How do I Plot Reset?

[Trystin]

I think I understand it, but I have a dreamie about to move in and I don't want to mess up everything. Are the following steps correct, please help!

1. Start up the game normally with your Mayor
2. Find the reserved area for the villager
3. Turn off 3DS, without saving
4. Open AC:NL and create a new character
5. Find the reserved area for the villager
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until said villager is in the wanted space.

 

[Laureline]

No.
Step one- make a new character and find reserved plot.
Step two- if spot is not likeable, turn off 3ds. Without saving.
Step three- repeat step one and two till house plot is desirable.
Step four- go through house registration for new character.

Once villager is moved in delete new character.

Here's a video with the visual step by step https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7vZXdU4dTE

 

[Trystin]

No.
Step one- make a new character and find reserved plot.
Step two- if spot is not likeable, turn off 3ds. Without saving.
Step three- repeat step one and two till house plot is desirable.
Step four- go through house registration for new character.

Once villager is moved in delete new character.

Here's a video with the visual step by step https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7vZXdU4dTE

Thank you very much!

 

[LunaLight]

I'll share what I do since it's probably the easiest/straight-forward one.

1.) Get the villager you want to move in, obviously.
2.) Load up with your mayor and change the date to the next day, but at 5:58am. It'll still be technically the same day that you talked to the villager, which means that the villager will most likely move in the next day. You can also set it to 5:59am, but I'm always worried that the clock will change to 6am and I'm somehow not quick enough
3.) Save and quit.
4.) Wait for 2 or 3 minutes at least, to make sure that 6am occurred in your town and you don't waste 3 minutes for the next steps. I usually just close the 3DS as soon as it says "Save complete" when I exit out of the mayor, so then when I open it back up, you'll most likely see 'normal' villagers out of their houses which means it's 6am.
5.) Choose to make a new character. I don't answer the questions on the train, I usually just hold the R button and click A rapidly to make the process go quicker. I then also just type in a random letter as the character's name.
6.) Once you arrive at your town, search for the house plot. If you like it, go to the town hall like you usually would and do all the normal steps up until you're able to save and quit. Then load back up with your mayor. I'd load up on that day just in case, since the town technically didn't load up with the mayor. You can then delete the extra character you made.

If you don't like the plot, make sure you go to the home menu and quit the application, and just repeat steps 5 and 6 until you find a plot you like. The space should be different almost every time, though sometimes the plot is the same. I've heard restarting your 3DS helps if the plot is the same for multiple times in a row, but I haven't tried it.

If you're 100% sure that you haven't seen a plot (checking every acre of the town pretty much lol), then just repeat the steps for the next day and the villager should be moving in then.

Sorry if you already knew this stuff, I just decided to give thorough instructions I use to void any confusion

 

[katysu]

What initial steps you take to plot reset depends on how you change the time.

If you change time with Isabelle at the front screen of the game then you have to load the game first with your mayor the day before - ie as LunaLight says - around the 5.58am mark (the new day in acnl starts at 6am).

You have to do this as there is not way to change the time with a new save file (your new character).
So you have to load the Mayor prior to the start of the day and let the game roll over before you load the new save file.

Its important because if you load up the Mayor on the new day (ie after 6am) then your game saves as it loads and where ever the new villager plot is - its permanent - its saved as you loaded up the Mayor. (or any already made character)

If you change time with the system clock before you load the game, then you can miss out loading with the Mayor (prior to 6am).
The game takes the time from the system as it loads - BUT and its a big but, any time difference between them will remain. (you can manually make them the same by using a 3rd outside real life clock which shows seconds).

If you know the difference between the system & the game time, or if you keep them in sync, then you can load the new save file without doing the Mayor bit first.
You can't change time with the new save file, (you do that with system clock before you load the game).
The important thing to remember with this way is the first load of the new day MUST be with the new save file. If you load with an existing character then the game saves (permanently) as it loads.

Sounds complicated, it isn't but you need to make the choice first as to how you change time. If you play other time related games then its probably best to follow what LunaLight tells you.


Remember, & also very important - when you are happy with where the plot is, save the game with the new save file to 'set' the game and the plot position. If its a blank/no plot & you are happy with no plot for that day - you still need to save the game with the new save file.
If you exit without saving and then load with the Mayor/existing character - the plot can have changed position. You need to set/save the game with the new save file when you are happy with the plot position/or a blank.

 

[Fleshy]

Everyone else has explained it pretty well, so I won't since I'll just be repeaing them. I just want to stress that when you load up with your mayor you set the time to 5:56-5:58am, do not set it to after 6am and save and quit, quickly. A new day starts at 6am, so if your mayor is in game at that time or after, you can't plot reset, the plot the villager has is permanent.

Just another tip that I didn't see anyone mention, when your choosing where to put your new characters house down, chose it carefully as when the house it demolished it will leave that brown, grass deterioration mark that's hard to remove. When I plot reset, I put the house where I'm planning my caf? to be, that way it will be covered up. I didn't know about this when I first plot reset and I currently have a really ugly brown patch up by my train station..

The video that was posted earlier was enough but here is the guide that helped me.

 

[Laureline]

Didn't know about the time changing method. I personally don't like to time change, so I find the video method to be good for me. But purple you have two methods, happy plot resetting.