# Villagers don't go into certain decorated areas of the island?



## LegallyBlondie (May 10, 2020)

Hey, I'm sure some of you have probably already noticed this, but it is rather bizarre in my opinion. As I have started decorating my island more and more, and made my gardens and added benches and bushes and hedges and outdoor furniture to certain areas, my villagers avoid those areas like the plague.

A good example would be a part of my town hall garden area which is fenced off with hedges, my villagers don't enter the square inside. They actually all seem to linger on the entrance of the hedges and don't go inside. When I push them to go inside, they immediately walk out back to the entrance.

Is there some kind of code or pathing in game that makes villagers avoid densely furnished areas?


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## lieryl (May 10, 2020)

yeah all my villagers just hang out at resident services T^T i can’t get them to go to my decorated areas


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## Aliya (May 10, 2020)

Yeah mine all hang out in front of the Residential District I set up where all of their houses are. There's a nice pond and picnic area just to the left of their houses that they don't touch ever.


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## tobi! (May 10, 2020)

my villagers have no problem getting to my decorated areas. 

are your decorated areas away from their homes? i find the closer the area is to their homes, the more likely they'll use it.


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## SaltedKaramel (May 10, 2020)

I noticed this too. When I finished building my outdoor Chinese restaurant a week ago, i haven't seen a single villager there chilling. Really sad because I have all these imperial table out but they're all empty


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## Imbri (May 10, 2020)

Weird. Mine pop up everywhere. The only place they don't go is on my 3rd cliff, which does not have any access except a ladder. It's where I keep flowers I'm breeding for hybrids.


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## Envy (May 10, 2020)

I never see them in the entrance of my town despite it being the nicest decorated area IMO. I noticed over time it might be because they might not be able to get through it (it requires some scooting)... But then yesterday I saw a villager scoot through something elsewhere in the island so I don't know what to think.


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## marea (May 10, 2020)

I noticed that the RS building is a big attraction spot, it is in the lower part of my island. My villagers always stay there even if their houses are on the upper part of the map. they do sometimes wander to other parts but not as much.


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## shirocha (May 10, 2020)

In the beginning I would see my villagers all over the island, but once I started putting down paths via terraforming, I only see them in areas connected to the paths.


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## Blink. (May 10, 2020)

I added a nice little park and benches around the flower garden near their homes :<

_why don't ya'll sit there and dance there instead of town hall please. I wanna take screenies_


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## RisingSun (May 10, 2020)

Interesting.  I have decorated areas and have seen my villagers use them.  I wonder if it because I have them connected by paths.  I’ve even seen them up on the northern beach.


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## Candy83 (May 10, 2020)

Imbri said:


> Weird. Mine pop up everywhere. The only place they don't go is on my 3rd cliff, which does not have any access except a ladder. It's where I keep flowers I'm breeding for hybrids.



My island has inclines to go up to all levels. This includes the third level (which is where the human characters live).


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## Ananas Dragon (May 10, 2020)

I decorated something next to resident services, sometimes they chill there, and then the wild marshal is always on the beach for some reason


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## Loriii (May 10, 2020)

They seem to go and annoy you while you're decorating a specific spot haha but other than that, I'm glad that I see them hanging out everywhere apart from RS especially the places that have been decorated. I made sure to put inclines on higher spots so yeah, for example, Whitney's house is located on the east and yet, I see her hanging out with Audie near the beach bar or my cafe near the heart pond on the west side. Also, some villagers have their own areas like Lily's house has this little picnic area with bamboo so just this morning, I caught her sitting there while reading a book.


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## DJStarstryker (May 10, 2020)

My villagers wander all around for me. The only place they haven't hung out is my onsen area, but you currently can't get to that without a vaulting pole. Villagers won't go anywhere that requires a vaulting pole or ladder.


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## cainhurst (May 10, 2020)

shirocha said:


> In the beginning I would see my villagers all over the island, but once I started putting down paths via terraforming, I only see them in areas connected to the paths.



I've just restarted my island a few days ago so I'll have to see if this stays the case for me, but on my previous island, I noticed this as well. If I had pathing down that definitively connected certain areas, the villagers seemed drawn to that (less so if I was just dotting it around) - but I also saw mine on bridges frequently, so I wonder if those features are what draw them.


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## Chris (May 10, 2020)

Mine seem to favour decorated areas. They're all close to their houses.

They avoid my campsite area (makes sense, because it is deliberately hard to get to / out of the way) and don't cross my largest river.


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## Garrett (May 10, 2020)

No, mine travel all over the island and happily go within partially fenced areas and interact with anything I've used to decorate. Their favourite spot is sitting at the table in my fenced garden.


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## sdw4527 (May 10, 2020)

I notice they tend to stick to areas with paths. I also notice they tend to avoid areas in the northern sections of my map. There’s paths there, but they generally hang out in the bottom portion where my shopping district is.


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## LegallyBlondie (May 10, 2020)

Thanks all, I will add more paths as I think this may be the reason why they are avoiding certain areas as opposed to others.


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## Nooblord (May 10, 2020)

My villagers never explores the northwest part of my island. I have villagers that cross the island to get to a rural area to the northeast with no paths and it’s mostly just trees and flowers.


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## senbeiiscool (May 10, 2020)

It's very strange. My museum and outside library are literally 2 steps away from each other... my villagers love to hang out at the library but none will touch the library. Which makes me kinda sad cause my villagers love to read and I made it for them D:


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## Etown20 (May 10, 2020)

I have my houses spread out, and it seems rare that villagers from the left side of the map come over to the right side and vice versa, even though there are paths and bridges everywhere. Thinking of moving my houses closer together.


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## kiyyie (May 10, 2020)

I made a neat little pizza diner behind resident services & to the right of my villager neighborhood but I never see a villager there. Makes me sad lol


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## kojuuro (May 10, 2020)

My villagers have started roaming my island a bit more after I put down paths, although they mostly prefer to stay at resident services.


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## Shyria (May 10, 2020)

Yeah it's interesting. Now that I'm thinking about it, I had an Asian themed area with a zen garden and a orchard on a cliff on the south west area of my island, and I've never seen a villager there. 
Recently I elevated everything into a cliff, put down some paths and relocated the museum around the zen garden, and today I've seen at least two villagers wandering around there. Maybe there's more chances of them roaming around places of interest/paths than if there's a whole space with no shops or predetermined paths? (As in, not customs)

Although I have seen a few villagers hang around my second orchard quite frequently, and there's nothing else up there


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## GEEBRASS (May 10, 2020)

I have a big wildflower nature trail I made that is the only place I had never seen any of my villagers in, and finally yesterday I saw Octavian in it twice. I was very happy to see him there!


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## Feraligator (May 10, 2020)

I think paths might be a big factor–I have an area that was pretty run down near the start of the game that I've cleared and made into a park. It has a path running through and I see villagers there all the time now, but before the path was there, it was a dead area.

Right now, villagers rarely go to the museum and campsite area. I've seen a villager by the museum like once, but I've literally never seen someone hang out by the campsite. There's no paths by the campsite so maybe that's a factor?
I've even seen villagers in my orchard (has a brick path running through) which is pretty out of the way, but my campsite area is near the residential area...

They always hang about around the town hall though.


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## Shyria (May 10, 2020)

JezDayy said:


> I think paths might be a big factor–I have an area that was pretty run down near the start of the game that I've cleared and made into a park. It has a path running through and I see villagers there all the time now, but before the path was there, it was a dead area.
> 
> Right now, villagers rarely go to the museum and campsite area. I've seen a villager by the museum like once, but I've literally never seen someone hang out by the campsite. There's no paths by the campsite so maybe that's a factor?
> .



Same!! I've never seen a villager near my campsite, and I have a path leading to it + the ground is dirt path...

Maybe they fear they'll run into someone who'll kick them out hehe

[EDIT] Nevermind, seems like Lionel wanted to make me lie so he went and enjoyed a soda sitting at the log table at my camping area


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## Nefarious (May 10, 2020)

Villagers like to hang around mostly near their homes and around Residential Services. Sometimes they'll feel adventurous and venture out far from their usual spots. Paths do help them venture out more. Hardly anyone walks around the farm area and my personal mountain area though, because they're away from where the villagers live and are without paths.


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## moon_child (May 10, 2020)

This is the reason why I don’t want neighborhoods. Although I noticed they seem to walk around more in NH compared to NL but I was still very cautious when I was town planning. In NL, they barely go to areas far from their houses and I assumed it could be the same in NH so when I planned out my island, I didn’t want a neighborhood and decided to scatter them all around basically so no part of my island will have unused attractions. So far, so good. All my areas are well utilized so far.


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## Fridaynightcatlady (May 10, 2020)

That’s odd. I actually see all my villagers move around my island. They’ve been to every spot so far. They do hang around _the most_ near the plaza. But that hasn’t kept them from going everywhere else. That’s actually something I really like about NH. I feel like in previous games they’d rarely move from their radius


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## seularin (May 10, 2020)

my babies just hang out at weird places,, found zucker having a sitting party behind a tree at my unfinished cafe on the hill


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## Clock (May 10, 2020)

Most of my villagers go around resident services and decorated areas, although they go on the cliff with no incline or bridge. They usually show up near their house sometimes and they barely go to the hot springs area.


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## Antonio (May 10, 2020)

All these jock villagers showing off their muscle when they won't even go 2 feet from their house.


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## trashpedia (May 10, 2020)

Yeah I think having paths around will help bring villagers to move around the island. I even had villagers pop up near the front of my house (which is far away from everyone else) because of the paths.


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## issh0mans (May 10, 2020)

i made a cute little karaoke spot for my villagers to sing at near the able sisters but they refuse to use it and only sing at the plaza : (​


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## CrankyCupcake (May 10, 2020)

JezDayy said:


> I think paths might be a big factor–I have an area that was pretty run down near the start of the game that I've cleared and made into a park. It has a path running through and I see villagers there all the time now, but before the path was there, it was a dead area.



This!

Villagers walk on and follow paths. So be sure to lay down paths to all the areas you want them to visit and they will. I believe they will still explore where there are no paths but I've noticed in my own game that, very often, they tend to follow paths.


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## Rosch (May 10, 2020)

Same observation here. My villagers live on the right side of my island and I rarely see them wander off to the left side where most of my decorations and terraforming are located.

Sometimes I couldn't help but think of moving 3-4 houses on that side just so it would become populated for the heck of it.

But yeah, I agree about paths. They do like to follow it.


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## N a t (May 10, 2020)

to be honest my previous villagers wouldn't venture far from their homes, resident services, or the dirt paths i laid out...


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## Underneath The Stars (May 11, 2020)

they pop up EVERYWHERE except the zen area & outdoor club LOL i created, in hopes that some of them would sing K.K. bossa there 

to be fair the zen area is pretty far, but the outdoor club i made is just behind residential services and next to the market district


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## bepsiiii (May 11, 2020)

actually when i think about it.... all my villagers just walk around their home area, the flower garden sometimes (right beside the houses) and stay near the plaza. I have paths at the museum area (second cliff) and the zen area.

some do show up by my house (third cliff, no paths, use qr paths) so i dunno if its the paths? might look into it to see if there's a reason (i do have a lot of trees and bushes...). would love to see them by the zen area to relax


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## Khaelis (May 11, 2020)

It could just be a pathing issue. Pathing AI can be incredibly dumb at times.


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## BubbleBlowinDoubleBaby (May 11, 2020)

Same.. I made a really nice park area with pathing and everything, but I've never seen any of them hang out there. A market, music, sitting areas, the works.. none of them go there.


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## Underneath The Stars (May 11, 2020)

thinking about it... could it be because my zen & music/club area were fenced around? there's paths to it though, even connected to the main path from "main road", but i switched the path design ofc to match the theme. not sure that is an issue.


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## Bugs (May 11, 2020)

I've noticed that the more I terraform the more villagers will show up in places they never did before.

For example, the first thing I did when I got terraforming was make an experimental waterfall with a lake and stepping stones not far from my house. At first none of them went there, or even to the side of the island that it was on (granted all my villagers pretty much live on the western side of the island)

However, yesterday I started messing with that area again a good month after not touching it at all and villagers just... Decided they like that area now and won't leave it alone, they wander all the way over the beach, walk between the cliffs in the little alleyways I've made, *and I haven't put any furniture or paths down yet in that area*

that's the part I find most strange, cause I thought they were attracted to paths and furniture, but in starting to think it's more complicated than that.

This also happened to the northmost part of my island, even the villager who lived there never explored it until I started terraforming it more.


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## Sami (May 11, 2020)

It's been a pretty big bummer for me because I made a fairly large arcade on the second level of my island, right behind the neighborhood I created. There's a step stone like dirt path leading up there and a bridge of course, but no one ever goes up to check anything out. I wonder if furniture being too crowded makes a difference to them? Like,  even though I can interact with stuff and use seats,  maybe more space between objects would make them more likely to visit? I'm not really sure what's up.


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