Leaving quietly can wipe your save data?

[Bcat]

Personally, I feel like this is a consequence of Nintendo rushing the game. It clearly wasn’t in a finished state when it was released and they probably didn’t do near enough playtesting with the multiplayer aspects.

This genuinely upsets me since online play has always been one the biggest aspects of the animal crossing experience, and one of my personal favorites. Nintendo clearly wants us to trade with others, considering how difficult it is to acquire foreign fruit on your own, and how they limit the colors of certain furniture that you can buy/order. Yet online play in new horizons is one of the clunkiest experiences in any animal crossing game to date. As nice as the addition of dodo codes for quick trading and visiting is, having everybody on the island be forced to stop what they’re doing to sit behind a loading screen every time somebody comes or goes is ridiculous. Anyone who’s hosted or has been to a town hosting a large group knows exactly how frustrating this is.

this glitch is an even bigger slap in the face considering the fact that we can’t use cloud saves despite the fact that we’re paying for them with a Nintendo online subscription.

~Pardon my rant. Letting people come to my island for villager crafting and special visitors is one of my favorite things to do in this game, and it’s super frustrating that now I have to worry about my 200+ hour island potentially being corrupted just because some people can’t follow directions and leave via the airport. It’s also frustrating that this is even a problem to worry about in the first place.

 

[Khaelis]

Personally, I feel like this is a consequence of Nintendo rushing the game. It clearly wasn’t in a finished state when it was released and they probably didn’t do near enough playtesting with the multiplayer aspects.

This genuinely upsets me since online play has always been one the biggest aspects of the animal crossing experience, and one of my personal favorites. Nintendo clearly wants us to trade with others, considering how difficult it is to acquire foreign fruit on your own, and how they limit the colors of certain furniture that you can buy/order. Yet online play in new horizons is one of the clunkiest experiences in any animal crossing game to date. As nice as the addition of dodo codes for quick trading and visiting is, having everybody on the island be forced to stop what they’re doing to sit behind a loading screen every time somebody comes or goes is ridiculous. Anyone who’s hosted or has been to a town hosting a large group knows exactly how frustrating this is.

this glitch is an even bigger slap in the face considering the fact that we can’t use cloud saves despite the fact that we’re paying for them with a Nintendo online subscription.

~Pardon my rant. Letting people come to my island for villager crafting and special visitors is one of my favorite things to do in this game, and it’s super frustrating that now I have to worry about my 200+ hour island potentially being corrupted just because some people can’t follow directions and leave via the airport. It’s also frustrating that this is even a problem to worry about in the first place.

The game was delayed so the employees could take their time and relax with developement, so it's litte ignorant to call the game rushed. The game is clearly polished, it just has some unfortunate kinks they've slowly been ironing out with updates, just like any other Nintendo title.

 

[Dormire]

No worries! I edited it c: Not sure how to pin things but I added it to the first post.

Thank you so much! I hope it helps tbh. I really can't explain properly while trying not to cause panic. To think it hasn't been fixed when it's now May, I can't imagine how many save files have to be lost in order for Nintendo to notice.

The only thing I can think of is it being a read/write error caused when it rolls back to the previous save causing some sort of error. The community needs to get Nintendo to know about this error because while communities like this can enforce things that (hopefully) prevent it, it isn't something that everyone can do all the time.

For myself, my internet is not the most stable and it doesn't help I'm forced on a WiFi connection that likes to drop occasionally (Trust me, I've suffered far too many of Nintendo's "YOU DEFINITELY DID THAT ON PURPOSE!! TWO HOUR BAN!!" punishments...) and while I'm not entirely sure if a disconnection can cause it, what if it does?

I really don't wanna be known as that guy who's cruddy Internet erased someone's save file.

Yeah, I thought so too...I really thought it was weird for the JP Ninty rep to mention "have to have a good connection" thingy on the previous post I translated earlier. It made me assume the multiplayer save was being downloaded and not saved in the RAM of the Switch? Why would you need a good connection to complete a save cycle safely? My friend found it really odd.

Agreed. I can't carry the guilt of causing data loss lol. Philippine internet is not exactly "stellar"... Latency problems and all since we're P2P and not being hosted in a server.

The game was delayed so the employees could take their time and relax with developement, so it's litte ignorant to call the game rushed. The game is clearly polished, it just has some unfortunate kinks they've slowly been ironing out with updates, just like any other Nintendo title.

Agree here too. There was a big gigantic mess with Fire Emblem Three Houses' saving system that softbricks your game. Nintendo really overlooked the multiplayer aspect of this game but other than that, the staff is trying their best to fix it as soon as they can. Not perfect, but they're trying.

 

[Bcat]

The game was delayed so the employees could take their time and relax with developement, so it's litte ignorant to call the game rushed. The game is clearly polished, it just has some unfortunate kinks they've slowly been ironing out with updates, just like any other Nintendo title.

I know that the game was delayed to give the employees more time to work. what I’m saying is I think that they needed even more time. And although visually it’s gorgeous, it launched with a ton of features and iconic items from past games missing (Gracie furniture/clothing, rococo series+ others, diving, gyroids, the cafe, etc). Not to mention all of the glitches that were happening right out of the gate, and some of them are still happening now, like this one

I have no doubt that they intend to remedy these things with updates, as they have already by adding in Lief, Redd, and the art, but it’s frustrating to pay $60 for a game that’s riddled so many glitches, as is atypical of Nintendo, and to pay for an online service when online e play is so lackluster.

 

[Khaelis]

I know that the game was delayed to give them employees more time to work. what I’m saying is I think that they needed even more time. And although visually it’s gorgeous, it launched with a ton of features and iconic items from past games missing (Gracie furniture/clothing, rococo series+ others, diving, gyroids, the cafe, etc). Not to mention all of the glitches that were happening right out of the gate, and some of them are still happening now, like this one

I have no doubt that they intend to remedy these things with updates, as they have already by adding in Lief, Redd, and the art, but it’s frustrating to pay $60 for a game that’s riddled so many glitches, as is atypical of Nintendo, and to pay for an online service when online e play is so lackluster.

And have the Nintendo community (and AC community) go rabid over another delay? XD

 

[Bcat]

And have the Nintendo community (and AC community) go rabid over another delay? XD

lol if we didn’t have to deal with all this honestly yes. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this game. It’s an animal crossing game, how could I not? I’m just venting my frustrations a little

 

[Clock]

That’s just terrible to get a corrupted save when online, I‘m glad I hadn’t played online yet even though I was planning to, they should really fix this glitch.

 

[Khaelis]

lol if we didn’t have to deal with all this honestly yes. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this game. It’s an animal crossing game, how could I not? I’m just venting my frustrations a little

I'm sure once this issue becomes more well known and people start notifying Nintendo that this is a thing, they'll fix it in a timely manner just like the other annoying glitches they've patched.

Just got to give it time.

EDIT: by "well known", I'm talking about the fact that while you can definitely see there's an issue, there haven't been A LOT of instances of it. So far maybe.. 6 or so cases have been shown with image proof? It's not a lot, but still too many.

 

[Bcat]

Agree here too. There was a big gigantic mess with Fire Emblem Three Houses' saving system that softbricks your game. Nintendo really overlooked the multiplayer aspect of this game but other than that, the staff is trying their best to fix it as soon as they can. Not perfect, but they're trying.

yeah I definitely didn’t mean to disparage the employees at all, and if it seems like I did then I’m sorry. They’re doing their absolute best on the game I’m sure and working their asses off to give us a good experience. I just think that they needed another month or two to really fine-tune their user experience and knock some of these glitches out. That’s all

Post automatically merged: May 3, 2020

...although at the same time I’m also kind of glad that it came out when it did because I think that we all needed this with everything that’s happening in the world lol.

 

[Fluuffy]

Does this only happen after a mutiplayer online session or can this happen days and weeks after?

 

[cicely]

yeah I definitely didn’t mean to disparage the employees at all, and if it seems like I did then I’m sorry. They’re doing their absolute best on the game I’m sure and working their asses off to give us a good experience. I just think that they needed another month or two to really fine-tune their user experience and knock some of these glitches out. That’s all

Post automatically merged: May 3, 2020

...although at the same time I’m also kind of glad that it came out when it did because I think that we all needed this with everything that’s happening in the world lol.

Nah nothing you said sounded like you were disparaging the employees at all. I agree it feels that the game was rushed. It can be both things, that the employees were given more time to avoid crunch, AND that the game ended up being rushed out anyway to avoid angering fans who already felt impatient about waiting.
I mean, a game-breaking glitch isn't just a boo-boo.

 

[Dormire]

yeah I definitely didn’t mean to disparage the employees at all, and if it seems like I did then I’m sorry. They’re doing their absolute best on the game I’m sure and working their asses off to give us a good experience. I just think that they needed another month or two to really fine-tune their user experience and knock some of these glitches out. That’s all ✌

Post automatically merged: May 3, 2020

...although at the same time I’m also kind of glad that it came out when it did because I think that we all needed this with everything that’s happening in the world lol.

Don't worry, I didn't mean to discredit your feelings either, I'm just saying that there's always few lapses of judgement in regards to things like these. Honestly, it frustrates me to no end, reading JP tweets and people feeling very depressed about it. It's ok to feel mad while taking to account of the human mistakes of the devs at the same time. Don't feel wronged about it! ☺ I personally think they needed people and time to double check multiplayer aspects of ACNH as well.

Does this only happen after a mutiplayer online session or can this happen days and weeks after?

According to few testimonies, it tends to happen as soon as you reboot the game the next time (after doing multiplayer sessions), I have yet to know if it can affect it until later but for the meantime it seems to be dependent on when you boot the game next time after doing a multiplayer session (that caused the data error).

 

[AlyssaAC]

Dang, whenever my mom and I play together, we always use the minus button, but after learning this, I guess she and I will have to be more careful. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[Krissi2197]

According to few testimonies, it tends to happen as soon as you reboot the game the next time (after doing multiplayer sessions), I have yet to know if it can affect it until later but for the meantime it seems to be dependent on when you boot the game next time after doing a multiplayer session (that caused the data error).

That's what I don't understand... If the file corrupts, why doesn't it corrupt RIGHT AWAY? It must have something to do with the game saving AFTER the corruption happens.

I always get scared right before I turn my game on even if I know I didn't have a multiplayer session the previous day that went wrong :c

 

[Dormire]

That's what I don't understand... If the file corrupts, why doesn't it corrupt RIGHT AWAY? It must have something to do with the game saving AFTER the corruption happens.

I always get scared right before I turn my game on even if I know I didn't have a multiplayer session the previous day that went wrong :c

Me either. I think it's because it partially loaded your "local" (like the not-multiplayer save file) which kinda like balancing on a tightrope? It's half-ok and half-damaged, saving the entire thing would probably re-write your save data to the corrupted portion then fully. (Coding is finicky like that, one miss, affects a huge chunk of data.) I'm probably oversimplifying this, I'm not exactly a game dev but there should be a much more precise way of explaining this. If I had a spare Switch, I would like to test any possible way to recreate this error to pinpoint it's cause. Though that would mean someone else getting involved too. Which sucks.

 

[Chachamaru]

I had absolutely no idea about this and have been ending all my trading sessions with - for convenience. Oh my god is all I can say. How scary.. This is 100% confirmed real at this point? Not just people looking for clout on twitter? There was another made up rumor about corrupt data a day or two ago on there that got debunked if I recall.

Does Nintendo know about this? Was this a problem a few updates ago that has since been fixed? I personally have had absolutely no problems with the 20 something trades I have done like this, but now I will never do it again till even more clarification comes out.. How awful.

 

[brockbrock]

Wow, this is really awful. It's really scary when only a few people are experiencing it because the chance Nintendo will be motivated to do something about it surely is smaller. That's the reason the "I've Moved Out" glitch was fixed so quickly, because so many of us were experiencing it.

I hope it gets fixed. How terrible for those people who lost their saves.

 

[sdw4527]

I had absolutely no idea about this and have been ending all my trading sessions with - for convenience. Oh my god is all I can say. How scary.. This is 100% confirmed real at this point? Not just people looking for clout on twitter? There was another made up rumor about corrupt data a day or two ago on there that got debunked if I recall.

Does Nintendo know about this? Was this a problem a few updates ago that has since been fixed? I personally have had absolutely no problems with the 20 something trades I have done like this, but now I will never do it again till even more clarification comes out.. How awful.

Pretty sure all of this is just conjecture which is why it’s so scary. I’d rather there be a proven way to corrupt your save than it being unknown. There’s nothing concrete saying leaving quietly is 100% causing all the save corruptions just some conclusions people have drawn from similar events. I’ve seen a lot of talk about turning the game off on the title screen causes corruption too, but again unproven.

 

[Hay]

Hmm.. this is confirmed, right? I love testing glitches if need be c:

This is sad, and while this glitch is awful, what bothers me most is the stories people are sharing of other plays leaving through "-" even though they were told not to! Im tired of people not following rules.. it makes the game not fun to play with others. Its very rare here and Im so thankful for that but I just dont get it..

So with everyone clueless.. whats the next step? Not open islands as often?

 

[Dormire]

I had absolutely no idea about this and have been ending all my trading sessions with - for convenience. Oh my god is all I can say. How scary.. This is 100% confirmed real at this point? Not just people looking for clout on twitter? There was another made up rumor about corrupt data a day or two ago on there that got debunked if I recall.

Does Nintendo know about this? Was this a problem a few updates ago that has since been fixed? I personally have had absolutely no problems with the 20 something trades I have done like this, but now I will never do it again till even more clarification comes out.. How awful.

I doubt the people who reported this issue is looking for clout for something as dire as this. Animal Crossing is serious business to everyone esp. this pandemic, yes, there are people who look for clout but that's predominantly (or often found) on ENG twitter rather than JP. The JP community there are literally grieving at their save files and reading several tweets, people have lost motivation to even start.

If you do wish to know why it has more documented cases in JP, the turnip trading there is more preferred way to make bells than bug catching/fishing/fruit selling or whatever ENG people focus on mostly and turnip trading has to do with LOTS of people coming to an island. They can replicate the issue much more easier because they tend to dabble on multiplayer trades much more often than us. In fact, all my bells came from them.

If any of you all still doubt it despite the proofs presented in the first page, here's a collected blog post.

https://note.com/atsumorifashion/n/n2885299d977d

and a video proof included in that blog if people are too lazy to click on it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1250666455923699714

I really can not emphasize this enough; the uploader even say:

"If (you) think this is a hoax, perhaps,would a video convince (everyone)?
I'm getting an error trying to get through to Isabelle.
...I'm in a trauma right now.

I will observe this until Nintendo responds."

If you don't trust my translation, pop the tweet in Google Translate.

Every documented cases is there. Yes, it's not in English but we shouldn't brush this off. We really shouldn't. (also, Krissi, if you are around, could you also attach the blog and video proof? I'm sorry for bothering so much.)

snip

For your question:
1. Yes, Nintendo is aware but is absolutely clueless. (I translated someone contacting a Nintendo rep.)
2. No, This has been ongoing since April. Recent tweet being posted on May 1st.

So with everyone clueless.. whats the next step? Not open islands as often?

That is to avoid going to heavy traffic-islands. Turnip runs are risky. It's best we start a community to do turnip runs by small groups to isolate any cases of data error. It should lessen any high risk. If the session is having too many connection errors, it is best to focus on 1 by 1 if need be. Same applies to DIY gathering.

Also testing this would require a large group of dedicated players with spare Switches because I think risking your main save is a bad idea, and it might involve others as well.

Edit: Reworded a sentence. I apologize if I worded that too strongly earlier.