How to keep villagers in boxes so they can be picked up later?

[Apron]

I just started a cycling town. So if I have a villager in boxes, is there a safe way to TT so he/she doesn't move out and they can be picked up at a convenient time?
I tried this earlier tonight and ended up losing a villager. I wanted to keep her in boxes overnight so I TT'd to about 1am and she was gone :/

 

[Crash]

in the game, 6am is the beginning of a day. if you're trying to keep a villager in boxes, all you need to do is keep rewinding your clocks to any time after 6am that day. but if you forget to wind them back or if you TT back before 6am, you'll void them by accident. hope that helps! c:​

 

[Apron]

I was thinking something along those lines. So when a villager is in boxes, I have a window of 6am until midnight to move the clock back to keep them in boxes?
If I move the clock back to the previous day when it's between midnight and 6am on moving day, the game counts the day rolling back as a day passed and the villager would be gone I think?
I wanna be sure I know the specifics of all of this because I'm afraid of losing people's dreamies :\

 

[Crash]

I was thinking something along those lines. So when a villager is in boxes, I have a window of 6am until midnight to move the clock back to keep them in boxes?
If I move the clock back to the previous day when it's between midnight and 6am on moving day, the game counts the day rolling back as a day passed and the villager would be gone I think?
I wanna be sure I know the specifics of all of this because I'm afraid of losing people's dreamies :\

you have from 6am that day until 5:59am the next day.
here's an example: say marshal is in boxes on February 1st. you have from 6am February 1st until 5:59am February 2nd to wind back to clocks or to have someone adopt him.
any amount of time traveled backwards counts as one day, so if you were to time travel back to January 31st or any time before 6am on February 1st, that would void him as well, as the game still considers it a day passed.​

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[Blueskyy]

Basically 6 am signifies the change in a New Leaf Day. If a villager were to say they're leaving on the 4th, they'll be in boxes on the 4th. You'd have from 6 am on the 4th until 6 am on the 5th to keep them in boxes.

 

[Apron]

So at 5:59am on Feb. 2nd, I could change the time back to 6am Feb. 1st without losing him? In theory it's possible to keep a villager in boxes indefinitely?
I'm sorry, it must be a pain to have to explain this to me in such excruciating detail. I really appreciate it though~

 

[Crash]

So at 5:59am on Feb. 2nd, I could change the time back to 6am Feb. 1st without losing him? In theory it's possible to keep a villager in boxes indefinitely?
I'm sorry, it must be a pain to have to explain this to me in such excruciating detail. I really appreciate it though~

yep, you got it. as long as it never hits 6am, you're good to wind the clocks back. it's dangerous of course to let it get that close, so avoid that all costs. when i have to hold villagers i wind my clock back to 6:30 at various times during the day just in case i forget to do it before bed or any length of time when i'll be busy. it's always better to be safe than sorry :>

and it's no problem at all! i've done a ton of cycling in my time so i've learned a lot that way. c:​

 

[ShenkuuBlossoms]

All you need to do to keep the villager in boxes is every time it gets close to the new day (6 A.M), wind the clocks back to an earlier time. As long as you don't leave the current day when that villager is in boxes and you keep winding back, you can keep them there pretty much indefinitely. If you are planning to leave the game running overnight, I'd wait as late as possible and set the time to just a few minutes after 6 A.M of that day, but no time before 6 or the game will count that as a day past and you'll lose your villager.

 

[Apron]

Thank you both so much for the info/advice! I can't wait to help people get their dreamies