While the daily-grind, hard work and associated rewards are noble ways to go about building your Sims a happy and fruitful lifestyle, there is no Sanbox mode in The Sims 3 which allows you to simply build a dream house and live a life of leisure and luxury with no constraints. Some of the building tools are also restricting, confined to a grid and not allowing complete control over object placement. EA have generously provided a heap of cheats, some very useful and some merely humorous to ease these potential limitations.

All traditional cheats in the game must be entered via the game's 'console' or command line. To activate it, press CTRL+SHIFT+C together (Vista users may need to do CTRL+SHIFT+WINDOWS+C). You will then see the screen darken and a blue bar appear at the top which you can then type into.

The console to enter cheats into will appear at the top of the screen as a blue bar

Cheats are shown in bold type (You don't need to enter the parenthesis (these things: ' ' ). Where a series of values is given, such as 0-5, only one number between the values should be entered. Cheats are not case-sensitive. Capitals are used for cheats in this guide only to help distinguish between words and make their entry easier.

Note: Some 'cheats' require activation of the game's debug mode, which allows more elaborate and 'game-breaking' cheats. To do this, after triggering the command line, enter 'testingCheatsEnabled true'. To deactivate, use 'testingCheatsEnabled false'. More information on this is given for the cheats that require this command.

Money:

There are three cheats to provide more money for your Sims. After pressing CTRL+SHIFT+C:

For 1,000 Simoleons, type: kaching
For 50,000 Simoleons, type: motherlode

The motherlode

For a specific amount of Simoleons, enter TestingCheatsEnabled true (if not already done) and then FamilyFunds followed by the family name, and then the amount of money. For example, you would enter the following where the family name is Martinez:
TestingCheatsEnabled true [Enter]
FamilyFunds Martinez 20000000 [Enter]

VIDEO

Using the familyfunds cheat

The upper limit on money is set at 999,999,999 Simoleons. Plenty to be getting on with.

Sims:

You can alter the lives of your sims using certain cheats. After activating the console with CTRL+SHIFT+C:

UnlockOutfits on gives your Sims access to all the uniforms and clothing in the game. You can make use of it in Create-a-Sim and through a chest of drawers where you create a new outfit for your Sim. Replace on with off to disable.

Use the dresser to build outfits with your new threads

ResetSim puts your Sim back to a safe location (see video further down).

HideHeadlineEffects on hides the thought and action bubbles above your Sims' heads. Replace on with off to disable.

After entering testingCheatsEnabled true, using the command ageUptoNpc will turn a child in the family into a NPC (non-player character) when it ages up from a toddler to child. This is a good way to keep your family unit the same as when you began the game, and also to keep managing your family as easy as possible. Use SHIFT+Click and 'Add to household' to reverse the effect, adding NPCs to your family unit.

Again with testingCheatsEnabled true entered, you can interact with certain items in the game world to change your Sim's life. To do this, hold SHIFT and click on certain obiects in the game world:

SHIFT+Clicking on the mailbox allows you to:

'Make all happy', increasing the mood bars.
'Make friends for me', doing some automatic socialising.
'Make needs static/dynamic', letting you SHIFT+click and slide your Sim's need bars at will (note that this is somewhat temperamental, keep clicking and it should register).
'Make me know everyone', gives you access to everyone on the map as an acquaintance.
'Force visitor', has you pick from acquaintances to visit your house.
'Force NPC' lets you pick from characters such as Robber, Police, Grim Reaper etc. To visit your lot. You can thus set up amusing scenarios of heists, funerals and pizza deliveries in one place.
'Set Career' lets you pick a job for your Sim. It is also useful to see all of the possible jobs in the game.

VIDEO

Some of the cheats effecting Sims available through the testingcheats option

SHIFT+Clicking on your Sim's workplace lets you:

'Force opportunity', activating one of the random events to further your career.
'Force event', initiating a chance to switch careers, and triggering positive and negative events during the working day which can help or hinder your occupation.
'Force all events', as above but all at once!

SHIFT+Clicking on the ground lets you:

'Teleport', moving your Sim anywhere in the map.

Shift+Click the ground to teleport your Sim once play is resumed (if paused)

SHIFT+Clicking on a Sim with testingCheatsEnabled true activated allows different options depending on whether they are part of your household, active, or just a random NPC. For any character in the game you can 'Trigger age transition', levelling them up in the same way a birthday cake does for young Sims. You can also 'Modify traits', effectively changing that Sim's personality.

For the active Sim, i.e. The one currently selected, you can 'Modify traits' by SHIFT+clicking on them and selecting the appropriate option.

The modify traits screen

For Sims who are not part of your household, you can 'Add to household' by SHIFT+clicking on them and selecting the appropriate option.

With testingCheatsEnabled true set, you can use SHIFT+click to move the mood bars on your Sim's Needs screen. This allows you to control their negative needs, such as bladder, hunger and hygiene, and focus on the fun stuff. Set your Sim's needs to the red zone and you can dispose of them at will.

Meddling with your Sim's needs can be destructive

Note: all of the SHIFT+Click cheats require testingCheatsEnabled true to be entered into the CTRL+SHIFT+C console first!

Build/Buy Modes:

Moveobjects on removes the rules usually applied to object placement. Replace on with off to disable.

Constrainfloorelevation false is a fun one, which lets you raise and lower the floor of your house's plot regardless of the house. Use the terrain tools in Build Mode to change the elevation. Some parts of your house may become unusable with fiddling in the wrong place! Replace false with true to disable. Use the 'level terrain' tool, or CTRL+Z to undo extensive meddling.

VIDEO

The possibilities of not constraining floor elevation, and the resetSim command in use.

DisableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt on allows you to place objects at any angle and anywhere in your house, regardless of whether they are on The Sims' grid system or not. You can therefore create geometrically horrific but nonetheless intricately unique designs. Replace on with off to disable.

Others:

Many of these are merely shortcuts to avoid visiting the game's options menu. Use CTRL+SHIFT+C to activate the console and then type the following:

Help shows a list of all the game's simple cheats.

JokePlease gives you a random joke from the game's database. Some are funny, others, less so.

EnableLlamas on enables llamas, though no one has yet discovered the significance of this cheat. Replace on with off to disable whatever it is that this does. You get a funny message at least.

FadeObjects on makes objects fade when the camera zooms in near them. Replace on with off to disable.

SlowMotionViz 0-8 activates slow motion. Not very useful. Pick a number from 0 to 8 depending on how slow you want the visuals to be. 8 is the slowest. To turn it off, simply set the number at 0.

Fps on shows the current frames per second that the game is running at in the top right hand corner of the screen. A good tool for technophiles. Replace on with off to disable.

RecordVideo captures the game's video using the specifications you will or will not have set in the options menu. Pressing V also achieves this end.

Speed 0-4 changes the game speed in the same manner as the icons on the user interface. 4 is fastest and 0 is pause.

MapTags off removes the icons in the map view. Replace off with on to get them back.

PlaySounds off mutes the game. Replace off with on to reverse the effect.

FullScreen switches the game from full screen to windowed and vice versa. You can also do this in the options menu.

Quit exits the game. You are still prompted to save.

These are not traditional cheat codes, but they do influence the game in a similar way.

Aging:
You can stop your Sims from aging without cheating. In the options menu simply uncheck the Aging box. Use the Lifetime slider to slow down the aging process, making a potentially longer (or shorter) game for your Sims.

Use the options to 'legally' stop your Sims from aging or slow the process down

Free Items:
Anything you buy can be resold on the same day for the price you paid for it. As long as you have the cash to begin with, you can effectively 'borrow' items, use them, for reasons such as to upgrade your Sim or make them happy, and then sell them before 24 hours is up with no loss of value. Good for party items!

Invulnerability:
Of sorts. To remove the risk of dying, procure for yourself a Death Flower. You can find at least one from the graveyard near it's entrance in a bush. As long as your Sim has it in their inventory, the Grim Reaper will not harvest your soul. You can also find 'Unknown seeds' in the graveyard to allow you to reproduce the flower in your garden, and you must find alternative means of getting the flower after one tangle with the Reaper.

Note:
If any cheats do not at first work, try activating testingcheatsenabled true before entering them. While every effort has been made to test all of the above cheats to ensure they are reported accurately here, the above technique should solve any possible errors.

To be able to get new clothes you must first buy a dresser from 'Buy Options'. Then select 'Plan Outfit' to be taken to a screen like you see in 'Create-A-Sim' mode which will allow you to edit your saved outfits or create new looks.

You can pick your own audio to play while your Sims listen to the radio or CD player in game via the Custom Radio channel. To do this, browse to My DocumentsElectronic ArtsThe Sims 3Custom Music (or your computer's equivalent) and replace or add to the tracks within. Make sure you access the Sims folder via 'My Documents' or 'Documents' on Vista and not the one you may find through Program Files, as that does not appear to work.

These folders also have the names of some of the tracks included with the game, if any take your fancy. You can upgrade the stereo in game if your Sim is handy enough, allowing your favourite tunes to bellow throughout the entire plot!

This can be done by putting the video you want to watch into the '/My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 3/Movies/Broadcast/(television station)' folder and switching on the television in the game. The video must be in .AVI format with a maximum resolution of 128x128 pixels and a frame rate no more than 15 frames per second.