How to Turn on Cheats in the Sims 4

This article is part of a directory: The Sims 4: Complete Guide | Tips, Packs, Careers, Skills, Scenarios, & More

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The Sims 4 is all about finding a delicate balance between what players want to do and what they can afford. Those who are not in the mood to maintain this balance can use cheats to avoid much of the work involved in playing the game.

This guide will detail how to enable cheats and provide an assorted list of cheat codes to help players achieve their goals in The Sims 4.

Updated on March 16, 2023: The Sims 4 has just gotten its thirteenth expansion pack called Growing Together. Coupled with the new (free) Infants update, there's a lot of fresh content for Simmers to dive into. Of course, turning on cheats in The Sims 4 is still very popular for many players to earn unlimited money, change careers, or for other things that otherwise might take a lot of gameplay time.

How to Turn on Cheats in The Sims 4

Enabling cheats in The Sims 4 is quite simple, although it will differ depending on the platform:

PC - Ctrl + Shift + C
Mac - Command + Shift + C
Consoles - hold all four trigger buttons.

This will cause a small text box to open in the top left corner of the screen where players can type in the cheat codes. To close the box, enter the same commands.

There are two types of cheats in The Sims 4. The first set is designed for players to use easily and can be entered into the text box. The second set is designed for testing and debugging the game and involves accessing in-game radial menus.

Players will need to type “testingCheats true” to enable these cheats, then “testingCheats false” to deactivate them. If players use these cheats, they will need to reactivate them every time they load the game.

The Sims 4 Testing Cheats

Testing cheats are often referred to as Shift-Click cheats. When players enter the “testingCheats true” command, these cheats will be available. Players can then shift-click on a Sim or item to create a radial menu of cheat options. On consoles, players will need to hit X and O on PS or A and B on Xbox.

Select Cheat Need, then Make Happy to improve their mood
Select Cheat Need, then Disable Need Decay to stop their needs from changing
Select Modify in CAS to edit their appearance in the Create-a-Sim

Shift-clicking an item will also generate some cheat options:

Reset Object will reset an object status
Make Dirty or Make Clean will change the object status to that value
Shift-click on the ground will teleport a player’s Sim anywhere within the playable space of the neighborhood

The Sims 4 Money Cheats

Players who wish to get some of the fancier rooms can use the below cheat codes to generate Simoleons, freeze bills, or make all lots free:

FreeRealEstate On - make all lots free
FreeRealEstate Off - returns all lots to their original prices
household.autopay_bills true - turn household bills off
household.autopay_bills false - turn household bills on
kaching - gives players 1,000 Simoleons
Money X - replace X with any number to receive that value in Simoleans
motherlode - receive 50,000 Simoleons
rosebud - receive 1,000 Simoleons

The Sims 4 Needs and Aspirations Cheats

While The Sims 4 makes things much easier than in real life, players must still fulfill the needs of their Sim. The below cheats will take care of all the needs a Sim can have:

aspirations.complete_current_milestone - complete the Sim's aspiration goal
fillmotive motive_bladder - fills bladder motive
fillmotive motive_energy - fills energy motive
fillmotive motive_fun - fills fun motive
fillmotive motive_hunger - fills hunger motive
fillmotive motive_hygiene - fills hygiene motive
fillmotive motive_social - fills social motive
sims.fill_all_commodities - fills all motives
sims.give_satisfaction_points X - replace X any value to give your Sim that many satisfaction points

The Sims 4 Skill Cheats

Players can alter a Sim's skill level by entering stats.set_skill_(skill name)_X. X is the required skill level value, up to a maximum of ten. Keep in mind that some skills are more beneficial than others. The skill names are as follows:

Major_Bartending
Major_Charisma
Major_Comedy
Major_Fishing
Major_Gardening
Major_GourmetCooking
Major_Guitar
Major_Handiness
Major_HomestyleCooking
Major_Logic
Major_Mischief
Major_Painting
Major_Photography
Major_Piano
Major_Programming
Major_RocketScience
Major_VideoGaming
Major_Violin
Major_Writing
Skill_Fitness

Child Sims will need the following cheat code, stats.set_skill_level Skill_Child_skill name 10, replacing “skill name” with Creativity, Mental, Motor, or Social.

The Sims 4 Career Cheats

Players who wish to have a Sim try out a new career can use the following cheat codes:

careers.promote (career name) - promotes player’s Sim within the named career
careers.demote (career name) - demotes a Sim within that career structure
careers.add_career (career name) - adds named career to the Sim
careers.remove_career (career name) - removes named career from the Sim
sims.modify_career_outfit_in_cas - Sim’s career outfit can be altered in Create-a-Sim

The list of potential careers is as follows: