Day Night Cycle Calculator

[Random Event]

Edit: Updated to v1.1
Edit: Updated link and file v1.2. No changes, just to differentiate.

tldr;
Calculator link v1.2

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qxojy4m2xfg5umv/Ark_SE_TimeCalc_v1.2.xlsx?dl=0
Please test and let me know.

Calculating day and night......
I have read many posts regarding the Day/Night cycle in Ark SE.

After doing so I was left more confused than when I started as the values do not seem to match what I am getting on my server.

First.
I run a ARK SE server on Nitrado.
It is UK based (not sure if location will have any ramifications - it shouldn't but who knows).
The current map I have tested this on is RAGNAROK.
At the time of this post my server is on version 264.16

Nitrado show the following names for timing settings in their UI;

Day cycle speed scale
Defines the speed of a whole day.

Night time scale
Defines the time scale of the night.

Day time scale
Defines the time scale of the day.

These (as far as I know) conform to the three server settings;

DayCycleSpeedScale
NightTimeSpeedScale
DayTimeSpeedScale
and by default each one was initially set to 1.0 (a floating point value).

From there it got tricky as I read many conflicting discussions and what values would give. The values did not match the results I was obtaining.

So I decided to run a stopwatch and see for myself.
Because of this manual method my times will have fractional differences, but as I cannot find anywhere the actual game creators fixed values this is all I have.

Anyway, with default values (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) I measured the following;

A game 24 hour cycle = 1 hour real time
1 hour game time during the DAY = 2mins 44 seconds
1 hour game time during the NIGHT = 2mins 44 seconds

DAY seems to start at 05:15
NIGHT seems to start at 21:50

This gives 16 hours 35 mins for DAY length
and 7 Hours 25 mins for NIGHT length.

These day and night values are constant, it is how long each game min lasts in real time that changes and this is affected by the three game scales given.

The whole thing seems madness as it could have been done with simply 2 values, however we have what we have.

To cut things short on this diatribe, I did a load of measurements and put them into an Excel sheet to make it easier to calculate and test.

Link below if you would like to try.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qxojy4m2xfg5umv/Ark_SE_TimeCalc_v1.2.xlsx?dl=0

Link will only last 30 days from this post, will put it somewhere more lasting if there is interest.

Maybe it is purely my server that responds this way, but I would be greatful for people to try and provide any feedback to whether it works or is messed up some way.

To be honest, I just want a reliable way to work out what to put into the 3 Scale values to get reasonably accurate timing from game to real life.

[Leviathan]

How do I open the file :P
Doesn't seem to be in a usable format when I download it.

[Random Event]

Hiya
It was wrote in Excel 2010 and should download as a standard .xlsx file

Ark_SE_TimeCalc_v1.0.xlsx
that is the actual filename.

MS Excel or OpenOffice should read, but I think there are many other ones.
Perhaps I need to consider another format?

[Leviathan]

Originally posted by Random Event:

Hiya
It was wrote in Excel 2010 and should download as a standard .xlsx file

Ark_SE_TimeCalc_v1.0.xlsx
that is the actual filename.

MS Excel or OpenOffice should read, but I think there are many other ones.
Perhaps I need to consider another format?

I'll download it and see if it works.

[Random Event]

ok cheers
let me know how it goes.

[Leviathan]

Originally posted by Random Event:

ok cheers
let me know how it goes.
:tiger:

It worked. Installed ExcellViewer and it opened.
Kind of confusing though hehe. :P
Has anyone figured out what values you need for realtime? Like a cycle that would go full real 24 hours? :P

[Sam Of Haywood]

Originally posted by Leviathan:

Originally posted by Random Event:

ok cheers
let me know how it goes.
:tiger:

It worked. Installed ExcellViewer and it opened.
Kind of confusing though hehe. :P
Has anyone figured out what values you need for realtime? Like a cycle that would go full real 24 hours? :P

I had the realtime values set on my server, but the problem was it always became out of sync with real time because the server seems to tick faster then real time does, i kinda wish there was an option to force ark to use server time for day/night, this way the server would keep it synced.

[Random Event]

The calc should work it out.
My instruction could definately be better.

Only change the green values.
Put your required Real time in minutes in.
24 hours real time is 60 mins * 24 hours = 1440 minutes

The timings are shown on the right side.
The actual values you need for the 3 scales are shown next to the red > symbols.

However I can see a calculation not working correctly as it then shows
18 hours 8 ish mins for day and 6 hours 14 ish mins for night.
The summary of which is 24 hours 15 mins roughly.
The calc is showing 21 hours 40 mins which is def not right.
Something not working right in my Excel calc there.

EDIT
Corrected calculator, was just a cell format issue.
Provided new download.

[Random Event]

I agree to your server time linking, it would make timings so much easier.
Am guessing it is a problem with the way the game engine works.
Unfortunately servers that are struggling will rapidly go out of sync with the current method as lag and such will affect timings greatly.

[Soylent Green]

Thats my server ini:

DayCycleSpeedScale=0.21115
DayTimeSpeedScale=0.658695652173913
NightTimeSpeedScale=8.85

works beautifull still yet

Now/today the minutes run like tick-tack: WTF

[Random Event]

Did you try my calculator to adjust values?
Am interested if it works for others.
I will try and refine it if it does.

[Greygor]

And this has worked for 2 years https://arkforum.de/ark-wiki/index.php?entry/391-ark-tagesl%C3%A4nge-rechner/

[Random Event]

Probably does but it doesnt have the calcs to do it and it seems to have advertising.

[Laffyistired]

Originally posted by Greygor:

And this has worked for 2 years https://arkforum.de/ark-wiki/index.php?entry/391-ark-tagesl%C3%A4nge-rechner/

hi there i have been looking for this all day and night

try to work out for server do 24 hour real time


DayCycleSpeedScale: 1

DayTimeSpeedScale: 0.05750608333333334

Nighttime Speed ​​Scale: 0.02582725

Total length of day 1440 MIn

day length 720 Min

night length 720 Min


is this look right i used that calc

[soverein]

Would immensely appreciate a new link, that one is obsolete. maybe google drive?

[Random Event]

I have updated the link.
Hope it still works with latest Ark.
Let me know if it does.