Scripted changes to TimeOfDay object not applying

#1 Greetings!

The issue is that your changes are not being sent across the network (even in single player). When the editor makes a change to an object, its inspectPostApply() method is called, which for TimeOfDay looks like this:

void TimeOfDay::inspectPostApply()
{
   _updatePosition();
   setMaskBits( OrbitMask );
}

The setMaskBits() call triggers the update over the network. So what you'll need to do is expand the TimeOfDay class to provide some accessor functions that also make this call. Here is how I would do it:

timeOfDay.h:

F32 getTimeOfDay() { return mTimeOfDay; }
void setTimeOfDay(F32 time) { mTimeOfDay=time; setMaskBits( OrbitMask ); }
bool getPlay() { return mPlay; }
void setPlay(bool play) { mPlay=play; setMaskBits( OrbitMask ); }

timeOfDay.cpp:

ConsoleMethod( TimeOfDay, setTimeOfDay, void, 3, 3, "setTimeOfDay( time )" )
{
   object->setTimeOfDay( dAtof( argv[2] ) );
}

ConsoleMethod( TimeOfDay, setPlay, void, 3, 3, "setPlay( bool )" )
{
   object->setPlay( dAtob( argv[2] ) );
}

As these are likely common functions a game would require, we should probably add them to the engine itself.

- Dave

#2 Great, that worked like a charm. Thanks.

#3 I agree Dave, it'd be nice to see those in the engine. I haven't come across this, but it had crossed my mind. In the GDC demo the time was being changed (though I don't recall exactly, I think it was via the editor), so this type of control seems like a natural step.

#4 @Brett: The GDC demo just simply animated the sun in a predetermined path from a keybind, which in turn caused the shadows to move across the scene for demonstration purposes. In fact it looks like it is still there:

moveMap.bindCmd(keyboard, "alt s", "theSun.animate(10, 230, 590, 60, 60);", "");
moveMap.bindCmd(gamepad, btn_y, "theSun.animate(10, 230, 590, 60, 60);", "");

Time of Day is a better method. That's a bit of great functionality there David, thanks!

#5 Thanks for the clarification Michael.

#6 Logging this as THREED-519