Cheats

The first one is not so much a cheat as an exploit that will get you some extra money. For some strange reason, the game creates duplicate curtains over a period of time (about a week). I don't know why it does it, but it does. So cover those big floor-to-ceiling windows with a designer curtain, wait a week, and then sell back five curtains for a net profit of about $400 per original curtain. So if you glass-in an entire exterior wall and put curtains over the whole thing, you can take a few thousand to the bank every week. Repeat as often as you would like.

The following cheats involve editing the game.cfg file. This file is stored in the \Singles2\Config folder and is a plain text file that can be edited with Notepad or any other text editor. Before making any changes to this file, make a backup copy by selecting "Save As..." from the File menu and giving it a different file name and then reload game.cfg.

To make changes, use "Find" (<F3> or <CTRL>+F) to find the variable (the part to the left of the equal sign) and then change the value (the part to the right of the equal sign) and save. Since the game does not reread the game.cfg file when you load a saved game, you will have to relaunch the game before your changes will take effect.

IMPORTANT: as part of the game's copy-protection system, it checks the date/time stamp of the game.cfg file. It does not check the date modified, but it does check the date created, so replacing the original file with a copy will prevent the game from launching. If you want to return any or all of these settings back to their defaults, you must open the backup copy, copy the portions that you want to set back, open the game.cfg file, paste over the appropriate section(s) and save.

Uncensor the characters (you know this was what you were really looking for):

pixelate = false (no pixelation when using the toilet; true = pixelate while using the toilet)
fullPixelation = false (no pixelation when running around without clothing; true = pixelate when unclothed)

Change the level of nudity permitted:

lon = 2 (that's ell-oh-enn, not one-oh-enn)

valid settings:

0 = no nudity at all (puts a big white bag from shoulders to knees)
1 = pixelated pelvic area
2 = no restrictions

This will override the pixelate settings above if it is set to anything other than 2.

Skip the Deep Silver and Rotobee splash videos when launching the game:

videoApplicationStart = logoDeepSilver.mpg logoRotobee.mpg Splash.mpg

(delete everything after the equal sign)

Skip Magnet's introductory video (only affects story-mode):

videoNewGameM = IntroM.mpg (playing Josh)
videoNewGameF = IntroF.mpg (playing Anna)

(delete everything after the equal sign)

Change morning/day/evening/night start times:

morningTime = 6
dayTime = 9
eveningTime = 18
nightTime = 22

This will change the hours at which the game transitions from morning to day to evening to night. I have not messed with this setting and do not know if it will affect any other parts of the game, so change these at your own risk.

Change the depreciation value when selling items:

You won't get the same amout of money when you sell an item as you spent when you bought it. This is the variable that determines how much an item depreciates.

defaultDepreciationPerDay = 0.025

Set it to 0.0 and items should not depreciate at all.

Change the amount of starting money:

moneyEmptyScene = 100000
moneyStartStory = 496
moneyStartBackyard = 2500
moneyStartApartment = 5000
moneyStartPenthouse = 10000

These are the default values. Valid values are anywhere between 0 and 999999.

If you'd rather do it the hard way, there is a post over on the Deep Silver forums that explains how to sell curtains for more money than you paid.

Unlock all scenarios:

StoryEnabled = true
BackyardEnabled = false
ApartmentEnabled = true
PenthouseEnabled = false

Change the value to true to unlock or false to lock. The game will change all values to true after you complete story-mode, so this is only useful if you want to skip the story and dive right into free-play.

Don't go to turbo time-mode:

autoFastForward = true

Set to false to prevent the game from changing the time mode when all characters are sleeping or at work. The downside of this is that you really have to watch the clock when you go into turbo mode because it won't shut off by itself.

Change the wake-up time on workdays:

workPrepareTime = 2

Sets the number of hours before the start of working hours that a character will wake up. Default (shown) is 2 hours. Note that you will also have to change the following line:

minGetUpTiredness = 0.8

Characters will not wake up on their own if their Energy level is less than this amount (80% is the default). Valid values are between 0.0 (get up at the specified time regardless of Energy level) and 1.0 (never wake up unless Energy is full) and represent a percentage of the Energy meter.

Change the "go to work" window

maxWorkDelay = 2

Sets the number of hours that the "go to work" option is available on workdays. The larger the number, the longer the option remains available.

Change the amount you have to pay to expand into the adjoining apartment:

APARTMENT = 10000
BAR = 0
PENTHOUSE = 20000
BACKYARD = 5000

Note that the bar is set to zero because Magnet behaved erratically when the adjoining apartment was available for expansion, so build-mode in the bar is turned off entirely. Change the value to whatever you'd like (valid values are between 0 and 999999).

I came across a cheat that was released shortly after the game's release and gave some code you could add to one of the game files to open up the bar for expansion. If someone comes across it, could you please post a link over on the Deep Silver forums because I've completely forgotten where I originally found it.

Change the rate at which short-term relationship meter deteriorates:

shortTermDecayRate = 0.03

Lower the value to slow the rate of deterioration, raise the value to speed it up. A value of 0.00 means that it will never deteriorate (which may not necessarily be a good thing if any of your relationships are negative)

Change the rate at which the long-term relationship bar changes

shortTermInfluence = 0.3

Increase the value to make it have a bigger impact (makes the game easier) or decrease the value to make it have a smaller impact (makes the game harder).

Turn on character vices

# defaultHobby = true

Remove the hashmark and space to turn it on (the hashmark makes it a comment rather than a variable). From there it can be toggled between true and false. When vices are turned on, characters will engage in those activities in preference to other available "fun" activities, will do them longer than normal and will do them even when they don't need to.

There may be an additional edit to make on the \singles2\GameLogic\glCharacters.agl file (it's plain text). Scroll almost all of the way down to the bottom to find

# lengthFactor = 1.2

# needFactor = 1.5

Remove the hashmarks from in front of the lines to turn it on.

Change sexual orientation (sort of):

sexualAttractionPenalty = 1.0

Seems to affect the penalty applied to long-term Erotic/Romantic relationship growth beteen characters of the same sex when their sexual orientation is set to HETERO (that's everyone except Pacifica). Setting it to 0 means that the long-term relationships will grow at the same rate, regardless of the sex of the characters.

If you'd like to actually change a character's sexual orientation, you'll need to edit the \singles2\GameLogic\archtypes.aat file (it's plain text) and change the sexuality = HETERO for a particular character to sexuality = HOMO. For Pacifica, who is already set to HOMO, you'll need to change it to HETERO.

Stop stuff from breaking

This one is a pain in the ass because I don't see a global setting on this. Instead, each object is controlled by its own data file, which must be edited individually.. Go into the \Singles2\GameObject folder and find the item that you want to stop from breaking (there are a bunch of things in there, but the name of the file is pretty close to the name of the object). Open the .ago file with your text editor and set this line to 0.00 (the example is from the cheap bathtub):

breakProbability = 0.01

I haven't tested this one completely, but it seems to work for all of the items that I have tested. So do it at your own risk.

Change the format of screenshots

screenShotFormat = png

The game defaults to .png format, but you can change it to .jpg if you prefer.