If you've been returning to life sims of years past, you'll want to brush up on all the Sims 3 cheats at your disposal. Personally, I just needed to remind myself the syntax for the move objects cheat in this one so I could get down to building freely as usual, but you may be on the hunt for The Sims 3 money cheats, or trying to fix your Sims' dismal moods by "cheating needs." The prior game in the series doesn't have quite as stacked a list of cheats as in The Sims 4, so there's a lot less to memorize here, thank goodness.
Enabling cheats in The Sims 3 is very familiar, but one thing you'll want to be mindful of is that capitalization matters in a lot of these cheats. If a cheat isn't working for you, double check you haven't messed that part up. When in a pinch, you can also use "testingcheatsenabled true" and then just enter "help" to see a list of cheats. There are more than just cheat codes to know, though. Once you've enabled testing cheats, you can trigger other effects by using Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click on certain objects and Sims, as detailed below.
How to enable cheats in The Sims 3
To enable cheats in The Sims 3, press Ctrl+Shift+C to open the cheat console. Enter the cheats below as written or by filling in relevant values and press Enter to activate them. Press Esc to close the cheat console without entering a cheat.
Many cheats won't return a confirmation message, so you'll have to pay attention to whether your household funds, Sim needs, or other values changed as expected. Some cheats, explained below, require that you first use "testingcheatsenabled true" so watch out for that.
Sims 3 money cheats
- kaching: adds 1,000 Simoleons to current family
- motherlode: adds 50,000 Simoleons to current family
- familyFunds [last name] [#]: Set household Simoleons to a specific amount, such as "familyFunds Goth 40000". Remember to capitalize "Funds" or this cheat won't be recognized!
- freerealestate: enter before placing a copy of a family in the world to buy any property for free
Disclaimer
The cheat "rosebud" does not actually work in The Sims 3, unlike in Sims 4 cheats.
Sims 3 Live Mode cheats
hideHeadlineEffects true/false
This cheat hides plumbobs over Sims' heads, but does not remove thought bubbles, which is useful for taking screenshots.
resetSim [first name] [last name]
For example, "resetSim Mortimer Goth" cancels a Sim's current action and resets their position if stuck, but does not change their needs or mood.
Ctrl+Click to remove moodlets
After using "testingCheatsEnabled true" you can hold Ctrl then left-click on any moodlet in the interface to remove it from your Sim.
How to cheat your Sims' needs in The Sims 3
To cheat the "needs" meters in The Sims 3 first use "testingcheatsenabled true" and then Ctrl+Click and drag on your Sim's need bar to change its value. You can raise or lower any of your Sim's needs this way. As mentioned above, you can also Ctrl+Click on any moodlet to remove it from your Sim.
Disclaimer
Cheating a Sim's need meter in The Sims 3 only works while Live Mode is running. If time is paused, it won't work! Trust me, I spent several minutes confused by this!
Sims 3 build cheats
moveobjects on/off
The most common Build/Buy cheat allows you to place objects more freely, even if they're clipping into another object.
disableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt true/false
This is a long but handy cheat for cluttering a build. It stops objects from snapping into slots on surfaces like tables or counters while you are holding Alt. You might use this to place objects under a table, for instance.
buydebug true/false
Allows you to buy and place "debug objects" that are normally inaccessible such as animal spawners and small clutter items. You can find them categorized in the ? symbol that appears beneath the normal Buy Mode categories.
Sims 3 UI cheats
fullscreen true/false
Forces your game into windowed or fullscreen mode.
fps on/off
This adds an FPS counter to the top right of your window.
maptags on/off
In the zoomed out neighborhood view, this disables or enables the symbols showing what each lot is. Though this works when looking at your full neighborhood while playing a household, this does not work when in Edit Town mode.
discotags
In the zoomed out neighborhood view, this makes lot symbols flash different colors, just for fun.
Sims 3 testing cheats
Before using any of the cheats below, enter "testingcheatsenabled true" and hit Enter. Now you can hold Shift and click on various targets.
| Target | Cheat | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Sim | Modify traits for active Sim | Opens a window to edit the selected Sim's personality traits |
| Sim | Edit Sim in Create A Sim | Opens CAS and allows you to edit anything about your Sim |
| Sim | Trigger age transition | Ages your Sim to the next life stage |
| Sim | Add to active family | Adds the selected Sim to the currently played household |
| Ground | Teleport me here | Teleports played Sim to any location in the neighborhood |
| Ground | Build/Buy on this lot | Opens Build/Buy mode on the selected lot even if unowned by the current household |
| Mailbox | Make friends for me | Adds 5 random Sims as friends for the current Sim |
| Mailbox | Make me know everyone | Adds all Sims in the neighborhood as acquaintances |
| Mailbox | Make all happy | Makes all Sims in the active household happy |
| Mailbox | Make needs static | Pauses need meter decay on all Sims in the household. Reenable with "make needs dynamic" |
| Mailbox | Set career | Instantly changes current Sim's career and you can select their current promotional role |
| Mailbox | Force NPC | Spawn an NPC Sim of choice like the Grim Reaper, firefighter, pizza delivery, etc |
| Mailbox | Force visitor | Spawns a visiting Sim on the household lot |
| Object | Delete it | Deletes selected object |
| Workplace | Force opportunity | Triggers a workplace opportunity for your Sim's career which you can accept or reject as normal |
| Workplace | Force event | Triggers a popup event related to your Sim's career |
| Workplace | Force all events | Triggers one of every possible popup event for your Sim's career |
