In "The Sims 4," the fourth installment of EA Maxis' popular life simulation, players learn, work and play as their Sims confront many of the challenges also found outside virtuality. And they, too, sometimes just need to catch a break.

Thankfully, a number of cheats make sure that Sims need not get stuck in a sad routine. To use these secret commands, players must hold down the "Ctrl," "Shift" and "C" keys at the same time. A box will open and prompt you to enter a magic phrase.

Carl's Sims 4 Guide has compiled some of the most helpful and fun shortcuts. Here are some of the highlights:

  • You may have dreamed of tearing up your rent or mortgage bill in real life, but that can come with dire consequences. Not so in "The Sims 4." With the command "freerealestate on" homes can be acquired for free while you are shopping for an appropriate residence. That, Carl's Sims 4 Guide points out, lets you "live in a mansion without needing to afford it."

  • That mansion, of course, may come with a slightly higher electricity and water bills than your fourth-story walkup. If you are having trouble keeping up with the payments, you can turn to "households.autopay_bills" -- this cheat will make those obligations disappear magically, and "annoying bills will trouble you no longer."

  • Now that you have built the home of your dreams and your Sims are living happily ever after, you might want to share your success on Facebook. To make that screenshot look uncluttered, consider first switching to fullscreen mode: "fullscreen" will do the trick.

    To ensure an even clearer impression, you can also do away with the headline effects over Sims: "hideheadlineeffects off" gets that done (and "hideheadlineeffects on" reverses the move when you are ready to resume the game).

  • Sims are just like people who go through all stages of life. If some of your favorites have reached an advanced age and your worry about their mortality, there happens to be a solution: "death.toggle false" grants your little friends immortality. 

    But beware, Carl's Sims 4 Guide notes warns that this command needs to be repeated every time you load the game.