Unbelievable cpu usage after the patch

CaliphStudio · March 2022

[Sorry if this has already been opened in another topic]

Long story short, after the new patch, eso is using way too much cpu, particularly in loadings (Which personally freezes my computer) and even when the game loads, monitoring my cpu shows the cpu usaged jumping to tripple the normal amount every now and then, again making the game freeze and loading stuff way slower, like new players or buildings. all in all its unplayable by me and some friends with the same issue.

Im not a hardware expect but I know my cpu is doing totally fine in regards to other softwares and games and it seems to be higher than the system requirements (my cpu is AMD FX 6300 six-core)

Im opening this post to see if this just a me issue or has the cpu usage of the game actually gone up insanely ?

Also for those who want to say its all normal for them, I need to add that in this case if you have a strong enough cpu you shouldnt have a problem, but still doesnt mean the game is working as intended, so Im sure everybody would appreciate if you specifically talk about your cpu usage rather than how much lag you are getting in the game.

SOLUTION HERE: (Edited text)

Thanks to those who found it and pointing at it in this post, the solution (at least in my case and apparently many more) is very simple (Makes you think ...)

To make it short:

Go to Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live.
Open the file UserSettings.txt or UserSettings.
Scroll all the way down and find the line SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "-1" (The number in quotes might be different for you), and change it to SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "2" (Simply change the number in quotes to 2, other numbers might work too but 2 was the one that worked for me and others).

You can also check the original solution at this post : https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/599878/fps-after-patch/p2

Crismac · March 2022

Yes, mine jumps to 100% on the Character's screen but goes down 10 seconds later to normal. For me at least.

Dagoth_Rac · March 2022

Yes. Loading screens are bad but even just walking around cities will spike my all CPU cores to 100%. I have been playing ESO since beta. I always have streaming music in the background. ESO has never made my streaming music skip but suddenly the CPU usage is so high that it slows down the entire computer. I would usually tab out of loading screens and check sports scores or read the forums or whatever. Now forget about it. You really can't do anything else doing a loading screen but wait. And while it is not as sustained as during loading screens, in-game performance is suffering too with sporadic CPU spikes.

tonne.backlinderb16_ESO · March 2022

Something is very wrong with the server after the maintenance. Ping is all over. I'm losing connection etc

Oreyn_Bearclaw · March 2022

Got a heat warning on my CPU for the first time ever after the most recent patch (and by ever, i mean since I began building PCs back in 2002). I couldnt believe it. Nearly a brand new PC. Corsair ICUE 4000x case with 6 Corsair QL 120mm case fans. CPU, Ryzen 7 5800x, has a waterblock and radiator. GPU 3080TI has 3 fans going at 95% when gaming. This is a high end rig with more than adequate cooling.

I setup my case/fan lights to flash Red when the CPU coolant (see edit) hits 70C. Never came close to that in any game, until last week. Tested a few other games after, all run fine. CPU waterblock is working. I did two dungeons and right after the last boss fight on the second one, my whole PC starts flashing red. I thought their was an invasion. I had honestly forgot I set it up to do that. I could have fried an egg on my CPU radiator, normally, its cool, perhaps slightly warm, to the touch after hours of gaming.

I havent really done any difficult content in ESO since. Not going to fry a $3500 rig over bad coding. They did something very very bad last patch. CPUs are running absurdly hot, and I strongly encourage everyone to be sure they have a CPU temp overly in game so they can keep an eye on things. My rig didnt stop working, and if it wasnt for the warning lights, I might have kept gaming until real damage occurred.

Edit: Did a little digging and investigation. For clarity, it was not the CPU hitting 70 that triggered the warning, it was actually set to the coolant in the CPU radiator hitting 70C. Under normal gaming, my CPU temp is around 70 and the coolant is around 50, so if coolant is 70, I am guessing CPU is over 90. I am still getting used to how hot these new Ryzens (and the 30 series GPUS with DDDR6) can actually run, but it was still quite the anomaly. This PC has been running since October, probably my smoothest build to date, and this was the first time I ever saw an alert triggered.

Crismac · March 2022

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I strongly encourage everyone to be sure they have a CPU temp overly in game so they can keep an eye on things.

I always have mine open CPU got to 66c 100% Max load when starting the game.

Lazurynae · March 2022

I can't log in at all. I get an error message that the client is unable to determine if it's the most up to date version and the repair button comes up. I rebooted my computer, same thing. I waited a half hour or so, same error message, so I ran the repair, and rebooted. Nothing I do brings up the play button, only the repair. I've been trying for over 3 hours to get in.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · March 2022

Crismac wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I strongly encourage everyone to be sure they have a CPU temp overly in game so they can keep an eye on things.

I always have mine open CPU got to 66c 100% Max load when starting the game.

Any idea where it was a month ago? I honestly never paid much attention before last week. I usually keep an eye on my GPU temps, but my CPU temps on this rig are usually in the 50s at their highest.

Jerdeh · March 2022

tonne.backlinderb16_ESO wrote: »

Something is very wrong with the server after the maintenance. Ping is all over. I'm losing connection etc

I have same thing going on. Game unplayable at the moment.

Crismac · March 2022

Lazurynae wrote: »

I can't log in at all. I get an error message that the client is unable to determine if it's the most up to date version and the repair button comes up. I rebooted my computer, same thing. I waited a half hour or so, same error message, so I ran the repair, and rebooted. Nothing I do brings up the play button, only the repair. I've been trying for over 3 hours to get in.

Mine did that also Lazurynae, It has been doing that every patch I get. I do a repair and it works for me. I opened a discussion on pc support forum about this issue.

PeacefulAnarchy · March 2022

CaliphStudio wrote: »

[Sorry if this has already been opened in another topic]

Long story short, after the new patch, eso is using way too much cpu, particularly in loadings (Which personally freezes my computer) and even when the game loads, monitoring my cpu shows the cpu usaged jumping to tripple the normal amount every now and then, again making the game freeze and loading stuff way slower, like new players or buildings. all in all its unplayable by me and some friends with the same issue.

Im not a hardware expect but I know my cpu is doing totally fine in regards to other softwares and games and it seems to be higher than the system requirements (my cpu is AMD FX 6300 six-core)

Not just you, there's a fix here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/599878/fps-after-patch#latest
Change one line in the settings file and it should mostly resolve.

AliasRed · March 2022

This sounds quite alarming if it's a widespread issue!

If it's easy to replicate/verify maybe someone at ZOS could investigate and identify the reasons for this happening (preferably before an outbreak of fried CPU's)?
@ZOS_Kevin

Crismac · March 2022

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Crismac wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I strongly encourage everyone to be sure they have a CPU temp overly in game so they can keep an eye on things.

I always have mine open CPU got to 66c 100% Max load when starting the game.

Any idea where it was a month ago? I honestly never paid much attention before last week. I usually keep an eye on my GPU temps, but my CPU temps on this rig are usually in the 50s at their highest.

Sorry, I should have said what I use. I use a separate program that runs on my desktop at all times HWiNFO64. Gives me avg, High, Lows. of everything on my computer. And it is free so love that part.

When running normal playing ESO for hours my CPU 10900K Highest temp gets to 58C and 3080 GPU 56 max.

CP5 · March 2022

Whenever I go to launch the game, then again after selecting a character to log into, I get this exact issue since the patch went live every time. Thankfully it hasn't hit after logging in, but still it is worrying.

LashanW · March 2022

My CPU usage is 100% everytime ESO is running. It kinda worries me since no other program on my PC does that. Haven't looked at CPU temperature tho, will do that next time.

I have fps capped to 150 via addons.

Roztlin45 · March 2022

I built a PC i9 10900K system with a fresh copy of win11 on it just to play ESO! 1 gig download internet and I still lag and DC (Disconnect). So now, every time i DC, that is the end of ESO for that day! Soon i will drift away forever. Just waiting on the game to be fixed, really want to play and have plenty of money to waste here. But this game game is broken!

FaylenSol · March 2022

I also have to report insanely high CPU usage. I just upgraded my MoBo and CPU two weeks ago from a 6th Gen i5 to an 11th Gen i7. Before todays download my CPU usage was sitting anywhere between 35%-50%, now its in the 80% range constantly. This is basically what the game did on my old CPU and is one of the reasons I upgraded it.

Sturmfaenger · March 2022

I often have ESO open but multitask while doing the rather boring stuff like crafting dailies (watch some streams or youtube , or do a quick check of some websites, mail etc etc.) Also a good way to use the time ESO needs for loading screens.

Since the dlc, when ESO has a loading screen the other program will have issues:
Streams/Videos will stutter and I get the hourglass with other programs if they are open. Its not possible to do something else like quickly check a website or sth. After the loading screen everything returns to normal. but well.. I do crafting dailies with several chars. And fargrave dailies.... lots of loading screens.

It was a nonexistant issue before the dlc, and I did not change anything else that could be the cause.

JKorr · March 2022

So the "fix" is to shut down cores on your pc? At least that seems to be the current work-around in the other threads about this problem. What the flaming oblivion did that patch break this time? @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin

CaliphStudio · March 2022

PeacefulAnarchy wrote: »

CaliphStudio wrote: »

[Sorry if this has already been opened in another topic]

Long story short, after the new patch, eso is using way too much cpu, particularly in loadings (Which personally freezes my computer) and even when the game loads, monitoring my cpu shows the cpu usaged jumping to tripple the normal amount every now and then, again making the game freeze and loading stuff way slower, like new players or buildings. all in all its unplayable by me and some friends with the same issue.

Im not a hardware expect but I know my cpu is doing totally fine in regards to other softwares and games and it seems to be higher than the system requirements (my cpu is AMD FX 6300 six-core)

Not just you, there's a fix here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/599878/fps-after-patch#latest
Change one line in the settings file and it should mostly resolve.

Found it and it worked (For me at least), thanks for pointing it here

CaliphStudio · March 2022

CaliphStudio wrote: »

PeacefulAnarchy wrote: »

CaliphStudio wrote: »

[Sorry if this has already been opened in another topic]

Long story short, after the new patch, eso is using way too much cpu, particularly in loadings (Which personally freezes my computer) and even when the game loads, monitoring my cpu shows the cpu usaged jumping to tripple the normal amount every now and then, again making the game freeze and loading stuff way slower, like new players or buildings. all in all its unplayable by me and some friends with the same issue.

Im not a hardware expect but I know my cpu is doing totally fine in regards to other softwares and games and it seems to be higher than the system requirements (my cpu is AMD FX 6300 six-core)

Not just you, there's a fix here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/599878/fps-after-patch#latest
Change one line in the settings file and it should mostly resolve.

Found it and it worked (For me at least), thanks for pointing it here

For those wondering how but lazy to check the link, Ive updated the first post on this threat with the solution.

PeacefulAnarchy · March 2022

JKorr wrote: »

So the "fix" is to shut down cores on your pc? At least that seems to be the current work-around in the other threads about this problem. What the flaming oblivion did that patch break this time? @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin

To be clear, the fix is to tell ESO specifically to not use all the cores on your pc. The rest of the programs on your pc can still use the other cores, you're not changing any computer settings at all, just an ESO setting.

xaraan · March 2022

Yea, I remember everyone freaking out about New World using crazy amounts of CPU when it was in menu screens, but a lot of games do this and have no max fps when on a menu screen or loading screen. Even before the patch my GPU would crank up hardcore everytime ESO is in a loading screen. They should honestly cap correct that, but I'll have to keep an eye on it I guess since you said it's worse after patch.

CaliphStudio · March 2022

xaraan wrote: »

Yea, I remember everyone freaking out about New World using crazy amounts of CPU when it was in menu screens, but a lot of games do this and have no max fps when on a menu screen or loading screen. Even before the patch my GPU would crank up hardcore everytime ESO is in a loading screen. They should honestly cap correct that, but I'll have to keep an eye on it I guess since you said it's worse after patch.

I dont know much about these stuff but the problem with eso wasnt that itd use too much of your cpu, therefore freezing your other apps but giving too much fps to eso, the problem was the opposite, your pc would freeze AND youd get waaay longer loadings and alot of lag (lack of fps), the opposite of "fps cap".

SirLeeMinion · March 2022

Reading this thread prompted me to monitor temperature. Yikes!

Using maxcores at -1, I get a very long (unending?) loading screen, 100% CPU usage, and a temperature of 96C when I finally force-closed ESO. Setting max cores to 2, I get 44% usage (possibly just because it's not using the other cores?) and a temperature of 86C when I finally got tired of waiting for the game to load.

Though this is a gaming laptop, I need it to function for work-related tasks. I guess I'll be playing something else until they fix this.

francesinhalover · March 2022

you guys use vsync? or deleted your game cache?

mekops_ESO · March 2022

But arent these the current minimum system requirements? XD

(from https://help.elderscrollsonline.com)
Updated 01/18/2022 03:37 PM
PC Minimum System Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit
Processor: Intel® Core i3 540 or AMD A6-3620 or higher
System RAM: 3GB
Hard Disk Space: 85GB free HDD space
GPU: Direct X 11.0 compliant video card with 1GB RAM (NVIDIA® GeForce® 460 / AMD Radeon™ 6850) or higher
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
Internet: Internet Broadband Connection

Shadowshire · March 2022

CaliphStudio wrote: »

SOLUTION HERE: (Edited text)

Thanks to those who found it and pointing at it in this post, the solution (at least in my case and apparently many more) is very simple (Makes you think ...)

To make it short:

Go to Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live.
Open the file UserSettings.txt or UserSettings.

Scroll all the way down and find the line SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "-1" (The number in quotes might be different for you), and change it to SET MaxCoresToUse.4 "2" (Simply change the number in quotes to 2, other numbers might work too but 2 was the one that worked for me and others).

You can also check the original solution at this post : https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/599878/fps-after-patch/p2

For what it is worth, after opening the UserSettings file with a text editor, the player might have to press < Ctrl-F > and enter SET MaxCoresToUse.4 to find the setting. There are a very large number of lines that follow it in that file on my computer.

SirLeeMinion · March 2022

francesinhalover wrote: »

you guys use vsync? or deleted your game cache?

I do use vsync; I have not deleted my game cache.

I was able to finally get into the game without frying my CPU. I set the power management mode to "Super battery" and while it continued to pull 100% of CPU, I did see it drop to 99% once or twice, more importantly, CPU temp held steady at 51C. It took more than 5 minutes to get to the character selection screen, and I have an SSD. That said, I suspect it will play like a slide show in super low power mode.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo · March 2022

I also have very high CPU usage - 100%...I can't use navigator and login or during loading screens either anymore as it just bogs everything down...videos stop or become choppy in the background too.

I am also experiencing horrible FPS drops, especially in the PvP world of Cyrodiil where I literally freeze and suddenly come back with 4 fps and it's unplayable or I'm dead after coming back.

FPS drops in overland are also present with stuttering of the screen when it occurs. I've noticed big drops of 20-30 fps just from running forward.

What I want to really know, is this problem/issue dangerous for our PCs and what recourse do we have if ESO does break something?

PS: I did change the usersettings and put 2 instead of -1 and it has fixed the boggy navigator + eso running...but I don't enjoy doing these things as I'm no professional...

ZOS_Bill · March 2022

With the OP posting that the issue is now resolved, this thread is being locked. If you still need help with a similar issue, please go ahead and start a new discussion in the PC Support forum.