In-game day and night time

[Krawon]

It would be awesome if the hours in thr game could pass according to the GMT clock, don't you think? Like, RL 18.00 it starts to get dark in the game, etc etc. Atmosphere, weather and such.

[DOHboy]

It would be awesome if the hours in thr game could pass according to the GMT clock, don't you think? Like, RL 18.00 it starts to get dark in the game, etc etc. Atmosphere, weather and such.

 

You play at 18:00 and person standing next to you is 0:600, guy down the road is 12:00 what should the sky be?

people on east coast play on west coast a lot.

 

that being said, this is a themepark, each planet and instance is a "snap shot" in time so to say. Dynamic day/night just makes things look stupid when same people are standing there in middle of the night, as they were 6am the previous morning and noon the next day.

[SteveTheCynic]

It would be awesome if the hours in thr game could pass according to the GMT clock, don't you think? Like, RL 18.00 it starts to get dark in the game, etc etc. Atmosphere, weather and such.

So you think Americans would enoy having their characters' day/night cycle determined by the time in London?

 

And if you mean 'by the player's local time', that might work, but bear in mind that for me, it is still light out, just, in summer at 10pm, and for someone in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, around the summer solstice the sun doesn't set and around the winter one it doesn't rise. How do you propose to deal with that? (And what exactly should happen on Tatooine?)

 

If they were to add this, it should be on a shortened cycle (for example, GW2 uses a cycle of about 40 minutes, to allow time-of-day sensitive events to happen reasonably often.

[Altyrell]

In all honesty, IF they were to ever add in a Day/Night Cycle (which they won't) then they should do it RIGHT.

 

By that I mean, the N/D Cycle should be based on each Individual World, so the two suns that Tatooine & Belsavis have should be a factor just as Nal Hutta should play a factor on the N/D Cycle of it's moon Nar Shaddaa. At the same time, the 7 moons that Korriban has should also be a factor, especially if a Moon is big enough to really block out the sun due to the distance between Korriban & its sun.

[branmakmuffin]

It would be awesome if the hours in thr game could pass according to the GMT clock, don't you think? Like, RL 18.00 it starts to get dark in the game, etc etc. Atmosphere, weather and such.

Games with day/night cycles do so in a matter of minutes, not in real time. They will never add day/night cycles to this game, so your "suggestion" is really just wishful thinking (which is fine).

Edited July 27, 2015 by branmakmuffin

[Krawon]

Okay, I did not say it right. The time zone for each server. GMT for Europe.

[SteveTheCynic]

Okay, I did not say it right. The time zone for each server. GMT for Europe.

That's not cool either. The US servers have to cover a couple of time zones each, just for the "lower 48" states (which aren't "lower", because all of them are further north than Hawaii), and that's without considering states like Arizona that don't do daylight savings. And Europe has at least three time zones worth considering, and none of them are GMT. (Seriously, dude. Even Britain (where the Greenwich that gave its name to GMT is located) isn't on GMT. It's on British time, which is GMT+0 in winter, and GMT+1 in summer.)

 

And of course, following this suggestion just replaces a fixed time-of-day on each planet with one that is semi-fixed, but different for each player. (If I play consistently from 8pm to 10pm each day, then I see a movement, but I will play in the early-ish evening every time I play.)

 

No, if they do this - and for storytelling reasons they won't - they would have to have a short cycle. GW2 uses a 40 minute cycle, while other games use two or three hours.

 

I'd like them to fix my shadows when I'm on Tatooine - there are two suns, both above the horizon, and my characters only have one shadow (one each, duh). The lighting management in this game is generally good(1), so this is a bit of a let-down.

 

(1) Examples:

* Those griddy floors with red lights under them illuminate my character from below, in red, like they should.

* My Shadow is illuminated in green when she pulls out her green/white crystal dual-sabre, and the illumination moves when she twirls it.

* Sometimes we are inside and there's a bright light low down, at ankle level say, and we get a big shadow of our character on the opposite wall.

[Icestar]

Considering that we can travel with one click that should have taken a long time it is not a issue to have a timeframe like our world.

 

It would be awesome with a day/night cycle and it could be during 3-4 normal hours instead, it is enough to play a while during the day and then the night.

[Boccanon]

It would be awesome if the hours in thr game could pass according to the GMT clock, don't you think? Like, RL 18.00 it starts to get dark in the game, etc etc. Atmosphere, weather and such.

 

The suggestion forum is a paradise for all the no-sayers and know-hows. Dont listen to them. I however agree with them that a D/N cycle would be hard to establish if it were based on real time. But a cycle based on in-game time would be possible (and fixed rather easy programming wise). Take Skyrim for example. The D/N cycle there works fine, so why shouldn't it work here..?

 

 

Ps. It would even be possible to let each planet have their own in-game D/N cycle.

[JEDIKATT]

Love to see it happen but closes devs could do was set trooper smugg zone darker but it looks lots better then day time

 

for topic idea to work 1 servers off 2 days and put a timer set it to irl time zones

[Altyrell]

The suggestion forum is a paradise for all the no-sayers and know-hows. Dont listen to them. I however agree with them that a D/N cycle would be hard to establish if it were based on real time. But a cycle based on in-game time would be possible (and fixed rather easy programming wise). Take Skyrim for example. The D/N cycle there works fine, so why shouldn't it work here..?

 

 

Ps. It would even be possible to let each planet have their own in-game D/N cycle.

 

No it isn't easy programming wise and Skyrim has only 1 world, TOR has multiple Worlds some having more then 1 Moon (Korriban has 7 Moons). So where it wouldn't be easy to create it based on in-game time [which they would have to create since there really isn't "in-game time indicator vs real world time"] it gets even more complicated if they made each World have it's own D/N Cycle [especially Nar Shaddaa in relation to Nal Hutta and the number of times Hutta (the Planet) would eclipse Nar Shaddaa (the Moon)

[Zharik]

A 2, 3 or 4 hour cycle gives you the feel of a day/night cycle in game and allows people to experience both, no matter when they play. Mimicing earth time would force a lot of people to always play day or night in game, since they play after work/school/etc, which is would get stale (like it is now, but worse since you *could* experience time-change if you played at different times IRL).

 

Love the idea, but the realist in me says they won't do it (prohibitively time consuming/expensive vs small gain).

[DreadtechSavant]

You play at 18:00 and person standing next to you is 0:600, guy down the road is 12:00 what should the sky be?

people on east coast play on west coast a lot.

 

that being said, this is a themepark, each planet and instance is a "snap shot" in time so to say. Dynamic day/night just makes things look stupid when same people are standing there in middle of the night, as they were 6am the previous morning and noon the next day.

 

 

This, I play on the US severs even though I live in Europe.

 

I do like the idea though, it would work if all planets had there own clock. So could be dark on Courscant but light on makeb. one could have a 24 hour day another 31 hours and so on by making each planet different.

 

Not sure if it be too much work for BW to do for what is little to zero reward. Would be kinda cool though.

 

 

"No it isn't easy programming"

 

Easy probably not, that's not the same as imposable is it? still as said little to no reward for BW so cart see it happening. Still like the idea though, after all it is a suggestion forum is it not.

Edited August 11, 2015 by DreadtechSavant

[Boccanon]

No it isn't easy programming wise and Skyrim has only 1 world, TOR has multiple Worlds some having more then 1 Moon (Korriban has 7 Moons). So where it wouldn't be easy to create it based on in-game time [which they would have to create since there really isn't "in-game time indicator vs real world time"] it gets even more complicated if they made each World have it's own D/N Cycle [especially Nar Shaddaa in relation to Nal Hutta and the number of times Hutta (the Planet) would eclipse Nar Shaddaa (the Moon)

 

I'm far from knowing all there is about programming, but I know some bits of it here and there. What I mean is that each planet could run separate loops that when a certain value is reached, then the cycle change could start. If the current cycle is night and a cycle change is gonna happen then the cycle should go towards a lighting change to daytime. This must be rather simple for an experienced programmer to manage in a days work.

[SteveTheCynic]

I'm far from knowing all there is about programming, but I know some bits of it here and there. What I mean is that each planet could run separate loops that when a certain value is reached, then the cycle change could start. If the current cycle is night and a cycle change is gonna happen then the cycle should go towards a lighting change to daytime. This must be rather simple for an experienced programmer to manage in a days work.

Simple or not (it's not, see below), what you suggest is just plain wrong. Real-world day/night changes are gradual, and don't go in jumps (except inside the dome in The Truman Show).

 

The sun (or suns, as dictated by the planet) moves through the sky (yes, I know, the sky moves past the sun...), as do the moon(s). However, the moons move in their own orbits around the planet, and would need to be shown changing in phase, rising and setting at different times relative to the sun(s) and each other, and so on.

 

The light of a sun is not the same colour when the sun is close to the horizon as when it is up high, so the colour of the lighting in-game should change as well.

 

Shadows of objects on the ground change direction and length according to the time of day (and should not be single on worlds like Tatooine, where there are multiple suns).

 

Now program all that with just a counter and one day's work. Good luck, you'll need it.

[Boccanon]

Simple or not (it's not, see below), what you suggest is just plain wrong. Real-world day/night changes are gradual, and don't go in jumps (except inside the dome in The Truman Show).

 

The sun (or suns, as dictated by the planet) moves through the sky (yes, I know, the sky moves past the sun...), as do the moon(s). However, the moons move in their own orbits around the planet, and would need to be shown changing in phase, rising and setting at different times relative to the sun(s) and each other, and so on.

 

The light of a sun is not the same colour when the sun is close to the horizon as when it is up high, so the colour of the lighting in-game should change as well.

 

Shadows of objects on the ground change direction and length according to the time of day (and should not be single on worlds like Tatooine, where there are multiple suns).

 

Now program all that with just a counter and one day's work. Good luck, you'll need it.

 

Mate... U shoot above the target with that explaination... People how have supported this idea want the to play during a night time lighting. Why make it that realistic and let all the diff suns and moons diff lighting and color

matter? The issue is about a day and night time experience, nothing more and nothing less... Sigh...

If we are talking about realism in the game; I've never experienced a loading screen when I leave my real-Life house.. This is a game, and u dont need that level of realism. (Atleast not until someone figures out a way to bring more realism into the world of games..)

Edited August 11, 2015 by Boccanon

[SteveTheCynic]

Mate... U shoot above the target with that explaination... People how have supported this idea want the to play during a night time lighting. Why make it that realistic and let all the diff suns and moons diff lighting and color

matter? The issue is about a day and night time experience, nothing more and nothing less... Sigh...

If we are talking about realism in the game; I've never experienced a loading screen when I leave my real-Life house.. This is a game, and u dont need that level of realism. (Atleast not until someone figures out a way to bring more realism into the world of games..)

But even if you just go for a quick-ish change of light level and a change in the visible sky at various times in the virtual day cycle, you still have a whole raft of questions that need to be answered and then new code to be designed to handle whatever the answers are. Here's a few:

* Everybody would shout and scream if the transitions were instantaneous. Oh, look, it's day, then BAM it's night. So you need code to handle the transitions gradually.

* How many transitions are there during the day?

* On Tatooine, the suns are fairly low down in the sky. To have nice iconic moments (like in ANH,duh), we would need to be able to watch them set. (If you think nobody would want to stand there like Luke and watch the suns set over the desert, go have a good long think about what you are saying, then wash your head in a bucket to get the fluff out.)

 

That last one says that some of what I said would be needed. Perhaps the changing light colour is a bit over the top, but a moving sky is essential. A simple sky like Tatooine isn't too hard (just make the sky box rotate, and then change its lighting parameters at night, or some such), but the "sky box" for places like Alderaan and Hoth has mountains painted on it FFS!

 

So overall, even if you fix the moons (Star Wars fans are OCD enough that that would attract complaints, too) and don't bother with changing the lighting colours and e.g. the colour of the light on the clouds (including not having them bottom-lit just after sunset which adds that weird salmon-pink light on the ground below), you still have a pile of work to do.

 

No, it would be a cool thing, but I'd prefer them to concentrate on less breaky things.

[Boccanon]

But even if you just go for a quick-ish change of light level and a change in the visible sky at various times in the virtual day cycle, you still have a whole raft of questions that need to be answered and then new code to be designed to handle whatever the answers are. Here's a few:

* Everybody would shout and scream if the transitions were instantaneous. Oh, look, it's day, then BAM it's night. So you need code to handle the transitions gradually.

* How many transitions are there during the day?

* On Tatooine, the suns are fairly low down in the sky. To have nice iconic moments (like in ANH,duh), we would need to be able to watch them set. (If you think nobody would want to stand there like Luke and watch the suns set over the desert, go have a good long think about what you are saying, then wash your head in a bucket to get the fluff out.)

 

That last one says that some of what I said would be needed. Perhaps the changing light colour is a bit over the top, but a moving sky is essential. A simple sky like Tatooine isn't too hard (just make the sky box rotate, and then change its lighting parameters at night, or some such), but the "sky box" for places like Alderaan and Hoth has mountains painted on it FFS!

 

So overall, even if you fix the moons (Star Wars fans are OCD enough that that would attract complaints, too) and don't bother with changing the lighting colours and e.g. the colour of the light on the clouds (including not having them bottom-lit just after sunset which adds that weird salmon-pink light on the ground below), you still have a pile of work to do.

 

No, it would be a cool thing, but I'd prefer them to concentrate on less breaky things.

 

To have a loop that gradually changes the lighting in a World, how on Earth can that be hard compared to virtually anything else in this game??? And about the sun/s: programming a ball of light to move the same way along the same route and speed, is that hard for a programming team that developed this game. If their skills cant manage that, then I can't figure out how on earth they managed to program this game.

The lighting is a fixed value today, the change would be to gradually change it after lets say once every 3:rd hour and let it be fixed for an hour on a darker setting to make it appear as it was night time.

[JeKoCZ]

This whole discussion is pointless as they already confirmed many times in the past that they won't do day/night cycles.

Would it be great? Yes. Will it be done? No.

End of story.

[SteveTheCynic]

To have a loop that gradually changes the lighting in a World, how on Earth can that be hard compared to virtually anything else in this game??? And about the sun/s: programming a ball of light to move the same way along the same route and speed, is that hard for a programming team that developed this game. If their skills cant manage that, then I can't figure out how on earth they managed to program this game.

The lighting is a fixed value today, the change would be to gradually change it after lets say once every 3:rd hour and let it be fixed for an hour on a darker setting to make it appear as it was night time.

Let's talk about that moving ball of light, or rather the fact that while it must move over time, it mustn't move just because I moved. It's not an unsolvable problem (you can use similar methods to what you use for drawing the sky box), but it adds yet another layer of complexity to the already-stressed engine. And consider somewhere like Hutta or Nar Shadda, both of which are moons of huge planets. Such moons are normally locked tidally to their planet, so the planet, if visible in the sky, doesn't move, but does (because the planet is *large*) eat a large amount of the sky. The sun must pass in front of the sky and behind the planet, so there's another complication, unless you say that the game play takes place on the other side of Hutta / NS, where the planet is never visible. Of course, somewhere like Alderaan, there are distant mountains, and the sun must pass behind them, but always in front of the sky, so you can't get away from the complication of things in the sky box that must be nearer than the sun and other things that must be farther than the sun.

 

Given the fact that because people would shout and scream if there was a night/day cycle and they couldn't watch the suns set on Tatooine (it's one of those iconic moments in ANH, after all), I'd say you have to have a continuously moving sun, and that means you have all those issues. None of them are unsolvable, but the more you have to solve, the more work you have to do and the longer it takes.

 

No, it isn't as simple as you think, and once again, people who don't program are pontificating about how easy it is. I am a programmer, and as a result I know a lot more about the process than most of the people blithering on these threads. The actual time spent writing, programmer-testing, and so on the code itself is neither here nor there. A great deal of time is take up by specification, high- and low-level design, artwork creation, and system-level QA, among other things.

 

And without regard to all that, it's usually said that the night/day state (and the weather on e.g. DK) is fixed for storytelling reasons. (Besides, do you really want to deal with the gameplay issues surrounding night-time on Hoth? It's supposed to be lethally cold there during the night.)