Shard Clock

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview

Shard_Clock is a network-coordination component that ensures clock state (e.g., current phase, moon phase, cycles, time-in-phase) is correctly synchronized between the master shard and client instances. It is strictly instantiated on the master simulation (TheWorld.ismastersim) and is never present on client-side instances.

The component establishes network variables (via net_* helpers) that mirror data from the master shard's clock. On the master shard, it listens for master_clockupdate events to update its state, while on non-master shards it triggers clockdirty to push updated data back.

This component acts as a dedicated conduit for clock metadata, separating it from the main clock logic (handled elsewhere, e.g., clock.lua) to enable efficient replication.

Usage example

This component is automatically added and managed by the engine during world initialization. It is not meant for manual instantiation by mods.

-- Internal engine usage only — modders should not interact directly
-- See `clock.lua` and `worldgen` systems for public-facing clock APIs

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None identified
Tags: Adds no tags
Network variables: Uses 9 network variables (_segs[1..3], _cycles, _phase, _moonphase, _mooniswaxing, _totaltimeinphase, _remainingtimeinphase), all synced under the "clockdirty" channel.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
inst	Entity	inst	Reference to the owning entity (typically TheWorld).

Main functions

This component does not expose any public methods beyond internal event callbacks. All functionality is handled via event listeners and network variable setters.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:

  • master_clockupdate (only on master shard): Updates internal network variables from received data (e.g., phases, moon data, cycle counts).
  • clockdirty (only on non-master shards): Triggers retransmission of current state via secondary_clockupdate.

• Pushes:

  • secondary_clockupdate: Broadcasts full clock state (segments, cycles, phase, moon info, time-in-phase) to the master shard for validation and propagation.