Time

This page describes the **time** system in Essentials, and what is affected by it.

## Time

The in-game time depends on the system clock of the computer running the game, and is the same as it.

The main time-related scripts can be found in the script section **Overworld\_Time**. In particular, `def pbGetTimeNow` is the single method which determines what the time is in-game - changing this will affect all time-related code, which means this is the only method that needs to be altered if you want to implement a different time system (e.g. one based on how long the game has been running).

In addition to the time of day, there is also code related to the day of the week and the month. There are also methods which determine the current season, which are defined the same way as in the Gen 5 games (one month per season, three seasons per year).

There are (unused) methods that calculate the current Zodiac sign and the phase of the moon.

## Time periods

There are several periods of time in a day:

* Day - 5:00am to 7:59pm
* Night - 8:00pm to 4:59am
* Morning - 5:00am to 9:59am
* Afternoon - 2:00pm to 4:59pm
* Evening - 5:00pm to 7:59pm

Note that several of these time periods overlap each other.

## Effects of time

Time has an effect on a variety of things.

### Differences due to time periods

* A map's background music can be different at night - rather than the BGM it would normally play, it will instead play the BGM file which has the same name but with an "`_n`" added onto the end (if it exists).
* There are several Game Switches that are ON only during a particular time period.
* Wild Pokémon found by moving around can be different in each time period.
* The background images in battles can be different in the evening or at night.
* Shaymin cannot be in its Sky Forme at night, and the Gracidea cannot be used on it at night.
* Several evolution methods only occur during the day or during the night.
* The Dusk Ball works better at night.
* Trainers speaking on the phone can say different things at the start of their call in the morning or in the evening.

### Differences due to elapsed time

* Some time-sensitive events will wait for a certain amount of time or a certain number of days to elapse.
* Berry plant growth occurs over time.
* The player may only enter the Bug Catching Contest once in a 24 hour period.
* Furfrou and Hoopa have forms which only last a certain amount of time before reverting.
* The infectious period of Pokérus only lasts a certain number of days (not necessarily consecutive, just that number of different days).

### Other time-related effects

* The lighting of outdoor maps (if the setting `TIME_SHADING` is true).
* Some Game Switches are only on during certain days (e.g. ones used for Bug Catching Contests).
* The Trainer card will display the date when the player began their journey.
* The Lottery numbers are generated randomly based on the date.
* Pokémon record the time when the player obtains them (via capture, trade, hatching or gift), and display this in their summary screens.
* Deerling and Sawsbuck have different forms depending on the season.
* Every minute, the game checks whether the battery of the laptop being played on is low.