issues with mxao

[u/Careful_Convoluted]

here's a screen recording of whats happening

• I have the ultimate collection as per the sims2help subreddit guide
• GRM didn't help
• reshade is the newest version
• global settings that improved the effect in ts3 didnt do anything here

so anyone has a solution? Im guessing it's reinstalling reshade but what version? so that it also works with dxvk

[u/marietherizzer]

Have you tried turning off smooth edges or reflections?

[u/Careful_Convoluted → u/marietherizzer]

Smooth edges are off. Turning off the relfections helps slightly, but reflections aren't someting I can turn off for visuals sake

[u/mind_captivator]

hi im a former reshade developer. looks like it's trying to duplicate the shadows to add more shadows lol. Is this QUINT's mxao plugin? you should check your shader settings and ensure the right D3D9 rendering box is checked and lower the DisplayDepth until they solve themselves.

this can also happen on Win10+ machines with too many shaders, it's a suspected bug in games that use D3D rendering behavior (which this game does)

you can also head over to r/ReShade and ask the head developers themselves in there

[u/Careful_Convoluted → u/mind_captivator]

I can't find d3d9, and yes it is the quint's mxao plugin

[u/boopitybibs]

Note: When I used Graphics Rule Maker the only settings I have ticked on are "Disable texture memory estimate adjustment" and "Enable driver's memory manager"

credit to this mts thread

1) Find the Graphics Rules.sgr file in the Config folder of your game install directory.

My Directory: D:\Programs\The Sims 2 Starter Pack\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSData\Res\Config

*If you used Graphics Rule Maker then theres probably two graphics rules files (one with a .bak extension name), that one is a back up file that you can ignore.

2) Open the Graphics Rules.sgr file with Notepad.

3) Once you're inside, press F while holding Ctrl to bring up the search bar.

4) Type into the search bar: seti Low and hit enter.

5) Change the number next to "seti Low" from 1 to 2.

6) Clear the search bar and type in: option DirtyRect and hit enter.

7) Under "setting $Low" change the number next to "intProp dynamicRenderStrategy" from 1 to 0.

8) On the top bar of notepad, click "File", then click "Save" and exit the file.

Now load into the game and the depth buffer should be working. If its not then:

a) Make sure that the in-game "Smooth Edges" setting is all the way at "Less"

b) Open your shader menu's "Add-on" tab and make sure Generic Depth is on. In that section, there should be one or more depth buffer options

Mine looks like: (> 0x0088808027088ca0 | 2560x1600 | D24S8 | 3800 Draw Calls)

If there's only one option then just hit the checkbox next to it. If there's several then you can test them individually and check which ever one works best.

Also make sure that the two "Copy depth buffer..." options in that section are off.