In ArmA & OFP, skipTime does not actually estimate weather changes beyond moving the clouds across the sky. Weather counters continue as if no time has passed. The setDate command can be used instead of skiptime to change the time without the visual give-away of the lower clouds jumping.
Description
Jumps the specified number of hours forward or backward. The time of day and tides are adjusted, but no changes are made to any units. If present, the lower level of clouds instantly jump to the position they would be in if time had passed normally.
Syntax
skipTime duration
Parameters:
duration: Number - hours to skip. A positive value will create a forward time jump, a negative value will jump backwards.
Returns: Nothing
Examples
Example 1
skipTime 5;
Example 2
skipTime (5/60); // be sure to use parentheses, otherwise here (skipTime 5)/60 will happen
Example 3
while {true} do
{
skipTime 0.00333;
sleep 0.1; // smooth time transition
};
Example 4
skipTime ((_timeToSkipTo - dayTime + 24) % 24); // skip forward to a specific time, irrespective of the current mission time
Multiplayer
In Arma 3 (around v1.14) skipTime executed on the server will get synced in 5 seconds or so with all the clients. It will also be JIP compatible. skipTime executed on a client will change time on client for about 5 seconds after which it will sync back to server time.
For other games' behaviour, see Multiplayer Scripting#Join In Progress.
Important
Since Arma 3 v2.10 skipTime is limited to max +/- 1000 hours per skip for game stability. The command is intended for short time jumps. For large intervals, use setDate.
See also
setDate · accTime · setTimeMultiplier · timeMultiplier · BIS_fnc_setDate
Community notes
I cannot confirm this for OA 1.60 beta (85889): MP: Even though the immediate effect of skipTime is only local, the new time will propagate through the network after 30 seconds or so. Instead the date, which includes time, is synced automatically for new JIP clients - NOT for present instances. So one has to apply skipTime on all instances in MP (server + all present clients).
This command is blocking and in some cases it may take up to 1.5 seconds (probably depends on CPU) for it to calculate the changes to the environment, during which the game will microfreeze. It largely depends on weather changes, which are quite random. However one thing remains consistent, skipTime 24 hours is always almost instant. This is quite helpful when used in conjunction with commands such as setOvercast for instant and seamless effect. To try it yourself use this script:
0 spawn {
for "_i" from 1 to 24 do {
_time = diag_tickTime;
skipTime _i;
diag_log [_i, diag_tickTime - _time];
sleep 3;
};
};
One of the results (results will vary depending on weather conditions):
[1,1.44507]
[2,1.46118]
[3,1.33105]
[4,1.396]
[5,0.0310059]
[6,1.37891]
[7,1.4502]
[8,1.37817]
[9,1.37695]
[10,1.37012]
[11,1.448]
[12,1.32593]
[13,1.45508]
[14,1.448]
[15,0.0349121]
[16,0.0368652]
[17,1.25903]
[18,1.38599]
[19,1.4519]
[20,0.052002]
[21,0.0400391]
[22,0.0490723]
[23,1.35205]
[24,0.0151367] // this is always the lowest