Timed Timescaler
by Michiko
Requires OBSE!

[Description]
This is a fairly simple mod that changes your TimeScale (the speed at which time passes in the game) dynamically according to the time of day.

The settings can be customized via the included .ini file (located in the data\ini folder). It is highly recommended that you customize these settings in fact, as the default settings are based on my own preferences.

Why use this mod? In my case it's because I like roaming around the world during the day time, but night is nothing but an inconvenience to me, since I'd need torches or light spells, night eye or whatever. So by my default settings, daytime lasts very long (1 real world minute = 3 in-game minutes), while nighttime is as fast as vanilla (1 real world minute = 30 in-game minutes).

I can imagine this mod can be useful with an adjusted .ini file for vampires or thieves who need more time to play at night, or simply want the day time to be over quickly.

There are other mods that do similar things, but most of them do not allow customization, or are actually simple adjustments to the TimeScale directly, which you could've done via the console anyway without wasting a mod slot. My mod is my own take on it.

[Installation]
Install via mod manager (Wrye Bash or OBMM is preferred). If you prefer to install it manually for some reason, extract the contents of the archive into your Oblivion data folder.

Activate and play!

To uninstall, just deactivate and delete the .esp file (and the .ini if you want; the game won't read it anyway without the .esp). If in case your timescale hasn't reverted to normal after removing this mod, open the console and type:
set timescale to 30
to revert back to vanilla timescale speed.

[Details]
The mod has two modes: a day & night mode (default) and an hourly timescaler mode.
Day & Night mode:

There are 2 main time frames that the mod looks for, and 2 short transition periods in between:
Daytime - from 6 AM to 8 PM
Twilight - from 8 PM to 9 PM
Nighttime - from 9 PM to 5:30 AM the next day
Daybreak - from 5:30 AM to 6 AM

These are, of course, only the default values, and you're allowed to change them. The .ini file is very detailed on explaining how to change them, though I recommend using sensible numbers (for example, don't try to tell the game that 11 AM is nighttime then 11:05 AM is daytime).

For reference, vampires are supposed to be safe outside from 8 PM to 6 AM.

The transition periods (Twilight and Daybreak) are there just in case you need some time to prepare for day or night.

Day, night and the transition periods each run on their own timescales. By default:
Daytime = 3:1
Twilight/Daybreak = 15:1
Nighttime = 30:1

Again, you can and should adjust these to suit your needs. Details on how to adjust them are in the .ini file.

Hourly Timescaler mode:

Optionally you can set the mode to change the TimeScale according to the time of day. This should give you more control over how long a day lasts in your game. For example, it can give you more gradual shifts in TimeScale.

All of this is configurable in the ini. Just be sure to read the instructions carefully and, as always, be sensible about how you set up your TimeScales.

[Usage Warnings and Notes]

• While this mod is enabled, you will not be able to adjust your timescale normally even via the console, as the script will automatically reset it to the settings in your .ini file. If you want to disable the mod temporarily (for example, if you need to do a time-sensitive quest), open up the console and type:
  set TimeScaleEnable to 0

• You can also disable the mod via the .ini file, then reload a save to reload the values of the .ini file.

• Changing the settings in the .ini file while in-game will have no effect until you reload a save or restart the game.

• By default, the auto-reset option is enabled. This will set your TimeScale to vanilla (30) when you set TimeScaleEnable to 0.

• According to Oblivion wikis, setting the TimeScale to anything but the vanilla value of 30 can cause a couple of quests to have issues, in particular the animations for opening portals. Disable the mod's effects temporarily either via console or through the .ini then reloading a save before doing these quests, or at least when doing the part of the quests when opening the portals, just to be safe. Remember that you can't edit the TimeScale via console directly while this mod's effects are enabled: the mod must be disabled somehow.

These next warnings apply even without this mod and if you're just playing with TimeScale via the console. But I should point them out here just in case.

• Do not set your TimeScale to ludicrously high values. It can mess up the package AI for NPCs, and possibly cause some serious bugs on that end.

• There doesn't seem to be any immediate serious negative effects with setting the TimeScale to really small values (like 0.01), however it will cause issues with NPC package AI, since they rely on the current game time to think about what to do next. I've observed a TimeScale value of 1 to be safe in general, but I still recommend not going below 1. A TimeScale of 0 is not recommended! Slow timescales leads to bigger saves (pseudo-bloating) because the game keeps the data of things you've done until a cell resets (respawns) in your save. If your cell reset time is 3 days and 3 days takes 3 days IRL to pass, then your save file will have 3 days worth of activities until you visit those cells again. Something like that.

• Do not set your TimeScale to negative values. Time will go backwards, which by itself may not necessarily present bugs immediately, but it doesn't jump to midnight after 0:00 o'clock. It just keeps counting down into negative values.

• The speed at which the sky moves is directly linked to the TimeScale. Time also flows continuously even if you fast travel.

[Compatibility]
This mod should be compatible with anything in theory. It doesn't even rely on Oblivion.esm, so it should be compatible even with Nehrim or other similar full overhaul games. You can also put it anywhere on your load order as a result. It will override any TimeScale effects from other mods, however, since it adjusts the TimeScale via script. To be safe, do not install it alongside other mods that also affect the TimeScale.

Please be sure to launch the game with OBSE, though. The functions for reading from an .ini file are from OBSE, and this mod will not work without OBSE. You should be using OBSE anyway, even without this mod.

[Performance]
The script itself has no noticable impact on performance. While the script is technically always running, it doesn't do anything most of the time, and will only read values from the .ini file once when the game is loaded. It will also only change the TimeScale once whenever it detects that the TimeScale isn't right for the current time settings.

[Future Plans]
I do some checks to fix itself, including warning messages, just in case the user makes a mistake in the .ini (like setting daytime earlier than daybreak). For now, just try to be smart about how you configure the mod.