I'm having the same problems. It only started when I installed Seasons. However the weird thing is now that I am playing University Life, it saves properly in the University town but when I return to Sunset Valley the problems arise again! I'm saving my game quiet often but it's still really annoying!!!
Error 12 appears to be a memory issue in that your game ran out of memory for that particular playing session. You can sometimes get around it by trying 'save as' but mostly, that game is lost and you just have to quit without saving. Try to keep your playing sessions short and save often. I always have at least four saves on the go at one time.
If I get a run of Error 12s I usually figure it is time to quit that hood and start a new one. I don't have much patience with errors. :-o
While most of it relates to PCs, there are still some good bits for Mac users. In particular, getting a mod or mods to get rid of those memories is a great way to stop increased game bloat.
I cant start this family again and I've tried logging out I have a story-line set up and I cant loose my household I'm going to do a current household video aswel
-___- this is the second time I've gotten error 12.It came when I installed pets.
I'm waiting for a new patch to fix it but I'll try changing the town name and logging out of my account.
I got a few hours of play on it today and I saved 3 times.When I was playing in build and buy mode loads of things went black and it was laggy. :I
Thanks for the tip though.I'm not going to get Seasons now xD
Just got this error! (Just installed Seasons and am on PC)! tried all versions of saving, changing the name, saving then quitting, saving on the way to edit town. Nothing was working. Must have tried saving in various ways eight to ten times. I then paused the game and tried saving and it worked. Don't know if it was anything to do with that or whether if you just keeping trying it eventually makes it! Glad I got there on the end though!
I'm fine with installing seasons, but it really irritates me how I can't stick to one family without an error code popping up. In the 2-3 years of playing TS3 I haven't gone through many generations. The farthest I've gotten was 3rd or 4th gen. I just installed LN, Pets, and Seasons on my already slow computer. From what I see it sounds like a Seasons problem...sigh. On my other computer it works fine, but I'm a lazy bum using a laptop instead
Sadly, there is no way to get rid of it permanataly. What I do do temportaly get rid of it is when I see the little box that says ERROR 12 I just quit the game. Next click on documents and go to EA then THE SIMS 3 then SAVES. Find the name of the game you just played and delete the one that had .bad at the end. There is a backup one soo... After you have deleted the .bad click on the .backup and keep the whole name except for the .backup part.
It doesn't take ERROR 12 away forever but just for a while. Save frequently tho.
Hope this helped at least a little bit.
Pausing and saving worked for me as well. Well, I took a trip to france, then paused paused and then saved. Maybe the pausing worked or traveling out of town worked. I dunno. but I was able to save.
I get this error a lot, but here is how I get around the frustration of lost games and game time:
1: save once every (human) half hour. I set an alarm.
2. Save and quit after 4 hours. Anything past this and I will normally get error code 12. You may have more than 4 gigs of ram, but the game only uses up to 4 if your OSX is 64 bit. (If you have the latest OSX, you are running 64 bit)
3: If your saved game won't load, go into documents/electronic arts/the sims/saves/(name of your saved game). Look for the one under it that has the extension *.sims.backup and drag the old save with the extension *.sims to the desktop. Change the one named *.sims.back to just *.sims and see if your game loads. It should if the game did not corrupt it. Otherwise, if you use time machine, go back and see if you can find an uncorrupt game in your time machine backup.
4. If you are getting error code 12 every few minutes, it may be time to reinstall your game. I have had to do this. If you want to keep your saves, be sure to drag them to the desktop your saves folder to a safe place like the desktop, saved sims, screenshots, exports, and if you want to keep downloads from the exchange, take those out of the downloads file (installing those one by one to make sure they are NOT the cause of any issues is a good rule of thumb). Also, when reinstall, just redownload any store content when you log into your account. Go to purchase history and it should all be there to redownload. Sometimes these can get corrupted as well. Wait to download them until you have installed the base game with all patches, your SP's and EP's. After putting in your store content, just start a new game, make sure it runs ok without error code 12 every 5 minutes, then stick in your save games. If your save games are still doing it, go back to step 3 and try the back up.
5. If after all this, your saves still keep giving you errors, go into them, save your family with the house to the bin and put them down in a new game. You could also try this before doing step 4, if you wish.
This has been my experience. I hope it helps everyone. Pausing and saving never helped for me. Taking off memory creation did help a town from becoming corrupt quickly and I could play on it longer without bugs popping up. Remember, if you keep it on, the WHOLE town makes memories as well as your family, so the file gets big quick. Disabling this kept me from having to save families to the bin and put them back into a new town and make them have to get to know each other again.
By far, one of the most irritating problems in the game.
Best advice; save often. Also try running your game with low graphics settings. That should help everything overall. Before my upgrade, I had to play in a smaller house in a smaller lot with no pets, because it was simply too much data otherwise.
I know you're all hating on EA, and yes, EC 12 is a HUGE pain in the ***, but this is a computer memory problem, not a game problem.
So what the issue seems to be is that because the game is so huge (especially if you have all the expansions installed) that your computer just can't handle it. Too long during play and the computer doesn't have the guts to be able to save. This is why it works if you save regularly, verses not working after long periods of not saving. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's been my experience.
While INCREDIBLY frustrating, this, to me, does not seem to be an error on EA's part. For what it's worth, they gave people what they wanted in the game, in the detail and quality it was wanted. The problem with that is that most people simply don't have the machine to handle it, especially if you are running a prefab computer from Best Buy or whatever.
Solution? Upgrade! Or better yet, build your own machine from scratch. Go in to an actual computer store and tell them what you want. Stay away from big name electronics stores and go to a computer specific store. In Canada, we have NXIC... I can personally recommend them, they helped me build my machine, and not only does it kick ***, but they were extremely helpful and gave me a great deal.
If you don't know what you need in a machine, tell them you want a gaming computer, and then take along your games to show them what kind of memory and speed you'll be needing. They'll set you up and it'll be a HELL of a lot cheaper than buying a pre-made one.
Good luck and hope all of you have more luck with your game in the future.
By far, one of the most irritating problems in the game.
Best advice; save often. Also try running your game with low graphics settings. That should help everything overall. Before my upgrade, I had to play in a smaller house in a smaller lot with no pets, because it was simply too much data otherwise.
I know you're all hating on EA, and yes, EC 12 is a HUGE pain in the ***, but this is a computer memory problem, not a game problem.
So what the issue seems to be is that because the game is so huge (especially if you have all the expansions installed) that your computer just can't handle it. Too long during play and the computer doesn't have the guts to be able to save. This is why it works if you save regularly, verses not working after long periods of not saving. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's been my experience.
While INCREDIBLY frustrating, this, to me, does not seem to be an error on EA's part. For what it's worth, they gave people what they wanted in the game, in the detail and quality it was wanted. The problem with that is that most people simply don't have the machine to handle it, especially if you are running a prefab computer from Best Buy or whatever.
Solution? Upgrade! Or better yet, build your own machine from scratch. Go in to an actual computer store and tell them what you want. Stay away from big name electronics stores and go to a computer specific store. In Canada, we have NXIC... I can personally recommend them, they helped me build my machine, and not only does it kick ***, but they were extremely helpful and gave me a great deal.
If you don't know what you need in a machine, tell them you want a gaming computer, and then take along your games to show them what kind of memory and speed you'll be needing. They'll set you up and it'll be a HELL of a lot cheaper than buying a pre-made one.
Good luck and hope all of you have more luck with your game in the future.
I respectfully disagree.
If this EP physically requires a more powerful machine to even run it, then that should have been listed in the basic system requirements on the packaging. Since it was not, then the game that was released should have to be compatible with what is listed in the system requirements. Blaming the end user for buying a game based on those requirements that then does not function as described is like blaming a new car buyer for breaking a car that came out of the showroom floor without any wheels.
My machine is no dinosaur by any means, nor is it a pre-fab, and even on my system I'm getting error codes. I feel that EA either needs to reassess the system requirements they're listing for their games to be more accurate to the actual specs required to play, or the game really needs to be looked into and reworked to function as it should within the system requirements they set. I find it completely unreasonable that it should not run without errors on a new, non pre-fab machine that barely breaks a sweat to run any other brand new video games that are coming out recently.
I know you're all hating on EA, and yes, EC 12 is a HUGE pain in the ***, but this is a computer memory problem, not a game problem.
For people with minimum specs, it may be a computer problem. But for many people, it's definitely a game problem. I have 16GB memory, a brand new 64bit system, and only the four oldest EPs, but I still have constant Error Code 12 with certain saves. The game needs more than 2GB memory but doesn't come equipped to use more than 2GB. That's not something that should have to be changed manually by digging through the Game/Bin files.
Before, I was playing at 1024x768 resolution and mostly all low graphic settings, saving about every 2-4 sim hours, and would still get constant Error Code 12 once my save file got old enough, or if my sims threw a party. Tweaking the Game/Bin/sims.ini file helped, but it didn't eradicate Error Code 12. I still get it on occasion, even when Activity Monitor tells me I have plenty of available memory.
The way the game handles the Memories system and TravelDB file is a HUGE problem too. This feature alone contributes hugely to Error Code 12, and it's often impossible to disable without mods. Bloated TravelDB files are poor game design, not a computer problem. Game-breaking features like memories shouldn't even be written into the game.
The more time you invest into a saved game, the bigger your file, and the more likely you'll get error code 12. That's a flaw in the game design.
The things that help me deal with Error Code 12 are:
-saving as often as possible (*at least* every 4 sim hours, and always before AND after entering build/buy/CAS or sorting inventory items)
-disabling memories, or deleting the TravelDB file on old saves that previously had memories enabled. If the TravelDB file got to be above 500MB, I knew it was trouble. You lose the artwork for still life paintings, portraits, and photos, but sometimes it has to be done.
-Altering the sims.ini file to allow the game more memory usage, since I knew I had memory to spare.
-Using NRaas Porter to move sims to a fresh town if the world file got to be too large (usually in the 150-175MB range)
-Using relatively low graphics settings
I don't think I've *ever* saved without pausing, so I can't say much about that.
I bought a bran new top of the line macbook recently and it didn't change any crashing issues or error code 12. It has made my game run a lot smoother but It still crashes every other save and I get error code 12 a couple times a day. Very disappointing to put so much money into a game and get all of these errors with no help from EA. =(
Hi,
I saw your post and i too get this error code A LOT, The way i try and sometimes resolver the issue is by:
:!: Save as regularly as possible,
:!: As soon as a major event happens in your town (e.g wedding, birth etc..) save immediately.
:!: If quiting the game, do not choose save and quit just do save and then after quit. (it puts too much stress on the PC)
:!: When saving, make sure you quit as many actions as possible, so no big events whilst saving
:!: As always, Try save as and re-name it completely something different However, some things can be key before opening the game:
:!: Before opening, close ALL other windows and applications
:!: If you have a second monitor unplug it.
:!: Check the resolution is the correct type for you PC
:!: If all else fails, try uninstalling some apps or programs on your PC that are not used and waste space, (same goes for some CC on the game and other bits)
Hope i can help
platapus234
I seem to have found two ways around the error 12 issue.
First I hit save as, and just saved my game as Hidden Springs 2 or what ever.
I also went into the save folder on my computer and deleted 'hiddensprings.sims3.bad'. According to the website anything with '.bad' at the end is useless so we can delete it to free up space.
I had error code 12 when I had my PC desktop I had WA intalled since i got my new iMac I never put back on no code 12 problems so far. I a few EP and one stuff pack ( took off the rest sp) and I have Seasons had problems with that graphics issue .
I took that off Seasons now only get the debug error. The 🐸🐸🐸🐸 with Sims 4.
I just purchased Generations and Pets to add to my collection. I am normally very happy with Sims games but sims 3 has cost me problems for several months. After purchasing pets and generations and installing them on the same day, the problems then began. With pets they looked very distorted when I try to play it, so I noticed I need a update on a graphic card after several weeks I got my new graphic card and my pets problem was fixed. With Generations error 12 has become the devil, I save very often but for months now I had to just stop playing all together because 10 mins into the game I get Error 12 so I have been playing the same day over several times. This is very annoying, since I been reading these forums everyone says it's a memory problem and you need more ram or something well that's way out the question I just got through purchasing a graphic card so this seems a little unfair and I should have to make up for the mistakes of the creators who made these games with these bogus problems. As of right now I am using version 12.0.273.021001 and I have the base game installed of course. Along with, Ambitions,Late Night,Showtime,Pets and Generations.
for my (c)drive I have 278GBs of free space 3GB Ram on a 32-bit operating system (I'm Not A Technical Person, bare with me) someone please give me some insight on what to do to fixed this Error 12 forever.
I am so angry. I spent ages on a family, moving the teens on to being in their own houses and starting a new family. I've been working on them for a while now during my free time. I play the sims 3 today, and I get the Error code 12 message and cannot save. I've had this before and I've just left it, but today I tried several times to sort it out, and I lost my family completely. This is not acceptable as it's not like the sims is a £2 game, it's very expensive and these pathetic errors should not be occurring during my game play. They never used to. EA need to sort it out, instead of bringing out new games and packs. It's all for the money. I cannot enjoy my sims games like I used to.
Hi, my name is Erin and i never got error code 12 before, just a couple of months ago i bought the latest sims 3 games i have up to the university and now i get the Error code 12, i have reinstalled many times, i have the lastest updated drivers, my computer is up to date i have 4gb of ram it ran great before these last couple of games and updates. i have a 32 bit windows 7. I also have tried the save as and renaming it but it doesn't ever work for me. I am getting sick of the error, i don't know what happened with these past few games and updates but i was hoping you could solve the issue or have an answer for me, i have tried it all and nothing works.
Update: okay that was me for weeks, i just found out how to fix the code well it worked for me i went a whole sim day with no error code and i just used the save button too. I googled the error code 12 and i saw a youtube video that i tried and it worked. im so excited. i want to share this!
Apparently the problem is partly due to Uni. (Sorry used to old Sims 2 shorthand) I have up to Seasons installed via Parallels and it runs fine. I may try adding 70's 80's 90's this weekend, but I won't re add Uni until EA issues a new patch.
Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
I was playing today and I saved every time something I was proud of happened then one time I tried to save error code 12 popped up , it is now really starting to annoy me I cant quit my game or minimise it. I just installed island paradise and this has never happened before :x
A couple of things I have observed while playing in Parallels.
1) Get a handy little app from the App Store called Free Memory. Run it before you play Sims 3 and it clears your RAM. It's free and you can turn off the ads in the options. Very handy.
2) Get NRAAS Saver Mod. It automatically queues your game to save every half an hour.
3) I have patched to 1.55 and have reinstalled 70, 80's, 90's and Uni to see how they run. I also run Master Controller, Overwatch and Error Trap.
Because Sims 3 has a memory leak in the game, you need to make sure you have the most memory available. That's partly why Error 12 occurs.
Post edited by Unknown User on
Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
Comments
I'm waiting for a new patch to fix it but I'll try changing the town name and logging out of my account.
I got a few hours of play on it today and I saved 3 times.When I was playing in build and buy mode loads of things went black and it was laggy. :I
Thanks for the tip though.I'm not going to get Seasons now xD
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It doesn't take ERROR 12 away forever but just for a while. Save frequently tho.
Hope this helped at least a little bit.
1: save once every (human) half hour. I set an alarm.
2. Save and quit after 4 hours. Anything past this and I will normally get error code 12. You may have more than 4 gigs of ram, but the game only uses up to 4 if your OSX is 64 bit. (If you have the latest OSX, you are running 64 bit)
3: If your saved game won't load, go into documents/electronic arts/the sims/saves/(name of your saved game). Look for the one under it that has the extension *.sims.backup and drag the old save with the extension *.sims to the desktop. Change the one named *.sims.back to just *.sims and see if your game loads. It should if the game did not corrupt it. Otherwise, if you use time machine, go back and see if you can find an uncorrupt game in your time machine backup.
4. If you are getting error code 12 every few minutes, it may be time to reinstall your game. I have had to do this. If you want to keep your saves, be sure to drag them to the desktop your saves folder to a safe place like the desktop, saved sims, screenshots, exports, and if you want to keep downloads from the exchange, take those out of the downloads file (installing those one by one to make sure they are NOT the cause of any issues is a good rule of thumb). Also, when reinstall, just redownload any store content when you log into your account. Go to purchase history and it should all be there to redownload. Sometimes these can get corrupted as well. Wait to download them until you have installed the base game with all patches, your SP's and EP's. After putting in your store content, just start a new game, make sure it runs ok without error code 12 every 5 minutes, then stick in your save games. If your save games are still doing it, go back to step 3 and try the back up.
5. If after all this, your saves still keep giving you errors, go into them, save your family with the house to the bin and put them down in a new game. You could also try this before doing step 4, if you wish.
This has been my experience. I hope it helps everyone. Pausing and saving never helped for me. Taking off memory creation did help a town from becoming corrupt quickly and I could play on it longer without bugs popping up. Remember, if you keep it on, the WHOLE town makes memories as well as your family, so the file gets big quick. Disabling this kept me from having to save families to the bin and put them back into a new town and make them have to get to know each other again.
Best advice; save often. Also try running your game with low graphics settings. That should help everything overall. Before my upgrade, I had to play in a smaller house in a smaller lot with no pets, because it was simply too much data otherwise.
I know you're all hating on EA, and yes, EC 12 is a HUGE pain in the ***, but this is a computer memory problem, not a game problem.
So what the issue seems to be is that because the game is so huge (especially if you have all the expansions installed) that your computer just can't handle it. Too long during play and the computer doesn't have the guts to be able to save. This is why it works if you save regularly, verses not working after long periods of not saving. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's been my experience.
While INCREDIBLY frustrating, this, to me, does not seem to be an error on EA's part. For what it's worth, they gave people what they wanted in the game, in the detail and quality it was wanted. The problem with that is that most people simply don't have the machine to handle it, especially if you are running a prefab computer from Best Buy or whatever.
Solution? Upgrade! Or better yet, build your own machine from scratch. Go in to an actual computer store and tell them what you want. Stay away from big name electronics stores and go to a computer specific store. In Canada, we have NXIC... I can personally recommend them, they helped me build my machine, and not only does it kick ***, but they were extremely helpful and gave me a great deal.
If you don't know what you need in a machine, tell them you want a gaming computer, and then take along your games to show them what kind of memory and speed you'll be needing. They'll set you up and it'll be a HELL of a lot cheaper than buying a pre-made one.
Good luck and hope all of you have more luck with your game in the future.
I respectfully disagree.
If this EP physically requires a more powerful machine to even run it, then that should have been listed in the basic system requirements on the packaging. Since it was not, then the game that was released should have to be compatible with what is listed in the system requirements. Blaming the end user for buying a game based on those requirements that then does not function as described is like blaming a new car buyer for breaking a car that came out of the showroom floor without any wheels.
My machine is no dinosaur by any means, nor is it a pre-fab, and even on my system I'm getting error codes. I feel that EA either needs to reassess the system requirements they're listing for their games to be more accurate to the actual specs required to play, or the game really needs to be looked into and reworked to function as it should within the system requirements they set. I find it completely unreasonable that it should not run without errors on a new, non pre-fab machine that barely breaks a sweat to run any other brand new video games that are coming out recently.
For people with minimum specs, it may be a computer problem. But for many people, it's definitely a game problem. I have 16GB memory, a brand new 64bit system, and only the four oldest EPs, but I still have constant Error Code 12 with certain saves. The game needs more than 2GB memory but doesn't come equipped to use more than 2GB. That's not something that should have to be changed manually by digging through the Game/Bin files.
Before, I was playing at 1024x768 resolution and mostly all low graphic settings, saving about every 2-4 sim hours, and would still get constant Error Code 12 once my save file got old enough, or if my sims threw a party. Tweaking the Game/Bin/sims.ini file helped, but it didn't eradicate Error Code 12. I still get it on occasion, even when Activity Monitor tells me I have plenty of available memory.
The way the game handles the Memories system and TravelDB file is a HUGE problem too. This feature alone contributes hugely to Error Code 12, and it's often impossible to disable without mods. Bloated TravelDB files are poor game design, not a computer problem. Game-breaking features like memories shouldn't even be written into the game.
The more time you invest into a saved game, the bigger your file, and the more likely you'll get error code 12. That's a flaw in the game design.
The things that help me deal with Error Code 12 are:
-saving as often as possible (*at least* every 4 sim hours, and always before AND after entering build/buy/CAS or sorting inventory items)
-disabling memories, or deleting the TravelDB file on old saves that previously had memories enabled. If the TravelDB file got to be above 500MB, I knew it was trouble. You lose the artwork for still life paintings, portraits, and photos, but sometimes it has to be done.
-Altering the sims.ini file to allow the game more memory usage, since I knew I had memory to spare.
-Using NRaas Porter to move sims to a fresh town if the world file got to be too large (usually in the 150-175MB range)
-Using relatively low graphics settings
I don't think I've *ever* saved without pausing, so I can't say much about that.
I saw your post and i too get this error code A LOT, The way i try and sometimes resolver the issue is by:
:!: Save as regularly as possible,
:!: As soon as a major event happens in your town (e.g wedding, birth etc..) save immediately.
:!: If quiting the game, do not choose save and quit just do save and then after quit. (it puts too much stress on the PC)
:!: When saving, make sure you quit as many actions as possible, so no big events whilst saving
:!: As always, Try save as and re-name it completely something different
However, some things can be key before opening the game:
:!: Before opening, close ALL other windows and applications
:!: If you have a second monitor unplug it.
:!: Check the resolution is the correct type for you PC
:!: If all else fails, try uninstalling some apps or programs on your PC that are not used and waste space, (same goes for some CC on the game and other bits)
Hope i can help
platapus234
First I hit save as, and just saved my game as Hidden Springs 2 or what ever.
I also went into the save folder on my computer and deleted 'hiddensprings.sims3.bad'. According to the website anything with '.bad' at the end is useless so we can delete it to free up space.
I took that off Seasons now only get the debug error. The 🐸🐸🐸🐸 with Sims 4.
for my (c)drive I have 278GBs of free space 3GB Ram on a 32-bit operating system (I'm Not A Technical Person, bare with me) someone please give me some insight on what to do to fixed this Error 12 forever.
Update: okay that was me for weeks, i just found out how to fix the code well it worked for me i went a whole sim day with no error code and i just used the save button too. I googled the error code 12 and i saw a youtube video that i tried and it worked. im so excited. i want to share this!
1) Get a handy little app from the App Store called Free Memory. Run it before you play Sims 3 and it clears your RAM. It's free and you can turn off the ads in the options. Very handy.
2) Get NRAAS Saver Mod. It automatically queues your game to save every half an hour.
3) I have patched to 1.55 and have reinstalled 70, 80's, 90's and Uni to see how they run. I also run Master Controller, Overwatch and Error Trap.
Because Sims 3 has a memory leak in the game, you need to make sure you have the most memory available. That's partly why Error 12 occurs.