So I’ve been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf in multiple hotels and then at the new apartment before we got internet because entertainment was going outside and playing 20 questions. I stumbled across a post on Facebook about a hacked town’s dream address. The town was desert themed and had palm trees and sand everywhere, which I thought was really interesting. Naturally, I love to design and these new possibilities instantly got me excited. A quick Google search pulled up multiple guides, which I read and gathered information from. I’m going to post my OWN guide, however, simply because I want the resource for myself in case I want to do this again later and forgotten how to. I’m going to make my guide easy to understand, with all the information in one place, so here it goes!
Quick Links: Leaf Tools, Acnl Editor, NLSE, Acre Editor, Cygnus (Under Step 3), Delia’s list of hex codes.
New Updates:
!Warning! Pattern/Error in new Acnl Update – So, since Acnl Editor updated today (September 19), I decided to try the new functions to see how they worked. I successfully created a mixed normal and perfect fruit tree, changed PwPs, and I enjoyed the new “larger” and more sleek design of the editor. However, I tried to upload a pattern for the first time and did not have success. Stupidly, I uploaded a pattern using a QR image. The result came up all glitchy-looking but I thought maybe that was a flaw with acnl editor. I saved and injected into my game and it did something gamebreaking. It created two mayors. My second character’s name was changed to question marks and a Chinese character, my town’s name was changed to question marks, and Isabelle recognized me, as well as my mayor character, as the mayor. I didn’t do too much fiddling as my “second mayor” because after I started up with her, I looked at my designs. All of the designs were changed to the glitchy-looking pattern and when I tried to select one, my game froze.
Having a second mayor interested me for a little bit, but after my screen froze I decided to scrape the idea completely. I tried to figure out if it was the pattern that caused this problem or not, so I uploaded the pattern as a acnl file into acnl editor. The pattern showed up correctly. I saved it and put it on my SD, then injected into my game. The injection didn’t seem to change anything and the only mayor it effected was the mayor I gave a new pattern. I can only assume that the pattern tool does not always work. I’m not willing to try again, however. Let this be a reminder to always save your most recent copy of your game! You may need it later.
Introduction and General Information
Hacking your acnl game allows you to edit almost anything in your town. You can change the layout, switch out villagers instantly, edit your home’s exterior and size instantly, spawn items, remove rocks, move buildings, and all of that jazz. Doing different things requires different programs, however. For example, if I wanted to start editing the landscape and design aspects of my town I’d need to have all my PwPs unlocked, which would require LeafTools. After that, I’d place the PwPs through Isabelle in-game then move them using Acnl Editor. However, there are tools that don’t work for everyone. Many tools are also integrating features of hex editing and abandoned tools such as LeafTools. Today, actually, Acnl Editor updated to include Leaf Tools’ feature to unlock PwPs.
To read extensive and detailed functions of all of the tools mentioned here besides the Hex editing, please read Delia’s post.
Exporting and Injecting Save Files
First, I’ll start off by saying that all you really need to hack your game is your 2/3DS, a digital or cartridge copy of Animal Crossing, and the knowledge of inserting and removing your SD card to and from your 3/2DS to your computer. You don’t need to buy a cable or any software, which is nice. There are two ways to get your acnl save state off of your DS. The first way is for old version DSs only, which have the ability to edit the RAM of your DS game through the 3DS’s browser. This is only for old versions of the DS because the new versions got updated to remove this exploit in the browser’s system. If your system is 9.x up to 9.5.0-22 and not 9.5.0-12 then you can use the RAM hacking method of getting your save. If not, you will have to use Homebrew. To check your version, turn on your device and go to settings.
If your device is old, you are looking to get your acnlram.bin.
If your device is new, you are looking to get your garden.dat.
The way I extracted my save was the RAM method, which was easily followed. I used acnl editor to do these steps. I recommend reading the entire post for warnings. acnl editor – After following and reading the warnings and information, select either the Homebrew or RAM method at the very top of the page and follow the steps. You will learn how to easily export and inject your acnl save file.
Now, there are warnings sprinkled over every post about hacking that you will read. Pay attention to them. Read them. Edit at your own risk. Make backups. Be wise.
Editing Your Acnl Save File (THE TOOLS!)
After you exported your save, you can either save and quit your game or turn the power off. Now, acnl editor had an update just today that allows you to do some things that LeafTools lets you do, like unlocking PwPs. I’m pretty sure LeafTools only works on old versions of the DS, but I’ll include the link for those that are interested.
Leaf Tools – When you get to the page, click on the download link at the bottom of the first post. Add the files to your SD card. Do not move the files into any folder, just drag them into the main directory of your SD card. Next, put the card back into your 3DS and look for the QR you want to read on the Leaf Tools page. When you found it, load your Mayor and make sure you can walk around after you exit your house. Press the home button and then press L+R as if you were going to take a photo. Click on the QR button and then align the camera to the QR code. Enter and exit a building and the hacking should be visible.
Acnl Editor – Editing in Acnl Editor is a lot easier than manually editing the HEX of your game. This editor is visual, which makes things a lot easier. Please read Delia’s FAQ before you use this tool. She explains what not to do and the limitations of this tool.
Placing Patterns – Right clicking in this editor “copies” anything your mouse is on, and left clicking will place whatever you had copied. You can click and drag in this editor, which makes editing patterns a breeze. To edit patterns, I recommend placing your patterns on the ground with 1 space around each one. Take a photo of the patterns on the ground in-game and then when you put your SD card into your computer, you have a photo reference of which each pattern is. You can then go into the editor and copy and place the patterns however you want.
Landscaping – Click on the “Search” button and type in the kind of bush/tree/flower you want. You can also simply type “bush”, “tree”, “tulip”, or “pansy” to bring up multiple variations of the same variety. Click on the one you want to place from the drop-down list and then left click where you want the item to go. To clear a space, like a rock, look for the black dots on the map. Right click on an empty spot and then click on the black dot, which is a rock, and then left click to delete the rock. All plants are spawned fully grown, unless specified as “growing”.
Editing Items – To edit items, open the “Search” box and then click on “Dressers”. You can search and spawn any item you want straight into your character’s dressers. You can also put items into your pockets, or outside on the ground. If you want to put the item outside on the ground, follow the steps I instructed in “Landscaping”. It’s basically the same, you just spawn it on the map instead.
In my experience, spawning items directly to the dresser has been a lot more reliable than spawning items outside. From outside spawns I have encountered items that appear as red leafs. When I pick them up, sometimes they vanish completely. Other times, they will be invisible inside my house and I have to exit then enter to see the item. So far, I have spawned entire dressers without any of those errors so I recommend spawning items in pockets or dressers instead of outside.
To delete items, just right click an empty space and right click over what you want to delete. You can click and drag here too, which is useful for deleting ALL YOUR ITEMS. Heheheh. I recommend spawning fish, bugs, or underwater items you can’t put on the ground into your inventory. I haven’t tried to spawn them outside before because I was too afraid.
Editing building positions – When editing building positions, I suggest getting a piece of paper and writing down information like original plot location, who is in which house and where, where you’d like them to be, ect. You can see the original plot location by looking at the two number sets that follow the building name under the “Buildings” tab. It’s important to know your characters’ order because the house lists go from 1-4 and don’t display your characters’ names. It is important to look at the original placement and write down the new placement because you won’t be able to view the map under the buildings tab. In order to make sure you’re moving the building correctly, it’s useful to write that information down. Here are the placement locations:
Image made by http://delia-song.tumblr.com/
The yellow dot is the coordinate you have the find. The blue space is the area that the building will take up, and the pink is the buffer area where you can’t plant bushes or trees. For example, if I know how much space a building is going to take up, I put flowers down in-game to measure. Next, I find the coordinate that is marked in yellow so I know exactly where the building will go. I hover my mouse over that spot and then write down the coordinate that displays. Next, I go to the “Buildings” tab and change the numbers to reflect the new ones. Think of the yellow area as the “core” of the building. It’s the part you have to move to get the building exactly where you want it to be.
When you load your game and inject, you will be able to walk through the buildings you move and the spot they used to be in will be “solid”, as if the building was still there. Think of this as a preview. When you save and quit, the changes will take place and the placements will be “locked in”.
If you’re looking for a program version of acnl edtior, I recommend NLSE.
If you’re looking to edit acres only, I recommend Acnl map editor.
Hex Editing – Hex editing is what unlocks the remaining capabilities like upgrading your house, changing your mayor name, town name, native fruit, ect. Hex editing might sound scary and complicated, but don’t worry. Other hackers have already done most of the complicated stuff (Like Delia..) so you don’t have to figure out which code is what or what ANY of it means because they already did that for you. All you really have to do is get a program, open your save file, and then look for the value to edit, edit it, save, then inject. That’s it! The guide recommended by Delia is here. I downloaded the program there called Cygnus, which worked perfectly for basic editing. You can read the whole guide, but all you really need to know is step 5 and 6, how to count and locate a specific location in the code and how to turn numbers into hex. Basically, to count, you will find the row, the you count the column. Columns are read like this:
00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-8 9 A B C D E F
A little trick is to remember that the row starts with 00 instead of 1 and that 7 and 8 have dashes in them. You probably don’t need to change numbers to hex and if you do, Delia posted resources that do those things for you. She also translated most of the numbers for you, like numbers to make your town tree larger. Now you know how to count the column, so let’s look at the hex codes Delia posted here and I’ll tell you how to read them.
I’m going to use the house expansion example, because this was the first hex edit I did. I’ll be honest, house expanding was the most annoying and time consuming thing I ever had to do in the game, even when I had the bells to do it. Needless to say I wanted to do this with my new character. Anyways, let’s look at the codes.
First I’m going to make the exterior larger. You have to change the exterior size and the interior size if you want your house to reflect a fully expanded house. You also have to pay the 10,000 bells and fast forward a day to meet Lyle before you expand your house. Quoted from Delia’s Tumblr, here is the code:
Mayor House Size Blocks: 0x57E84 – 0x57E8D
Mayor House Size Values: 01 – 07
To read this value, you have to keep in mind what you learned from the guide. The last number in the code is the column and the other numbers before are the row. Basically when you look at “0x57E84” You need to locate row 57E8 and then count the column until you get to the 4th column. The “0x” is just the amount of 0’s that come before the row number. You can ignore it, I guess. I ignored it. So, open Cygnus and find row “57E8”, this will be on the left and will appear as “57E80”. After you find it, count to column 4. Since we want to expand the house all the way, we’re going to change the value to 07. If you headed her warning, your code is probably 02 because you expanded your house to get out of the tent. Do the same procedure for the second code. Look for “57E8” and then find column D. Change the value to 07.
On the top part of her guide under “resources” she has extra code lists for people who are editing their home exteriors or villagers through Hex. Most of the capabilities are being moved onto editors such as acnl editor so in some time, we may not have to hex edit at all.
alliedition 