# How To Not Lose Villagers When You're Away



## Hypno KK (Aug 1, 2014)

I've seen several threads about this over the last few days, maybe because it's summer and so many people get distracted by vacations. I decided to make this guide to help anyone who doesn't want to lose villagers after taking a break from the game, either planned or unplanned. 

It's probably common knowledge to a bunch of you but it may help all the people who have issues with this.

If you know you're going to be away:

If you're going somewhere and you know you won't be taking your 3DS or if you know you're going to be too busy to play, you can just prevent villagers from moving. It's easy.


On the last day you play, deny someone's request to move. 

It's just that simple. The principle is that when you deny someone's request to move, nobody will try to move again until you play the game. This works for TTing too. I always TT using the 3DS clock so for what the game knows, the time I say has passed actually has passed. I can confirm this works the regular way too because whenever I take breaks from the game this is what I do. I've seen people ask if this works only for TTing or if it works in normal time, and I have to say the reason why it works for both is that TTing is just normal time sped up.

If you didn't know you were going to be away:

If you forgot your 3DS at home during vacation or were just too busy to play, don't despair because you can still prevent the game from moving out characters. This is a bit more involved than the above, but will work just as well. It just requires some patience and care.

NOTE: Just do NOT load the game as your mayor when you decide to go back to your game. If you do, any missing villagers will be lost. Just do the steps below first.

1. When you decide to go back to playing, start the game as a new side character (not a new mayor, just a new playable character in your town). The answers you give Rover during the train sequence don't matter because you won't have to keep this character anyway.

2. When you arrive at the station, Porter will give you the town map and tell you to go to the town hall. Do NOT go to the town hall. Just check the map carefully and see if any villagers are missing from it.

3. (If you want to be extra careful, optional.) Go around your town. Do NOT go to the town hall anyway. Just visit all the villagers who are at home and check if they are in boxes. If there are villagers you can't visit because they're outside, don't worry. That means they aren't in boxes anyway because they don't go outside if they are (as far as I know).

4. If any villagers are missing or in boxes, quit without saving.

5. Go to your 3DS settings and adjust the calendar to the date you last played. This will trick the game into thinking that you're still on the date you last played. NOTE: If you can't remember when that was, check your 3DS activity log.

6. Open your game and load as your mayor. You should be on the date you last saved.

7. Using your mayor, go talk to your villagers, especially the one who was missing in the present (I think that will always be the one who asks you to move, at least in my experience both TTing and not). See if they ping you and ask you to move. If they don't ping you, talk to them a few times, some 5-6 times and see if they mention that they or someone else wants to move. If they still don't talk about moving, save and quit. Reload the game as your mayor again (still on that date) and repeat this over and over.

8. If after a few tries nobody asks to move or doesn't ping you, though they should, save and quit. Set the calendar to the next day and repeat step #7 again. Do this day by day until someone does ask to move. NOTE: If nobody's asking on the first or second day, try to find out if there's an event coming up. That usually prevents villagers from pinging you. If this is the case, it's best to know sooner rather than later, to avoid accidentally moving out villagers.

9. Turn down that villager's request to move. Save and quit.

10. Set your 3DS calendar to your current date again. You can now safely load the game as your mayor. Nobody will have moved because on the date you technically last played you refused a request to move. This is the same principle as outlined in the "if you know you're going to be away section" so you can read it if you're wondering about that.

Now you're set, and you can play your game as normal with your villagers!

If you have 4 characters:
If you have four characters, you can't check ahead who's missing. You'll have to go back to the date you last played and play each day or two until a villager pings you and asks you to move. After you say no, you'll be able to save your game and set the date to whatever you want.

Other notes:
? *If you don't know how to check your 3DS activity log:* go to your 3DS home menu. Scroll through the different apps. One of them will be called activity log. On the bottom screen, choose "daily records" and then "play time". You can then use the little slider to go through each day or use the calendar button on the touch screen if it was a long time ago. The date you last played in will have graph bars and indicate the names of the games. 
?? *The 3DS log records the date using your 3DS calendar and clock.* If you had a different time or date in game, the game will automatically calculate that. This way, when you go to the date you last played in, you don't need to remember the date in your game. For example, if you were 10 days behind in your game, you only need to set the 3DS calendar back to the actual date you last played in, not 10 days before that. 
? *If you don't know how to check your 3DS calendar:* on the 3DS home menu, scroll through the items until you find the system settings one. Choose "other settings" and then "date and time". It will let you change the calendar and the clock of your 3DS.
?? *Keep in mind that your 3DS calendar and clock affect other games and your activity log.* If you're playing other games that register things like that, don't forget to change it back before playing it (and to research whether the change will affect it at all). If you don't want your activity log to reflect false data (such as saying you played for extra time on the date you last played), don't do this. Personally, I think this is a very minor thing and it's worth not losing villagers unexpectedly.


----------



## moonchu (Aug 1, 2014)

this is great. i tend to grow a bit nervous about leaving my game for a few days, so this will come in handy in the future. thank you.


----------



## FireNinja1 (Aug 1, 2014)

Glad someone finally wrote a formal guide for this. Knew it already for awhile now, but it's still good that everything needed has been compiled into one post. Great job!


----------



## ellabella12345 (Aug 1, 2014)

nvm


----------



## Jam Colour Crystal (Aug 1, 2014)

Thank you!!!


----------



## mortimae (Aug 1, 2014)

Thank you for this guide, it really helps.


----------



## Skep (Aug 1, 2014)

I just want to say that this is a phenomenal post, I never knew that it was possible to do those things. Kudos!


----------



## Chibi.Hoshi (Aug 1, 2014)

Someone finally did a guide for this haha, thank you.


----------



## Vizionari (Aug 2, 2014)

wow great guide! about time someone made this


----------



## Hypno KK (Aug 2, 2014)

Thanks everyone! I'm glad this is helpful!


----------



## Hoppy~Shnell (Aug 2, 2014)

Does the same principle apply when someone is in boxes?


----------



## Hypno KK (Aug 4, 2014)

Hoppy~Shnell said:


> Does the same principle apply when someone is in boxes?



I don't understand your question and if you're asking about villagers in boxes when you go away or when you go back. I'll explain both, let me know if your question was something else entirely.

If a villager is in boxes on the day you stop playing: you can still lose villagers while you're away. An important principle to remember is that the reason why villagers move away when you're gone, is that time goes on normally within the game and villagers would ping you if you were playing but since you're not they'll automatically leave. Nobody moves out while a villager is in boxes. However, villagers are only in boxes for about a day and they're gone after that. This means that on the days following a villager moving out, the others will once again go back to normal in deciding to move out. The only effect that a villager being in boxes when you leave has on your game is simply giving you one less day to worry about but it doesn't make much of a difference. 

If a villager is in boxes when you come back: the same applies to what I said about a villager being gone from the map. You should always check first with a new character, quit without saving, TT back, then use your mayor to keep your villager from moving. It's the same thing. It might help you calculate the day on a villager would ping you, but to be on the safe side it's still a good idea to TT back all the day to the date you last played.

I hope this answers your question.


----------



## Sinistrum (Aug 4, 2014)

Thank you so much for this advice - losing one of my villagers ever since has been one of my biggest fears so I felt compelled to play on a daily basis in order to prevent a villager from moving away. But with this "If-one’s-moving-away-attempt-was-denied-on-last-day-played,-one-is-assured"-trick you mentioned I feel much more comfortable now.
Really, again, thank you very much.


----------



## Hypno KK (Aug 7, 2014)

Sinistrum said:


> Thank you so much for this advice - losing one of my villagers ever since has been one of my biggest fears so I felt compelled to play on a daily basis in order to prevent a villager from moving away. But with this "If-one’s-moving-away-attempt-was-denied-on-last-day-played,-one-is-assured"-trick you mentioned I feel much more comfortable now.
> Really, again, thank you very much.



No problem! I'm so glad it's helped you and your reply means a lot.  I like to take breaks from the game and I'd hate to lose a villager without saying goodbye so I figured I'd share the methods I use to prevent it.


----------



## Hypno KK (Nov 13, 2014)

Bumping! Questions and Suggestions are very welcome.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I've been planning on writing a separate section about villagers in boxes since it depends so much on the situation and what you want to do with that villager (void them or keep them), by the way.


----------



## Dewy (Nov 13, 2014)

Just wanted to say that I've used this method many times (sometimes for long periods) and it's very reliable. It always works!
Thanks for writing up a guide, that was a great idea c:

Also: I've heard that no villagers will move out as long as no one is thinking of moving. So even if you stop playing on a day when you haven't denied a move request, as long as no one is thinking about moving out soon then no one will move while you're away. This guide is an easy way to check if someone's moving.
I haven't been brave enough to try this yet (I always wait for the moving ping before going on hiatus), but I plan to try it eventually and see if it works too.

I'm pretty sure the game mechanics about villagers moving work sort of like this:
A villager can only decide they want to move out while you're actively playing the game. So if you don't load up the game one day, no one will want to move unless they had already wanted to move from the day before.
This is why when people stop playing they _never_ lose more than one villager. The villager that left while they were away had already been planning on moving since the last time they played and they just didn't realize it.

^^


----------



## Hypno KK (Nov 13, 2014)

Dewy said:


> Also: I've heard that no villagers will move out as long as no one is thinking of moving. So even if you stop playing on a day when you haven't denied a move request, as long as no one is thinking about moving out soon then no one will move while you're away. This guide is an easy way to check if someone's moving.
> I haven't been brave enough to try this yet (I always wait for the moving ping before going on hiatus), but I plan to try it eventually and see if it works too.



Thanks!

Let us know if you end up testing this. I've heard that too, but I've never tried it. Sometimes there are villagers who are thinking of moving in my town and ping me later, but the other villagers don't mention it. I guess that maybe you need to talk to a few villagers several times to be really sure? I don't know, but it's just seemed too risky to me, so I'd love it if someone who can do it tests it and tells us how it went.


----------



## Campy (Nov 13, 2014)

Great to finally see a guide for this, thank you for writing that all up!


----------



## Hypno KK (Nov 13, 2014)

Campy said:


> Great to finally see a guide for this, thank you for writing that all up!



No problem! I wrote it months ago when many people were asking about it, but I thought bumping it was in order since the question came up in another thread.


----------



## Campy (Nov 13, 2014)

Laser Beams said:


> No problem! I wrote it months ago when many people were asking about it, but I thought bumping it was in order since the question came up in another thread.


Oh pfft, I didn't even notice this thread was originally created in August. There still seems to be a lot of people who don't know about these simple tricks so bumping it was definitely a good idea. I'll be sure to refer people to this guide as well from now on.


----------



## Hypno KK (Nov 13, 2014)

Campy said:


> Oh pfft, I didn't even notice this thread was originally created in August. There still seems to be a lot of people who don't know about these simple tricks so bumping it was definitely a good idea. I'll be sure to refer people to this guide as well from now on.



Thanks!  And don't worry about not seeing it before, it's really easy to miss threads because the forum moves so fast.


----------



## marcko0412 (Nov 13, 2014)

So just to conifrm... say I deny a move request today, does that allow me to TT 1-2 months forward without having to worry?


----------



## SoSu (Nov 13, 2014)

marcko0412 said:


> So just to conifrm... say I deny a move request today, does that allow me to TT 1-2 months forward without having to worry?



Yes, it does Nice guide, btw!


----------



## Hypno KK (Nov 14, 2014)

^ Thanks! 



marcko0412 said:


> So just to conifrm... say I deny a move request today, does that allow me to TT 1-2 months forward without having to worry?



Yes, like SoSu said.  The same principle applies to time travelling, especially if you're using the 3DS calendar (that's how I usually time travel, myself). I've gone back or forward years and months because of things like events this way.


----------



## undadac (Mar 24, 2015)

here you say 5. Go to your 3DS settings and adjust the calendar to the date you last played. This will trick the game into thinking that you're still on the date you last played. NOTE: If you can't remember when that was, check your 3DS activity log.

well... my ads activity log only goes to 1/1/2011... and i still have no records of the last time i played animal crossing because it was before 1/1/12011 oh my shoot.. what in goshes name do i do now? anicking:


----------



## Hypno KK (Mar 24, 2015)

undadac said:


> here you say 5. Go to your 3DS settings and adjust the calendar to the date you last played. This will trick the game into thinking that you're still on the date you last played. NOTE: If you can't remember when that was, check your 3DS activity log.
> 
> well... my ads activity log only goes to 1/1/2011... and i still have no records of the last time i played animal crossing because it was before 1/1/12011 oh my shoot.. what in goshes name do i do now? anicking:



I don't think that's possible since the earliest release date for ACNL was November 2012 in Japan. Did you have your 3DS date changed in general?


----------



## Silversea (Mar 24, 2015)

Good for you putting this together. It's been needed in a complete public format for some time.


----------



## Silas James Reel (Mar 24, 2015)

If you have 4 characters, you can still do the reverse plot reset trick.  Delete a non-mayor one.


----------



## Hypno KK (Mar 24, 2015)

Silversea said:


> Good for you putting this together. It's been needed in a complete public format for some time.



Thanks! 

- - - Post Merge - - -



Silas James Reel said:


> If you have 4 characters, you can still do the reverse plot reset trick.  Delete a non-mayor one.



I think people who were asking about it were people who had 4 characters they didn't want to delete, like path holding characters.


----------



## ALananhR (Mar 24, 2015)

Is there any way you can keep villagers from moving away if you wish to TT for large amounts of time(a month or longer)?


----------



## Hypno KK (Mar 24, 2015)

ALananhR said:


> Is there any way you can keep villagers from moving away if you wish to TT for large amounts of time(a month or longer)?



Yes, the thing I said in the first part of the post applies to time travelling as well (see the note under the "if you know you're going to be away" section for details). Deny a villager's request to move and then you can safely time travel forward any amount of time. I've tested this using the 3DS calendar but I believe it applies to time travelling by changing the game's calendar with Isabelle, though.


----------



## Freya (Mar 24, 2015)

Thanks for the great guide!


----------



## Beardo (Mar 24, 2015)

Omg you're a life saver!


----------



## Hypno KK (Mar 25, 2015)

No problem, I'm glad you like it!


----------



## Hypno KK (Sep 4, 2015)

I'm bumping this since I've noticed some people asking these types of questions lately.


----------



## cornimer (Sep 4, 2015)

This is a really useful guide, thanks!


----------



## Hypno KK (Sep 4, 2015)

VanessaMay18 said:


> This is a really useful guide, thanks!



No problem!


----------



## Minni (Sep 4, 2015)

wow i never thought this was possible!


----------



## Megan. (Sep 5, 2015)

Thanks so much for this. I was dreading TTing slowly to get to the current date, haha.


----------



## daynapapaya (Sep 6, 2015)

This is wonderful, thank you so much for posting this! I teach full time and I can get really busy during the school year, so sometimes I end up unintentionally neglecting my towns. This way, I won't lose any of my favorite villagers. Thanks!


----------



## demondays (Jan 21, 2019)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I've been in a really big acnl slump recently where I never feel like playing anymore, so this guide is a lifesaver! (I just hope that it still works after the update but I'm guessing that it does, I can't see why they would change something like that)


----------

