Isla Sombra runs on a day-night cycle that drives your business: clients order during the day, and night is for production, travel, chores and burglary. You end the night by sleeping in a hideout bed. There is no curfew in the game files.
Contents: How fast time runs · Daytime · Night · Shop stock and restocking · What the game files add · Not found in the game files
How fast time runs
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Default time multiplier (balance flag) | 24 (a full day lasts 1 hour of real time) |
| Time multiplier in every built-in preset | 16 (a full day lasts 90 minutes of real time) |
| Quick-travel speed multiplier | 8 |
The Daytime multiplier in the cartel settings is a direct multiplier on real-time hours. Save backups are stamped with the in-game day number. See Cartel Settings & Difficulty Presets.
Daytime
- Clients only contact you and place orders during the day; orders stop at night.
- Buses only run between 6:00 and 22:00 and need a ticket. See Fast Travel, Buses & Ferries.
- Mobile vendors only appear between fixed hours (from 06:00 to either 15:00 or 18:00, depending on the spot). See Mobile Vendors.
- Shops are open around the clock (confirmed by editors); some vendors need a higher vendor level or a mission before they sell their best goods. See Vendor Reputation & Discounts.
- Bars and restaurants store opening hours of 10:00 to 21:00, but only three of them are not flagged as open 24 hours. See Bars, Restaurants & Meetings.
Night
- At night nearby warehouses become available to break into with the right tools (crowbar, lockpick). Breaking in may set off an alarm and bring enemies, and it costs reputation (20 for a break-in; theft costs 0.5 per B1,000 stolen).
- It is a good time for production, moving drugs between hideouts, tasks and decorating.
- At any time during the night you can sleep in a hideout bed to skip to morning and start a new sales day. Sleeping earlier is refused. In multiplayer every player has to use a bed.
- Sleeping applies a well-being bonus that editors report shortens the wanted cool-down. See Wanted Level, Militia Raids & Arrests.
Shop stock and restocking
Every shop in the current files restocks on a 1-day cycle, and each item has its own daily restock amount. Shop details are on Shops & Vendors and Vendor Reputation & Discounts.
What the game files add
The game mode keeps a day flag, switches between day and night and can skip time when everyone sleeps; the player character reacts to each day/night change. The switching hours themselves are not in the tables.
Not found in the game files
The tables contain no curfew, no separate night stealth modifier, no darkness-based visibility values and no rule that changes police behaviour after dark. Shop tables have no opening hours, and editors report that shops are never closed. The only opening hours in the tables are on the restaurant rows (10:00 to 21:00 on all 19, with just three not flagged as open 24 hours).
Source: game DataTables (BalanceFlagsDatabase, CartelConfigPresetDatabase, IS_ShopDatabase, GameHintDatabase strings). Values are as stored in the current Steam build; bolivars are written with a leading B.