Official Discussion Thread for "ESO's Performance Improvements Plan"

Nordic__Knights

KMarble wrote: »

Thank you for the update. Just a small thing I wanted to point out.

from article wrote:

This is the first of an ongoing initiative to rewrite some of the more consumptive combat abilities to lesson server load

Should be lessen.

merevie wrote: »

LFG system will hopefully remove the experience I just had -56 mins in pledge queue in the middle of the night. It is great to see the overall plan -hope is nice.

I've seen a few people with a similar complaint. Could it be that the problem in this case has more to do with the fact that there were less players at the time (middle of the night) and very few were queuing for dungeons?

When the LFG tool is activated, the player is forced to wait for 3 other people to be willing and able to do that content.

Mind you, I'm not claiming there aren't problems with the group finder, but in cases like yours, it might come down to not having enough players who want to do the same type of content.

I've had the same experience during the time of reset for the dungeons with over 50 players standing in the undaunted area so I wouldn't say it happens to deal with the time of day or night Id say its the group finder itself

agegarton

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We've gathered up some of the most commonly asked questions about the planned game performance improvements, both from here on the forums and on our social media channels, and provided answers below. Thanks!


Will you take into account Daily Rewards during the month when everyone will need to re-download the game?
Yes, we will take into consideration the time needed to re-download when planning out the Daily Rewards for that month.

As part of the performance improvements, would you consider changing the load prioritization order for NPCs versus player characters so that NPCs load first?
The core problem is complex and requires a larger change than simply re-ordering or re-prioritizing which art assets load first. We’re tackling this in Update 25 in Q1 2020 by moving to faster/newer/better compression libraries for art fixtures and character loading, the two of the most “expensive” loading tasks. The expected user experience after this goes live is better load times, fewer “shadow” player silhouettes, and ultimately minimized wait time for NPCs to load in.

Players in some regions have monthly internet bandwidth limits, making re-downloading a large game like ESO extremely challenging. Is there anything you can do to help alleviate those challenges?
For the patch overhaul we’re performing with Update 25 in Q1 2020, we are completely changing how we compress out data. As such, we can’t simply convert or reuse data that is already on the live client. Our patcher also doesn’t support data pre-staging.

We understand that this will be a more significant challenge for players who live in regions with monthly internet bandwidth limits. We’re exploring options, though some of the suggestions we’ve gotten are not possible.

Before you roll out the Q2 “cold storage” of inactive accounts, will you communicate the cut off dates for inactive accounts and what amount of time results in an account being considered inactive?
Yes, we will communicate to our players what constitutes an inactive account when we get a little closer to rolling out this system.

What will happen to inactive players’ guild spots? Are they auto removed from guilds or do they retain their placement? What about friends lists and ignore lists?
We’re still working on the exact details of what an inactive account will look like to active players in-game, but it’s important to note that being moved to “cold storage” does not mean the account is deleted from the game. Rather, it’s simply offloaded to a backup database to improve performance on the active database.

Will there be a way for players to identify that they are being moved from “cold storage” to active, so they understand why they are experiencing a longer-than-usual initial load time?
Yes, while the exact details are still in discussion, players will know that they are being moved from “inactive” status to active.

Do you have any current plans to expand upon the Activity Finder so that players can queue up for specific Trials and harder dungeon achievements/objections?
At this time, we are focusing on improving the Activity Finder’s reliability and speed, especially when it’s experiencing heavy traffic. While these are great ideas, we aren’t adding any additional functionality to the Activity Finder at this time.

Are there any current plans to change the way extra languages and voice-over files are handled for players who only want/use 1 language? For example, if I only intend to use the English voiceovers, do I need to re-download the French and German files on certain platforms?
We don’t have any details to share at this time, but this is something we’re looking into.

Will the mentioned performance improvements help Mac-based players?
Yes, the performance improvements we’re rolling out over the next few updates affect all platforms. Consoles and lower-spec machines will see the most significant positive impact.

Will the upcoming performance improvements fix the rendering speeds of better textures and players appearing as shadows?
Yes, this is coming with Update 25 in Q1 2020, and is noted in the second bullet as “faster-loading art fixtures and characters” under that section in the performance improvements plan here.

Will the upcoming performance improvements make it so there’s no more stuttering in the field when loading in from a Wayshrine or into the game?
Yes, that’s the goal!

Are issues related to PC/Mac EU server capacity somewhere on the game performance improvements roadmap?
Yes, the fifth bullet in the Update 25 section specifically calls out server optimization and stability, especially in “intense or high bandwidth situations.” You can check out the full write-up here.

Thanks for a sensible and thorough response. You might just restore my faith in ZoS at this rate! I have my fingers and toes crossed that this all works out as planned.

Dusk_Coven

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Will you take into account Daily Rewards during the month when everyone will need to re-download the game?
...
Players in some regions have monthly internet bandwidth limits, making re-downloading a large game like ESO extremely challenging. Is there anything you can do to help alleviate those challenges?

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom These are symptoms of anxiety over "missing out" during the upgrade, and I hope the development team will consider implementing ahead of time Quality of Life improvements as no-login-required automation of various collections -- including automated Daily Rewards collection, Hireling mail collection, and Shadowy Supplier collection.
The Crafting Bag could be expanded in purpose to allow for such "system deliveries" even though they might include items which are not strictly "crafting materials" allowing for the game to put them in and for the player to withdraw-only.

Defilted

This sounds great!

KerinKor

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Will you take into account Daily Rewards during the month when everyone will need to re-download the game?
...
Players in some regions have monthly internet bandwidth limits, making re-downloading a large game like ESO extremely challenging. Is there anything you can do to help alleviate those challenges?

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom These are symptoms of anxiety over "missing out" during the upgrade

Anyone with 'anxiety' over something in a video game should perhaps seek help.

unclesheosnephew

Guild banking system getting fixed during this?

unclesheosnephew

KappaKid83 wrote: »

SirAxen wrote: »

KappaKid83 wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

valeriiya wrote: »

Thank you, this is the kind of communication I wanted. I'm still skeptical that things will change based on your track record but I'm hopeful.

Some people just have the "never happy" mentality I guess.

This roadmap sounds pretty fantastic and makes the next six months sound exciting. It's also good to see these improvements planned to be done before the 2020 Holiday season. ESO is probably gonna be buttery smooth on the Xbox Scarlet.

People have a right to be skeptical, just like you have a right to be optimistic. When the games biggest PVE streamer is skeptical about the upgrades while reviewing them on his stream then I think that others within the community on this forum also have grounds to be skeptical. Also, these upgrades and improvements have been spoken about for years as going to happen without ever happening so you can probably understand some of the skepticism.

I personally am in the "believe it when I see it" boat but am also optimistic that the game will be smoother. An open letter to the community with updates is a great start and hopefully they can build from here.

To be fair, what some streamer has to say about something shouldn't have anything to do with one forming their own opinion.

Understandable, and also to be fair here Alcast has probably spent more time in game than most, if not all of us, in this thread. I respect his opinion from the standpoint of time served and his ability to understand the small nuances of this game that some of us will never grasp.

depends, when did he start playing,

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Hi everyone,

We've added the August update to the top of the game performance improvements plan article. In short, all work is coming along well and is still on track. You can view more details in the article here: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/56681

technohic

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We've added the August update to the top of the game performance improvements plan article. In short, all work is coming along well and is still on track. You can view more details in the article here: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/56681

Nice. I was just expecting something generic like "Still in progress and on schedule." Nice to see a few things are in internal testing or about to be.

Protoavis73

Thanks for the update, good to see there's progress.

Cinbri

Free week started and game performance at its best...

technohic

Cinbri wrote: »

Free week started and game performance at its best...

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom Thanks for the update but this does make a fair point in my opinion. You skipped midyear Mayhem because of performance issues, have struggled heavily with server load particularly in the EU, and performance is what everyone is focusing on to where we have these updates and a plan that is going to take a better part of the year.

So why did you decide to do a free play time promo which will undoubtedly increase the load and problems that go with that which we are all complaining about?

To me it would seem that this would only harm chances people would decide to buy or sub to the game compared to if you waited until performance was good and showed it off then.

VaranisArano

technohic wrote: »

Cinbri wrote: »

Free week started and game performance at its best...

ZOS_JessicaFolsom Thanks for the update but this does make a fair point in my opinion. You skipped midyear Mayhem because of performance issues, have struggled heavily with server load particularly in the EU, and performance is what everyone is focusing on to where we have these updates and a plan that is going to take a better part of the year.

So why did you decide to do a free play time promo which will undoubtedly increase the load and problems that go with that which we are all complaining about?

To me it would seem that this would only harm chances people would decide to buy or sub to the game compared to if you waited until performance was good and showed it off then.

Midyear Mayhem was canceled in large part because the currently broken Activity Finder is required in order to complete the Battlegrounds achievements. ZOS did promise not to run events that required Activity Finder (though they are perfectly happy to run dungeon events that don't technically require players to use it.)

It seems like a case of warped priorities, but realistically, they aren't going to stop marketing the game while they get their house in order.

silvereyes

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We've added the August update to the top of the game performance improvements plan article. In short, all work is coming along well and is still on track. You can view more details in the article here: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/56681

I want to be excited, but then I look at the guild history performance "improvements", and think maybe it'd be better if they just don't touch anything.

EpicRekkoning

This is great. Thanks ZOS for keeping us updated with your plans.

StabbityDoom

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We've added the August update to the top of the game performance improvements plan article. In short, all work is coming along well and is still on track. You can view more details in the article here: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/56681

Thank you for the update, this communication is fabulous - a wonderful step forward.

not4us

Is fixing the AKAMAI routing issue for Oceania players part of these "performance improvements"?
We have been suffering from extreme latency (350-400ms) ever since the introduction of the AKAMAI scrubber service about a year ago with our traffic to NA servers being routed through Hong-Kong or The Netherlands.
There's heaps of threads about it and a few Support tickets but nothing being done so far or even mentioned in this announcements.
Com'on ZOS, we believe in you!

Rykarch

Since the very first time I played, due to not having a dedicated gaming PC, I always struggled with FPS whilst on trials and any other environments where I could be facing plenty of particles.
After Summerset, I noticed performance was even worse, and that actually made me investigate further into ESO's Usersettings.txt, surf the web and look into people's points of view, aswell as already-existing configs, and explanations on certain lines under the file.
I'm now able to play without any stuttering at all, 30-40fps whilst on trials on a 2010 laptop, however, this was achieved due to my patience on finding the right settings for my machine, as those settings were not displayed in-game, in which in my opinion they should be.

We're talking about FPS-killer details here. Things such as Player particles, Player Spells Effect, other players abilities, aswell as their render quality.
I understand ESO is a game to be played on a decent PC build if you want to enjoy all the graphical experience whilst being able to improve your gameplay, but not everybody is able to own a good build, and if they're purchasing a product they know it won't be running decently, they should aswell be provided with specific in-game settings to reduce what the system cannot handle. I believe no one enjoys seeing one hundred thousand spell effects from 12 players performing their build rotations.It is beautiful indeed, but it ends up being too much.. it ends up demotivating players like me, who've tried everything to disable those, and if I modify something I shouldn't on usersettings.txt, my game will not launch at all.

Besides that, I'm actually surprised for the ammount of stuff players are able to edit in their file. I'm just not happy with the fact we have to do it ourselves. Adding in-depth settings in the game wouldn't be difficult. It's already in the files, why not add them to the game aswell as add more specific settings.

xWarbrain

I don't know about anyone else, but since Scalebreaker I've had significantly less lag, specifically in PvP Kaal campaign on Xbox NA. Even in large scale battles, lag is not anything near as bad as it was before Scalebreaker.

After all the complaining about server performance, I thought it was worth mentioning.

tplink3r1

DjMuscleboy02 wrote: »

Who cares about performance mine is fine, just give us new quests and other content every patch

Sarcasm?

keto3000

xWarbrain wrote: »

I don't know about anyone else, but since Scalebreaker I've had significantly less lag, specifically in PvP Kaal campaign on Xbox NA. Even in large scale battles, lag is not anything near as bad as it was before Scalebreaker.

After all the complaining about server performance, I thought it was worth mentioning.

I have to agree with you. I play on KAAL (US/NA server) on my MAC (late model 2013) and we Mac users have had our share of issues since Murkmire, but lag, fps and crashes have gone down alot since the latest patch fix to Scalebreaker. I'm still experiencing freezing in larger battles, but not as much as before ScaleB patch.

RebornV3x

better late then never I guess this is something that should have been done no later than like the end of 2017 not 5 years after release.

Mancombe_Nosehair

Do you have an estimate yet of the size of the download?

wolfbone

guess we'll be waiting till next year for this game to be worth playing again.

ZOS_SarahHecker

Hey everyone, our September update was published this morning: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/56681

In short, all work is still on track to roll out with the corresponding game update.

casparian

ZOS_SarahHecker wrote: »

Hey everyone, our September update was published this morning: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/56681

In short, all work is still on track to roll out with the corresponding game update.

Thank you for keeping us updated about progress! Communication like this is really encouraging.

zsban

Thank you for the update, and please keep this up in the future. This is what we (well, many people) wanted, to get a high level transparency on what the team is busy working on. It also helps understanding why certain things might be pushed back in the queue.

Dusk_Coven

When I use the https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news link, which typically puts the newest article on top, this article does not show up on top. Probably because it is an appendum to an older article (?).
It's flagged as Announcements, Community, and Development topics. On the Announcements and Community pages, it does not appear to show at all above the fold.
On the Development topics page, it is the second article -- again because it is an appendum to an earlier.

I think if this continues, it will continue to be chronologically buried as time goes by and quarterly updates get appended.

@ZOS_SarahHecker

Elsonso

.

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

When I use the https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news link, which typically puts the newest article on top, this article does not show up on top. Probably because it is an appendum to an older article (?).
It's flagged as Announcements, Community, and Development topics. On the Announcements and Community pages, it does not appear to show at all above the fold.
On the Development topics page, it is the second article -- again because it is an appendum to an earlier.

I think if this continues, it will continue to be chronologically buried as time goes by and quarterly updates get appended.

The forum thread is pinned to one of the forum categories. I use Recent, and it is at the top there. It also shows up on top any time someone replies to it in my Participated view.

ZOS_SarahHecker

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

When I use the https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news link, which typically puts the newest article on top, this article does not show up on top. Probably because it is an appendum to an older article (?).
It's flagged as Announcements, Community, and Development topics. On the Announcements and Community pages, it does not appear to show at all above the fold.
On the Development topics page, it is the second article -- again because it is an appendum to an earlier.

I think if this continues, it will continue to be chronologically buried as time goes by and quarterly updates get appended.

@ZOS_SarahHecker

We're working on getting the website updated so this doesn't happen in the future. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!