userStartup.cheat is why I suck at life (SOLVED)

[Invisigoth]

Ok, so I googled this a few days ago because I wanted a userStartup.cheat file of my very own.  I found several helpful tutorials that all agreed on the basic how to.  So I followed them.  And it doesn't work.  I don't know what I am doing wrong.  So, I have userStartup.cheat in my config file in this directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config
Just to try it out I started with the two lines that I was most sick of typing every time I played:
boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true
intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims 10

What did I do wrong?  I played around with this endlessly, putting the strings in quotes (back to my fun programming days in college, some of the programs liked to be finicky about strings being in quotes), changing capitilization, nothing works.  ::cries::

[ElfPuddle]

Venusy, is this in the FAQ yet? It should be.

The most common error is having an accidental .txt after the .cheat. What does yours end with?

[MistyBlue]

Here is a copy of mine. Copy, paste and delete what you don't want. Keep the Boolprops on top. And like ElfPuddle said, make sure that there is no .txt after the .cheat.

boolprop useshaders true
boolProp allow45degreeAngleOfRotation true
floatProp tvVolume 0.1
boolProp   dontMergeNHFlora false
uintProp maxTotalSims 45
uintProp maxTotalHumans 35
uintProp maxTotalPets 10
setHighestAllowedLevel 200

#-------------------------------------------------------------
#   alias      
#-------------------------------------------------------------

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

alias s "boolProp snapObjectsToGrid false" "Lets you move objects off the grid" ""
alias ss "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 ff "boolprop constrainFloorElevation true" "Disables the ability to change terrain even when there is a building on it" ""

boolProp allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true
alias a "boolProp allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true" "Enable object rotation by 45 degrees" ""
alias aa "boolProp allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation false" "Disable object rotation by 45 degrees" ""

faceBlendLimits off
alias face "faceBlendLimits off" "Enable more diversity in faces" ""
alias faces "faceBlendLimits on" "Ensure faces stay within limits" ""

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" ""

alias file "boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename true" "Show filenames for lots"
alias files "boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename false" "Do not show filenames for lots"

alias h "showheadlines off" "Make all thought and speech balloons invisible" ""
alias hh "showheadlines on" "Make all thought and speech balloons visible" ""

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

alias p "plumbbobtoggle on"
alias pp "plumbbob toggle off"

[Invisigoth]

Venusy, is this in the FAQ yet? It should be.

The most common error is having an accidental .txt after the .cheat. What does yours end with?

It ends in .cheat, but it still says underneath it Text Document.  Ok, I'm a really visual person so here:



Does that mean that it really ends in txt because it says text document?  If so, how do I fix this?

[akatonbo]

You need to tell Windows to show you your file extensions -- which is a fairly important non-Sims-related thing that most even slightly computer-savvy people ought to do on their computers anyway. Then you'll be able to tell if it ends with .txt when it isn't supposed to.

[ElfPuddle]

Just to repeat Pandabiotic's directions in visual-learner mode. (I think pictures are awfully helpful, too.)

[Invisigoth]

Thank you all SO much!     I am not even remotely windows savvy, but you guys were able to explain it clearly enough for even ME to figure it out!  (the really sad thing is that I can write programs with no problem, and I was able to figure out simsPE to the point of being fairly comfortable without a tuturial, but I still don't understand my operating system *at all*.  I routinely forget where to find my registry, or how to change my start up processess.  I like to pretend that it's windows' fault and not mine).

[notveryawesome]

I'm the same way, though in my own defence I use a Mac with a Windows partition on it, which is akin to being bilingual.

[Invisigoth]

Hey, thanks a lot ElfPuddle!  (Not sarcastic)  I knew my instructions were missing something... PICTURES!  Hehe... (I seriously thought about it, but decided to wait until Invisigoth replied and if they didn't understand then, I was going to... thanks for jumping the gun!)

Glad you got it Invisigoth!  Now go, and learneth thy Windows. 

Wanna tutor me? 

[Gwill]

I wish I could get someone to pay me a small amount every time that's the solution to this problem.
Unfortunately the odds are too good, so no one will take the bet.