Re-entering my Village after week plus hiatus...how should I do this?

[PrincessSara]

basically I haven't played in over a week (less than two though) and I'm worried about what state my dreamies are in or if they left, I'm wondering is there a way to TT back to the last played date and pretend nothing happened while I was gone? x.x I have a empty character slot to 'peruse' (and for placements) the town without saving but I'm really nervous X__X I already had to swap out a dreamie I lost for another (Hamlet poofed without warning and I had to replace him with Rudy who I haven't yet got) so I really really don't want to do it again >_< maybe if I'm lucky the one non-dreamie will have moved out? x.x

is it likely that only one villager has moved out in this time? or am I gonna be in for a game-breaking wakeup call?

Know theres alot of questions in there, but would appreciate answers nonetheless X3

 

[Rochelle]

It can happen that quickly for sure, so I'd proceed with caution!

First off you can create a new character and visit all your villager houses, if none of them are in boxes (or gone completely) then you'll be fine to go in with your character, but make sure that you talk to all your villagers to be certain no-one will try to move out the next day on you!

Or you can TT back to your last date played (best to be sure you know it exactly) and proceed day by day, it's up to you!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[Akimari]

"I'm wondering is there a way to TT back to the last played date and pretend nothing happened while I was gone?"

There is c: Set your 3DS clock (the one in your System Settings) back to your last played date, then load up the game with a new save file. It won't be as if nothing happened - meaning that there'll still be some random flowers or weeds spawned, but if you do this you can look around on the save file and make sure no one moved out. If no one's gone, than plot your house and save and quit. You can delete the character later, but the state of your town will be saved. If someone is gone, just quit the game without saving and redo this until a character you want isn't gone.

After this, load up your mayor, and when Isabelle gives you the date, switch it so that it matches the one on your 3DS clock. This way the state of your town that it was in when you saved on the new save file will still be there when you load up on your mayor.

Since you're probably gonna wanna TT back to your own time at some point without risking losing villagers, you can do this method. Basically, just TT ahead by one day again and again until a villager pings you saying that they want to move. Make sure before you TT to another day that you've talked to everyone, confirmed rumors (if you're getting the generic "Rumors are scary, aren't they?" dialogue than no one is moving), walking in front of everyone, and have saved and quit a few times.

After a villager pings you saying they want to move, you can either confirm or deny their request, doesn't matter either way. After that, save and quit, and then TT back to the correct date. The game's set up so that no villagers will move out if you time travel ahead on the same day that one pinged you to move out.

"is it likely that only one villager has moved out in this time? or am I gonna be in for a game-breaking wakeup call?"

I can't say if it's likely or unlikely, since villagers can move out at such random rates. Worst case scenario would be a villager decided to move the day after that you stopped playing, and moved out on the other 5 days that you weren't playing. Again, that's worst case though.

OH, and only ONE villager can move out a time when you take a break. You could stop playing the game for two full years and I'm pretty sure you'd only lose a max of one villager. When I was messing with my old save, I time traveled all the way to the year 2040 and I only lost one villager. I don't think the game is programmed so that you lose more than one during your gone time.

 

[PrincessSara]

how can I find out when exactly that was? my 3DS clock and my game clock are obviously different dates/times, however I definitely could prolly track the 3DS clock's indication of when I last played if the 3DS's 'last played date' is accurate real world time (then just back track that many days in game)

but I have no idea how to get it back to the exact minute/hour :S

- - - Post Merge - - -

this is REALLY confusing to me...can you two simplify it with the circumstances in my 2nd post? :S

 

[Rochelle]

how can I find out when exactly that was? my 3DS clock and my game clock are obviously different dates/times, however I definitely could prolly track the 3DS clock's indication of when I last played if the 3DS's 'last played date' is accurate real world time (then just back track that many days in game)

but I have no idea how to get it back to the exact minute/hour :S

Exact minute/hour doesn't matter, just the day after 6am! And the Activity Monitor will tell you your last time played, so long as you haven't booted up Animal Crossing already

 

[PrincessSara]

"I'm wondering is there a way to TT back to the last played date and pretend nothing happened while I was gone?"

There is c: Set your 3DS clock (the one in your System Settings) back to your last played date, then load up the game with a new save file. It won't be as if nothing happened - meaning that there'll still be some random flowers or weeds spawned, but if you do this you can look around on the save file and make sure no one moved out. If no one's gone, than plot your house and save and quit. You can delete the character later, but the state of your town will be saved. If someone is gone, just quit the game without saving and redo this until a character you want isn't gone.

After this, load up your mayor, and when Isabelle gives you the date, switch it so that it matches the one on your 3DS clock. This way the state of your town that it was in when you saved on the new save file will still be there when you load up on your mayor.

Since you're probably gonna wanna TT back to your own time at some point without risking losing villagers, you can do this method. Basically, just TT ahead by one day again and again until a villager pings you saying that they want to move. Make sure before you TT to another day that you've talked to everyone, confirmed rumors (if you're getting the generic "Rumors are scary, aren't they?" dialogue than no one is moving), walking in front of everyone, and have saved and quit a few times.

After a villager pings you saying they want to move, you can either confirm or deny their request, doesn't matter either way. After that, save and quit, and then TT back to the correct date. The game's set up so that no villagers will move out if you time travel ahead on the same day that one pinged you to move out.

"is it likely that only one villager has moved out in this time? or am I gonna be in for a game-breaking wakeup call?"

I can't say if it's likely or unlikely, since villagers can move out at such random rates. Worst case scenario would be a villager decided to move the day after that you stopped playing, and moved out on the other 5 days that you weren't playing. Again, that's worst case though.

OH, and only ONE villager can move out a time when you take a break. You could stop playing the game for two full years and I'm pretty sure you'd only lose a max of one villager. When I was messing with my old save, I time traveled all the way to the year 2040 and I only lost one villager. I don't think the game is programmed so that you lose more than one during your gone time.

from what the other person told me though you just need to TT back to the date ingame? this method sounds like it could cause MULTIPLE problems...can you explain more thoroughly how this works?

 

[Rochelle]

from what the other person told me though you just need to TT back to the date ingame? this method sounds like it could cause MULTIPLE problems...can you explain more thoroughly how this works?

If you mean me by other person, then no I don't, I always use the 3DS clock, not the ingame one, I should have specified that!

 

[PrincessSara]

If you mean me by other person, then no I don't, I always use the 3DS clock, not the ingame one, I should have specified that!

wait wat? x.x

so then how do I do this if my ingame clock is months ahead of my 3DS clock but I know the time period I last played? theres obviously a huge discrepancy between the two times, which do I need to switch and in what order? X_X its so confusing D:

and no, I meant the other person after you.

 

[Rochelle]

wait wat? x.x

so then how do I do this if my ingame clock is months ahead of my 3DS clock but I know the time period I last played? theres obviously a huge discrepancy between the two times, which do I need to switch and in what order? X_X its so confusing D:

and no, I meant the other person after you.

How is you 3DS clock behind? I've only ever tampered with my 3DS clock so I'm a little confused by what you mean as well! If you can put your 3DS clock to the last time you played for sure, you should then be able to make a new character and check the state of things. As long as you don't save or accidentally load your mayor there will be no harm in trying this. Then I would recommend going day by day till you catch up to real time. Does this make more sense?

 

[PrincessSara]

what I'm saying is
my 3DS clock is actual date/time (real world time) and my INGAME time is set in like March of 2016 lol

so I'm not sure how to do this, the person below you wrote alot, I dun understand it though...I need to go out though so I guess I'll check when I get back if anyone can make heads or tails of this X_X

 

[Rochelle]

what I'm saying is
my 3DS clock is actual date/time (real world time) and my INGAME time is set in like March of 2016 lol

so I'm not sure how to do this, the person below you wrote alot, I dun understand it though...I need to go out though so I guess I'll check when I get back if anyone can make heads or tails of this X_X

Is it a problem that your ingame is set till then? I expect if you changed you 3DS time your ingame one would stay the same wouldn't it? I personally would change it so they are both in March 2016 and check with a new character as I said before.

The way to then change both times back again (Without losing another villager) Is to deny a request to move, and then TT back on your 3DS game to the correct date, and again check with a new character. Denying a move should mean no one will be in boxes, but someone will probably want to move when you get back to that date!

If you're not sure on this I would just google about changing ingame clocks and such, as I honestly have no experience with that!

Hopefully you (or someone else) figures this out for you! Good luck

 

[PrincessSara]

still doesn't make 100% sense...I'm too messed up to think (just got a concussion/whiplash from falling, yay) so guess I'll wait for someone that can explain better ugh.

 

[Hypno KK]

I wrote a whole guide about this, I hope this will help: http://www.belltreeforums.com/showthread.php?209379-How-To-Not-Lose-Villagers-When-You-re-Away

- - - Post Merge - - -

what I'm saying is
my 3DS clock is actual date/time (real world time) and my INGAME time is set in like March of 2016 lol

so I'm not sure how to do this, the person below you wrote alot, I dun understand it though...I need to go out though so I guess I'll check when I get back if anyone can make heads or tails of this X_X

What was the in-game time set to before you went on hiatus? If you didn't change it since you came back, just use your 3DS clock to adjust things and the game will automatically calculate how much time has passed. For example, if your game before the hiatus was in February 2016, setting your 3DS calendar back to when you last played will make the game think it's still the February 2016 date. Just like if you don't touch your game for another month, the game will know that a month has gone by and will be in April 2016.

 

[PrincessSara]

so what you're saying is by adjusting my 3DS clock forward from September 4th (today) to March whatever day I left (14 days apparently) and I'll be checking via the new villager) it won't think it's been 6 months since I played?

what I don't see in your guide basically is moving the 3DS clock TONS forward to match the previous ingame date before changing the ingame date back to when I left on my mayor (after checking for moveouts on a new villager)

 

[Hypno KK]

so what you're saying is by adjusting my 3DS clock forward from September 4th (today) to March whatever day I left (14 days apparently) and I'll be checking via the new villager) it won't think it's been 6 months since I played?

what I don't see in your guide basically is moving the 3DS clock TONS forward to match the previous ingame date before changing the ingame date back to when I left on my mayor (after checking for moveouts on a new villager)

No. This is not what I'm saying at all, which is the reason you don't see it in my guide. Also, you didn't answer my questions, which I asked so I could help you better.

I am assuming that your game date was already different from the calendar one when you last played. This means that regardless of what the date in your game is, to return safely you simply need to follow the procedure I outlined: check your activity log to see when you last played the game and set the 3DS clock to that date, so that your game will think that no time has passed. This is true no matter what the date in your game is, because your game will automatically calculate it based on the 3DS clock. When the 3DS and the game have different dates, the game calculates it in a relative way.

Are you instead asking how to return your game back to the present? If that's what you're asking, you will first need to follow the regular procedures to return from hiatus. After you do that, since your game is set in the future, you can simply change the game clock back to the present because TTing backwards any amount of time counts as only one day forward.

 

[PrincessSara]

yeah you're not making complete sense, do I not need to adjust the ingame time at all then? if I'm turning the 3DS Clock back to the 21st of August (last time I played) how does the game not think the time has passed when the ingame time is 2 weeks later than the last date it was played in realworld time? X_x

 

[PrincessSara]

All Sorted :3 no more responses needed.

 

[Hypno KK]

yeah you're not making complete sense, do I not need to adjust the ingame time at all then? if I'm turning the 3DS Clock back to the 21st of August (last time I played) how does the game not think the time has passed when the ingame time is 2 weeks later than the last date it was played in realworld time? X_x

No, you don't need to adjust the ingame time at all when returning to the game (you can adjust it if you want, but only after going through this process).

The game thinks that no time has passed because the 3DS will be on the same date you last played, so it thinks you're still playing on that day. The ingame date will become the date you were on on that day.

(Edit) I just saw you figured it out. Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I had to leave for a while. I'll leave my reply up in case anyone has the same questions.