# Adjusting Timescale of Simulation Backwards?
**URL:** https://discourse.gplates.org/t/adjusting-timescale-of-simulation-backwards/3278
**Category:** Worldbuilding
**Created:** [16 September 2026 06:37 UTC](https://discourse.gplates.org/t/adjusting-timescale-of-simulation-backwards/3278 "2026-09-16T06:37:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@blackmagikarper](https://discourse.gplates.org/u/blackmagikarper)
#### Post date: [16 September 2026 06:37 UTC](https://discourse.gplates.org/t/adjusting-timescale-of-simulation-backwards/3278/1 "2026-09-16T06:37:19Z")
I have recently started a project of attempting to simulate the tectonic history of my homebrew D&D setting, and in doing so my first draft was to start with the modern day landmass and work my way backwards through two super continent formations—resulting in 850my of simulation at 50my increments.
My question is, if I wanted to shift the entire simulation backwards so that it starts at 1000mya and the modern day continent falls at 150mya to give myself more room to work with a more final, more complex simulation, how would I go about doing so without completely bricking the entire animation?
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### Author:  [@MrUks](https://discourse.gplates.org/u/MrUks)
#### Post date: [20 September 2026 19:23 UTC](https://discourse.gplates.org/t/adjusting-timescale-of-simulation-backwards/3278/2 "2026-09-20T19:23:27Z")
Hi,
Assuming I understood correctly that you’ve made a map and have gone backwards from 0 to 850 mya and you want to change it so 850mya becomes 1000mya. There is no simple way to do this, so I would advice to make a backup of all the files and open them with a file editor like notepad++ and change the years correctly. Keep in mind that you’ll have to start at the highest number, so first do ctrl+h (find and replace), set to find 850.0 and replace with 1000.0 and then continue on for every single number backwards.
There are other ways, like if you’re using pygplates, you can get ages beyond the limitations and then just go to the negative time in the future, but that’s a whole extra skillset you’ll need to learn.