Did you know that time still passes when the game is paused?

[Jaggid Edje]

I got a phone call while playing and just put the game into the discovery window, which pauses it (assuming you aren't in multiplayer with other people). It was the dead of night when I answered the call.

Going back in, it's broad daylight and the sun is high.

I've been playing this game for years, and never knew that the time-of-day on planet surfaces still advances even when things are paused.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

I have always been of the understanding that you are still vulnerable in that scenario. So, time does pass, but potential threats still are real. I guess if you were in your landed ship and did it, you would be pretty safe. I am not sure I would rely on that feature if I was playing PD or Survival mode.

Edit: Time also passes when you are not in the game.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

I have always been of the understanding that you are still vulnerable in that scenario. So, time does pass, but potential threats still are real.

You aren't vulnerable at all, even a little bit, if you open the discovery/options/guide menu. Everything in the entire game pauses. I have done it in the middle of battle against masses of sentinels as well as in space when battling pirates. They all freeze in place. Your life support and hazard protection also stop draining, etc. It's a true and absolute "pause" (except to the passage of time, so day/night still cycle as does weather).

Now, if you are in multiplayer, you can't rely on that though, because if anyone else is in the same system as you it will not longer be the case. But Single player, or when alone in a system in multiplayer, it's a true, absolute, hard 'pause'.

Also, opening inventory does NOT pause the game.

[AmberAnvil]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

I've been playing this game for years, and never knew that the time-of-day on planet surfaces still advances even when things are paused.

It's not just planet surfaces. The passage of time in NMS never stops.

[Jaggid Edje]

There's no way that I know of to measure time other than planet surfaces, @AmberAnvil. The planets themselves don't rotate on their axis (the game uses tricks to make it seem like they do), nor do they move within the system as if orbiting the star.

So, in space, what do you consider as a indicator of the passage of time?

[AmberAnvil]

Production proceeds at settlements, Stellar Extractors continue to function and Frigate Expeditions will continue while you're paused. If you pause long enough in space, you'll see the phase of planets change and planetary storms will dissipate.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by AmberAnvil:

Production proceeds at settlements, Stellar Extractors continue to function and Frigate Expeditions will continue while you're paused. If you pause long enough in space, you'll see the phase of planets change and planetary storms will dissipate.

Ahh, all most excellent points. I had not even thought of any of that. Very valid points.

Pausing to wait out a storm seems so much easier than what I often do in the early game, which is dig a cave and hide inside.

[japp_02]

I still don't know wether there is a key combo in NMS that will freeze all action. Time will not stop, I know but you can easily go in a invulnerable stance, like going in a dialogue and then change to desktop or hit ESC to get the menu and then go to desktop, or better: be inside any POI and go to desktop. All this will not freeze action but will act like a pause anyway. Being inside your ship or even in a cave is not a guarantee for invulnerability, it depends on the sentinel level of the planet, they can now attack your ship when you are inside or follow you inside caves.

[Amble]

Yeah, when you pause or tab out a couple things continue going as normal, including time, time gated missions, ongoing frigate expeditions, power generators, refiners, and even weather will progress while paused. This means that you can pause and wait a storm out if you feel so inclined.

Now if only I could tab out while pulse driving. Would love to browse the web while I wait on a 1 minute and 30 seconds pulse to complete.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Amble:

Now if only I could tab out while pulse driving. Would love to browse the web while I wait on a 1 minute and 30 seconds pulse to complete.

OMG, me too! I've been hunting for living frigates in my current game (have 21 so far), and some systems have taken pulsing for 5-6 minutes before it came up.

[Amble]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Originally posted by Amble:

Now if only I could tab out while pulse driving. Would love to browse the web while I wait on a 1 minute and 30 seconds pulse to complete.

OMG, me too! I've been hunting for living frigates in my current game (have 21 so far), and some systems have taken pulsing for 5-6 minutes before it came up.

6 minutes at the longest means you're pretty lucky, I went 20+ minutes in a system before I got the one I was looking for a few days ago.

Personally I wish there was an option to disable the pause entirely. I'd also love to be able to tab out while waiting for ships to fly into a station, as another example.

[Dirak2012]

If you open your inventory, the time will pass, if you open the options/guide menu the game will pause. At least in SP.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Amble:

6 minutes at the longest means you're pretty lucky, I went 20+ minutes in a system before I got the one I was looking for a few days ago.

Well....I seem to have jinxed myself by having posted that, because about 10 minutes later I was pulse jumping for about 15 minutes in another system, with no whalesong popping up. I actually gave up and left that system at that point. The next system...whalesong was the first anomaly that popped, so it made up for it.

And I agree, it would be nice to just be able to disable how it pauses. I've considered buying a second copy of NMS so I can fire it up on my laptop and join myself in a multiplayer session to prevent it from happening when I'm doing a lot of pulse jumping.

[Geldric™]

Side note: if you pause the game in any manner mentioned above AND your personal refiner is actively processing, it will use up all of its fuel source & will be empty upon unpausing. Obviously if you pause for like 10 seconds it will be fine. But in the phone call case as Jaggid mentioned… def be empty however it will have processed your material.

[Jaggid Edje]

@Geldric, that's an interesting bug. So basically the personal refiner doesn't know when it's finished in order to stop using fuel while the game is paused?

Do you know, does the bug also effect it if you are actively using it to refine when you save and exit the game?

[Amble]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Originally posted by Amble:

6 minutes at the longest means you're pretty lucky, I went 20+ minutes in a system before I got the one I was looking for a few days ago.

Well....I seem to have jinxed myself by having posted that, because about 10 minutes later I was pulse jumping for about 15 minutes in another system, with no whalesong popping up. I actually gave up and left that system at that point. The next system...whalesong was the first anomaly that popped, so it made up for it.

And I agree, it would be nice to just be able to disable how it pauses. I've considered buying a second copy of NMS so I can fire it up on my laptop and join myself in a multiplayer session to prevent it from happening when I'm doing a lot of pulse jumping.

Some systems simply don't have organic frigates in them and you'll never get the event, you may have run into one like that. I'd only pulse for 10 minutes or so if I don't already know the system has one.