That is your CPU, and in the moment at that. It does not monitor the rest of your system, nor are you finding out your peak temps are after prolonged game play. Please do what I suggested back in my previous post.

I have come to newer findings. While I could narrow down certain groups of mods, I have yet to find out the exact mods, but I did something interesting: I tested each group separately. It appears that each group, if left to run by itself, work perfectly.

My base mods: Basic Hacks, Awesome mod.

Groups of mods to test separately: Hairs, Cars, Clothings, Objects. Each of these groups work fine on their own, only when they are put together they start causing troubles: error 12/13 on saves.

It is hard to tell which groups are the trouble makers, so it is only safe to say they are simply "conflicted with each other". Simstylists mods are like this too, they work well along with "Clothings", but when I put "Hairs", "Cars" I start getting Error 12.

I am not sure how to determine which ones are the culprits, and which are the "victim" mods.

It is OK. TS3 works super well without mods or with only certain groups of mods, read my posts above. I do not think my computer chooses to overheat based on what kind of mods I put in Mods folder. At this point I am 100% sure the crash and error 13 are caused by conflicting mods, not by CPU or anything overheating.

As I recall, either error 12 or 13 (I forget which) on save can also be caused by massive amounts of NPC sims. I've seen instances of upwards of 700 odd NPCs, and in that kind of neighbourhood the game crashes on save.

I'm going to have to agree with the OP here. It doesn't sound to me like there is any overheating or other computer issues, given all of the evidence to the contrary, and especially when these errors occur only when CC is installed (and not when the game runs normally).

Just to clarify: this is a save file problem only, correct? It's not an overheating issue becuase that would occur during the game and not only at save.

Theres a workaround posted somewhere that basically saves to remove your save games while the game is running, and then re-save, and see if that does the trick. You can also put back all your custom content and start a blank neighbourhood and save then. If that works then you know for a fact that it's not CC (which I dont think it is anyway). The last resort is to use awesomemod to kill off all the NPC sims.

Incidentally, how big are your save files now?

I'd like to thank tomoni for providing lots of detail and saying what works and what doesn't - this kind of input can be very helpful in figuring out whats wrong and, indeed, working on a solution.

I recall seeing some posts back a while ago regarding 12/13 errors that suggested a workaround:

Go into your My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves folder, and remove your saves temporarily - just cut and paste them somewhere else. Do this while the game is running, after you've gotten the error. Try saving again.

I don't know if it'll help you - it sounds like you've done a lot of work trying to narrow down what CC might be causing it, but it's quick and easy and worth a try. I know it has worked to help some people.

Hi Delphy and HP,

Yes, HP, that trick worked well in the past when error 13 occurred only because of random corruption. I even extended the trick by "go to Edit town, edit some random lot, add a tree, re-save!" That ought to clear out most Error 13. And I also saved every 30 minutes at the most. Such tricks carried me through all these times, until now. But this time, it is certainly not random corruption.

Delphy, this is mostly save issue. My original problem: 1) Error 12/13 on save: 80% of the time. 2) Save infinitely (had to force close): 10%. 3) Crash on save: 10%.

Delphy brought up an interesting point about the size of neighborhood. I did some research over moreawesomethanyou.com (MATY) that they they mention the size of the saved game may cause corruptions on save. While I partially disagree with that (since TS3 saves well with selective CC as mentioned in earlier replies), I am not going to eliminate this possibilities entirely. My test saves are about 53Mb. My largest saves are 60Mb and smallest are around 22Mb. So here is what I wonder: What are the sizes determined by? The amount of lots? How about the saved sims, or saved families, do they count toward the saved games (I doubt it). How am I supposed to reduce size, empty up some lots? I also heard over MATY that there are "homeless" sims. Maybe I should kill some of these sims off?

But you are right Delphy, with the lack of success within the last 2 days, I am going to start a brand new neighborhood and test from there.

There are just so many aspects and possibilities out there .... sigh!

Edit: For the record, I am documenting my new approach:

- Start brand new town, all EA contents, only 2-3 custom lots.

- Prioritize further: I am going to make about 7-8 more folders exercising different priority numbers such as 400, 450, 500, 550, etc... to see if this fix anything.

- Rebuild mods: For questionable groups of mods, I plan to rebuild them with existing tools from MTS, TSR, etc... Starting with questionable hairs and clothings I downloaded from outside MTS.

I will report further findings within the next few days.

It could be your RAM. I had the same problem with WoW and Sims3. We built this computer from top to bottom and made it so amazingly powerful and then when we played games, textures would be replaced with other textures, similar to the screen shots shown there. After replacing 2 expensive, new graphics cards, we found something called "artifacting". It could be from something so stupid as dust on your RAM card or the RAM card was just defective. Even if it storms and the power goes out while you're running your computer can mess up the RAM and you can have artifacting. Buy another RAM card and see if it still happens. If that doesn't work, then I don't know what else, sorry.

I should also add that there was no telling when or where it was going to happen. Sometimes it was mild and you could barely tell the textures were different, other times everything was so messed up, it was like a bad horror movie!!

I would love if it is the case of graphical artifacts. It only means there is nothing wrong with the saves and I can save just fine. Artifacts will cause things to display weirdly, as if there are lines or string connecting all over the place or even worse. But that is just display problem, but in my case, my major problem is Error 12/13.

20091004 update

Latest finding:

I have tried what Delphy suggested. I started out a brand new town with only 2 custom lots. I also prioritize all the folders with corresponding numbers via resource.cfg

Here is what I find out:

- Item mods only conflict when I actually place them/wear them. Otherwise the saved game will not even know if it is there.

- Family photo is a good indication of item mod conflict: When I save, I go to edit town and look at my family photo. A nice looking photo does not guarantee anything, but a photo with sims not rendering properly: 1 color clothing, pitch black skin, bald hair, etc... This is an indication of incomplete render and some mods are not saving properly.

- Multiple saves are needed to test. In order to test if there is any conflict, I need to save multiple times, with each time trying to mess the lots around: place a item, move the questionable items around, or wear that questionable piece of clothing, use that hair, etc... Try to push the conflict to happen! Save at lot level, save at edit town, choose a different family, save at lot and edit town level. Check family photos after each save.

- Test mods with CTU. While Sims3pe and Postal would open anything, CTU is very picky. I open mod by mod with CTU (when applicable, CTU only deal with CAS items). Items that CTU gives debug error or simply "Key in wrong format" would deem to be likely in conflict with TS3. Here I am also questioning the stability of CTU itself. But all CAS mods should be openable by CTU by default. With the exception of items linked to outside mesh like items from RoguePilot. I have tested, and found out RP items work happily so far with other mods I have.

At this time I am able to save everything. I have not put all my mods in, and my neighborhood only have 2 families of my own, with the rest are EA. This is not yet an ideal play ground. But this time I am using multiple saves and family photos to detect any flare of conflict.

Items still in testing:

- All cars are considered buggy. I have all cars from Fresh Prince and 1 from battousan. I don't have a real way to test these cars beside opening them with S3pe.

- Hairs: by opening them with CTU, I am able to eliminate half of the hair I have. They still do not open properly with CTU, but at least there is no error message given by CTU. I have yet to rebuild any of these hair due to the sheer effort required, per hair item.

- Most clothings from MTS: Strangely, when opting in my clothings from MTS, I get error 13. Yes, these clothings already passed CTU test. I can open them, I can see each and every design within each mod. Yet it still conflicts.

- Inge Jones Windows and Doors: Inge Jones designed some very nice set of glass windows and doors derived from EA ones. I started a lot with almost no custom mod left. Family photo shows error rendering, so after I removed Inge doors, it is fine. But later on, on the same lot, putting in these same doors/winds, it saves fine, family photo is also fine. So I am not sure if these mods are causing conflicts.
http://www.drealm.info/simlogical/sl/Sims3/Sims3.htm

- "Ye Olde Window" aka Colonial Windows II by HugeLunatic
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=371508
This mod suffers same fate as Ignes Jones mod I mentioned above. This mod has 3 very nice windows. I put them in a complete EA lot and save. Family photo found all sims with pitch black skin. However, after a while, I tried again on the same EA family, it saves fine, family photo looks fine. I am totally bewildered here. Yet I find no problem with counter height windows by the same creator.
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CC that I find working:

- All lemoncandy's items seem to work under any condition of testing. I am confident of her mods.

- All tuning mods on MTS: they work under all conditions. I am not sure whether these may be the source of conflict with my item mods. But they work whether I opt them in or out.
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Note: After weeks of testing (yes, no play, just test) and about 100+ saved games, I guess I am pretty good at this now. But given so, I am still uncertain of a way to tell if a particular mod is bad. If you are reading this with the same trouble as I am, you have to know that there is no absolute bad mod. I can give you a mod that runs fine with 1000s of players, yet when you are unlucky to get another "run just fine" mod into your game, they suddenly collide and you start seeing Error 13.

TS3 itself is quite stable, but it has very little support for CC. In fact, I don't think they intend for players like us to mod TS3 like this. Their support for CC are likely EA internal only with their own programs. So all their store items are solid and have no error (so far). All of CC we find here can be great, but with the lack of knowledge about TS3, the mod creators may forget to insert this 1 line, or do something specific to ensure compatibility standards.

My only way to save: save each family into the family bin, and always use the comment section to write the version/date of that family. Yes they are likely to lose all friends, but they still keep their jobs/pays, money, and everything else you work so hard for that family.

Stay tuned for next report.

Please stop double posting. Just edit your original post and add the new information.

You don't think the post would be too long? Also, this is a progress reply to other posts as well.

Double posting is strongly discouraged no matter what. So, please don't.