check if the Sim is doing the task or not. One small detail is when that "processing" loading appears, it has a frame that is darker than normal, making it blink all the time.

Now what unfortunately bothered me is that the search button for the Lazy Duches mod, which allows you to search by name for objects in the catalog, has disappeared. This mod is very useful.
[TS3] Catalog Search Mod
I tried clicking on the region where it would usually appear, but for some reason it opens the EA store.

But I was shocked at how well this model was made. It must have been a huge amount of work. EA could never.


Thanks for the compliment. Are you willing to show me a screenshot of the background colors and the font colors being the same? I have an automatic script that edits the LAYO files to make the font colors gray instead of blue. It might have missed something. By settings menu do you mean the options dialog?

I later plan to release patches for a lot of popular mods that edit the UI slightly. Arro's CAS Rows and LazyDuchess' search button are some examples. It all comes to the LAYO files. In the meantime, please make sure Lazy's Search Mod loads first before my UI mod. Try seeing if that fixes the issue, although the actual search button might be blue instead of white.
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#17 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 2:36 AM
Amazing! Thanks for sticking with this project, your hard work is VERY appreciated 💗
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#18 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 2:50 AM
Quote: Originally posted by KosmoKhaos
Amazing! Thanks for sticking with this project, your hard work is VERY appreciated 💗


Thank you so much!!
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 3:48 AM
I've been waiting for someone to make this since the original clean UI came out. Thank you so much

shoo flee?
Scholar
#20 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 6:10 AM
Some users may not know that the accuracy of black tones will vary heavily depending on their monitor settings and quality. Could be related to some of the issues being experienced- similar shades of black will look distinct on a vivid, well calibrated, monitor and look poorly defined on cheaper or uncalibrated ones.
On an AOC monitor with NVIDIA color settings (essential for true black), everything looks crisp and legible to me

Permanent resident at NRaas.
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#21 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 7:57 AM
OMG YASS, thank u! this looks so good and sleek! df worth waiting for
Alchemist
#22 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 8:55 AM
Very nice mod, thank you I wanted to report some issues with it (see attached image):

- The workdays still use the default game colors (blue and magenta);
- The holidays (circled) have the same blue background as the default UI;
- The work performance metrics still use the default game color (blue);
- The sim's magic meter (purple bar under portrait) still has the same blue background as the default UI;
- The arrow that allows scrolling through moodlets in the moodlet panel is the same blue color as the default UI.

Not pictured:
- This sim has 6 traits - the scrollbar that allows scrolling through those traits is the default blue color.

These are for a sim in the Athletic career.
Screenshots

Tumblr - more downloads! ◾ CC reuploads / creator backupsTS3 CAS Conversion Catalog - for basegame, EP, SP, and Store clothing!
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#23 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 4:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CardinalSims
Some users may not know that the accuracy of black tones will vary heavily depending on their monitor settings and quality. Could be related to some of the issues being experienced- similar shades of black will look distinct on a vivid, well calibrated, monitor and look poorly defined on cheaper or uncalibrated ones.
On an AOC monitor with NVIDIA color settings (essential for true black), everything looks crisp and legible to me


I'm just using an old TN panel, I haven't tested the UI on OLED or IPS panels because I don't have those kinds of monitors :<

I mean if it looks bad for people playing on OLED or IPS I can try and tweak it to see what I can do
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#24 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 4:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by David_Mtv
I'm glad to see you uploading this UI to public access. In the past I even paid for a month of your Patreon to have access to the download link on your Discord. And I see that it's better now than before.


i kept that patreon up for WAY longer than i should've. i feel really guilty because there were times when i was just burning out and was not in the mood to do the project at all.. but it still took me a while to shut down the patreon. my bad! :<
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#25 Old 29th Jan 2025 at 4:48 PM
Quote: Originally posted by sweetdevil
Very nice mod, thank you I wanted to report some issues with it (see attached image):

- The workdays still use the default game colors (blue and magenta);
- The holidays (circled) have the same blue background as the default UI;
- The work performance metrics still use the default game color (blue);
- The sim's magic meter (purple bar under portrait) still has the same blue background as the default UI;
- The arrow that allows scrolling through moodlets in the moodlet panel is the same blue color as the default UI.

Not pictured:
- This sim has 6 traits - the scrollbar that allows scrolling through those traits is the default blue color.

These are for a sim in the Athletic career.


ugh the career panel is kind of a nightmare because this bug has been unfixable for a while, the original ui thread by dino_rex has this bug of the work days being blue. i wanna see if i can do something about it but no promises right now.

what's annoying is that you'd think the hudcareer xml file is the one corresponding to the career panel but it's kind of not... only SOME blue text is changed to white. its so ANNOYING

let me try and see if i can fix that blue arrow issue though i swear it's just in the files somewhere .

ALSO hi sweetdevil i love your CC!!!!
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