Wedding item regret (concerns?), I guess.

[marzipanmermaid]

I hope this question is okay to ask here considering it’s about obtaining “hacked” or duped items and spending IRL money on in game items. I’m getting a lot of mixed info i all the FB groups I’m in (mostly because no one really knows) and I’m at a loss.( Please be nice... I know a lot of people are against buying items and hacking and I did it to myself if something happens because I was cheating and all that other stuff. I honestly didn’t know it wasn’t an event you can simply TT too and that it was an update. I feel guilty and worried.)

After seeing so many people’s in game weddings with the furniture and seeing people display it, a friend purchased the wedding set from a wonderful woman on eBay for me; I got a 40 piece set for $6, complete with extras. I was really excited to own it and put it out because it suits my island’s theme so much. Well, now people are saying it could brick my switch or corrupt my save file since the event isn’t out yet. But others are saying it’s fine. I asked a friend who gens, but they were mad I didn’t buy from their business so they didn’t really help out other than a nice colorful stream of words and being blocked. I messaged the seller with questions about it and she said she’s sold hundreds and no one has complained or had any issues yet and the items she’s selling are dupes of items she received off Nookazon. She was very kind and patient with all my questions; she said all this stemmed from someone being caught duping crowns in a livestream and those new star fragment trees people are posting about, that none of us should really have anything to worry about, but that she’ll keep in touch if there’s any problems.

I haven’t done anything with my set because someone said decorating with it might increase your chances of getting bricked. I put it into my inventory and I’m debating just cutting my losses, selling it to Nook’s, and then...just buying it again if I don’t get all the items from the event. But it’s such a waste of such pretty items and even though it’s $6, it’s still money.

Any advice? What would you do? :/ I got excited. I’m impatient and dumb. I just wanted it really bad and was excited I could afford it when my friend told me how much it was. A treat yourself quarantine moment of weakness. I have over 400 hours logged in game and even though my island is garbage still, I would hate to lose my little friends and the parts I have worked really hard on, especially since it’s become such a huge security blanket for me, like NL did. I didn’t even think of the risks. I’ve been seeing so many people with event items and thought it was just okay...

 

[Dormire]

I think, what people mean is: Obtaining an item you're not supposed to might softlock your game's progress. Like you cannot get any more additional items since the game recognizes you that you already own an item that were supposed to be obtained step and not immediately or could trigger an invalid flag that could prevent you from being able to participate in the event at all. (Like the event might be over for you or you can't go further)

Since Nintendo goes by updates now, it could be changed/patched that might lead to...*ahem* either the items disappearing or corrupt your game. THOUGH, though, this tends to be more of a worst case scenario. We don't know how the Wedding Event is going to run or what type of event it is other than it being tied to Photopia, Depending of the event, you might just have to wait and see the results.

Also never buy the star frag trees since it's just money trees but altered the item ID growing on it. THAT will cause an error once it's recognized by an anti-cheat system or any patches/changes during the game. The wedding items' item data are legitimate and just locked out. So it shouldn't really be that severe. (and I mean, it wouldn't wipe your save.)

This should be a lesson for everyone to never buy items with IRL money without knowing it's origins or it being unreleased. Losing progress + money is not worth gambling on. This doesn't just apply to AC but to any MMORPGs or video games that are teeming with currency bots or RMT sellers.

Never risk it.

Also? What would I've done if I was in your shoes? Wait and see the results. Deleting it might help but if the game recognizes that I already had it before, then I have no choice but to accept any consequences. I'm very curious, you see. I want to know if AC DOES have a punishment system other than Nintendo banning your console from going online (since this is a more "in general" than AC.)

 

[Fey]

I can’t really give any concrete advice either, other than to reconsider similar options in the future. I know you don’t want to hear it—and this isn’t even criticism directed at you for buying the items—but it’s really hard seeing you describe the seller as a “wonderful woman”. I don’t blame you for being tempted, but I am disgusted by people like her. I know it doesn’t seem much, but charging $6 is literally 10% of the game’s cost. She’s supposedly selling hundreds of these items that she bought and then duped? Gross.

For what it’s worth, I do hope your game will be fine and you can eventually enjoy the items.

 

[An0nn]

I don't have anything half as useful as what the first user to respond said, but I just wanted to chime in anyways since it seems like you're really distressed. I get very worried about these things too so I feel like I can kind of understand where you're coming from and it's a pretty unpleasant place to be. I'm sorry you're experiencing that. Hopefully you'll be able to get more information that's actually relevant from people who know a thing or two about this stuff, but in the meantime try to stop beating yourself up over it. I know you can't just turn off anxiety like a switch, but it makes me sad to see someone being so hard on themselves so at the very least I hope you can give yourself a break on the whole guilt thing.

Good luck op!

 

[jiojiop]

No one knows for sure what it'll do but I MUST add two things here:

I asked a friend who gens, but they were mad I didn’t buy from their business so they didn’t really help out other than a nice colorful stream of words and being blocked.

Ex-friend, you mean. That's not a friend - that's someone who's nice to you when they think you're useful to them. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that crummy behavior in the AC community, and from a 'friend' no less. I can't believe people would burn bridges and betray friends over what's just a game at the end of the day.

I’m impatient and dumb. I just wanted it really bad and was excited I could afford it when my friend told me how much it was. A treat yourself quarantine moment of weakness. I have over 400 hours logged in game and even though my island is garbage still, I would hate to lose my little friends and the parts I have worked really hard on, especially since it’s become such a huge security blanket for me, like NL did. I didn’t even think of the risks. I’ve been seeing so many people with event items and thought it was just okay...

You're not dumb and I sincerely doubt your island is garbage. Please stop putting yourself down and beating yourself up about this! What you could do is keep the items out and around until the update comes, then sell/delete the items before installing the update.

 

[cheezu]

I see these items floating around everywhere on Instagram and Facebook, too - people are even hosting giveaways for them.
I don't think they can actually cause problems in your game, tbh, unlike the cameo items or the star fragment trees that I feel have the potential to glitch the game down the line.
Even though these items are duped, they still appear legit in my opinion.
Duping is not exclusive to NH either. There was lots of duping done in NL as well.

I know that sometimes when we see these things we badly want them - especially as more and more people keep them out on display - but I'd generally advice against spending real money on the game, unless it's for DLC-exclusive content obtained through Nintendo.
I just feel it's wrong for people to dupe in-game items and sell them for real money - these are not the kind of businesses AC fans should be supporting.

 

[JackABee]

From what I heard, only the star fragment trees can brick your game. The wedding items would most likely be bug tested (since they're an official item). Star fragment trees are made by modifying the code of money trees. The closest thing I can compare it to is placing PWP's on beaches in NL. They could crash your game, but were never intended in the first place.

In my opinion, buying from 3rd parties seems kind of a grey area. Giving real world money for virtual star pieces and cats with glasses (RAYMOND) is weird. I would just stay away, but it's Animal Crossing. Play the way that you want, time traveling and all.​

 

[DJStarstryker]

We don't know for sure, but most likely you will be fine, OP. Duped items that are legitimate items in the game act the same as the normal items. The only question mark in the air is if this will cause a conflict with event flags during the actual wedding season event. We simply don't know if or what will happen for that right now.

The star fragment trees are a LOT more risky because they are not official items in the game. I don't think it's worth going down that road, unless you want a cool Instagram famous island so bad that you're willing to potentially risk your save getting corrupted in the future due to possible changes Nintendo may make.

 

[p e p p e r]

If we time travel to June, are we able to gather the wedding items? Or are they only hacked at this point?

 

[Dormire]

If we time travel to June, are we able to gather the wedding items? Or are they only hacked at this point?

Hacked. The event can be only triggered if it's June 1st real-time. The items' data are already here though but we can't access it until that very specific day.

 

[samticore]

it looks like your question has been answered I just wanted to say don’t be so hard on yourself, and I’d love to visit your island bc I’m sure its not garbage ;A;

 

[Sloom]

I'd very highly doubt it'll do anything dangerous to your save file. of course, I'm not a hacker, programmer or literally a person who owns any knowledge about anything

but

I've seen people hack things in early for other games, including animal crossing new leaf (and also pokemon and such) with no issues. like others have said, it's just locked content that is supposed to come out in a future update, it's not like save-file hacking in new leaf (which had the potential to corrupt your save, I believe, if you put a river in a no-no spot lol)

if it's keeping you awake at night though, I would consider cutting your losses and binning the set. I can assume it won't be difficult to obtain them back at all after the wedding update drops, and I'm sure TBT members would be happy to help you find it all!

oh, and I wouldn't stress about the ethics of it. it seems like you just genuinely didn't know the sets were hacked and it's completely understandable you'd want wedding items (they're just so darn beautiful). I'd do the same if I didn't know they were hacked items.

 

[issh0mans]

i actually had no idea that the wedding items were hacked?
i've been seeing people selling them on nookazon and was considering buying. i just figured they had TT'd to the wedding event and gotten the items.
​

 

[Kaiaa]

It seems that you understand the reasoning why the Bell Tree strives to keep duped and hacked items off this site. Hacked and duped items have been known to ruin and sometimes completely brick towns in the past (mostly with NL but there have been reports of it happening on NH). We know and recognize that people do it, even though it is against the Rules.

No one wants a warning so all I ask is that you don’t distribute the hacked items to anyone on the chance that it could ruin their game. I hope it doesn’t happen to you! Please be patient when you see an item you really want! We have so many nice people on the Bell Tree who would have given you those items for free had they been out already!❤

 

[Frequency]

I personally believe there'll be no issue with having these items. They're legit items, just locked for now until the event begins. I believe it's a similar idea if you received a golden tool or golden tool DIY from someone else, but haven't unlocked it yourself yet and that's completely fine. As others said, more risky things are star fragment trees because those aren't legit.

 

[kojuuro]

I don't have a lot of advice to offer, but I don't think it's a good idea to purchase these hacked items (especially the star frag trees which shouldn't exist). If you're that worried about your save I'd throw them into the trash rather than trying to sell them to Timmy and Tommy since I have no idea how they'll treat the hacked items. Next time if you're impatient, just check to see if the items are even released yet. It's not that hard to look up and you only need to wait a month or so. To me, the wait isn't worth the risk of destroying your save and throwing your hundreds of hours down the drain. Take this as a lesson. If you're that sad about losing $6 then you can still try it but I'd just cut my losses.

 

[senbeiiscool]

$6 is a cheap price to pay for a good lesson. If I were you, I would try to get rid of the items just in case, but ultimately it's up to you. The wedding items shouldn't be too hard to obtain but like every event, you can always trade on the forum for anything that you're missing! Patience is a virtue, at least the wait for the wedding set will be almost over Hopefully by obtaining them early, nothing will happen to your progress and your game

As for the star fragment trees, as pretty as they are, I wouldn't touch them

 

[simplehobbit]

You made a mistake; don't buy items before they're officially released in the future.

Problem solved.

While there is potential for a glitch, I sort of doubt it. If you're so scared, just sell them or give them away.

 

[Celes]

I'd suggest that you make sure that auto-update is turned off. When the new update comes out, wait to see what happens to people with hacked items. If they break the game, try to get rid of all of them before you let your game update. If they don't break the game, then it's up to you whether you'd still like to keep them or not.

 

[marzipanmermaid]

Thank you for all the replies. It’s hard replying on mobile because it would be easier with a keyboard and there’s a lot to say, haha.

I only mentioned the star trees because those threads are where I’ve been seeing the most comments about Christmas/wedding items. I’m never sure how any of that stuff works and as pretty as those those are, I wouldn’t even know how to find them, much less be able to afford them. So, definitely not gonna mess with those. But thank you for the warnings on those! I help admin in a few groups and a few of us are thinking of addressing the star fragment trees and the risks since we’ve been seeing them a lot.

And no worries! I definitely won’t be selling them on here, although I have purchased three of the items from a user on before I purchased the set on eBay. I wish I would’ve known, but here we are, lol. I don’t want anyone else to be stuck worrying about it or to mess anything up for anyone else.

I’m just gonna bin them or maybe stick them on my friend’s spare island to experiment and see what happens, if anything. She was curious as well and it’s just a cycling town we fish on. It sucks being out $6, especially with being furloughed, but I’d much rather have my game as much as possible since I rely on it a lot. I was considering just letting someone have them for the wedding(s) they’re planning, but idk... It feels weird giving them out, even though I’ve been seeing a lot people using the items for ceremonies. That and I don’t want someone to go and flip it to exploit someone else’s naivety/desperation.

It’s weird getting used to how everything is in NH compared to NL. I guess that’s why I didn’t really think anything to get the items since I’ve seen so many with it and figured it was a TT thing, not an update. But now I know and I just have to wait and see what happens.

Thank you everyone for being really kind. I appreciate it. I was really nervous to post here and ask because I wasn’t sure what to expect, but thank you all for being really considerate and helpful.