Hi again GunMod. I have a problem. I tried to download you radiance light system and your camrea mod but when I try to extract them the files are empty. It says that there is nothing in the file. What do I do? I want them so bad but I don't know how to get them. I have downloaded each of them like 5 times. Can you plaese put up another post at where I can download it or something. Or maybe you could just tell me what I need to do. Thank You in advance.

Thanks, it really was this error on my side.
Had to re-install because I didn't made a backup, but now works like a charm.

cant wait for 2.2

I re-downloaded the manual install version just to have a look. Which OS are you using? Which browser are you using?

How do you try to extract the archived files?

I would highly recommend the following:

--Internet Explorer for the download. (Firefox only if IE is puttzing[pardon spelling] along.)

--Download to desktop.
--Use XP
--Extract using IZArc, or download IZArc if you can. Don't use WinZIP or the Compressed Folders feature that come standard. IZArc is just plain better.

--Ignore the Lighting.txt file you see on the main of your zip file. The one you want is in the subfolder "The Sims 2" It's the Sims2->TSData->Res->Lights->Lighting.txt file that has what you want.

Put this file in C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Lights and have it overwrite your Lighting.txt default. (Don't forget to make a backup first.)

The similar file in the Nightlife folder contains two files that you'll have to add to C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Res\Lights\. They'll overwrite the default Nightlife text files.

This only applies to Nightlife users. University-only users like myself need only overwrite the core game light diffuser.

It's a little tricky for me, because I don't have an EA Games folder. I have a C:\Program Files\Maxis folder instead. (Because I also have legacy games like SimCity 2000 and SimCopter.) But in the end, it all relatively works the same.

Thank you soooooooooo much for this! It makes the game absolutely beautiful.
I hope you don't mind me promoting your mod on the Sims2.com bbs, for the story-tellers out there. :wave:

Try clearing your cache before you re-download. Lots of times the computer just opens up the cached download, which was corrupt, instead of redownloading from scratch.

But shouldn't the NL files be placed in the NL EP directory? That's what the directions say, after all.

I get the same issue w/ the NL files - flashing red neighborhoods. I took out just the NL files, & the Lighting file for the base game is working just fine. I dunno if this is a mod issue or a driver conflict, but I'm reluctant to upgrade my drivers at the moment b/c of a reported issue w/ the newest ones until I know for sure that its a driver issue.

I have a Radeon X850XT btw.

try OmegaDrivers.net. you can download their version of the catalyst 5.10 and newest drivers
the newest ones from ati are dreadful

Just an update.
I have finished the night lighting section.
I also got rid of the ultra bright edge on the edges of lots at night.
Neighbor hood view at night now matches the darker night view as the lots.
More updates tomorrow.

Thanks for the note on the update to v2.2 progress... appreciate it.

sweet stuff, Gunmod. I believe that your lighting system is going to make the game so much better for mood then the standard maxis lighting. Thanks for the update about the lot edge. I didn't think you'd be able to get that to go away. This mod, and you, sir, are a stroke of brilliance.

GunMod, I saw the difference as soon as I played today. It was amazing...and then I realized I seriously needed more lights around the house.

But I noticed one problem, during the day, there was no light coming in through the window so the room looked really dark. Is there supposed to be light coming through the windows? I had to set my lights to be always on in order to see properly during the day.

i have tested all the windows in the game, both maxis and custom. all work fine with this mod installed, with the exception on of the OpenMe 2 tile (the one with leaded effect)
see my earlier post #147 for further info on this

Well I didn't actually solve it as so much as figure out what causes it.
Try this and see if I'm correct.
With 2.1 or 2.0 installed go to a neighborhood.
Now, click the day/night button before you enter a lot.

What happens is this: Say your saved lot actually takes place at night. But you enter the lot from a day neighborhood.

The bug is that the game does not update the neighborhood lighting to the lot lighting when the lot is loaded so you get that very thin bright line on a night lot.
This time make sure the neighborhood view is night time before entering a night saved lot. Line should disappear.

At least thats what I'm seeing in 2.2 right now.
This should in theory works reversed as well.
Enter a day saved lot from a dark neighborhood and the ground will have a dark line around it.

The problem is in:
lightMap 0x6fb59732

The neighborhood views rely on shadow mapped lighting rather than realtime lighting.
The lot views can use either shadow map or real time.
If all your lighting was shadow mapped, then no problem, but shadow mapped looks like crap.
There is no way I found, as of yet, to force the neighborhood view to use real time lighting. If it did the problem would disappear completely.

If I remove the "lightMap 0x6fb59732" commands from the neighborhood view and use real lighting then you get the dreaded flashing red ground which was Maxis internal way of flagging an error.

Yet I shall not give up. I'm still poking around with it.
If I can't get around it then the work around will be to switch the neighborhood view to the proper day light cycle before entering your lot. Sucky I know but we will see.

One other possible solution would be to get rid of day/night cycles completely in neighborhood view but I don't know how people would feel about that.
Personally the night view in neighborhood view is of no use to me, but others might disagree

GunMod
i personally don't have a need for the night view in neighbourhood view, but obviously i can't speak for others
i also don't really mind the line showing the light either. it sort of disappears in my minds eye when i am playing, i hardly notice it. if you build a garden wall right on the edge of the lot it doesn't show anyway, something i noticed today. but then i suppose one might not want a wall on every lot

This looks awesome. Havent downloaded yet but I will! Im running TS2 in swedish but I hope I wont have any problems.

this is my game after 9pm sim time with this mod installed does it look pretty good?

I play downtown rather a lot lately. It could be that the cycles are off I suppose. I'll test your theory with 2.1 and post some screen shots. What I have noticed is that the neighborhood view is nighttime by default. Most of my lots are saved at daytime settings. I notice the line of light at the edge of the lot once it gets dark. You have me thinking that perhaps the game cycles the neighborhood view while in play, and that perhaps they are opposite? Now I'm off to do a little testing...

Actually after more testing I found the only way it properly cycles the neighborhood light is if you save the lot in that time of day, then resave.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
For now it appears the "line bug" will remain.
Whats really pointless is that little tiny line isn't needed. Why do they have just that little part of the neighborhood light leak into the lot view? Makes no sense.
It to me looks like the neighborhood area is shifted underground when you go to the lot and the "light" from the neighborhood below ground is leaking up into the lot, but I have found no proff to support that theory.

So here is where I need your input. This is important.
Do you guys like the vivid bright night lighting or do you want the more subdued darker outdoor lighting?

Here are the Pro's and Cons:

Realistic Dark:
Pros:
1) Looks Real
2) Makes different times of day seem more pronounced

Cons:
1) Bright light on edge is more noticable
2) Harder to see or navigate items.
3) Some outdoor lights are "broke" and do not light up properly

Maxis type night lighting (outdoors only)

Pros:
1) Easier to see and navigate items.
2) Bright line not as noticable
3) Broken lights less noticable
4) Car lights do not emit light onto the ground or objects, with brighter night this isnt noticable.

Cons:
1) Looks too bright
2) Takes away some of the atomsphere.


Please weight these options carefully and go with your heart.
Once I get a few responses and a general idea of what you want the most
that's what I'll go with and no turning back.

Realistic, man. Totally. The mood wins, hands down.

Realistic dark for me personally
the reason i like this mod is that it adds realism to my game, therefore i want as near to real as you can get it. but i'll go with the flow
thankyou

hmmmm? I chose.... realistic lighting! The cons to having realistic lighting are really only minor inconveniences. I would prefer to keep the realistic lighting, besides it sure helps when making horror stories. :twisted:

The "Ideal" of course would be perfection... however, I notice that some of the outside lights that do work are way too bright in the darker nighttime. However, if those lights can be brought into line with the rest of them I'd vote for the darker night, too.
I've got some images I've taken showing the light leakage (or lack thereof) for all three neighborhood types with 2.1. First there's the base neighborhood. The default is daytime.

Here's the daytime and nighttime lot edges we're all used to seeing.



Now I went back out after saving the lot at nighttime and switched the neighborhood to nighttime. Just as Gunmod suspected there's a dark line during the daytime on the lot but there's not a bright line on the edge at night.




I repeated the experiment with both a University and a downtown lot and can post the pictures if anyone wants me to.
Personally I perfer the dark line over the light one. The secret seems to be switching the neighborhood view to nighttime before entering the lot. On my downtown lot I'd saved during the day but entered from a nighttime (default) mode. There was no bright line at the lot edge.

Definitely realistic for me. I just love this mod. Thanks for all your hard work on it.

As for myself, I would prefer the realistic views all the way around, even if it means changing some lights that are not working correctly. And as far as that border line being more pronounced, I personally play the game alittle more close-up, so the line doesn't come into play then anyway.