Testing cheats

Testing cheats
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An example of this cheat in action in The Sims 2.

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled and testingCheatsEnabled (not case-sensitive) are debugging cheats left in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. They can be activated by opening up the cheat console (with CTRL+SHIFT+C) and typing boolProp testingcheatsenabled true or testingcheatsenabled true .

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".

Use and abilities

Once the cheat has been enabled, clicking on any Sim or object whilst holding down the Shift key will cause a menu with debugging options to pop up. These can range from making certain Sims selectable and unselectable, making Sims grow up instantly (or killing them by Old Age, if the option is used on an Elder), changing a Sim's aspiration or traits or spawning several cheat objects. All objects have the option Force Error, which can be used to reset objects (clearing any interactions queued on them) or delete them (although not permanently in the case of Sims and Pets). The debugging cheats can be turned off by opening the cheat console and typing boolprop testingcheatsenabled false.

Players can also use testingcheatsenabled to control Sims that are not part of the household with the Make Selectable option, or they can temporarily remove household members with the Make Unselectable option. This option allows the player to control newborn babies, whom are not normally controllable. Several NPCs, such as the Grim Reaper or the Therapist, lack this option and therefore cannot be controlled by the player.

If the player is in Create-A-Sim mode whilst the cheat is active, they can press SHIFT+N to enter CAS debugging mode, which allows the player to give Sims clothing and hairstyles that would normally be unavailable (such as NPC and job-exclusive clothes). Pressing SHIFT+M will disable CAS debugging mode.

BuyDebug option with question mark

Some cheats in The Sims 3 require testingcheatsenabled true before they can be activated, such as buyDebug, enableLotLocking, and restrictBuildBuyInBuildings cheats. Buydebug is used to buy most objects that are not normally obtainable in the Buy mode, such as collectible spawners, reward objects, or crafted objects.

Activating cheat in The Sims Medieval

Testingcheatsenabled cannot be used by default in The Sims Medieval. Instead, activating it requires the player to modify the command.ini file in *\The Sims Medieval\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Ini (the default location is in C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims Medieval\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Ini and change TestingCheatsEnabled=0 to TestingCheatsEnabled=1.

Dangers of using the cheat

It is a common misconception that enabling the cheat for long periods of time or saving the game while it is active will cause game crashes and data corruption. The cheat itself doesn't cause corruption, but rather of the player's mishandling of the cheat's power.

By default, game errors, with the exception of a few, are automatically handled by the game. If testingcheatsenabled is active, all errors experienced in the game will throw an object error dialog, where the player will be given the option to Cancel, Reset, or Delete the object. This may not harm the game if the correct option is chosen, but it can become annoying after a while.

The biggest danger of the cheat comes from its various debugging tools, as misuse of the tools can damage the game. Game corruption will occur if the cheat is used to kill off or add certain NPCs (E.g. NPCs that are treated as objects by the game) to the household.

See also

• List of The Sims 2 cheats
• List of The Sims 3 cheats

References

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