What is happening to my friend's town? :(

[marzipanmermaid]

I'm posting on behalf of my friend, Louis.
He's having some issues with his game; it's a physical copy.
Up until today it was working fine, but now it's all...glitchy and weird? (Included some of his screenshots.) His trees, flowers, and bushes aren't showing up as anything other than a mess of pixels, but the fruit is still there, just suspended in nothing. Any tree stumps he had in his town have vanished as well, along with his rocks. But when he has guests, everything goes back to normal. He can't access Main Street anymore, but the villager houses and the train station are still okay. We're not sure about the island. I just popped over there at his request because guests have been complaining of freezing now, but Resetti put an end to my visit before I could really see what happens.

He's worrying that something's really wrong and he's going to have to reset his town, but I figured we should try our luck on here before he decides to start over. No one on the FB groups have seen this; I think I remember someone posting about this before so I thought maybe asking here would be okay?

He said his cartridge isn't damaged and that he makes sure to take care of his games so they don't get dirty or messed up. Is it just a freak thing? Someone also tried said maybe it's because of plot-resetting or duping? He would just appreciate any ideas or feedback; everyone just keeps asking is it's that glitch DA or for him to make a glitch DA and he's just super bummed. :/

Here's some of his screenshots showing the weird stuff going on with the plant-life:

 

[badcrumbs]

Holy weird. I've never seen anything like that before. Early stages of corruption, maybe? I really have no idea, but it doesn't look good

 

[scartwright]

Honestly, I've only ever seen glitches that bad with a damaged cartridge. Any chance someone else got their hands on it?

 

[marzipanmermaid]

Holy weird. I've never seen anything like that before. Early stages of corruption, maybe? I really have no idea, but it doesn't look good

It's insane. And I feel bad. He's tried in on another 3DS with the same result; his other copy works fine. People are trying to say it's because he was multiple towns, but I've seen people with 5 or 6 and they're doing okay. Someone also said that this happened to them and shaking a tree fixed everything; all it did was knock the fruit off the invisible tree. :/

- - - Post Merge - - -

Honestly, I've only ever seen glitches that bad with a damaged cartridge. Any chance someone else got their hands on it?

Um, I don't think so. Let me ask him real quick.

 

[badcrumbs]

People are trying to say it's because he was multiple towns, but I've seen people with 5 or 6 and they're doing okay.

I have four (one digital, three physical), and I have never had any issues. Doubt that is the problem. Hope you guys can figure something out!

 

[Karminny]

I would buy a new copy and start to transfer the important stuff/villagers over to the new copy
That's really weird and I have never seen anything like it

 

[lazuli]

rip
thats really freaky
plot resetting wouldnt do anything like THAT the idea of it doing so is just dumb
what could he have possibly done to cause this

 

[Captain Crazy Chicken]

I'm posting on behalf of my friend, Louis.
He's having some issues with his game; it's a physical copy.
Up until today it was working fine, but now it's all...glitchy and weird? (Included some of his screenshots.) His trees, flowers, and bushes aren't showing up as anything other than a mess of pixels, but the fruit is still there, just suspended in nothing. Any tree stumps he had in his town have vanished as well, along with his rocks. But when he has guests, everything goes back to normal. He can't access Main Street anymore, but the villager houses and the train station are still okay. We're not sure about the island. I just popped over there at his request because guests have been complaining of freezing now, but Resetti put an end to my visit before I could really see what happens.

He's worrying that something's really wrong and he's going to have to reset his town, but I figured we should try our luck on here before he decides to start over. No one on the FB groups have seen this; I think I remember someone posting about this before so I thought maybe asking here would be okay?

He said his cartridge isn't damaged and that he makes sure to take care of his games so they don't get dirty or messed up. Is it just a freak thing? Someone also tried said maybe it's because of plot-resetting or duping? He would just appreciate any ideas or feedback; everyone just keeps asking is it's that glitch DA or for him to make a glitch DA and he's just super bummed. :/

Here's some of his screenshots showing the weird stuff going on with the plant-life:
View attachment 84601
View attachment 84603
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View attachment 84605
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View attachment 84607

This...

This is a severe case of...

Damaged Cartridge.

 

[marzipanmermaid]

@scartwright: He says he's the only one with access to his cartridges so they couldn't have been damaged. He's wondering if there's a way to safely clean 3DS games. Someone suggested dust?

In the meantime, he's updated the game, updated the console and even reset the console but everything's still the same. But as soon as visitors come by, everything's fine. I saw the flowers and trees by his train station on my visit; it just looked like your normal town. But once I errored, he said it went back to normal.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I have four (one digital, three physical), and I have never had any issues. Doubt that is the problem. Hope you guys can figure something out!

Yeah, I have four towns too and I've never seen anything like this.
Thanks, me too! Fingers are super crossed over here.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I would buy a new copy and start to transfer the important stuff/villagers over to the new copy
That's really weird and I have never seen anything like it

Yeah, I think he's already started to collect his items.
He's still hopeful that we can find an answer; he's had his town for ages.

- - - Post Merge - - -

rip
thats really freaky
plot resetting wouldnt do anything like THAT the idea of it doing so is just dumb
what could he have possibly done to cause this

I'm not even sure. :/
He said he's really careful with his games.
The only thing I could think of is dust, like someone else said, but I don't even know if that's a valid thing or not.

 

[pitaya]

Has he tested the cartridge on another 3DS? I don't know much about how the systems work but it seems like something that extreme would be caused by some kind of circuitry issue, either between the cartridge and the system or within the cartridge itself. It could be possible something inside the cartridge is messed up even if there's no external damage. You might have him check the seams on the cartridge too, to see if they're usually loose.

How long has he had the game?

Those graphic glitches are super freaky though. I'd joke about turning it into a horror-themed town but I doubt it'd be all that funny considering the issues. ): I hope he doesn't have to restart completely.

 

[Le Lenny]

the town got rekt m8 I r8 8/8 no h8

 

[budewarmin]

Wow that looks really messed up, I also think it's a damaged cartridge. I plot resseted a lot so I don't think it's because of that.

 

[FireNinja1]

It's something in the cartridge for sure, first off. I unfortunately think that it may not fix itself, some wiring that may have almost snapped or something, circutry could have been faulty but since it was installed in a certain way it was fine until now...? It seems like the sprite loading issues that I've heard of, but on a much larger scale. From those cases, it was concluded that the best solution is to just get a new cart. If you can transfer stuff, do it, but corruption could possibly be impending (not trying to scare, js).

 

[marzipanmermaid]

Has he tested the cartridge on another 3DS? I don't know much about how the systems work but it seems like something that extreme would be caused by some kind of circuitry issue, either between the cartridge and the system or within the cartridge itself. It could be possible something inside the cartridge is messed up even if there's no external damage. You might have him check the seams on the cartridge too, to see if they're usually loose.

How long has he had the game?

Those graphic glitches are super freaky though. I'd joke about turning it into a horror-themed town but I doubt it'd be all that funny considering the issues. ): I hope he doesn't have to restart completely.

He has; he said it was the same thing. :/
I'll tell him to look at the cartridge and I'll get back to you.

He said he's had the game since Christmas of 2013.

The glitches are crazy; a bunch of people are saying he could have one of those "famous" glitch towns, but he just wants things back to normal. He's dreading having to reset, but I think that's what's going to have to happen.

- - - Post Merge - - -

It's something in the cartridge for sure, first off. I unfortunately think that it may not fix itself, some wiring that may have almost snapped or something, circutry could have been faulty but since it was installed in a certain way it was fine until now...? It seems like the sprite loading issues that I've heard of, but on a much larger scale. From those cases, it was concluded that the best solution is to just get a new cart. If you can transfer stuff, do it, but corruption could possibly be impending (not trying to scare, js).

No, no, you're not scaring anyone! I'm sure he'll appreciate any explanation. I think he's already getting his stuff ready to transfer in the case he has to reset. Should he even bothering with keeping the same cartridge if that's the case? Or should he toss it and buy a replacement?

 

[ShenkuuBlossoms]

That looks scary. O.O But yeah, like others have said it's definitely something wrong with the cartridge.

 

[Bueller]

I've seen this happen to a friend who used an external device to edit his save file - and I've seen similar things happen to his Animal Crossing: Wild World save whenever his cart was damaged (run over by his own bike and developed a small crack on the game cart). He wasn't able to fix either and had to purchase a new cart each time. Your friends best bet is getting a new cart... however, if he used an external device there may be a way to fix the save. If not - I have no other ideas.

 

[marzipanmermaid]

I think he's come to terms with the fact that he's going to have to reset.
Can he even transfer items from this town to his other though...?

 

[Jake]

I think he's come to terms with the fact that he's going to have to reset.
Can he even transfer items from this town to his other though...?

Iirc, resetting won't fix the damaged cartridge - you're going to have to buy a new game entirely

 

[marzipanmermaid]

Iirc, resetting won't fix the damaged cartridge - you're going to have to buy a new game entirely

I know, I meant, would he even be able to transfer items from the damaged cartridge to his spare (new) game or is the game too damaged to even try? If that makes sense. :/

 

[Rasha]

I suggest erasing all data made with this cartridge and buy another one, at least that's what I would do