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Teen Stories and Activities guide

How it all works, every setting and conversation, and what to do when something doesn’t show up.

Player guide

Guide contents

Part 1 of 1

Player guide

Your teens go out with friends, ask their parents first, and get in trouble when they don’t.

This mod gives teens 19 outings with their friends: the movies, a skate park, an escape room, a road trip, a house party and more. Some outings need an invitation first. Before going out, a teen can ask a parent for permission. How the parent answers depends on what kind of parent they are, and on the teen’s grades. Sneak out without asking, and the parent can confront them when they get home.

Version 1.1 is free.

Teen Stories and Activities cover: three teen Sims under the mod’s title


Getting started

What you need

  • The Sims 4 base game. No packs needed.
  • XML Injector. Required.
  • Lumpinou’s Mood Pack. Required. Most of the moodlets use its moods.
  • Maplebell Pie Menu. Required. You only need one copy, shared by every mod that uses it. If you already have it, keep it.

Optional:

Optional What it adds
Another mod’s moodlets Some party, nightclub and sleepover outings can give moodlets from another mod if you have it.

Two editions: install only one

Edition What is different
Standard Sleepover, Chill at Friend’s House, Drive Around, Card and Board Games and Tabletop RPGs need the matching invitation first.
No Invite Requirement Those five outings need no invitation. The invitation asks still work, but only the party invitations, and a friend coming along to a party, change anything.

In both editions, House Party and College Party need a party invitation, and Go Out With Date needs a yes to Ask Out On A Date.

Installing and updating

  1. Close the game.
  2. Install only ONE edition: Standard or No Invite Requirement, never both.
  3. Replace the old files: delete maplebell_teenactivites.package and maplebell_teenactivitesbuffs.package and put the new ones in their place. The file names are the same as in 2024.
  4. Remove the retired Nursing Homes mod if you still have it. It is no longer maintained, and it shares a menu with Teen Stories, so it can hide the Teen Stories menus.
  5. Make sure you have exactly one copy of the Maplebell Pie Menu.

Downloads (pick one):

  • Maplebell_Teen_Stories_Standard_v1.1.zip
  • Maplebell_Teen_Stories_No_Invite_v1.1.zip

How to use it in game

Setting up the parents

Parents answer according to their parenting style. There are four:

Style In short
Permissive Parent Usually says yes. Bad grades can make them say no.
Strict Parent Usually says no. Good grades help a lot.
Uninvolved Parent Always says yes (“you don’t need to ask”).
Authoritative Parent In between: half the time.

You give a Sim a style with the mod’s settings menu. Turn on cheats first: open the cheat console (Ctrl + Shift + C), type testingcheats true and press Enter. Then shift-click the Sim and go to Teen Stories & Activities > Teen Stories & Activities Settings, for example Add Trait: Strict Parent.

A Sim’s menu showing the Teen Stories and Activities Settings option

The settings menu, where styles and teen traits are given.

  • Any adult in the household can have a style, not only the game’s own parents. Two parents can have different styles, and the teen gets a different answer depending on who they ask.
  • The same menu has teen traits such as Has Uninvolved Parent. Give it to a teen whose parent does not care, and that teen is never confronted for sneaking out.
  • Each option adds the trait, or removes it if the Sim already has it.

The settings menu with Add Trait: Has Permissive Parent, Has Strict Parent and Has Uninvolved Parent

Teen traits in the settings menu.

Asking for permission

Control the teen, click a parent with a style, and ask for permission. There are six separate asks: Ask for Permission to Go Out, Ask for Permission to go to a Party, Ask for Permission to Hangout at Friends House, Ask for Permission to Sleepover at Friends House, Ask for Permission to go on a Roadtrip and Get Permission to go Camping.

A teen’s Teen Stories and Activities menu on a parent: asks for permission to go out, to a party, on a road trip, to a sleepover and to hang out at a friend’s house, plus Ask about Safety and Ask about Woohoo

Asking a parent for permission.

Chance of a yes (teen still in school):

Parent A or B student C student D or F student
Strict: going out, friend’s house, sleepover 99% 33% 33%
Strict: party about 83% (5 in 6) 33% 33%
Strict: road trip, camping 83% 33% 33%
Permissive: all six 98% 91% 67%
Uninvolved: all six 100% 100% 100%
Authoritative: all six 50% 50% 50%
  • A new teen starts with a C, so at first most teens see no grade effect. Grades move at the end of a school day.
  • A yes lasts 7 Sim days and survives a save. It covers every kind of outing for those 7 days.
  • A no starts a 5-hour wait before the teen can ask again.
  • If one parent says yes and the other then says no, the no wins.
  • Only Sims in the teen’s household can give permission or scold.
  • A Strict parent says yes to parties less often than to other outings. Permission to Go Out still covers parties for 7 days.

Picking friends and an outing

  1. On the teen’s phone, open MB Menu > Teen Stories & Activities.
  2. Your teen is already picked. Add up to six companions who are on the lot and whom your household has met.
  3. Pick an outing.
  4. Everyone leaves together and comes back after a while with the outing’s moodlet.

Tip: if you pick several Sims and nothing happens, something is missing for that outing (often an invitation). Pick your teen alone to see the greyed-out option and its reason.

The Activities list with locked outings greyed out and a tip saying locked activities need a friend’s invitation or news of a party

Locked outings are greyed out until the teen has the right invitation.

The 19 outings

Outing About how long Needs first
The Movies 2 hours
Escape Room 2 hours
Skate Park 2 hours
Beach 2 hours
Bowling 2 hours
Gaming Center 2 hours
Restaurant 2 to 3 hours
Drive Around With Friends 2 to 5 hours Invitation (Standard only)
Card and Board Games 2 to 5 hours Invitation (Standard only)
Chill at Friend’s House 2 to 6½ hours Invitation (Standard only)
Go Out With Date 2 to 6½ hours A yes to Ask Out (both editions)
Tabletop RPGs 4 to 5 hours Invitation (Standard only)
House Party 5 to 7 hours Party invitation (both editions); teens and older
College Party 5 to 7 hours Party invitation (both editions); teens and older
Nightclub 5 to 7 hours Teens and older
Convention 5 to 8 hours
Camping 1 to 2 days
Sleepover 1 to 2 days Invitation (Standard only)
Road Trip 3 days

All times are Sim time.

The Activities list showing Beach, Play Video Games at a Gaming Center, Card Games, Tabletop RPGs, Convention and Road Trip

Some of the outings in the Activities list.

Invitations

Teens get invitations from each other with friendly socials:

Social Unlocks
Invite to Hangout and Join Activities Drive Around, Card and Board Games, Tabletop RPGs and Chill at Friend’s House (Standard edition)
Ask to Hangout at House Chill at Friend’s House (Standard edition)
Organize a Sleepover Sleepover (Standard edition)
Get Information about Upcoming Parties A House Party or College Party invitation (both editions)
Ask Out On A Date (a yes) Go Out With Date (both editions)
  • A middling friendship counts as a yes. A friend only says no at low friendship. After a no, the teen waits 4 hours before asking again.
  • Invitations last one Sim day and survive a save. Every new yes restarts the day.
  • Each party line comes with its own invitation. Parents and step-parents cannot be asked about upcoming parties.
  • Only the teen who starts a locked outing needs the invitation. Friends just come along. If nobody has been invited, a note says so.
  • For a sleepover or Chill at Friend’s House, tick the friend you asked in the friends list, so they come along.

The teen-to-teen menu: Talk about Relationships, Talk about Crush, Plan Upcoming Events, Organize a Sleepover, Ask to Hangout at House, Complain about School, Get Information about Upcoming Parties and Invite to Hangout and Join Activities

The teen-to-teen menu, with the invitation socials. From an earlier version, so some names may differ.

Dating

  • Ask Out On A Date is the only romantic social. It is teen with teen only, never between relatives, and never starts on its own.
  • A yes lets both teens choose Go Out With Date, in both editions.
  • If you pick a relative to come along on the date, everyone still goes, but the relatives get no date moodlet.

Sneaking out and getting caught

If a teen goes out without permission, they are marked as having snuck out. Back home, a parent can use:

  • Reprimand
  • Yell
  • Express Disappointment
  • And the teen can Confess to Going Out Without Permission

Each one clears the mark and gives both Sims a moodlet. A teen with Has Uninvolved Parent is never marked.

Other teen and parent chats

  • Teens with teens: Talk about Crush, Talk about Relationships, Complain about School, Plan Upcoming Events.
  • Parents also have safety and woohoo talks with their teen. Each parenting style gets its own moodlets.

A parent’s menu on a teen with Give Guidance About Safety and Explain WooHoo and Give the Woohoo Talk

A parent’s safety and woohoo talks.

Nothing in this mod starts on its own.


What’s new in version 1.1 (12 November 2026)

Changes since the 2024 release. Both editions, Standard and No Invite Requirement, have the same fixes.

Asking friends

  • Organize a Sleepover and Ask to Hangout at House now work: a yes always opens the outing, a no just says no.
  • All three hangout asks answer the same way: a middling friendship counts as a yes, a no only comes at low friendship, and after a no the teen waits 4 hours before asking again (with a tooltip saying so).
  • The two house asks give the same friendship gain and loss as Invite to Hangout.
  • A friend who says yes to Invite to Hangout now always gets their invitation.
  • Get Information about Upcoming Parties: each party line comes with its own invitation, and the College Party invitation works again. Parents and step-parents can no longer be asked.
  • Invitations last one Sim day, survive a save, and every new yes restarts the day.

Parents and permission

  • Grades now count while the teen is still at school, so good and bad grades change the answer as intended. A and B grades count the same everywhere, and the bad-grades refusal works.
  • A given permission lasts 7 Sim days and survives a save. A no starts a 5-hour wait and cancels an earlier yes.
  • Uninvolved parents’ “You don’t need to ask” now really gives permission, and their safety talk gives “You’ll Be Okay!”.
  • Authoritative parents now say yes half the time to Chill at Friend’s House too (it was always no), and they can scold, be confessed to and be asked about Woohoo. Has Authoritative Parent(s) now shows the same picture as Has Strict Parent(s).
  • A Strict parent says yes to parties less often than to other outings.
  • Camping’s bad-grades refusal now refuses.
  • Confess: the teen and the parent get the right moodlets, and it no longer counts as mean.
  • Only Sims in the teen’s household can give permission or scold.

Outings

  • Each locked outing needs the starting teen’s own invitation, and friends just come along. If nobody has been invited, a note says so.
  • Go Out With Date is for teens and unlocks when someone says yes to Ask Out On A Date, in both editions.
  • House Party, College Party and the Nightclub are for teens and older.
  • The companion list shows Sims your household has met.
  • Sims come home together without Parenthood, and Express Disappointment uses a base-game animation.
  • A cancelled outing still counts: it gives its moodlet, uses its invitation and brings everyone home.
  • Chill at Friend’s House uses up its invitation. Each party uses only its own invitation, and the date no longer removes the hangout invitation.
  • The Nightclub, Restaurant and Road Trip give their own moodlets.
  • Add Trait and Remove Trait in the settings menu act on the Sim you clicked.

Behind-the-scenes fixes: old Country Club links removed, duplicate texts removed, two broken text tokens repaired.

Good to know

  • If you pick a relative along on Go Out With Date, everyone still goes, but the relatives get no date moodlet.
  • For a sleepover or Chill at Friend’s House, tick the friend you asked in the friends list, so they come along.
  • In the No Invite Requirement edition the hangout outings are open anyway. The invitation asks still work there, but only the party invitations, and a friend coming along to a party, change anything.
  • A Strict parent now refuses an A or B student’s party ask about one time in six. Permission to Go Out still covers parties for 7 days.

Known limits

  • One yes covers every kind of outing for 7 days. You cannot give permission for one outing only.
  • One parent’s no cancels the other parent’s yes.
  • A Strict parent treats a C student like a D or F student (33% yes).
  • Without the other mod whose moodlets the parties use, about one party or college party in four, one nightclub outing in five, and one sleepover in twelve ends with no moodlet.
  • If a cancelled locked outing is followed by another outing with the same Sim, the old outing may start instead (same play session only).
  • Other game languages show English text.

If something looks wrong

I cannot find the outings on the phone. Check XML Injector, the Mood Pack and exactly one copy of the Maplebell Pie Menu. Only teens see the menu. If you still have the old Nursing Homes mod, remove it: it can hide the Teen Stories menus.

I picked friends and nothing happened. Something is missing for that outing, usually an invitation (Standard edition) or a party invitation. The teen who starts the outing needs it. If nobody has been invited, a note says so. Pick your teen alone to see the greyed-out reason. Or install the No Invite Requirement edition instead.

The parent options are missing. The adult needs one of the four parenting styles. Set it with shift-click (see “Setting up the parents”).

The parent always says no. A Strict parent says yes much more often to an A or B student. A new teen starts at C. Also check that the other parent has not just said no: one no cancels a yes.

The teen can’t ask again. After a parent’s no there is a 5-hour wait. After a friend’s no, the teen waits 4 hours before asking that again.

My teen asked, got a yes, and was still told off. Check that the yes was less than 7 days ago and that no parent said no afterwards.

No reprimand options after sneaking out. The teen may have Has Uninvolved Parent, or they did have permission.

Go Out With Date is locked. Your teen needs a yes to Ask Out On A Date from another teen first.

Friends came home at different times. Friends now come home together, and a cancelled outing brings everyone home.

Do I need Parenthood or High School Years? No.

Standard or No Invite Requirement? Standard if you like asking friends first. No Invite Requirement if you want fewer steps. Never install both.

If something goes wrong, tell me what happened, what you expected, and which Sims were involved.

Contact

Have a collaboration idea, permission request, or something else? Write to me.

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