What causes sims to sneak around for no reason?

If I remember correctly. There is a glitch with the punishment system in Generations where a parent can autonomously ground their child from leaving the house. If you don't let the child off the hook then they would be stuck in sneak mode forever and the option never shows up to let them off the hook once it's too late. I guess if the teen attempts to sneak out before being let off the hook is when the glitch becomes permanent. Mods are the only way I know to fix it but maybe that isn't necessary. I remember having that happen to two of my teen Sims and nothing fixed it, not even when they aged up.

DebugEnabler (Click on Sim > NRass > DebugEnabler > Reset Walk)
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/DebugEnabler

OR

Locomotion Changer (Clear Walkstyle)
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=385612

And here's a mod that also may be of use.

User-Directed Scolding + Other Punishment Tweaks
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=533906

There is a hidden trait called burglar that can be passed and inherited along the way.It gives the sneak walk automatically.Again is not a visible thing like flirty or charismatic that shows in your sim panel is hidden.

Same thing if you had a baby with a firefighter a hidden pyro trait you don't know if you got it but your kid will grow up fireproof and cannot die in a fire at adult elder young adult anything.

@Deshong04 I think you are right. I recently installed Generations and this is the first time I've seen this happen. He did get grounded and I remember he wouldn't even go to school until I let him off the hook.

@CravenLestat I've heard about hidden traits, but I never understood how it works.

@Anthonydyer Hidden traits are heritable (I think normally there's a 50% chance of passing one on) and are the result of a parent's career history or other life circumstances. For example, children of a sim in the military may have the "can salute" trait, firefighters can pass on "pyromaniac" and/or "immune to fire" traits (the latter at least is only imparted after around level 8 of the career), burglars' children can inherit the ability to sneak, rock stars can pass on "rocker," and so on. Additionally, NPC maids have the "makes no messes" trait, and pizza deliverers supposedly have some "pizza appreciation" trait granting a bonus moodlet when they eat pizza, although I've never seen that one.

There are a number of other hidden traits, like some related to occult life states. Sims from a particular WA world all have a hidden culture trait from that world. Some genie wishes can also be inherited; someone posted a couple of months ago wondering why a child sim's life stage was doubled in size, and it was because a parent had wished for long life.

If you're curious, nraas MC will list hidden traits along with visible ones. Click on the sim, nraas>MC>advanced>traits>change and you will see a list of all the possible traits in the game; hidden traits will have an "H" next to them, and there will be a "has" next to each trait that particular sim has. I suppose you could assign hidden traits this way as well... although there's a "DO NOT TRANSLATE" warning next to a few of them, so handle with care.

@puzzlezaddict Are you aware that if you check a sim's personal status with MC, it will list the hidden traits along with the normal ones? I don't think that includes the ones from LTR's, but it does include pyromaniac, burglar, can salute, etc.

Generations also did another strange thing to my sim. I introduced him as a young adult, so he was automatically assigned an alma mater. He was assigned to the military school, so he thinks he is a soldier and he goes around saluting to people.

@Anthonydyer I used to wonder why my sims sometimes started in their rabbithole career at level 2 instead of level 1. I finally realized it was because they had the related private school as their alma mater.

I noticed that as well with some Sims already starting out with a boarding school as their alma matter. It may be related to the Sim's traits according to each school's learnable traits.

Smuggsworth Prep School
Positive Traits
-Ambitious
-Charismatic
-Snob
===
Negative Traits
-Couch Potato
-Easily Impressed
-Inappropriate
-Rebellious
-Slob

Fort Starch Military School
Positive Traits
-Brave
-Disciplined
-Good
-Handy
-Neat
===
Negative Traits
-Clumsy
-Couch Potato
-Inappropriate
-Insane
-Loser
-Over Emotional
-Party Animal
-Rebellious

LeFromage Art School
Positive Traits
-Artistic
-Charismatic
-Dramatic
-Photographer's Eye
-Savvy Sculptor
-Star Quality
-Virtuoso
===
Negative Traits
-Can't Stand Art
-Couch Potato

School of Peace and Love
Positive Traits
-Artistic
-Eco Friendly
-Green Thumb
-Loves the Outdoors
-Vegetarian
===
Negative Traits
-Hates the Outdoors
-Mean Spirited
-Snob

Dribbledine Sports Academy
Positive Traits
-Adventurous
-Athletic
-Disciplined
-Handy
-Loves the Outdoors
===
Negative Traits
-Clumsy
-Couch Potato
-Hates the Outdoors
-Loser
-Rebellious
-Slob

@IreneSwift I didn't know that, as I don't think I've tried that particular option. In fact, I've probably only played with about half of the functions that MC offers and even fewer from the other nraas mods I have. I guess that would be the more efficient way to check for hidden traits if you can't just see the behavior in question. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the Traits option lists "wished for..." from the genie, and probably every single trait available in the game. Still, it's a long list if you're just looking for one inherited hidden trait in a sim you already know well, so checking personal status is a convenient shortcut, thanks.

This happened to me..
In my game Bella Goth has this walk.. :neutral:
I was playing with Bella Bachelor(Goth), she was a teen during that time. She got grounded because she hosted a party while her parents were gone. Well after those parties her parents broke up(they had one messy relationship).
Bella's mom and her half-sister moved away and Bella didn't want to stay with her dad anymore so I moved her in with Goths.
She was grounded when all this happened.. now she is a young adult and she still has that grounded walkstyle... When she went to Uni she walked like a normal Sim but once she steps into Sunset Valley.. :sweat:
She even had that walkstyle when she was pregnant..