Custom design paths

[katineko]

Hi!

So I'm about to start up New Leaf after going a long time without playing. I'm really looking forward to revisiting, but there are a couple of things about decorating your town with qr custom patterns/paths that I don't remember much.

It seemed like every once in awhile in my old town, weeds, grass, villager's homes when they moved in, and other things popped up right over my path and ruined a few squares in the path, so I had to redo it. If this happens still, how could I prevent it?

I play New Horizons as well, and I know that you have a bit more control over your villagers in the game where in New Leaf, they can move into whatever spot they like. I heard somewhere that others have used custom paths to kind of gain a bit of control as to where a villagers house will appear. Is this true? Is it a good method? If so, how can I do this?

I would love to hear your advice and suggestions! Thank you in advance

 

[Faux]

Short answer bc I'm on mobile right now.
Place any path where you don't want villagers to go. They can't land on paths anymore.

 

[LadyDestani]

Yes, with the Welcome Amiibo update villagers will not place their houses on top of patterns unless there's nowhere else for them to go, so I used this to get all of my villagers' homes lined up the way I wanted them. I placed down custom patterns every two spaces around my whole town. Then, I just left 3x3 spaces open for my villagers' houses and they all plotted in the correct spots.

You do have to be careful because villagers will place their homes on trees and flowers, so make sure to put patterns properly throughout. Also, be careful that the 3x3 spaces you leave open are actually viable. If they are too close to a cliff or river, another building or PWP, the villager can't move there and will put there house anywhere.

If you only want to make sure your villagers don't put their houses in inconvenient places, like in front of bridges or other buildings, you can just block those areas with patterns.

 

[katineko]

Yes, with the Welcome Amiibo update villagers will not place their houses on top of patterns unless there's nowhere else for them to go, so I used this to get all of my villagers' homes lined up the way I wanted them. I placed down custom patterns every two spaces around my whole town. Then, I just left 3x3 spaces open for my villagers' houses and they all plotted in the correct spots.

You do have to be careful because villagers will place their homes on trees and flowers, so make sure to put patterns properly throughout. Also, be careful that the 3x3 spaces you leave open are actually viable. If they are too close to a cliff or river, another building or PWP, the villager can't move there and will put there house anywhere.

If you only want to make sure your villagers don't put their houses in inconvenient places, like in front of bridges or other buildings, you can just block those areas with patterns.

Thank you for the advice! So, can I basically surround my resident's services, museu, etc. With a single line of custom design panels, then I can place panels every 2 spaces? Ex:

XX XX XX and so on? (X being my panels). I may not be understanding the layout.

 

[LadyDestani]

Thank you for the advice! So, can I basically surround my resident's services, museu, etc. With a single line of custom design panels, then I can place panels every 2 spaces? Ex:

XX XX XX and so on? (X being my panels). I may not be understanding the layout.

The main thing is to make sure there are no 3x3 spaces without patterns. So I'll use X to represent patterns and 0 to represent open spots.

Something like this would be the minimum number of patterns required to keep a villager from moving into a space. But you can always add more just to be safe. I often do add more patterns around trees and flowers because they can deceive your eyes and make you think you've got everything covered well when you really haven't.
X00X00X00X
0000000000
X00X00X00X

If you have something like this, the villager can move into the space in the middle represented by 0's. I use this pattern layout for making sure a villager lands in the exact spot I want if I'm being very particular. But you have to make sure the rest of your town is covered as per the above example for this to work.
XXXXX
X000X
X000X
X000X
XXXXX

 

[katineko]

I think I understand. So the above pattern I would place on around areas I am particular about? Is this the one I use all over my town? What happens if I don't cover all of my town in the first pattern, and then use the second pattern you mentioned to put a villager in an exact spot? Is there an example picture I can see?

 

[LadyDestani]

Yes, the first pattern is the one I used all over town where I didn't want the villagers to place their houses. If you don't cover your entire town with the first pattern, then the villagers can move anywhere that isn't covered.

The second pattern is just one I used to help me visualize exactly where the house would sit.

I don't have pictures of my own that show this because my villagers have been settled for a long time, but here are some examples I found online.

This is how they covered their town in patterns:

This is where they want the villager to place their house:

 

[katineko]

Yes, the first pattern is the one I used all over town where I didn't want the villagers to place their houses. If you don't cover your entire town with the first pattern, then the villagers can move anywhere that isn't covered.

The second pattern is just one I used to help me visualize exactly where the house would sit.

I don't have pictures of my own that show this because my villagers have been settled for a long time, but here are some examples I found online.

This is how they covered their town in patterns:
View attachment 419585

This is where they want the villager to place their house:
View attachment 419583

Oh, okay! I get it now. Thank you for the examples

 

[titanium sparrow]

Oh wow that is super clever!