Temporary sollution for settings not saving after exit (and addons not loading)

Jo_ · March 2014

Hello!

All throughout beta my settings weren't being saved after exiting the game, I didn't try and find out why 'cause, well, beta

, but now with early access and it still not being fixed, I figured I'd try and find out why...

My search led me to the 'UserSettings.txt' file, which wasn't being created for me. So I created the folders and file myself, in
/UserName/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live/
or for EU players:
/UserName/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/liveeu/
as stated. I also created the 'Addons' folder and installed an addon.

No settings being saved and no addons being visible either...
Ofc I rechecked the locations, spelling, reset permissions, repaired the game, etc, as you always should first thing, no luck...

So I kept thinking, it must be looking in the wrong place, but why?
Then I remembered, maybe these guys aren't exactly aware of everything you can do on a mac... like move your home folder to a different partition to make new OS installs and keeping your settings much easier, like I did...
So I went to the default users folder on the OS partition and created one with the same username as my actual home folder, and inside created
/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live/
or for EU players:
/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/liveeu/
with my own made 'UserSettings.txt' and 'Addons' folder with addon.

To my surprise it worked!
Now of course the game should get fixed to search in your actual home folder, which may or may not recide on your OS partition, like all apps on a mac do

But for the time being, if you're one of the few people with things setup like I have, I hope I've been of help!

Have fun!

Moonraker · March 2014

It has always been that way that it will check in the default locations for install and updates. After that you can move the Install folders anywhere but the Elder Scrolls Online folder with the settings file will need to be there still. It's the same on the PC.

In the new Mac Installer post within the last week it does show an install path which you can change. Maybe worth trying that for the other HD and see if it does it correctly. I have not tested it myself.

Jo_ · March 2014

Sorry if I haven't made it very clear, but it was looking in the wrong default location... If that makes any sense

My home folder is on a different partition, but it's still my home folder... Complete with library, documents, pictures, preferences etc
Therefor this is where it should search and create, regardless of partition, in stead of forcing me to create a whole new user home folder...

Moonraker · March 2014

Jo_ wrote: »

Sorry if I haven't made it very clear, but it was looking in the wrong default location... If that makes any sense
My home folder is on a different partition, but it's still my home folder... Complete with library, documents, pictures, preferences etc
Therefor this is where it should search and create, regardless of partition, in stead of forcing me to create a whole new user home folder...

OK. I understand a bit better. Yes it is linked to how it deals with the Windows like directory structure.

Might be worth trying the new installer to create a new folder in the path you want then move folders to that and see if it will install to the different directory that way.

Hunterkiss · March 2014

Thank you. I was about to start a thread on this but jist saw your solution! Happy adventuring!

Dalglish · March 2014

Thank you for your solution, my mac is setup exactly the same SSD for Apps only FTW!

Moonraker · April 2014

Yep. just a reminder that it will by default install the settings etc. to the ~/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live on your default drive even if you install elsewhere.

Jo_ · April 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

Yep. just a reminder that it will by default install the settings etc. to the ~/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live on your default drive even if you install elsewhere.

I didn't install the game elsewhere, I installed in the default location.
It's my home folder, where /Documents/ lives, that's elsewhere, and is causing problems with the settings.

As I've tested and described, it should create settings in your home folder, not necessarily on the OS drive, so it's still a mistake and counter to how mac users and settings function.

As you can see from the other replies, there are other mac users that have their home folder elsewhere and will have this issue, no matter if the game is in the default location... I hope I finally made it clear enough :P

Moonraker · April 2014

@Jo_ I see that. I just put that there because a lot of players maybe see the thread and get confused as it's not a common situation.

It would help to add the Volume to the path, then even I can see it is different

Jo_ · April 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

@Jo_ I see that. I just put that there because a lot of players maybe see the thread and get confused as it's not a common situation.

It would help to add the Volume to the path, then even I can see it is different

Well the volume is what's most likely gonna be different, if you move your home folder you're gonna know already where it should be (I surely hope

)

But yeah @Moonraker‌ sorry, I thought you were being specific to this, ofc this isn't going to be a very common problem, tho I have to admit it irks me in a sorta OCD way, knowing what's wrong, but also knowing it's not exactly going to be top priority fixing

Moonraker · April 2014

Jo_ wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

@Jo_ I see that. I just put that there because a lot of players maybe see the thread and get confused as it's not a common situation.

It would help to add the Volume to the path, then even I can see it is different

Well the volume is what's most likely gonna be different, if you move your home folder you're gonna know already where it should be (I surely hope )

But yeah @Moonraker‌ sorry, I thought you were being specific to this, ofc this isn't going to be a very common problem, tho I have to admit it irks me in a sorta OCD way, knowing what's wrong, but also knowing it's not exactly going to be top priority fixing

OCD way is best way

I get you totally and I'll add it to my next feedback on the Launch and install process.
The list is loooong always

bt86bt · April 2014

Edit: Nope didn't work my settings won't save

Where did you find your UserSettings.txt ? I have none... or did you create it?
Or mail me one? palmblad.andreas@gmail.com

Moonraker · April 2014

bt86bt wrote: »

Edit: Nope didn't work my settings won't save
Where did you find your UserSettings.txt ? I have none... or did you create it?
Or mail me one? palmblad.andreas@gmail.com

This is one using contents of the UserSettings.txt posted on the forums by ZOS_RobertM. It's an attached plain text file. Hope that helps.

bt86bt · April 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

This is one using contents of the UserSettings.txt posted on the forums by ZOS_RobertM. It's an attached plain text file. Hope that helps.

Thanks! But still doesn't work

I have only one user on my mac. And only one partition. In my home documents folder there was no "Elder Scrolls Online" folder so I created it... and also both a live and liveeu folder and put the UserSettings.txt little bit everywhere just in case - still no luck

Moonraker · April 2014

bt86bt wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

This is one using contents of the UserSettings.txt posted on the forums by ZOS_RobertM. It's an attached plain text file. Hope that helps.

Thanks! But still doesn't work

I have only one user on my mac. And only one partition. In my home documents folder there was no "Elder Scrolls Online" folder so I created it... and also both a live and liveeu folder and put the UserSettings.txt little bit everywhere just in case - still no luck

Did you play in Beta or ever actually launched into the game yet? If not they wont be there. best to remove any things you put in their. it will be automatically added when you can launch the game and login.

What exactly is your issue. Post your system details including Model, graphics card, OS X version and other details from here:

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

bt86bt · April 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

Did you play in Beta or ever actually launched into the game yet? If not they wont be there. best to remove any things you put in their. it will be automatically added when you can launch the game and login.[/quote]

I played in the beta and have played many times, but I have to change the settings every time I play.

OSX 10.9.2
Macbook Air, 13inch mid 2012
2ghz i7
8gb ram
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

I will reinstall the game but maybe tomorrow over night...

Moonraker · April 2014

bt86bt wrote: »

I played in the beta and have played many times, but I have to change the settings every time I play.

OSX 10.9.2
Macbook Air, 13inch mid 2012
2ghz i7
8gb ram
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

I will reinstall the game but maybe tomorrow over night...

Do you have your Home directory on another partition/ external? or ESO install folder on another partition or External drive`?

Worth trying a reinstall. If it doesn't help post back.

The new ZOS_will install like this in the Zenimax Online folder (creates automatically):

When you first log into the game then it should create the live (liveu in EU install) in:

~/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live

bt86bt · April 2014

I have now reinstalled the game and still have exact same problem

I have it on my only drive, on my only partition.

See my screenshots, the folders in Documents/Elder Scrolls Online where not created so I did that myself, still no luck.

I have already created a help-request with Zenimax and they have answerd with a non-answer "we will keep improving mac client to reduce crashes" etc. And I have therefor updated my request again to point out that my client doesn't crash - it only doesn't save settings....

Edit: Oh yeah, also I can't see any addons...

Jo_ · April 2014

Probably a dumb question, but have you reset permissions on pretty much any folder even remote related to ESO?
There's a handy little tool out there called 'Permissions Reset' where you can just drag in a folder like your ESO folder and reset permissions on it and it's content...

Moonraker · April 2014

Jo_ wrote: »

Probably a dumb question, but have you reset permissions on pretty much any folder even remote related to ESO?
There's a handy little tool out there called 'Permissions Reset' where you can just drag in a folder like your ESO folder and reset permissions on it and it's content...

That all looks as it should.

@bt86bt I assumed you had Admin privileges on the account you are using to play ESO? If you are not sure check in:

Can you post the current permissions for;

~/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/liveeu/UserSettings.txt

You can see them at the bottom of a Get Info when you Right Click on file. You may have to enable drop down menu by Sharing & Permissions.

I just got it to create a new file for me and it is Read & Write, Read only, Read only (-rw-r--r--)

bt86bt · April 2014

Yeah, all the folders and UserSettings.txt had the same permissions as you Moonraker. And yes, I have admin privileges.

I posted here mostly to check to see if there was many mac-users with same problem. Maybe I am the only one, even though I can't see why my macbook would be any different.

It is not a too bad, I really really enjoy the game and to spend a few seconds every time to change settings is okey. I will probably soon buy my gaming PC since this solution is only temporary, and maybe Zenimax will reply to my email.

If I solve it myself somehow I will update my posts. Thans alot for all your help so far

Kaysha · April 2014

got the exact same problem as bt86bt. The game does not create a folder in my documents folder

Moonraker · April 2014

Kaysha wrote: »

got the exact same problem as bt86bt. The game does not create a folder in my documents folder

Can you confirm that you have at least got to the login screen when it would normally generate the folders?

If so then there must be some issue. I read that some PC players also had this but nothing specific. It's one of these issues that effects a few while most it's working so there must be some common link why it is not.

If you can confirm you system details including the OS X version, model please it may help find that common issue:

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

Moonraker · April 2014

If you have the game install on a separate partition it will still use the default location i.e. the default HD/SSD. If you have moved it then check this.

To get it to work in the partition you game is create a false folder with directory structure like this:

If your SSD is named "SSD" and your username is "bob", you'd create this path:

/Volumes/SSD/Users/bob/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live/AddOns

Make sure the permissions on that are set to allow writing (In Terminal use: sudo chmod -R /Volumes/SSD/Users/bob)

The Permissions need to at least allow the User to Read & Write.

If you have the EU install then it is not live but liveeu folder name.

If you moved your User home folder to another partition or external drive then check the first post in this thread which should work.

Kaysha · April 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

Kaysha wrote: »

got the exact same problem as bt86bt. The game does not create a folder in my documents folder

Can you confirm that you have at least got to the login screen when it would normally generate the folders?

If so then there must be some issue. I read that some PC players also had this but nothing specific. It's one of these issues that effects a few while most it's working so there must be some common link why it is not.

If you can confirm you system details including the OS X version, model please it may help find that common issue:

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

The Game is running normally. I have got an Open ticket already with your support team. They've got all files needed.

I'am playing on this iMac. It just doesn't save any settings. All permissions are read & write for all users. Home Folder and documents folder are all where they are supposed to be by default.
Had this Issue with the Beta client äs Well as the live client After a fresh install

Moonraker · April 2014

Kaysha wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

Kaysha wrote: »

got the exact same problem as bt86bt. The game does not create a folder in my documents folder

Can you confirm that you have at least got to the login screen when it would normally generate the folders?

If so then there must be some issue. I read that some PC players also had this but nothing specific. It's one of these issues that effects a few while most it's working so there must be some common link why it is not.

If you can confirm you system details including the OS X version, model please it may help find that common issue:

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

The Game is running normally. I have got an Open ticket already with your support team. They've got all files needed.

I'am playing on this iMac. It just doesn't save any settings. All permissions are read & write for all users. Home Folder and documents folder are all where they are supposed to be by default.
Had this Issue with the Beta client äs Well as the live client After a fresh install

Good luck with Support then.

bt86bt · April 2014

The support now have gotten back to me and offered this possible solution: (Which unfortunately did not work for me)

In the meantime, I'd like you to try these steps to repair your folder permissions to see if this will resolve the issue.
Restart the Mac and hold the Command + R keys until the Recovery HD desktop appears.
Click “Utilities” on the Menu bar and select Terminal.
Once the Terminal window appears, type “resetpassword” without quotations.
Select the Hard Drive that has the User Account and select the User from the drop down menu.
Click the Reset button underneath “Rest Home Folder Permissions and ACLs”
Depending on the size of the home folder, there is a possibility that this may quite a while. The Rest button will turn to "Done" once the process completes.
After performing these steps, restart the Mac and launch the game again. Adjust the settings to your preference and then play for about 5-10 minutes. After that, close down the game and re-open it to see if your settings have saved.

>
The rest-button never turns to "Done", even after 8 hours... So I followed some advice in this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/message/13284128#13284128 (but this did not help either with ESO or with the rest-button)

Also, I have tested it with another osx-account that I just created and there it works! Seems therefore this is a problem on my computer and not ESO...

Moonraker · April 2014

bt86bt wrote: »

The support now have gotten back to me and offered this possible solution: (Which unfortunately did not work for me)

In the meantime, I'd like you to try these steps to repair your folder permissions to see if this will resolve the issue.
Restart the Mac and hold the Command + R keys until the Recovery HD desktop appears.
Click “Utilities” on the Menu bar and select Terminal.
Once the Terminal window appears, type “resetpassword” without quotations.
Select the Hard Drive that has the User Account and select the User from the drop down menu.
Click the Reset button underneath “Rest Home Folder Permissions and ACLs”
Depending on the size of the home folder, there is a possibility that this may quite a while. The Rest button will turn to "Done" once the process completes.
After performing these steps, restart the Mac and launch the game again. Adjust the settings to your preference and then play for about 5-10 minutes. After that, close down the game and re-open it to see if your settings have saved.

>
The rest-button never turns to "Done", even after 8 hours... So I followed some advice in this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/message/13284128#13284128 (but this did not help either with ESO or with the rest-button)

Also, I have tested it with another osx-account that I just created and there it works! Seems therefore this is a problem on my computer and not ESO...

Glad you finally sorted it @bt86bt

This type of problem can be hard to trace so it's good you tried another account. Not sure why I did not include that to try before... But it points to maybe some third party app issue or corrupt prefs etc.

FelixB · April 2014

Thank you so much, this was exactly what was going on with my setup! After reading this I was able to get settings saving.

Moonraker · April 2014

FelixB wrote: »

Thank you so much, this was exactly what was going on with my setup! After reading this I was able to get settings saving.

Glad you got it sorted. Which part actually sorted it for you? Useful to know for others.

Awdwyn · February 2015

Necroooooooooooo... (sorry - google got me here)

I had a similar (or the same?) issue as here. I have OS X installed on a SSD, with my user folder on a 2nd hard drive (mounted under /Volumes).

ESO is installed in the default /Applications folder.

When loading ESO, it was not saving any settings or detecting add ons as the folder at path /Users/<me> did not exist.

The solution was remarkably simple: symlink to my HD home folder path in the /Users folder ...

cd /Users
sudo ln -s /Volumes/Macintosh\ Storage/Users/awdwyn ./awdwyn

the result:

Awdwyns-Mac-Pro:~ awdwyn$ cd /Users/
Awdwyns-Mac-Pro:Users awdwyn $ ls -la
total 8
drwxr-xr-x   5 root   admin   170 27 Feb 12:56 .
drwxr-xr-x  35 root   admin  1258 27 Feb 05:16 ..
drwxrwxrwt   9 root   wheel   306 19 Feb 13:07 Shared
drwxr-xr-x+ 13 admin  staff   442 19 Feb 12:59 admin
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root   admin    43 27 Feb 12:56 awdwyn -> /Volumes/Macintosh Storage/Users/awdwyn
Awdwyns-Mac-Pro:Users awdwyn $