Can you edit the length of Parole hearings? 4hrs to 3hrs

[OzThomson]

Hew everyone,new guy here with a question that I would really appreciate some help with.

As stated in the subject line, I'm wondering if there is a way to change the parole hearing time from 4 hours to 3 hours?

I am building a pretty large prison (the thomson federal prison) to support all prisoner types (Minimum, medium, max, supermax, death row, protective custody) & I have 8 total parole rooms & so I would like to reduce the hearing time down to 3 hours so that I can schedule all 8 hearings a day instead of the max 6. See pic below.

I look at both the main.DAT and the PRISON file under saves but I'm not sure what to change or if this is even possible to do. In the PRISON file I see "class progress" & "Max Places", would it be either of those?

[Brento666]

I think you can, but you can't do it by editing your save.

To be sure let me try it... If I get it working I can probably post a tiny mod for this tomorrow!

[OzThomson]

I think you can, but you can't do it by editing your save.

To be sure let me try it... If I get it working I can probably post a tiny mod for this tomorrow!

Yeah I didn't think you could do it using the save file because that seems like something that would have to be an "across the board" type of thing (for lack of a better term). It just seemed like the most reasonable file to edit this on, even though it theoretically doesn't make any sense. I just didn't see anything in the main file that would be anything remotely close.

That would be awesome if you, or anyone else, could make mod for this! I know that I would absolutely love it! I have been working on this prison for 2 months, & it would really suck if I had to partially re-design it for something as minor as this seems.

I didn't think about the 4 hour restrictions when I built this because I've never even played a full game of it. I was just trying to get as close to the real thing as possible.

I just found out about this game after the first release in October & so I got it, & just had the idea of building this particular prison. And that's where all of my time has spent on this game has been going into since.

[a__gun]

As you have multiple parole rooms can't you run multiple hearings in parallel? Am I missing something..?

[OzThomson]

As you have multiple parole rooms can't you run multiple hearings in parallel? Am I missing something..?

Technically you can, yes. The game allows it. But the warden is required to be there during all of the hearings. So if you have 2 hearings scheduled at the same time, one of them will never take place because the warden can only be at one place at a time.

There is 24 hrs in a day & each session takes 4 hours each. That means there is a limit to 6 sessions & I need 8. Which is why I would like to change the 4 hour session time to 3 hours.

[Brento666]

I have 6 parole hearings running at the same time(!)

-I did'nt get to testing it yet, finishing my mod took some more time...
But maybe you don't need a mod after all.. Just use the time-table to schedule parole-hearingss in different rooms at same times!!

[a__gun]

Technically you can, yes. The game allows it. But the warden is required to be there during all of the hearings. So if you have 2 hearings scheduled at the same time, one of them will never take place because the warden can only be at one place at a time.

There is 24 hrs in a day & each session takes 4 hours each. That means there is a limit to 6 sessions & I need 8. Which is why I would like to change the 4 hour session time to 3 hours.

As of Alpha 30 the warden and chief are no longer required for parole hearings...

[OzThomson]

Well crap I've been pulling my hair out for nothing.

Alright, cool. I stand corrected then.

Again, I haven't played a full game yet. Not even the tutorial. I just wanted to build lol.

Basically I've relied mostly on reading how this stuff works from the PA wiki page & occasionally getting a few prisoners in to test things out. Obviously, I must've been reading some outdated info.

Thanks a__gun & Brento666 !!! Appreciate the help.

[a__gun]

No worries. Unfortunately a lot of the info out there is outdated, hopefully over time newer stuff should float to the top. I had to load up the game and double check before I felt sure enough to post lol.
The best advice I could give would be to just play with it - create a prison you don't really care about and test the limits and rules of the game systems. Use what you learn there to make your planned prison better