FFXI PC Time, Clock, issues.

[Pikarya]

So I know this has been discussed in the past (I've seen it on quite a few forums years ago). But my FFXI ToD's and Clock are incorrect compared to others in my linkshell. How can I go about fixing this? On PS2/360, I know it is always 100% accurate due to pulling time directly from Square Enix or something I was told.

small edit: Found this image, it has a decent amount of information but just wondering if this is correct?

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/6bm...ztow77yz9x.jpg

[Kryssan]

Well, assuming that to be true, and I would think it to be at least as far as PCs are concerned, then you'd need to make your computer clock sync to SE's server clocks. I haven't heard of any SE public time servers you can sync to however. All that picture is telling you to do is something that should already be setup on your computer. The real question is how often does it sync to its NTS and how far off does it get in the meantime? Windows typically sets it up so that it syncs the clock once a week. This should be fine. However, what Windows will sync with is either the government NTS or the Windows NTS, which may or may not be the same as that of the SE server clock. There is also lag to take into consideration between your computer and the SE server. Minute differences are going to appear between everyone just because of this. However, the other people in your shell will have their clocks set to their own time servers, or perhaps not at all, so the problem might not well be with you. Generally speaking, system time is derived from the clock of your bios, which is typically a crystal clock. Which is usually highly accurate. There are some things you can do in command line to use an even more accurate clock, however doing this will require more system resources. If you have had your computer for some time and you are noticing your time out of sync from other people/requiring more than usual frequency server syncs, your CMOS battery might be at the end of it's life (MTBF ~ 5 years, give or take).



So yeah, what you should take out of that wall o' text is that you probably can't do anything to make your clock agree exactly with everyone else's clock unless everyone is experiencing the exact same lag and everyone's clock is synced with an SE server and everyone's BIOS is interpreting time in the exact same function.

In other words, not likely. If you're only talking seconds in difference, I'd say don't worry about it. If not, then start more advanced troubleshooting.

[Demosthenes]

The game is tied to your internal clock but not in that manner. Vana'diel time will for the most part be correct when you log in. The problem comes with processor clock speed. Yes... people have gotten banned for that shit.

[Kryssan]

Exactly what pray tell does processor clock speed have to do with any of it? Speed hacks effect only your system clock, and pretty much disproves what you stated, and moreover, proves that the FFXI clock is indeed linked to your bios clock, which is not related to your processor. There is some leeway here, because the general clocks installed in motherboards are just quartz clocks in the form of RTC chipsets. And quartz clocks are affected by temperature, so as you run your computer the changes in temperature affect your clock, which is why you should synchronize it, and why IIRC every computer since Win2000 syncs time automatically once a week. You can change this yourself however. A good system with adequate cooling has a ratio of about 2 PPM frequency error per degree C change.



Many of us are overclockers boosting our FSBs and our uPs to get the best out of our systems for the other games we play besides FFXI. Besides, most newer computers even have their own dynamic speed boosts/slacks, especially when you talk about laptops and power saving. I have never heard of processor clock speed having any effects that could get you banned. It doesn't even honestly make sense - changing your processor speed, even dynamically, wouldn't grant you any advantage.

[fishstix]

I used to play around with the system clock time... if you'd do something like set it 5 mins ahead, and then set it 10 mins backwards while ingame, you'd have a short period of increased game speed

or sometimes decreased speed -_-
dont do this though, if you dont want to risk being jailed or w/e

but back on topic, I also had issues with /clock. I thought it was already sync'd with SE servers no matter what your system time is. However, running 2 computers side by side, they're not sync'd. One computer (the correct /clock) is a core2duo running xp, would /clock 10:20. The other incorrect one is an amd phenom II quad core running vista 64 ultimate and would clock at 11:00, while local time is infact 10:20.