I thought I understood the grass decay... Maybe not?

[sigmajw]

So I was under the impression, that running (Holding down B) only kills your grass. Where as walking (only the joystick) wouldn't affect it.

Now, I NEVER run with B. I always walk just with the joystick. But I do push it all the way. (he still kicks up a tiny bit of dust while walking.)

I have flowers planted in every patch of dirt, and I water daily, but I'm starting to notice my grass is getting worse, not improving. Thin patches of grass which were previously fully green are starting to get sparse, with just walking.

What's going on here, I thought I understood how the system worked? Do I seriously need to move my character at a snail's pace?

 

[Attribule]

Grass deteriorates no matter what if I'm not mistaken. You can't prevent it.

There's a theory that planting flowers and watering them doesn't actually help grow the grass back at all, but that it's an ''illusion'' caused by the fact that many people don't walk through their flowers/flowerbeds so the grass underneath doesn't get damaged and has more time to grow back.

I think time is the only thing that brings grass back. I heard a few days to a week+ regrows some, but I'm not sure.

It's better to just find some nice design ''turf'' and slap it around your town.

 

[Rainy Day]

I heard that simply logging onto your game deteriorates the grass. That's why some folks don't like to save and quit every 15 minutes or so.

Naturally I cannot verify this but it seems to be so. There are spots in my town I've never even stepped foot on and dirt spots are slowly but surely growing there...which makes me think it's session deterioration.

 

[Ade4265]

Does the "Beautiful Town" ordinance effect grass deterioration in any way?

 

[SockHead]

Does the "Beautiful Town" ordinance effect grass deterioration in any way?

I think it's safe to say that this might slow it down, but of course there's no proof yet.

 

[BellGreen]

Does the "Beautiful Town" ordinance effect grass deterioration in any way?

I have that ordinance. I feel like my town looked pretty much the same every day...

 

[Mirror]

Yeah, I don't think flowers grow it back either, although they make a decent cover-up, because I've had flowers almost since day 1 on the deteriorating patches, and it hasn't really helped. To combat this, I've placed paths around my town, as grass will not deteriorate if there's a pattern on top of it.

 

[ChaosKitten]

I have the beautiful town ordinance and the path to my house and the dirt around my ponds and river are only getting more...dirt-y. Keep in mind these are the places I walk over every day multiple times a day. The rest of my town doesn't seem to be having bad deterioration from the daily routine of shaking trees, finding money rock, etc.

I also log into the game 2-3 times per day.

I also walk over grass. I only run over my paths and so far those don't have deterioration underneath.

 

[Feraligator]

The grass in my town is deteriorating very fast. I don't mind it much, but I can see it becoming a problem. It seems flowers don't help.

 

[CharityDiary]

I have that ordinance. I feel like my town looked pretty much the same every day...

I also have the Beautiful Town ordinance, and my grass just keeps deteriorating.

I always use my paths, and I water my flowers on the dirt spots daily, but they don't get any better.

 

[sharkstache]

On my old practice file, I had a beautiful town ordinance and put flowers over the dirt patches. I time traveled 10 days without watering, and the dirt completely disappeared. The odd thing is that, some places healed faster than others, and some other spots are not recovering at all.

I think it helps by not walking on it, but it takes about a week to start seeing changes i think.

 

[Nami]

Dirt spots that have been present since game start will never go away. Walking DOES kill grass, just slower than running. Regrowing grass literally takes like 12 days, nothing to complain about compared to the six months it would take in CF. you can also time travel that an it would work, where as in CF you'd have to log on each individual day.

 

[ForgottenT]

Do NOT walk on the dirt, and it will grow back, also running is worse for the grass than walking, but they both destroy the grass, I would recommend paths, because grass won?t be destroyed if there?s a path over it, and paths are awesome! lol

 

[Attribule]

I would recommend paths, because grass won?t be destroyed if there?s a path over it, and paths are awesome! lol

I'd lay down paths if somebody would actually create a replica of the in-game grass. If there is one I have yet to find it after seeing dozens upon dozens of different path patterns. Most designs clash with virtually everything in the game unless you build your town SPECIFICALLY to fit the style.

 

[Nami]

Do NOT walk on the dirt, and it will grow back, also running is worse for the grass than walking, but they both destroy the grass, I would recommend paths, because grass won?t be destroyed if there?s a path over it, and paths are awesome! lol

Not sure what you meant, but grass that is under a path will be destroyed. Theirs a video floating around of someone lifting up their paths to reveal a dirt path under it.

 

[Attribule]

Not sure what you meant, but grass that is under a path will be destroyed. Theirs a video floating around of someone lifting up their paths to reveal a dirt path under it.

Yeah, I heard it kills the grass underneath as well. Apparently it's stated in the JP wiki or something.

Paths just mask the issue; they don't technically fix it.

 

[Stevey Queen]

I wish we freakin knew the facts about the grass. There's too much speculation and unconfirmed details and whatnot.

 

[Nami]

What's confirmed so far is how long it takes to grow back, original dirt spots will never grow, and that walking kills it as well as running. I'd say that is a fair amount of knowledge. Ive tested and confirmed all of the above for myself. Fact is the grass is 100% better than it was in CF. This is why I wish people would stop complaining about the feature, it takes forever to kill, and hardly any time to grow back fully.

 

[Attribule]

This is why I wish people would stop complaining about the feature, it takes forever to kill, and hardly any time to grow back fully.

Because this is false.

My grass is getting noticeably worse every single day, and even days and days of rain haven't helped to fix areas that I rarely even walk on to begin with. In fact, I notice them continuing to wear away even with my flowers being watered every day. I think the theory that loading your game in itself/going to black saving screens such as through wifi connections actually kill off your grass every single time by small amounts, but doing these more often obviously adds up.

People complain about it because:

1. It's a 100% useless feature in the game.

2. It's a useless feature than virtually nobody ever liked in past games yet they brought it back anyway.

3. They bring it back yet don't give us any practical ways of combating it. Honestly, grass wear wouldn't be an issue if they made Beautiful Town ordinance prevent it from happening, or drastically speed up the recovery process.

There's absolutely no reason for this feature to even exist in the game except to make your town look progressively worse... for no reason other than to just do what it's doing.

 

[ForgottenT]

Yeah, I heard it kills the grass underneath as well. Apparently it's stated in the JP wiki or something.

Paths just mask the issue; they don't technically fix it.

I see, it does not concern me though, cause I?m not gonna remove my paths.