There is no need to be ashamed. At some point, every Sims player will use cheats for whatever reason. There are players who very rarely use them, but that ain’t us. Or you, if you’re here for this guide.
As we expand our Sims 4 cheats section, this guide will grow. But we wanted to get started with some of the basic cheats used by most players.
Keep in mind that every new pack released by The Sims 4 will add new cheats. The Eco Lifestyle expansion pack added cheats to unlock fabricated items and cheats for setting the eco-footprint of both the neighbourhood and lots, for example.
With Nifty Knitting, we got a cheat to unlock all knitted clothing for a household and the Star Wars Journey to Batuu pack added similar cheat options.
Cheats in The Sims 4 are ever expanding and it can be quite hard to keep up with all of them – especially since the game has been going for over six years already.
This specific guide is a basic overview for useful cheats in the Sims 4 base game and some of the other packs. These are cheats most often used in The Sims 4 and should give you a little boost when you need it.
There are four main sections to this Sims 4 cheat guide:
- The basics
- Build cheats
- Career cheats
- Skill cheats
How to turn on cheats in The Sims 4
Before you enter your cheat codes, you need to open what is known as the ?cheats dialogue box? or the ?cheats console?. To get started with Sims 4 cheats, press CTRL+SHIFT+C on your keyboard if you?re using a PC. To open The Sims 4 cheats console on a Mac, press CMD+SHIFT+C.
Now you need to actually turn the cheats on. That’s the easy part. In the cheats box, simply type testingcheats on. Sometimes this doesn?t work and you have to type testingcheats true instead. You?ll know you?ve done it correctly when the dialogue box tells you ?Cheats are enabled? .
Shift-click Sims 4 cheat
Once you have turned on cheats in the game, you can use Shift-click your Sim or your mailbox to access a number of quick and easy cheats. Read our guide on how to use the Sims 4 Shift-click cheat.
Sims 4: Most used/basic cheats
For a more detailed overview on the cheat, if there is a hyperlink, click on the cheat itself to read our full explanation. Remember that you have to turn cheats on before you can use any of these.
| Cheat | What it Does |
| testingcheats on | Turns cheats on. |
| kaching/rosebud | Adds 1000 simoleons to your household. |
| motherlode | Adds 50 000 Simoleons to your household. |
| resetsim firstname lastname | Help rest a stuck Sim. |
| death.toggle true/false | Turns death off. |
| headlineeffects on/off | Enables or disables headline effects (the Plumbob). |
| freerealestate on/off | Free houses. |
| household.autopay_bills true/false | Enable or disable paying bills for a household. |
| hovereffects on/off | Disable hover effect when you mouse over a Sim. |
| fullscreen | Toggle fullscreen/windowed mode. |
| bb.showhiddenobjects | Reveals debug objects. |
| bb.moveobjects | Allows the moving and placing of objects without being restricted by the grid. Hold ALT for even more precise placing. |
| bb.showliveeditobjects | Reveals even more debug objects. Will only work if you have turned on the showhiddenobjects cheat already. |
| bb.enablefreebuild | Allows editing and building of all lots at any time. |
| bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement | Allows the buying of items that are locked by career rewards. |
| sims.give_satisfaction_points x | Gives a Sim x amount of satisfaction points with which you can buy rewards. Sims.give_satisfaction_points 1000, for example. |
| fillmotive x | use fillmotive motive_energy or fillmotive motive_hunger |
| cas.fulleditmode | Allows you to edit any Sim in CAS without restriction. |
Sims 4 cheats: Build mode cheats
Overview to follow, but here are some guides you might find useful for build mode:
- How to build in the hidden Sylvan Glade lot in The Sims 4
- How to resize objects in The Sims 4 build mode
- Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle: How to set up Community Space lots in other worlds
- How to rotate objects and furniture in The Sims 4
Cheats for the Sims 4: Career cheats
As with all other cheats in The Sims 4, first turn cheats on and then use these cheat codes below to help your Sim get ahead. These Sims 4 career cheats can help with things like promoting your Sim quickly or adding any career stage you want.
Career cheats in The Sims 4 can be useful for storytelling if you want to craft a specific backstory for a Sim or Sims and you don not want to go through the effort of playing through those careers.
Note that much like the Sims 4 skills cheat, you have to follow a specific syntax to get these cheats to work. For example, using the syntax below, if you wanted to promote your Sim in their painting career, you would use: careers.promote painter.
To demote your Sim from the painter career, you would use demote in place of promote. School cheats and university cheats will be added to this guide in the near future.
| Cheat code | What it does |
| Careers.promote <NameOfCareer> | Promotes your Sim in their career. |
| Careers.demote <NameOfCareer> | Demotes your Sim in their career. |
| Careers.add_career <NameOfCareer> | This will add a specific career for your Sim. |
| Careers.remove_career <NameOfCareer> | This will remove a specific career for your Sim. |
See our comprehensive Sims 4 career cheats guide here.
Sims 4 cheats: Cheating to improve skills
As with the basic Sims 4 cheats, you first have to turn cheats on before you can use any of these. Also remember that some of the skills in The Sims 4 only go to a max of five.
These Sims 4 skills cheats will help you quickly increase the skill level of any of your Sim. Make sure the Sim whose skills you want to cheat to improve is selected in live mode.
The formula for increasing skills all follow the same basic formula ? and you can find them all below.
The formula is as follows: stats.set_skill_level [skilltype] [level]
Skill type needs to be the name of the skill you want to change, for example, singing. The level is the level you want to improve the skill to. Not the spaces included in the cheat formula and make sure you use these.
For example: stats.set_skill_level major_singing 7
This would give the selected Sim a singing skill up to level 7. Sometimes the syntax does not work unless you also include the age of your Sim, like adult, in the formula, because there are different formulas for children’s skills.
For example: stats.set_skill_level adultmajor_baking 10
For a basic copy and paste approach, first copy this part: stats.set_skill_level [leave a space] and then select from the options below and add the value you want to improve your Sim’s skill to.
Also note the different formulas below for children’s skills. Keep in mind that sometimes these formulas do change. We’ll do our best to ensure that these guides are kept as up to date as possible.
Sims 4: Skills cheats quick guide
| Skill | Max | Value |
| Archaeology | 10 | Major_Archaeology |
| Baking | 10 | Major_Baking |
| Bowling | 5 | Skill_Bowling |
| Charisma | 10 | Major_Charisma |
| Child Creativity | 10 | Skill_Child_Creativity |
| Child Mental | 10 | Skill_Child_Mental |
| Child Motor | 10 | Skill_Child_Motor |
| Child Social | 10 | Skill_Child_Social |
| Comedy | 10 | Major_Comedy |
| Cooking | 10 | Major_HomestyleCooking |
| Dancing | 5 | Minor_Dancing |
| DJ Mixing | 10 | Major_DJMixing |
| Fishing | 10 | Major_Fishing |
| Fitness | 10 | Skill_Fitness |
| Flower Arranging | 10 | AdultMajor_FlowerArranging |
| Gardening | 10 | Major_Gardening |
| Gourmet Cooking | 10 | Major_GourmetCooking |
| Guitar | 10 | Major_Guitar |
| Handiness | 10 | Major_Handiness |
| Herbalism | 10 | Major_Herbalism |
| Local Culture | 5 | Minor_LocalCulture |
| Logic | 10 | Major_Logic |
| Mischief | 10 | Major_Mischief |
| Mixology | 10 | Major_Bartending |
| Painting | 10 | Major_Painting |
| Parenting | 10 | Skill_Parenting |
| Pet Training | 5 | Skill_DogTraining |
| Photography | 5 | Major_Photography |
| Piano | 10 | Major_Piano |
| Programming | 10 | Major_Programming |
| Rocket Science | 10 | Major_RocketScience |
| Singing | 10 | Major_Singing |
| Skating | 5 | Hidden_Skating |
| Toddler Communication | 5 | Toddler_Communication |
| Toddler Imagination | 5 | Toddler_Imagination |
| Toddler Movement | 5 | Toddler_Movement |
| Toddler Potty | 3 | Toddler_Potty |
| Toddler Thinking | 5 | Toddler_Thinking |
| Vet Skill | 10 | Major_Veterinarian |
| Video Gaming | 10 | Major_VideoGaming |
| Violin | 10 | Major_Violin |
| Wellness | 10 | Major_Wellness |
| Writing | 10 | Major_Writing |
Sims 4: Max skills cheat
If you just want to get your Sim’s skills maxed out, you can use the cheat sheet below to do just that. Remember to turn cheats on. The values have been filled in to the max level it goes to make for easy copy and pasting for this specific Sims 4 cheat.
| Skill | Cheat Code |
| Acting | stats.set_skill_level Major_Acting 10 |
| Archaeology | stats.set_skill_level Major_Archaeology 10 |
| Baking | stats.set_skill_level Major_Baking 10 |
| Bowling | stats.set_skill_level Skill_Bowling 5 |
| Charisma | stats.set_skill_level Major_Charisma 10 |
| Comedy | stats.set_skill_level Major_Comedy 10 |
| Cooking | stats.set_skill_level Major_HomestyleCooking 10 |
| Dancing | stats.set_skill_level Minor_Dancing 5 |
| DJ Mixing | stats.set_skill_level Major_DJ 10 |
| Fishing | stats.set_skill_level Major_Fishing 10 |
| Fitness | stats.set_skill_level Skill_Fitness 10 |
| Flower Arranging | stats.set_skill_level statistic_skill_AdultMajor_FlowerArranging 10 |
| Gardening | stats.set_skill_level Major_Gardening 10 |
| Gourmet Cooking | stats.set_skill_level Major_GourmetCooking 10 |
| Guitar | stats.set_skill_level Major_Guitar 10 |
| Handiness | stats.set_skill_level Major_Handiness 10 |
| Herbalism | stats.set_skill_level Major_Herbalism 10 |
| Logic | stats.set_skill_level Major_Logic 10 |
| Media Production | stats.set_skill_level Minor_Media 5 |
| Mischief | stats.set_skill_level Major_Mischief 10 |
| Mixology | stats.set_skill_level Major_Bartending 10 |
| Painting | stats.set_skill_level Major_Painting 10 |
| Parenting | stats.set_skill_level Major_Parenting 10 |
| Pet Training | stats.set_skill_level skill_Dog 5 |
| Photography | stats.set_skill_level Major_Photography 10 |
| Piano | stats.set_skill_level Major_Piano 10 |
| Pipe Organ | stats.set_skill_level Major_PipeOrgan 10 |
| Programming | stats.set_skill_level Major_Programming 10 |
| Rocket Science | stats.set_skill_level Major_RocketScience 10 |
| Selvadoradian Culture | stats.set_skill_level Minor_LocalCulture 5 |
| Singing | stats.set_skill_level Major_Singing 10 |
| Vampire Lore | stats.set_skill_level VampireLore 15 |
| Veterinarian | stats.set_skill_level Major_Vet 10 |
| Video Gaming | stats.set_skill_level Major_VideoGaming 10 |
| Violin | stats.set_skill_level Major_Violin 10 |
| Wellness | stats.set_skill_level Major_Wellness 10 |
| Writing | stats.set_skill_level Major_Writing 10 |