How to Change Your Sim’s Lifetime Want in Sims 2

Sims 2 How to Change Lifetime Want

Have you ever played The Sims 2 and realized your Sim’s randomly generated lifetime want just doesn’t seem to fit them? Happens to me all the time. The first thing I do when playing a new neighborhood is change the LTWs that don’t make sense.

It’s easy to change your Sim’s lifetime want in The Sims 2. In this post, I’ll show you two methods that I use. One way uses cheats and the other requires a mod. Both get the job done, but each one has its own benefits depending on what you’re trying to achieve.

Using a Cheat

Let’s start with an easy in-game cheat. Here’s what to do:

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + C on your keyboard to open the cheat console.
  2. Type “boolprop testingcheatsenabled true” without the quotes and press enter to enable testing cheats.
  3. Shift + Right Click on your Sim.
  4. Choose Spawn > More > Sim Modder.
  5. A standing baby will appear on the ground next to your Sim. Click on him and choose > Wants and Fears > Lifetime > Cycle Wants
Sim Modder Baby
The model for the Sim Modder is a creepy standing baby.

You can choose between cycling through ALL the lifetime wants in the game or just the wants for your Sim’s current aspiration. I use this method when I want to set a lifetime want to something that they normally could not choose for their aspiration.

For example, you can set a Romance Sim’s lifetime want to “Earn $100,000 (Fortune)” or “Have 6 Grandchildren (Family)” or whatever you want.

What I don’t like about this method is you have to press play every time you cycle, wait for the aspiration to change, pause the game, then repeat until you get the one you want. It can be VERY tedious. Your Sim can also not have any other action in their queue.

Note: After you finish changing the lifetime want, you can simply delete the Sim Modder baby in Build/Buy mode. If you want to use him again, just summon him by right-clicking on your Sim with testing cheats enabled.

Using Sim Blender (Mod)

If I want to change a Sim’s lifetime want to something that’s available to their current aspiration (which is most of the time), I prefer to use a mod called Sim Blender. You can download it here.

After installing the mod in your game, you can find it in the Buy Mode catalog under Misc > Misc. It looks like a ficus tree. Place it on the ground anywhere on your lot, then click it and choose Wants > Cycle My LTW.

Sim Blender Change LTW
Use the Sim Blender to easily change your Sim’s lifetime want.

You can do this while paused and you don’t have to press play (unlike with the Sim Modder). You can easily and quickly change the lifetime want over and over until you get the one you want (while keeping the game paused).

The only drawback to this method is that it only cycles through lifetime wants for the Sim’s current aspiration. You’ll need to use the Sim Modder method above if you want to set it to something outside their aspiration.

Aspirations and Lifetime Wants

If you don’t know what I mean, here’s a quick explanation.

In The Sims 2 every aspiration (Romance, Family, Knowledge, etc.) has its own lifetime wants associated with it. When a Sim is created for the first time or when they age up to a teen, they receive a randomly selected lifetime want.

Family Sims will get lifetime wants to “Marry Off 6 Children” or “Reach Golden Anniversary” (things that make sense for a family Sim). Fortune Sims get lifetime wants to “Earn $100,000” or “Own 6 Top-Level Businesses,” etc.

All aspirations can also get lifetime wants to reach the top of certain careers. Read more about lifetime wants and see a list of all of them on The Sims Wiki Lifetime Wants page.