Loading Screens, an update

Tors

As this thread has been changed, I will just put the information from @ZOS_GinaBruno and @ZOS_RichLambert which tells us of a possible fix to the loading screen issue as well as the basics behind it.

There is a patch next Monday/Tuesday (US/EU) which may sort things out of us. @ZOS_RichLambert played his cards close to his chest here about its effectiveness, but it IS something.

Heres hoping!!

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, we finally have an update for you on this issue. As we've mentioned previously, in the past few patches we've been adding code to the backend to track this issue and give us more data. We're happy to let you know that we have a fix going into Monday's PC incremental patch that should fix the long loading screens - turns out it was tied to anyone that had completed a lot of quests.

Thanks for staying patient with us while we tracked this one down!

ZOS_RichLambert wrote: »

As a heads up - next weeks update (11/16) on PC will have a fix for one of the major causes of the long load screens. This won't fix every load screen issue, but resolves the most frequent cause. We'll continue to work on the issue until we get the load times back to acceptable levels.

Console players, this fix will unfortunately not make Orsinium launch next week. It will go in the first incremental patch which we're targeting for the 2nd week of December.

-rich

]

SleepyTroll

On PTS my load screens were max 20sec. Hopefully that carry over to live.

ontheleftcoast

SleepyTroll wrote: »

On PTS my load screens were max 20sec. Hopefully that carry over to live.

Praise RNJeezus is that's true. Not what you said, but that they manage to get it from PTS to Live without screwing it up somehow. ;D

Tors

My PTS were variable, better than live, but not enough to allow you to log on for a decent hours play.

5 minutes still occurred.

Dropping into the arena was ok, max 1 minute.

Then again, this zone is a single zone, so even a 10 minute wait will allow me to play for a decent period of time within that hour (unless I want to craft or hit Cyrodiil, my two favourite pastimes)

Arkadius

SleepyTroll wrote: »

On PTS my load screens were max 20sec. Hopefully that carry over to live.

For my main character I get the exact same bad loading screen times on pts as on live server. However, waiting time is much lower when using template characters.

SleepyTroll

Xiana wrote: »

SleepyTroll wrote: »

On PTS my load screens were max 20sec. Hopefully that carry over to live.

For my main character I get the exact same bad loading screen times on pts as on live server. However, waiting time is much lower when using template characters.

Oh maybe that's why, I'm using templates:( Well lame...

Keepercraft

Zenimax need money for buy better servers.....
That is low money issue. :P

Keepercraft wrote: »

I analyse why is another loading screen.
#1 solution is to install your ESO game at SSD partition. (that can make faster access and load date from ROM to RAM, only)
#2 solution is that Zenimax need to do x64bit game client for allocate more memory commit at RAM.

But if you change zone location, that 60-90% of loading time is game waiting for access to new zone server. So that is a Zenimax server problem.

nimander99

I hope this isn't something they hope we will just stop complaining about because honestly Im not playing as much anymore due to this loading screen problem... I want to play more but its become a total bother logging in and shifting to other zones... so much so that I don't leave Craglorn anymore and that sucks.

Victus

Guildmate said they were much better on PTS, but not sure if he was playing a templated character or not.

Stikato

^^^ PTS load screens are much better, but yeah it's with a template.

Tors

Just went on the PTS with my own characters which have just been copied (Im on the EU servers)

Same load times, painful, slow and not expected of a modern game.

Everything was ok untill IC went live.

What changed to ruin things?

The total lack of response from ZOS kind of tells us there is no fix anytime soon.

Of all the things to kill a game, this is the most depressing. Rather than me getting bored and not playing, I am effectively just unable to play.

Illumous

I split my crafts across multiple characters. It used to not be a big deal for me to quickly jump off the character I was playing to get on another and craft something for a friend... but now it's such a huge time sink due to the load screens (usually around 2-3 minutes long each) that it's become a major inconvenience for me.

Please fix these loading screens! It is totally unacceptable when it used to only take me 10-15 seconds to load before 2.1

RaEDe

A few days after IC was released I put in a help ticket about the long loading screens and received this reply; " if you are experiencing long loading screens please allow the game more time to load."

Redeviledna666

nimander99 wrote: »

I hope this isn't something they hope we will just stop complaining about because honestly Im not playing as much anymore due to this loading screen problem... I want to play more but its become a total bother logging in and shifting to other zones... so much so that I don't leave Craglorn anymore and that sucks.

I am beginning to suspect the same, they they think we will all just go away and think this should be the norm, but hell no, its not the norm! Like yourself, i tend to stick to craglorn now, hardly ever leaving, but, instead of the 2hrs per night i used to put in, i don't think i do 30mins now, havent even logged in this evening.

Due to this lack of time that i play, i cancelled my subscription. Not quitting the game, just that my game time has gone down by 75% until further notice.

I even started playing another MMO tonight, that i used to play a lot, sooo refreshing, loading times about 20 secs at the most, no matter how many instance changes i made.

redspecter23

I'm fairly sure they're just remaining silent hoping we all just learn to live with it. I half suspect they still think we're all collectively lying about these loading screens and they can't reproduce them on their private servers and think we're all just nuts.

Keepercraft

RaEDe wrote: »

A few days after IC was released I put in a help ticket about the long loading screens and received this reply; " if you are experiencing long loading screens please allow the game more time to load."

Vashna

The way ZOS is handling this issue is and absolutely infuriating and borderline disgusting. The only thing worse is their lame attempts at trying to diagnose the problem by offering some uninspired solutions like:
+) Claiming it was a Nvidia card driver issue, except... I don't use an Nvidia card and my drivers were up to date;
+) Claiming it was add-ons, except... I only used 2 minor add-ons (one of which was a stop watch timer), and in the weeks since, I deleted everything and did a fresh install but nothing changed.

The real problem here is the neophyte manner in which they implement their product. I've seen many faults in MMOs over the last 20 years, but none in the recent generation as bad as this game when it comes to:
+) Gross mishandling of simple math functions involving addition, multiplication and simple rounding errors, which have plagued all aspects of character stats, skills and the champion system;
+) A barrage of memory leaks that become more evident to those of us who play for extended periods of time during one session;
+) Inability to handle race time conditions and database concurrency issues (remember the guild bank dupe bugs in the first weeks?), and limited event handling, which result in delayed mail updates and being stuck in combat in Cyrodiil for extended periods of time, long after fights conclude...

Lack of optimization, faulty texture packages, whatever the cause... we can mitigate some of it by installing the game on an SSD, having more RAM, etc... but the use of hardware only goes so far to mask the defects present in the software and architecture on their end.

Very few MMOs these days feature hard zone transitions. Extended transition times may have been acceptable to us back in the EverQuest days of 1998, when dial-up modems and limited RAM were still a thing, but in present day, people (myself included) do not want to wait around doing nothing while staring at a limited selection of artwork. Anything exceeding 10 seconds is flatly unacceptable, and any development team that takes pride in their product and its performance would be siezing the opportunity to rectify this type of issue immediately, not let it fester for months like some cancer. If ZOS doesn't truly care about its product, then why should we?

I can assure you... releasing content like IC (which has dozens of zone transitions) and solo content (i.e. Orsinium) that shatters the social [group] aspect of MMOs, while forcing people to endure these load times will do nothing but drive people away from this game. It doesn't happen overnight, nor even in a week. People have alot of endurance when it comes to these things; instead it will chip away at their hearts and minds until one day some other catalyst triggers them to snap in frustration and they just say, "WTF am I even doing here?" and then find something else to do or another MMO to play... and no number of puff pieces on gaming websites will draw them back.

P.S. I'm glad the final Star Wars 7 trailer came out this week. I watch the entire thing (2.5 min) every time I change zones in ESO. I usually watch it about a dozen times a night. But what happens after I finally see the movie? Do I find another trailer to keep me busy while waiting to play this game?

Shardaxx

I hope they fix this too, the longer loading times seemed to start after one of the patches, the game was a lot more enjoyable before that when the loads were super fast.

nimander99

@Vashna the Star Wars trailer is WOOOOOOOOT!

urhelke

And that "other catalyst" is F4.

Violynne

I'd rather have the load screens than what's currently keeping me from playing: gorram server lag. As a sorc, I rely on my spells and staff, and when they stop working, but the mobs don't, it's just not a fun situation.

Prior to the IC/patch rollout, I could count the number of times I died on two hands. Now, it's every time I try to play. Overload stops working when going after major bosses, crystal shards start, but fizzle out, and my staff seems to work whenever it wants to.

I have plenty of soul gems, but I really dislike having to use them because the server lags. At this rate, I'll be out of soul gems.

Working DC now, and the final boss' wave of undead is a guaranteed no-win scenario at this rate.

I log in daily to grab my hireling stuff and train my horse, then bail.

I concur with the lack of silence. It's frustrating, but I'll continue to stay patient until it's fixed.

Until then, I'll blaze through Dishonored. In 4 weeks, all this becomes moot anyway, because ESO will be damn near vacant as most will bail Tamriel for Boston.

Tors

No news on this being sorted?

Now I am away from home working on a contract im on wireless, this means its not even worth my time to try and connect to see if things are fixed.

I notice that noone from Zenemax has bothered to say anything, though they have plenty of time to make comments on other posts.


I am assuming that as they cant be bothered to make a comment, that the loading screens issue is actually a client side problem and the fault of the customer. Ill try the support forum to see what they say.

Krugan1048

The load times since IC came out is absurd, but not as absurd as trying to get information reguarding it being fixed. I fear if this is not fixed in a timely fashion, this game will go the way of the dinosaurs, and it will serve zos right. Remember zos, you can silence a cry for help from one, but when the numbers grow, and they WILL grow, you will be the one crying for help. I hope this will motivate zos to investigate and inform the dedicated players that have purchased this game.

Keepercraft

Stikato wrote: »

^^^ PTS load screens are much better, but yeah it's with a template.

Synq-server is less overloaded ?

leandro.800ub17_ESO

If i would get one mat for minutes per loading times i would be rich

Tors

leandro.800ub17_ESO wrote: »

If i would get one mat for minutes per loading times i would be rich

No you woudn't, because for the one characte you are getting mats on, there are 7 others who you dont log on to get their hireling mails......

Tors

I spend more time on the forums than trying to log into the game now. How long till I just give it up and go elsewhere?


I understand my unlimited subscription means little to Zenemax, but I cant be the only one about to cancel.

I've been supporting since beta, and paying since they changed the sub.

a thousand people like me just giving up and moving on will hurt them more than a simple communication from Zenemax telling us what is going on.

I can handle the loading times if I feel the delevelopers actually give a monkeys and talk to us. As it stands I feel like I am the unwanted red headed step child

Flaminir

Agree... if there was one single fix I would wish for it's this.

Everything else... from PvP lag... to duff skills I can work around & go somewhere else, use other skills etc.

But if I can't even get into the game....

It has noticeably changed the way I play... and not for the better.

They could really do with providing a proper detailed update on this now @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

mystercee

Like a lot of people the catalyst for me was when IC was released. I have given up playing my main Vet character, because of loading and lag. Simply logging in to that character to retrieve hireling mats can take forever. Not to mention the game crashing at a moments notice because God forbid I tried to interact with something in-game.

As much as I am looking forward to the release of Orsinium and new places to explore and be killed. (Cos lagging just as a mob attacks is not good for your health). I'm sure I'm not alone in preferring ZOS to focus on bringing the existing content up to standard before adding in more problems, which no doubt we shall see with the release of Orsinium.

Tors

I was hoping the issue would be fixed with the release of Orsinium, but when I used my cloned character, this was not the case.

Even logging in to see what the dyed shields looked like took me 25 minutes (my character was cloned when he was in Cryodil, logging in meant a loading screen to Cryo, and then to Craglorn where it dropped me)

Not that this means much, just something for those, waiting for Wrothgar, before they start playing again to be aware of

myrrrorb14_ESO

They fixed some of the problems. Loading screen went from 10 minutes to 2-4 minutes. Still not acceptable and over time will lose players. After all, who wants to waste 30 minutes of their game time?

They just can't figure out what they broke when they introduced IC. And they can't roll back a DLC, so they are Scrooged.