*Make sure to calibrate your monitor brightness and contrast before using this mod*
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What does it do?
-----------------------------------
Realistically improves outdoor lighting:

-Reduces the blue hue during night, sunset and sunrise hours. Nights will have a more natural appearance, unlike the blue radiated moonlight of the default
-Shadows are now more dynamic, following the sun more accurately throughout the day cycle instead of it being stuck at 3pm limit
-Tweaks to sun intensity, ambient lighting, and bloom
-New sunset and sunrise colors
-Added 3 weather types: heavy fog, stormy, and overcast. Stormy and heavy fog will have a reduced appearance chance
-Reduced the overuse of distance fog for during clear and partly cloudy weather types. It helps to make daytime look clearer, realistic, and less blurry
-Choose how dark nights are: Brighter, Balanced, and Darker





-----------------------
2.2 Changes
-----------------------
-Added Seasons version: (can be used without Seasons)
Reduced overcast chance
Removed foggy lighting type. Will use foggy weather included with Seasons instead
Removed stormy lighting type chance. Reduces conflict with the sunny weather type in Seasons. This will be used during heavy snow and heavy rain weather

-Improved overcast daytime cloud color and morning lighting
-Improved cloud color and corrected value errors for partly cloudy
-Minor sun size increase
-Minor sky color change during sunset
-Added daytime option for 8pm sunset

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INSTALLING
-------------------
Please remove old versions if you have them. "dD-Less_Blue_Nights" "dD-Longer_Shadows"
-------------------
Main Lighting:
Pick only ONE of the three "Lighting Tweak" options that will change how bright nights will be:
Balanced - Nights will be darker than the default but will still be visible to navigate in. (Recommended)
Darker - Nights will be realistically dark which can make it very hard to navigate in.
Brighter - Will be more close to the default brightness setting.

Shadows:
dD-Lighting Tweaks - Dynamic Shadows: Shadows will be more realistic, following the sun more accurately throughout the day cycle. (Recommended)
(NOTE: This file should NOT be used with "longer days" use "Longer Days - Dynamic Shadows" file instead)

Longer Days:
dD-Lighting Tweaks - Longer Days: Sun sets at 9pm and rises at 5am
dD-Lighting Tweaks - Longer Days - Dynamic Shadows: This includes longer days and dynamic shadows. If you are going to use both use this file ONLY.

Main Lighting - For Seasons:
Pick only ONE of the three "Lighting Tweak" options that will change how bright nights will be:

Recommend to be used with Seasons Expansion.
This can be used with or without Seasons, but in general, it removes and reduces the additional lighting types added by this mod so that it will be comparable with the sunny weather type of Seasons. This should not be used with the normal Main Lighting files.


Put the files inside:
...Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages
or wherever location you put your mods in.

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Compatibility
--------------------
The lighting mod will work with expansion packs but will not work on the worlds included in them such as vacation areas, Twinbrook, etc. You must delete the custom lighting in the world files by follow instructions found below or in the instructions tab.

Sunset valley, Riverview, Barnacle Bay, Hidden Springs and any custom worlds without custom lighting will work without additional editing.

Will conflict with other mods that change lighting, sky colors, timescale, or water color.

Patches:
There shouldn't any problems with any new or old patches... that is until Seasons...?

-------------------
Recommended download
-------------------
Fixes EA glass doors and arches lighting
by plasticbox:
http://linna.modthesims.info/download.php?t=389222

-------------------
Editing your world file:
-------------------
You only need to do this if you are not using the following worlds.
Sunset valley, Riverview, Barnacle Bay, Hidden Springs and any custom worlds without custom lighting will work without additional editing.

Making a backup copy:
-First you should backup the world that you are going to edit
Go to the folder where the file is located which is found inside the expansion where the world file is included in:
…\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 [whatever]\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds
For downloaded worlds:
…\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds

-Backup by either copying the file into another folder or compress the file.
-The world should be backed up, so in case something goes wrong you can just replace the file with the copy.

Installing s3pe:
-Go to: http://www.den.simlogical.com/denfo...aa6&topic=189.0

-Download the exe (easy installer) file and install it
You may need this if it doesn’t work: http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforu...php?topic=805.0


Editing the world file I (hue maps):
-Open S3PE and make sure to run as administrator
-Click file then navigate to the world file you want to change, they are usually have the same file structure for each expansion pack even in the base game:
…\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 [whatever]\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds
For downloaded worlds:
…\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds
-After opening the world file look at the lower part of the program and find “ResourceGroup” and at the lower left side of that check the checkbox.
-In the blank spot (text field) on the right of the checked box, type:
0x0076A684
-Click on the Set button found on the left side
-Checkmark the “filter active”
-You should see fewer files at the top, that’s because we filtered out the files we don’t want.
-Now select all of them and then press the delete key.
-There should now be a line through them, which means that when the file is saved those will be gone
-Save

Editing the world file II (ini files):
-This part should only be done if you are NOT editing the following worlds:
Sunset valley
Riverview
Barnacle Bay
Hidden Springs

Any new official made worlds in expansion packs will need to have their ini files deleted.

-Make sure that the box is unchecked on the lower left side of “ResourceGroup”
-Now you need to check the box on the lower left side of “Tag”
-In the blank spot (text field) on the right of the checked box, type:
Ini
-Click on the Set button
-Check the box for “filter active”
-Now they should be filtered but don’t just delete them, there are two files that shouldn’t be deleted. They each have this as their value for Instance which is found under the instance columns for that file:
0x3EC0CF0CC4A6540F
0x7886A7F59355762F

-Another way to check if they are the files is to right click on them and then click on notepad
-At the top it should say either:
;; This file defines spline paths for the camera to follow at
;; the beginning of the tutorial.

Or

[WorldSpecificParams]

-When you identified them delete the other ini files by selecting them and pressing the delete key.
-Save and close the program





--------------
Change Log
--------------
----
2.1
----
-Daytime sky color changed to a lighter blue
-Reduced star field intensity during night hours
-Adjustments to environmental color during morning and evening
-Increased night ambient brightness for “Brighter” night option.
-Added longer days optional file
-Added longer days with dynamic shadows optional file
----
2.0-2.0a
----
-Removed shadow changes in base packages
-Minor change in probability weight for Clear and Cloudy Days

-Increase indirect and direct ambient lighting for overcast, stormy, and Heavy Fog weather. Was set at default values of zero.(Shouldn't be as oddly dark anymore)
-Removed magical lighting during night hours. Now more dependent on ambient lighting for artificial outside brightness
-Fixed incorrect time scales with ambient lighting, due to default setup in configurations
-Minor brightness increase to Brighter and Balanced night options
-Removed bright blue area in the sky during sunrise
-Changed sunset environmental sunlight color
-Heavy fog starts closer to the camera
-Some cloud visibility changes during overcast and heavy fog
-Removed blue hue on the horizon during night hours
-Minor sunlight intensity increase
-Further reduced fog during sunset during clear and cloudy days
-Separated dynamic shadows (Lighting may appear differently if not used)
----
1.6
----
-Changed sunrise colors
-Moved fog distance further away during morning and evening for clear and partly cloudy weather
-Removed blue hue at night for overcast and stormy
-Overcast and stormy now a bit more darker during daytime
-Fix a mistake with water turning green for overcast in the morning
-Reverted water color to default
-----
1.5
-----
-Increased brightness for overcast afternoon
-Improved sunset sky lighting color gradient and corrected cloud lighting
-Lighter water color
-Removed colored shadows during fog weather type
-fog distance increased
-increased brightness for brighter night option
-fixed an error with partly cloudy using overcast lighting settings, shouldn't be as dark anymore

-----
1.4
-----
-Added 3 weather types: heavy fog, stormy, overcast. Stormy and heavy fog will have a reduced appearance chance.
-Reduced the fog effect during Clear sky and partly cloudy
-Further reduced blue hue and clouds at night
-Increased sun intensify and reduced shadow ambient
-Changed sunset color
-Less star field intensity
-Merged Shadows and Less nights and applied name change.

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2331 people have said thanks to dDefinder for this download.

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For more information about this creator and their policies or details, click here.

Basic Download and Install Instructions:

1. Download: Click the download link to save the .rar or .zip file(s) to your computer.

2. Extract: Use WinRAR (Windows) or Stuffit (Mac) to extract the .package file(s) from the .rar or .zip file(s).

3. Pick only ONE of the three "Lighting Tweak" options that will change how bright nights will be:
Balanced - Nights will be darker than the default but will still be visible to navigate in. (Recommended)
Darker - Nights will be realistically dark which can make it very hard to navigate in.
Brighter - Will be more close to the default brightness setting.

Shadows:
dD-Lighting Tweaks - Dynamic Shadows: Shadows will be more realistic, following the sun more accurately throughout the day cycle. (Recommended)
(NOTE: This file should NOT be used with "longer days" use "Longer Days - Dynamic Shadows" file instead)

Longer Days:
dD-Lighting Tweaks - Longer Days: Sun sets at 9pm and rises at 5am
dD-Lighting Tweaks - Longer Days - Dynamic Shadows: This includes longer days and dynamic shadows. If you are going to use both use this file ONLY.

Put the files inside:
...Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages
or wherever location you put your mods in.


You only need to do this if you are not using the following worlds.
Sunset valley, Riverview, Barnacle Bay, Hidden Springs and any custom worlds without custom lighting will work without additional editing.

-------------------
Editing your world file:
-------------------
Making a backup copy:
-First you should backup the world that you are going to edit
Go to the folder where the file is located which is found inside the expansion where the world file is included in:
…\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 [whatever]\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds
For downloaded worlds:
…\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds

-Backup by either copying the file into another folder or compress the file.
-The world should be backed up, so in case something goes wrong you can just replace the file with the copy.

Installing s3pe:
-Go to: http://www.den.simlogical.com/denfo...aa6&topic=189.0

-Download the exe (easy installer) file and install it
You may need this if it doesn’t work: http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforu...php?topic=805.0


Editing the world file I (hue maps):
-Open S3PE and make sure to run as administrator
-Click file then navigate to the world file you want to change, they are usually have the same file structure for each expansion pack even in the base game:
…\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 [whatever]\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds
For downloaded worlds:
…\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds
-After opening the world file look at the lower part of the program and find “ResourceGroup” and at the lower left side of that check the checkbox.
-In the blank spot (text field) on the right of the checked box, type:
0x0076A684
-Click on the Set button found on the left side
-Checkmark the “filter active”
-You should see fewer files at the top, that’s because we filtered out the files we don’t want.
-Now select all of them and then press the delete key.
-There should now be a line through them, which means that when the file is saved those will be gone
-Save

Editing the world file II (ini files):
-This part should only be done if you are NOT editing the following worlds:
Sunset valley
Riverview
Barnacle Bay
Hidden Springs

Any new official made worlds in expansion packs will need to have their ini files deleted.

-Make sure that the box is unchecked on the lower left side of “ResourceGroup”
-Now you need to check the box on the lower left side of “Tag”
-In the blank spot (text field) on the right of the checked box, type:
Ini
-Click on the Set button
-Check the box for “filter active”
-Now they should be filtered but don’t just delete them, there are two files that shouldn’t be deleted. They each have this as their value for Instance which is found under the instance columns for that file:
0x3EC0CF0CC4A6540F
0x7886A7F59355762F

-Another way to check if they are the files is to right click on them and then click on notepad
-At the top it should say either:
;; This file defines spline paths for the camera to follow at
;; the beginning of the tutorial.

Or

[WorldSpecificParams]

-When you identified them delete the other ini files by selecting them and pressing the delete key.
-Save and close the program

Need more information?

• For a full, complete guide to downloading complete with pictures and more information, see: Game Help: Downloading for Fracking Idiots.
  
  
• Custom content not showing up in the game? See: Game Help: Getting Custom Content to Show Up.
  
• Anyone can use both .rar and .zip files easily! On Windows, use WinRAR. On Mac, use Stuffit.