Launcher Repair tool keeps downloading entire game.

Thassail

I've been struggling to get ESO downloaded, and I finally did last night. Once the dl finished, I got a "Repair" button to appear. So clicked it and here's is the sequence of events:

1. Launcher "verifies" the game data.
2. Launcher downloads very small file or two.
3. Launcher verifies the game data again.
4. Launcher starts downloading the entire game again.

I exited out of the launcher once the it started downloading the game again and restarted it. That game me a "Play" button. So I clicked play and got a Error 11. The crash came before any type of loading screen for the game. Because of the strange launcher behavior, I didn't really expect that the game would launch. At this point I tried to re-repair the game and steps 1 to 4 occurred again.

After trying a few times at repairing, I noticed a problem with step 3. This second verification never ticked down the "27000 MB remaining" message of the launcher, nor did the data transfer rate change from 0.0. It seems that the second verification never verified any of the game data. Therefore it didn't think there was any data. Therefore it started to download the game.

I have a slow download from my ISP. It takes me more than half a day to dl the game. I'm currently downloading again, and should finish this afternoon.

Does anyone have some thoughts? The problem seems to be the patcher/launcher, but I don't know what to do. I don't think I'm going to touch the repair button though. I am running the launcher as administrator also.

Thanks for the help.

ZOS_GaryA

Hey there @Thassil,

Here are some steps that should help out with this issue. They are admittedly a bit of a pain, but they will prevent you from having to redownload the entire game!

1. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online for the North American megaserver or C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online EU for the European megaserver.
2. Look for the Depot folder. Move this folder to the desktop. You can drag and drop the folder for ease.
3. Open Control Panel and click on Programs and Features.
4. Uninstall The Elder Scrolls Online.
5. Once everything is uninstalled, navigate over to http://www.elderscrollsonline.com and download the ESO PC client.
6. Install the launcher, but please make sure you select the option for installing both VC++ and DirectX.
7. Once the launcher is installed, we will make the launcher download the game, but use the old folder.
8. While the game is downloading, wait until the download hits 1%.
9. Once you have 1%, pause the download then exit the launcher. (Please make sure to pause before exiting.)
10. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online or C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online EU and look for a new Depot folder that should have been generated.
11. Right click on the new Depot folder and rename it to Depot.backup.
12. Locate your old Depot folder from the second step.
13. Right click it and select Copy.
14. Go back to C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online or C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online EU.
15. Right click inside the folder and select Paste.
16. You should now have two depot folders: Depot and Depot.backup.
17. Open the launcher.
18. Click the arrow in the middle of the launcher next to Game Options.
19. Select Repair.
20. Wait for the repair to complete.

Let us know if this helps!

Thassail

I was hopeful, but it's doing the same thing as before (steps 1 through 4). The launcher started to download the entire game again (27+GB).

For what it's worth, I know that VC++ was not checked the first time I installed the game. I just installed the game with the default directx checked. Obviously I checked them both this time though.

EDIT: I also just clicked the desktop icon for ESO after I copied the depot folder back into the game folder. I didn't run it as administrator.

ZOS_GaryA

Hey there @Thassail,

How big is your ESO folder in Program Files (x86)? You can view the size by right-clicking on the folder and selecting Properties.

Thassail

I moved depot.backup to desktop assuming you don't want that included. The eso folder is:

Size: 57.0 GB
Size on disk: 30.5 GB

Thassail

I just noticed something. I don't know if it matters. The first time the patcher repairs, it verifies just over 30 GB of data. The second time it only looks at (and never seems to find) ~27 GB. That adds up to 57 GB above. I don't know the difference is between Size and Size on disk though.

Thassail

Also, I did participate in the beta in the Spring. I'm sure those beta files were deleted but maybe not cleanly. I don't know if that could conflict somehow.

ZOS_GaryA

Hmm...that's admittedly unfamiliar territory for me. Checking through the ESO files on our end, it seems that Size and Size on disk match for each of the builds we have installed. This may be based on the hard drive's file system (FAT32 vs NTFS, etc), or it may be that there are uncompressed files that need to be unzipped. All told, our installation of Live is ~40GB.

In this case, you may just need to allow the repair process to run to download and unpack the missing files. The Error 11 that you received earlier in your message indicates that there are missing or corrupted files. We understand that it may take a bit of time based on your internet connection, but once the repair is finished you should be able to play without any issues.

Thassail

Aright. Thanks.

Miffi

Hey Thassail, did it ever work after it repaired a couple of times? I ask because its doing the exact same thing to me - I did what the GM said and it started downloading a 6gb patch but it seems that the % is only at 12% for the 6gb so im assuming its going to end up downloading a bunch again. Third time now so just wondering if it will actually work eventually, thanks

Miztress

Hello, I think I am having the same trouble.
I was installing the game left it downloading over night thinking I could play it in the morning, but when I woke up I had the error 'PatchManifestError_VersionFail'
So I followed these instructions: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6486
The Admin and firewall I still had the error.
So I followed the delete/repair intructions.
Its been 6hrs now and I'm still repairing/downloading and at 18% with 21472.00mb left to download. (400kb/s)
Am I doing the right thing? Will I be able to play after this?

Warlordgreebo

100's of users.. current or potential customers have posts on this all over the net, even dating back a year.

That there hasn't been a real fix, shows... not so good.

Snusdosan

I seem to be getting this damned problem as well.... Left the game downloading over night, which is funny since i have a real stable fibre connection with average download speed of 28.8mbps and it still took hours and hours to download only to find that the only thing i can click when it's finished is "repair". But once that said "Repair" is finished i get some message saying "Error 209 - patch manifest error" bla bla.

This game is still in the early BETA's, hell it were easier to install pre-beta then it seems to be now.