# can someone explain the point of the custom design permit for path building?



## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

as soon as i unlocked the island designer app and discovered i could make paths in my own custom designs, i was really excited to use them because i assumed they would work the same way the other textured paths they gave us do -- with the ability to shape/curve them, and with them not rubbing off with Y so easily like they do if you just lay a design on the ground. however, after spending nook miles on the permit, i'm finding that you can't shape them, and that they rub off by pressing Y the same way they would if you had just laid the design. so i'm not actually seeing any difference between the free "display on ground" option and the custom design path permit that costs miles. i really feel like i wasted the miles and don't understand why it even exists. is there a feature to it that i'm missing?

edit to add i know i can place designs on top of the dirt paths and they'll keep the curve, but those still rub off with Y.


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## *luxebabe* (Apr 3, 2020)

Well you can place furniture/outdoor items and flowers on top of the path, you can't place anything on the design when you just place it on the ground


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## Fuzzcloud (Apr 3, 2020)

Put down normal path first and then put the custom path over it.


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## kentai (Apr 3, 2020)

*luxebabe* said:


> Well you can place furniture/outdoor items and flowers on top of the path, you can't place anything on the design when you just place it on the ground



Not entirely sure this is true, I am able to place outdoor items on custom designs placed on the ground


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## *luxebabe* (Apr 3, 2020)

Fuzzcloud said:


> Put down normal path first and then put the custom path over it.


yes so you can layer designs!


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## *luxebabe* (Apr 3, 2020)

kentai said:


> Not entirely sure this is true, I am able to place outdoor items on custom designs placed on the ground


omg wtf I just kept trying to place flowers I just assumed it wouldn't allow furniture either ! my mistake lol


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## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

yeah you can already put things on top of the designs without them having to be paths.

i guess i just think it's strange that it wouldn't work the same way as regular paths? i don't really want to layer designs and if that is the only difference i think it's misleading and a huge waste of miles :/


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## Faux (Apr 3, 2020)

You need a single transparent square in the pattern when you layer it into the path you build. It will them conform to the shape of the path rather than lay out a single regular tile.

Use one of the default designs, add a single transparent pixel in a top corner to see what I mean.


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## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

that isn't what i'm asking though - all my paths have transparency in the corners as they are stones i drew and i understand how to lay them on top of dirt paths etc. but is that only allowed with the permit, or is that something you can do without buying the specific custom design permit?

if it is something you can already do without buying the permit then i still don't know what the difference is betweem the permit and simply displaying designs on the ground, which we can already do for free. custom design "paths" don't even show up on the map like regular paths


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## DinoTown (Apr 3, 2020)

What exactly are you looking for? Custom design paths can be curved like the others, there's just a knack to it. Using custom designs just placed down will always result in a square though.


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## Antonio (Apr 3, 2020)

If you place a custom path or a dirt path, would it allow trees and flowers?


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## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

DinoTown said:


> What exactly are you looking for? Custom design paths can be curved like the others, there's just a knack to it. Using custom designs just placed down will always result in a square though.



i tried multiple times from every corner and couldn't get it to curve at all.

i'm looking for the custom design "path" option to do what the regular dirt path or other options do, which is:
- not rub off when pressing Y
- be visible on the map app
- be able to be curved like regular paths without having to layer it over an already placed path

edit: no, i can't place flowers on the permit custom path either.


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## crystalmilktea (Apr 3, 2020)

I'm a little disappointed that they rub off when on top of real paths too, as well as there isn't a real grass path so when layering my brick/wood paths I can't have a kind of overgrown look because you can see the stone/dirt path through the transparent pixels (and if I make it green then it doesn't match season changes).


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## Faux (Apr 3, 2020)

I don't think everyone's quite on the same page.
When you make a path with the tool, it has grass growing over the edges of the purchased tile.

If you buy the custom design tile, if it has a single transparent pixel in the image, _the custom tile will layer underneath the grass_. If it does not, then it won't. You need the transparent pixel.

Similarly, you can lay a tile on the path without the permit, _but it will not layer under the grass at all._ You MUST use the permit for it to layer under the grass edges.

As far as I know, unless the path is dirt or sand, nothing can grow in/on it, but furniture may be placed on it. I can test extensively in half an hour if y'all have specifics you want me to try.


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## Faux (Apr 3, 2020)

See above, you'll need the custom design add on and then you can use the tile to completely cover the dirt path underneath.

I'll get pics soon if this isn't clear in explanation, though.


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## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

Centuria said:


> I don't think everyone's quite on the same page.
> When you make a path with the tool, it has grass growing over the edges of the purchased tile.
> 
> If you buy the custom design tile, if it has a single transparent pixel in the image, _the custom tile will layer underneath the grass_. If it does not, then it won't. You need the transparent pixel.



not to argue, but i guess i just don't understand then; i painted all of these with the custom design path addon. they all have various amounts of transparency around the edges, but i don't see any grass layering on top? does it specifically have to be only one pixel?


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## Faux (Apr 3, 2020)

fairyring said:


> not to argue, but i guess i just don't understand then; i painted all of these with the custom design path addon. they all have various amounts of transparency around the edges, but i don't see any grass layering on top? does it specifically have to be only one pixel?



Sorry for potato, and lack of embed since it keeps messing up, but it looks like this.


			https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/665075474031968256/695738466901819502/JPEG_20200403_135548.jpg
		


You need to lay a default path first.
You can drop the tiles directly from the designer app if you wish, but buying the custom design add on saves you from having to open and close the designer app every time you need to take a step.

	Post automatically merged: Apr 3, 2020

Adding in that to round corners, you need a path at least two tiles wide! Forgot to mention this before.


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## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

okay right so that's what i was saying before. i already knew you could do that but you can't actually layer things over grass, it's still gonna look like dirt or whatever underneath if you've got any transparency in the middle of the image. if you look at my heart planks behind my character, if i used the custom design tool for that it would look like dirt underneath the hearts instead of grass, so it's not actually using MY path design. 

i think it should have been more clear in the game that what i was actually buying was the ability to layer designs OVER paths instead of actually using my designs as paths themselves.


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## Emi (Apr 3, 2020)

i know this doesn’t fix the fact that you’ve already bought the tool but i suppose you could always erase at the sides of your planks to give the illusion of it being under the grass which i guess is the look you really want. doesn’t really solve the other issues like them being able to be kicked away on accident tho im sorry


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## Faux (Apr 3, 2020)

Ah, I see. Sorry about that! I thought you were having trouble with the other tiles you displayed, so it was just a miscommunication; could be that I'm working 55 hrs a week right now, lol.

Perhaps you could bring it up to Nintendo to see if they might be willing to change it at popular request, since that's something I never considered, and I would definitely support the change.


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## kelpy (Apr 3, 2020)

this was very confusing to me too. i was thinking why the hell it exists if it doesn't act like the normal in-game paths. i'm still mildly confused about the layering thing but /shrug i'll fiddle around with it myself


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## crystalmilktea (Apr 3, 2020)

fairyring said:


> okay right so that's what i was saying before. i already knew you could do that but you can't actually layer things over grass, it's still gonna look like dirt or whatever underneath if you've got any transparency in the middle of the image. if you look at my heart planks behind my character, if i used the custom design tool for that it would look like dirt underneath the hearts instead of grass, so it's not actually using MY path design.
> 
> i think it should have been more clear in the game that what i was actually buying was the ability to layer designs OVER paths instead of actually using my designs as paths themselves.


I have the same issue with the windows of grass in the custom design :/ It would be great if they actually had a grass path "tile". I ended up just not using the path designer for my main road because I liked the grass peeking through the middle of my design.


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## Faux (Apr 3, 2020)

Lythelys said:


> this was very confusing to me too. i was thinking why the hell it exists if it doesn't act like the normal in-game paths. i'm still mildly confused about the layering thing but /shrug i'll fiddle around with it myself



Lay out a path from the default ones they give you, like the dirt one, then lay your custom path tile over it, and it will hide the edges! : ) Unfortunately isn't helpful to OP, but hopefully that makes sense for you and is what you need.


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## fairyring (Apr 3, 2020)

lmao no worries! i wasn't trying to be rude to anyone here so apologies if it came off that way! i was trying to figure out if there was just something i wasn't understanding. i did contact nintendo about it though as it does seem like an oversight that they would make us pay for something we could largely already do for free.

thank you so much for all the responses though!


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