Hi all!

I have Sims 3 Base Game and Sims 3 LN. I also have some CC downloaded. I am currently building an extremely large house well over $1000,000 (and not yet completed), so you might understand it is very frustrating to have Error 12 constantly pop up while I am making it. When Error 12 shows up while I try to save the game, usually, the game sooner or later crashes. Sometimes an hour of work is lost, and it is very disappointing indeed.

I have never quite gotten "Error 12" before, only now, on this particular Savegame. I have read that it is a memory error.

Please help. Thank you!

Error12 means that within your current session, your game is reaching for or has reached for more memory (RAM) than it can use. On Windows, that would be ~3.7 GB provided you have enough free RAM to allocate. On Mac, that would be 2 GB. The game cannot use more than that even if it wants to no matter what you do as it is a 32-bit executable. And yes, most often these will be closely followed by a crash.

Certainly a prolonged building session on a huge, extensive lot will push usage to and beyond its limits. How far you can take things will depend on your graphics card. how much RAM you actually have installed, and how much stress you are putting on your game in other ways -- can you post your device.config log?

But a quick solution might be to turn your graphics settings in Game Options way down and switch off Advanced Rendering during the build process. Everything will be really ugly, but you might be able to inch them back up again after you are finished with the project.

I checked and my computer allegedly has 1.99 GB of RAM. Is this insufficient?

Hmmm...if I switched to another, smaller lot after it has said "Error 12", will that fix it? Although I have done that before, and I don't think it worked...

I'm not sure if I was able to manage to get over the Error 12 thing ever. MAYBE I was able to get the message, Save again, this time succesfully. But that never happens anymore. And one time, I saved again after Error 12...it kept saving and saving, the rotating thing kept going on and on for like 20 minutes already (!) so I decided to Ctrl+Alt+Delete it.

Just so you know.

The device.config, as asked:

=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 3 RAM: 3 CPU Speed: 2199 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 2932 RAM: 2044 Adjusted RAM: 2044 Cores: 2
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows XP 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3
OS major ver: 5
OS minor ver: 1
OS SP major ver: 3
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 0
CPU: GenuineIntel
Brand: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2200 @ 2.20GHz
Family: 6
Model: 15
Cores: 2
HT: 0
x64: 0
Memory: 2044MB
Free memory: 1484MB
User: joey
Computer: JV
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Name (database): GeForce 9500 GT [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 0640, Board: 055110de, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nv4_disp.dll, Version: 6.14.12.5896, GUID: D7B71E3E-4500-11CF-6664-5D2500C2CB35
Driver version: 5896
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 1024MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1
=== Options ===
AnimationSmoothing 1
LightingQuality 3
GeneralReflections 2
TextureQuality 3
VisualEffects 3
TerrainQuality 2
EdgeSmoothing 3
ObjectHiding 0
AspectRatio 0
ForceSquarePixels 1
SimQuality 4
TreeQuality 3
DrawDistance 3
MaxActiveLots 4
NumMaxActiveLotOptions 4
AdvancedRendering 1
AudioQuality 3
AudioOutputMode 1
VoiceLevel 24
SoundFXLevel 24
MusicLevel 28
AmbientLevel 32
FocusMute 1
VoiceMute 0
SoundFXMute 0
MusicMute 1
AmbientMute 0
EdgeScrolling 1
EdgeScrollingWarning 0
SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 33
SimWhileMinimized 0
TwelveHourClock 1
ShowPlacementGrid 0
AutonomyLevel 2
DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
PetAutonomyLevel 2
AgingInterval 3
EnableAging 1
EnableTutorial 1
EnableIntroTutorial 0
EnableTombResets 1
EnableInGameStore 1
EnableTelemetry 1
EnableMemories 1
AgingStageLengthBaby 8
AgingStageLengthToddler 20
AgingStageLengthChild 25
AgingStageLengthTeen 35
AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 60
AgingStageLengthAdult 60
AgingStageLengthElder 45
AgingStageLengthPuppy 15
AgingStageLengthDogAdult 54
AgingStageLengthDogElder 30
AgingStageLengthKitten 15
AgingStageLengthCatAdult 60
AgingStageLengthCatElder 36
AgingStageLengthFoal 10
AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 75
AgingStageLengthHorseElder 36
LunarCycleLength 3
LunarPhaseLength 0
EnableLunarCycle 1
EnableLunarPhase 0
EnableStoryProgression 1
EnableVampires 1
EnableWerewolves 1
EnablePets 1
EnableCelebrities 1
EnableFairies 1
EnableWitches 1
EnableHorses 1
EnableOptOutCeleb 0
ReceiveConnectTNS 1
ReceivedDevGift 0
PostFilterFlags 0
RequireLoginBeforeLoad 0
SummerLength 7
FallLength 7
WinterLength 7
SpringLength 7
SummerEnabled 1
FallEnabled 1
WinterEnabled 1
SpringEnabled 1
IsCelcius 0
FogEnabled 1
RainEnabled 1
SnowEnabled 1
HailEnabled 1
InvertHorizontalRotation 0
InvertVerticalRotation 0
VideoCaptureSize 1
VideoCaptureQuality 2
VideoCaptureSound 0
VideoCaptureTime 60
VideoCaptureHideUI 1
=== Default Options ===
AnimationSmoothing 1
LightingQuality 3
GeneralReflections 2
TextureQuality 3
VisualEffects 3
TerrainQuality 2
EdgeSmoothing 0
ObjectHiding 0
AspectRatio 0
ForceSquarePixels 1
SimQuality 3
TreeQuality 3
DrawDistance 3
MaxActiveLots 3
NumMaxActiveLotOptions 4
AdvancedRendering 1
AudioQuality 3
AudioOutputMode 1
VoiceLevel 255
SoundFXLevel 255
MusicLevel 255
AmbientLevel 255
FocusMute 1
VoiceMute 0
SoundFXMute 0
MusicMute 0
AmbientMute 0
EdgeScrolling 0
EdgeScrollingWarning 1
SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 0
SimWhileMinimized 0
TwelveHourClock 1
ShowPlacementGrid 0
AutonomyLevel 2
DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
PetAutonomyLevel 2
AgingInterval 2
EnableAging 1
EnableTutorial 1
EnableIntroTutorial 1
EnableTombResets 1
EnableInGameStore 1
EnableTelemetry 1
EnableMemories 1
AgingStageLengthBaby 3
AgingStageLengthToddler 7
AgingStageLengthChild 7
AgingStageLengthTeen 14
AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 21
AgingStageLengthAdult 21
AgingStageLengthElder 17
AgingStageLengthPuppy 0
AgingStageLengthDogAdult 0
AgingStageLengthDogElder 0
AgingStageLengthKitten 0
AgingStageLengthCatAdult 0
AgingStageLengthCatElder 0
AgingStageLengthFoal 0
AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 0
AgingStageLengthHorseElder 0
LunarCycleLength 3
LunarPhaseLength 0
EnableLunarCycle 1
EnableLunarPhase 0
EnableStoryProgression 1
EnableVampires 1
EnableWerewolves 1
EnablePets 1
EnableCelebrities 1
EnableFairies 1
EnableWitches 1
EnableHorses 1
EnableOptOutCeleb 0
ReceiveConnectTNS 1
ReceivedDevGift 0
PostFilterFlags 0
RequireLoginBeforeLoad 0
SummerLength 7
FallLength 7
WinterLength 7
SpringLength 7
SummerEnabled 1
FallEnabled 1
WinterEnabled 1
SpringEnabled 1
IsCelcius 0
FogEnabled 1
RainEnabled 1
SnowEnabled 1
HailEnabled 1
InvertHorizontalRotation 0
InvertVerticalRotation 0
VideoCaptureSize 1
VideoCaptureQuality 2
VideoCaptureSound 0
VideoCaptureTime 60
VideoCaptureHideUI 1

Okay, you are running Win XP (if this part of the log is to be believed) and you have 2 GB of RAM. Your operating system and any background processes have to use a sizable chunk of that, the game gets what is left over. Obviously you are not pushing up against the game's 3.7GB limit as you don't have that much to work with anyway; you are merely running out of resources when working on this build project. The game will reach for some virtual memory up to a point, but TS3 doesn't utilize much of that well. Your graphics card is not the spiffiest, but it should be fine for one EP. At least you have one that isn't integrated.

It's certainly okay to play TS3 with one or two of the earlier EPs on such a system, but there are limits to what you can do before getting into trouble. A 10th generation ongoing legacy in a large world with 300 resident sims would likely be out of the question, for example. This build project might also be too much for it, but do try the all low, ugly graphics settings with Advanced Rendering off thing to see if that gets you through it or not.

As for recovering from an Error12 once you actually get one, you are not alone in not being able to. All of the advice about how to do that plastered all over the web only works for a small number of players a small amount of the time. In my case, should I actually get one on my more capable system, I can recover from it and negotiate a save by focusing on a really boring patch of grass and then zooming back out to Map View -- maybe around 5% of the time. And even then, the save might not be usable. The rest of the time, forget it my progress since the last save is just gone. My experiences seem to match those of most players, though thankfully these are very rare for me unless I go way over what I know are the limits my system can handle.