I learned a lot about TT and villagers moving today...

[Mookie]

Part 1:

Today I swapped games from my TT village to my main and made a huge mistake...I changed the month but not the day, causing my main town to go back ten days. Now, I've heard from several people that you can't lose villagers by going backwards, but that is not true. When the game loaded, Isabelle said Jay will be moving out today. It was 5AM and I looked at his home. He was asleep, so I figured I could talk him out of it. I go on landscaping and making paths, as I like to do this at "night" so I'm not pinged or sent on errands. Well, at 6AM his house disappeared.
So, yes you can lose a villager by time travelling backwards, and "today" goes to 5:59AM, "tomorrow" begins at 6AM.

Gonna miss you, Jay bro. You'll be welcomed back with open arms when I cycle through a few.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Part 2: Later that day, Olaf tells me he's moving. Finally. He said it would be in five days. Wanting to get him out ASAP, but not wanting to mess with the date, I tried moving the time back to 5:59 four times and let the day refresh. Bingo, he's in boxes. So, he said he would leave on the 12th, but actually moved on the 7th just by tweaking the time and restarting the day.

I apologize if I'm reposting common knowledge, this was new for me.

 

[mistakenolive]

..and this is why I don't TT o.0 I know I would mess it up so bad.

 

[radical6]

when you tt back, you wont lose villagers.
but if a villager is thinking about moving and will move in 5 days, if you tt back 5 days then yes they will move.
(every day you tt back or foward counts as one)

 

[Snow]

tting backwards only counts as one day, not the number of days you jump -- if someone is leaving in 5 days and you go forward 4 and back 7, that equals five days and they leave.

Most likely, Jay was planning to move and no-one ever told you. If you'd gone back within the same day to an earlier time you'd have seen him in boxes, but once they're in boxes there's nothing you can do. It happens even to people who never tt. Sometimes you just never talked to the right person to get the gossip.

 

[JKDOS]

You shouldnt wait until 6:00Am, thats the next day, so of course he moved out. If you want to keep a villager in your town, dont load the game a day after they leave. If a villager says he will move out on October 5th, and you stop playing on october 4 for 1 month,

Issebelle will say 'It's November 4 2013, shall we get started?", tell her no and that it's really October 5th. You will find that the villager is still there ready to move. Just NEVER get to October 6 after 5:59AM or any time and day afterwards

EDIT: The game counts days passed after loading the game. If you play the next day after a month, it only counts as 1 day. If you play the same day, it counts as only the same day

 

[radical6]

tting backwards only counts as one day, not the number of days you jump -- if someone is leaving in 5 days and you go forward 4 and back 7, that equals five days and they leave.

eh, really? when i tt a lot and i have someone moving in 5 days, i usually just tt back 5 days and theyre in boxes.

 

[Filly]

tting backwards only counts as one day, not the number of days you jump -- if someone is leaving in 5 days and you go forward 4 and back 7, that equals five days and they leave.

Most likely, Jay was planning to move and no-one ever told you. If you'd gone back within the same day to an earlier time you'd have seen him in boxes, but once they're in boxes there's nothing you can do. It happens even to people who never tt. Sometimes you just never talked to the right person to get the gossip.

This. The guide that's widely shared on these forums should be updated to include the crucial fact that going backwards any number of days does in fact count as one day "forward" in that sense. In fact, I TT 1 day forward, talk to my safety nets, then TT 1 day back, and talk to my safety nets, rather than constantly going forward. Gives the same results but prevents me from ending up months ahead.

 

[Snow]

eh, really? when i tt a lot and i have someone moving in 5 days, i usually just tt back 5 days and theyre in boxes.

In my 2nd town I only tt to move villagers in or out (my friends and I transfer villagers back and forth). I don't tt past the present day so I have to go back regularly, and I've carefully counted the days when someone is moving to make sure I don't lose anyone. No matter how I do it, going back always counts as one day in game play, I've never had any accidental move-outs.

 

[Boccages]

..and this is why I don't TT o.0 I know I would mess it up so bad.

I don't time travel either. I did it once to see how the resetting trick worked and only time travelled about 24 hours... Big error. It was in the middle of the week. Once I travelled back in time to the current date, all my turnips had gone bad.

 

[Filly]

Once I travelled back in time to the current date, all my turnips had gone bad.

Joan does warn you that turnips and time travel don't mix. :l

 

[Boccages]

Joan does warn you that turnips and time travel don't mix. :l

Yes. But I thought 24 hours...

I'm opposed to time travelling anyways on the principle that it is not how the game is designed to be played.