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Paralives Field GuideParalives Field Guide

Architecture

Paralives build mode guide

Enter build mode with one key, then bend walls, lay floors and resize every object without a grid. This hub links every build tutorial — curved walls, foundations, floors, porches and build cheats.

Browse build tutorialsOpen the budget calculator
architecture

Build mode is the headline feature

Grid-free curved walls, free placement, full colour wheel on every object. Build mode is where Paralives' freedom shows from day one.

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Paralives build mode
📐Curved walls, free placement & half-levels
  1. 01

    Curved walls

    Walls bend along any arc, with no grid snapping. Round towers and curved facades work the same way as rectangles.

  2. 02

    Free placement

    Furniture rotates and resizes at any angle and any dimension. No snap-to-grid forcing a layout it does not want.

  3. 03

    Continuous color

    Every wall, floor and prop accepts a full color picker. The default swatches are a starting point, not a cage.

How to enter and exit build mode

Google's top Paralives build questions all start here. In live mode, press B or click the house icon (bottom-left) to toggle build mode. Press B again — or click the live-mode icon — to return to playing.

  1. 1From live mode, press B or tap the house icon in the bottom toolbar.
  2. 2The build toolbar appears across the top. Pick Walls, Floors, Stairs or any tool from there.
  3. 3When you are done, press B again or click the live-mode icon to exit back to playing.
  4. 4Build mode works on any owned lot. There is no separate free-build sandbox in Early Access — you edit the active household lot.
Build mode tutorial

How to build a porch in Paralives

Porches feel impossible at first in Paralives — there's no grid, no porch-piece menu, no preset wrap-around tool. The trick is two systems working together: the foundation-height slider and the half-level floors. Pick one path or mix both. Either way, you get a porch the Sims 4 grid would never let you make.

Porch tutorial

Essential build mode hotkeys

The eight that carry most of a build session, straight from the same keybinding data as our full controls reference — so they cannot drift out of sync with the game.

TabSwitch between Build and Live mode
BDraw a wall
OOpen the catalogue
GToggle the grid
Alt (hold)Disable snapping
XRotate 90°
KSledgehammer — demolish
Ctrl + ZUndo
All 48 keybindings, Windows and Mac

What sets it apart

Half-levels

Split a single story into mezzanines or sunken living rooms. Stairs route automatically; railings adopt the slope.

Continuous color

Hue, saturation, lightness and a small set of material presets per object. The default swatches are a starting point, not a cage.

Always-daylight mode

Optional toggle that locks lighting at midday so you can judge colors and contrast while building. Workshop ships expanded versions of this.

Workshop integration

Builds upload to Workshop with one click. Downloaders can browse rooms before committing to a whole house, and your color picks ship with the build.

Planner

Build budget calculator & house-needs checklist

Before you place a single wall, size the spend. Pick your layout and finish level for a Paradimes estimate, copy the SETMONEY cheat to fund it, and check the needs list so no Para ends up without a fridge or a toilet.

Open the budget calculator

Build mode tutorials

Deep-dive guides for specific build techniques. Each tutorial walks every step with tips and common mistakes.

Finished Paralives house viewed from above in build mode after the full step-by-step tutorial
Full build mode tutorial

Seventeen illustrated steps from an empty lot to a saved house — settings, walls, foundations, roof and terrain.

Build
Top-down view of a furnished Paralives starter home with dining, bedroom and bathroom zones ready for live mode
Starter home build

Eleven illustrated steps from an empty lot to a move-in-ready house — footprint, roof, openings and the fridge-bed-toilet essentials.

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Paralives front porch with steps built using the separator tool and raised floor from the tips guide
15 build mode tips

The tricks that save a rebuild: same-height cloning, resize limits and copying colour codes.

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Real floor plan image displayed on a Paralives lot using the customizable carpet Workshop mod
Build from a floor plan

Show a real blueprint on your lot with a Workshop rug and trace the walls straight over it.

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Paralives house exterior with a front porch and steps leading up to the entry door
How to build a porch

Two methods, curved walls, four variants. 9-step tutorial with common pitfalls.

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Paralives build mode showing curved exterior walls forming a rounded tower facade
Curved walls guide

Draw arcs, round towers, and curved facades. 7-step walkthrough with precision tips.

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Paralives household home on a Melino lot before using the phone move-house workflow
How to move house

Phone-driven 7-step move workflow. Whole-family moves, Para split-offs and legacy-safe heirlooms.

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Separator tool preview in Paralives used to outline a room before raising a foundation platform
Foundations & half-levels

Raise and lower foundations, add half-levels, and fix the 'cannot raise platform' error. 6 steps.

Build
Staircase snapping to the raised platform edge of a Paralives porch in build mode
How to build stairs

Straight, L-shaped, spiral and curved stairs. Connect half-levels without a floating step. 6 steps.

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Paralives build mode interior showing a multi-level staircase layout
Spiral staircase guide

Paralives has no native spiral or curved stairs yet — here's how to fake a winding, spiral-like look with short runs and landings.

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Paralives backyard deck with outdoor furniture and railing overlooking the garden
Decks, patios & balconies

Lay a patio, raise a deck with railings, add an upstairs balcony. 6 steps with outdoor-floor fixes.

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Paralives floor paint mode showing plank direction controls on a hardwood interior floor
How to build a floor

Paint interior floors, outdoor patios and split-level sections. 5-step HowTo with common mistakes.

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Multiple roof pieces placed and resized on a Paralives house shell in build mode
Roofs

Fix a roof that won't disappear, restore a missing ceiling, and build & shape roofs.

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Two Paralives rooms at different floor heights with the blue arrow used to raise the lower level
Walls

Fix walls that won't connect, the 'different heights' error, height and visibility.

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Paralives object context menu listing Sell, No Snap, Move Vertically and Rotate shortcuts on a placed item
Move objects

Resize, rotate and freely place objects, plus the moveobjects cheat.

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Street-facing Paralives garage bay with wide wall openings and a driveway approach
How to build a garage

Street-facing bay, wide openings and garage-door workarounds when EA has no shutter prop.

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Finished Paralives split-level house with a gabled roof and stacked half-stories on one side
Split-level house

Lower the lot, cut wall height six clicks, delete half-floors and route stairs through a shaft. Eleven illustrated steps.

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Paralives half-wall railing closing the open edge beside a split-level staircase on quarter-tile grid
Half walls & railings

Pick a half-wall height before placing, ring sunken lounges, fence split-level gaps and build platform stairs. Nine illustrated steps.

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Paralives window nook with brick Alt-painted frame and thick wall depth on a finished house facade
Windows & doors

Catalogue placement, the curved-wall straight-segment fix, resize sliders, thick-wall nooks and Alt-paint trim. Ten illustrated steps.

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Winding dirt path painted through wildflowers and long grass beside a Paralives house
Terrain tools

Sculpt hills, paint grass and gravel, brush wildflower paths and cluster shrubs. Nine illustrated steps.

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Dragging one wall of a Paralives room to resize it when rooms cannot be moved on the lot
Rooms explained

No foundation button, no room stamp — walls, height and paint in that order. Sims habits to unlearn.

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Empty buildable lot selected on the Paralives map before subdividing terrain into multiple lots
Create a world

Split the empty terrain into lots with TOGGLEEDITTOWN. What works without a world editor.

Build

Build mode cheats

TOGGLEEDITTOWN, REPAIRALLITEMS and other console commands that help while you build.

Open build cheats

Paralives build mode FAQ

How do I enter build mode in Paralives?
From live mode, press B or click the house icon in the bottom-left toolbar. The build toolbar opens across the top with Walls, Floors, Stairs and object tools. Press B again to return to playing.
How do I rotate or turn objects in build mode?
Select the object and press R to rotate it in 45-degree steps. Hold the rotate handle and drag for a free, off-grid angle — Paralives places objects at any rotation, not just the four cardinal directions.
Is there a free build mode in Paralives?
Yes — building is grid-free by design. Press F to toggle free placement so walls and objects ignore grid snapping, and resize almost anything by dragging its handles. There is no separate sandbox: you edit the active household's lot directly.
Can I use Workshop content and mods while building?
Yes. Builds and individual rooms upload to the in-game Workshop with one click, and you can download community content to drop straight into build mode. See the install-mods guide for Workshop and Nexus setup.
Does Paralives use a grid for walls and floors?
There is an optional grid overlay (toggle with G) to help align rooms, but you are never forced onto it. Curved walls, half-levels and free placement all work whether the grid is showing or hidden.