Prison Architect

Prison Architect

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How to activate the (hidden) 3D mode
By Nalquas
In this guide you'll get to know how to activate the awesome hidden 3D mode of Prison Architect. In case you're wondering, this is completely vanilla and does not require any mods.
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Introduction
Hello! In this guide you're going to learn how to activate the recently discovered hidden 3D mode in Prison Architect. This does not require any mods at all and is a secret in the game! It currently seems really experimental, so I'd only recommend it for viewing your already built prisons, but of cause, you can do whatever you want with it.

The person who originally discovered this (TheLogical Lowdown) and I got the information from made this video on the right, you should definitely watch it!:







I've made this guide so this 3D mode becomes a little more known, but enough of the introduction, here's the guide.
How to activate the 3D mode
To activate the 3D mode, follow the following steps:

Open the menu and go to Extras:

Click on the hidden button highlighted in this image:
(The button has the shape of a Pi-Symbol π)

If everything went right, you'll see your prison in 3D:
Some notes
  • You can look around by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse.
  • Not all objects have a model yet, so it's normal that some things are still in 2D.
  • The game performs slower when in 3D mode, so it isn't perfect yet, i guess.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading! I hope this guide is what you searched for and that this helped you, but if there's something you didn't like about this small guide, please tell me so I can improve it, fix it and learn from it.

I hope you'll have fun with the 3D mode and with Prison Architect in general!
Some articles about this 3D mode
Here are some articles about this "3D mode":
54 Comments
The Unknown Nov 26, 2024 @ 11:26am 
Background information: Prison architect was developed by a more unheard but better game development studio before being sold to paradox, this was a Easter egg witch was meant for older versions (Without DLC). This was not a step by paradox towards Prison Arch 2
0_Bel0w Nov 17, 2024 @ 6:40pm 
it works no friking way!!!! half of the textures are weird and dead inmates look so funny :) they must have tested prison architect 2 with this "mode"
Kris Feb 23, 2024 @ 7:45am 
lol what i love it thx ^^
Steven Jul 1, 2023 @ 5:40pm 
the original developers work putting 3d in game but then i believe when got sold to new developers it stopped getting worked on for 3d support.
Icysoda Jan 20, 2023 @ 7:59pm 
does it work on escape mode?
The Unknown Nov 22, 2022 @ 9:39am 
Its rather old and most people know about it and forget it because its no longer being worked on
Bonez May 21, 2022 @ 7:23am 
I am speechless:slimeamazed:
Andrew Oct 11, 2021 @ 4:14pm 
this is....interesting
thief Sep 26, 2021 @ 2:17pm 
does this work in escape mode lmao
ajgam3r Aug 3, 2021 @ 10:23am 
this doesn't work with the DLC, though. (I tried with some of my DLC, it didn't work)