Should Lix include the time zone in the replay filename?

[Silken Healer]

Recently, I was thinking, perhaps Lix should include the time zone in the replay filename.

[namida]

This feels overkill tbh. I don't think it's really necessary to account for timezones at all; presumably, the main intent behind putting the time in the filename isn't to actually communicate the time of recording, but simply as an easy way to ensure unique filenames for the replays.

If there really was a desire to account for timezones, rather than making the filename longer, I'd suggest using UTC instead of local time when generating the filenames.

[Silken Healer]

Hmmm yeah maybe that's fair; I wouldn't want the time zones to be normalized to UTC because then that would create confusion about timestamps before this potential update was added; I'd rather just keep things they way they are then that. Perhaps the time timezone could instead be added in someway to the markup of the replay files themselves instead?

[Simon]

What problem are you trying to solve?

Do you mean the time zone name (ET), the time zone name with DST information (EST/EDT), or the UTC offset (−05:00/−04:00)?

And of what? Of when Lix saved the replay? Or of the level's built datetime? The levels' built datetimes carry no time zone information in the levels.

The point of the replay names is to generate unique filenames. It's not tailored to match your replay to my replay. To do that, a better feature is: Generate a match ID for each started match in the server, and change the networking protocol to work with match IDs. That would also be a start to allow people to observe (or even to reconnect as an active player to) a previously started networking match that hasn't finished yet.

-- Simon

[Silken Healer]

What problem are you trying to solve?

No problem, I just thought it might be cool

Do you mean the time zone name (ET), the time zone name with DST information (EST/EDT), or the UTC offset (−05:00/−04:00)?

Probably UTC offset would be the most clear out of those

And of what? Of when Lix saved the replay? Or of the level's built datetime? The levels' built datetimes carry no time zone information in the levels.

When Lix saved the replay

[namida]

Hmmm yeah maybe that's fair; I wouldn't want the time zones to be normalized to UTC because then that would create confusion about timestamps before this potential update was added; I'd rather just keep things they way they are then that. Perhaps the time timezone could instead be added in someway to the markup of the replay files themselves instead?

Adding it as a comment in the replay data itself (and perhaps even the time itself could be added there, as filenames can easily end up changed - of course so can the content of files, but modifying the timestamp in a file would be a specific intentional act, whereas doing so in a filename could just be a "I don't care if it's there or not" thing) seems much more reasonable than adding it to the filename, if there is a desire to tag replays with their creation time.