Playing The Sims 4 can be very rewarding, playing with cheats enabled can be even more so. With the game now boasting the longest life-span of any title in the franchise, that list of cheats is getting longer. Here we break them down into categories, from cheats to increase money and skills, to those which aid your career. We've listed the most used and most common cheats in our essential guide for PC, Mac, and console.
8 Before You Cheat
All cheats need to be enabled. To do this press control+shift+c on PC/Mac or all four shoulder buttons simultaneously on console. This will bring up a text box. In this box type "testingcheats on" to enable cheat mode. You should see a confirmation message. If you don't, try "testingcheats true" or "testingcheats 1". You can then enter the specific cheat into the same box.
Note that some of these codes can be unreliable so Maxis always recommend using them at your own risk. All cheat codes are written inside quotation marks. You do NOT need the quotations but you do need to include any other spaces or punctuation inside them. Console cheats should be the same but some are unavailable and others vary slightly. We've included this information where known.
7 General Cheats
If you need money then "kaching" gives you 1000 Simoleons and "motherlode" gives you 50,000. You can also specify an amount by typing "money 1234" and changing the number. If you prefer just to set your sim up in a house, then "freerealestate on" makes all properties free to purchase. For added value "household.autopay_bills true" will disable bills for the household.
A helpful cheat for all players is "resetsim firstname lastname" which will reset any sim if they glitch out or get stuck. Just make sure you check the spelling of the Sims name. And if that Murphy Bed is getting too much for you, then "death.toggle false" will disable death.
If you like to take clear screenshots then "headlineeffects off" will remove the plumbob from above the active sims head and "hovereffects off" will remove the white line that appears when your cursor hovers over an item. You can also use the cheat "fullscreen" to swap between fullscreen and windowed mode without navigating the menu and "fps on" to display the fps.
6 Shift-Click Cheats
Enabling testing cheats also allows shift-click cheats. These are enabled by shift-clicking on the PC/Mac, pressing X+O on PS4 and A+B on Xbox One.
Shift-Clicking the mailbox will allow you to disable need decay for your household or the entire neighborhood. Alternatively, you can shift-click a sim to do this at an individual level where you can also make them happy and modify them in create-a-sim. For more CAS flexibility type in "cas.fulleditmode" before entering. NPC sims can also be shift-clicked and added to your household or have their needs adjusted. Alternatively typing "fillmotive_energy" fills one specific need, with energy being interchangeable for others.
You can also shift-click the ground to teleport anywhere with walking distance or shift-click items to either clean or reset them.
5 Builders Cheats
To access new items there are a few tricks you can use. Firstly, "bb.showhiddenobjects" will add items to the catalog. If this is followed by "bb.showliveeditobjects" you'll find a whole lot more, including background items, plants etc. You can also unlock the career-specific items with "bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement" and they will be usable for any household straight from the catalog.
In terms of building itself "bb.enablefreebuild" will unlock lots such as Strangerville's science lab or the active career locations. You can also use several cheats to help build. The most commonly used cheat is MOO and allows you to type "bb.moveobjects on" and move any item around by holding down Alt while moving. You can overlap items, raise or lower their height by pressing 9 or 0 and adjust the size using [ and ].
On console moving things is more complex. The MOO cheat works but it's glitchier. You can use the arrows to raise and lower the items, although items need to be near a wall, as shown here.
4 Aspirations And Rewards
If you are struggling with aspirations then "aspirations.complete_current_milestone" will move you on a level. If you prefer to cut out the middle man then you can also use "sims.give_satisfaction_points" to boost your points and following it with "objects.consumables_infinite_toggle" will allow one-use items, such as milk from cow plants, to become unlimited.
3 Skill Cheats
Skill cheats are some of the most complex in game, due to the way skills are built. As such we've broken them down into categories. The main cheat is "stats.set_skill_level major_SKILL" and you then need to add a space before listing the skill. However, some are slightly different, so here's the lowdown.
Major skills all use the above code with the word SKILL being replaced by the appropriate skill from this list. If cheat code vary from skill name the skill name is in brackets; acting, archaeology, baking, bartending (mixology) charisma, comedy, dancing, DJMixing, fishing, flowerarranging, gardening, gourmetcooking, guitar, handiness, herbalism, homestylecooking (regular cooking) logic, mischief, painting, parenting, photography, piano, pipeorgan, programming, researchdebate, robotics, rocketscience, singing, veterinarian, videogaming, violin, wellness, writing.
Ones which vary are bowling which is "stats.set_skill_level skill_bowling 5" fitness which is "stats.set_skill_level skill_fitness 10" and dogtraining which is "stats.set_skill_level skill_dogtraining 5" Another tricky one is "stats.set_skill_level Vampirelore 15" in which the number can be adjusted. Media Production got a downgrade to "stats.set_skill_level minor_mediaproduction" Finally, you can learn Selvadoradian culture with "stats.set_skill_level adultminor_localculture"
Toddlers skills can be adjusted by using "stats.set_skill_level statistic_skill_toddler_" then after the final underscore, add the skill followed by the number eg "stats.set_skill_level statistic_skill_toddler_communication 5" The other stats are imagination, movement, potty (up to 3) and thinking.
Children's skills adjust in a similar way with "stats.set_skill_level skill_child_" and those skills are creativity, mental, motor and social.
You can also adjust character values by using " stats.set_stat lifeskillstatistic_value 10" and replacing value with conflictresolution, emotionalcontrol, empathy, manners or responsibility and adjusting the number accordingly.
2 Careers Cheats
The easiest and most reliable way to get your sims to the top is to join your chosen career and then cheat those promotions. This cheat is simple and is "careers.promote careername" The word careername should be replaced by the appropriate career as follows: actor, astronaut, athletic, business, conservationist, criminal, adult_critic, culinary, detective, doctor, education, engineering, entertainer, gardener, law, military, painter, activist, scout, secretagent, socialmedia, styleinfluencer, techguru, adult_writer.
Freelancers are slightly different to distinguish between those and the earlier similar career branches. They use "adult_freelancer_name" or "adult_freelancer_agency_name" with name being replaced by artist, programmer or writer. Scientists may also use "careers.promote adult_active_scientist" or "careers.promote scientist" depending on your expansion combination.
Part time jobs use "careers.promote parttime_job" The choices are babysitter, barista, fastfood, manual, retail, fisherman, diver, lifeguard.
For those sims still in school, "careers.promote gradeschool" and "careers.promote highschool" will help those grades. Sims at university can use "careers.promote career_volunteer_" and follow this with either e-sports or soccerteam.
1 Relationship Cheats
Finally, for those who hate cloudgazing different types of relationships can be cheated with the following "modifyrelationship yoursimfirstname yoursimlastname othersimfirstname othersimlastname 50 relationshiptype"
The number is the percentage of the bar and can be adjusted accordingly. Using negative numbers will put you into hated. The relationship type will be "ltr_friendship_main" or "ltr_romance_main". Pet relationships can also be adjusted by using them as the other sim and using "ltr_simtopet_friendship_main".