Congratulations ZOS- you destroyed all chat functions in game

Soul_Demon

I knew eventually the lack of professionals at that company eventually would destroy the game.....I think you have done it. Now that no one can communicate, constant crashes and years old bugs ......I believe you found the perfect 'storm' of incompetence to do it. Congratulations!

Earthewen

OMG. I went into game this morning and ALL chat in ALL zones are not functioning. Now you can't even communicate with your guilds or people in zone ANYWHERE!!!!

My big question is do you really think when this game dies completely, you'll still have jobs? I'm not sure having ESO on your resume will actually get you employment anywhere else when everyone knows the debacle this game is turning into. You really need to reconsider your choices and maybe test things BEFORE you put out a product that doesn't work.

yes, yes, I know TURN OFF ALL ADDONS.... We should not have to turn off our addons to make the game work, guys. That's just stupid.

Elsonso

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

Vapirko

What? I was just in game and had no chat problems. Are you sure it’s not an addon?

Soul_Demon

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

Earthewen

yeah, I just wanted to go through every single addon in my list to find the trouble that ZOS should have let us know about in the first place. They could have put it in the patch notes like, "oh, and (addon name here) isn't going to work anymore. So everyone using it might want to turn it off."

Unstable.Pixel

It's not ZoS's problem to make newly outdated addons work for their game, its the other way around.

OG_Kaveman

Update your addons?

Reverb

Dial back the rage. This problem is add on related and not the base game. While it would be best practice for zeni to communicate changes that impact API components, they would have to understand their game well enough to know the impact and we know that’s not going to happen.

And so using addons means accepting that sometimes they will get broken by unannounced changes, and we will have to turn them off until they get updated. It happens all the time and it’s really not a big deal.

Elsonso

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

The way the world is. Game developers update and release games. Add-on and mod makers take that and adapt to any changes. ESO generally changes things that impact add-ons once per quarter. In this case, I am guessing that the change to close what sounds like a chat-based exploit resulted in a change that broke an add-on. Oddly enough, maybe the add-on that was causing the problem in the first place.

On the other hand, if someone were exploiting this chat thing they fixed, that certain someone may have an in-game social ban in place.

Veles

I didnt have any problems with chat and I dont have problems now. What r u talking about? What chat problems?

Reverb

lordrichter wrote: »

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

The way the world is. Game developers update and release games. Add-on and mod makers take that and adapt to any changes. ESO generally changes things that impact add-ons once per quarter. In this case, I am guessing that the change to close what sounds like a chat-based exploit resulted in a change that broke an add-on. Oddly enough, maybe the add-on that was causing the problem in the first place.

The patch notes that it was related to the game client handling special characters in a way that compromised the client. Im guessing the change altered the chat API which “broke” all addons hat handle chat.

Fixed an issue where a large number of a specific characters appearing in chat could cause the client to become unresponsive.

Soul_Demon

Reverb wrote: »

Dial back the rage. This problem is add on related and not the base game. While it would be best practice for zeni to communicate changes that impact API components, they would have to understand their game well enough to know the impact and we know that’s not going to happen.

And so using addons means accepting that sometimes they will get broken by unannounced changes, and we will have to turn them off until they get updated. It happens all the time and it’s really not a big deal.

That one line....it occurs to me you are absolutely right. Its really a question of allowing the slow indoctrination ZOS has perpetuated about professionalism to take hold I need to deal with. Lag- player problem, not theirs. Crashes- player problem, don't group up. Bugs- player problem, don't use those skills. Addons they actively encouraged people to write to save them the work- player problem, don't use them.

It all stems from the unjustified expectation of assuming at some point they will take some responsibility for putting out garbage and asking customers to pay for it while they conduct the 'on the job training' programs they run there so employees who are tasked with this stuff can figure out eventually to run quality checks before they push anything out. I definitely agree with you....player problem, never expect even baseline ability to consider impact of what you push or quality check it before.

Elsonso

Reverb wrote: »

The patch notes that it was related to the game client handling special characters in a way that compromised the client. Im guessing the change altered the chat API which “broke” all addons hat handle chat.

Not all of them. This is why I am starting to wonder whether this is specific to an addon that, in theory, could have been exploiting this chat bug for personal gain... resulting in ZOS blocking the addon or muting those who were/are using it.

Soul_Demon

lordrichter wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

The patch notes that it was related to the game client handling special characters in a way that compromised the client. Im guessing the change altered the chat API which “broke” all addons hat handle chat.

Not all of them. This is why I am starting to wonder whether this is specific to an addon that, in theory, could have been exploiting this chat bug for personal gain... resulting in ZOS blocking the addon or muting those who were/are using it.

What is it you mean by "not all of them" here? Are you privy to something the rest of the community does not know or have you stumbled upon the cause of this specific problem?

VaranisArano

lordrichter wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

The patch notes that it was related to the game client handling special characters in a way that compromised the client. Im guessing the change altered the chat API which “broke” all addons hat handle chat.

Not all of them. This is why I am starting to wonder whether this is specific to an addon that, in theory, could have been exploiting this chat bug for personal gain... resulting in ZOS blocking the addon or muting those who were/are using it.

ZOS can block the add-on, but given that everyone using it just has to turn it off to chat, that's not a very effective mute button.

So I doubt ZOS targeted users.

I'm also glad they fixed an issue!

I do wish ZOS had given players and add-on developers a little more warning before throwing it into an incremental patch like this, especially for a conpany who wants to do better with communication. We expect addons to be wonky around major updates, but sudden issues after a small patch are still like WTF even when you realize its got to be the add-ons. (I fully agree there's been enough times that it's not the add-ons to explain a certain impulse for "Ugh, ZOS, what did you break this time?!")

Sure, ZOS doesnt have to warn players and addon developers about anything.

But it would be another way to improve communication.

Elsonso

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

The patch notes that it was related to the game client handling special characters in a way that compromised the client. Im guessing the change altered the chat API which “broke” all addons hat handle chat.

Not all of them. This is why I am starting to wonder whether this is specific to an addon that, in theory, could have been exploiting this chat bug for personal gain... resulting in ZOS blocking the addon or muting those who were/are using it.

What is it you mean by "not all of them" here? Are you privy to something the rest of the community does not know or have you stumbled upon the cause of this specific problem?

I don't have chat issues, and I run chat add-ons, so obviously, not all of them...

Soul_Demon

lordrichter wrote: »

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

The patch notes that it was related to the game client handling special characters in a way that compromised the client. Im guessing the change altered the chat API which “broke” all addons hat handle chat.

Not all of them. This is why I am starting to wonder whether this is specific to an addon that, in theory, could have been exploiting this chat bug for personal gain... resulting in ZOS blocking the addon or muting those who were/are using it.

What is it you mean by "not all of them" here? Are you privy to something the rest of the community does not know or have you stumbled upon the cause of this specific problem?

I don't have chat issues, and I run chat add-ons, so obviously, not all of them...

What ones would that be? Listing them would be helping those who are 'troubleshooting' right now- Go ahead and list the ones you use that are not impacted to save the time for others looking as we speak.

Earthewen

Special characters in the names in the chat window? An exploit? The only exploit I can figure out is when someone uses the special characters in their name in order to avoid being reported when they cheat in game or exploit the game mechanics which is against the TOS.

If that is true …

VaranisArano

lordrichter wrote: »

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

The way the world is. Game developers update and release games. Add-on and mod makers take that and adapt to any changes. ESO generally changes things that impact add-ons once per quarter. In this case, I am guessing that the change to close what sounds like a chat-based exploit resulted in a change that broke an add-on. Oddly enough, maybe the add-on that was causing the problem in the first place.

On the other hand, if someone were exploiting this chat thing they fixed, that certain someone may have an in-game social ban in place.

ZOS didnt mention anything about an exploit. Just:

"Fixed an issue where a large number of a specific characters appearing in chat could cause the client to become unresponsive."

So while I suppose its possible that some people went around spiking other player's clients with large blocks of special character text, I would think we'd be able to recognize that happening.

Now, I'm on PC/NA, so I don't often see lots of special characters. Is that more of a PC/EU issue?

Edited: apparently, there was an exploit, as per Gina's most recent comment.

Reverb

Earthewen wrote: »

Special characters in the names in the chat window? An exploit? The only exploit I can figure out is when someone uses the special characters in their name in order to avoid being reported when they cheat in game or exploit the game mechanics which is against the TOS.

If that is true …

Last week there was chatter about a bunch of players getting banned for intentionally causing other players to crash. Zeni shut down all the threads about it and nobody owned up to what had been done in Discord chat, just complaints about getting banned. (And stupid justifications like “I didn’t do anything wrong I just tested with a friend to see if it worked”. Because dumb’s gonna dumb).

Now I wonder if it wasn’t a chat bug that people were intentionally exploiting (because ****’s Gonna ****)

DaveMoeDee

We need competence in posting

BloodSkull_ESO

what chat addon are you using @Soul_Demon

BloodSkull_ESO

Earthewen wrote: »

Special characters in the names in the chat window? An exploit? The only exploit I can figure out is when someone uses the special characters in their name in order to avoid being reported when they cheat in game or exploit the game mechanics which is against the TOS.

If that is true …

it is true some players were banned for using some chat exploit to crash players

BloodSkull_ESO

VaranisArano wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

The way the world is. Game developers update and release games. Add-on and mod makers take that and adapt to any changes. ESO generally changes things that impact add-ons once per quarter. In this case, I am guessing that the change to close what sounds like a chat-based exploit resulted in a change that broke an add-on. Oddly enough, maybe the add-on that was causing the problem in the first place.

On the other hand, if someone were exploiting this chat thing they fixed, that certain someone may have an in-game social ban in place.

ZOS didnt mention anything about an exploit. Just:

"Fixed an issue where a large number of a specific characters appearing in chat could cause the client to become unresponsive."

So while I suppose its possible that some people went around spiking other player's clients with large blocks of special character text, I would think we'd be able to recognize that happening.

Now, I'm on PC/NA, so I don't often see lots of special characters. Is that more of a PC/EU issue?

yes you will see names on the eu server that have special characters in them

dogman

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

You are aware addons are 3rd party, and not official, right? You do realise that? Please tell me you understand how a mod works.

Soul_Demon

BloodSkull_ESO wrote: »

what chat addon are you using @Soul_Demon

At present two or so that I know have only chat functions. Pnames, Shissus as primary- unfortunately about 30% of all the guild addons have somewhat of a function in chat too- making the list pretty extensive along with some combat ones. Right now seems to be involved in about half of all the addons I have on- then again it could be just because we don't know for sure what the issue is exactly.

dogman wrote: »

Soul_Demon wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

If it is an add-on that is breaking your chat, then yeah, you need to turn it off.

P.S. - you might want to share what add-on it is, for other that come across this, and also let the add-on author know.

You would think if the game itself allowed and actually encouraged these addons from day one they would NEVER pretend that they could not have ever avoided this kind of thing. You know, like being competent at a job usually requires- consideration of impact and quality control first before you drop something on paying customers leaving them to troubleshoot.

You are aware addons are 3rd party, and not official, right? You do realise that? Please tell me you understand how a mod works.

Yes....as stated above I remember when ZOS was actively encouraging the addon creators to do what they do to support the gaming community here way back in the beginning to save them the work of doing so. And of course I commented on how I felt about the approach they have now regarding quality control as well as using the community as 'cheat monitors' and 'bug locators' instead of paid GM's in the game to monitor those things......that is to say paying for the game and actually suggesting the paying customers should be expected to perform these functions while you collect fees and profits- is bad...really bad.

Trinity_Is_My_Name

libchatmessage was the culprit for me. I think any library with a Chat function will cause the issue.

VaranisArano

Soul_Demon wrote: »

BloodSkull_ESO wrote: »

what chat addon are you using @Soul_Demon

At present two or so that I know have only chat functions. Pnames, Shissus as primary- unfortunately about 30% of all the guild addons have somewhat of a function in chat too- making the list pretty extensive along with some combat ones. Right now seems to be involved in about half of all the addons I have on- then again it could be just because we don't know for sure what the issue is exactly.

I don't know if this will help, but someone in the other thread mentioned Shissu's as well.

Lynnara1 wrote: »

Turning off Shissu's 'chat' line worked for me.

BloodSkull_ESO

Trinity_Is_My_Name wrote: »

libchatmessage was the culprit for me. I think any library with a Chat function will cause the issue.

yeah same for me as well just drop that crap and your stuff will work

iamkeebler

On console (PS4) we continue to have to deal with the many chat glitch issues. From chats disappearing, to cutting in and out. It’s incredibly frustrating and has been going on for years now. I have no hope of it ever getting fixed.