Before complaining about lag...

Knowledge

We need to make sure it's not on your end. A lot of people I've spoken to in the game have misinterpreted lag for poor performance. Not everyone is tech savvy so I have prepared a list to help you improve your gaming experience.

Before going further I play with a 1080 Ti and a Kaby Lake platform. My internet speed is about 100mbps down. My drivers are all updated and I rarely experience lag even in PVP. The multicore update should eliminate most of my lag.

Moving on, it is important that you remember that your graphics card has limitations. Everyone's GPU(Graphics Processing Unit) has a different level of capability and will therefore allow game play to be smooth at specific settings. For example, if you have a 1080 or 1080 ti it is likely you can play at the Ultra High Setting. However, a few people are using older graphics cards such as 700 series or older and complaining about performance. Not to mention, some even have on board video! If you have integrated video it's time to start shopping for something better.

Moreover, you want to make sure your CPU is up to the task. The recommended (not minimum) CPU for this game is an intel i5 2300 or AMD FX4350 CPU. Keep in mind, just because these are recommended that does not mean you should expect flawless game play or ultra settings. Further, your CPU is the brain of your PC and must not only deal with your input, draw calls from your gpu, but also compute the network data being fed into it. This is a huge task for something like an i5 2300 CPU and may result in less than desired performance.

Before we can blame the game we need to make sure we have decent components. Here is what I would recommend for a decent ESO experience. Please remember, this is my opinion, is not the recommended or minimum requirements for the game, and is just what I think would offer you a fantastic experience.

• For Intel CPU: i5 2500k OR Better
• For AMD CPU: Ryzen 1600x or better
• For NVIDIA GPU: GTX 980 or better
• For AMD GPU: RADEON R9 290x or better
• 8 GB of DDR3 or better
• Windows 10 64-bit (remember 64-bit is the only client for the game)
• SSD or nVME drive (Samsung 850 EVO or better)
• 10mbps Internet Connection or better
• Adequate CPU cooler and airflow to prevent throttling (Minimum Hyper 212 EVO cooler)

Please remember that my minimum suggested part is assuming you are playing at 1920 x 1080. If you increase your resolution to 1440p+ you may need even better hardware.

bethsheba

I have a gtx 980 but cpu is phenom II 965 BE. I can't afford to upgrade even a little.

Knowledge

bethsheba wrote: »

I have a gtx 980 but cpu is phenom II 965 BE. I can't afford to upgrade even a little.

Unfortunately, that CPU is just a bit behind the times. You should see some gains with the multicore update though.

VaranisArano

I figure that most of my issues are due to rural internet, aka I live next to a corn field across from a bean field.

I have seen improvements from running at low textures and not running the game through STEAM.

VilniusNastavnik

Does a ping test Sydney to Dallas.. 208ms.
In game ping.. 350ms.

Graphics card: GTX 970
Processor: 4 core, 8 thread, Intel i7-4970
RAM: 16 GB DDR3 Corsair
Water cooled, w. dozen fans internal.

FPS is *** due to memory leak bug back in nvidia drivers. But no reason for almost double the latency.

Knowledge

VaranisArano wrote: »

I figure that most of my issues are due to rural internet, aka I live next to a corn field across from a bean field.

I have seen improvements from running at low textures and not running the game through STEAM.

What are your system specifications?

wenchmore420b14_ESO

Also, to add to this....
Once, I suddenly couldn't stay logged in, horrible ping, etc...
I have a good computer, ran test's etc.
After about a week of grief, come to find out there was water in the cable connection box outside and the connectors were wet. Cable guy replaced it and boom.... Ran great.
Remember, sometime it's not ZoS or your rig, but physical cable hardware...

VaranisArano

Knowledge wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

I figure that most of my issues are due to rural internet, aka I live next to a corn field across from a bean field.

I have seen improvements from running at low textures and not running the game through STEAM.

What are your system specifications?

Honestly? They are what they are. I'm not buying a new computer or parts for it, so thats the part of the system that isn't getting changed.

Knowledge

VaranisArano wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

I figure that most of my issues are due to rural internet, aka I live next to a corn field across from a bean field.

I have seen improvements from running at low textures and not running the game through STEAM.

What are your system specifications?

Honestly? They are what they are. I'm not buying a new computer or parts for it, so thats the part of the system that isn't getting changed.

I just wanted to see if it was your rural location or your hardware.

NovaMarx

Two big thumbs up to you, sir/madam!

I don't know how many times I've had this conversation with people when they start ranting about lag.

There are so many factors, simply put as: your computer, your home/house/building, your connection, your location/country, and what settings you play at.
Tip: If you are lagging, and you think it maybe the game, always start off by lowering your settings - that's a quick way to rule anything out or in.

Note: I have an excellent computer and one of the fastest connections money can buy, and live centrally, and I never have any issues (except for Cyrodiil, which - let's face it- is trying for any poor computer who has to deal with it).

Kikke

@Knowledge Finally a post I can agree with xD I'm so tired of people blaming the game for the lag, every single time.
And when I get around too ask them what rig they got, internet connection and if they use cable or wifi.

There are a few different faults going around that people blame on the game.

Disconnects: They blame ZOS for every single one, but they play on wifi -_-
High ping: They blame ZOS for it, but they play with 4G internet from their phone or on trash wifi =/
Low FPS: They blame ZOS for it, but they play on a affordable laptop . . . .

And then we have the player. Decent computer, decent internet on cable. Settings on what their hardware can take, a selected amount of addons will nearly never DC, wont have lags, and will not blame ZOS for THAT at least. There is always the balance patches tho xP

Knowledge

kikkehs wrote: »

@Knowledge Finally a post I can agree with xD I'm so tired of people blaming the game for the lag, every single time.
And when I get around too ask them what rig they got, internet connection and if they use cable or wifi.

There are a few different faults going around that people blame on the game.

Disconnects: They blame ZOS for every single one, but they play on wifi -_-
High ping: They blame ZOS for it, but they play with 4G internet from their phone or on trash wifi =/
Low FPS: They blame ZOS for it, but they play on a affordable laptop . . . .

And then we have the player. Decent computer, decent internet on cable. Settings on what their hardware can take, a selected amount of addons will nearly never DC, wont have lags, and will not blame ZOS for THAT at least. There is always the balance patches tho xP

Most of the time it is the user's PC.

Gythral

When the game says
Please check your network connection
and the issue is in the EU datacentre trying to find the authentication server

It is fairly obvious that the issue is not the users PC

or changing wayshrine in zone & instead of the 5 secs it takes 5 minutes and then drops you the the login screen

It is fairly obvious that the issue is not the users PC

as all the while the user is connected to others services & watching the rtt to the EU datacentre and every step of the route is stable and <40ms while the games claims that the latency is anything from 70ms to 356ms

EvilKiwi

I have a Intel Pentium G3258 cpu and gtx 950 and the game runs just fine for me. I have minor lag now and then but nothing to complain about.

Knowledge

Gythral wrote: »

When the game says
Please check your network connection
and the issue is in the EU datacentre trying to find the authentication server

It is fairly obvious that the issue is not the users PC

or changing wayshrine in zone & instead of the 5 secs it takes 5 minutes and then drops you the the login screen

It is fairly obvious that the issue is not the users PC

as all the while the user is connected to others services & watching the rtt to the EU datacentre and every step of the route is stable and <40ms while the games claims that the latency is anything from 70ms to 356ms

Being dropped from a loading screen can sometimes be the user's PC. Something we're not considering here is that PCs aren't infallible. A lot of people don't understand how a computer works and always blame the program.

Based on your statement you're saying 100% of the time a dropped connection is the game which is not accurate. There are hundreds of reasons why your connection could have been dropped or excessive loading occurs. The modem, the router, your network interface controller, or weather.

Ley

Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Video Card
16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

50 Mbs internet download speed

I run the game with ultra settings, have 25+ addons active most of the time. With the exception of extremely intense pvp situation, I rarely ever experience any lag.

Overall not bad suggestions.

On a side note I'm really looking forward to the multi threading upgrade coming up.

Kelces

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

Knowledge

Ley wrote: »

Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Video Card
16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

50 Mbs internet download speed

I run the game with ultra settings, have 25+ addons active most of the time. With the exception of extremely intense pvp situation, I rarely ever experience any lag.

Overall not bad suggestions.

On a side note I'm really looking forward to the multi threading upgrade coming up.

Thank you for chiming in with your experiences.

Knowledge

Kelces wrote: »

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

The amount of video memory your have on your GPU is not really as big of a factor as what the actual chip is.

Kelces

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

The amount of video memory your have on your GPU is not really as big of a factor as what the actual chip is.

Ok, so I'll go with "buy another 'chip' then", even though it worked better before...

I experienced different performance after the implementation of IC with my old PC, where it stated to go bad, and therefore chose to go with a new one including different GPU.

I would agree though to people mentioning difference in connection speed geographically, but that's a whole different story. When it comes to frames, people who observed certain developments over the years, definitively know.

Knowledge

Kelces wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

The amount of video memory your have on your GPU is not really as big of a factor as what the actual chip is.

Ok, so I'll go with "buy another 'chip' then", even though it worked better before...

I experienced different performance after the implementation of IC with my old PC, where it stated to go bad, and therefore chose to go with a new one including different GPU.

I would agree though to people mentioning difference in connection speed geographically, but that's a whole different story. When it comes to frames, people who observed certain developments over the years, definitively know.

What is your GPU?

Kelces

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

The amount of video memory your have on your GPU is not really as big of a factor as what the actual chip is.

Ok, so I'll go with "buy another 'chip' then", even though it worked better before...

I experienced different performance after the implementation of IC with my old PC, where it stated to go bad, and therefore chose to go with a new one including different GPU.

I would agree though to people mentioning difference in connection speed geographically, but that's a whole different story. When it comes to frames, people who observed certain developments over the years, definitively know.

What is your GPU?

It doesn't matter, that's my point.
And if I named my GPU, the answer would probably be: "oh of course, no wonder you have problems with this device." Which I don't have with other games, by the way...

Knowledge

Kelces wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

The amount of video memory your have on your GPU is not really as big of a factor as what the actual chip is.

Ok, so I'll go with "buy another 'chip' then", even though it worked better before...

I experienced different performance after the implementation of IC with my old PC, where it stated to go bad, and therefore chose to go with a new one including different GPU.

I would agree though to people mentioning difference in connection speed geographically, but that's a whole different story. When it comes to frames, people who observed certain developments over the years, definitively know.

What is your GPU?

It doesn't matter, that's my point.
And if I named my GPU, the answer would probably be: "oh of course, no wonder you have problems with this device." Which I don't have with other games, by the way...

Uhm, not necessarily. But it's your right to keep your GPU a secret.

Thogard

Did you seriously just write a post telling people to be certain about the cause of their “lag” and then write an essay about FPS loss, chug, and performance drops... and the importance of a video card? For LAG??

This new generation, I swear...

TL;DR lag is the result of latency problems and has absolutely nothing to do with your graphics card, frame rate, or video settings, and only is affected by your CPU via your TCP offload settings, which is to say not at all.

Kelces

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

Knowledge wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

So you should just buy new hardware, because the programming is bad?

No offense, but over a year ago I played this game with a 1GB graphic card in PvP, where you had many more numbers than today, and it worked fluently. Now though, with way less people in Cyrodiil our GPU is suddnely the problem, when it worked better before?

Right...

The amount of video memory your have on your GPU is not really as big of a factor as what the actual chip is.

Ok, so I'll go with "buy another 'chip' then", even though it worked better before...

I experienced different performance after the implementation of IC with my old PC, where it stated to go bad, and therefore chose to go with a new one including different GPU.

I would agree though to people mentioning difference in connection speed geographically, but that's a whole different story. When it comes to frames, people who observed certain developments over the years, definitively know.

What is your GPU?

It doesn't matter, that's my point.
And if I named my GPU, the answer would probably be: "oh of course, no wonder you have problems with this device." Which I don't have with other games, by the way...

Uhm, not necessarily. But it's your right to keep your GPU a secret.

You said it yourself: It is the chip, not the whole device.

And even that aside, there is still an answer to be given for the sudden drop in performance with the first wave of DLC's. So...?

Oreyn_Bearclaw

I have essentially your same setup (CPU,GPU, and Internet Speed). I see game breaking lag nightly in Cyrodiil. I encounter it in PVE very rarely, and it is usually only on a handful of encounters where it is typically bad (Rakkhat and VMA).

Knowledge

Thogard wrote: »

Did you seriously just write a post telling people to be certain about the cause of their “lag” and then write an essay about FPS loss, chug, and performance drops... and the importance of a video card? For LAG??

This new generation, I swear...

TL;DR lag is the result of latency problems and has absolutely nothing to do with your graphics card, frame rate, or video settings, and only is affected by your CPU via your TCP offload settings, which is to say not at all.

Actually, this is quite wrong. The word "lag" can apply to many things. There is something called Graphics Lag. NVIDIA explains it here. There is also CPU lag and you can read about it here.

While you are receiving some education about lag please also remember the CPU can become "overwhelmed" at a given time. A CPU has a throughput limit based on IPC and clock speed. When that throughput limit is reached it has to catch up. In essence, the NIC is sending and receiving information from a server, the processor is computing that information, the processor is giving the GPU draw calls, then you may have a sudden "spike" in performance demand. Perhaps you're in Cyrodil and twenty people arrive. The network data comes in, the CPU must process it, along with all movements, abilities, and the like. It has to then send the draw calls to the GPU and as this all happens, depending on your CPU, you can get lag.

In essence, if you're in Cyrodil around a small population of players and you have smooth game play and then suddenly have reduced performance in a large keep fight the problem may be on your end. This is especially true when one user with higher end hardware is not lagging and you are.

They aren't adding multicore capability because it's fun it's to improve performance and reduce lag.

Bonzodog01

Yeah, there is DEFINITELY an issue in the EU datacentre, located in Frankfurt, Germany - both XBox and PS4 are also suffering a high rate of regular DC's, about once every 30 mins to an hour. I suspect that the datacentre, being a 3rd party hosting outfit are sharing serverspace/bandwidth with something like Fortnite, which is basically one of the most popular games on XBox right now.

Smokewood

I play on xbox and have no lag what-so-ever.

However, I have never been in a trial....

Varidian

To a degree I am in agreement with you sure - not all players will have cutting edge equipment or super fibre broadband that's a granted point... but this game is four years old;

I have a 980TI and 12 gig of ram pumping through an I7 quad... this game pc was built to run star citizen level graphics... so ESO is fish in a barrel for my comp. I can work on photoshop, run a video editing system processing an MP4 1080p HD video and listen to Spotify whiles I'm tearing around Auridon in between at the same time... I know because I do these things when I need to lol

and I still suffer from chronic break downs of FPS aswell as motivation when I only have the game running and nothing else in the background. The programming for this game is awful.

how the f^*k can a bank deposit lag? and a guild store be so choppy? just last night it made me wait 70 odd seconds to place a plant in my house "placing item" or something it said in the corner

this game has more bugs than a rain forest floor. I'm sorry but I have played Alpha stage games with smoother performance.

NyassaV

I've got a top of the time computer and even I have major issues in Cyrodiil be it frames, latency, or both