The Sims 1 - Practical Goodies and Tips For Building Houses

Finding objects and tips for building houses in The Sims 1 can be quite difficult in my experience, especially some of the more sophisticated ways of building. So I decided to write about it here. With these little tips, you'll be able to build your dream house with a little bit more flair!

Finding Back Used Wallpapers & Floors

Having difficulty finding back specific wallpapers and/or floors that you've previously used in your build? Always needing to squint and spend an enormous amount of time to find that one option can become old quickly. Even to the most passionate of builders!

But then I read about this clever trick somewhere. While this tip won't give you that precious ‘picker tool’ first introduced in The Sims 2, it will save you a bit of time!

While in the Wallpaper or Floor tool, hold CTRL while hovering over a wallpaper or floor. This will show you the price (give or take 1-2 simoleons), giving you an accurate clue on where to look.

The Sims 1 floor removal tool trick, showing price and the actual floor next to it

Neat!

Invisible Objects

Yakko's Invisible Floor

What inspired me to write this article in the first place, was my wheer inability to find an invisible floor tile for a long time. “Probably doesn't exist,” I almost concluded as my Google-fu didn't give me the results I was hoping for.

But fortunately, I was proven wrong by Yakko's invisible floor:

Go To Details (SimEchoes)

I've found this to be mainly useful for use with skylight objects, but theycan be used in any other creative situation where you think you might need them. Very useful building tool for anyone still playing The Sims 1!

Pros:

  • Easy and hassle-free to use
  • Allows for creating skylights and other creative uses

Cons:

  • None that I could find

Invisible Door

If you're looking for an invisible door (or wallpaper), you might consider using these Intersectable Door Cutouts by Poetica Palace:

Go To Details (Poetica Palace)

These may come in handy in situations where you'd like the game to generate roofs, for example. If you have any other uses, don't hesitate to let me know!

Pros:

  • Easy to use, just like the invisible floor
  • Makes it possible to create roofs aove certain areas (for patios and other uses)

Cons:

  • The top part of the wall will still be visible

Invisible Burglar/Fire Alarms (Infinite Range)

Bothered by being able to see the burglar or fire alarm hanging about in your builds? If so, you can find an invisible burglar/fire alarm here!

Pros:

  • Both objects are invisible and don't require you putting them against a wall
  • Objects have an infinite range

Cons:

  • The burglar alarm only goes off and doesn't catch the burglar…
  • And the fire alarm doesn't extinguish the fire! :P

Modern Goodies

As you might've noticed from my builds, I'm quite the fan of modern architecture! Who knows, some day I'll branch out to the more traditional kinds of lots—but as it stands right now, I'm always on the lookout for modern objects.

While this won't be a comprehensive list, these will serve as a good starting point for building your modern lots!

HoneyB

This website had some great stairs, railings, doors, windows and other items for this game. Highly recommended!

Go To Archive (Saving The Sims Archive)

Natural Elements

Natural Elements offered a large range of sets and goodies for building your dream houses.

Go To Archive (Saving The Sims Archive)

Simply Styling

The Sims 1 Object Set - Simply Styling - Dio Living Room Set The Sims 1 Object Set - Simply Styling - Shelves The Sims 1 Object Set - Simply Styling - Coco Set The Sims 1 Object Set - Simply Styling - Outdoor Green Set The Sims 1 Object Set - Simply Styling - Asian Dark Wood Bedroom

I love using the Simply Styling sets in my builds, especially the Coco and Dio living room sets.

Go To Archive (Saving The Sims Archive)

Editing Beyond Boundaries

This one may already be known to the more seasoned builders, but is still worth noting! Feeling limited by the boundaries The Sims 1 imposes on your building creativity?

Map Editing

If so, you may be relieved to use the following cheats (entered by opening the cheat prompt by pressing SHIFT-CTRL-C):

map_edit on

This cheat allows you to edit the boundaries used in the current lot of the game. This allows you to build on those tiles, or to change the floors on sidewalks and roads.

Activating it puts you in the map editing mode. You'll notice th epatterns on the screen, indicating which tiles you're allowed to build on. You can either activate or deactivate the tile by clikcing on it individually, or by clicking and dragging.

When you're done editing, open the cheat window again and type:

map_edit off

You can now use the default controls again. Congratulations, you regained some power over your map!

Moving Mail Box & Trash Can

The following cheat allows you some control over the placement of the mailbox, trashcan and some other items:

move_objects on

However, I found that The Sims 1 still limits you even with this cheat enabled (it doesn't allow you to put computers on any kind of table, for example).

But this may still be a useful cheat to edit beyond the boundaries a bit!

Conclusion

I hope you'll be able to build some amazing things using the tips provided. Please feel free to let me know if you have any other great tips!

Keep building and Sim on! :)

The Sims 2 - “Kirin” Ecological One-Story House

Kirin modern house for The Sims 2, showing front

Download House (CC) Download House (No CC) Alternative Download Link (Sim File Share)

Lot Size: 2x2
Price: § 64,009 (CC) / § 65,445 (No CC)
Game Requirements: The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection/The Sims 2 with all expansion & stuff packs installed

A basic modern ecological house with living room-kitchen combination (for extra roomy vibes), colorful bedroom and a little swimming pool. This one's inspired by a house James Turner from The Sim Supply built.

PS. Autumn Blaze is best Kirin

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The Sims 1 - “Keira” Modern Two-Story House

Keira house, shown from the front with garden partially visible

Download House Alternative Download Link (Sim File Share)

Lot: Lot 01 (40x40 tiles)
Price: § 100,000
Game Requirements: The Sims: Complete Collection/The Sims with all expansion packs installed

Give your Sims a modern home with this fantastic two-story house complete with hobby shed and semi-covered swimming pool!

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The Sims 1 - Sims Social Floor Set

Sims Social Floor Set for The Sims 1

Download Floor Set Alternative Download Link (Sim File Share)

Gift your Sims a new set of floors with this Sims Social floor set for The Sims 1! This set contains 13 floors and also includes the source file (SVG) for personal recoloring purposes. For editing, I recommend Inkscape which is free and can be used on Linux, macOS and Windows. If you like to share the recolored floors, please let me know and credit me! :)

The Sims Social herobox image (in the document below) is made by RosieSoCosy from Sims Network and used with permission. Thank you! Feel free to check out https://www.simsnetwork.com/.

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The Sims 2 - “Villa Kallista” Modern Two-Story House

Villa Kallista modern house for The Sims 2, showing garage and front door

Download House (CC) Download House (No CC) Alternative Download Link (Sim File Share)

Lot Size: 2x2
Price: § 138,638
Game Requirements: The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection/The Sims 2 with all expansion & stuff packs installed

Modern ecological house with garage, living room-kitchen combination, two floors and party-worthy balcony. I'm sure I was inspired by something, though I just went with the flow on this one. Also ended up being my personal favorite build so far!

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The Sims 1 - How To List Custom Content (CC) Used in House Lots

Building houses for The Sims 1 is a lot of fun. Sharing them can be quite cumbersome though, especially if you use lots of CC. With no easy way to create a package of your house lot or obtaining a list of used CC either, you're simply left either remembering or writing them down somewhere. Frustrating!

But luckily, there's a way to list CC by utilizing an application called Process Monitor. After following this guide, you should be able to list all used CC items in any house lot. So if this sounds like something you'd like to do, hug your llamas and let's get started!

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The Sims 1 - “Kate” Modern Two-Story House

Download House Alternative Download Link (Sim File Share)

Lot: Lot 09 (28x28 tiles)
Price: § 97,995
Game Requirements: The Sims: Complete Collection/The Sims with all expansion packs installed

A lovely modern two-story build with a fancy garden, garage, balcony, one bedroom and one bathroom. Give your classic Sims a modern house if they fancy! For this one, I tried building with as much base game content as I could, and I think it turned out pretty well!

Inspired by Minimalism House by SimJiman.

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The Sims 2 - “Villa Kontrast” One-Story House

Download House (CC) Download House (No CC) Alternative Download Link (Sim File Share)

Lot Size: 3x3
Price: § 112,761 (CC) / § 112,557 (No CC)
Game Requirements: The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection/The Sims 2 with all expansion & stuff packs installed

Modern house with contrasting features, big windows and swimming pool. Has one bathroom, one bedroom and tiny kitchen. Also has a huge swimming pool around the house for that lovely summer time! Inspired by a dream I had with a house that had no windows on the front left side, but where the front right side of the house was pretty much all windows. Simplistic, but I really loved building it!

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Welcome to RetroSimsMods!

Welcome to RetroSimsMods! While most websites have their focus solely on modern iterations of The Sims, our passion lies in the cherished classics—namely The Sims 1 and 2. Find new objects, houses and information on these games here, and—more importantly—have fun!

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