Launcher wants to reinstall entire game—I just need to patch it!

djangles · March 2017

Hello there, I have an older client of ESO, so when I try to log in, it of course prompts the following " You've attempted to use an invalid or out-dated client. Please exit and update your client using the patcher" (I haven't been online for about a month, makes sense I need to update)
I figure the launcher will patch my client, but when it launches, instead of recognizing the game, it instead wants me to 'INSTALL'
There is no button the repair the launcher.

I am not tremendously tech-savvy. I dont know what I could have screwed up.

Initially before the debacle even happened, I spent an hour just trying to get the launcher to well, launch. (I followed these steps to get my launcher to open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=docpqpqq4dg)
I finally fixed that part, but now it just wont patch my game.

I am at my wits end, do I just uninstall and do a full clean reinstall? its a large game, its gonna take hours to download again ):

ZOS_PeterT · March 2017

If you receive an error stating that your game client is out-of-date, we recommend running the game from the launcher to ensure you download and install any available updates.

To do so:
1.Open the ESO Launcher from your ESO install directory. It can be found here by default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\Launcher.1.If playing on Steam, you can open the ESO Launcher by locating The Elder Scrolls Online in your Steam Library and clicking Play.

2.From the ESO Launcher, click Update or Repair.
3.Once it has updated or repaired the game click, click Play to get into the game!

If the issue persists after updating, you can try these additional troubleshooting steps:
•Restart your computer.
•Add exceptions to your firewall / anti-virus for ESO.exe and Bethesda_Launcher.exe.
◦Instructions can be found here.

•Run the ESO Launcher as an administrator by right clicking on the shortcut and selecting Run as administrator.
•Run a Repair on your game files.
◦The repair process will go through a loop between downloading and verifying before completing. The progress bar may go go from 0 to 100 multiple times before it finishes. It is possible that the system will need to download large files.