You’ll need to set up both the IC and OOC time systems on your game.
Your server’s timezone depends on what region it’s in. Since many OOC times are stored in server time, it can be convenient to make the server time match your own timezone.
From the server shell, run the command sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata and follow the prompts.
You then need to tell the players what timezone the server is in, since it’s not always obvious.
datetime.yml.server_timezone to whatever timezone the server time is in.Ares will automatically convert server times into local times based on the player’s timezone. For instance, you might see an event listing like so:
1 Special Event Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:00pm (2:00pm Mountain)
The server is in Mountain time, so the event is at 2pm Mountain time, but that’s 4pm my time.
Players can change their own local timezones using the timezone command. (see help timezone in game). The default if they don’t change anything is EST, but you can change that to server time or to whatever other default makes sense for your game.
ooctime.yml.default_timezone to one of the values from the tz database.Some common timezone values:
| Timezone | default_timezone setting |
|---|---|
| Eastern Time | America/New_York |
| Central Time | America/Chicago |
| Mountain Time | America/Denver |
| Pacific Time | America/Los_Angeles |
The IC time system is designed for calendars that mirror RL time–12 months of the year, 7 days of the week, 24 hours in a day, etc. With configuration options, you can shift the day/year, adjust the time ratio, and even have custom day/month names.
If you have a modern game where IC time matches RL time, you don’t have to do anything. If you need a different IC time, see Configuring the IC Time System for details about all the available options.