game uninstalled?

amapola76 · April 2021

Did we have maintenance this morning that would have uninstalled the game for some reason?

I was in early this morning, but then Steam went haywire and I had to close everything and restart my computer. II rebooted and opened up Steam, but now the Elder Scrolls page says that I need to reinstall the game.

(Yes, I realize this may be a Steam issue, I'm just trying to cover my bases by seeing whether anyone else is having this issue.)

macsmooth · April 2021

I don’t think you’re on your own, I was in fine this morning but when I click play on the launcher from steam or independent install separate drive installs two different installs and my pc now reboots, if I bypass the launcher it crash errors without any information

Tyreal1974 · April 2021

I am almost positive this is a Steam issue. Once it starts needing to reinstall you just have to let it go through the reinstall process completely before you can play again. I originally bought ESO on Steam several years ago and this issue got so bad for me that I just downloaded the game client directly from my ESO account page. I never had the random game reinstall issue again and never have to worry about there being a Steam issue causing login problems either.

ZOS_Bill · April 2021

@amapola76

The most recent maintenance would not have uninstalled ESO on your PC. Please go ahead and reinstall to see if that will get the game running again.

macsmooth · April 2021

So I have an update on my issue after numerous reinstalls and setting everything backup just to find the very next day the game would reboot my pc trying to launch it from steam, I have narrowed it down to something in the UserSetting.txt file that is causing this issue

After steam launcher destroys my pc and wants to re-download, I go to my separate non-steam installation and that would reboot my pc too but if I delete the UserSetting file in documents I can then launch the game again from the non-steam version (steam version is still downloading) but have to redo all of my settings because this treats it as a first time load

Now I can play the game normally but when I put my game down and come back the next day the events started happening again, so today and over the next few launches of the game I will ignore the steam version of the launcher and see if the game stays stable

This issue for me only started after I purchased steam version last weekend because I wanted the ability to launch the game without having to do the password because I play on a big tv and use a controller it’s not easy to type passwords

ZOS_Bill · April 2021

@macsmooth

Here are some additional changes you may need to make to get the ESO launcher working correctly with Steam.

1. The .exe that Steam requires to be launched to be compatible with the Steam overlay is not actually eso.exe, but a file called "zosSteamStarter.exe". If your Steam library is "pointing" to the wrong .exe file, it won't launch from the library. The correct file "zosSteamStarter.exe" will usually be in the following directory:

Steam\Steamapps\Common\Zenimax Online

After locating "zosSteamStarter.exe", right click it to run it as an administrator. You may want to set it to permanently run as an administrator in your Compatibility tab. You can also create a shortcut to this .exe to use it more easily in the future; this is the .exe that must be run to access the Steam overlay and log your Steam play hours.

2. In order for "zosSteamStarter.exe" to log the information such as play hours properly, you may have to lower your Windows UAC (User Account Control) settings. Lowering User Account Control settings to the minimum will allow Steam to gather this data properly.

You also may be encountering an issue where the ESO Launcher is not being added to the Zenimax Online directory. The thread linked below has troubleshooting which can help resolve this issue.

SOLUTION: Steam Windows 10 "Elder Scrolls Online is preparing to install" crash at 100% downloaded