diff --git a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstDbLoader.java b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstDbLoader.java
index 0c57660..3196e8a 100644
--- a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstDbLoader.java
+++ b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstDbLoader.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import com.minres.scviewer.database.DoubleVal;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.EventList;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.IEventList;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveform;
+import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveformDb;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveformDbLoader;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.InputFormatException;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.RelationType;
@@ -45,17 +46,17 @@ public class FstDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader, IFstDatabaseBuilder {
 	/** The max time. */
 	private long maxTime;
 
-	private int timeScale;
+	private long timeScaleFactor;
 	
 	/** The pcs. */
 	protected PropertyChangeSupport pcs = new PropertyChangeSupport(this);
 
-    static int calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(int power){
-    	int answer = 1;
-        if(power<=0){
+    static long calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(long time_scale){
+    	long answer = 1;
+        if(time_scale<=0){
             return answer;
         } else{
-            for(int i = 1; i<= power; i++)
+            for(int i = 1; i<= time_scale; i++)
                 answer *= 10;
             return answer;
         }
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ public class FstDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader, IFstDatabaseBuilder {
 	 */
 	@Override
 	public long getMaxTime() {
-		return maxTime*calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(15+timeScale); // timescape is 1e(timeScale), we calculate in fs
+		return maxTime;
 	}
 
 	/* (non-Javadoc)
@@ -149,8 +150,9 @@ public class FstDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader, IFstDatabaseBuilder {
 	}
 
 	public void setMaxTime(long maxTime, int timeScale) {
-		this.maxTime = maxTime;
-		this.timeScale=timeScale;	
+		long eff_time_scale=timeScale-IWaveformDb.databaseTimeScale;
+		this.timeScaleFactor = calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(eff_time_scale);
+		this.maxTime = maxTime*timeScaleFactor;
 	}	
 	/* (non-Javadoc)
 	 * @see com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveformDbLoader#getAllRelationTypes()
@@ -182,6 +184,6 @@ public class FstDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader, IFstDatabaseBuilder {
 
 	public void getEvents(int id, int width, IEventList values) {
 		if(values instanceof EventList)
-			parser.getValueChanges(id, width, calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(15+timeScale), (EventList) values);
+			parser.getValueChanges(id, width, timeScaleFactor, (EventList) values);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstFileParser.java b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstFileParser.java
index 1166f82..b9c2bfc 100644
--- a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstFileParser.java
+++ b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.fst/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/fst/FstFileParser.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class FstFileParser {
 	    	System.out.println(version);
 	    	long endTime = FstLibrary.fstReaderGetEndTime(fst);
 	    	byte timeScale = FstLibrary.fstReaderGetTimescale(fst);
-	    	builder.setMaxTime(endTime, timeScale);
+	    	builder.setMaxTime(endTime, -timeScale);
 	    	FstLibrary.fstReaderIterateHierRewind(fst);
 	    	Pointer p = FstLibrary.fstReaderIterateHier(fst);
 	    	while(p!=null && !p.equals(Pointer.NULL)) {
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class FstFileParser {
 	    	return false;
 	}
 
-	public void getValueChanges(final int id, final int width, int timeScale, final EventList values) {
+	public void getValueChanges(final int id, final int width, long timeScale, final EventList values) {
 		FstLibrary.fstReaderClrFacProcessMaskAll(fst);
 		FstLibrary.fstReaderSetFacProcessMask(fst, id);
 		FstLibrary.iterateValueChanges(fst, new ValueChangeCallback() {
diff --git a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.ftr/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/ftr/FtrDbLoader.java b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.ftr/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/ftr/FtrDbLoader.java
index 53a1736..a97afa8 100644
--- a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.ftr/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/ftr/FtrDbLoader.java
+++ b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.ftr/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/ftr/FtrDbLoader.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import com.minres.scviewer.database.AssociationType;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.DataType;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.EventKind;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveform;
+import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveformDb;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveformDbLoader;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.InputFormatException;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.RelationType;
@@ -327,6 +328,17 @@ public class FtrDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader {
 		/** The loader. */
 		final FtrDbLoader loader;
 
+	    static long calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(long power){
+	    	long answer = 1;
+	        if(power<=0){
+	            return answer;
+	        } else{
+	            for(int i = 1; i<= power; i++)
+	                answer *= 10;
+	            return answer;
+	        }
+	    }
+
 		/**
 		 * Instantiates a new text db parser.
 		 *
@@ -347,10 +359,10 @@ public class FtrDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader {
 					case 6: { // info
 						CborDecoder cbd = new CborDecoder(new ByteArrayInputStream(readByteString()));
 						long sz = cbd.readArrayLength();
-						assert(sz==3);
-						long time_numerator=cbd.readInt();
-						long time_denominator=cbd.readInt();
-						loader.time_scale_factor = 1000000000000000l*time_numerator/time_denominator;
+						assert(sz==2);
+						long time_scale=cbd.readInt();
+						long eff_time_scale=time_scale-IWaveformDb.databaseTimeScale;
+						loader.time_scale_factor = calculateTimescaleMultipierPower(eff_time_scale);
 						long epoch_tag = cbd.readTag();
 						assert(epoch_tag==1);
 						cbd.readInt(); // epoch
@@ -426,7 +438,7 @@ public class FtrDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader {
 			ArrayList<String> lst = new ArrayList<>((int)size);
 			for(long i = 0; i<size; ++i) {
 				long idx = cborDecoder.readInt();
-				assert(idx==loader.strDict.size()+1);
+				assert(idx==loader.strDict.size()+lst.size());
 				lst.add(cborDecoder.readTextString());
 			}
 			loader.strDict.addAll(lst);
diff --git a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.text/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/text/TextDbLoader.java b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.text/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/text/TextDbLoader.java
index 31c7b96..18d291b 100644
--- a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.text/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/text/TextDbLoader.java
+++ b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.text/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/text/TextDbLoader.java
@@ -519,6 +519,7 @@ public class TextDbLoader implements IWaveformDbLoader {
 		 * @return the long
 		 */
 		private long stringToScale(String scale) {
+			// TODO: scale to IWaveformDb.databaseTimeScale
 			String cmp = scale.trim();
 			if ("fs".equals(cmp))
 				return 1L;
diff --git a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.vcd/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/vcd/VCDFileParser.java b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.vcd/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/vcd/VCDFileParser.java
index 8976419..43a1ab8 100644
--- a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.vcd/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/vcd/VCDFileParser.java
+++ b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database.vcd/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/vcd/VCDFileParser.java
@@ -16,12 +16,13 @@ import java.util.*;
 
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.BitValue;
 import com.minres.scviewer.database.BitVector;
+import com.minres.scviewer.database.IWaveformDb;
 
 class VCDFileParser {
 	private StreamTokenizer tokenizer;
 	private IVCDDatabaseBuilder traceBuilder;
 	private HashMap<String, Integer> nameToNetMap = new HashMap<>();
-	private long picoSecondsPerIncrement;
+	private long timeScaleFactor;
 	private boolean stripNetWidth;
 	private boolean replaceColon;
 	long currentTime;
@@ -121,29 +122,37 @@ class VCDFileParser {
 			nextToken();
 		}
 		String s = sb.toString();
+		int fac =1;
 		switch (s.charAt(s.length() - 2)){
+		case 'f': // Nano-seconds
+			fac = -15;
+			s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 2).trim();
+			break;
 		case 'p': // Nano-seconds
-			picoSecondsPerIncrement = 1;
+			fac = -12;
 			s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 2).trim();
 			break;
 		case 'n': // Nano-seconds
-			picoSecondsPerIncrement = 1000;
+			fac = -9;
 			s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 2).trim();
 			break;
 		case 'u': // Microseconds
-			picoSecondsPerIncrement = 1000000;
+			fac = -6;
 			s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 2).trim();
 			break;
 		case 'm': // Microseconds
-			picoSecondsPerIncrement = 1000000000;
+			fac = -3;
 			s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 2).trim();
 			break;
 		default: // Seconds
-			picoSecondsPerIncrement = 1000000000000L;
+			fac = 1;
 			s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 1);
 			break;
 		}
-		picoSecondsPerIncrement *= Long.parseLong(s);
+    	timeScaleFactor = 1;
+    	for(int i = 1; i<= fac-IWaveformDb.databaseTimeScale; i++)
+    		timeScaleFactor *= 10;
+		timeScaleFactor = Long.parseLong(s);
 	}
 
 	private boolean parseDefinition() throws IOException, ParseException {
@@ -171,7 +180,7 @@ class VCDFileParser {
 	private boolean parseTransition() throws IOException {
 		if (!nextToken()) return false;
 		if (tokenizer.sval.charAt(0) == '#') {	// If the line begins with a #, this is a timestamp.
-			currentTime = Long.parseLong(tokenizer.sval.substring(1)) * picoSecondsPerIncrement;
+			currentTime = Long.parseLong(tokenizer.sval.substring(1)) * timeScaleFactor;
 		} else {
 			if(tokenizer.sval.equals("$comment")){
 				do {
diff --git a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/IWaveformDb.java b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/IWaveformDb.java
index 700cc04..8d1537e 100644
--- a/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/IWaveformDb.java
+++ b/plugins/com.minres.scviewer.database/src/com/minres/scviewer/database/IWaveformDb.java
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ import java.util.List;
  */
 public interface IWaveformDb extends IHierNode {
 
+	/**
+	 * the time scale of the database. This is the exponent of the value i.e. -12 is ps
+	 */
+	public static final int databaseTimeScale = -15;
+	
 	/**
 	 * Gets the max time.
 	 *