How do you make a user startup cheat file?

[nikita]

I want to add a "maxNumOfVisitingSims 16" cheat to my game and was wondering how I go abouts making a startup cheat.

[BlueSoup]

Start a notepad doc and type in the cheats you want to use.  Then save it as userStartup.cheat.  Your comp may try to stick a .txt extension on the end, but you can rename that and make it .cheat.

Here's the cheats I have in mine:

boolprop testingcheatsenabled true
floatprop tvvolume 0.2
intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims 8

alias m "moveObjects on" "Enables the ability to move normally unmovable objects" ""
alias m- "moveObjects off" "Disables the ability to move normally unmovable objects" ""

alias s "boolProp snapObjectsToGrid false" "Lets you move objects off the grid" ""
alias s- "boolProp snapObjectsToGrid true" "Makes objects snap to the grid" ""

alias f "boolprop constrainFloorElevation false" "Enables the ability to change terrain even when there is a building on it" ""
alias f- "boolprop constrainFloorElevation true" "Disables the ability to change terrain even when there is a building on it" ""

alias a "boolProp allow45degreeAngleofRotation true" "Enables 45 degree angle rotation of objects" ""
alias a- "boolProp allow45degreeangleofrotation false" "Disables 45 degree angle rotation of objects" ""

alias d "boolProp dormspecifictoolsdisabled false" "Enables all functions of build & buy modes" ""
alias d- "boolProp dormspecifictoolsdisabled true" "Disables all but dorm tools" ""

[nikita]

Cool, thanks.  I'll just copy and paste your list. 

[BlueSoup]

My list is also partially copied from Hook! 

[dadditude]

My list is very similar to yours, Blue, except I leave 45 degree rotation on all the time, since it doesn't seem to hurt anything. I use the mouse when I want 90 degree rotations and the keyboard when I want 45's.

I also don't leave testing cheats on all the time, but that's because I don't use 'em that much right now.

Your list did make me realize, though, that my aliases could be MUCH shorter... I currently use snapon and snapoff for boolpop snapobjectstogrid, for example...

Oh, and one tip... After you have your userStartup.cheat file, right-click on it and select 'open with' and select notepad, making sure to click the box to always use it to open files of that type. Then, you can just double-click it to edit it later.

[Sleepycat]

heres my list    I don't use the last 4 but I left them in, just in case 

# Quieter TVs, defaults to 0.5
floatProp tvVolume 0.1

# invite more people
intProp MaxNumOfVisitingSims 25
alias party "intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims 50" "Allows you to throw big parties when activated on the neighbourhood screen" ""

# MoveObjects: move objects inside other objects or on locked tiles
alias m "moveObjects on" "Enables the ability to move normally unmovable objects" ""
alias m- "moveObjects off" "Disables the ability to move normally unmovable objects" ""

# Disable advanced blending for faces in kids, defaults to on (off = more variety)
faceBlendLimits off
alias face "faceBlendLimits off" "Enable more diversity in faces" ""
alias face- "faceBlendLimits on" "Ensure faces stay within limits" ""

# Debugging mode
boolProp testingCheatsEnabled false
alias t "boolprop testingCheatsEnabled true" "Enables debugging features that can be accessed by holding shift when clicking on objects" ""
alias t- "boolprop testingCheatsEnabled false" "Disables debugging features" ""

# Zoning cheats
alias res "changeLotZoning residential" "Make residential lot" ""
alias comm "changeLotZoning community" "Make community lot" ""
alias greek "changeLotZoning greek" "Make greek house" ""
alias dorm "changeLotZoning dorm" "Make dorm lot" ""
alias secret "changeLotZoning secretsociety" "Make secret society" ""

# Dorm building: also enables build during fire etc.
alias db "boolProp dormSpecificToolsDisabled false" "Enables building mode when disabled" ""
alias db- "boolProp dormSpecificToolsDisabled true" "Disables building mode when game wants to disable" ""

# Nightlife cheat-o-rama
alias max "maxmotives" "Maximize all motives for all Sims on the lot" ""

alias asp "lockaspiration on" "Stop aspiration decay for the currently selected Sim" ""
alias asp- "lockaspiration off" "Reenable aspiration decay for the currently selected Sim" ""

alias nobal- "showheadlines off" "Make all thought and speech balloons invisible" ""
alias nobal "showheadlines on" "Make all thought and speech balloons visible" ""

alias rewards "unlockcareerrewards" "Give all career rewards to currently selected Sim"

[nikita]

I always assumed that the faceblends cheat resulted in a higher chance of ugly kids.  Is this true?  I've never used it before.

[gypsylady]

I have used it for months now and I have never had ugly sim kids

[Sleepycat]

I've had the faceblending turned off for ages.

I've never gotten a fugly kid from decent (or better) looking parents...and since I no longer allow fugly maxis pre-made sims to breed (I get rid of the fugly ones, specially the townies!) I haven't had any fugly sim kids in a long time...and I've had alot of sim kids born *restarts alot*

[Ancient Sim]

Try this: http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=85062

It has a start-up file pre-made for you to download, with all the main cheats in it, which you can modify to your own taste.  It also explains the shortcuts you can use to save typing the whole thing in the cheat window. 

[jsalemi]

After reading this thread I edited mine to use single letter aliases (I had used that one from MTS2 as a starting point a long time ago), and it stopped working for some reason.  I checked all the obvious stuff -- no '.txt' extension added by my editor, no stray comment characters in the file, but the game wouldn't load it or recognize the aliases.  I reverted to the original version after I quit for the nite -- I'll see later today if it's still bugged or goes back to working again.

[DrBeast]

Strange...mine always had one-lettered aliases, and it's dating back to...hmm...a couple of months after Uni was released. And it's been working flawlessly ever since, even after I added a (two-lettered) NL command/alias.

[jsalemi]

Yea, I don't think the one letter thing is the problem; something else got farkled when I edited it.  I'll see if going back to the orignal works, and try editing it with a different editor to see if it still works.

[DrBeast]

I used notepad, if it's of any help.

[jsalemi]

I usually use UltraEdit, but I'll do it with notepad next time.

a day later: Yup, UltraEdit did something to the file -- using notepad I was able to edit it with no problem and it still worked.

[LynnMar]

do I copy the whole line? or just alias m "moveObjects on"   

 alias m "moveObjects on" "Enables the ability to move normally unmovable objects" ""
alias m- "moveObjects off" "Disables the ability to move normally unmovable objects" ""

[dadditude]

The whole thing.

[MistyBlue]

Does anyone know how to get the game to automatically enable the cheat as it starts up?  By starting up I mean as soon as the game starts, the aliases that I've designated are started without me having to type in the letter. I used to have the alias written at the bottom of the page and it worked until nightlife came out. I'm just being lazy, but I was happier with my game when I didn't have to worry about it.

[jsalemi]

Does anyone know how to get the game to automatically enable the cheat as it starts up?  By starting up I mean as soon as the game starts, the aliases that I've designated are started without me having to type in the letter. I used to have the alias written at the bottom of the page and it worked until nightlife came out. I'm just being lazy, but I was happier with my game when I didn't have to worry about it.

Just put in the name of the cheat and the state you want it in in the file, just like you would type in the cheat window itself.  If you look at the example up at the top of this thread, you'll see each section starts with a particular cheat and its default startup status.  For example:

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled false

That makes sure the testing cheats are off when the game starts.  if you want them to default to on, put this line in the file (position doesn't really matter):

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true

This applies to any on/off state cheat.  You can  then still use the aliases to toggle the cheats state.

[gjam]

I'm enjoying the opportunity to vary roof height, so I've added these lines in mine:

   alias r15 "roofslopeangle 15"
   alias r20 "roofslopeangle 20"
   alias r25 "roofslopeangle 25"
   alias r30 "roofslopeangle 30"
   alias r35 "roofslopeangle 35"
   alias r40 "roofslopeangle 40"
   alias r45 "roofslopeangle 45"
   alias r60 "roofslopeangle 60"

I tend to prefer lower roofs, so I setup more of those, but of course you could put in whichever ones you use most.

[MistyBlue]

Just put in the name of the cheat and the state you want it in in the file, just like you would type in the cheat window itself.  If you look at the example up at the top of this thread, you'll see each section starts with a particular cheat and its default startup status.  For example:

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled false

That makes sure the testing cheats are off when the game starts.  if you want them to default to on, put this line in the file (position doesn't really matter):

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true

This applies to any on/off state cheat.  You can  then still use the aliases to toggle the cheats state.

Still didn't work. I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong, but that hasn't worked for me for a long time. My aliases work, but not auto starting the cheat when I load the game. ?? oh well.

[LynnMar]

okay thanks, I made the startup cheat  notepad doc.  and now I forgot what folder it goes in,   

 It has been so long since I used one,

  either that or I am getting more senile by the minute.   

[Tina G]

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config 

[LynnMar]

Thanks Tina

okay mine says userStartup.cheat and then the next line says  CHEATFILE.   is that right???  It don't look right to me.   

[BlueSoup]

That is right.  Mine says that too, and I know it works.