I'm sorry for not being here often enough, RL is taking a lot od simming time. That said, I'll try to help as much as I can.
Wench, thank you for telling us those issues, we knew about trash can, and now we fixed the chess tables too. I'm in a process of preparing updated version (there were some repetative issues with Ingleses family) and hope to share them as soon as I playtest this updated version.
mashie, welcome to the forum
For everyone not having all EP's, you need to follow these steps:
1.Download Union Cove installation file
2.Install Union Cove (open it when download is finished, or doubleclick on downloaded file)
3.Download .zip file
4.Extract saved folder from .zip file into your Saves folder (MyDocuments/ElectronicArts/Sims3/Saves)
5.Start the game from saved game UnionCoveStart in main menu
Beardoux, welcome
Since you have all EP's you don't need saved file, and since you're able to load it, issue is with graphic settings being too high or your PC preventing the game to use the resources you have. It is reccomended to have at least 6gb of RAM and nice graphic card to play it without issues, but with settings on low, you should be able to play it with less recourses. I put everything on low and can play it without any issues, and save it, and reload the save with 2gb of RAM. It is a wonderful but very big and detailed world, bigger than EA worlds, (and having all lots and features from all EP's is making it hard to play on settings that EA worlds are playable for many of us). There are some tips in this tread and in a gude where you downloaded the UC, that might help you with crashing and lagging.
ChemicalGreen, welcome to you too
It is strange that you get that issue with all saves, and I'm sorry for it, it is frustrating to deal with. I'd try "factory reset" which is fast way of reseting the game without full uninstall. Link is
here. hope it helps.