Logged out every 15 minutes since day 1 and now this. The Ultimate Log Out. See pix.

Als3rd

Posting some pix of my character wandering around the OUTSIDE THE CONFINES OF THE GAME. This today, plus a whole lot of emails back and forth between me and the ESO English Support group about the ever popular "constant forced logouts" every 15 minute or so.

All kinds of trouble shooting from them and me. Nothing works. The logging off of my client has been there from day 1, and it's still there. No change. The shots (in my forum account) are the latest escapade in trying to get this game to run on my Macbook Pro.

It won't run without constant drop outs every 15 minutes on:
1. A 500GB internal SSD Mac OS X 10.10.2 fully formatted drive with Yosemite OS X - no Windows.
2. It won't run in BOOTCAMP running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, nor will it run on a fresh copy of Win 8.1 Pro.
3. This drive has been split 50-50 Mac & Win. 75-25 Mac & Win and 75-25 Win & Mac - and nothing works.
4. I run my default OS X partition on a 2 TB external drive for the extra room and it works like a dream. Except with ESO...

Some pix below - see my account for the pix please - are the latest in my Main Quest of how to get this game up and running. With all respect to the ESO English Support gang, I really can't see how any more troubleshooting with them is going to help. So I will wait until I hear something, see if the Tamriel Free launch somehow magically cures it, BUT if it keeps failing I will have to ask for a refund. It's just too frustrating to have to put up with this nonsense.

Could not get the pictures to appear here (another fail), so please check my account if you want to see another side of ESO, that is if you haven't seen it already for yourself.

Panda244

Saw the pictures... I've gotten to the checkerboard wasteland before but still.... I seriously hope you get help man, that's some warped crap you got going on. I've never had an issue with forced logouts but I get graphical bugs and crashes from time to time

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom help this man!

Nestor

[quote="AlSnyder3;156878"

Could not get the pictures to appear here (another fail), so please check my account if you want to see another side of ESO, that is if you haven't seen it already for yourself.[/quote]

There is more than likely a restriction on how many posts you have made and how long you have been here before you can post links or pictures. It is stop the Ad-Bots and Spam-Bots. Most forums let you do these things after a few posts and a couple of days but restrict them on initial sign up days.

Als3rd

Panda244 wrote: »

Saw the pictures... I've gotten to the checkerboard wasteland before but still.... I seriously hope you get help man, that's some warped crap you got going on. I've never had an issue with forced logouts but I get graphical bugs and crashes from time to time

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom help this man!

Thanks for the support, man. It really means a lot. I'm really a big fan of the whole whole series, especially Skyrim. I guess that's why this his was such a huge shock, but I'm not giving up yet. I'll try and contact someone else about it, before asking for a refund. And despite all of this - I really love the game!

Als3rd

Nestor wrote: »

[quote="AlSnyder3;156878"

Could not get the pictures to appear here (another fail), so please check my account if you want to see another side of ESO, that is if you haven't seen it already for yourself.

There is more than likely a restriction on how many posts you have made and how long you have been here before you can post links or pictures. It is stop the Ad-Bots and Spam-Bots. Most forums let you do these things after a few posts and a couple of days but restrict them on initial sign up days.

Thanks for the explanation, Nestor... That makes sense.

Yeah, I'm pretty new in town. Kind of embarrassed, but I just earned my First Comment Badge. I haven't had a whole lot of free time to get in here and look around. Working on fixing this game was almost like a part time job. But no more. And the character that's stuck in the "checkerboard wasteland" - aptly named Panda is the first one that I created with the D/L content. I wonder how I'm going to get that back. One step at a time, I guess.

Nestor

As for your log out issues, have you opened the ports you need to on your router or firewall?

There are two ways to do this, Port Forwarding and Port Triggering, you want to do Port Triggering (it's easier to set up)

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1133/kw/

AlSnyder3 wrote: »

I wonder how I'm going to get that back. One step at a time, I guess.

Can you press M to get your Map up? Then Right Click to get to zone view, then again if needed to get to continent view. From there, pick a wayshrine

Als3rd

Nestor wrote: »

As for your log out issues, have you opened the ports you need to on your router or firewall?

There are two ways to do this, Port Forwarding and Port Triggering, you want to do Port Triggering (it's easier to set up)

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1133/kw/

AlSnyder3 wrote: »

I wonder how I'm going to get that back. One step at a time, I guess.

Can you press M to get your Map up? Then Right Click to get to zone view, then again if needed to get to continent view. From there, pick a wayshrine

Great suggestions, Nestor. Really top notch.

As far as my Tron character and you're suggestions - Brilliant idea. I never would have come up with that on my own.
I opened up continent view, and clicked on a wayshrine. But it turns out that my original character was dead broke when I replaced him for a while, thinking that starting up the game with a brand new character in a brand new environment might tell us something about the log out problem. (it didn't) I never even thought to run right out and get some gold. I just picked up on the quest I was following, and out of nowhere - Tron-ville. I even clicked on the cave sheltering my Spirit friend (sorry, can't think of his name right now), thinking that would be free (as it was in the game) - no luck. I'm pretty sure that would have worked.

About my router, that was one of the first things we tried back on March 1st. Yep 11 days of log outs and trouble shooting

Here are the directions I got from the ESO English Support team. She really took it from the ground up, assuming that the reader had no router knowledge at all. I'm including it for anyone that needs an exhaustive list. I made all of these changes. But no luck.


Make an exception/whitelist inside the anti-virus software to allow either the Elder Scrolls Online folder or the specific files of ESO.exe and the Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe.
Forward ports in the router to make sure it isn't blocking anything we are trying to send out.
To do this, players will need to access a setup utility for their router. Try opening a web browser and typing "192.168.1.1" into the address bar. If that does not work, players will need to find out what their router's IP address is. To do this, follow the directions below:
Press Windows key + R.
Type cmd as a command, and press OK or Enter to access the command line.
Type ipconfig to get the information.
Please note that the computer's IP address is IPv4 and the router IP is under the Default Gateway.
There should be a prompt for a username and password to enter the router's setup utility. The following are four commonly used default combinations that players can try. Players who have previously entered the gateway may have setup another combination that they should enter here instead:
Username / Password
admin / password
admin / [blank]
admin / 1234
[blank] / admin

Once players are on the router gateway, they should navigate to the "Security" or "Firewall" section and set any options to Low. These firewalls are additional security to any firewalls installed on a player's computer.
While players are in their router, they should also forward ports that the game uses. On the "Port Forwarding" screen, there should be a button called Add Port Forwarding or Add Service. Press it and enter the port details. Below are the three sets players will want to create:

Set One
Name: ESO Game
Start Port: 24100
End Port: 24131
Protocol: TCP/UDP or "Both"
Server IP: (enter the computer's IP address)
Enable Port Forwarding

Set Two
Name: ESOLobby
Start Port: 24500
End Port: 24507
Protocol: TCP/UDP or "Both"
Server IP: (enter the computer's IP address)
Enable Port Forwarding

Set Three
Name: ESOLobby2
Start Port: 24300
End Port: 24331
Protocol: TCP/UDP or "Both"
Server IP: (enter the computer's IP address)
Enable Port Forwarding

Once the port forwarding is complete, players will want to flush their DNS:
Click on the Start button.
Type cmd in the Start Menu.
Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
Type "ipconfig /flushdns" and hit Enter.

If it was successful, players will see the message "Windows IP configuration successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache." (Mine was successful)

Power cycle the router to clear the cache so that it doesn't store the bad route.

Finally, to powercycle a home network, please follow these steps:
Turn off the router by unplugging it. Players who have a modem and router in one device should turn it off and then proceed to step 3.
Turn off the DSL or cable modem for three minutes.
Note: If the modem has one, please remove the backup battery to completely turn off the modem.
Turn off all computers attached to the network.
Turn on the DSL or cable modem first and let it boot. Let it complete its connection to the ISP before proceeding to the next step. Players who have a modem and router in one device should proceed to step 6 after it connects to their ISP.
Once the modem completes the connection to the ISP, plug in the router. Let it complete its power on Test before proceeding to the next step.
Restart the computers.

I sincerely hope these troubleshooting steps remedy your issue and allow you to join us in game without getting kicked out. If not, no worries! Just reply back to this email with a new game consultant report and we would be more than happy to help out further.

I look forward to hearing back from you regarding the status of this issue and feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions that we can help out with as well!

She was great. Most of the support team was excellent. But when it comes down to brass tacks - the problem still exists. Hopefully my new email to them will escalate this once again.

KhajitFurTrader

Hi @AlSnyder3,

I'm curious, would you be so kind to post some specs of your machine? Like model (year), RAM, graphics, etc. Selecting "About this Mac..." from the Apple Menu should have all the information. Thanks.

Als3rd

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

Hi @AlSnyder3,

I'm curious, would you be so kind to post some specs of your machine? Like model (year), RAM, graphics, etc. Selecting "About this Mac..." from the Apple Menu should have all the information. Thanks.

I would be happy to KhajitFurTrader.

Here they are:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013),
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Boot ROM Version: MBP101.00EE.B07

That's about it.
Let me know if I left anything out, and your assessment of game/machine.
I'll be very interested in what you discover.

Thanks

KhajitFurTrader

Ample memory, sufficient CPU, adequate GC. Of course, you cannot expect to run the game on Ultra-high settings in native retina solution, and I guess you don't. Over at the Mac Tech Support Forum (see my sig) are quite a lot of posts about successfully running ESO on retina displays, just use the search button next to the page navigation, and look for "retina" (go back a ways, as most posts about this topic are older). Here's a good in-depth post with machine configuration and game settings, for example. If you don't find anything suitable, please feel free to ask in the forum!
(N.B. I don't yet have a Mac with retina display in my collection, so I can't talk from my own experience.)

Having said that, there's one thing I just noticed in your original post:

AlSnyder3 wrote: »

4. I run my default OS X partition on a 2 TB external drive for the extra room and it works like a dream. Except with ESO...

There have been issues reported in the past if ESO, the user's profile, or the OS weren't all installed on the same internal system volume (i.e. Macintosh HD). Most issues were about settings or addons not getting read or saved correctly. And while the Mac/OS X combo is certainly much more flexible, and reliantly so, in regards to how and where it boots from than any Windows PC (target-mode, boot up any Mac with another Mac), I don't know if your particular configuration does not play into the issues you're seeing. Have you ever tried to run everything from the internal SSD being the Macintosh HD?

With tools like Time Machine (built-in) or CarbonCopyCloner (an inexpensive, very powerful and easy to use imaging tool), you could easily make a 1:1 backup copy of your SSD. You could then install Yosemite and ESO on it (using an account with a local home directory), and try things out. Worst case would be nothing changes, best case ESO works.

Als3rd

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

Ample memory, sufficient CPU, adequate GC. Of course, you cannot expect to run the game on Ultra-high settings in native retina solution, and I guess you don't. Over at the Mac Tech Support Forum (see my sig) are quite a lot of posts about successfully running ESO on retina displays, just use the search button next to the page navigation, and look for "retina" (go back a ways, as most posts about this topic are older). Here's a good in-depth post with machine configuration and game settings, for example. If you don't find anything suitable, please feel free to ask in the forum!
(N.B. I don't yet have a Mac with retina display in my collection, so I can't talk from my own experience.)

Having said that, there's one thing I just noticed in your original post:

AlSnyder3 wrote: »

4. I run my default OS X partition on a 2 TB external drive for the extra room and it works like a dream. Except with ESO...

There have been issues reported in the past if ESO, the user's profile, or the OS weren't all installed on the same internal system volume (i.e. Macintosh HD). Most issues were about settings or addons not getting read or saved correctly. And while the Mac/OS X combo is certainly much more flexible, and reliantly so, in regards to how and where it boots from than any Windows PC (target-mode, boot up any Mac with another Mac), I don't know if your particular configuration does not play into the issues you're seeing. Have you ever tried to run everything from the internal SSD being the Macintosh HD?

With tools like Time Machine (built-in) or CarbonCopyCloner (an inexpensive, very powerful and easy to use imaging tool), you could easily make a 1:1 backup copy of your SSD. You could then install Yosemite and ESO on it (using an account with a local home directory), and try things out. Worst case would be nothing changes, best case ESO works.

This is really great, KhajitFurTrader! Above and beyond everything anticipated, and I can't thank you enough for this comprehensive look into this game and my MBP's settings. I've switched out my External Hard Drive with the other OS on it, and am starting all over with a different external drive for the CCC back up. I am also buying CarbonCopyCloner right after I finish this preliminary response post. It is just what I have been looking for - exactly what I have been looking for! And it is fast! It just did a complete clone of my current set up in like 5 minutes!! Wow! Thanks for turning me on to it.

I have run the game on a full OS X internal drive but the external Drive with the redundant, possibly interfering OS was still attached. This time I I am going to start fresh, reformat my SSD (hopefully for the last time) with pure Yosemite as the ONLY OS installed on it. I've decided to BOOTCAMP the iMac in my studio for those rare occasions when I will need WINDOWS. I may even attempt running Windows on a small partition on the internal drive on my MBP by giving OSX the Lion's Share of the internal drive at a later date - IF everything goes well. Maybe. But you know the old saying: If its not broken, don't fix it.

As of today, I will do a fresh install of the game on my new full OS X interior drive, giving ESO the best possible reason to succeed and one of the least possible reason(s) for it to fail. I have had no blurred type or other graphic glitches so that's a point in my favor, and I will however, set all of my graphics to Low at first, cutting off another reason for the game to fail. They are set at Medium right now with one at High, and I'll turn off Bloom and the other "extra" features to cut down the failure options even more. I will also use the recommended resolution for the game.

So having a 1:1 clone of my current system - BOOTABLE AS WELL - in hand, I will put everything into play and post the (hopefully positive) results after doing so.

Thanks for the information and possible fixes,
Al

Als3rd

Well, the good news is that my main character is back from Tron-ville (see my account for the pix). The person I spoke with told me that any customer service rep could retrieve a player's character from that environment and she pulled mine back into my last save, and - she did this while I was on the phone with her! So everything went perfectly with that part of the problem - and my main man is back in the "real world" again, thankfully.

Something strange occurred yesterday. I had set all of my video graphics to low, and it didn't help at all. I started seeing underlying mesh on building walls, so I went to the opposite end of the spectrum and re-set all of my graphics to high, and played the longest "non interrupted" session that I've had in long time. It seems like coincidence, but still, it was kind of strange that it occurred directly after changing my video graphic settings.

As far as getting logged out every 15 minutes, it is happening just as often, even after reformatting my entire SSD interior drive which is running only one OS, the latest Version of Yosemite. I will run BOOTCAMP on my iMac., but not on this machine. I just received an email from an Escalation agent at The Elder Scrolls Online letting me know that she'll be working with me on this problem. She offered to give me a call or just continue with emails. I'm opting for a phone call, hoping that things will crop up that will lead to questions and answers that point to the real problem.

I will report back after seeing what comes of this escalation process and hopefully the fix will be something that everybody having this problem can use in their own situation.