Quick Questions: ACNH Character Moves Left By Itself - Character Drift

[Leann]

I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this.

My character slowly walks left when I am not even touching my controllers...
Sometimes this interferes with gameplay, and makes terraforming a complete nightmare...
Running away from tarantulas is also hopeless, as sometimes my character, despite my best efforts, walks left towards the tarantulas...
Putting up fences, and furniture is frustrating...

Animal Crossing is the only game this happens on. I also have Pokemon Shield, and Let's Go Eevee and this doesn't happen when playing those games.
My boyfriend also tried recalibrating the controllers, and updating the controllers from the systems menu, but it did not fix the problem...

So is it me? The game? The controller? Anyone else experiencing this?

 

[lieryl]

same thing is happening to me lol i hope it’s not joycon drift because i changed out my shells

 

[Leann]

It's so frustrating...

I'm not sure what to do, and new controllers are pretty expensive...

 

[Cheallaigh]

sorry, it's the drift... you can try cleaning the left toggle with alcohol and a q-tip, it can help... but you might need to replace the controller eventually. i had to replace mine, it got so bad i couldn't function in game.

 

[Nefarious]

If it’s shown to be drifting during calibrating it’s 100% joycon drift. It’s probably more likely to show itself when you’ve been playing Animal Crossing for 100+ hours.

You should try the q-tip fix and if that doesn’t work, you might have to send them to Nintendo for repairs or buy new ones entirely.

 

[Cheallaigh]

If it’s shown to be drifting during calibrating it’s 100% joycon drift. It’s probably more likely to show itself when you’ve been playing Animal Crossing for 100+ hours.

You should try the q-tip fix and if that doesn’t work, you might have to send them to Nintendo for repairs or buy new ones entirely.

i was forced to buy new ones, since the repair places are currently closed(i did make a ticket with them though), lucky i found a pair of bright green at least... not a single left one of any colour was available for me to find.

 

[Leann]

If it’s shown to be drifting during calibrating it’s 100% joycon drift. It’s probably more likely to show itself when you’ve been playing Animal Crossing for 100+ hours.

You should try the q-tip fix and if that doesn’t work, you might have to send them to Nintendo for repairs or buy new ones entirely.

You are pointing to the possibility that it's a problem with the controllers... But the controllers work fine in other games...
When recalibrating, my boyfriend said the "+" is dead center and doesn't seem to have any problems...

 

[Cheallaigh]

You are pointing to the possibility that it's a problem with the controllers... But the controllers work fine in other games...
When recalibrating, my boyfriend said the "+" is dead center and doesn't seem to have any problems...

mine didn't show off-centre for calibration and since i'm only playing AC right now i can't confirm if it did or didn't affect other games. what i can tell you, it made me terrified of spiders even more than my typical phobia, because i couldn't even try facing them to capture them. the control was always trying to turn left or spin up and walk/run on its own. it was gradual at first, i noticed it was hitching/stuttering a little when walking/running straight down, then it started spinning occasionally left and then walking left, as it got worse it would spin to straight up and run. because it kept moving it kept cancelling things, i'd go to dig or place something and end up spinning around and digging up/placing wrong. i have a pro controller so i was using that for the last two weeks and that was a pain, because gods forbid i bumped the joycons, i'd have to restart the game to get it back to the pro controller... since thurs i've been able to play fully hand-held again, which is a relief.

 

[Leann]

If it’s shown to be drifting during calibrating it’s 100% joycon drift. It’s probably more likely to show itself when you’ve been playing Animal Crossing for 100+ hours.

You should try the q-tip fix and if that doesn’t work, you might have to send them to Nintendo for repairs or buy new ones entirely.

Do I need to take apart the controller?

 

[Nefarious]

You are pointing to the possibility that it's a problem with the controllers... But the controllers work fine in other games...
When recalibrating, my boyfriend said the "+" is dead center and doesn't seem to have any problems...

Maybe his only started drifting? Mine started out small but has become progressively worse to where changing stuff in system settings is a pain. It can be really subtle when calibrating. Move the stick just a bit and if after a while they stutter or move slowly back to center, more so than they did before, than that does indicate the start of a drifting joycon.

Do I need to take apart the controller?

For the q-tip fix, no, you apply rubbing alcohol around the joystick (make sure you lift up the protective sleeve it has) using a q tip. There are other fixes if that doesn't work out that does involve taking the joycon apart, but honestly, if you don't feel sure about doing that yourself, you're better off sending your joycons to Nintendo to get them fixed that way.

mine didn't show off-centre for calibration and since i'm only playing AC right now i can't confirm if it did or didn't affect other games. what i can tell you, it made me terrified of spiders even more than my typical phobia, because i couldn't even try facing them to capture them. the control was always trying to turn left or spin up and walk/run on its own. it was gradual at first, i noticed it was hitching/stuttering a little when walking/running straight down, then it started spinning occasionally left and then walking left, as it got worse it would spin to straight up and run. because it kept moving it kept cancelling things, i'd go to dig or place something and end up spinning around and digging up/placing wrong. i have a pro controller so i was using that for the last two weeks and that was a pain, because gods forbid i bumped the joycons, i'd have to restart the game to get it back to the pro controller... since thurs i've been able to play fully hand-held again, which is a relief.

Oh man, yeah, I'm having this same problem. I'm dreading running into Scorpions now because of this really bad drifting problem. Replacing Joycons is really expensive, so I was holding out till this pandemic blew over to send mine in for repairs, but at this point I'm tempted to just replace them entirely or get a pro controller.

 

[Lilette]

Mine first staring drifting in Let’s Go Eevee, so I got a used left joycon right before Swoed came out. At first it also drifted but only in Sword and only on the map.

It now drifts in all my games and in the calibration menu. I bought a repair kit and will try fixing my older joycon since it’s drift is worse than my newer one. :/

 

[Cheallaigh]

Maybe his only started drifting? Mine started out small but has become progressively worse to where changing stuff in system settings is a pain. It can be really subtle when calibrating. Move the stick just a bit and if after a while they stutter or move slowly back to center, more so than they did before, than that does indicate the start of a drifting joycon.



For the q-tip fix, no, you apply rubbing alcohol around the joystick (make sure you lift up the protective sleeve it has) using a q tip. There are other fixes if that doesn't work out that does involve taking the joycon apart, but honestly, if you don't feel sure about doing that yourself, you're better off sending your joycons to Nintendo to get them fixed that way.



Oh man, yeah, I'm having this same problem. I'm dreading running into Scorpions now because of this really bad drifting problem. Replacing Joycons is really expensive, so I was holding out till this pandemic blew over to send mine in for repairs, but at this point I'm tempted to just replace them entirely or get a pro controller.

it gets really fun, when it's like spinning a wheel when you go to click on any menu/bag item, and you pray it stops on what you wanted. it took about a month for mine to get that bad from when i noticed the stuttering/hitching when running/walking, which is sad since we bought the switches in feb(we have one each my hubby and i)... his so far doesn't have the same issue. we weren't happy about buying me new ones(though i was really happy with the colour!), had to really search to find ones that weren't sold out in my area and 2 weeks to deliver thanks to the virus. i bought the pro controllers for both of us about a week after i knew i had the drifting issue and no real way to fix it(couldn't even find the replacement parts). hubby doesn't use his hand-held as much as i do, so he could probably wait a while at least... but there is no telling how long before we can send mine in to be fixed and it was unusuable without the pro controller at this point.

 

[Leann]

Hmm I see...

would the rubbing alcohol damage anything in the controller?

I thought it would be an Animal Crossing issue... I read somewhere that this happens as you fill you island with more things...

 

[Stereokay]

Hmm I see...

would the rubbing alcohol damage anything in the controller?

I thought it would be an Animal Crossing issue... I read somewhere that this happens as you fill you island with more things...

Use a small amount and be sure to let it dry about an hour. You can also try updating the controllers in your system or using compressed air and leaving the controllers on their sides for a while.

 

[Bugs]

My left joycon has drifted since shortly after a bought it, I refuse to replace it since it's so expensive and it will most likely just happen again since it's an actual design flaw

I've got a wireless GameCube controller thing for the switch now to play when it's in handheld mode but I have to have it stood up on a table, and a wired controller for when it's docked. Hope Nintendo fixes this issue because frankly it's ridiculous. I know the joycons have a lot of technology in a small compact space and they were brilliant when they worked, but £40 for one is just not fair when they are essentially guaranteed to break.

Rant over haha sorry for not adding anything helpful.

 

[Chris]

I started experiencing this recently. On April 29 I was noticing just my character walking left on their own, and then by May 1 the game was unplayable with that controller: it was rapidly cycling through dialogue options and Ables/wardrobe items with no player input. I already knew that the controller was having issues prior to this because I couldn't use it to play games that required more accurate/sensitive joystick movements (such as Cooking Mama), so when I started having problems in ACNH as well I decided it was time to retire* it and ordered a new one.

*Just a note that if you use a controller that is only licensed by Nintendo, rather than produced by them, that joystick calibration is not supported. Or at least my PowerA one wasn't.

 

[dragonair]

*Just a note that if you use a controller that is only licensed by Nintendo, rather than produced by them, that joystick calibration is not supported. Or at least my PowerA one wasn't.

This is correct, if your controller is produced by PowerA Nintendo will just send it back unrepaired. You need to reach out to PowerA customer support for repair options!

 

[InkFox]

This is scary, so many people having the very same problem, I have a switch lite so I wouldn't even be able to replace the controllers if they started drifting.

 

[Leann]

My left joycon has drifted since shortly after a bought it, I refuse to replace it since it's so expensive and it will most likely just happen again since it's an actual design flaw

I've got a wireless GameCube controller thing for the switch now to play when it's in handheld mode but I have to have it stood up on a table, and a wired controller for when it's docked. Hope Nintendo fixes this issue because frankly it's ridiculous. I know the joycons have a lot of technology in a small compact space and they were brilliant when they worked, but £40 for one is just not fair when they are essentially guaranteed to break.

Rant over haha sorry for not adding anything helpful.

If it's a design flaw, does that mean if I buy controllers not made by Nintendo, this problem won't occur anymore? Any controllers that you can recommend?

 

[Bugs]

If it's a design flaw, does that mean if I buy controllers not made by Nintendo, this problem won't occur anymore? Any controllers that you can recommend?

I know you can get third party joycons but I've never tried them, however the wired controller I use is a PDP Zelda fight pad:

And the wireless one I use when it's in handheld is a Power A wireless GameCube style controller

If you can't tell, I really like the GameCube haha

I always slide the broken joycon out of the switch and then reset the controllers to only use the wireless one when I'm playing in handheld, otherwise the joycon will still make the character move