Nivalis Better Time

I made Better Time because I wanted more time to explore Nivalis and run my business without the day disappearing around me. It lets you set the clock speed and wait for a chosen duration, with keyboard and controller controls built into the game.

Version 2.0.22 — official Update #3, Steam build 25738165.

Install LUZ Civic Terminal (recommended). It can download and install the recommended BepInEx build, import mod ZIPs, manage profiles, check declared dependencies and apply your selected mods. Manual installation remains available.

Features

• Clock speeds from 0.0 to 2.0, rounded to one decimal place. 1.0 is normal, 0.5 is half speed, and 0.0 freezes the natural clock.
• A Wait menu with duration entry, quarter-hour adjustment buttons, an arrival-time display and progress feedback.
• Rebindable WAIT controls: T and LT/L2 by default. Change them in Settings > Controls.
• Native business simulation, customer needs, stock consumption and hourly staff pay during waits.
• Curfew-aware waiting: stops at 02:00; use a bed through the 02:00–08:00 curfew.
• NPC task, seating, prop and placement recovery after a wait.
• Metro predictions adjusted for the selected clock speed and a corrected shared phone-call cooldown.
• Targeted playback repairs for five sustained NPC animations with missing loop flags.
• Settings > Mods integration with Unofficial Patch, with a standalone Gameplay clock slider when the patch is absent.

Customer timing and money

Hunger, schedules and repeat-visit cooldowns already use the game clock. Better Time keeps those native rules and avoids slowing them a second time. The customer-arrival option stops new restaurant visits at a frozen clock, except while explicitly waiting. It does not learn a sales target from your previous day, cap income or guarantee identical sales at every speed. Walking, service actions and animations keep their normal pace.

Staff wages remain hourly in game time. Ingredients are consumed normally. The wait summary shows cash in, cash out and net cash; it is not profit, because ingredients used from existing stock were paid for earlier.

Using Wait

Press T or LT/L2 during normal gameplay. Finish conversations and put down carried objects first. Enter a duration or use the minus/plus buttons, then select WAIT. Escape or the controller cancel button requests cancellation; time already passed and completed transactions are retained.

At a frozen clock, explicit waiting uses normal-speed simulation. Very slow clock settings can require more catch-up work. The shared phone-call cooldown no longer stretches with slow time, but separate scripted quest delays still follow their authored rules.

Known limitations

Crowded or obstructed locations can still leave some NPCs without a clear position after waiting. Their positions are retained and reported in the log. Placement and animation recovery do not resolve every authored seating or navigation problem.

Compatibility

Works independently or alongside Unofficial Patch and Tracked Quests HUD. Remove the old Half, Quarter or Eighth Speed DLL variants before installing. Other mods that replace the clock or business simulation may conflict.

Input compatibility

WAIT uses the game's input system for keyboard layouts and supported mouse/controller buttons. Physical ABNT, QWERTY and custom-device combinations have not all been tested. If WAIT is missing, include the full BepInEx/LogOutput.log so the earlier input-registration error can be checked. The animation-loop repairs also still need in-game visual verification.

Verification

Built for Steam build 25738165. Build, native-binding, regression and package checks accompany this release. The latest accessors and full gameplay/controller/save lifecycle still require the release checklist; a performance capture alone does not verify every feature.

Updating

Keep one copy of the plugin and preserve existing configuration and save companions. The filename NivalisSlowDays.dll and internal plugin ID are retained for Better Time compatibility. Remove only the deprecated separate Half, Quarter or Eighth Speed variants; Better Time itself must remain installed.

Installation

Requires Windows x64 and BepInEx 6 IL2CPP.

With LUZ: close the game, select your profile and use Maintenance > Install recommended BepInEx if needed. After first-time loader setup, start the game yourself once, let it initialize, then close it. Use Registry > Import ZIP / DLL to import this mod, then Apply profile. If you already have mods in the game, use Maintenance > Import existing installation before your first Apply. Keep the full plugin folder, including manifest.json and icon.png.

Installing through a Thunderstore-compatible mod manager also installs the declared dependency, BepInEx-BepInExPack_IL2CPP-6.0.755. Launch through that manager when using its profile.

The tested loader is build 788. Compatibility with the dependency's build 755 has not been verified in-game.

For manual installation, install the loader separately and follow these steps:

1. Save and close the game. Back up your saves in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Ion Lands\Nivalis Nights.
2. In Steam, select Manage > Browse local files.
3. If BepInEx is not installed, extract the loader beside Nivalis Nights.exe. Start the game once to initialize it, then close it.
4. Extract this mod's ZIP into the game folder, merging the BepInEx folders.
5. Keep one copy of NivalisSlowDays.dll under BepInEx/plugins/NivalisSlowDays/. Replace the old DLL when updating and keep your configuration.

Open Wait with T or LT/L2. Rebind WAIT in Settings > Controls. With Unofficial Patch installed, use Settings > Mods for clock speed and customer-arrival balance. Otherwise clock speed remains under Settings > Gameplay. Remove old Half, Quarter or Eighth Speed DLL variants.

To uninstall, close the game and remove this mod's DLL. Keep BepInEx if your other mods need it. Removing a mod does not undo saved progress.

Feedback and support

If this helps your playthrough, an endorsement or rating is appreciated. For bug reports, include the mod version, game version, other mods, steps to reproduce, and BepInEx/LogOutput.log. For performance reports, include hardware, graphics settings and a comparison on the same save.

Support my work on Ko-fi. Made by Hvizeu. Uses BepInEx, HarmonyX and Il2CppInterop, supplied separately with the loader. This is an independent, unofficial mod.