The Sims 3 cheats with every code, money cheat, and more

The Sims 3 cheats
(Image credit: EA)

The Sims 3 cheats are literal life hacks for your Sims that will get you get extra money, boost stats, and more on PC, Mac, PS3, and Xbox. You'll get zero judgment from us on using any of them, because who needs to struggle financially in the Sims when you can do it in real life. Plus, using cheats in The Sims has been a series staple since the off and basically just part of the game. Just make sure you read our guide carefully first, so that you don’t mess anything up for your favorite Sims.

How to enable The Sims 3 cheats

(Image: © EA)

First things first, in order to enable cheats on The Sims 3, you’ll need to bring up the cheat console using the instructions below:

* The Sims 3 PC cheats: Hold Ctrl and Shift, then press c

* The Sims 3 Mac cheats: Hold Command and Shift, then press c

* The Sims 3 PS3 cheats: Hold down all four shoulder buttons at once

* The Sims 3 Xbox cheats: Hold down all four shoulder buttons at once

A box will then appear at the top of your screen where you’ll type your codes in.

The Sims 3 shift-click cheats

One of the most important The Sims 3 cheat codes is testingcheatsenabled true, which enables a world of new options that are accessible by using shift-click on Sims, items, and more. To shift-click on PlayStation press X+O, or for Xbox use A+B at the same time. We’ve put together some of the options below:

Mailbox Cheats

Shift-click the mailbox and choose any of the following options:

  • Make All Happy to set active household mood to max
  • Make Friends For Me to give the active Sim a number of random friends from the neighbourhood
  • Make Needs Static to set needs to max and stop them decaying over time
  • Make All Dynamic to return needs to normal decay rate
  • Make Me Know Everyone to make active Sim know everyone in the neighbourhood
  • Force Visitor to make a random visitor arrive
  • Force NPC (more options available) to make a particular NPC arrive
  • Set Career (more options available) to set the current Sim’s career to a specified path, branch, and rank 

The Sims 3 Sims cheats

The Sims 3 Sims cheats

(Image credit: EA)

 Shift-click all Sims and choose any of the following options:

  • Trigger Age Transition to age up selected Sim
  • Add to active household/family to add selected Sim to a household
  • Edit Sim in CAS to take a Sim back to Create-A-Sim mode
  • Modify Traits for Active Sim to change only an active Sims traits

The Sims 3 Career Building cheats

 Shift-click the career building of a Sim and choose any of the following options:

  • Force Opportunity to force work-related opportunities
  • Force Event to force work-related event
  • Force All Events to force every possible event from chosen workplace

The Sims 3 ground cheats

The Sims 3

(Image credit: EA)

 Shift-click the ground and choose any of the following options:

  • Teleport me here to teleport active Sim to that location
  • Build/Buy on this lot (after patch 1.7) to enable build and buy mode even when there’s a fire or burglary, either option enables both
  • Seasons (more options available) to enable weather control within the game (only available with Seasons expansion pack) 

The Sims 3 money cheats

KACHING! No, seriously, kaching. Enter any of the below The Sims 3 money cheats for some extra Simoleons or free housing.

  • kaching - receive 1,000 Simoleons
  • rosebud - receive 1,000 Simoleons
  • motherlode - receive 50,000 Simoleons
  • familyfunds [sims last name] [money wanted] - replace with family surname and a numeric value between 0 - 99,999,999 (must enter testingcheatsenabled true in console first)
  • freerealestate - allows you to buy any house you want (must enable this code in Map mode)

The Sims 3 relationship cheats

The Sims 3 relationship cheats

(Image credit: EA)
  • make me know everyone - selected Sim knows every other Sim
  • make friends for me - make several random friends for selected Sim
  • force visitor - forces a neighbour to show up
  • add to household - add active Sim to current household

The Sims 3 needs and skills cheats

  • shazaam - add 2,500 lifetime happiness points to active Sim
  • ResetLifeTimeHappiness - resets the lifetime happiness of all the Sims in an active household
  • modify traits - set or clear traits
  • Resetsim [first name] [last name] - teleports named Sim back to household lot with neutral motives and no moodlets
  • make happy - sets all moods/moodlets for everyone in the house to perfect; removes negative moodlets
  • make motivates static - set motives to static for entire household
  • make motivates dynamic - set motives to dynamic for entire household

The Sims 3 career cheats

The Sims 3 career cheats

(Image credit: EA)
  • set career [career] [level] - give selected Sim a career
  • force opportunity - click career building you work at to force an opportunity
  • force event - click career building you work at to force an event
  • force all events - click career building to display all events for the career consecutively
  • unlockoutfits [on|off] - view career outfits and service uniforms (must enable this code before entering Create-A-Sim mode)

The Sims 3 edit Sim cheats

  • set age [number] - set age of Sim
  • ageuptoNPC on - ages up a Sim into a non-controllable NPC who lives in your household, also works on children
  • forcetwins - gives pregnant Sim twins

The Sims 3 object cheats

The Sims 3 object cheats

(Image credit: EA)
  • buydebug [on|off] - lets you buy anything, including locked objects (must enter testingcheatsenabled true in console first)
  • moveobjects [on|off] - no limitations for placing/moving objects
  • Constrainfloorelevation [true|false] - force terrain adjustments regardless of objects, Sims, and other structures
  • Fadeobjects [on|off] - objects fade when camera gets close to them
  • disablesnappingtoslotsonalt [on|off] - objects will not snap to slots while holding Alt
  • snapobjectstoangle [true|false] - toggle 45 degree angle object snap
  • snapobjectstogrid [true|false] - toggle snap to grid for placed objects
  • placefriezes [on|off] - allows you to place foundations on top of tiled floors

The Sims 3 world and UI cheats

  • help - displays most cheats
  • quit - quits the game
  • fullscreen [on|off] - toggle fullscreen
  • fps [on|off] - shows frame rate display in top right of screen
  • hideHeadlineEffects [on|off] - hides all meters and effects in-game, e.g. Sim thought bubbles or Plumbob
  • slowMotionViz: [0-8] - slow motion visuals: 0 is normal, 8 is slowest
  • playsounds [on|off] - toggle all audio (must enter testingcheatsenabled true in console first)

The Sims 3 miscellaneous cheats

The Sims 3 miscellaneous cheats

(Image credit: EA)
  • jokeplease - prints random joke to console, doesn’t affect gameplay
  • enablellamas [on|off] - llamas enabled message prints to console
  • force service sim [name] - force a specific service Sim to appear

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Freelance Writer

Grace is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on sites including GamesRadar, PocketTactics, Space.com, Metro, Loadout, and The Digital Fix. She's written about everything from games to TV shows, and was once Head of Short Form at ITN.