SkyrimSE:ENBSeries INI Reference/Timeofday

ENBSeriesINI - Timeofday

The TIMEOFDAY (ToD) parameters allow for precise control of when ENB effects are applied to the screen based upon Skyrim's weather system. The effect parameters themselves are delineated using dawn, sunrise, day, sunset, dusk, and night settings variants. The ToD parameters are derived directly from the DefaultClimate [0000015E] and DefaultSkyrim [00000812] TNAM records for Sunrise and Sunset Begin/End times in Skyrim.esm. Calculations for setting ToD parameters for any weather mod --given the plugin record values of the weather system-- follow the parameter descriptions below.

Defaults shipping with ENBSeries:

[TIMEOFDAY]
DawnDuration = 2.00
SunriseTime = 7.00
DayTime = 13.00
SunsetTime = 19.00
DuskDuration = 2.00
NightTime = 1.00

The following ToD definitions apply to the position of the Sun from the perspective at sea level and with East/West horizons visible without land interference (near cow tamriel 0 37). Instead of using datetime format, numeric format is expressed in floating point (0.0000... and/or 23.9999...) based on the twenty-four hour day and expressed in military time. For brevity, only one decimal place is shown in the examples.

DawnDuration

DawnDuration=(0.0...23.9)

Duration from the time at which light first appears in the sky in the East until the approx. time the sun appears in the eastern horizon (i.e., Sunrise 'Begin' as defined in the weather).

SunriseTime

SunriseTime=(0.0...23.9)

The time at which the bottom arc of the sun appears on the eastern horizon.

DayTime

DayTime=(0.0...23.9)

The time at the midpoint of day (end of DuskDuration minus begin of DawnDuration).

SunsetTime

SunsetTime=(0.0...23.9)

The time at which the bottom arc of the sun reaches the western horizon.

DuskDuration

DuskDuration=(0.0...23.9)

Duration from the approx. time the sun disappears below the western horizon (i.e., Sunset 'End' as defined in the weather) until no sunlight is detectable in the West.

NightTime

NightTime=(0.0...23.9)

The time at the midpoint of night (begin of DuskDuration minus end of DawnDuration).

Derive Baseline ToD Settings for Any Weather Mod

We have been told by the experts that this method is not really applicable to all ENB presets and weathers, but evidence indicates that it does apply a 'good' standard from which a preset developer can deviate when applying specific effects (like coloring the sun at sunrise/sunset), so we know it is valid if not restrictive of certain creative trickery employed by some preset authors:

This formula returns the default ToD values shipping with ENBSeries (for weather mods defining sunrise/sunset from 5-9).
This formula returns phinix's values (for vanilla weather sunrise/sunset times) as evidenced by this post.
Note that Dawn/DuskDuration was doubled in some presets, but this does not appear to be the case with Boris' defaults shipping with ENBSeries.

Let the following represent the decimal values of the TNAM records for Sunrise and Sunset for the weather mod.

if ...

r₀ = Sunrise (DawnDuration) begin time

r₁ = Sunrise (DawnDuration) end time

s₀ = Sunset (DuskDuration) begin time

s₁ = Sunset (DuskDuration) end time

then ...

DawnDuration = (r₁ - r₀) / 2

SunriseTime = r₀ + DawnDuration

DayTime = r₁ + (s₀ - r₁) / 2

DuskDuration = (s₁ - s₀) / 2

SunsetTime = s₀ + DuskDuration

NightTime = r₀ - (24 - s₁ + r₀) / 2

Vanilla SSE

Skyrim.esm

Sunrise Begin = r₀ = 5:30:00 AM
Sunrise End = r₁ = 10:00:00 AM
Sunset Begin = s₀ = 4:00:00 PM
Sunset End = s₁ = 8:30:00 PM

[TIMEOFDAY]
DawnDuration = 2.25
SunriseTime = 7.75
DayTime = 13.00
SunsetTime = 18.25
DuskDuration = 2.25
NightTime = 1.00

Cathedral Weathers

Cathedral Weathers.esp

Sunrise Begin = r₀ = 5:0:00 AM
Sunrise End = r₁ = 9:00:00 AM
Sunset Begin = s₀ = 5:00:00 PM
Sunset End = s₁ = 9:00:00 PM

[TIMEOFDAY]
DawnDuration = 2.00
SunriseTime = 7.00
DayTime = 13.00
SunsetTime = 19.00
DuskDuration = 2.00
NightTime = 1.00

Note that the above ToD parameter results are identical to the defaults shipping with ENBSeries.

Default ENB Effect Times

This is the behavior in-game when the default ToD example is used (same as the results for Cathedral Weathers).

[TIMEOFDAY]
DawnDuration = 2.00
SunriseTime = 7.00
DayTime = 13.00
SunsetTime = 19.00
DuskDuration = 2.00
NightTime = 1.00

Note that Dawn/DuskDuration span one hour and end before the start of day/night, respectively. In the Dawn/DuskDuration=4.00 situation mentioned previously, Dawn/DuskDuration will span two hours to extend for one hour into the start of day/night, repectively. This may be beneficial to the extent that it could make for smoother dawn/day and dusk/night transitions (i.e., if ToD parameters are very different).

Following are results of tweaking AmbientLightingIntensity* for each ToD setting in game using the ENB GUI (Shift + Enter) at all hours (and at most quarter hours) over 24-hours game time ... repeatedly:

Game Time	ToD Setting	Effect (observed delta)
1	night
2	night
3	night
4	night
5	night/dawn	begin night fade out, begin dawn fade in
6	dawn/sunrise	end night, begin dawn fade out, begin sunrise fade in
7	sunrise/day	end dawn, begin day fade in
8	sunrise/day
9	sunrise/day	begin sunrise fade out
10	sunrise/day
11	sunrise/day
12	day	sunrise end
13	day/sunset	begin day fade out, begin sunset fade in
14	day/sunset
15	day/sunset
16	day/sunset	begin day/sunset fade out
17	day/sunset
18	day/sunset
19	sunset/dusk	end day, begin sunset fade out, begin dusk fade in
20	dusk/night	end sunset, begin dusk fade out, begin night fade in
21	night	end dusk
22	night
23	night
24	night