Sunlight

Nordic_Pirate · April 2017

Living in Alaska I have an extremely frustrating relationship with the sun. Winter I barely see it, summer I can't get it to go away. That has led to a thought though, and I was thinking....

How does sunlight in a game work? Is it on an orbit and actually moves around the world slowly, or is it basically an on off switch with a fade?

Also, I'm not well versed with computer programming but would it be possible to replicate the actual sun in game? What I mean to say is that during winter months Eastmarch will be darker a bit longer than usual, and during the summer months it's a little bit lighter longer. Is this a possibility or would that soak up way too many resources?

KimberlyannKitsuragi · April 2017

My understanding is it's based off EST/EDT for the US.

Alpheu5 · April 2017

It's basically just a super-wide spotlight in the sky that changes its angle depending on the in-game time variable. To get the sun to do what you want it to do, each zone would effectively have to have a different sun path depending on the calendar and its latitude on the world map, which would be problematic on a long zone like Cyrodiil and Auridon. We also have no idea how much lateral space Tamriel takes up on the planet(?), so there would have to be a whole lot of geographical canonizing for Bethesda to do, which could potentially limit the amount of terrain they have to work with for future installments to the Elder Scrolls series.

Nordic_Pirate · April 2017

Alpheu5 wrote: »

It's basically just a super-wide spotlight in the sky that changes its angle depending on the in-game time variable. To get the sun to do what you want it to do, each zone would effectively have to have a different sun path depending on the calendar and its latitude on the world map, which would be problematic on a long zone like Cyrodiil and Auridon. We also have no idea how much lateral space Tamriel takes up on the planet(?), so there would have to be a whole lot of geographical canonizing for Bethesda to do, which could potentially limit the amount of terrain they have to work with for future installments to the Elder Scrolls series.

What if there was just one big spotlight for the entire world and it moved across the map. So Stonefalls will be brighter earlier and Stros M'Kai is one of the last places to be light? Then, that huge spotlight would affect the world differently depending on where you're at.

Obviously I know it's unreasonable, and I'm not even requesting it, but how cool would it be? I think it'd increase the depth greatly. But I'm just theorizing here

Rohamad_Ali · April 2017

One day we will have games that can fully synthesis that but we are still a ways off . Would be cool though .

Sneaky-Snurr · April 2017

Really nice idea everyone.
I firmly believe ESO could use more of immersion improvements. Currently there's not too much of it.

Nordic_Pirate · April 2017

Immersion was the word I was looking for, thanks for that.

Shgon_Dunstan · April 2017

Alpheu5 wrote: »

It's basically just a super-wide spotlight in the sky that changes its angle depending on the in-game time variable. To get the sun to do what you want it to do, each zone would effectively have to have a different sun path depending on the calendar and its latitude on the world map, which would be problematic on a long zone like Cyrodiil and Auridon. We also have no idea how much lateral space Tamriel takes up on the planet(?), so there would have to be a whole lot of geographical canonizing for Bethesda to do, which could potentially limit the amount of terrain they have to work with for future installments to the Elder Scrolls series.

A TES fan : "But you... You said it was X, not Y!!"

Bethesda: "It totally was X... Then a wizard caused a Dragonbreak, and now it's Y, T, and purple all at once".

max_only · April 2017

When it's night in game it's night everywhere in game which makes me feel as though all of Tamriel is in the same time zone. Which means we are a small continent on a very large planet. There are other continents in the lore that aren't that far away but that leaves an entire hemisphere of unknowns.

Unless Nirn is flat.

Or we all part of an god having an elaborate dream.

Shgon_Dunstan · April 2017

max_only wrote: »

When it's night in game it's night everywhere in game which makes me feel as though all of Tamriel is in the same time zone. Which means we are a small continent on a very large planet. There are other continents in the lore that aren't that far away but that leaves an entire hemisphere of unknowns.

Unless Nirn is flat.

Or we all part of an god having an elaborate dream.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/ui64h/tamriels_size_in_square_miles/

Tamriel is about half again the size of Alaska... Not even sure if it even actually counts as a small island continent, or just a rather large island.

Nordic_Pirate · April 2017

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

Tamriel is about half again the size of Alaska...

Looks like according to that math Tamriel is almost 1.5 times the size of Alaska, not half.

Shgon_Dunstan · April 2017

Nordicly_Responsible wrote: »

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

Tamriel is about half again the size of Alaska...

Looks like according to that math Tamriel is almost 1.5 times the size of Alaska, not half.

... You know this is the second time I have posted that somewhere, only for someone to fail to understand what "half again" means. -_-

starkerealm · April 2017

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

Nordicly_Responsible wrote: »

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

Tamriel is about half again the size of Alaska...

Looks like according to that math Tamriel is almost 1.5 times the size of Alaska, not half.

... You know this is the second time I have posted that somewhere, only for someone to fail to understand what "half again" means. -_-

To be fair, I completely missed the word, "again," when I was reading it.

MLGProPlayer · April 2017

Meri20098 wrote: »

My understanding is it's based off EST/EDT for the US.

It is not.

The in-game day/night cycle is only 4-5 hours long.

You can track in-game time using add-ons:

http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info241-Clock-TamrielStandardTime.html

http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1399-VotansMiniMap.html

Nordic_Pirate · April 2017

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

Nordicly_Responsible wrote: »

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

Tamriel is about half again the size of Alaska...

Looks like according to that math Tamriel is almost 1.5 times the size of Alaska, not half.

... You know this is the second time I have posted that somewhere, only for someone to fail to understand what "half again" means. -_-

Yeah I missed the term again reading it as well lol. Oh well

Darkstorne · April 2017

max_only wrote: »

When it's night in game it's night everywhere in game which makes me feel as though all of Tamriel is in the same time zone. Which means we are a small continent on a very large planet. There are other continents in the lore that aren't that far away but that leaves an entire hemisphere of unknowns.

Unless Nirn is flat.

Or we all part of an god having an elaborate dream.

Yep, there's also the issue of time in ESO being skewed so that night time is incredibly short, clearly to make the game more "fun" to play. But ultimately timezones and geographical scale are simply something the devs haven't put much thought into yet. There's no reliable way of measuring Tamriel's "true" scale until they create a book or novel that goes to great lengths to be to scale. Games don't for obvious reasons, and novels... well that would be a weird tangent to take.

The other explanation could work though! Maybe Amaranth just sucks at geography. But then ESO should be ignored anyway in this regard for being the most lore-broken game in the series. Why can't I achieve CHIM, ZOS? I've figured it all out, but my character is still on the same level as everyone else's, and I'm not allowed to use any levitation and god mode mods. Your game is broken!

Nordic_Pirate · April 2017

Darkstorne wrote: »

Yep, there's also the issue of time in ESO being skewed so that night time is incredibly short, clearly to make the game more "fun" to play.

B-but I love the night time! I wouldn't mind if I destroyed the sun. Hell...I did it all the time in Skyrim.

KanedaSyndrome · April 2017

Sneaky-Snurr wrote: »

Really nice idea everyone.
I firmly believe ESO could use more of immersion improvements. Currently there's not too much of it.

Guess they could start by making the weather the same for everyone. It may be sunny for me in ESO, but the person next to me could be having rain.

Kodrac · April 2017

There's no real movement of the sun (or planet technically speaking). Plus, we don't know the full scale of the planet only the one continent. If it's daytime where you're standing, it's day time everywhere else too. It's not like the sun rises in Vvarednfell and sets in Hammerfell. But at least we have a day/night cycle unlike other games.