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Paralives Field GuideParalives Field Guide

Windows & doors

How to place windows and doors in Paralives

Paralives treats windows and doors like resizeable wall objects — not room stamps. This walkthrough covers catalogue placement on flat walls, the straight-segment workaround for curved walls, wall-thickness box windows and Alt-painting the frame so an opening reads as a nook. Coming from The Sims 4, the curved-wall limit and height-clone shortcut are the two habits to relearn first.

Start the walkthroughCurved walls guide
Thick cream masonry wall segment on a Paralives grass lot with a square window snapped into the opening and a cyan vertical alignment guide through the center
Thick wall + snapped window — the depth reads as a nook before you paint the frame.

The short version

Open Doors & Windows from the build toolbar, draw a wall, then snap the preview flush before you click. Curved walls reject openings in Early Access — embed a straight wall segment instead. After placement, drag the width and height sliders; increase wall thickness for box windows; hold Alt while painting to colour the exterior frame.

  • Doors and windows need a wall face — draw the wall first, then snap the preview
  • Curved walls need a flat straight segment where the opening goes
  • Resize after placement with the bottom sliders — combine tiles for glass walls
  • Hold Alt when placing a second window to clone the same height (blue highlight)

Step 1–3

Catalogue placement

Unlike The Sims 4's room-based flow, Paralives expects you to pick an opening from the build toolbar and snap it to an existing wall. Grid on helps line up double-width doors and multi-tile windows.

  1. 1

    Paralives Windows catalogue grid open beside a furnished bedroom lot, showing rectangular panes and shuttered styles ready to pick
    Build toolbar → Windows — pick a style before you click the wall.Watch at 3:56
  2. 2

    Paralives Wall Placement Mode drawing a straight white wall segment on a gridded grass field with a blue highlight on the active end
    Draw the wall first — the opening preview will not snap to bare ground.Watch at 1:48
  3. 3

    Paralives Doors catalogue beside a curved white wall with a door style preview highlighted on the flat chord segment
    Wait for the snap on the flat section — curved faces still reject doors.Watch at 1:06

Step 4–6

Curved walls

Early Access curved walls still refuse windows and doors on the arc itself. The fix is a short straight wall across the chord — not a mod. For drawing perfect curves in the first place, see the curved-walls guide.

  1. 4

    Paralives curved wall cylinder on a lot with the window catalogue open and no door or window placed on the curved surface
    No snap on pure curves — plan a flat chord before you pick a style.Watch at 0:40
  2. 5

    Paralives Early Access banner warning that curved walls reject openings, with a straight wall segment being placed on the grid beside the curved cylinder
    One flat segment across the chord is enough for an opening.Watch at 0:42
  3. 6

    Rectangular opening cut through a Paralives curved wall arc with the window catalogue open to snap a pane onto the flat insert
    The curve looks continuous — the opening sits on the hidden flat chord.Watch at 1:10

Step 7–9

Resize, thickness and paint

Once an opening is placed you can stretch it, thicken the host wall for a box window and Alt-paint the exterior frame to match the wall material — three separate controls Sims players often miss.

  1. 7

    Paralives window selected on a thick wall with blue resize arrows on all four sides and the Window object panel at the bottom
    Drag the on-screen arrows after placement — combine units for glass walls.Watch at 2:02
  2. 8

    Paralives Wall Masonry panel with blue vertical arrows adjusting the height of a standalone wall segment before a window opening is cut
    Thicken the host wall first — the sill depth follows the masonry size.Watch at 1:54
  3. 9

    Paralives Wall Painting Mode with the wallpaper swatch grid open beside a thick wall segment that already has a square window cutout
    Hold Alt and click the frame to paint exterior trim without repainting the whole wall.Watch at 2:08

Step 10

Match heights across a facade

Symmetric rows of windows are faster with Paralives' height clone than with Sims-style moveobjects nudging.

  1. 10

    Cyan vertical and horizontal crosshair guides in Paralives while Alt-cloning a bed to match height — the same guides appear when lining up window rows
    Crosshair guides mean matched height — Alt-clone beats manual nudging.Watch at 4:08

Windows & doors questions

Can you put windows on curved walls in Paralives?
Not directly on the arc in Early Access 0.1.6b. Insert a straight wall segment across the inside of the curve and place the window there. See the curved-walls guide for drawing the arc itself.
Do double-width doors need two tiles?
Pick a double-door style from the catalogue — the preview spans the width automatically when the wall is long enough. If the preview floats, the wall segment is too short or the grid snap is fighting you; extend the wall one tile.
How do you paint the outside of a window differently from the inside?
Paint walls one face at a time. For the frame, use the paint tool with Alt held and click the window — that applies the swatch to the exterior trim without repainting the whole wall.
Why will my door not snap to the wall?
The most common causes: no wall behind the preview, a half-wall segment that is too short, or trying to place on a curved section. Draw or extend a full-height straight wall first, wait for the flush snap, then click.
Why won't windows snap to my curved wall?
Early Access curved walls reject openings on the arc. Embed a short straight wall segment across the chord, place the window there, then blend the curve back — see step 4 in this guide.

Keep building

Walls guide

Connect misaligned segments, fix different-heights errors and toggle wall visibility.

Curved walls guide

Draw perfect arcs with equal grid legs — the setup this page builds on.

Full build tutorial

Seventeen steps from empty lot to saved house if openings are your first project.

15 build tips

Separator porches, colour codes and other shortcuts that pair with facade work.

Move objects guide

Advanced Transform for shutters, awnings and decor behind window nooks.

All build guides

Split-level, terrain, garages and the rest of the build cluster.