Author Topic: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?  (Read 1897 times)

k_moustakas

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Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« on: April 29, 2017, 08:46:11 AM »
Is there a way to find out what time it is in game without logging in?

If there isn't, couldn't we like implement a small window in the main forum or site that it shows it?
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booksarefun666

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2017, 01:42:51 PM »
Is there a way to find out what time it is in game without logging in?

If there isn't, couldn't we like implement a small window in the main forum or site that it shows it?

No, but there's a timescale here and you can do some basic math (the horror) and a clock to project when it'll be six AM after logging in.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lXX77fF7Shy4xrxfUnm3_pvsOZbHEF7HRLgvdf8fHPc/edit?usp=sharing

Norture

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2017, 04:03:40 PM »
Too bad resets change the time so you can't just do some math and expect the ig time to be something based on when you logged in yesterday. Why, if that was possible, the OP's actual proposal would even be possible. But then, I also find being smarmy to people unreasonable if the expectation is they take note of the IRL time and IG time before they log out for the night, just so they can project a day/night cycle for the following day.

booksarefun666

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2017, 04:05:34 PM »
Too bad resets change the time so you can't just do some math and expect the ig time to be something based on when you logged in yesterday. Why, if that was possible, the OP's actual proposal would even be possible. But then, I also find being smarmy to people unreasonable if the expectation is they take note of the IRL time and IG time before they log out for the night, just so they can project a day/night cycle for the following day.

You can do better than that, Norture. I just said that's the only best way to predict time.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 04:07:09 PM by booksarefun666 »

dark_majico

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2017, 04:41:09 AM »
Is there a way to find out what time it is in game without logging in?

If there isn't, couldn't we like implement a small window in the main forum or site that it shows it?

Where is the fun in that? It's the roll of the dice  :ohnoes:

DrXavierTColtrane

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2017, 08:40:47 AM »
Too bad resets change the time so you can't just do some math and expect the ig time to be something based on when you logged in yesterday. Why, if that was possible, the OP's actual proposal would even be possible.

When the server resets, I *think* the time stays approximately the same, although it may change slightly. I've never noticed, for example, a server reset changing the time to midnight or something like that. Several facets of the server state are carried through the reset such as spawn rate, are they not? That's what I've always gathered from previous discussions. So time could be one of those things.

That may be possible only in a voluntary reset, but not in a crash.

Still, during server startup I assume several scripts fire, rather than just the vanilla NWN server launch. During that process an update of the in-game time could occur, for example, at this Web page:

http://www.nwnravenloft.com/serverstatus.php

There's an easy enough work-around for players as is without "rolling the dice." If you wish to know what time it is, you must have the capacity to log in, or I can't think of a reason for wanting to know. Presumably, then, you don't wish to log in with your PC in a dangerous spot.

So log in with a different character that you are certain is safe :)
« Last Edit: May 03, 2017, 08:42:26 AM by DrXavierTColtrane »
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abyssal_wyrm

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2017, 12:35:59 PM »
If you're savvy, you can likely write an expansion or modification of this that can draw that information from the game:

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/script/nwnx-player-status-system

This one can draw Server status information (such as who is logged in) and put it on a webpage. You can probably mod it to put time in there too.

DrXavierTColtrane

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2017, 02:17:06 PM »
If you're savvy, you can likely write an expansion or modification of this that can draw that information from the game:

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/script/nwnx-player-status-system

This one can draw Server status information (such as who is logged in) and put it on a webpage. You can probably mod it to put time in there too.

That script relies on using the nwnx database, which (checks through forum posts to refresh memory) appears implemented here but generally used only with great reluctance.
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abyssal_wyrm

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2017, 02:30:43 PM »
Pretty sure anything that calls from the web to NWN or vice versa is going to need NWNX to function, unless you wanna call to a module log or a database instead which...*various Tina Belcher noises*

DrXavierTColtrane

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2017, 02:43:38 PM »
A little bit of information is offered to the world by the server with the right API, but I don't think in-game time is part of that.

For example, the stuff that NWN Listscry uses:

http://www.nwnlist.com/#

What I was thinking was instead of new programming just adding the functionality to whatever startup scripts already run. (They very likely use a database and probably nwnx but I don't know.)

If time is preserved restart to restart, it's stored somewhere and could be put on a Web page. (This is what seems to be the at least approximate case.)

If time is not preserved, however, the startup script when called could also reset the Web page clock to whatever time resets to...and then use the 10:1 conversion to keep it approximately up-to-date.

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abyssal_wyrm

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Re: Any way to find outside the game what time it is in game?
« Reply #10 on: May 03, 2017, 03:23:46 PM »
My guess is that, if not written wholly custom, they're either using something like this (https://github.com/robbythedude/NWN-Scripts/blob/master/PersistentTimeSystem.h) which utilizes ALPS/NWNX, or something like what's found in Vuldric's mod, which uses Bioware's databases for the most part. Either way, you're right in that it is saving the data somewhere between restarts. It's just a matter of pulling that data onto the web, which is where you'd want to use that nwnx plugin I posted, at least to try and formulate the .cgi script that would pull the relevant data to the webpage. It's archaic. But most of NWN is these days.