EDIT: As of Feb 8. 2019, I’ve had to completely rewrite this post since the preset I was using (and method of installation) has changed. Added to that I felt this post just needed simplifying. So I’ve taken much of the technical information previously included here and moved it over to the imaginatively named ReShade Pt 2.

Since I’ve just returned to the land of the Sims it comes as no surprise that I’m a recent convert to Reshade. I’d seen plenty of amazing pictures but thought it was too complicated, and unneccessary, for me. Then the other day I came across a preshade that made me finally decide to take the plunge. After a little testing I decided to write this info down because knowing me I’m likely to forget. And since I’m not as tech-savvy as I used to be, I figured dumbing it down would help me understand should I need to come back to it later. Maybe it might be of interest to someone else too.

So instead of this post being something between a review and a quasi-guide, I’m leaving the guide part for Pt 2 and focusing on the visual aesthetics here. If just if you’re like me and pretty new to it all, Reshade is a lighting modification and visual enhancer for your game. When I came across a preset called “Real Sims” (by Cul over at Lover’s Lab and Forced at MTS4) I just had to have it (NOTE: *The name Real Sims has since been changed to Movie Sims with a recent update, which adds new presets and includes the older ‘real’ presets). Now that I have spent a few days playing and testing it out, I’m going to rant my ass off about it all here.

Personally I’ve always hated the look of The Sims. To me the game itself just looks cartoonish. With the painted-on clothing and oversized objects it sometimes feels like a game built for kids, not teenagers, and certainly not for adults no matter how much adult CC I manage to cram in. As much as I tried to make the game look realistic, anything that deviated too much from the standard vanilla style just stood out. Highly detailed skins looked like they didn’t belong in the same game against simple and featureless backgrounds; visually it was too distracting. So reluctantly I forced myself to embrace Maxis Match. I’m one of those players that need things to match where possible or end up with some kind of psychotic eye-twitch! Then I came across the (then named) Real Sims preset and was completely taken in by the name. The pictures provided looked more realistic than the base game, even if they weren’t to the level of Unreal Engine 3D models (As much as I hold out hope for something like that for The Sims 5, its probably never going to happen). I had to try it out for myself. So I did.

Straight off the bat, the cartoon look was muted. I won’t say gone completely, but certainly not as in-your-face as before. I didn’t even realise just how bright and childish the game looked until I took ReShade back out again. And the only reason I did that was to test my theories on the uninstallation process… I’m the kind of person that has to burn my hand on the stove just to find out for myself that it’s hot. And naturally with all that screwing around in my game files, I screwed up my game. BUT I didn’t lose anything – I would have been pissed as hell if I had, especially due to my own incompetence.

I think I’ve mentioned it elsewhere on the site, but it begs repeating anyway: Whether you download CC or run a completely mod-free game, REGULARLY create backups of your game (Mods, Saves, and Tray folders). That way if anything goes wrong in your game you won’t lose anything. I really wish I’d learned that lesson years ago, but it’s served me well ever since.

Anyway, I think the worst part about installing ReShade is the fact that I may have to start a new game yet again not all that long after starting the last. The difference between my old screenshots and the new ones is too extreme to ignore. I’m kind of bummed by that, but also pretty happy at the same time. I don’t think I’m going to feel quite so strange watching and writing about sex and death and torture all that other beautiful agony I love to inflict on my creations with such bright and colourful pictures. Finally things feel like they match, or at least better than they did before. So now I have to restrain the urge to install ALL the presets I like and risk having all my screeshots disconnect. Maybe I would have been better off not installing ReShade or Movie Sims in the first place, but I don’t regret it. Not yet anyway 😉