To change a Sim’s Lifetime Wish in The Sims 3 without cheats, buy the Change Lifetime Wish Lifetime Reward for 10,000 Lifetime Happiness points and pick a new wish. It only works while the current wish is unfinished; once a Sim completes their Lifetime Wish, the reward disappears and the unmodded game offers no way to choose another. Below we cover how Lifetime Wishes are set in the first place, the reward method and its hidden cost, the cheat route through Create-A-Sim, and what mods do after completion.
How Lifetime Wishes Are Chosen
Every Sim gets one Lifetime Wish. For Sims you create, you pick it in Create-A-Sim alongside their traits. For Sims born in your game, the game asks you to choose one when a teen ages up to Young Adult.
Children and teens can also lock one in early. When a young Sim does something tied to a Lifetime Wish, such as excelling at a skill, that wish can show up in their wish panel, and promising it counts as their choice; per the community wiki, they then skip the prompt at Young Adult.
Early in the game’s life, the list was limited to wishes that matched the Sim’s traits. A later update (the community wiki places it at the Late Night patch) opened the full list, so you can choose any Lifetime Wish your installed packs offer regardless of traits. That makes changing a wish more useful than it once was.
Method 1: The Change Lifetime Wish Reward
This is the only built-in, no-cheat method. It is part of the base game.
- Earn 10,000 Lifetime Happiness points. They come from fulfilling wishes. The Sim’s current balance shows in their Lifetime Rewards panel.
- Open the Lifetime Rewards panel from the Sim’s panel at the bottom of the screen.
- Find Change Lifetime Wish in the list and buy it.
- Choose the new wish from the list that appears.
Two catches. First, the reward is only offered to Sims who have not completed their current Lifetime Wish; it vanishes from the list after completion. Second, per the community wiki, the new wish’s Lifetime Happiness payout is reduced by 10,000, effectively refunding the cost out of the final reward. It is a mulligan, not a free swap.
The reward’s in-game eligibility starts at the child age group, according to the wiki’s reward table, though most players use it on Young Adults who picked a wish they regret.
Method 2: Cheats and Create-A-Sim
If you would rather not spend points, the testing cheats open Create-A-Sim for an existing Sim.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + C on Windows to open the cheat console. Mac players report Cmd + Shift + C as the equivalent.
- Type testingcheatsenabled true and press Enter.
- Shift-click the Sim you want to change.
- Choose the option to modify them in Create-A-Sim.
- Change the Lifetime Wish in the personality section, then confirm.
Our guide to enabling cheats in The Sims 3 covers the console in detail. Players report that editing a Sim this way can reset other things, such as outfits or traits you touch by accident, so save first and change only what you need. Whether CAS will let you replace a Lifetime Wish the Sim has already completed is not something we could confirm from official sources, so treat this route as best for unfinished wishes.
After the Wish Is Complete: Mods
Once a Lifetime Wish is fulfilled, the base game considers the Sim done. Completion pays out a large Lifetime Happiness bonus and the Sim keeps rolling ordinary wishes, but no new Lifetime Wish slot opens.
Two community mods are widely used for this:
- NRaas MasterController, a broad toolkit, is described by its users as including options to set a Sim’s Lifetime Wish directly.
- New Lifetime Goals, a smaller mod referenced by the community wiki, lets a Sim pick a fresh Lifetime Wish after completing one.
Both are third-party, not supported by EA, and must match your game version. Read each mod’s own instructions before installing, and back up your saves. Our Sims 3 mod installation guide covers the folder setup, and the 50 best Sims 3 mods list covers MasterController and more.
Which Wish to Pick Next
If you are changing a wish, pick one that uses what the Sim already has. A Sim deep in a career is close to that career’s top-level wish; a Sim with several maxed skills is well placed for skill-based wishes. Pack-specific wishes need their pack: Supernatural adds occult goals such as those our vampire guide touches on, and Late Night adds fame-based goals covered in our celebrity guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Change Lifetime Wish cost in The Sims 3? 10,000 Lifetime Happiness points, and per the community wiki the new wish pays out 10,000 fewer points on completion.
Can I change a Lifetime Wish after completing it? Not in the unmodded game. The reward disappears after completion; mods such as MasterController or New Lifetime Goals fill the gap.
Can I pick a wish that does not match my Sim’s traits? Yes. Later updates opened the full list regardless of traits.
Does changing the wish need an expansion pack? No. The Change Lifetime Wish reward is in the base game. Some of the wishes on the list come from expansions, though.
What is the Mac shortcut for the cheat console? Mac players report Cmd + Shift + C, the counterpart of Ctrl + Shift + C on Windows.
For the Sims 2 version of this topic, see changing a Lifetime Want, and for everything else, our Sims hub.