Rubberbanding, Disconnects, or High Ping? Start Here!

LadyGP · February 25

I wanted to take the time to share a few things I've learned during my time troubleshooting ping/disconnect issues for the past year or so in hopes that it will help ease some frustration many of you have who are suffering from similar issues. There are a few things to consider/troubleshoot when you're facing issues. The first few steps are going to be the "usual" stuff, so more than likely you'll need to skip to step 3.

For the purpose of this thread, I'm going to focus on the following symptoms:

999+ Ping (or higher than your usual)
Disconnecting to login screen (not hard crashes to your desktop)
Rubberbanding (example: everyone stops moving... and then after a few seconds, everyone/skills move at 2-3x speed for a second or two)
Skills not casting, interacting with objects not working, or taking multiple attempts

Before I go any further, if you ever have the above issues, please take a second to fill out the survey from ZoS to help isolate where the issues are coming from:
👉 [Survey Link](https://feedback.bethesda.net/jfe/form/SV_5dLZWx81Em0b3oO?utm_source=Bethesda)

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Step 1) Check Your Drivers, Windows Updates, and Repair ESO
I know, I know... but you'd be surprised how many issues will be fixed by doing this. Now, I'm going to assume you already did that, so let's move on.

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Step 2) Use a Wired Connection If Possible

If at all possible, ensure you're connected via a wired connection.
If you must be on WiFi, consider getting a WiFi repeater and placing it closer to your device if the connection is poor.

If it's not a WiFi/wired or driver issue, let's move on to the meat of this guide.

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Step 3) Disable All Add-ons and Test

Do you still run into the issue?
Large add-ons like RDK/Bandits can sometimes contribute to underlying issues.
Running the next step without add-ons will help diagnose the problem.

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Step 4) Use PingPlotter to Monitor Your Network
A network monitoring tool like PingPlotter helps track your ISP’s routing path, latency, and packet loss.

*I won't link it here to avoid breaking forum ToS, but a quick Google search will find the free version.*

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Setting Up PingPlotter

Pick an IP or domain to test (I always test 8.8.8.8 for Google DNS and the ESO server IP so I can compare the two).
NA IP Addresses: 198.20.200.1
EU IP Addresses: 159.100.230.1
Open PingPlotter and enter the IP/domain in the address bar.
Set the interval (e.g., 2.5 sec for real-time tracking, 15 sec for long-term tracking).

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Start Monitoring

Click the green play button to start testing.
Watch as hops appear, showing the data's route through different network points.
Let it run for at least 5-10 minutes for quick testing or 24+ hours for deeper analysis.
You don’t have to be in-game while testing, but linking in-game issues to PingPlotter data helps significantly.

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How to Read the PingPlotter Chart

Top Section (Hop List)

Hop: Each router/server between your device and the destination.
PL% (Packet Loss): Percentage of lost packets at each hop.
Latency (Avg, Min, Cur): Time (in milliseconds) for data to travel.

Right-Side Latency Graph

Green Zone: Good latency (fast response).
Yellow/Red Zones: Increasing latency (possible issues).
Red X’s or Gaps: Packet loss (dropped data).

Bottom Section (Time Graph)

Black Line: Latency over time.
Red Vertical Lines: Moments of packet loss.
Spikes Up: Higher latency (laggy periods).

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Key Observations from My Screenshot

1. Latency (Ping) Issues

The latency (round trip time) increases significantly around Hop 12 and beyond, reaching 55.1 ms at the destination.
Some latency spikes are visible in the bottom graph, but the average remains stable.

2. Packet Loss

Hop 6 has 35.6% packet loss, which could indicate a network congestion issue or ICMP deprioritization.
Hop 12 shows 6.8% packet loss, which might indicate some degradation in connectivity.
The final hop (198.20.200.1) has 1.7% packet loss, which is minor but could still impact performance.

3. Latency Spike & Packet Loss Event

The red vertical line in the lower graph marks a moment of significant packet loss or a network drop.
A latency spike (black line increasing) occurs before the

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Now What?

Once you have gathered your PingPlotter data, it's time to analyze and compare the results.
- Run the test using both the ESO IP address and a known reliable IP, such as Google DNS (8.8.8.8).
- Compare the results—do you see packet loss, higher latency, or instability on both, or just on the ESO server?
If packet loss or high latency is present on Google DNS (8.8.8.8):
- This indicates a potential issue with your ISP.
- Contact your ISP and open a support ticket.
- Provide them with the screenshots of your PingPlotter results.
- If you can run these tests for multiple days, it will help justify your case that an issue needs to be addressed.
If packet loss is not present on Google DNS but is affecting ESO’s IP:
- ESO doesn’t handle packet loss very well, so even minor issues can cause major gameplay problems.
- If you see red lines (packet loss) while testing ESO’s IP, check whether you experienced any performance issues in-game at that time.
- If you did, this is important information that should be shared with the ESO team.
If you didn’t experience issues during the test:
- Slowly start re-enabling your add-ons, one or two at a time.
- Play normally and see if the issues return.
- If the issues start again, you’ve likely found an add-on contributing to the problem.
Still Nothing?
- At this point, the issue might be outside the scope of this thread.
- Consider checking for CPU/GPU overheating, system load issues, or other hardware-related problems.
- Monitoring system performance while playing could help identify any resource bottlenecks affecting gameplay.
If you've gone through all these steps and still have issues, it might be time to dig deeper into hardware diagnostics or advanced network troubleshooting.

LadyGP · February 25

Update: @Jestertoo put together this awesome add-on that is an easier version of the above steps.

Windows users only:

I downloaded winMTR from sourceforge, wrapped it with a couple of scripts, and uploaded it to ESOUI as an addon. It doesn't integrate with the game at all in-game, but it does make it as simple as I could to install/run.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info4058-WinMTRwrapperforESOconnectiondebugging.html

Here I am pinging the NA datacenter.
The number I have circled is packetloss. If this is non-zero, or more than a few packets per hour, you would change MTR over to the pinging the google IP 8.8.8.8. Packetloss to google indicates a problem with your ISP or your connection to the ISP.

CAVEAT - IGNORE ping times for all the routers inline that have really high ping times. Routers respond to ICMP packets with the lowest priority in their CPUs. If they are running heaviliy loaded, they will not respond quickly or at all to ICMP, and may be false positively reported as slow or with lots of packet loss.
see below for a good explanation of why this is the case
https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/uw6t07/can_someone_explain_how_does_the_ping_go_from/

Update:

@Soraka said setting their device to a fixed IP solved their problems. This didn't solve my type of issue but fingers crossed it will be the solution for you!

Thanks @silky_soft for the write up on how to set a static ip!

Press: Windows key + R
Type: cmd
Press: enter
Type ipconfig /all
Leave the window open

Press: Windows key
Type: view net
Click: view network connections
Right click your connection
Select: Properties
Select: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)
From the details in cmd window
Enter your IP address and subnet mask
Select Save Settings [b][/b]

Soraka · February 25

Setting a static IP for my wifi almost completely fixed my constant disconnecting issues.

LadyGP · February 26

Soraka wrote: »

Setting a static IP for my wifi almost completely fixed my constant disconnecting issues.

That's one thing I haven't tried yet to be honest.... can't believe I never thought of that.

I'll give it a shot.

TX12001rwb17_ESO · February 26

LadyGP wrote: »

show previous quotes

Soraka wrote: »

Setting a static IP for my wifi almost completely fixed my constant disconnecting issues.

That's one thing I haven't tried yet to be honest.... can't believe I never thought of that.

I'll give it a shot.

And how exactly do you do that?

LadyGP · February 26

Well, it didn't work for me. The second I got near Roe.

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

show previous quotes

LadyGP wrote: »

Soraka wrote: »

Setting a static IP for my wifi almost completely fixed my constant disconnecting issues.

That's one thing I haven't tried yet to be honest.... can't believe I never thought of that.

I'll give it a shot.

And how exactly do you do that?

Whats the model of your router/modem by chance?

silky_soft · February 26

Press: Windows key + R
Type: cmd
Press: enter
Type ipconfig /all
Leave the window open

Press: Windows key
Type: view net
Click: view network connections
Right click your connection
Select: Properties
Select: Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)
From the details in cmd window
Enter your IP address and subnet mask
Select Save Settings

Tandor · February 26

Do I assume you're testing the NA server with Ping Plotter? You might want to give the EU details as well.

LadyGP · February 26

Tandor wrote: »

Do I assume you're testing the NA server with Ping Plotter? You might want to give the EU details as well.

Sorry the ip's were there but I failed to list what server they were for.

NA IP Addresses: 198.20.200.1
EU IP Addresses: 159.100.230.1

Jestertoo · February 27

Me and my wifi connection.

Logged into the router directly and no problems with ping to google.

LadyGP · February 27

Jestertoo wrote: »

Me and my wifi connection.

Logged into the router directly and no problems with ping to google.

Oof. Good 'ol wifi lol.

Orbital78 · February 27

servers seem to be crap tonight, first time I've had real issues since the "ddos" server crash early in event.

LadyGP · February 28

Orbital78 wrote: »

servers seem to be crap tonight, first time I've had real issues since the "ddos" server crash early in event.

I don't see Akami in the routing table or anything so mitigation is down... its possible they are getting hit again? Seems to almost be weekly now.

Orbital78 · February 28

Things have cleared up now, but I had two instances of it getting bad. I didn't bother trouble shooting but it seemed to be only ESO. Usually when I have issues it is from routing through Chicago to Dallas.

TX12001rwb17_ESO · February 28

And crashed within 1 minute of logging in.

Jestertoo · February 28

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

And crashed within 1 minute of logging in.

crashed = client exited back to desktop?
OR
kicked = back to login screen?

Veinblood1965 · February 28

i don't have a lot of disconnects (except for the first day of Midyear Mayhem). But thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Snakewise · February 28

Alas I had not in fact already done step 1, but it turns out that was what fixed everything for me. Was randomly unable to login to the game the last day because I kept getting error 334 upon trying to enter the game world. Didn't even think to update my wifi adapter drivers, but when I finally did I was able to get back on. I mean I had been playing the last week with no issue on those drivers until yesterday, so I'm confused as to what I could have done to mess things up, but updating them worked and that's all that matters.

LadyGP · February 28

Snakewise wrote: »

Alas I had not in fact already done step 1, but it turns out that was what fixed everything for me. Was randomly unable to login to the game the last day because I kept getting error 334 upon trying to enter the game world. Didn't even think to update my wifi adapter drivers, but when I finally did I was able to get back on. I mean I had been playing the last week with no issue on those drivers until yesterday, so I'm confused as to what I could have done to mess things up, but updating them worked and that's all that matters.

YAY! So glad it worked for you. I know 9/10 people won't have step 1 solve their problem but none the less always need to check off the easy stuff first.

If you run into any more issues report back your issues here:https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/658253/zos-massive-spike-in-ping-lag-in-recent-days-what-gives/p118

If anyone needs help setting up Ping Plotter or any troubleshooting post here or dm me.

LadyGP · March 10

Updated the above post with a second, and easier, add-on created by @Jestertoo that can help pinpoint some issues. Check it out if you're having some issues.