Essential Housing Tools Non-Functional on The PTS

Lyterette · October 8

For the past 3 weeks, ever since the new update on the PTS, Essential Housing Tools has been completely non-functional. Reports about the issue have been made on the addon's ESOUI page with no responses on the status of this addon. As the name implies, it is essential for housing enthusiasts, as it allows for the copy/paste of items to save on time, and to ensure you have a proper alignment of objects (something the base game does not provide), allows for effects that others can see to add to a build, allows for the selection of items, and so on.

And so I wonder if the addon is being phased out, which would be a terrible loss for the housing community without any sign of a replacement in the base game that allows for many of these amazing features. EHT has gone down before in the PTS, but has always been restored within a short span of time, but the first comments on the matter were made on the 18th of September after the update. For three weeks, my own personal building on the PTS is at a standstill. I always build on the PTS prior to building on live because it is so expensive to build a home on the live server, and, quite frankly, I have no money to spend on housing projects or ideas that aren't panning out the way I want. For this reason, the PTS is my usual go-to, with EHT allowing for me to copy my build from the PTS and move it over to live. What would be ideal would be for EHT's features to become features in the base game. Housing is the game's crown jewel, and, if you ask many, it is the true end game.

If EHT is not repaired, and there is no replacement, then the concern is that when the new update comes to live, those of us who rely on the addon will be out of luck. For me, personally, I may stop housing entirely, as I do not have the money to build everything on live, nor do I have the time/patience to finagle with the current situation of the housing editor in the base game. There is no way to properly align objects to another, no way to copy/paste items for true precision, no way to save/restore builds as I go, etc. It seems to me that the future of the addon is in question, given the Housing Tours feature in the base game that dropped and is, in my opinion, inferior to EHT's community feature that does the same thing, but better. Sadly, it is concerning that we may be losing an addon that so many of us in the housing community rely on to continue making beautiful creations in ESO. Hopefully, that is not the case, but without word from the addon's devs, and with no new housing updates from ESO on new features that may be anywhere near the capacity of the addon, it's not looking promising.

SilverBride · October 8

I use several of the features EHT provides. It would greatly hinder my decorating if we lose these features. Disappointing doesn't even come close to describing how devastating this would feel.

Lyterette · October 9

SilverBride wrote: »

I use several of the features EHT provides. It would greatly hinder my decorating if we lose these features. Disappointing doesn't even come close to describing how devastating this would feel.

Agreed. I was speaking with a friend this morning about this issue and it was theorized that with Cardinal now working for Zenimax, that EHT will be phased out, and, perhaps answers and discussion about the addon are because Zenimax has told him not to say anything. But it's just a theory. If it does happen, I sincerely hope that ESO implements EHT's features for their housing community and makes them base-game features. The current state of the housing editor is severely lacking.

SilverBride · October 9

Well I hope someone else is able to take over the add-on because there are too many features that I doubt they will add to the base game. Disabling EHT could completely ruin housing for serious decorators.

MoonPile · October 11

I always build on the PTS prior to building on live because it is so expensive to build a home on the live server,...

Same. But I'm a dummy and usually use PTS to sketch then redo it better on live, in part because I didn't know copy-pasting was possible. (And in part because PTS is on EU for way longer than NA, so I don't have all of my bound or Luxury items to build with.)

I don't even use EHT as extensively as some do, but even the smallest convenience functions like right-click to place from Housing Editor UI (posted about that here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/666092/please-add-ehts-right-click-to-place-put-away-to-base-game#latest ) are sorely missing.

It's worrying that there's still no update, mid-October. U44 launches on the 28th.

SilverBride · October 11

The feature I absolutely would be devastated to lose is "straighten". I often take horizontal item and turn it vertical, and vice versa. It is almost impossible to get it straight without this feature.

hiyde · October 11

Lyterette wrote: »

...with Cardinal now working for Zenimax, that EHT will be phased out, and, perhaps answers and discussion about the addon are because Zenimax has told him not to say anything.

Cardinal was hired like 5 years ago, so it would be interesting timing for ZOS to want it disabled now. Would be a huge loss if it is going away.

Could just be that the addon needs updating, as many do with new updates. At the time he joined ZOS, Cardinal handed management of the addon off to someone else, not sure if that reverted back at some point.

Time will tell, I guess. @ZOS_Cardinal you lurking by any chance?

SilverBride · October 11

It would be nice if someone would take over maintaining this addon as has happened with other addons. It is used by so many.

Lyterette · October 12

hiyde wrote: »

Lyterette wrote: »

...with Cardinal now working for Zenimax, that EHT will be phased out, and, perhaps answers and discussion about the addon are because Zenimax has told him not to say anything.

Cardinal was hired like 5 years ago, so it would be interesting timing for ZOS to want it disabled now. Would be a huge loss if it is going away.

Could just be that the addon needs updating, as many do with new updates. At the time he joined ZOS, Cardinal handed management of the addon off to someone else, not sure if that reverted back at some point.

Time will tell, I guess. @ZOS_Cardinal you lurking by any chance?

Yeah, what is also concerning is that the addon hasn't been updated since March of last year, 2023. There have been zero updates. It could be that the addon's infrastructure was just that robust, and errors seem to be corrected, but there have been no official updates to the base addon in forever. I do wonder who is maintaining the addon. I'm desperately trying to get a few builds done right now before the 28th because I'm extremely worried I won't have access to EHT after U44 drops.

seecodenotgames · October 13

Ok there is an update in Minion today. I logged onto the PTS and it all seems to be working again.

SilverBride · October 13

That is a huge relief!

freespirit · October 13

seecodenotgames wrote: »

Ok there is an update in Minion today. I logged onto the PTS and it all seems to be working again.

Brilliant news, I was very worried by this!!

Lyterette · October 14

seecodenotgames wrote: »

Ok there is an update in Minion today. I logged onto the PTS and it all seems to be working again.

I just saw that myself! What a relief! I busted out a celebratory Mountain Dew in honor of the occasion. XD But, in all seriousness, this is good to see. I can finally get back to housing!