Stuck in Fargrave loading screen

SeaGtGruff

There seems to be something about the Fargrave City District that can cause problems with loading the area, or loading a character who is in that area or entering that area. The telltale symptoms that the issue is occurring are that the Ouroborus in the bottom right corner of the screen freezes-- it will not spin at all, no matter how long you wait-- yet you can hear the sounds of the Fargrave City District despite the video being frozen on the loading screen.

This happened to me earlier tonight on PCEU when I was looking for safeboxes to loot to try to get the lead for the Daedric Enchanting Station fragment. I had to force quit the game and restart it. Fortunately, when I logged back in on that character, the video did not freeze up and I was able to continue playing.

Now it's happening to me on PCNA. It happened when I previewed the Shattered Mirror housing and tried to exit back into the city district, and now it's happening when I tried to leave the Bazaar and enter the city district. I've let the game sit on the loading screen for several minutes hoping it will finish, but the video is frozen despite the sounds of the city district (including the occasional barking of my dog) being audible. I've restarted the computer after force quitting, and I've had the launcher get rid of any obsolete files when starting up, but whenever I try to log in on that character-- who is, unfortunately, my main character-- the same thing happens each time. My main character has become unplayable because of this.

This happened to me a year or two ago during the Deadlands celebration event, when I was repeatedly porting into the city district to pick up or turn in the delve and WB daily quests. At that time, the issue could apparently be resolved by continuing to close the game and try again, as was the case on PCEU earlier tonight. But for some reason it just will not load properly on PCNA-- the video freezes on the loading screen but the audio is playing the sounds of the city district as though everything were A-OK (but it isn't).

Does anyone else ever experience this? Does anyone have any suggestions for trying to resolve it and prevent it from recurring?

SeaGtGruff

Update:

I should mention that the issue is occurring on my MacBook Air. I tried logging in on my Windows gaming laptop and was able to make it past the loading screen on the first try. So it appears (best guess) that it may be some kind of issue with one or more game asset files on my MacBook Air.

However, I'm not sure what to do to fix it. Steam isn't letting me select the option to verify the integrity of the game's files. How can I do a repair without completely uninstalling and reinstalling the game?

SeaGtGruff

Nevermind, I found the repair option in the ESO launcher-- I was looking under the wrong gear icon, I guess. I'm running the repair process now, and hopefully that will prevent the issue from recurring-- although I'm hesitant to test it by going to the Fargrave City District again. I'm also unsure why a problematic asset file would cause the game's video to completely freeze on a load screen (Ourobos stops spinning), despite the computer's overall video working normally (able to switch back and forth between programs) and the game's audio playing normally (sounds from the loaded zone as though everything is fine).

ArchMikem

Is a MacBook even designed for gaming?

SeaGtGruff

This is an older model, meaning before Apple started using the newer chip that is problematic, so I've never had any serious problems running ESO on it-- a few glitches in the past, such as a spinning camera view which required a settings change that I don't remember (permissions issue?), a problem with the mouse pointer which was corrected by resizing the mouse pointer, and an intermittent issue where the game isn't "actively selected" after logging in (no sound and the mouse has no effect on the camera angle) which can be "corrected" by switching to another program (launcher or Steam or desktop) and then back to ESO. But the only issues I have playing ESO on my MacBook Air are really just annoyances-- having to use the Command key to bash/interrupt or break free (which I could "fix" by remapping that function) and the sadistically-designed "Magic Mouse" which has no scroll wheel (you run your finger up or down the surface of the mouse to scroll). It isn't the best choice for ESO, but the game runs well and it's convenient at times when better choices aren't available.

My Windows desktop PC doesn't have a hard drive spacious enough to install ESO and still have any appreciable room for anything else, and my Windows gaming laptop runs ESO beautifully but has an issue-- for some reason pressing the 1 key to use a skill has a greater than 50% chance to trigger the tilde key as well (without actually touching the tilde key), which has the unfortunate effect of constantly swapping weapons when I don't want to. I decided to plug my desktop keyboard into it, but then decided I don't want to keep swapping the keyboard between desktop and laptop because repeatedly plugging and unplugging a USB device can cause the connectors to loosen up over time. So now what I do is run ESO on my Windows laptop but stream it to my desktop computer through Steam. Thus works great except for one hitch-- the laptop slows down its Wi-Fi network connection when it isn't plugged in (something that can't be changed via settings and that is apparently related to the most recent Windows 11 updates), so I have to keep the laptop plugged in while playing ESO or the stream to my desktop is too laggy and choppy to tolerate. (But meanwhile the game is running smoothly on the laptop screen.) I'm not comfortable keeping the laptop plugged in for several hours while the battery is already at 100% charge. Another issue is that the mouse has a tendency to go crazy, causing things like running in the opposite direction from where I'm trying to go, or the camera view spinning, which presumably is due to the desktop's mouse input being sent to the laptop to control the game, then the game's video being sent to the desktop. Even a tiny bit of lag in the process can create absolute havoc, especially during PvP or when fighting a WB. The issue can be minimized by being extra careful and methodical about pressing a mouse button or movement key while also moving the mouse, but that is virtually impossible to do during PvP or boss fights.

Other than that, the gaming laptop runs ESO beautifully, and I've been able to increase the game's video quality settings and enjoy a better-looking picture than on my previous desktop (which died a couple of months ago). I have my new desktop connected to my large UHD TV because it doesn't have any connectors which are compatible with my monitors, and it's truly gorgeous to view my gameplay on the TV. But until I get a keyboard and mouse that I can keep plugged into the laptop at all times, I've started using my MacBook Air more often to play ESO.

ZOS_Icy

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the PC Technical Support section, as it is better suited there.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team