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Installed ESO to custom folder and it deleted all other content in that folder!

Grizzly_UK
Grizzly_UK
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As the title says, I installed ESO to a custom folder (D:\Games\Bethesda\) and once the installation had completed I found that all the other games I had previously installed to the "D:\Games\Bethesda" folder (Morrowind, Oblivion & Fallout 3) had been deleted! To say I am not happy is a complete understatement! Because of this I immediately cancelled the ESO update process and then un-installed ESO completely! Not only have I lost the installation of the 3 games I had installed to that folder but I've also lost all my Morrowind save games! I'm now going to have to spend hours re-installing those 3 games and all the mods I had installed as well. I am so very, very annoyed at this but I didn't complete the activation process for ESO so at least I'm not being charged for ESO game time that I won't be able to use for a while because I have to spend so much time re-installing!

There was no warning of any sort that anything like this would happen and no mention that installing ESO to a custom folder would result in ALL other content in that folder being deleted without any notification!

It's going to be a VERY long time before I attempt to install ESO again because for the foreseeable future I have NO intention of giving Zenimax Online any more of my money!

Wanted to post this as a warning to everyone else, if you want to install ESO to a custom folder then make sure it's a completely empty custom folder!
Edited by Grizzly_UK on May 31, 2014 1:31PM
Elder Scrolls gaming since November 2002 (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim & Elder Scrolls Online)
We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • GossiTheDog
    GossiTheDog
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    Yes, the installer clears the install folder to try to get a clear ESO installation, however it has no checks for folder contents.

    You can request a refund via help.elderscrollsonline.com if you purchased directly via Zenimax.
  • Izatar
    Izatar
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    Actually its worse than that. If any sort of file error occurs *ever*, the launcher erases the entire game! So I have ESO on an external USB drive that can give drive not ready errors, and the game has deleted itself 3 times on me now :(
    Edited by Izatar on May 31, 2014 9:10AM
  • Grizzly_UK
    Grizzly_UK
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    Yes, the installer clears the install folder to try to get a clear ESO installation, however it has no checks for folder contents.

    You can request a refund via help.elderscrollsonline.com if you purchased directly via Zenimax.

    Actually I purchased the physical Imperial Edition, pre-ordered and received on launch day. Unfortunatley I wasn't able to install the game at that time because my graphics card died a few days before. :( So I had to wait until I could purchase a new graphics card but then held off on installing ESO for a while.

    I now see a "We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue." message at the bottom of my OP but I've got no idea what they think they're going to do to solve the issue! Pretty sure they can't magically restore those 3 games and everything else that ESO wiped out!

    What a serious omission on Zenimax's part to not include any warnings about this install behaviour, or if they did I've not found anything about it! There really should be a warning as part of the actual installation regarding changing the installation folder from the default to a custom destination.
    Elder Scrolls gaming since November 2002 (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim & Elder Scrolls Online)
  • Bangstin
    Bangstin
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    ESO saves hard drive space for you :) Is there anything ESO can't do?
  • Grizzly_UK
    Grizzly_UK
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    Bangstin wrote: »
    ESO saves hard drive space for you :) Is there anything ESO can't do?

    Which it doesn't need to do because I installed it on a 2TB drive with 1.20TB free space! :s This screwed-up mess of an installer is the first time I've un-installed a game less than 5 minutes after installing and without even actually playing the game either! :o Must admit that I'm curious as to what the Customer support team is supposed to do to help me solve the issue, unless it's just to make sure I'm not going to start any sort of legal action against them!
    Edited by Grizzly_UK on May 31, 2014 2:56PM
    Elder Scrolls gaming since November 2002 (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim & Elder Scrolls Online)
  • Auric_ESO
    Auric_ESO
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    Izatar wrote: »
    Actually its worse than that. If any sort of file error occurs *ever*, the launcher erases the entire game! So I have ESO on an external USB drive that can give drive not ready errors, and the game has deleted itself 3 times on me now :(

    That's a really bad place to put it and you are going to be reinstalling it alot and have terrible performance
    "The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit." Morihei Ueshiba
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