# Non-amiibo villagers like Raymond/Audie/Judy/Sherb getting duped by savestates



## shrimplings (Apr 9, 2020)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247958717431197696*PSA: please don’t harass anyone mentioned, let others play the game they want! at least those out of this website. i’m just here to show precedent of villager duping!*

Raymond and other villagers like Audie, Judy, or Sherb can be duped by savestates. Maybe it's just me but honestly it could be a blessing in disguise because the non-amiibo villager demands have become absolute nightmares. Seen some auctions where it took 1k TBT/NMT to win Raymond, practically impossible to win as a legit player unless you're a veteran with some TBT.

But either way, it's still a cheat and I'm not sure if people know about this. There could be dupes in villager trading boards of high demand villagers.



Spoiler: Proof of Duping





__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247643572079190017

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247644142676647936

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247907799771709445

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247404139467943936Nekojiima is decently known in the AA community/ twitter furry community, so there’s confirmed *one* person to receive a possibly duped Raymond.


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## eladisland (Apr 9, 2020)

Good to know! Thanks for sharing that.


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## intestines (Apr 9, 2020)

I'm definitely not going to participate in villager trading any time soon, people have such a high demand for villagers like Raymond and Audie so many can find it easy to exploit. I just wish there was more proof relating these villagers being exploited with savestates. Not to mention that twitter post can also be fake, I've been seeing some stuff around with people doing giveaways for many of these desired villagers but when they are finished no one hears a word.


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## gravyplz (Apr 9, 2020)

Sad to see an exploit when it's so satisfying getting these villagers from islands rather than just amiibo ( I was lucky enough to get Audie and Raymond by mistake in under 10 tickets each!)


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## shrimplings (Apr 9, 2020)

intestines said:


> I'm definitely not going to participate in villager trading any time soon, people have such a high demand for villagers like Raymond and Audie so many can find it easy to exploit. I just wish there was more proof relating these villagers being exploited with savestates. Not to mention that twitter post can also be fake, I've been seeing some stuff around with people doing giveaways for many of these desired villagers but when they are finished no one hears a word.


your suspicions are incredibly understandable, however the user’s method of savestates are quite believable. the probable process is

exploiter pushes desired villager into a box
exploiter backs up save externally
person comes in to claim villager
exploiter reloads savestate
loop step 2-4
it’s probably similar to the NMT duping, mailing items to a person and reloading to get the stacks back


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## Lio (Apr 9, 2020)

The fact they post a PayPal link, too, is kind of iffy, IMO.


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## intestines (Apr 9, 2020)

shrimplings said:


> your suspicions are incredibly understandable, however the user’s method of savestates are quite believable. the probable process is
> 
> exploiter pushes desired villager into a box
> exploiter backs up save externally
> ...


That seems completely plausible, Its definitely something for Nintendo to prevent. I hope they will do something soon! as mentioned by Lio that Paypal link also reminds me of how people on ebay are selling 500 nook tickets for $20, they're probably using save states to 'duplicate' these items.


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## CowKing (Apr 9, 2020)

Yep, I saw this coming


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## rianne (Apr 9, 2020)

I'm sorry but _what. _Not surprising but still wild.


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## eat (Apr 9, 2020)

Honestly, the whole Raymond situation feels more and more like some underground black market activity than actual trading.


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## Garrett (Apr 9, 2020)

Yeah, I haven't done any villager trading and doubt I will. I'll stick with excursions and my stack of amiibo cards. Hopefully all this nonsense will get patched.


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## Splinter (Apr 9, 2020)

I'm getting flashbacks of that town in New Leaf where all the villagers were Marshal.


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## misery (Apr 9, 2020)

How does this work?


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## LightFromFable (Apr 9, 2020)

Yeah go on ebay and people are selling nook tickets, villagers, bells, tools etc


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## elphieluvr (Apr 9, 2020)

I’ve always been of the opinion that you can play however you want if you aren’t affecting anyone else’s enjoyment (for sure, duping villagers or items and selling them for real money counts as affecting others; giveaways are debatable). But what really bugs me about behavior like this is that Nintendo and other game companies scramble to close these loopholes and prevent exploits, and it eventually makes everything harder/less convenient for players who don’t exploit. An example would be the lack of compatibility with Nintendo’s existing cloud save backups, to prevent save state exploits.

And as someone who has an almost unhealthy aversion to anything I consider cheating in this game, I feel for anyone who acquired a dream villager like Raymond and then later found out it was acquired through duping. I know I would be super upset with myself.


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## irl Raymond (Apr 9, 2020)

I’m not all for the online economics except I’d just like Raymond in my village so i can move on with life.

I’m an inch away from buying the tickets on eBay out of desperation lol


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

I spotted on ebay people selling Raymond for a... "Deal"




Ok, he looks cool and all but holy hell..


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## Romaki (Apr 9, 2020)

Well, that's terrible regarding resellers and such. But it also means more non-amiibo villagers in circulation, so it helps us in general.


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## EpiDemic (Apr 9, 2020)

come on, we don't get cloud saving to prevent this things, but hacking ppl can use this for their advantage?
for real?


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## cheezu (Apr 9, 2020)

I fell for this trap back in NL days and actually paid real money for a few million bells to acquire my dreamie, Zucker. 
I guess I was just naive back then but also because of how the villagers were auctioned/priced, I virtually stood no chance to ever get him unless I went that route.
I feel like with the Island tours, at least Nintendo are giving as a fairer chance this time around - for example, I managed to recruit Sherb to my delight. However; not everyone will be this lucky. I read about people spending 200+ NMT's and still not being able to find who they wanted.
At this point, this is a good money-making scheme as I can imagine many many people going for it to get their favorite villagers/NMT's, etc.


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## EpiDemic (Apr 9, 2020)

i just wrote with the nintendo support chat
they be like
"we can't prevent hacker doing ****, we can't prevent people selling those things, you have to accept the decisions we have taken when developing this game"

he closed the support chat without waiting for my reply


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## JKDOS (Apr 9, 2020)

I'm not looking to adopt Raymond, but I fully support what they're doing (The savestate giveaways).


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## Hyoshido (Apr 9, 2020)

If they're duping these villagers and giving them away for free, fair on them, that's the nicest thing you can do in this demanding market for virtual animals

Hackers/Save staters putting prices on these animals however, is beyond twisted and greedy, I like Raymond as much as the other folks do, but that's just bang out of order of Ebay greed

If folks wanna buy stuff from hackers to get their virtual animals, I can at least support nook mile ticket sellers on there a bunch more than villager traders on there


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## Kurashiki (Apr 9, 2020)

of course people selling villagers for real money is crazy, but in terms of ppl just duping non-amiibo villagers and then trading or giving them away i don't really consider it a problem. if anything, there will just be more in circulation and cause prices to go down.


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## JKDOS (Apr 9, 2020)

Hyoshido said:


> Hackers/Save staters putting prices on these animals however, is beyond twisted and greedy, I like Raymond as much as the other folks do, but that's just bang out of order of Ebay greed



I don't think the hackers are the ones making those ebay posts. If a hacker could dupe Raymond, they'd make far more money selling him at $10-$20 a pop. $350 is a price very few would pay, and only someone who is not hacking would have something to gain from the rare opportunity.


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## BunnyElsa (Apr 9, 2020)

Aeri Tyaelaria said:


> I spotted on ebay people selling Raymond for a... "Deal"
> View attachment 236430
> Ok, he looks cool and all but holy hell..



Geez that's crazy!! I'll never get over the fact that my second _ever _island visit had Audie. I almost sobbed tbh. And my first island had Gayle!
The fact that Raymond is being sold for (easily) over 500 NMT is quite upsetting tbh? Especially those who _really _want him, genuinely, among the chaos. And now this?!


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

EpiDemic said:


> i just wrote with the nintendo support chat
> they be like
> "we can't prevent hacker doing ****, we can't prevent people selling those things, you have to accept the decisions we have taken when developing this game"
> 
> he closed the support chat without waiting for my reply



What did you expect? Few companies/games will chase RLC traders unless it effects ingame MXTs (which animal crossing has none...yet). There's nothing you can really reply to them in this, it's their decision ultimately. Plus they don't tend to care about hacking unless it's considered malicious (which RLC trading isn't).

To everyone else; RLC trading is now a big market (Especially with the success of the game and everyone trapped in doors), people need money and this has proven to be a good source of that money (what with dupers/hackers spotting exploits). Remember how "crazy" people thought Fallout 76's market of $50 guns was? Now we have people literally willing to pay hundreds for a single villager. The game is new and people are more likely to make these "Snap decisions" during the opening months, when the market becomes saturated with the laid back casual players giving away things and selling for In game bells the marketplace will get fairer.


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## Hyoshido (Apr 9, 2020)

JKDOS said:


> I don't think the hackers are the ones making those ebay posts. If a hacker could dupe Raymond, they'd make far more money selling him at $10-$20 a pop. $350 is a price very few would pay, and only someone who is not hacking would have something to gain from the rare opportunity.


I'm talkin' the general ones on there like $50, whoever's doing that $350 is just stupid dumb
Regardless none of the priced ones are valid in my eyes


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

Hyoshido said:


> I'm talkin' the general ones on there like $50, whoever's doing that $350 is just stupid dumb
> Regardless none of the priced ones are valid in my eyes


Yeah when I looked for that $350 one I found a lot of people doing $30-$50 listings.


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## Bioness (Apr 9, 2020)

intestines said:


> That seems completely plausible, Its definitely something for Nintendo to prevent. I hope they will do something soon! as mentioned by Lio that Paypal link also reminds me of how people on ebay are selling 500 nook tickets for $20, they're probably using save states to 'duplicate' these items.



Counterpoint: Nintendo has already done enough heavy handed anti-duping AND anti-consumer practices by not enabling cloud save backups and only allowing a single town per system.

I would rather duping and villager copying than more "safeguards" from Nintendo.


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## skogkyst (Apr 9, 2020)

Wonderful! Hopefully this drives their prices down to reasonable levels (not that I'm interested in buying them).


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## Heartcore (Apr 9, 2020)

It's a no from me, chief. That is super shady.


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## DJStarstryker (Apr 9, 2020)

EpiDemic said:


> i just wrote with the nintendo support chat
> they be like
> "we can't prevent hacker doing ****, we can't prevent people selling those things, you have to accept the decisions we have taken when developing this game"
> 
> he closed the support chat without waiting for my reply



So says that support guy. Except Nintendo regularly sues people for hacking and/or violating their copyrights. I mean, a news article came out a few months ago about Nintendo suing that guy who leaked a lot of stuff for Pokemon Sword/Shield pre-release because he'd hacked into some server of theirs to get the info.


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

DJStarstryker said:


> So says that support guy. Except Nintendo regularly sues people for hacking and/or violating their copyrights. I mean, a news article came out a few months ago about Nintendo suing that guy who leaked a lot of stuff for Pokemon Sword/Shield pre-release because he'd hacked into some server of theirs to get the info.



There's a big difference between hacking into a server to get information locked behind a NDA for their employees...and hacking a video game..


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## DJStarstryker (Apr 9, 2020)

Aeri Tyaelaria said:


> There's a big difference between hacking into a server to get information locked behind a NDA for their employees...and hacking a video game..



Obviously. Those they usually patch if they can though, so it's not like they do nothing. 

Those many 3DS "stability" patches were generally trying to fix things that the pirates were taking advantage of.


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

DJStarstryker said:


> Obviously. Those they usually patch if they can though, so it's not like they do nothing.
> 
> Those many 3DS "stability" patches were generally trying to fix things that the pirates were taking advantage of.


Generally it's impossible to stop someone hacking a game's files and manipulating them if they're clever enough, you'll weed out the kiddies and in game exploits (visa vi, dupe glitches). But yeah IG hacking is just a fact of any video game and always will be, the only times it's ever really a legal issue is when we saw the attempts by Blizzard to sue cheat-makers (IDK how well that went).


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## Miss Misty (Apr 9, 2020)

Aeri Tyaelaria said:


> There's a big difference between hacking into a server to get information locked behind a NDA for their employees...and hacking a video game..



I dunno if it's gotten to the 'sue' point, but they've issued a lot of strongly worded C&D notices to people who are making romhacks of like Pokemon FireRed, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and other old, outdated games on old, outdated consoles that they aren't even making money from anymore. Hell, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into tolerating people streaming their games or doing Let's Plays on YouTube. Nintendo generally doesn't like people doing anything with their games outside the very narrow bounds of what they consider acceptable. Even if they can't do anything about it, the fact that they aren't trying is very out of character for them.


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

Miss Misty said:


> I dunno if it's gotten to the 'sue' point, but they've issued a lot of strongly worded C&D notices to people who are making romhacks of like Pokemon FireRed, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and other old, outdated games on old, outdated consoles that they aren't even making money from anymore. Hell, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into tolerating people streaming their games or doing Let's Plays on YouTube. Nintendo generally doesn't like people doing anything with their games outside the very narrow bounds of what they consider acceptable. Even if they can't do anything about it, the fact that they aren't trying is very out of character for them.



Again, there's a lot of difference you're missing.

Romhacks are technically using Nintendo copyrighted material and Nintendo looks down on that, it's why a lot of game modders now make custom assets for their stuff (Look at the Skywind/Skyblivion projects for an example of this). Legally it's still under Nintendo's licensing and they have the right to sue due to it. Where as hacking a game's files to get items or exploits isn't something they can sue over or do much past *possibly* banning someone, but IDK if they ban in ACNH for hacked items (IIRC there's a warning about it when you first use the DoDo airlines... but I could be very VERY wrong).


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## Miss Misty (Apr 9, 2020)

Aeri Tyaelaria said:


> Again, there's a lot of difference you're missing.
> 
> Romhacks are technically using Nintendo copyrighted material and Nintendo looks down on that, it's why a lot of game modders now make custom assets for their stuff (Look at the Skywind/Skyblivion projects for an example of this). Legally it's still under Nintendo's licensing and they have the right to sue due to it. Where as hacking a game's files to get items or exploits isn't something they can sue over or do much past *possibly* banning someone, but IDK if they ban in ACNH for hacked items (IIRC there's a warning about it when you first use the DoDo airlines... but I could be very VERY wrong).



Right, but Raymond, Audie, Nook Miles Tickets, etc... are also Nintendo's copyrighted material. If they're more than willing to throw the book at people who are manipulating their copyrighted material and making no money (romhackers), it's odd that they aren't doing anything about the people who are manipulating their copyrighted material and charging money for it (the dupers on eBay).


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## Vex L'Cour (Apr 9, 2020)

Miss Misty said:


> Right, but Raymond, Audie, Nook Miles Tickets, etc... are also Nintendo's copyrighted material. If they're more than willing to throw the book at people who are manipulating their copyrighted material and making no money (romhackers), it's odd that they aren't doing anything about the people who are manipulating their copyrighted material and charging money for it (the dupers on eBay).



The issue is how the law is on these things. There's a lot of legal differences to be had between the two and technically a lot of those romhackers were receiving "donations" which can be construed as them "Making money from copyrighted material and assets", which sure you could argue happens when people sell IG items on eBay, but unfortunately it's not the same. IDK the full legal ins and outs so I'm not going to post futher, but it shouldn't be brought in as a "WELL THEY'LL GET SUED LOL" as I think companies have tried it in the past and summarily failed miserably.


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## k e r f u f f l e (Apr 9, 2020)

This is _insane_. Thanks for sharing, though. I don't plan on buying any villagers until all of this cools off.


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## coffee biscuit (Apr 9, 2020)

Haven't people always been selling New Leaf bells and items like golden tools on eBay though?
Not sure why they would crack down on it now. I don't think it's right, I just can't see them doing anything about it.

But yeah I would definitely avoid buying/selling/trading villagers atm, especially with all the glitches going on.


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## intestines (Apr 9, 2020)

Bioness said:


> Counterpoint: Nintendo has already done enough heavy handed anti-duping AND anti-consumer practices by not enabling cloud save backups and only allowing a single town per system.
> 
> I would rather duping and villager copying than more "safeguards" from Nintendo.


I totally agree. However despite this those twitter posts still thrive must mean that there are alternate ways to cheat. In the end I believe this matter can never be fully abolished because I would also be a nuisance to proper players as you have said. In the end it is up to us to be careful about the quantity and pricing of things that we purchase or trade.


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## LightFromFable (Apr 9, 2020)

Akaza said:


> Haven't people always been selling New Leaf bells and items like golden tools on eBay though?
> Not sure why they would crack down on it now. I don't think it's right, I just can't see them doing anything about it.
> 
> But yeah I would definitely avoid buying/selling/trading villagers atm, especially with all the glitches going on.



Youre right they have, i think it was easier for new leaf since you had the Action replay, wonder if they will make one for the switch lol


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## Cookiesandtea (May 10, 2020)

Wait so how can you tell that a villager is hacked? Specifically for Raymond. I heard his wallpaper in the room is different but I’m not sure


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## SheepMareep (May 10, 2020)

Hacking and duping in the game is something I do not condone but you gotta admit how much of a power move it is to single handedly try to destroy the absurd prices for Raymond/the villager market 
Like people go INSANE over that stupid glasses cat and I personally think its better to get him this way than spending 1,000s of nmt and/or real money to get him from elitist greedy people 
They out here finally ending capitalism 2020


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## kojuuro (May 10, 2020)

Oh boy... now they're duping the villagers... ugh when will these hackers stop...


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## tobi! (May 10, 2020)

Someone is selling these villagers on Etsy for $30!!!! WOw


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## FireNinja1 (May 10, 2020)

Aeri Tyaelaria said:


> I spotted on ebay people selling Raymond for a... "Deal"
> 
> [snip]
> 
> Ok, he looks cool and all but holy hell..


"free international shipping" lol

I'm not really sure what to make of this. I think it's wrong to think of Animal Crossing as a game that can be "won" per se. It's definitely a different type of game than say, Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart. That being said, hacking does have negative effects on people that don't hack. If people are hacking their systems to abuse savestates and the like, then Nintendo should hopefully be able to roll out patches to prevent those exploits from working.


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## Blueskyy (May 10, 2020)

This is exactly why I found Raymond, Judy, Audie, and Sherb either through the campsite or on mystery islands. Totally had nothing to do with me not having hundreds of NMT


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## N a t (May 10, 2020)

Yikes! While I do not condone this behavior, it may benefit players who try to buy legitimate villagers by lowering their value (yay for regular players!?), but it's still concerning since now we may not know if the villagers we received are legit? I don't buy villagers from other players, at least not in this game, but what if someone accidentally bought a hacked villager and they ended up being super buggy or something?


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## Blueskyy (May 10, 2020)

I have a question and please pardon my stupid for asking, but do duped villagers ever have glitches or bugs? While I think it can help players more easily obtain these villagers, is there a risk associated with it?


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## moonrisekingdom (May 10, 2020)

lol crazy seeing ppl sell these villagers for real money when I just felt slightly guilty asking someone for some fruit in exchange for Audie.


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## senbeiiscool (May 10, 2020)

As much as I know people love Raymond, I find it a little sad how desperate people have become to get him. I'm not happy about dupes but if it helps people get what they want I suppose it's alright. I just feel for other great villagers that have been thrown on the wayside by these desperate people who won't give them a chance. But in the end they're all just graphics in a game so there's not much to get sad about I suppose


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## trashpedia (May 11, 2020)

.....or you could try the campsite method and obtain him that way ^-^ Takes a while but imo it's worth it and the best part is that it's free! If people are desperate to get him through sketchy means, then it wouldn't hurt to try this method.


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## starlightsong (May 11, 2020)

AndyP08 said:


> I have a question and please pardon my stupid for asking, but do duped villagers ever have glitches or bugs? While I think it can help players more easily obtain these villagers, is there a risk associated with it?


I've hacked New Leaf a lot--don't worry, only for myself and my friends and not to sell stuff to unsuspecting players--and no, there was no risk back then at all lol. I'm not familiar with Switch hacking but I'd assume it's the same here.


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## Noctis (May 11, 2020)

So this is like what also was possible in new leaf. I actually got some dreamies this way in my second town and totally for free before amiibo cards became a thing. If it doesn't hurt your saves like in new leaf I guess power to those who can do it and give people their dreamies for free.


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## Bioness (May 11, 2020)

starlightsong said:


> I've hacked New Leaf a lot--don't worry, only for myself and my friends and not to sell stuff to unsuspecting players--and no, there was no risk back then at all lol. I'm not familiar with Switch hacking but I'd assume it's the same here.


 Actual hacking will get your Switch banned from online.


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## starlightsong (May 11, 2020)

Bioness said:


> Actual hacking will get your Switch banned from online.


Maybe, but I interpreted the question as asking if there was any risk in someone else receiving a villager that was hacked in, which I _extremely _highly doubt.


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## Corrie (May 11, 2020)

I feel like no matter what Nintendo patches, there will always be people hacking through each patch. I'd rather them do nothing than punish the "innocent" players with "fixes."


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## xara (May 11, 2020)

i think i saw a thread on here offering duped raymonds and sherbs a while back ;u;


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## Underneath The Stars (May 11, 2020)

do the campsite trick people! it's FREE.

time is not however, but you'll waste time anyway trying to get your dreamie. fyi, i have nothing against people buying their villager, it is what it is. i'd prefer to spend real life money on amiibo cards, but if they don't have then you're kinda left with no choice. at least the villagers never move out on their own now. so it's still like you have purchased them forever.


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## SheepMareep (May 11, 2020)

AndyP08 said:


> I have a question and please pardon my stupid for asking, but do duped villagers ever have glitches or bugs? While I think it can help players more easily obtain these villagers, is there a risk associated with it?


With this particular method the person used (explained in their twit thread) i dont think theres much, if any, risk. What they are doing is basically saving their game prior to raymond leaving, allowing someone else to pick him up--  triggering THEIR town to recieve him-- and then quitting the game after they leave and opening up their save point prior to him being picked by someone. So the other person's town still registers as them getting Raymond but the source town is at a point that he was never picked by anyone.
It's basically the same as if you were to pick him from anyone else's island. 
While it requires hacking the switch to do this, the person isnt directly duping in multiple Raymond's so his core coding is perfectly safe/fine.
If they were editing existing villagers to be raymond for an all raymond town then I'd be more concerned


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## kasane (May 12, 2020)

on one hand if enough people do it (or if they give away 100,000 raymonds) then it'll probably make all those greedy sellers phase out


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