Mod Request: Longer months

[Vas]

I'd like the game months to follow real life time.  Currently, it seems each game month is 15 days, no matter the month.  I'd like them to be set back at current days in a month, so Feb would have 28 days, and every 4 game years, an extra day.  At very least, a set version which is like RL even if it doesn't contain leap year.

[Wex]

Why?!?
They are surely not on earth. They could have a year of 180 days for all we know.

[Vas]

Does that make my want of a normal earth calendar any less meaningful?  I don't care if their planet is 2 times closer to the star than Earth is, I want a normal earth calendar. 

[Igabod]

The request isn't really invalid. The odds of a planet capable of hosting life that is found on Earth (rhinos and cobras etc. not to mention humans) having a similar rotation cycle to that of Earth is pretty high. You are far less likely to find a planet that will be habitable to said life forms which has a rotation cycle of 180 days. To be that close to the sun would fry every form of life known to us at this point. We don't need to look far for an example of what would happen if a planet were that close to the sun. Venus has a rotation cycle of 224.7 Earth days per solar rotation. There is no chance of life on that planet (in any recognizable form).

I second the request for a longer year. I'm not quite so picky as to require an identical calendar to Earth. But one far closer to it than Venus is probably prudent. a 300 day calendar of 10 months would be fine by me if it makes the math easier to handle. I've personally tried to do a calendar system in a game that was an exact match to the real Earth calendar and it's a lot of complicated math involved.

[edit to add] This is of course assuming the planet is around a star of similar type and size to that of the Sun, which is actually quite rare in this galaxy. So I guess a rotation cycle of 180 days would be fine for a smaller, less hot star than our Sun. But those are even rarer, and the lighting would have to be different than it is in-game.

[Wex]

Actually red stars are quite common.
They are colder, so they have the biozone nearer to them.
This would explain both the shorter year and the geothermal instability of the planet (so many gaysers...)

[Vas]

Technically we wouldn't all fry being that close to the sun.  Half of Mercury is on fire, the other half is freezing, it has no ozone layer.  The amount of CO2 controls the amount of heat a planet keeps under the ozone layer.  Venus could possibly support life, if the CO2 levels were much lower, maybe half of what earth is.

Anyway, I was just hoping someone could make a mod that would let us have a newer calender.  Perhaps, even allowing us to edit the days in each month ourselves through an XML or maybe in game options.  I'm not even sure how one would go about changing this to begin with though.

[Coenmcj]

While sometimes realism is a good thing, Sometimes gameplay is more preferable.
With Tynan introducing the temperature and expanding upon weather/biomes, the shorter months make for a more interesting and tightly packed experience.

As Wex said, we could be orbiting a red star (Dwarf I'm assuming), or some other spectral type as they are relatively colder, allowing for a closer "Goldilocks" zone.
(iirc, Red dwarfs also have a heightened flare or CME frequency, helping to explain the rate at which we encounter the solar flare event)
The shortness of the months and the proximity to the nearby star also explain the frequency of eclipses, the Gas giant (I forget the details of the eclipse event, I think it's a Gas giant) on a closer, much more rapid orbit at around 10 to 30 days per revolution approximately, as they are rather frequent.

Regardless, if you want it modded, go ahead and mod it, we're not stopping you.

[Igabod]

While sometimes realism is a good thing, Sometimes gameplay is more preferable.
With Tynan introducing the temperature and expanding upon weather/biomes, the shorter months make for a more interesting and tightly packed experience.

As Wex said, we could be orbiting a red star (Dwarf I'm assuming), or some other spectral type as they are relatively colder, allowing for a closer "Goldilocks" zone.
(iirc, Red dwarfs also have a heightened flare or CME frequency, helping to explain the rate at which we encounter the solar flare event)
The shortness of the months and the proximity to the nearby star also explain the frequency of eclipses, the Gas giant (I forget the details of the eclipse event, I think it's a Gas giant) on a closer, much more rapid orbit at around 10 to 30 days per revolution approximately, as they are rather frequent.

Regardless, if you want it modded, go ahead and mod it, we're not stopping you.

I just wanted to correct a few of your scientifically inaccurate assumptions.

1. Plants such as Oak trees need a specific frequency of light which is not produced by any other type of star except the one we currently orbit. Therefore, Rimworld is not orbiting a red dwarf.

2. Solar flares are actually quite common with our sun but we are shielded from them by the planet's magnetic field. A lack of an iron core would explain the fact that they actually affect Rimworld more than they do Earth. The star type doesn't need to be changed to make the solar flares make sense.

3. I've never seen any Gas Giant events in the game so I'm not sure what you are talking about regarding that. I think the event you are thinking of is the one where one of the many moons around the planet moves between the star and the planet causing an eclipse. But for a gas giant planet to be between a habitable planet and the sun is sheer ridiculousness. Gas giants form outside the Goldilocks zone because they are so far from the star that it's gravity can't suck in those gasses and incorporate them into the star. Any gas giant that happened to wander in too close to the sun (which does happen, just not in our Solar system within the time frame of humanity) would result in the instantaneous incineration of all the gasses meaning no more gas giant planet. Length of the months and therefore of the year has absolutely nothing to do with the number of eclipses. That is purely dictated by the speed of rotation of the moon around the planet and nothing to do with the star type.

This post was made purely in the interest of educating the public as to the real science behind this discussion.

[JuliaEllie]

Ok guys - The lengths of the days/months/years etc are hardcoded via constants. Sure its absolutely possible to make your own GenDate but then you would also have to rewrite everything that calls GenDate and every thing that calls the other etc. pp. - a rule of thumb for RimWorld modding in my opinion is: modability is a question of effort/return value (oh the pun) and this is absolutely not worth the effort.
TL;DR: Nope. Sorry.

[Coenmcj]

I just wanted to correct a few of your scientifically inaccurate assumptions.

1. Plants such as Oak trees need a specific frequency of light which is not produced by any other type of star except the one we currently orbit. Therefore, Rimworld is not orbiting a red dwarf.

I was entirely unaware of the biological involved, I'm more of a space guy myself, and that's still very loosely, Cheers.

2. Solar flares are actually quite common with our sun but we are shielded from them by the planet's magnetic field. A lack of an iron core would explain the fact that they actually affect Rimworld more than they do Earth. The star type doesn't need to be changed to make the solar flares make sense.

I forgot to specify, here. But Red dwarfs emenate more flares than our own sun produces, while yes, Ours does produce them fairly commonly, not all of them are generally aimed in our direction and/or they are deflected/assorbed by the magnetic field of our planet.

3. I've never seen any Gas Giant events in the game so I'm not sure what you are talking about regarding that. I think the event you are thinking of is the one where one of the many moons around the planet moves between the star and the planet causing an eclipse. But for a gas giant planet to be between a habitable planet and the sun is sheer ridiculousness. Gas giants form outside the Goldilocks zone because they are so far from the star that it's gravity can't suck in those gasses and incorporate them into the star. Any gas giant that happened to wander in too close to the sun (which does happen, just not in our Solar system within the time frame of humanity) would result in the instantaneous incineration of all the gasses meaning no more gas giant planet. Length of the months and therefore of the year has absolutely nothing to do with the number of eclipses. That is purely dictated by the speed of rotation of the moon around the planet and nothing to do with the star type.

I have no idea why I associated a gas giant with Rimworld's eclipse event or another planet in the solar system for that matter, I must of been watching too much Pitch black earlier... That or it was another planet earlier on and was removed, but that is unlikely.

This post was made purely in the interest of educating the public as to the real science behind this discussion.

Cheers for that by the way, wouldn't want to misinform anyone here, even though people shouldn't be taking anything they see on the internet for face value, you never really know when someone will.
Feel free to give me a slap on the back of the head if you spot me doing this again. Astronomy and Astrophysics are something I'd like to think I know a bit of about, so someone correcting me on it is always welcome. Again, cheers!

[Vas]

Regardless, if you want it modded, go ahead and mod it, we're not stopping you.

The exact post I love to see in topics that ask for modders to make something.  A "do it yourself" post.  Hells ya.  </sarcasm>

Ok guys - The lengths of the days/months/years etc are hardcoded via constants. Sure its absolutely possible to make your own GenDate but then you would also have to rewrite everything that calls GenDate and every thing that calls the other etc. pp.

Well since it is hard coded, and hard to change, I guess it won't happen.

[Coenmcj]

Regardless, if you want it modded, go ahead and mod it, we're not stopping you.

The exact post I love to see in topics that ask for modders to make something.  A "do it yourself" post.  Hells ya.  </sarcasm>

On the contrary, , Just saying that if anyone want it done, no one's stopping anyone. Apart from the whole hardcoded part.

[nuschler22]

I would just like to mention that "realism" has nothing to do with it.  There are numerous mods where realism takes a backseat to user preference and enjoyability. 

[Igabod]

I would just like to mention that "realism" has nothing to do with it.  There are numerous mods where realism takes a backseat to user preference and enjoyability.

sure, but plausibility is another thing entirely. I, as an educated man in the field of science, cannot get past the suspension of disbelief part when it comes to things that go completely against science. A red dwarf star that puts off light of the same color as our sun and provides the necessary energy for plants to grow is completely against scientific possibility, let alone plausibility. I could get over things like space travel in animated suspension pods even though there isn't currently any way of doing this because it is at least plausible that we will come up with a way to do that exact thing in the future. This game isn't a fantasy game with dragons and magic wielding wizards and stuff, it is Sci-Fi themed which means it has to have some sort of basis in reality.

[nuschler22]

I would just like to mention that "realism" has nothing to do with it.  There are numerous mods where realism takes a backseat to user preference and enjoyability.

sure, but plausibility is another thing entirely. I, as an educated man in the field of science, cannot get past the suspension of disbelief part when it comes to things that go completely against science. A red dwarf star that puts off light of the same color as our sun and provides the necessary energy for plants to grow is completely against scientific possibility, let alone plausibility. I could get over things like space travel in animated suspension pods even though there isn't currently any way of doing this because it is at least plausible that we will come up with a way to do that exact thing in the future. This game isn't a fantasy game with dragons and magic wielding wizards and stuff, it is Sci-Fi themed which means it has to have some sort of basis in reality.

Well, then hopefully you rail against mods such "Teleportation" (not plausible with humans), "Rimworld Zombie Apocalypse" (also not plausible for dead people to physically stalk the living despite the popularity) and all the other "non plausible" mods that you're free not to use.

Quite frankly, it's a lot more plausible to me that this planet has more of an earth like calendar (being it seems to have similar vegetation and animals) than not.  Certainly, there are variations but we know that planets that are similar to earth and might be able to sustain life are more likely to have a similar calendar to ours because of distance. 

In fact, with the sun being an average sized star, and if you consider that for a planet to have the ability to sustain life (given similar environments to how earth sustains life) it must be a certain distance away from a star, it's just as likely that the calendar would be similar or longer in duration than less than our calendar year.

I think it's not only plausible that the calendar of a planet that sustains life is about as long as ours (if not longer), it's likely.