Testing cheats

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true and testingCheatsEnabled are by far the most powerful cheats in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. Though testingCheatsEnabled is not nearly as powerful as boolProp testingCheatsEnabled, it is still the most powerful in the game. Both are debugging cheats, and even though very useful, they can have negative consequences.

This cheat is often erroneously called "boolProp", which means "Boolean property" or "true/false". In The Sims 2, there are several cheats that start with "boolProp".

It is a myth that each word must be capitalized. It doesn't need to be capitalized at all.

Use and abilities
To use it, after entering the code followed by "true", then press the Shift key while simultaneously clicking on a Sim or the mailbox. A menu will pop up giving the player options. There are many actions possible with this cheat, including making Sims grow up, changing a Sim's aspiration or traits, moving and deleting objects that weren't movable or deletable previously (although this can also be achieved using the moveObjects cheat), spawning cheat objects, and making Sims selectable or non-selectable. To turn the cheat off type the prompt in the cheat window with the word "false" after it. Players can shift+click on anything and when clicking on counters or plumbing and electronics, it's possible to break, clean, and delete them. When using ForceError, Cancel does nothing, Reset ends all actions, even if they're otherwise unstoppable, and Delete will delete the Sim/pet/object.

Players can control sims not in their household by making them selectable. To do this, shift+click on any Sim and click MAKE SELECTABLE. Pressing MAKE UNSELECTABLE, the opposite will happen. To control infants, click MAKE UNSELECTABLE, then MAKE SELECTABLE. Non-playable characters, or NPCs, such as the Grim Reaper, will not be able to be controlled. These sims can be summoned using the mailbox and testingcheatsenabled or the Tombstone of L and D, though.

With this cheat enabled, it is possible to summon different objects that also act as cheats, create townies, and add people to the active family.

In Create-A-Sim, if the the cheat has been enabled prior to entering, hidden hairstyles, clothes, eye color, make-up and skin colors can be unlocked by pressing (Shift) + N. This must be done before entering Create-A-Sim. When activated, a pop-up box will appear, informing the player that has activated debugging mode and hidden aspects have been unlocked, now giving Sims the ability to wear NPC clothes and hidden hairstyles, among other things. The cheat can be disabled by pressing (Shift) + M.

Another use of this cheat can be to drag mood bars up to improve their mood or down to cause nightmares or death. The skill bars and personality bars can be dragged the same way and even change a Sim's star sign. To do this though, the cheat must be activated in the neighborhood or a another lot. This is not necessary for the other uses of this cheat however.

This cheat also enables "force error". If a player uses this, depending on what they click they can delete or reset a Sim. It can be handy to reset a character if they are frozen but, unfortunately, it can also be dangerous.

Dangers of using the cheat
Many times this cheat will cause family members to disappear. A pop-up will appear on the screen, saying there is an error with [error code], and give three choices. If DELETE is chosen, the Sim that was selected or interacted with disappears from the game. Rather than exiting without saving, it is possible to use the Tombstone of L and D, a spawnable cheat object accessible via this cheat. Once spawned, select 'Get Family Member' and click on the name of the missing Sim. This will return the Sim without losing game progress. Or, use RESET to not lose the Sim or the object. CANCEL does nothing.

In The Sims 3, the "Error Code 16", which affects a save due to over usage of testingcheatsenabled true can also be negated by clicking 'Save As' instead of Save and use another name for the save file will save the game without any problem, though it is highly recommended if testingcheatsenabled is rarely used in the game. The new patch now can recover the save game in case anyone doesn't know this method.