Error codes 12 and 13 along with crashing.

[tizerist]

Are there any reasons to delete them?

No no. Just wondering if others had been deleting theirs, with it being a static figure and all.
But as I checked back into the folder the figure appears not to be static after all. Its now 512,743 (objects) and 509,981 (sims) which is about 1 mb more than before. So it will fluctuate (eventually?) but not much.

[Yaseta]

Hey I've been lurking this thread since I started getting error code 13's.
I'm not very good with the technical side of this issue, however I'll fill you in on what I've noticed and I hope it helps.

I used to have all the store items installed in my game, and played Riverview- error code 13. So I reinstalled my game and patched with v1.2.7. I installed the Indiestone mod and full store content and Riverview. Played Sunset Valley- error coder 13.

Finally I reinstalled the game patched again with V1.2.7 and installed the Indiestone mod. I did not install store content or Riverview.

I have now been happily playing for 2 weeks with no error code, as to before when I occurred them within the first three days.

Steele mentioned that it may be a problem with custom content, and from what I've experienced it was.

Hope that helps, sorry I can't be more technical.

Great to see you guys working on the problem

[putti]

Yes it's good that you're trying to work out the problem, but I never had the errors or my game crashing. Touch wood!
But then I'm only into my second generation, as I like to swap households.

I only have 2 mods in my game and some of the EA store furniture ( what I DL from PMBD), but no CC hair, patterns, furniture, sims or houses and certainly nothing from TSR!

My game isn't patched ...I never patched any of my Sims 1 or 2 games either and never had a problem.

I'm also not connected to the internet on that PC, because of this I don't have a store version installed...but a torrent one.

I'm running XP Home Edition on a Pentium 4, 3.5 GHZ with 2 GB of Ram and a Nvidia 7300 graphics card and I never had a problem with the game.

I hope you guys find a solution!

[Steele]

One thing that may be worth trying that may help is to re-install your game.

If you are playing Riverview, try not to turn on Sunset Valley and Likewise, the same if you're playing Sunset Valley. Maybe having both neighborhood caches active while playing is draining your pc's resources. So far this helped in my case.

The test for the vanilla game with no CCs added except for the patch, may take a while to bloat up the neighborhood. Without the awesomemod it will take double the effort since the vanilla game will delete random sims basically erasing them from the game like the "Destroyall..." command of the Awesomemod. Perhaps it's the game's way of cleaning up to avoid over bloating the save game. I need the patch because it will take even longer since the unpatch game deletes more sims randomly, the patch reduces the randomness of the deletion but it still randomly deletes sims.

[diana]

I mentioned in a earlier post that i've been getting error code 12 messages since the the second week of June, two weeks after installing for the first time, and back then there wasn't much information out on the code errors and so have tested alot of things to try and resolve this amazingly stupid error message. I've played totally vanilla, no CC, no hacks, no patches, etc., and even did a manual uninstall/reinstall and still got error code 12 messages under those condition's. So at least for me, the error codes have nothing to do with CC.

I think there are compatibility issue's with the OS and the video cards. I know there's a web page that EA has where you can go and test to see if your computer spec's are compatible with the game and well mine supposedly far surpassed all necessary requirements. But now I'm starting to think what they claim to be compatible and what they actually know is compatible with their game is two different things. I say that for the simple fact that the error codes exist in the first place. They need to make a patch to fix this.

[Steele]

My current impression with the errors has something to do with the base game itself. Adding CCs and other stuff just accelerates the process. My objective is to try and isolate what's really causing these errors. Otherwise in the eventuality that  EP5 comes out, we'll be looking at a 1 GB save file with unresolved error saving problems (that is EA doesn't add more problems along the way, though it is certain that there will) the game will be unplayable to most of us having these error problems.

Upon my current situation with the game, the errors has a certain pattern that triggers it. I currently believe these are the triggers that starts the errors in my experience:

Error 12:
1. After re-installing the game, my common error 13s were replaced by error 12s. Since my population has greatly been reduced by the Awesomemod and the Unified Billing feature, it was more easy to track that there were sims disappearing and reappearing who never ages (they must have advance tickets to go on World Adventures).
2. My ghost having aging problems also. This caused me to delete my graveyard to prevent them from appearing.
3. My sim descriptions always gets damaged. Three days ago I was plagued with townies that has no traits, no favorites and obvious clones (from hair to clothes) of other townies, so many of them looked alike. Fixing that, Two days ago it was the attack of the invisible sims. And yesterday, it was townies when added to your family become un-selectable (their portait will appear on the family but cannot be accessed or selected (even with cheats)).
4. There is a new bug in my game, the Awesomemod "Nuke" option is gone. Since no one is complaining about it so I deduce that it has some problems with my game itself.

Error 13:
1. Aging states of sims. For some reason 85% of the time a sim ages on your play lot +/- 5 hours of the aging process will result to error 13
2. Adding new furnitures in a overly decorated house + the factor of playing the game for at least 20 real time minutes will also produce error 13. A newly loaded game will not have the error 13 assuming you are decorating the same items from the previous error 13 experience, adding a little bit more decorations, I get a 50/50 chance of it will error.
3. Whenever ghosts appear on my play lot the game, I'm sure to have error 13 when they leave.
4. Also noticing that world caches are accessed regardless of you playing that neighborhood or not at a point which I believe, you're computer's extra resources gets used up and the dynamic caches stop increasing in size. That's the time my error 13 shows up. There are times the dynamic caches will start increasing again, it did also stop the error 13 temporarily.

There are more that I cannot remember at of these moment, some I already posted earlier. I think isolating what causes this errors would be helpful on determining a solution.

I've played totally vanilla, no CC, no hacks, no patches, etc., and even did a manual uninstall/reinstall and still got error code 12 messages under those condition's. So at least for me, the error codes have nothing to do with CC.

Yes I forgot about this. To save time on testing, I'll try to focus more on the above mentioned conditions. Thanks.

I think there are compatibility issue's with the OS and the video cards. I know there's a web page that EA has where you can go and test to see if your computer spec's are compatible with the game and well mine supposedly far surpassed all necessary requirements. But now I'm starting to think what they claim to be compatible and what they actually know is compatible with their game is two different things. I say that for the simple fact that the error codes exist in the first place. They need to make a patch to fix this.

In my point of view, what EA says as compatible is based on what configurations they have when they tested the game. Since there are many different OS, driver versions, hardwares and supporting softwares, the combinations are endless and there are sometime subtle incompatibilities. That produces unique and unexpected errors. I even had a experience that the motherboard chipset version was incompatible with my graphics card processor, all other programs, games worked well except for a single game whenever a cinematic would play the whole program will go crazy.

[Process Denied]

I think the biggest problem with these errors is that the solution seems to be voodoo solutions.  I haven't had an error 12 for a month.  I can't tell you what fixed it.  I tryed everything and some combination of something worked.  I'm inclined to think that maybe my screwed up Sim died.  It has seemed to fix itself like the splash screen crashing.  I also went a week with my game crashing the moment I pressed play, Although, I do think that Prescado probably fixed that.  There is a lot of problems with corruption so don't get too creative with fixing.

[Steele]

I'm inclined to think that maybe my screwed up Sim died.  It has seemed to fix itself like the splash screen crashing. 

I agree that sometimes a sim does get screwed up and when he/she dies or moves out, the game will become normal.

[bigpooh]

well, i had a good 2 week run - close to three - without any error code 13s after creating a new town and moving everything to the bin (can save family lines if you move all the related sims into the same house before packing it to the bin, has to be 8 or less of course). Was decorating one of the vanilla homes i modified, one of my best imo, then auto save kicks in and boom! fuckin error fuckin code fuckin 13.  And its all over. i hate this game.

a strange note: in my new town all the sims i created befriended magically generated clones of themselves at work and at school. I had one even move in with themself.

[J. M. Pescado]

This is a normal EAxis-based nuisance, sims left in the library tend to replicate themselves into the neighborhood. To fix this, you need to select the "real" one and type "nukeimpostors". Then purge your library of all sim famblies.

[Steele]

From my latest tests and observations, these are the common trends that is visible in my game for the errors.

ERROR 13
There is a limit for the game where there is a maximum number sims, objects and lots allowed for the world cache. Loading the game, starting positions and conditions are loaded into the cache initially so with a high number of sims and lots will reduce allowable cache space. Every additional actions/reactions of any sim in the hood will be logged into the cache. Also textures and graphic details are also recorded into the cache. In which some players reports lower error 13 instances with lower graphics detail.

My observation is that the game only purges items and unlocked wants and other stuff that's being cleaned up during 12am and 5am (perhaps there are other cleanup times that I do not know of). So basically stuff are not deleted becomes somewhat persistant until deleted and meanwhile eats up available resources. I believe saving is also recorded into the cache since my cache timestamps reflect the time where saving is in progress. It is possible that inadequate resources causes the post-save callback error (error 13)

After re-installing, I haven't tried adjusting the resoucecachebudget if it can in place store the texture and graphic detail data to lessen the load of the cache.

ERROR 12
So far, what I can determine here is a random data bug where the game randomly allows and disallows. It's very hard to guess whether there is a number of allowable bugs or there is a certain bug that the game actively screens. The bugs can range from sim descriptions, stuck object/sim bug, missing object/sim/texture (The "?" tiles in my game is a result of a failure load in textures, somehow the game forgets the textures (especially custom textures) and just replaces it with the "?" tiles.).

In all my attempts, an error 12 often couldn't be resolved except for a re-load of the game. Somewhere between the last save and the error 12 is a event that caused it. It could also be possible of an erroneous cache writing or data overlap that is related to error 13. It often did confuse me that reseting some lots replaces the error 13s to error 12s.


Aside from playing around with the resoucecachebudget, the solution seems beyond my abilities. If someone can confirm these findings and someone with better knowledge of the codes could thinker with it perhaps we can find a better and permanent solution for this problem until the next EP or update screws it up again.

[bigpooh]

After reading JM and steeles posts i may have found a work around for error 13, also it could just be a fluke.
In short, you can try what i did in the same order after the error occurs:

1) delete the .bad
2) nukeimpostors (may not be necessary, but its what i did at the time see update)
3) clear all locked and unlocked wants from the active household (based on steeles observations this would make sense at to what fixed the error)
4) save again and no more 13

Now the long version: After a pretty extensive remodeling session of one of vanilla homes i got an error 13 when trying to save. Naturally, i came here to vent (see a few posts up) I figured i might as well save the household to the bin in the event that a fix is discovered so i wouldn't lose my hours worth of work.

After quitting the game, deleting the bad saves and reading steele and JMs posts i decided to vainly play again as if the 13 hadnt occurred last night. I deleted my household and replaced it with the one i saved to the bin (even though i tried this before and it doesnt fix 13s - also the definition of insanity). Still got a 13 but i played on. My sim got phonecall from his cloned self which prompted me to do as JM said and nukeimpostors. Then for whatever reason (a stroke of brilliance, divine inspiration, acid reflux, who knows) i decided to clear all my sims wants and try saving. It worked.

I havent retested any of this because now i've yet to receive another 13. I may not be as knowledgeable on the subject of caches as others but based on steeles observation, the 13 occurs do to a cache limit being exceeded. Since wants and items are the only things ever purged from the cache i figured clearing all the wants of my active household would bring my game under the limit which was previously exceeded. Does that make sense?

Update: dug up on of my old .bad error code 13 save and tried. cleared wants and saved, got a 13. Immediately after i used Nukeimpostors and "saved as" a new name and it worked, no 13.

[awwboo]

You can now add me to the list of those receiving that damn Error 12 upon save.  My game was fine (with the exception of a bad CC item which has been removed) and never crashed once.  I've never had any problems at all.  Now all of a sudden it absolutely will not let me save.  I just keep receiving error 12 over and over.  I'm on Windows XP, and I have the dreaded patch. 

I'm fully convinced that these errors and CTD's are caused by the file's size. (Gamesave bloating??)

I believe this to be the case as well.  My saved game file is now huge.  I'm going to remove some things and try the compressor on all of my downloads.  Maybe that will help.  If I can get the save to work again, I'll also turn on the auto-save on the Awesome Mod.

EA needs to fix this damn game.  This is ridiculously frustrating.

[tizerist]

This is a bit odd.

The four cache files found in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, once deleted, have generated again at only 1 kb each.
Before they had large sizes.

[Steele]

Found something new on error 12. The source of the error is also found in the cache. Something during gameplay gets corrupted and it is written in the cache. So unless the corrupted data gets refreshed/reset the error will persist and will refuse to let you load a previous saved game.

The only solution I can think of right now is someone developing an in-game cache refresh/reset command.

3) clear all locked and unlocked wants from the active household (based on steeles observations this would make sense at to what fixed the error)
4) save again and no more 13

So far, Bigpooh's solution works for error 13. The first 2 steps can be skipped.

[tizerist]

I guess you haven't entered CAS or CASt yet.

I have. The files stay at 1kb.

And good work steele, heres hoping we can do some sort of cache refresh at some point, perhaps from an in-game computer.

[tizerist]

Is the game still active? I noticed caches don't appear to be written as long as the process runs.
Possibly one additional reason TS3 is such a memory hog.

It was, but even after shutting down it remains at that size, with a fresh timestamp.

[Simsample]

It was, but even after shutting down it remains at that size, with a fresh timestamp.

Possibly because you are running Sunset with the World cache files; the information is being cached in those instead.

[chann]

I've been getting Error 12 intermittently. Normally I roll back to an earlier save, but today I found that using AM's "resetworld" command let me save the file after the process failed the first time. I'll wait to see if I get another error. Perhaps resetting the game state helps to avert it.

[Steele]

using AM's "resetworld" command

You know, I have been looking for this command ever since I started having error 12s. Pescado did confirm its existence, though I did not push to get this command from him.

Thinking about it, if I got this command the easy way, I might not have persisted to understand the error's source.

Edit 10/01 Tried using "Resetworld" right after loading a saved game. The game paused for 30-40 seconds. Did not encounter any errors for the whole night. I will overload the game with CCs and other stuff and try again. I just hope this is the solution to the problem.

[chann]

Well, I sidestepped an Error 12 to hit an Error 13. Resetworld lets me save, but the error just recurs as soon as I reload and I'm already getting weirdness in my game (NPCs wearing flesh suits, for one). I'm starting to think it's not a viable solution.

[Steele]

Well, I sidestepped an Error 12 to hit an Error 13. Resetworld lets me save, but the error just recurs as soon as I reload and I'm already getting weirdness in my game (NPCs wearing flesh suits, for one). I'm starting to think it's not a viable solution.

You can test adjusting the resoucecachebudget based on Jordi's findings http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,16709.0.html somehow, I have not yet encountered an Error 13 after adjusting this value. I have been overloading the game with non EA CCs (hair, objects and stuff) and observe. So far everything is running fine.

Resetworld have seem to resolve my Error 12s. No aging dead persons messages and other obvious bugs that I have before. Will still test it out more.

[tizerist]

Resetworld hasn't worked for error 12 here.
I'll try putting the original resoucecachebudget back.

[BattyCoda]

Just my 2 cents. I just got error12 tonight for the first time. I have had the game open most of the day, playing some and pausing some. I tried most of the suggestions here with no relief. Then I typed "resetallwants" in the cheat window. Was able to save and quit. Not sure what will happen tomorrow when I play again, but FWIW, there you go.

[Anonym]

Just my 2 cents. I just got error12 tonight for the first time. I have had the game open most of the day, playing some and pausing some. I tried most of the suggestions here with no relief. Then I typed "resetallwants" in the cheat window. Was able to save and quit. Not sure what will happen tomorrow when I play again, but FWIW, there you go.

"Resetallwants" has fixed errors 12/13 for me lately when used along with "destroyallnpcs" and "fixall" (I do resetallwants last, as sometimes between the others wants will regenerate).  Error 12 had been intractable for me, that once I got it I wasn't going to be able to save no matter what I did, whereas Error 13 could be fixed by the voodoo of sticking some flower or something on a community lot and saving again.  I found that this combination usually fixed Error 12, though.

The bad news is, I've started having outright crashes when saving (I had a few before, but now they're more common).  This happened as something (I don't know what) lowered my save times from really long (10 minutes or whatever) to a manageable 2-3 minutes.  That's great-- when it doesn't crash.