Game time
Modding > Game time
Game time in Project Zomboid is dependent on the Time setting in sandbox, by default 1 real life hour equals to 1 in-game day. See the table below for details.
Real time vs. game time
| Real time (24h) | Game time (24h) |
|---|---|
| 00:01:00 | 00:24:00 |
| 00:02:00 | 00:48:00 |
| 00:03:00 | 01:12:00 |
| 00:04:00 | 01:36:00 |
| 00:05:00 | 02:00:00 |
| 00:06:00 | 02:24:00 |
| 00:07:00 | 02:48:00 |
| 00:08:00 | 03:12:00 |
| 00:09:00 | 03:36:00 |
| 00:10:00 | 04:00:00 |
| ... | ... |
| 01:00:00 | 24:00:00 |
| Game time (24h) | Real time (24h) |
|---|---|
| 01:00:00 | 00:02:30 |
| 02:00:00 | 00:05:00 |
| 03:00:00 | 00:07:30 |
| 04:00:00 | 00:10:00 |
| 05:00:00 | 00:12:30 |
| 06:00:00 | 00:15:00 |
| 07:00:00 | 00:17:30 |
| 08:00:00 | 00:20:00 |
| 09:00:00 | 00:22:30 |
| 10:00:00 | 00:25:00 |
World dates
- Defaults of class: 2012,7,22,9,0
- Zombie Outbreak: 1993,6,8,9,0
- Game start: StartYear, StartMonth, StartDay, StartTimeOfDay, 0
*these are persistent values based on the sandbox start values
GameTime class
GameTime is the main class for time and date functions.
GameTime instance
getGameTime() returns the actual instance, GameTime.instance from Lua is not the same and has the defaults of the class.
Calendar and date functions
*Month, Day are used like indexes starting from 0, increase / lower them by 1 where needed
Calculate time difference by using calendar functionality
local timeCalendar = getGameTime():getCalender()
local currentTime = timeCalendar:getTimeInMillis()
--safe to do on GameTime instance calendar but you can get a new calendar instead with Calendar.getInstance()
timeCalendar:set(1993,6,8,9,0)
local dateTime = timeCalendar:getTimeInMillis()
--calculate and do things on difference
local dt = math.abs(currentTime - dateTime)
print("Calculated Time Difference: ",dt)
local minMod, hourMod, dayMod = 1000*60, 1000*60*60, 1000*60*60*24
local days = math.floor(dt/dayMod)
if days ~= 0 then
print("D: ",days)
dt = dt % dayMod
end
local hours = math.floor(dt/hourMod)
if hours ~= 0 then
print("H: ",hours)
dt = dt % hourMod
end
local minutes = math.floor(dt/minMod)
if minutes ~= 0 then
print("M: ",minutes)
dt = dt - minutes*minMod
end
Cross class functionality
- Updates the helicopter values for day, start & end time. Calls the helicopter pickRandomTarget.
- ErosionSeason also has dawn, dusk times which are more accurate and use float type.
Notes
- Project Zomboid uses the PZCalendar class for calendar, which has available a minimal number of functions from the java Calendar class. The Kahlua os.date has a very similar functionality and can be somewhat limited as well, especially when it comes to locales.
- You can get the real time by using the Calendar.getInstance() which always return a new PZCalendar object with current time or the os.time function. However game functions should rarely require these.
- 41.68 - When Using the Event EveryHours, the getNightsSurvived and getWorldAgeHours will be lower by a day, every day at 7.