After a couple more hours, I finally got it to work in most zones, particularly Lake Rathetear. There are some things that need to be kept in mind when looking at zone timing events.
Assumption: You copied the correct EQTIME.CFG file and put in the correct place, when you created your server.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Zones only load when occupied. That means...
2. You will have to wait in the zone until the next cycle starts, before the timing events start working.
3. Some zones such as Kithicor never seem to work correctly. That zone is supposed to have high level undead at night only. They are there 24x7 now.
Steps I took to resync my server's spawn_events:
1. Shut down the server with the #worldshutdown command on a gm character.
2. Just before the server shuts down, do a /time and note the game date and time (IMPORTANT!). It will be something like: "Game Time: Saturday, June 28, 3743 - 1 AM"
3. With game server shut down, take a look at the zones in the spawn_events table. I suggest resetting one "set" of zones at a time, then confirming they work correctly, then repeating the cycle on the next set.
4. To verify your fix worked, you need to know what changes in the day/night, in the particular zone you are in. For instance, in the example Lake Rathetear, if you use the #zone or #peqzone commands, you enter the zone in the zone, near the South Karana zoneline. That's a good thing, because if you head for the lake, you come to a set of "stones" and remnants of a camp. During the day there, gnolls spawn. During the nights, undead gnolls spawn. Ironically, Gnoll Embalmers spawn in both day and night. In any case, if you adjust the next_year, next_month and next_day to the day following whatever your /time was when the server was shut down, you can confirm this pretty easily. Restart your server, then #zone or #peqzone a character to lake rathetear (lakerathe), approach the camp (stay back by the tree), then watch. There will probably not be thing at the camp, if there is you either don't have a problem with this zone, or got really lucky. If nothing is at the camp, then wait for the next day/night cycle. The gnolls should start spawning.
5. Repeat this for other zones in the spawn_events tables as needed.
Good luck! I hope this helps somebody...
Riklin (Halls Havoc)
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