The Sims 2: Legacy Collection game control guide

Updated 1 week ago3 min read

Overview

Need a little help getting back into The Sims 2? It’s been a while, so here’s a guide to PC controls.

General controls

A purple graphic of a keyboard which details shortcuts for the keyboard and mouse when playing The Sims 2.
KeysAction 
Alt + EnterCycle Screen Resolution Scaling
 Ctrl + Z  Undo
 Ctrl + Y Redo
EscCancel
 Ctrl + Shift + C Toggle cheat window on/off
 F10 Hide/Show UI (User Interface)
F1 Live Mode 
F2Buy Mode
F3Build Mode
 F4 Story Mode
 F5 Options panel
 Q  Quit
Alt + F4 Save quit
 Ctrl + C Copy text fields
 Ctrl + X  Cut text fields
 Ctrl + V  Paste text fields
 Ctrl + Z Undo text fields
 Ctrl + Y Redo text fields

Create a Sim controls

KeysAction
 < / >  or left-mouse-click+ drag SimRotate Sim
 Z / X  or  + / - or scroll-mouse-wheelZoom in/out

Build/Buy Mode controls

KeysAction
 < / >  or right-clickmouse + dragRotate object
 Delete Delete object
 Shift + left-clickmouseContinue placing object
 [ / ] Move object up or down wall
 M Move/shuffle object on shelves
 < / >  or right-clickmouse + dragRotate object
 Delete Delete object
Left-clickmouse + or dragUse tools, drag to affect area
 Ctrl + left-clickor drag mouseRemove walls etc, drag to remove area
Hand
Eyedropper
Sledgehammer
 R Design tools
Wall tool:  Shift + drag mouseCreate room
Wallpaper/flooring tool: Shift + drag mouseFill room with wallpaper/flooring
Floor tool: < / > Rotate floor tile
 Ctrl + F Toggle full/quarter tile mode
Wall tool: Shift + drag mouseCreate room
 L Toggle Day/Night
 G 45-degree view
 T Top-down View
Terrain tool: Shift Invert tool
Grass tool: Ctrl + left-click mouseRemove grass

Movie Making Mode controls

KeysAction
 Tab Enable Movie Making Mode
 V Start/end video capture
 B Pause/resume video capture
 Q Lower camera height
ERaise camera height
 Z  /  X  or  +  /  - Adjust focal length
 C Take a snapshot

Live Mode controls

KeysAction
 F1 or left-clickmouse on Live Mode buttonHide/show main panels
Right-clickmouse after selectionCancel interaction
Left-clickmouse + drag and or releaseClick and or drag to select interaction, then release
Left-clickmouse active SimSelect interactions to perform to active Sim
Left-clickmouse another SimSelect interactions done by active Sim to other Sims
Select interaction menu:  Tab Navigate between dialog pages (pie menu pages)
 Space or N Switch to next Sim in Household
Left clickmouse on Sim portrait or right-click mouse on SimSwitch to a specific Sim
Right clickmouse on Sim portraitLock camera to Sim
 Enter Center camera on active Sim
 P or ~ or Pause Break Pause game
 1 /2/3 Regular/fast/ultra speed
 Page Up/Page Down Next/previous floor
 Home/End Next/previous wall mode
Right clickmouse and/or drag or  Alt  +mouseMove
 ↑  /  ←  /  ↓  /  →  W  /  A  /  S  /  D Move left/right/forward/back
 Shift  +  ↑  /  ←  /  ↓  /  → Move faster
 Z/X or  + / - or scroll mouse wheelZoom in/out
 Ctrl + right-clickmouse or middle-clickmouse) + dragTilt (rotate)
 < / > Rotate left/right
 Ctrl + 4 through 9 Save camera position 0 - 5
 4 through 9 Restore camera position 0 - 5
 Shift + 4 through 9 Snap to camera position 0 - 5
 Tab Toggle Movie Making Mode/camera

The Sims 2 cheats

To open the cheat bar in The Sims 2: 
  1. 1
    Hold down Ctrl + Shift +C.
  2. 2
    To activate cheats, type boolprop testingcheatsenabled true into the cheat bar and select Enter
  3. 3
    Type in the cheat code you want to use and select Enter
Here are some of the most common cheats for The Sims 2.*
KeysAction
addNeighborToFamilyCheat on|offEnables adding neighbors to families
ageSimsCheat on/offEnables/disables Sim aging cheat
aging on/offTurns on/off the aging of selected Sim 
aspiration level (0–5)Sets the Aspiration level of Sim from 0–5
aspirationPointsGives the selected Sim extra Aspiration reward points
autoPatch on/offEnables/disables checking for available patches through content browser
boolprop testingcheatsenabled trueEnables testing cheats
boolprop lotTerrainLighting on/offSet to off means Lots won’t light up when highlighted in neighborhood
boolprop locktiles on/offSet to off to place floor tiles outside Lot
boolprop displayNeighborhoodRoadsWithModel on/offSet to off to remove bridges from neighborhood
boolprop lotTerrainPaints on/offSet to off to remove floor painting on Lot
boolprop displayNeighborhoodProps on/offSet to off to remove props like rocks and towers from neighborhood
boolprop objectShadows on/offSet to off to remove shadows on objects outside house
boolprop lotWater on/offSet to off to remove water (ponds) from Lots
boolprop displayNeighborhoodRoads on/offSet to off to remove roads from neighborhood
boolprop guob on/offSet to off to remove shadows on objects inside house
boolprop displayNeighborhoodWater on/offSet to off to remove water from neighborhood
boolprop displayLotImposters on/offSet to off to remove house graphics from neighborhood
boolprop displayNeighborhoodFlora on/offSet to off to remove trees/plants from neighborhood
boolprop displayLookAtBoxes on/offSet to on and blocks appear on Sim's faces and on parts where Sims look
boolprop carsCompact on/offSet to on and cars will have more detail in neighborhood
boolprop renderSelectedSimLevel on/offSet to on and walls will no longer cut away from selected Sim
boolprop allObjectLightsOn on/offSet to on to light up objects continuously instead of only when used
boolProp displayPaths on/offSet to on to see the path the selected Sim walks on
boolprop lotInfoAdvancedMode on/offSet to on to show Lot information
bloom [R G B X]Changes color of screen visual. RGB is color [0,1], and X is the bloom amount [0,1]
bugJarTimeDecay on/offToggle if bugs in a jar can live forever or not
changeLotClassification low | middle | highChanges the Lot classification
changeLotZoningChanges the zoning type of the Lot. Type in cheat code followed by the new Lot type with no spaces, for example: changeLotZoning secretvacationlot will change the Lot type to a secret vacation Lot. Available Lot types: residential, community, greek, dorm, secretsociety, secretvacationlot, hotel, secrethobbylot, apartmentbase, apartmentsublot, secretwitchlot 
clearLotClassValueClears Lot class value and override flag
deleteAllAwningsRemoves awnings
deleteAllCharactersDeletes all characters in the current neighborhood—this also only works when in the neighborhood
deleteAllFencesRemoves all fences
deleteAllHalfwallsRemoves all half-walls
deleteAllObjectsRemoves all objects
deleteAllDoorsRemoves all doors that can be deleted when in Build Mode
deleteAllWallsRemoves all walls that can be deleted when in Build Mode
disablePuppyKittenAging on/offEnables/disables kitten/puppy aging
dumpNPCCountThis shows the NPC type in the neighborhood, by type, in the cheat console
exitHide the cheat console window
expandExpands or contracts the output portion of the cheat console
faceBlendLimits on/offTurns on/off blending limits
familyFundsUse familyFunds [familyName] [value] to set the amount of funds. Use familyFunds [familyName] [+/-][value] to add/subtract from current funds.
filmGrain [X]X is the film grain value [0,1]. Must use 'boolProp enablePostProcessing true' first.
forcetwinsSets pregnant Sim to have a twin pregnancy
helpThis displays help for cheats. Type help -all into the cheat bar and hit Enter. This will bring up all known cheats and describe what they do. This also works for individual cheats, for example, type in help motherlode and it will describe what this cheat does. 
individualRoofSlopeAngleSlope Angle in Degrees [15–75] (45 is default)
kachingIncreases Household funds by 1,000 Simoleans
letterBox [X]Letterbox the screen (add black borders on top and bottom). X is the letterbox value [0,0.4]. Must use 'boolProp enablePostProcessing true' first.
lockAspiration on/offLocks/unlocks the Aspiration score of Sims on the Lot
motherlodeIncreases Household funds by 50,000 Simoleons
modifyNeighborhoodTerrain on/offToggle neighborhood terrain modification. Use the cursor to select terrain and then press: p to smooth, [ to raise, ] to lower, or \ to level 
motiveDecay on/offTurns motive decay on/off for all Sims on the Lot
PlumbBobToggleToggle the showing of PlumbBob
roofSlopeAngleSlope Angle in Degrees [15–75] (45 is default)
setHighestAllowedLevel [level]Sets the highest number of floors that can be built
setHour (0–23)Sets the hour of the day
setLotLightingFile [filename.txt] or [clear]Override some of the parameters in the lighting.txt file with filename.txt file present in lights folder, clears if any file is present
setQuarterTilePlacement on/offTurns quarter tile placement on/off
showHeadlines on/offShows/hides all thought bubbles and speech balloons
slowMotion (0–8)Slows the animation timer (0=normal speed)
stretchSkeleton [Factor]Stretches skeleton of the selected Sim - factor=1.0 indicates no stretch (factor<1.0 makes shorter, factor>1.0 makes taller
textDebugging [True|False]Turns text debugging on/off
unlockCareerRewardsUnlocks all career reward objects for the selected Sim
vignette [centerX centerY X]Blur rendering from specified center (upper left is 0,0, lower right is 1,1). X is the amount of blurring [0,1]. Must use “boolProp enablePostProcessing true” first.
vsync on/offEnables/disables vertical sync —can improve performance, but will sometimes cause visual artifacts if off
*All boolprop cheats that use on/off can also be used with true/false.
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