A Nifty Workaround for the Error Code 12 ?
Hi folks, I've been doing stuff other than sims 3 but the other day I opened my save and after a few mysterious CTDs it magically fixed itself so after playing for a while I tried to save and it gave me the dreaded error code 12. A few weeks earlier, when I had the error I decided to try something new and it seemingly worked. This time, I had the chance to test it again to see if it would work again. Now, it can be a coincidence or a fluke but it's worth trying. So, some testers are needed. Next time you have this error, please give it a try.
Basically, when I got the save error, on both times, I went into Edit Town mode and entered a lot and draw a wall or something then hit Ctrl-z, went back to Edit Town and hit Save As. Both times, it saved. I don't know if this was mentioned anywhere before. I don't remember reading anything like this but regardless, I believe it's good information. This is not the same as "Try saving in Edit Town/Map View" tip. Since there's an extra step which I've never encountered before on the internet. But, then I live under a rock, so...
It doesn't have to be an empty lot; it can be an unoccupied residential lot or a community lot. But error 12 is known to be followed by a CTD so it's safer to load an empty lot. Just put a wall or a fence somewhere, undo, go back to Edit Town and save as a new save. Hopefully, it's not a fluke. Because reset town thing is annoying and it doesn't always work. Spread the word if this works for you. Happy simming!
Update: I have 3 more save errors this week on different occasions; two of them occured while using @polrbearsims' method which is pointing the camera to the ground with nothing else in view while saving. Unfortunately, this didn't help much in my case, since my current save is really, really borked. I'm on thin ice here... So, in a healthy save it may actually help. Luckily, though, the empty lot method mentioned in this post have worked on three occasions and my game saved. So it can be used as a last resort if you're getting persistent save errors, as long as your game doesn't crash right away. Well, that's that.
Update #2: It seems like I finally managed to make my save stable enough to play for hours without a CTD. The last couple of crashes were apparently caused by my forgetfulness because I didn't delete the contents of CurrentGame.sims3 folder in my frustration. Heh. I only have one save error at the end of my long, long session. And I always save pointing the camera to ground as previously mentioned. The save error was really persistent and luckily my game didnt't crash. So I tried, tried and tried. My empty lot method didn't work either. So I let the game play itself. Dismissed the maid who was abusing the juice keg. Sent my sims here and there. And alternate between the two methods. In the end my game saved. I don't know if these updates would help anyone but I leave it here anyway. This will most likely be my last update. Thanks everyone for commenting and sharing.