Apparently I can have my cake and eat it too O_O (A lot of info added)

[Bilaz]

Ok so , essentially. It took me a very long time to track down the special edition ACNH switch and I got a lot done on the island I started on my original switch in the meantime. When I got my ACNH switch, I contacted local customer service and they told me they would not help me move my data.

Well I thought, that is that, and I worked really hard on my original switch. I completed my house (including dreamie villager pics), my museum, moved in all my dreamies and catalogued all ordereable furniture from a lovely user here. But I have yet to properly decorate my island. Essentially I now have perfect buildings on a clean slate and I got myself really wishing I had this perfect island on my gorgeous ACNH switch.

I saw another user here mention Nintendo America’s chat service being super helpful about transferring data, so I figured it was worth a shot. I messaged them, and it turns out all I had to do was change my account region and they could help me! I was overjoyed until... I started up animal crossing on my old switch again

Since the whole backstory thing is getting long and rambly you can skip to here lol
And what do you know? I can still play on my old island on my old switch as well, the transferal did not delete it.

I’m overjoyed now I have my hard work regarding the buildings and villagers on two islands. I can start terraforming like mad on my original, while only moving my ideas to the ‘perfect ACNH switch’ copy if they turn out great. I can hand over any amazing diys I get on the original to my ‘perfect’ copy over local wifi. I can have my cake and eat it too.

As a perfectionist I could not be more pleased with this situation
Anyway thought I’d post this information for anyone else having double switch issues

I’m bringing this back up actually because it seems I was wrong about some information I shared before. Forgive me on this as I did not have access to my old console at the time so I just wrote what was logical to me.

Updated info on island backup post restoration
After restoring my island to my new switch, island backup actually became automatically enabled, even though I hadn’t before. Furthermore the restoration process did not disable island backup on my old switch. I found this a bit strange so I disabled island backup on my old switch and left it enabled on my new one. Not sure if they’ll ever restore my data again but eh it’s worth a shot?
I also contacted Nintendo a second time to see if they cared about me having duplicate island data. They really... did not care, they gave me information on what the restrictions of a secondary console are and that’s it. I don’t think there are any problems? Especially since my duplicate island is no longer in the cloud

More updated info
I can't connect locally between the two islands, while I could do that when I had non duplicate islands
So maybe this is the cheating protection

 

[John Wick]

That's awesome!

I'm glad you were able to transfer it, and keep it on the older switch too. ^_^

 

[Airysuit]

That is so great!

 

[SirOctopie]

That's really cool that you were able to transfer everything!

 

[Starboard]

Wow, that's so lucky! I'm a bit confused though, I remember people were talking about data transfers a while back and how it wasn't possible unless your Switch broke, so does this mean it is actually possible? And did you need to have backup data to do it?

 

[Bilaz]

I think it depends on the Nintendo employee you get! I did have the backup enabled, and I contacted Nintendo customer service America through their chat feature. The person I spoke to was very friendly and helped me transfer my data to my new switch after I set my account region to the USA! Apparently this backup feature does not delete the data on the original console, which is why I now have two copies of the same island, hope that made sense!

 

[Starboard]

Oh ok, that's awesome if only every employee would let you do that!

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

Yay! I'm happy that Nintendo Support helped you out. That is neat that the backup feature really just enables the user to create a copy of their island -- I thought that the one island per console design would have extended to only one instance of an island existing in the cloud. I'm curious if you essentially have two storages, too, because that would be wild. Happy designing!

 

[GothiqueBat]

Ok so , essentially. It took me a very long time to track down the special edition ACNH switch and I got a lot done on the island I started on my original switch in the meantime. When I got my ACNH switch, I contacted local customer service and they told me they would not help me move my data.

Well I thought, that is that, and I worked really hard on my original switch. I completed my house (including dreamie villager pics), my museum, moved in all my dreamies and catalogued all ordereable furniture from a lovely user here. But I have yet to properly decorate my island. Essentially I now have perfect buildings on a clean slate and I got myself really wishing I had this perfect island on my gorgeous ACNH switch.

I saw another user here mention Nintendo America’s chat service being super helpful about transferring data, so I figured it was worth a shot. I messaged them, and it turns out all I had to do was change my account region and they could help me! I was overjoyed until... I started up animal crossing on my old switch again

Since the whole backstory thing is getting long and rambly you can skip to here lol
And what do you know? I can still play on my old island on my old switch as well, the transferal did not delete it.

I’m overjoyed now I have my hard work regarding the buildings and villagers on two islands. I can start terraforming like mad on my original, while only moving my ideas to the ‘perfect ACNH switch’ copy if they turn out great. I can hand over any amazing diys I get on the original to my ‘perfect’ copy over local wifi. I can have my cake and eat it too.

As a perfectionist I could not be more pleased with this situation
Anyway thought I’d post this information for anyone else having double switch issues

Hey that's actually super amazing that worked out??

I know one day I'm going to be in a similar situation because I'm borrowing my partners switch to play AC- but obviously plan on getting one myself. I've pretty much come to terms that I'll just have to start a new island on it because everywhere I've looked online and everyone I've talked to said this isn't possible unless the switch is broken/ stolen. And even then, if the old switch even connects to the internet , it will delete the newer save copy on the new switch if not both???

I'm here in the UK and know little about switch account regions / how to change them and what it effects, and obviously I don't want to mess around too much with the borrowed switch in case I break it or something.

How easy is it to change to the America account region and does it mess anything up? -I don't care that much about my own account being messed up as long as I can keep my AC world, just would/did it effect your old switch in any way after?

By the sounds of it, your not from America either, how did you contact them?

Sorry for the ton of questions ^^ I'm just amazed someone managed to do this with the best result possible, and very happy for you too

 

[eseamir]

I'm so jealous you're able to try out ideas before fully committing to them!! so happy you were able to transfer everything!

 

[Bilaz]

Hey that's actually super amazing that worked out??

I know one day I'm going to be in a similar situation because I'm borrowing my partners switch to play AC- but obviously plan on getting one myself. I've pretty much come to terms that I'll just have to start a new island on it because everywhere I've looked online and everyone I've talked to said this isn't possible unless the switch is broken/ stolen. And even then, if the old switch even connects to the internet , it will delete the newer save copy on the new switch if not both???

I'm here in the UK and know little about switch account regions / how to change them and what it effects, and obviously I don't want to mess around too much with the borrowed switch in case I break it or something.

How easy is it to change to the America account region and does it mess anything up? -I don't care that much about my own account being messed up as long as I can keep my AC world, just would/did it effect your old switch in any way after?

By the sounds of it, your not from America either, how did you contact them?

Sorry for the ton of questions ^^ I'm just amazed someone managed to do this with the best result possible, and very happy for you too

Don’t be sorry for all the questions, I understand completely! So essentially changing the account region is very easy and very safe! Though since you’re from the UK and the UK also has a Nintendo support chat I recommend trying to talk to them first to see if they’ll transfer it for you?

Contact Us

We are always happy to help!

www.nintendo.co.uk

You can find them here! It’s under ‘other enquiries’ and ‘want to chat?’

if they refuse to help you you can change your account region to the USA on the computer! It’s very easy! You just go to user information and profile, and you can change the country right there!
After you do that you can contact them here: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/contact

As for if anything changes for the original switch after you’ve done this well... I hope that your island rep account is your account and not your partner’s? Because if that’s the case then the Nintendo employee will guide you through making your new switch your primary switch and this should leave your partner’s switch exactly the same. Otherwise it’ll be a bit difficult I’m afraid because your partner’s switch would become their secondary switch which... I’m not sure what it does but it puts some restrictions on the system.

 

[Bilaz]

And even then, if the old switch even connects to the internet , it will delete the newer save copy on the new switch if not both???

Forgot to answer this
I don't think this is true! I don't even think the game knows there's a duplicate island
Since I did the transfer my old switch has definitely been connected to the internet, I haven't done any online play but I got a letter from a rl friend of mine!

 

[visibleghost]

that sounds great, i'm thinking of getting a second island and this is tempting but i think i will just start from scratch again.

 

[niko@kamogawa]

That's awesome news indeed! I am wanting to know how's the process like. Because I am considering to purchase the next generation Nintendo Switch.

 

[Bilaz]

That's awesome news indeed! I am wanting to know how's the process like. Because I am considering to purchase the next generation Nintendo Switch.

I think I explained it in the main post :O really the nintendo switch employee just enables it for you and then you follow prompts on your new game!

Yay! I'm happy that Nintendo Support helped you out. That is neat that the backup feature really just enables the user to create a copy of their island -- I thought that the one island per console design would have extended to only one instance of an island existing in the cloud. I'm curious if you essentially have two storages, too, because that would be wild. Happy designing!

Yeah I think there's only one island in the cloud :O in fact I'm pretty sure since you're only allowed to transfer it once that I now have 0 copies of my island in the cloud, just one locally stored on the one switch, and the duplicate on my other switch. I'm pretty sure the game just treats it as having two seperate islands on two seperate switches with the same user account? They are not linked to each other in any way and since I've played both seperately now they're starting to differ. For example I made a different alt character on each island to decorate more houses, I cleaned up some furniture on one of them, moved flowers on the other, got a few new diys, etc. What they have in common is the name, layout, villagers, complete museum and island rep name and house. But if I started terraforming or moving buildings or changing things that would all start to differ too. Does this make sense? It's like I have a timeline split

 

[niko@kamogawa]

I think I explained it in the main post :O really the nintendo switch employee just enables it for you and then you follow prompts on your new game!

You did! It was very clear. Thank you! I am just reiterating the need of knowing this process.

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

Yeah I think there's only one island in the cloud :O in fact I'm pretty sure since you're only allowed to transfer it once that I now have 0 copies of my island in the cloud, just one locally stored on the one switch, and the duplicate on my other switch. I'm pretty sure the game just treats it as having two seperate islands on two seperate switches with the same user account? They are not linked to each other in any way and since I've played both seperately now they're starting to differ. For example I made a different alt character on each island to decorate more houses, I cleaned up some furniture on one of them, moved flowers on the other, got a few new diys, etc. What they have in common is the name, layout, villagers, complete museum and island rep name and house. But if I started terraforming or moving buildings or changing things that would all start to differ too. Does this make sense? It's like I have a timeline split

Ah, okay, appreciate the clarification. I thought the island was still backed up to the cloud on both consoles, so I was thinking, "How could Nintendo have not tested for this scenario?"

 

[scaredlittlebug]

Forgot to answer this
I don't think this is true! I don't even think the game knows there's a duplicate island
Since I did the transfer my old switch has definitely been connected to the internet, I haven't done any online play but I got a letter from a rl friend of mine!

Did you get the letter to both islands?

This is so cool!

 

[Bilaz]

I did not only the old switch! Which is the one we hung out on before, it really is a different island

 

[Bilaz]

I’m bringing this back up actually because it seems I was wrong about some information I shared before. Forgive me on this as I did not have access to my old console at the time so I just wrote what was logical to me.

Updated info on island backup post restoration
After restoring my island to my new switch, island backup actually became automatically enabled, even though I hadn’t before. Furthermore the restoration process did not disable island backup on my old switch. I found this a bit strange so I disabled island backup on my old switch and left it enabled on my new one. Not sure if they’ll ever restore my data again but eh it’s worth a shot?
I also contacted Nintendo a second time to see if they cared about me having duplicate island data. They really... did not care, they gave me information on what the restrictions of a secondary console are and that’s it. I don’t think there are any problems? Especially since my duplicate island is no longer in the cloud