patch manifest error... why so often?

Dru1076 · April 2015

I was really looking forward to playing the game this afternoon... But I can't because of this rather curious patch manifest error business. The patch was successfully downloaded and installed two days ago. It worked fine. This afternoon the launcher is claiming error 210 and telling me to repair it. This is crazy. I have played the game since the maintenance... So what's going on here? Given that patches seem to be a weekly event now, the constant errors and subsequent time this costs eats into the tiny window I have to play. I feel silly having just renewed my subscription and yet being unable to play the game. I feel like an ESO Minus member this evening...

I wouldn't whine, but this happens to me everytime. Is anyone else going though this when maintenance happens? I will do whatever it takes to dodge this game disabling error in future, if there's anything I can do.

KhajitFurTrader · April 2015

I'd quote myself, but I can't find the post anymore.

If the game is fully patched and up to date, a recurring patch manifest error can be safely ignored. Just close the launcher and restart it, the "Play" button will appear again.

There are technical reasons why the error appears in the first place. The Launcher app syncs (or mirrors) all files of the game client from a master repository held on a CDN to a local one (the client directory), and periodically checks for changes. Since it would be inefficient to compare all files bit by bit every time to detect changes, version information is complied from the game files and placed in special files, the patch manifests. The Launcher then tries to periodically compare the local manifests with the ones found on the CDN. If the Launcher cannot, for any reason, reach the latter ones within a certain time, or if the information it gets from them is borked, a patch manifest error is thrown.

The reason why this is seen more often every time a new game patch is released, is that the CDN is absolutely pelted by update/repair requests by all clients during this time.

Dru1076 · April 2015

Thank you @KhajitFurTrader ... After I ran the repair process through twice unsuccessfully the button switched to "Play" and I was able to get online. The error message persists, but it is working now.

Highstake · April 2015

I just ported from Belkarth to Mournhold to pick up the two daily pledge quests and ding! Loading screen, again and again and again. Its been hard enough to gather members to run a decent daily pledge, thus you get those dam screens at any time.
Alt+F4 on the 3 minutes far loading screen and started the launcher. Fail. Closed the launcher, then reopened again. Fail again.
The launcher failing so often is annoying. The game is updated, still needs to be repaired. I did so. Fail. Reopened, play button appeared. Loaded start screen, loaded char, loaded game, loading screen. Dahell? Lost group, lost time, my time and theirs.

NewBlacksmurf · April 2015

Frustrated....and I'm not on much. Oh well I came here by another forum link. Thanks for the info but this + the game randomly crashing prior to this patch is just frustrating.

Sidney · April 2015

For those crashing, this is the link the error provides for steps regarding troubleshooting: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6486

Atlan_daGonozal · May 2015

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

The reason why this is seen more often every time a new game patch is released, is that the CDN is absolutely pelted by update/repair requests by all clients during this time.

Why oh, why is CDN not using BitTorrent?