How do I launch ESO from the command line properly?

Ignotus

I'm hoping an advanced user can help me with this. I'm sure this is pretty simple, but I'm not sure how to do it. When I launch ESO from the desktop link (which points to "E:\Games\ESO\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\eso.exe") the game launches and skips the intro videos because I set SkipPregameVideos "1" in the UserSettings.txt file. When I try to execute "E:\Games\ESO\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\eso.exe" from the command line, it launches, but it plays the videos and possibly ignores other settings in the UserSettings.txt. Why does this happen? Is there something I can do differently to avoid this behavior?

One thing that is different about my install is that my settings are stored at d:\Elder Scrolls Online Settings\Elder Scrolls Online\live, which is my SSD. I also have my depot folder stored on the SSD. I have it linked with symbolic links. I did this because I was trying to improve the performance of the game and my SSD is rather small so I didn't want to move the entire install to the SSD.

EDIT: I use Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I also launch eso.exe directly without using the launcher.

Ranique

Ignotus wrote: »

from the command line, it launches, but it plays the videos and possibly ignores other settings in the UserSettings.txt. Why does this happen? Is there something I can do differently to avoid this behavior?

What version of windows are you using??

If I remember correctly, windows xp used the user called "administrator" as the user starting command lines. This means that a different version of usersettings.txt file is used.

But haven't worked with XP in a long time.

If I'm correct I would recommend to find out the location of that usersettings.txt and making the same changes in it

Netswine

+1 for using symlinks in windows.

Ignotus

Sorry, I should have included that information in the original post. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate x64. As far as I know, it doesn't launch a command window as administrator unless I specify and then answer yes to UAC, which I've not been doing. I'm not running ESO as an admin either when using the desktop shortcut.

Tashira

Do a search for the eso.exe.

Find and right click and go to properties. On that window check the box that says run as administrator. click apply.

Or hold down shift and right click and say run as administrator

Ignotus

Tashira wrote: »

Do a search for the eso.exe.

Find and right click and go to properties. On that window check the box that says run as administrator. click apply.

Or hold down shift and right click and say run as administrator

I'm not sure if there is any reason to ever need to run ESO as administrator. I'll look into it though. I am the only user on my PC and use an administrator account.

EDIT: I went ahead and tried running it as admin and it still plays the intro videos when launched from the command line.

EDIT: Something that may or may not be obvious is that I do not use the launcher; I launch eso.exe directly. The only time I use the launcher is on patch day.

Ravalox

You peaked my curiosity ... my install is all on my C-Drive (an SSD), but I wanted to see if using CMD without admin would re-produce the symptoms you have seen.

answer is no. I was able to execute eso.exe with the full path (and no command line switches) and successfully get to character select without videos etc. (my usersettings has them disabled).

So ... It may be something related to the interaction of the symlinks themselves.

Did you use an elevated cmd prompt to create the links? Without that, ESO may not be able to access the links due to UAC.


*darn my spelling

Ravalox

Ignotus wrote: »

EDIT: Something that may or may not be obvious is that I do not use the launcher; I launch eso.exe directly. The only time I use the launcher is on patch day.

This is interesting too ... I have found that certain overlay programs (such as TSNotifier for TeamSpeak) will not run correctly (even when the config file is setup for eso.exe standalone) unless the launcher is used. May be some interaction here as well. Did you say it works correctly from CMDline when using the launcher?

Ignotus

When I launch the command line utility, it drops me into C:\Users\USERNAME. If I move to e: and then cd to Games\ESO\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client and THEN run eso.exe, it launches correctly and skips the videos. For permissions, the sub directories had the EVERYONE group assigned and that was it. The directories were also owned by SYSTEM. I explicitly added my account to the permissions with full access and also took ownership of the directories. It still doesn't launch properly unless I'm already navigated into eso.exe's directory. I am confused, but I'm not an expert on this stuff. It's not a huge deal for me to launch from the command line, but I don't like to admit defeat and I'm curious about why it's behaving this way.

EDIT: I don't recall how the links were created as it was some time ago. I think I did it with a shell extension. When I right click and drop a directory somewhere in Explorer, I have an option for "Drop Here..." and sub options under that for symbolic link, junction, smart copy, smart mirror, DeLorean Copy, hardlink clone, and symbolic link clone. I don't recall exactly how the extension works.

Ignotus

I also gave myself explicit full access to all of d: and took ownership with the same result.

EDIT: Unrelated, is there a way to turn off auto-emoji on the forums? When I type d: with a capital D, it converts it into a smiley face, which I don't want.

EDIT: For now, I'm accomplishing this with the following in a batch file:

e:
cd Games\ESO\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client
start eso.exe

Just seems odd that I have to cd to the eso.exe directory first. If anyone wants to further troubleshoot out of curiosity, I will try recommendations, but I'm able to accomplish what I need by CDing first. Thanks for the assistance everyone!

Wily_Wizard

My guess is the ESO installation cant find your settings files when started from the command prompt, since its a non-standard installation. Try adding d:\Elder Scrolls Online Settings\Elder Scrolls Online\live to your windows system path and see if it works.

How to add folders to your Windows System Path

Tashira

Yep add it to the windows system path

Netswine

Symlinks and environment variables to fix a windows game... Unix how i miss thee.

Ignotus

I haven't revisited this thread in a while now, but the forums keep popping up a reminder to mark the question as answered. So I've marked this as the answer:

Ranique wrote: »

What version of windows are you using??

If I remember correctly, windows xp used the user called "administrator" as the user starting command lines. This means that a different version of usersettings.txt file is used.

But haven't worked with XP in a long time.

If I'm correct I would recommend to find out the location of that usersettings.txt and making the same changes in it

This is not to say that some of the other responses weren't useful. I do appreciate all of the other responses. The quoted text lead me to somewhat of a resolution of the initial issue. This still works best for me however:

e:
cd Games\ESO\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client
start eso.exe

After rereading the quote above, I discovered that when I launch the game using "e:\Games\ESO\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\eso.exe" it reads the UserSettings.txt file located in the ESO_BUILD_BRANCH directory. If I first cd into the client directory and then launch the client, it reads the UserSettings.txt file located in the live folder. So the client is reading from two different files depending on how it's launched. I don't know why or what the difference is between the two ways that I've launched it, but at this point it really isn't important. I assume the ESO_BUILD_BRANCH directory holds the defaults. If I copy the contents of live over to ESO_BUILD_BRANCH the game launches the way I want regardless of how I launch it.

Ravalox

Ignotus wrote: »

I assume the ESO_BUILD_BRANCH directory holds the defaults. If I copy the contents of live over to ESO_BUILD_BRANCH the game launches the way I want regardless of how I launch it.

So based on this, I would think that you will also have to keep an eye out for major version patches (vs minor incremental versions), that may update the default settings file and overwrite you preferences.