Summary
Since the legacy time of day manager was removed as a device, there is no consistent way to control your island’s time of day.
The day sequence device has native options for: Fixed Time, Start At Specified Time, Random Fixed Time, Random Start Time, and Local Fixed Time. None of these options let you adjust the speed at which the day night cycle progresses, or what the ratio between day and night time is. The day sequence device has no Verse API, and event-bindable functions for: Enable, Disable, Fade In, and Fade out. The final state from Fade In and Fade Out calls are not replicated for players that join in progress after Fade In/Fade Out have been called (Day Sequence Device "Fade In" Not Replicated for Join in Progress Players). Enable/Disable are replicated for JIP players, but give no control over how quickly that phase of the cycle takes place.
The Environmental Light Rig can control the position of the sun in the sky via sequencer. Unfortunately, the transform of the DirectionalLight (sun) does not update the actual time of day. This means the skybox will not update to reflect nighttime after sunset with the moon or stars. The built-in Time of Day Manager (that we dont have access to) conflicts with the environmental light rig, and must be disabled if you are using the environmental light rig. This causes there to be no skybox. Day Sequence Devices are an alternative to supplying the skybox, but trying to switch the active Day Sequence Device while using the environmental light rig seems to introduce lighting conflicts/inconsistencies. And even if the skybox is handled, the directional light does not update from the sun during the day to the moon at night.
Overall, it should be possible to customize the day/night cycle timing without fully replacing the light/sky assets and driving things from a sequencer. It has been some time since the Time of Day Manager was deprecated, and we still do not have access to the functionality that was removed.
Please select what you are reporting on:
Creative
What Type of Bug are you experiencing?
UI/Tools
Steps to Reproduce
- Place a Day Sequence Device
- Observe no way to adjust ratio between day/night time, or change the speed of the day/night cycle progression
- Place a Environmental Light Rig
- Change the pitch of the directional light in the environmental light rig to be -270 degrees (midnight)
- Observe no night time skybox, no moon
Expected Result
It is possible to customize the speed/ratio of the day/night cycle without driving an entirely custom sky via sequencer
Observed Result
It is not possible to customize the speed/ratio of the day/night cycle without driving an entirely custom sky via sequencer
Platform(s)
ALL
Island Code
6023-9063-6591
Additional Notes
This seems like basic functionality that is impossible to achieve without remaking the system from scratch.