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.
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.
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.
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