Did you replace your hard drive or at least check its condition? How much free space does it have? It sounds like something is locking up the system before you can complete the launch. Have you checked the operating temperatures including while running other games/applications that do work - assuming other things do work ok and that the problem is just with ESO?

Thanks for the thoughts, but new hard drive. That's what was the reason for having to reinstall. Also there's 357gb free and its a SSD. As for other games and apps, literally everything else I load... Photoshop, Star Wars Galaxies, New World, and a number of others that should be equally if not more intensive, run fine. I run system temp sensors and no alarms. That's kind of what is driving me nuts... it's just this game. I even bought the base game from steam (my main acct is on pc) uninstalled the pc version, installed the steam version.... same problem. It is probably something simple I am overlooking, hence my looking for more eyes and thoughts.

With HDD,you need to close after 10-15 minutes,close game,then reopen to login a few times til it finishes loading,if SSD should load quicker.Also,disable the multithreading setting in the game,since 4 cores it'll crash alot,6 cores can be unstable with older CPUs,and 8+ should be ok.

There are some files in C:\Users\<windows user name>\Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live:

UserSettings.txt has a bunch of config, including how many CPU cores to use and so on. Might backup and delete that and let the game recreate it maybe. I don't know.

ShaderCache.cooked is one of those files that take time to be created on first install. Or maybe there is something wrong with it. Could delete that also, but I'm really just guessing here.

Tantala wrote: »

Well, for what it is worth I am running ESO on Win10 with no problems. However, I notice you are running an Enterprise version rather than Home or Pro. I can't see why that should make a difference but a quick search reveals others on Enterprise have no issues.

Indeed. I'm running LTSC 2019 (on a 5800X3D with 32GB RAM), which is a flavor of Enterprise.

What exactly happens after pressing launch? ... You say you waited three hours, but what exactly happens: a blackscreen, nothing, or ...?

Some suggestions:
-Make sure your firewall or antivirus do not block or conflict with ESO, to me this seems like the most likely cause. Especially after a fresh windows install.
-As someone said above me, disable multithreading in-game.
-Try to clean re-install the GPU drivers, or clean install one version older ones.
-Check the control panel to see if there is any issues with the audio, or if you have multiple output sources(if so disable one). ESO can have issues with multiple audio output sources sometimes, mine had this issue and I had to disable one audio output.
-If you use a VPN, disable it for ESO.

This is all I can think of for now. Hopefully you get this resolved fast!

PS: After a fresh operating system install, run by ALL settings just to make sure everything is set correctly.

So let me see if I a, addressing everything here, a[apologies if I have missed something:

1. Processor is the original one I had when the game released I believe. I have had all 6 cores running with every build in the past without issue, so unless they did something to make that a thing in the last 10 or so months then I do not know why it would matter, but I guess it's worth a try.

2. All firewalls, security programs and anti viruses were disabled for install and exceptions were put in each. Also I have attempted to run the game without all said programs running and with, in regular and admin mode.

3. ShaderCache.cooked is worth a try. I did run a repair on the game multiple times but no idea if that would have sorted that out or not. I will give that a shot.

4. I press launch, black screen comes up with spinning blue hoop, like it is trying to connect or load something. All ports are open on my router.

5. With HDD, you need to close after 10-15 minutes,close game,then reopen to login a few times til it finishes loading, Thanks, tried this no luck. There is no reason that I can find though that a ssd should have this problem with this game when it is not having this problem with a variety of other applications and apps, a number of which are also mmo's with launchers.

6. I am running the same license of win 10 enterprise that I have been running since the OS came out and have no problems in the past, no don't think it would be that but I will do some more digging to make sure.

7. I have not placed a ticket, but I guess tonight when I get home I probably should

Thanks all for the input, I really appreciate it. Always better to have different perspectives on a problem, that's how they get solved!

@kritch I bet some of the lag initially is the game pulling your account out of cold storage since it sounds like you haven't logged in for a long time. Regarding the rest I'd try the following steps since you've repaired the game several times.

1. Run a command prompt as an admnisttator and run the command sfc /scannow this checks your windows installation for errors.
2. Run windows update
3. Restart your PC
4. try to log in again.

Talking of Defender, if you're running a third party security program try disabling it and using Defender, as thirty party security programs aren't always compatible with all Windows updates.

Try deleting everything inside the user->documents->Elder Scrolls Online->live folder.

That folder tends to persist between uninstalls potentially keeping any incompatible settings. The game will recreate wall the stuff inside those folders when you relaunch the game.

You will have to redo all your settings and addon settings if you choose to try this.