Apex Radiance 2.13.2

Highlights

The latest lighting features on the EA app version of the game (1.69)

Changes

• EA app 1.69: Instant (GPU) lamp lighting, quick outdoor lamp edits, walls blocking light on floors and through
  doors and windows, light on walls taller than a story, smooth light maps and Light detail now also work on the EA app
  version 1.69. Before, these parts were only available on the Steam version.

Apex Radiance 2.13.1

Highlights

Wall and garden wall shadows that continue past the lot, smoother lamp light on the ground, and trees lit by distance

Changes

• Walls shade lamp light near the ground (Lighting > Ground): a wall's shadow now continues onto the grass, streets
  and sidewalks outside the lot instead of stopping at the lot's edge.
• Garden walls and fences shade lamp light on the ground too, each by its own height: a low wall casts a short
  shadow, a tall one a long shadow.
• Smoother ground light with Instant (GPU): lamp light on lot grass has soft shadow edges instead of blocky steps,
  and matches the grass outside the lot.
• New lamp light on trees and bushes: garden and street lamps now light foliage the way they light walls. A tree
  next to a lamp glows, one farther away gets less light, and the light fades naturally with distance instead of
  staying even across the garden. Leaves facing the lamp are bright while those turned away stay in shade, which gives
  canopies depth at night. Large trees take the light from their side nearest the lamp, and the moonlight on foliage
  stays as before. It follows Realistic lamp reach, now on Lighting > Overview.
• Faster indoor lamp edits: a lamp's own room and its furniture update first after an edit.
• Lighting tabs show the main choices; the game fixes are folded into a Game fixes section on each tab, still on
  by default.

Fixes

• Large trees next to a lamp take its light.

Apex Radiance 2.13.0

Instant lamp lighting on the graphics card, and lamp light through doors, windows and arches.

New

• Lamp lighting: a new card at the top of System > Performance. Instant (GPU), the default, has your graphics card draw the active lot's outdoor lamps with real shadows, so every floor updates at once when you switch, recolour or move a lamp; moving lamps may lower the frame rate a little. Classic is the lighter option: lamp light updates after you release a lamp, all floors together.
• Outdoor light through openings: garden lamps light porches, arcades and rooms through their doors, windows and arches, including lamps on the story below.
• Indoor light through openings: lit rooms shine through arches and windows onto the garden, terraces and the room next door.
• Doors block light: closed doors and gates stop lamp light; arches, windows and glass doors let it through.
• Walls shade lamp light near the ground: grass, paths, decks, curbs and low fences behind a wall stay dark.
• Shadow softness: light edges past openings, wall ends and balconies soften with the lamp's size.
• Smooth light maps: lamp light in rooms without blocks, bands or rings.

Changes

• Buildings block lamp light on trees and objects: bushes and trees behind a wall or a house no longer take a garden lamp's light through it.
• Smoother lamp dragging: room updates wait until the lamp stops, then follow in smaller steps.
• Rooms at Night: options grouped under Background light and Lamp light.
• Lighter frames: less work per frame for drawing and lighting.

Fixes

• Disabled lamps: no longer light nearby objects.
• Foliage by day: outdoor lamps no longer light foliage in daylight.
• Foundations: garden lamps reach colonnades and porches on a foundation, and light under houses on foundations is no longer stopped by a false ceiling.
• Arches: columns inside arches take the lamp light that reaches them.
• Upper-story railings: no longer pick up light from ground lamps.

Notes

• Instant (GPU) works on The Sims 3 Steam 1.67.2 with Night Lights on. On another game version or a graphics card that cannot run it, the card says why and lamps update as in Classic.
• Instant (GPU) covers the active lot's outdoor lamps; other lots, world grass, roads and street lamps keep the game's light.

Install

Close the game and launcher, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in The Sims 3\Game\Bin\. Existing settings and presets remain compatible; Lamp lighting starts on Instant (GPU) and a saved choice is kept. No additional DLL is required.

Apex Radiance 2.12.3

Outdoor lamps now respect distance, balconies and daylight.

• Realistic lamp reach: lamp light on outside walls fades with distance. On by default in Lighting > Buildings.
• Balconies block light: a lamp under a balcony no longer lights the walls, windows and objects above it.
• Daylight: lamps left on by day barely show outdoors.
• Consistent surfaces: objects, fences and windows match the walls beside them.
• Lamp edits all at once: after editing a lamp, all floors update together and sooner.
• Renamed and removed: Walls block light on objects is now Buildings block light on objects; Light behind balconies is removed.

Install

Close the game, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in **The Sims 3\Game\Bin**. Settings and presets stay compatible.

Apex Radiance 2.12.2

Keyboard shortcuts for presets

New features

• Preset shortcuts: right-click any preset, personal or built-in, to assign a key combination. Pressing it applies the whole preset, with the usual Undo, and a note at the top of the screen shows its icon and name. The editor shows the keys as you hold them.

Changes

• Keyboard shortcuts now apply presets instead of single filters. Shortcuts assigned to filters in 2.11.0 to 2.12.1 are no longer used; assign them to a preset instead.
• Letters, digits and Space need Ctrl or Alt, so typing a Sim, lot or save name never applies a preset.
• Shortcuts are saved with your menu preferences, not inside preset files, so exported presets do not carry them.

Install

Close The Sims 3 and its launcher, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in The Sims 3\Game\Bin. Existing settings and presets remain compatible. No additional DLL is required.

Known limitations

The first key of a multiple-key combination may reach the game before the combination is recognised.

Apex Radiance 2.12.1

More consistent outdoor lighting

Improvements

• Exterior walls respond a little faster to lighting changes

Fixes

• Fence lighting better follows the position of lamps
• Gates receive lighting more consistent with fences

Install

Close The Sims 3 and its launcher, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in The Sims 3\Game\Bin. Existing settings and presets remain compatible. No additional DLL is required.

Known limitations

Lighting updates may still take time in some scenes. An isolated indoor cross-story update delay resolved during testing and remains recorded for follow-up. No measured FPS increase is claimed.

Release verification

Reviewed and tested source: 1ead7c4d9d60ed3e99ba0f33bbabd57eb61a9be3 (PR #18). Public x86 build; developer tools omitted. Local shader, resource, policy, CPU and 21-language checks passed. Gameplay coverage remains scene-specific.

ASI SHA-256: 85F3E0BB36F8EF2C1EEE17392C0B0D42DAC118D3F5965CFD5E415DD84C25E5D4

Apex Radiance 2.12.0

LUTs, presets and graphics improvements

New features

• 3D CUBE LUTs: load your own color looks alongside the existing PNG LUTs, then adjust their strength. LUTs have a dedicated area with a file selector, reset control and a shortcut to their folder.
• A dedicated Presets page: save your current settings, organize your presets and access the built-in Apex presets from the sidebar.
• Easy preset sharing: export and import TOML presets or ZIP packages. When a preset uses a LUT, Apex includes it automatically in the ZIP so everything travels in one file.
• Restart Apex: recreate the mod’s graphics resources from Settings → Compatibility without losing your settings or restarting the game.

Improvements

• Refined preset import and export dialogs, smaller buttons, consistent menus and better spacing and alignment.
• Clearer separation between your presets and the built-in Apex presets.
• More efficient lighting updates, file and object lookups, and internal resource handling.
• Updated documentation, in-game version notes and menu translations.

Fixes

• Screen effects now preserve the game’s original transparency channel, avoiding unintended interference with brightness and colors.
• Improved graphics-state restoration, including clipping regions.
• Fixed a failure path that could leave Depth Blur inactive and retain a graphics resource.
• Improved handling of invalid settings, incomplete shader caches and shader replacements.
• Safer file exports and overwrite handling. Existing TOML presets remain supported.
• Developer settings in imported presets stay hidden and inactive in the public build.

Compatibility

• Supports 3D CUBE and supported PNG LUTs. One-dimensional CUBE files and combined shaper/3D files are not supported.
• Existing settings, presets and LUT folders remain compatible.
• Restart Apex refreshes graphics resources; it does not uninstall the mod or reset lighting hooks. Close the game before replacing or removing the ASI.

Installation

Close the game, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in **The Sims 3\Game\Bin**. Your settings and saved presets are kept.

Apex Radiance 2.11.0

Color controls and hidden-interface effects

• Color overview: enable Basic, Tones, Color, Detail and Filters separately. The main Image switch disables them together while keeping your adjustments.
• Filter shortcuts: right-click a filter to assign your own on/off key combination. None are assigned by default; a small tag shows each assigned shortcut to the left of its expand arrow.
• Cleaner filters: compact groups, expandable adjustments and a shortcut dialog matching the menu.
• Hidden interface: corrected effect timing for the recorded F10 and hidden-photo rendering states, without changing effect or lighting formulas.
• Ambient Occlusion: removed Half resolution. AO runs at full resolution; this can increase GPU cost if you previously used that option.
• What's new and languages: refreshed the in-game version notes and translations. The README now lists all 21 supported menu languages.

Install

Close the game, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in The Sims 3\Game\Bin\. Your settings are kept.

Apex Radiance 2.10.1

Faster exterior lighting updates in Build/Buy

• Exterior lighting: placing and moving outdoor lamps updates corrected wall lighting faster, especially on lots with several floors.
• Same lighting: colours, brightness, shadows and the reach of the light are preserved. No settings need to be changed.

Install

Close the game, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in The Sims 3\Game\Bin\. Your settings are kept.

Apex Radiance 2.10.0

Lamp posts light upper floors correctly, light behind balconies

• Upper floors: lamps on the ground now light the walls of upper stories the way they should: lower walls only block light below their real top, so stacked and stepped walls no longer go dark with bright streaks at each floor line, and the light fades naturally with distance and when it climbs steeply.
• Light behind balconies: new option (Lighting > Buildings > Walls, on by default): walls behind a balcony get a soft share of the light from the lamps below instead of staying black.
• Doors and windows: doors and windows on a foundation now take the light of lamps standing on the ground.
• Walled rooms: ground lamp light no longer spills onto the grass inside walled rooms, roofless ones and diagonal walls included.
• Towers and parapets: light passing over a balcony parapet now leaves a soft, realistic shadow on the wall above.
• Captures take far less space: old captures are cleaned up automatically (2 GB / 30 folders by default), and big texture dumps are only saved in developer mode.
• Faster wall lighting: Apex's wall tests do less repeated work while lamps are edited.

Install

Close the game, then replace ApexRadiance.asi in The Sims 3\Game\Bin\. Your settings are kept.