ESO game folder size, 45 GB, doesn't reflect hard drive lost post-install, 82 GB-What's using space?

Yistaan

I recently installed the Elder Scrolls Online. I had 407 GB of free space to start with. I installed the EU client using the launcher (taken from the Elder Scrolls Online website), and at the end of installation I have 325 GB free space left. My question is that, since the Zenimax Online folder where Elder Scrolls Online is installed only takes up 44.9 GB of hard drive space, why am I 82 GB less than what I started with?

How are the other 37.1 GB of space being used, and where is it? If Elder Scrolls Online only takes up around 45 GB, I should have 362 GB of free space remaining, not 325 GB (I started with 407 GB free just before the install). Can anyone provide any insight?

Also, for what it’s worth, I wasn’t able to get install_eso.exe from The Elder Scrolls Online website to work. To install the game, I used these steps (a variation of which I found on this forum):
1) Run install_eso.exe
2) Look in c:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Temp (AppData is a hidden directory)
3) Find a directory similar to "I1427247224" with a date and time of when you did step 1
4) Inside that directory go to InstallerData/Disk1/InstData - you will see a compressed file called "Resource1"
5) Inside "Resource1" go to $IA_PROJECT_DIR$/src_path
6) Copy the folder "Launcher" to and place it in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\ , which I custom made for this purpose.
7) Inside "Launcher", execute "Bethesda.net_Launcher" (I set Bethesda.net_Launcher to always be run under administrator mode).
8) The "Launcher" will update and restart.
9) Once the "Launcher" is running again, click the INSTALL button

I don't know if doing the above steps caused the game to take up more hard drive than it should (or maybe the downloaded packed install files were never deleted?)

For informational purposes, I am using Windows 10 64-bit, with 8 GB of Ram, 3 GHz quad core processor, and a 2 GB NVidia Geforce GTX 670 video card. Thanks.

Cuyler

I'm no pro in this regard but my understanding is that the base game is ~45GB (out-of-box). Then the DLCs, additional game based content patches, etc etc make up the other ~33GB. Also, is it possible you DL the PTS server simultaneously?

Asmodean

Try using something like Space Sniffer to find out what s taking up the space, and report back.

It sounds like you've got 2 instances of the game somewhere. Maybe Both EU/NA, or PTS, or something.

Yistaan

I only have Elder Scrolls Online EU folder and Launcher folder in the Zenimax Online folder. No PTS, no NA client. Like I said, the entire Zenimax Online folder is only 44.9 GB. The other 37.1 GB of used space would have to be outside the Zenimax Online folder, but I don't know where.

Asmodean

Yistaan wrote: »

I only have Elder Scrolls Online EU folder and Launcher folder in the Zenimax Online folder. No PTS, no NA client. Like I said, the entire Zenimax Online folder is only 44.9 GB. The other 37.1 GB of used space would have to be outside the Zenimax Online folder, but I don't know where.

That's exactly why I said use space sniffer..

Yistaan

Asmodean wrote: »

Yistaan wrote: »

I only have Elder Scrolls Online EU folder and Launcher folder in the Zenimax Online folder. No PTS, no NA client. Like I said, the entire Zenimax Online folder is only 44.9 GB. The other 37.1 GB of used space would have to be outside the Zenimax Online folder, but I don't know where.

That's exactly why I said use space sniffer..

Once I get home tonight, I will. Although I don't see space sniffer as compatible with Win 10 (their website says support up to Win8), so I may use treesize instead (it's website claims support for Win10).

Yistaan

I've used TreeSize, but unfortunately I'm not making much headway. All the larger folders are ones that I recognize, and I'm not seeing any sizable Elder Scrolls Online folders outside the Zenimax Online folder (already accounted as 45 GB). I'll keep looking...

Yistaan

Using TreeSize today (February 10), I did a scan of all files created in the past 7 days (so all files created from February 3-February 10). Since I installed Elder Scrolls Online over the course of February 6-7, I figured this scan would show what other files were created during the timeframe that would account for the missing space. (To summarize, the folder of C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online ends up taking 45 GB after ESO installation, yet I lost 82 GB total over the course of the install. I am trying to find out what happened to the other 37 GB difference).

I’ve attached a screenshot of my TreeSize scan marking all files created from February 3-10. As you can see, the 46.4 GB of files created in Program Files (x86) correlates with the installation of Elder Scrolls Online in the Zenimax Online subfolder. The few gigabytes from Users and Windows folders are from the past week of normal computer operation. However a whopping 60.3 gigabytes was created in the ‘System Volume Information’ folder this past week alone. I think this is what is accounting for the missing extra space after my ESO installation. What do you think? You can analyze my screenshot in this post.

Yistaan

Perhaps I spoke too soon, in that I narrowed the TreeSize scan to search for files created in the past 6 days as of February 10 (so that a System Restore point created on Feb. 3 wouldn't be counted). The System Volume Information folder shows a 13.9 GB difference, not enough to account for the missing 37 GB... (screenshot of this scan attached)