is it just me that keeps getting an empty file I've been trying to download this forever even went and got firefox still no go please help me I really want this and great to you and gunmod on your work!

Odd,it works just fine for me. try clearing your cache and other private data,and if that dosen't work you could always download in internet explorer. Ugh! i know IE sucks but sometimes i have to use it if firefox fails a download.

just for ya to know... the candle lights on the top part of the hub in downtown... don't work.

I was wondering if there was any way to just keep the pool effect and get rid of everything else.
I only want the pool waves since everything else is too dark.
Does anyone know if this is possible?

Then just use the shader package file.

do i keep the userstartup.cheat file?

Looks like it.

ok thank you.

hey..there was talk awhile ago here about a new version with bump mapping enabled, hows this comin along? no whining or anything, i just want to know if it hit a major snag or anything and to let those involved know there is still interest in such a thing. thanks.

i am curious too if someone is still working on this and if there is some newer version then 2.2 RC1 available maybe. (optimized for OBF and Family-Fun-Expansion too)

@upstart: like i understand the radiance lightning mod, it not affects bump mapping at all.
to be sure your graphic-card uses bump mapping when you play write:
boolProp bumpMapping true
in your userStartup.cheat file.

but to be honest i not see much difference ingame when bump mapping is on or off so i prefer to just have it disabled, because i have more performance when it is off.
to turn it off write:
boolProp bumpMapping false

just test it out yourself.

QUESTIONS! I downloaded the rls-2.2 file and it's just a program file. No folder like gunmods' and I have no text documents like gunmods'. I read what Jax had said about installing this mod, but to me it sounds like the download was set up more like gunmods (with folders and files). I don't get computers and I don't understand where to put this. The download only has one program file in it, and I don't have gunmods old lighting and/or text documents. Please help me understand what I need and were to put the files. Thank you.

Run the program. It should place the files where they need to go.

It's a file that can't be run. One of those special file things. I can't extract anything.

Redownload. I see folders.

Where do I put the folder once I download it? I'm confused. Does this go in the normal downloads folder or what?

I finished an updated version of this about 2 months ago. I haven't posted it here because well frankly... I'm not going to write any documentation at this point, and its just stored as a basic archive file. I don't have the desire or patience to try and help people who really shouldn't be downloading archive files off the internet at all, let alone modifying game files. I feel if I am going to 'release' something like this I should provide support for it and I know that in this case I won't.

That said, if you really KNOW what you are doing and will not need help putting archived files in their proper places... If you KNOW that no modified text files are going to break your computer or cause crashing and that if that occurs coincidentally with your use of these files it is in fact just that, a coincidence...and particularly if you think yo umay have something further to contribute to this project...

PM me and I will tell you where to find info on the further development of this.

I feel confident that its been tested by 75 users or so and no one has reported problems or malfunction. It does seem to work properly and well. But this is NOT a computer newb friendly easy to use happy little installer, nor is it a mod that should be used without some understanding of what exactly is being changed, at least not in its current state.

And Gunmod, if you are lurking somewhere out there, I'd love to point you to my minor update and ask you just a couple questions about your last version of this work.

Chesspieceface, I wrote you a PM. Is there any particular reason you didn't respond?

*hobbles into topic*

Hey... I remember this place...

Hmm... it's all sort of fuzzy. Something about goats, or an expansion pack, or something.

So um... should I be doing something here? I mean, there seem to be people, and things, and an expansion pack, about businesses, apparently. Has anyone done anything?

Oh, bah humbug. I guess I better get to reading if any sense is to be restored in my mind.

First, I apologize profusely for the double post. I could edit, but it is my obscure opinion that a completely different mindset requires a completely different post.

I have my source folder around here somewhere.... Let me just... Ah! There is a "Lighting" folder in my old Windows XP documents... I had wondered what that was, can't believe I forgot. Hmm... it has "downtown_lotX", "Lighting602", and "LightingX" files... I wonder what they are. My bet is that 602 is the original gunmod mad, and the X was my change. Dangit, why couldn't I have labeled this more clearly... How many monthes ago was this?!?

Wait, there was a spreadsheet that I wrote everything from. Dang it, I don't have anything to read spreadsheets in Vista... I might have to find a way to fix this problem... Yep, there is it, nestled with some scratchwork: "lightingspread.ods. Crap, I saved it native in OpenOffice. Have to install that now... does that even work on Vista?

I surely had the mod installed myself on said old XP petition... is it on program files or the local documents side? Sims had files in both, I recall, what a pain. ...The heck? Did I uninstall the game? The program files side isn't there, but the documents side is... of course that I moved to a third hard drive partition, I'm getting confused again.

WAIT! My EA Games folder is a few GB larger than the sum of what is in it... The Sims files were all hidden, but why the heck would I do that? How can you even view hidden files form XP in Vista? This is weird, I keep typing a question to post, and then realizing the answer myself. It was in control panel. Sure enough, there they are, Sims 2 and both EPs. I assume it would either be in the main game or the later of the two expansions... TSData rings a bell... Res? Yep, that's it. Ah, I put (MODIFIED) on my version of the file. I finally remember it all now.

So, back to reading the forum topic. I hope I didn't miss much. I mean, how much could you guys do in like half a year anyway? One expansion down, any more coming? Animations? :P

Chesspieceface, I don't know who you are, but you seem highly competent. Indeed, the "userstartup.cheat" file was one I specifically remember being very confused about, because it negates so much. I think Gunmod had it in for debug purposes... did I include it in the uploaded file? Odd, I took it out in my game, I remember those bump-map test undies. :D

The Shader package was a nifty tweak Gunmod made using the second EP abilities to make the water in pools vastly superior to the vanilla pool water. I don't suggest its removal unless a specific bug it attributed to it. It has no relation to the pointless .cheat file, and should not effect bumpmapping in the least unless something has changed. Back to reading...

"I don't envy you Chocolate Pi, you sure have a lot of work ahead of you. Especially if EA keeps bringing out expansions as fast as they have been."

...crap. Responsibility? I just found my name and a memory on a forum, I didn't expect this.

Moving right along, so this "OFB" newfangled EP screws up bumpmapping with lights, eh? But we can fix it by going to directional lighting? Odd, I recall this mod being about eliminating ambient lighting in favor of source-based directional stuff. Pictures of light radius and what-not. Hmmm... Sounds like tweaking is in order with directional lighting and no ambience...

Oh, and there was no team... Gunmod tweaked EVERY light hand-by-hand... he finished that right before he quit. I remember that too.

"What exactly does the RLSshader.package file do? Is there any benefit to having it in the downloads folder if shaders are still enabled? Or do the game's native shaders override it it anyway?"

At least in nightlife it changed the pool texture. Totally imcompadible without NL, and required a Pixel Shader 2.0 card. Gunmod had SLI... Computer hardware I never forget!

"Secondly, the question I asked in the prior post: Can any of you who were on GunMod's testing team or helped him code this version comment on how the individual light overrides were done and/or how to migrate Maxis' OFB ones into this version?"

I dunno... I really don't. All I remember doing is fixing... times. Like, dawn and dusk and evening. Portal spills, there was definatly an annoying bit about portals. Like, turn it too high and there was more light coming through the portal than there was in the room it came from... Outside needed lots of spill, but too much made white squares... Very blocky.

"...hoping someone(anyone) comes back and revisits this (imho) essential mod..."

REVISIT! That's the word I was looking for! It's time to revisit this mod, I think.

Need any help? My graphics card isn't much, but I can do research for you.

Um... quite frankly I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen next.

Actually, I lied. I know exactly what ought ot happen next. I should probably install the game, no?

Right. That might help.

I have gone on a witch-hunt looking for the installation discs. I found the original DVD in a drawer next to the TV, bonus disc is the case that was with a bunch of music CDs, Nightlife 1 on top of a kitchen cabinet, and Nightlife 2 in an obscure drawer.

University is AWOL, but I have the CD Key...

EDIT: Big picture time:

I have University installed on a backed up XP partition that I extracted the modified lighting file from. I have and will be installing/running off of the Nightlife discs. Can I somehow perform, for all intents and purposes, a makeshift installation of university via file transfer from said partition, prior to installing nightlife?

Good question. Try it.

Nah, I can't get anything to load at all. "The application has crashed. The application will now terminate." This is even the base game, simply installed with no modifications. Windowed mode, running as administrator, nothing fixes it.

Way to fail at not sucking, Maxis. They are clearly as inept and behind the curve as Creative. Even Battlefield 2 and Oblivion, not known for their stablity, run rock solid on this system!