While playing the game, press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + C to display the console window. Then, type one of the following codes and press [Enter] to activate the corresponding cheat function. Note: In Windows Vista you may need to press [Ctrl] + [Windows] + [Shift] + C to display the console window.
| Result | Cheat Code |
| Display most cheats | help |
| Enable testing cheats [Note 1] | testingCheatsenabled [true or false] |
| 1,000 more Simoleons | Kaching |
| 50,000 more Simoleons | Motherlode |
| Add baby and toddler to all households | babyboom |
| View career outfits and service uniforms [Note 2] | unlockOutfits [on or off] |
| No limitations for placing/moving objects | moveObjects [on or off] |
| Return Sims to safe and nuetral state at home | resetSim [first name] [last name] |
| Reset lifetime happiness of all Sims in active household | resetlifetimehappiness |
| Force terrain adjustments regardless of objects, Sims, and other structures | constrainFloorElevation [true or false] |
| Objects will not snap to slots while holding [Alt] | disableSnappingToSlotsOnAlt [on or off] |
| Objects fade when camera gets close to them | fadeObjects [on or off] |
| Show talk/thought balloons above Sim's head | hideHeadlineEffects [on or off] |
| Print random joke to console | jokePlease |
| Toggle lot tooltips | displaylotpackagefilename [on or off] |
| Toggle "Llamas" warning icons [Note 3] | enablellamas [on or off] |
| Slow motion visuals; 0 is normal, 8 is slowest | slowMotionViz [0-8] |
| Toggle framerate display at top right | fps [on or off] |
| Full screen | fullscreen [on or off] |
| Quit the game | quit |
Note 1: This code allows additional cheat codes to be used and unlocks various testing options, as described below.
Note 2: This code must be enabled before entering Create-A-Sim mode.
Note 3: "Llamas" are the triangular warning signs that appear with some messages.
Enable the "testingCheatsenabled true" code, then type one of the following codes at the console window to activate the corresponding cheat function:
| Result | Cheat Code |
| Make toddler that grows to child become an NPC | ageuptonpc |
| Set Simoleon total for indicated family | familyfunds "[last name]" [number] |
| Set game speed | speed [0 to 4] |
| Toggle map tags | maptags [on or off] |
| Toggle all audio | playsounds [on or off] |
| Record video with specified size and quality | recordvideo |
After enabling the "testingCheatsenabled true" code, you can also hold [Shift] and click on the following objects to access new options:
Mailbox
Work place
Ground
Any Sim
Active Sim
Non-household Sim
When the "testingCheatsenabled true" code is enabled on the "Select Family" screen before loading a family, hold [Ctrl] and click just below the box in the lifetime happiness to add 500 to lifetime happiness. You can also drag the needs bars up or down as desired. When viewing your Sims' relationships, you can drag the bars on that screen either way.
When the "testingCheatsenabled true" code is enabled, you can hold [Ctrl] and click a Moodlet in the Moodlet panel to remove it. Note: If it is motive-induced, the bar related to the negative Moodlet will be completely filled.
Use the following trick to watch your own videos on the Sim television. Place the video you want into the "/My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 3/Movies/Broadcast/[television station]" folder. Turn on the television in the game, and you can watch it. The video must be in .AVI format, with a resolution no larger than 128x128 pixels, and frame rate not greater than 15 frames per second.
Place the desired .MP3 files in the "/My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 3/Music/[radio station]" folder. Start the game, go to "Options" menu, select "Music Settings", then choose radio station. Select which songs you want the radio to play.
Start writing novels on your computer. Write fiction novels as they take the least amount of time. They will not bring you too much Simoleons. When you write, your skill will automatically advance. If your skill is high enough, you will be able to write more novel types/genres. The most money can be made from "Romance Novels". You will get royalties for six weeks once you finish a book. With the "Writing" skill maxed out, you can make approximately 40,000 Simoleons every week, which is more than the 34,800 Simoleons you can get by purchasing all neighborhood businesses, and takes less time to achieve. In three game weeks you should have a very high speed writing, 9 or 10 novels as best sellers, and 100,000 Simoleons.
No matter how many times you use an object, if you sell it the same day you got it you can get all your money back. If your Sim is poor and needs body points or something else, buy a body machine and keep selling it back to get a refund of all your money.
This trick requires a TV with a Cooking, Fishing, or Gardening channel and a video game system. Have a Sim sit down and watch television. Switch the TV over to one of the previously mentioned channels so that the Sim can start earning his or her skill point. Then, have a second Sim go over and start playing video games. Notice that although the TV is displaying video games, the first Sim still has the skill meter above their head. Allow this Sim to sit there for as long as they please until they decide to do another activity of their own. After that, the skill meter should stay above their head until you start another Cooking, Fishing, or Gardening skill activity. As an added bonus, you can train two skill points at once. For example, work out and both the Athletic and Cooking skills will continue to rise. If you keep repeating the steps until each skill channel has been viewed, the Sim will keep learning the three skills as he or she goes on about their daily life, and four when doing skill activities.
Buy a bookcase, then have your Sim begin to study. Interrupt the action so that the book is placed on the ground. Sell the bookcase. The book can now do everything the bookcase could have done for free.
Have a pregnant female Sim eat apples to increase the chance of having a boy.
Have a pregnant female Sim eat watermelons to increase the chance of having a girl.
To increase the chance of having twins or triplets, have one or both parents have the lifetime reward of Fertility Treatment.
Set one of your female Sim's traits to Kleptomaniac. Go to the graveyard, and have the Sim steal male remains. On the second day after putting the male remains in your home, a ghost will appear at 11:00 p.m. and disappear at 4:00 a.m. It will appear every other day. Socialize with the ghost every night it appears. When you become best friends with the ghost, it will begin appearing every night. Get the "Fertility" reward. Confess your attraction to the ghost. Ask to snuggle on the bed, and kiss him. Try for a baby every night until you start throwing up. You will now have a ghost baby that you can control.
Go to the graveyard, click on all the tombstones, and take all possible tombstones. Return to your house, and place them somewhere in your backyard. You now have a 70% chance of a ghost or two, or even a whole party of ghosts visiting your house each night. To improve your chances, write in the epitaph "Here Lies [Sim's name], The One Who Returns".
Buy a guitar. Play it to learn how to play guitar. Keep playing until you reach 5/10 level, which gives you the ability to "Play For Tips". When you have that ability, go to the park with the guitar in your inventory. When you are in the park, click the guitar in your inventory, and select "Play For Tips". People watching you will become your friends if you keep playing. The higher your guitar skill, the faster they will become friends with you.
Instead of using a cheat code to toggle "aging on" and "aging off" like in The Sims 2, you can de-activate the age in "Game Options" under "Options". When you uncheck the box next to "Aging", your Sims will no longer become older. You can also slow aging down in this menu by setting the "Lifetime" bar. It can be set from 25 days to 960 days.
Use the following trick to change your Sim's age (toddler, child, teen, etc.) quickly. Buy a birthday cake from the grocery store, and place it somewhere on your lot. Click the cake, and select "Have Birthday". Then, choose the Sim to be aged. This is a good method to get past the baby stage.
Go to Pleasant Rest Graveyard. Near the gate is a bush called "Death Flower Bush". Harvest the flower from it, and keep it in your Sim's inventory. If you die, that Sim will give the flower to the Grim Reaper and be resurrected. Although the flower will not reappear there again, if your Sim has Level 7 Gardening, they can plant the "Unknown Special Seeds" found in the graveyard and some other places that have a chance to grow as a Death Flower. Note: Having the Green Thumb trait to revive the plant may help.
To get new clothes, you first have to buy a dresser from "Buy Options". Once there, click "Plan Outfit". You can put a total of three different clothes for each type (formal, every day, athletic, etc.).
Have your Sim reach Guitar skill level 5. Have a level 5 book in their inventory, click the guitar, then select "New Song" to learn it. After reaching Guitar skill level 6, do the same thing with a level 6 book. Repeat the process until the Sim reaches Guitar skill level 10, and they will know all songs that were taught.
Create a stylized still life after it is unlocked. Choose "Genius", and make it in the largest possible frame. You will now have a much better chance of getting a brilliant painting or masterpiece.
Buy the Ducksworth of Bathington, and place it in your bathtub. When a Sim takes a bath, they will get the Duck Time moodlet which results in a +15 boost for four hours.
There is a glitch in Create-A-Sim mode that allows to you to make very strange faces. Go to the face designing area. Select a face part such as the eyes, and max out all the sliders one way or the other. Then, go to a different face part, and select one of the predesigned parts. Return to the eyes. The sliders will have reset to the middle, but the eyes will still look the same. This works for all of the face adjusting tabs. You can then continue to max out the size of the eyes and repeat. You can make eyes the size of dinner plates, very long cheekbones, huge noses, and more.
Have a Sim call for pizza. When the pizza delivery man arrives, do not accept the pizza. The delivery man will eventually leave the pizza on the front porch, and it will never get stale. You can stack as many pizzas there as you want. If your Sims get hungry, just tell them to get a pizza from the front porch.
When you have the video game system and your Sims play it, zoom in on the TV to see that the games they are playing are various Electronic Arts titles.
Have a Sim reach the top painting level to have the ability to create masterpieces. One of the paintings that can be created is that of a creature from Spore.
