Disconnecting with an 'Unknown Error' message.

ArielleJureaux

Icyfingers wrote: »

Same problem here infinite loading screen then disconnected and if I am able to play I get a lot of rubber band lag, some other times I play just fine until I move to another area lag again, wtf is going on.

As you can see, by the number of pages this thread has, this problem is affecting a lot of players. Please read all the pages and you will see that "mod's name_ESO" are working diligently to help resolve this issue. It is not like we are being ignored. These issues take time to resolve. We, as players, need to be patient and let them work on the problem. I am not saying to anyone to quit posting about it. We need to keep this thread on page one of the forum.

(Check back here regularly to see if there has been a fix and bookmark this topic for instant notifications).

ZOS_MichaelD

Greetings All,

As Jason has mentioned, this issue is most likely caused by Packet Loss between the ISP and our Game Servers (Connection Lag Timeouts).

Due to the dynamic nature of each ISP's network configuration, this problem manifests as an intermittent phenomena, and will not always show in the Diagnostic Tools. Its not so much, the ISP's Speed, that is the problem. We have reports of this issue manifesting itself on High Speed Cable connections. It is more of Where you are in the world, and What routers the ISP is using to..."route" an internet connection to the User.

One way to get a "hint" as to whether or not this is your personal problem, is to use Game Consultant. It has a simple "Trace Route" program built in. However, at this time, it is a very basic test. A full "tracert" in the command prompt will test multiple "hops" and have more detailed information at each stop. Again, the problem still might not show, until more users login to the "node" that is experiencing Packet Loss. Making this problem intermittent and unpredictable to the ISP, and ESO.

The Dev team is currently looking into the issue. Hopefully, progress will be made to help those who are getting this error because of this Specific Reason.

Some users have tried "3rd Party" ping stabilizer services. Some examples would be "Battleping" or "WTFast" It has helped them. However, this is not officially stated as a solution at this time.

However, this issue is still very generic. Let us not forget to apply Basic Troubleshooting before any assumptions are made as to this being your issue.

1.) Make sure Antivirus Exceptions are made. Watchdog programs that monitor background processes could cause "timeouts"

2.) If you don't have a Full Feature Antivirus Program, it is advised to acquire one ASAP. Could be a background program causing the Disconnects. Use a "google" search for one of preference.

3.) Check the physical cables between the Computer and your Modem or Router

4.) Make sure ports for the game are open / unfiltered in the router (if necessary):

•Ports 24100 through 24131
•Ports 24500 through 24507

Note: This may or may not require the computer to be setup as a "Static" IP Address. Depends on the Router. This will provide a very stable connection on your end. However, if you are unsure how to do this, it is recommended you do research on Network Theory first! "Google" is your friend!

5.) If you still experience the disconnect past this Troubleshooting, it is most likely as simple as game "Lag" due to the high volume of people. Again, Dev is working on this issue very diligently. Hopefully things will get better over time. Also, it would be prudent to contact your ISP and explain the issue to them.

If you feel your problem is localized on your personal computer, please submit a support ticket. We will get with you as quickly as possible.

Drewls

I'm just jealous people got to beta test for free and I had to pay 100 bucks...

Maldamus

Just to add another voice to the ongoing saga, this is not a new problem, this has been occurring since the last 3 betas, the 2nd to last beta i got no access at all after creating a new character, 3rd beta same story for the first day, cs could not fix it, returned the following day and all worked fine. However since start of 5 day access for me straight on the initial zone out from coldharbour i encountered 'unknown error' and have consistently been suffering since, cant enter any instance that requires a load screen, was stuck on bleakrock isle till lvl 10, reset game got to davons watch, all seemed fine except no instances, currently in deshaan and still no fix, that's when i even get into the game.CS and in game gm's have been notified but still no further forward. A damn shame cos the game is freaking great otherwise.I have tried all the available 'fluff' fixes as are been touted by CS(should you be lucky enough to get any) and still no joy.All i can suggest is keep trying and hope they get a fix out sometime,lol im sick of grinding on mobs to level though.

KrakhenJr

Thanks @ZOS_MichaelD for showing that you are still monitoring this thread.

A question, after getting the "we will be submitting this information to Higher Level Tech Sorcerers" status update for my support ticket, am I supposed to troubleshoot something else before 120 hours go by?

Just to clarify, I've been able to play without the unknown error since I began using a vpn connection so I'm just trying to cooperate.

NoirJ

ZOS_MichaelD wrote: »

Greetings All,

As Jason has mentioned, this issue is most likely caused by Packet Loss between the ISP and our Game Servers (Connection Lag Timeouts).

Due to the dynamic nature of each ISP's network configuration, this problem manifests as an intermittent phenomena, and will not always show in the Diagnostic Tools. Its not so much, the ISP's Speed, that is the problem. We have reports of this issue manifesting itself on High Speed Cable connections. It is more of Where you are in the world, and What routers the ISP is using to..."route" an internet connection to the User.

One way to get a "hint" as to whether or not this is your personal problem, is to use Game Consultant. It has a simple "Trace Route" program built in. However, at this time, it is a very basic test. A full "tracert" in the command prompt will test multiple "hops" and have more detailed information at each stop. Again, the problem still might not show, until more users login to the "node" that is experiencing Packet Loss. Making this problem intermittent and unpredictable to the ISP, and ESO.

The Dev team is currently looking into the issue. Hopefully, progress will be made to help those who are getting this error because of this Specific Reason.

Some users have tried "3rd Party" ping stabilizer services. Some examples would be "Battleping" or "WTFast" It has helped them. However, this is not officially stated as a solution at this time.

However, this issue is still very generic. Let us not forget to apply Basic Troubleshooting before any assumptions are made as to this being your issue.

1.) Make sure Antivirus Exceptions are made. Watchdog programs that monitor background processes could cause "timeouts"

2.) If you don't have a Full Feature Antivirus Program, it is advised to acquire one ASAP. Could be a background program causing the Disconnects. Use a "google" search for one of preference.

3.) Check the physical cables between the Computer and your Modem or Router

4.) Make sure ports for the game are open / unfiltered in the router (if necessary):

•Ports 24100 through 24131
•Ports 24500 through 24507

Note: This may or may not require the computer to be setup as a "Static" IP Address. Depends on the Router. This will provide a very stable connection on your end. However, if you are unsure how to do this, it is recommended you do research on Network Theory first! "Google" is your friend!

5.) If you still experience the disconnect past this Troubleshooting, it is most likely as simple as game "Lag" due to the high volume of people. Again, Dev is working on this issue very diligently. Hopefully things will get better over time. Also, it would be prudent to contact your ISP and explain the issue to them.

If you feel your problem is localized on your personal computer, please submit a support ticket. We will get with you as quickly as possible.

@ZOS_MichaelD
I appreciate the answers in both the other thread and this one, what a lot of people are annoyed about is that despite this being reported back in Beat nothing was done, and again when the game went live for early access.
Its take days to get a proper official response.

You also have a lot of very savvy people one here that have been giving updates, so while you are correct in saying that the issues may not all be caused by the same problem, its quite clear there's an issue with the way the traffic to the server is being handled for a lot of people.

Until I started using the VPN, it was a constant issue, I could maybe actually log in and see the game world but hadn't been able to interact with anything at all before being disconnected. I personally received a stock response to my ticket regarding this during the last beta, which is when it started to happen for me, and I am still waiting for some sort of contact from yourselves re the ticket I raised on Sunday.

I am also surprised that you have your Developers looking at a network traffic issue, surely this would be addressed by your Ops?

So again whilst I appreciate your update its is still far from what I would have expected, you now have people that pre-ordered to get early access which they cant use because this want picked up on despite it being reported prior to go live.

I would hope, and I do not include myself in this group as the VPN sorted this for me on Sunday Evening, that Zenimax will as a show of good faith give some game time to the people that have been affected by this issue and had their gaming experience spoiled.

I have high hopes for this game and am really enjoying myself, but its tinged with the thought that there's a lot of good people that should be running around with me on the other side of the screen and are not.

Lets hope that this was an unfortunate blip on the road to success for this game, but please, please, please keep giving regular updates.

Thanks

Rakashua

I have a workaround for the problem that is likely to work, unfortunately, there's a downside.

Yes the Dev is right, it's not due to the speed of your connection but to your location. This problem is compounded if you live in an apartment, hotel, (army base), or other corporate location in which you don't have access to your router.
Due to the nature of the problem, having a wired vs wireless connection will make no difference whatsoever.
There's only one place that will work, every time, to log you in, and it's not on this planet (technically).

Use your smart phone. It is satelite based, stable IP address, and will always work to log in. The obvious downside is that this burns data, you need to be near to an LTE capable tower (3G is too laggy in my experience).

HOWEVER, a HUGE UPSIDE to this and a potential fix for everyone out there with a smart phone or a friend who has one, follow these steps.

1) connect your smartphone to your computer to give it an internet connection (LTE not required for this fix, use cable or wifi/bluetooth)

2) Log into the game but DO NOT go past the character creation stage or select an already existent character.

3) connect your computer to a wired ethernet connection that didn't work for you before or (if using the phone's cable not it's wifi) connect to the wifi you were using before that did not work.

caveat to 3) DO NOT disconnect from your phone's internet when you connect to the other source (yes you can connect to two sources at once, no your computer cant "use" two sources at the same time in the same relationship)

4) Now you've got your "foot in the door" as it were. Your computer has made it through Bethesda's glitchy (no offense guys but it is) front door answering service for their server. Now, you take off the proverbial shoe, leave it wedging the door open, take ten steps back and charge the door screaming "NORD MEADE" at the top of your lungs (technical translation of step 4 below).

4) disconnect from your phone's internet and let the alternate source you are ALREADY connected to take over. In my case (sorry I can't speak for anyone else except my wife since it worked for us) I lost connection for a moment and then got it back, already past the log in screen. Then I selected character and EUREKA! I can play.


Hope this works for everyone else!

AzureButterfly

To clarify the exact nature of my problem:

- The account login works perfectly. I get in, I see my characters, it's good. I try to load a character and that's when the problem starts. Sometimes it boots me right away. Sometimes it waits at "requesting character load" for a while, then boots me. Sometimes I get into the game, five minutes pass, and it boots me. The error message is always "unknown error."
- I play on two computers - primarily my laptop at school, but occasionally my desktop at home. I only encounter this problem when at school, so my account doesn't seem to be the issue.
- I have been playing the beta since August. No problems for most of the testing. I was even in the first PvP test with a couple hundred others and the connection worked swimmingly. The problems arose in early 2014. Someone else mentioned something about the "invalid character or alliance" message. I also saw this message when the problem first occurred back in January or February.
- I contacted my school tech department and we worked on the problem for a while. Two beta sessions prior to launch, we managed to stop the errors for a while. The problem was with our school's firewall, which blocks anything deemed a peer to peer sharing application. We thought the problem was fixed by making an exception for the ports and the IP we traced back to ZOS - however, the problem re-manifested itself during early access.
- My netstat results are different from most of the reports posted by other players. Most reports have 127.0.0.1(IPv4) listed several times at the beginning of the list. I end up with [::1] (IPv6) at the end of the list, but only occasionally. I'll attach the logs I kept in the hopes the ZOS techs will know what to make of it.

me_ESO22

ZOS_MichaelD wrote: »

...
As Jason has mentioned, this issue is most likely caused by Packet Loss between the ISP and our Game Servers (Connection Lag Timeouts) ...

A lot of the problems listed in this monster of a thread have nothing to do with the network. Please see this thread for an example:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/64023/account-problem-not-network-an-unknown-error-has-occurred#latest

Ticket 140401-039166

dkpunk

This is pretty ridiculous. I think If the diconnects continue and we continue to get the "It's your ISP" cop out I'm just going to ask for a refund. Shame, I really wanted to like this game.

AzureButterfly

I tried switching to a static IP, but it just kicked me right away at character select.

AzureButterfly

Here's the tracert results. Hop 13 is being uncooperative.

Hutch

So I just got off the phone with my ISP provider. I’ll just let you all know now nothing has been fixed and there was no breakthrough, but if you want to continue reading it is a mildly entertaining.

Bear in mind I know nothing about internet stuff. Hardware? Sure. Internet stuff? Nope.

So I let the tech know that I was getting disconnected while playing and MMO and the troubleshooting folks at Zenimax told us it was a packet loss error that is their fault. His first response was that on my account I’m only running a 30/mg plan or something, and I should get 60 and that’ll fix it.

I let him know I play tons of MMOs with this very connection with next to zero lag. The game isn’t lagging, it isn’t freezing, it isn’t stuttering, it’s just frequently disconnecting. His next answer is he can reset my cable box, but he doesn’t see anything going on wrong with it but he can try, and if that doesn’t work I can take time out and swap the box out for another one.

So yeah, that’s about all I got. I really am trying not to be jaded here and I do understand how big of an issue it is getting these games started up and taken care of and there are going to be server issues and bugs and whatnot… but come on. Though it’s unfortunate many have had this issue through the Beta, some of us didn’t and now we do. My ISP didn’t change. There has got to be someone on Zenimax’s side that can figure this out. And I know they’re working on it and all of that.

But seriously… MMORPG’s aren’t new. I’m sure making a system that connects players isn’t that big of a deal, it’s not an untested science or whatever. I’m going to stay patient, because I do really love this game when I can play it… I just wish I could play it more. One thing though, especially for us folks who don’t know much about internet stuff and all of that, if you want to attempt to pass of the issue as something on my end, you’d better tell me how to explain myself to someone because I definitely don’t know how. Frankly, I don’t believe it’s something on my end, I never had these issues with any other MMO before, nor with this game during the Beta, and my service has never changed. Frankly, I just tried because I’m bored and tired of being frustrated attempting to have fun.

Maximas45

how do you run a repair?

tjrankb16_ESO

I never had this issue until right before the server reset today. When I try to login in I get the character select screen for a brief moment then the error message. I don't believe it's network related:
I reinstalled - no luck.
I have 2 ISPs at home - 0ne cable and one DSL. Different providers too - no luck.
Installed it on different PC - no luck tested with both ISPs.
It's got to be some sort of bug with the account - the only true way to test is to try another login and see...

soggybottom123ub17_ESO

Same Issue, NA side live in NA internet is wired and good, no lag or anything just the random kicks to load screen with the unknown error message

Edit: It has been happening to me in the 4 betas I played btw.

johnbagnoli_ESO

Maximas45 wrote: »

how do you run a repair?

From the launcher there should be a "Game Options" pull down menu. Right over the news updates, not along the top.

ArielleJureaux

Here is an interesting bit of info. I did a tracert and had two bad hops, one from hop 8 to hop 9 being:
[4.69.158.126], which is vlan52.ebr2.Atlanta2.Level3.net. The second was at 18 and was: ae-83-83.csw3.Dallas2.Level3.net [4.69.151.157].
So I googled both of these and results came back to other MMOs' forums with players complaining of latency. The dates of the posts were in 2013. I did not see any more recent than that. This probably has no relevance to this issue, I just though it was an odd coincidence and wanted to share it with y'all.

Zelus

Well I literally played ESO all day... and now because its 8pm I cannot play lol Massive Lag...unknown errors...at about 11;20ish pm the game is playable again... I dunno wtf...gonna go watch netflix i guess

Sophystry

Okay. Here goes. I physically moved my internet source to the same room as my computer and placed my roommate's computer on wifi (the ol' switcheroo) and I managed to get in and stay in without any issue. His game then suffered like mine (bwahaha!). This completely rules out my rig being the issue and blames everything on the weefees. Confused, we went over a checklist of what this could mean. I remembered something about windows vista (back in the day; windows 7/8.1 now) not liking being connected to hidden networks and so we went ahead and broadcast our SSID. Now I don't know if this is what fixed the problem, or if the server maintenance did the trick but I've managed to play for at least 4 hours without a hitch. (FYI; I was still unable to connect after the servers came back online). Maybe my ISP did something, or maybe this game hates any and every security measure on the planet. One thing is for sure, it illogically hates WiFi. I hope this helps get the issue resolved or at least spark some semblance of hope.

wunahokalugi

tried my main ISP again this evening; setup port forwarding thru the router to my machine (fortunately i'm the only one in my house playing so I can)

teleport from desha to devon watch; unknown error; upon return logging in: requesting character load....; unknown error; rinse repeat

to get back in the game I'm going to have to use a live external IP device, again

speed test shows my connection as wonderful; ping times to 8.8.8.8 sub 30ms

switched over to a verizon air card which has a non-RFC1918 IP address, right back in

Zebular

ZOS_MichaelServotte wrote: »

Evening everyone,

While it is possible that the Unknown Error message could be a result of an ISP-related issue, it may also be a result of something else entirely. To help us narrow down exactly why you are receiving this error message, we ask that you please reach out our Customer Support team so that they can get additional information (such as a traceroute report), and troubleshoot further with you.

I have been contacting your Support department and reporting this for 3 beta play sessions now. Each time, nothing is done and my tickets are closed. Now to see this make it to Live and being blamed on our ISP, along with it affecting almost every ISP there is, is just crazy to me. I am very disappointed with how this is being handled. I don't even have a desire to make yet another support ticket on this because of they way they were brushed off and now being publicly brushed off. I cannot express enough my dissatisfaction with the way this has been dealt with. You all have my Consultant file (attached earlier when requested in this thread), so please just fix this issue. No more run arounds!

michael5

do this feel like beta testing lol?
the problem is: this is not beta anymore ><

Zebular

Zebular wrote: »

show previous quotes

ZOS_JasonL wrote: »

Hey there, everyone.Thank you all for being patient while we've been looking into the problem.

We want to request some information from you all. If you're still receiving the "Unknown Error" message, please open the launcher, and click the settings gear. Click "About," then select "Game Consultant," and click "Run Tests." This will run a special diagnostic tool that will create a .txt file that will provide us with more information about your machine. Provide us with the report by attaching the file here so we can look into it further. Thank you, guys!

Well met, JasonL!

Thank you all for looking into this. This "unknown error has occurred" has made the game almost unplayable as the constant disconnects with this error are so abundant that they are frustrating enough to suck the enjoyment right out of the game. I'm always feeling like, "am I going to disconnect?" That's not a fun feeling to have; always worrying about disconnecting and then to have the worry come to light as it consistently happens.

I've attached my report as requested.

Reading through the replies I noticed a mention about ESO possibly being detected as torrenting, so I went into my router and disabled the following blocks:
Block ICMP
Block Peer-to-peer applications

I still left the following blocked, however:
Block IDENT (port 113)

I'll report back if my problem goes away.

I am wondering though... should I set up port forwarding? Mine is the only PC in the house that plays ESO. So, if I wanted to set up port forwarding for ESO, what are the ports I need to forward?

To update here, despite doing as I described above as well as setting up port forwarding on my modem/router, I am still getting this "unknown error" - I even opened the ports on my NIS firewall. No luck.

Myth1184

having this same problem, been playing past 2 days fine and this problem shows up tonight. Disconnecting with "Unknown Error", even got disconnected with a message limit/spamming disconnect, even tho i hadnt said anything in Chat in hours

decovca

Zebular wrote: »

show previous quotes

ZOS_MichaelServotte wrote: »

Evening everyone,

While it is possible that the Unknown Error message could be a result of an ISP-related issue, it may also be a result of something else entirely. To help us narrow down exactly why you are receiving this error message, we ask that you please reach out our Customer Support team so that they can get additional information (such as a traceroute report), and troubleshoot further with you.

I have been contacting your Support department and reporting this for 3 beta play sessions now. Each time, nothing is done and my tickets are closed. Now to see this make it to Live and being blamed on our ISP, along with it affecting almost every ISP there is, is just crazy to me. I am very disappointed with how this is being handled. I don't even have a desire to make yet another support ticket on this because of they way they were brushed off and now being publicly brushed off. I cannot express enough my dissatisfaction with the way this has been dealt with. You all have my Consultant file (attached earlier when requested in this thread), so please just fix this issue. No more run arounds!

Totally agree.

Chomppa

Getting disconnects also , hope this gets fixed .

WaxyPaxy

Same thing with me. Constantly. Doesnt matter what zone or anything. I guess just wait for an acknowledgment and official response and if it drags out too long I will get upset but meh, game is good, hopefully this gets worked out.

Esopita

Don't know if this will help or not but here's the only recorded date and time I have for a nice pleasent unknown error free time period I managed to score one day.

My location: Australian - Queensland
Date: Monday 31-03-14
Time: roughly between 1pm-5pm (GMT 10+)
Note: I was able to play during this time without receiving an unknown error message and then it started happening again.

JoeBenet

I'm really starting to think it has something to do with their servers being overloaded. The fact that it is only affecting some of us now that the 3 day headstart has started and during primetime makes me think it's an issue with server overloading. I wonder if this means this weekend is going to be even worse with the game officially launching.