[WARNING] Elder Scrolls Deletes ALL PROGRAMS Bug

bayley-doberwb17_ESO

So, when I installed the Elder Scrolls Online, I had to put it on another Hard Drive, since it would auto to my SSD, and I use that for my Operating System and avoid installing other programs on it.

Because of this, a "Zenimax" folder was not created for the other folders to be put in, and therefore, when I wanted to change to a North America server, it deleted ALL OF MY PROGRAMS. Every single one. Luckily, my SSD has all my important programs on it, but nonetheless, it is a huge hassle since I had important programs regarding my University course on it.

This is just a warning to others who may come across the same issue as myself, it is potentially very troublesome.

The fix is, creating a Zenimax folder to put your ESO in, but it wasn't automatically created for me, like I had assumed.

FUN!
(No, not really.)

ZOS_MichelleA

Hello, bayley-doberwb17_ESO. In order to investigate this, we are going to ask you to please submit a ticket and attach the following files. Thank you for reporting this!

• MSInfo
• DXDiag
• Host.developer log
• What type of OS you are using?
• What type of computer you are using (PC/MAC).
• Are you downloading the game, or installing from a disk?
• What error messages were received, if any?
• What, if anything, were you doing when this wipe occurred? (Browsing the internet, etc.)
• Any screenshots of your Programs folder after this wipe, in order for us to see what happened.

bayley-doberwb17_ESO

ZOS_MichelleA wrote: »

Hello, bayley-doberwb17_ESO. In order to investigate this, we are going to ask you to please submit a ticket and attach the following files. Thank you for reporting this!

• MSInfo
• DXDiag
• Host.developer log
• What type of OS you are using?
• What type of computer you are using (PC/MAC).
• Are you downloading the game, or installing from a disk?
• What error messages were received, if any?
• What, if anything, were you doing when this wipe occurred? (Browsing the internet, etc.)
• Any screenshots of your Programs folder after this wipe, in order for us to see what happened.

Can't find a "Submit Ticket" button or anything. I can see the 'Ask for Help' with the email option, however it does not allow me to attach files. Should I just attach files here?

class101

Imo this is human error, exactly as if you had set TESO to install in c:\Windows\System32, then your computer would not boot anymore ;D

But I agree blind deleting everything in the TESO folder is very dangerous, assuming the user can set by mistake an important folder as a TESO root folder

bayley-doberwb17_ESO

class101 wrote: »

Imo this is human error, exactly as if you had set TESO to install in c:\Windows\System32, then your computer would not boot anymore ;D

But I agree blind deleting everything in the TESO folder is very dangerous, assuming the user can set by mistake an important folder as a TESO root folder

I agree it is a bit, but when I redirected the installation path, I thought it would automatically create a Zenimax folder (like most of other programs do), and it didn't. It was my fault that it wasn't installed in it's own little folder, but I certainly wasn't expecting to delete all of my programs when changing servers. :S I feel pretty dumb right now, and frustrated because... important programs.

Brabok

i would agree with Class101.
any program installer (ESO included) will come up with a default line

install to [Drive]:\...

it is then up to the user to make sure a folder is created with the name of the software that is being installed.(sometimes that is done automatically but not always)
if you don't create that folder but install directly in the drives root directory things are likely to get messy.

bayley-doberwb17_ESO

Brabok wrote: »

i would agree with Class101.
any program installer (ESO included) will come up with a default line

install to [Drive]:\...

it is then up to the user to make sure a folder is created with the name of the software that is being installed.(sometimes that is done automatically but not always)
if you don't create that folder but install directly in the drives root directory things are likely to get messy.

True. I understand this is mostly my fault. I still think that the launcher deleting everything in my Programs(86x) folder, just because I forgot to add a Zenimax folder, is a bit silly. Other people are sure to make the same mistake (if I'm an example at all) and I thought I'd warn them.

MongrelBonkers

Yeah same thing happened to me twice, uninstalled all my steam games

GossiTheDog

Yeah, this is a logic error in ESO. If you uninstall, it just blindly deletes everything in the installation folder. The problem is if the customer selected, for example, c:\ as their installation folder it would try to delete all of c:

MongrelBonkers

It's just so stupid that it uninstalls all programs if you try to direct the installation to D :, cause now i have most of my internet usage for the month as a result of re-installing all the steam games.

cheeser123

GossiTheDog wrote: »

Yeah, this is a logic error in ESO. If you uninstall, it just blindly deletes everything in the installation folder. The problem is if the customer selected, for example, c:\ as their installation folder it would try to delete all of c:

Yeah, this is really a serious issue. Most uninstallers clean up all the files they installed in the first place and then, if necessary, prompt you "This folder is not empty, should I delete the folder and all contents?" And then you say "No" and it's no problem.

clone10thub17_ESO

Well, I'm suing you guys. Your installer just wiped out half my hard drive when I pressed cancel on the installer. All my personal files and important data are gone now. You guys need to do a recall on the faulty discs right away.

AlexDougherty

I just installed it on my hard drive, no issues at all. The problem is, I think, if you select a different drive without creating a specific folder for it, which is a stupidly annoying bug.

PS. I try to back up all my files and programmes anyway, and would suggest buying a removable hard-drive for back-ups. But I'm not defending a bug.

Perseas

ZOS_MichelleA wrote: »

Hello, bayley-doberwb17_ESO. In order to investigate this, we are going to ask you to please submit a ticket and attach the following files. This will help us resolve this matter as soon as possible. Thank you for reporting this!

• MSInfo
• DXDiag
• Host.developer log
• What type of OS you are using?
• What type of computer you are using (PC/MAC).
• Are you downloading the game, or installing from a disk?
• What error messages were received, if any?
• What, if anything, were you doing when this wipe occurred? (Browsing the internet, etc.)
• Any screenshots of your Programs folder after this wipe, in order for us to see what happened.

Its the same thing happened to us, the day ZOS announced, that early access users, have 2 more days, but ur launcher deleted our games!!!! So "ur launcher" forced thousands of people to reinstall and add a sub plan... Because the update patch, required it.

That also translates in a few words... The 2 extra days ZOS announced, was Aprils fools. We lost 1 day, we didnt got 2 days... so overall we've been tricked (lost the 2 days zos announced and 1 day we had to download the whole game again). Overall 3 days and we HAVENT forgot it... u bet

clone10thub17_ESO

I would also like to point out that the human error doesn't lie with the user but the developers. Out of all the games I've installed, ESO is the first game to actually do harm to my machine. Proper coding and testing before delivery of the disc could have prevented this. And I have no idea why they used the UDF format for a retail DVD!

athena_o2

This happened to me too 2 days ago. ESO is such a pig it filled up my C:// and wouldn't patch any more. 250GB drive with ESO and the OS on it and nothing else. I installed it to my second hard drive (D ) , and it wrote over EVERYTHING. And I do mean, EVERYTHING. After I selected my secondary drive as the install path, and hit install, I noticed my free space on that drive went from 1TB to 1.81 TB...weird. I let it run overnight, come back to try to access my photos the next day, and everything. is. gone.


It's not a virus, the files weren't just moved, trust me it's all gone. I've done multiple drive recoveries and used several forensics tools and it's all been written over. What really sucks is, then my hard drive synced with my cloud drive backups, and wrote over everything with empty files.

All my college photos, totally gone.

All my photos from my time in the military, gone.

All the photos of my girlfriend, gone.

All photos of my brother's wedding, gone.

My professional resumes and evaluations, gone.

All my personal writing, gone.

I had assumed that it would make a Zenimax folder in the D drive and install into that, but it just wiped over everything.

Zenimax, you know about this bug error. You've known about it for months. Yet people keep posting about having this issue. Fix it.

Edit: This was off the retail CE discs

Vortimere

bayley-doberwb17_ESO wrote: »

I understand this is mostly my fault. I still think that the launcher deleting everything in my Programs(86x) folder, just because I forgot to add a Zenimax folder, is a bit silly. Other people are sure to make the same mistake (if I'm an example at all) and I thought I'd warn them.

I'm a professional software developer and I've used commercial installers (InstallShield) and home-grown ones. The installer is absolutely responsible for knowing which files, fonts, and registry entries it made and deleting ONLY that set of information it placed on the HD if the program is uninstalled. It's entirely amateur to write your own installer and blindly delete everything from the install folder on a user-commanded uninstall. Bad form on ZOS and even worse that there was no test case for installing to an existing folder (but the QA team seems to have a rep for not eliciting a full set of test cases anyway).

This isn't your fault but thanks for bringing this flawed and potentially harmful behavior to the attention of the forum base.

Ysne58

Actually, if it's deleting the way it is, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, it most certainly is the developers fault. There is no excuse for that level of incompetence. It's even worse that Microsoft.

Venithar

Ysne58 wrote: »

Actually, if it's deleting the way it is, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, it most certainly is the developers fault. There is no excuse for that level of incompetence. It's even worse that Microsoft.

Nothing is worse then Microsoft - Home of the Feature.

@athena_o2‌ Professional recovery can still recover files that have been over written. I would suggest using trial versions of a couple of the recovery software programs until you find one that actually find data and buy that one, or send the drive out for recovery. The only downside to this, is the software can be expensive as can sending it out. (maybe you can convince zenimax to foot the bill for professional recovery)

athena_o2

@Venithar, thanks for the reply. I am debating how far I want to go with this. Funds are an issue

Seravi

This must be a CD issue. I installed from the digital and I installed it on my D drive. I directed it to the Games folder and it created the Zenimax Online folder on D and the one on C under my user profile.

Tyr

Venithar wrote: »

Ysne58 wrote: »

Actually, if it's deleting the way it is, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, it most certainly is the developers fault. There is no excuse for that level of incompetence. It's even worse that Microsoft.

Nothing is worse then Microsoft - Home of the Feature.

@athena_o2‌ Professional recovery can still recover files that have been over written. I would suggest using trial versions of a couple of the recovery software programs until you find one that actually find data and buy that one, or send the drive out for recovery. The only downside to this, is the software can be expensive as can sending it out. (maybe you can convince zenimax to foot the bill for professional recovery)

You don't know what you're talking about. physically overwriting a file is different than deletion and nobody can recover from that.
However running basic recovery software or "forensic"(this is a meaningless term, btw) software doesn't mean that the data has actually been overwritten.
Further, Zenimx is in no way responsible that the end-user decided to use the non-default installation directory while not understanding that MOST installers(people saying they don't know much about software development) will wipe the directory they are installed to when they are uninstalled.

They also won't do this spontaneously and just miraculously wipe your drive. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people installing TESO, the chances of that happening over any number of logical or physical faults causing that kind of data loss is astronomically low. It's like 5-6 orders of magnitude more likely that the ZOS's installer had nothing to do with your data loss and it was a separate unrelated fault.

Having said that, this is one of the instances that clearly show how cloud backup is not enough and you should always follow the industry standard 3-2-1 principal of backup, which includes having a second physical copy of your critical data in your possession.

Venithar

Tyr wrote: »

Venithar wrote: »

Ysne58 wrote: »

Actually, if it's deleting the way it is, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, it most certainly is the developers fault. There is no excuse for that level of incompetence. It's even worse that Microsoft.

Nothing is worse then Microsoft - Home of the Feature.

@athena_o2‌ Professional recovery can still recover files that have been over written. I would suggest using trial versions of a couple of the recovery software programs until you find one that actually find data and buy that one, or send the drive out for recovery. The only downside to this, is the software can be expensive as can sending it out. (maybe you can convince zenimax to foot the bill for professional recovery)

You don't know what you're talking about. physically overwriting a file is different than deletion and nobody can recover from that.
However running basic recovery software or "forensic"(this is a meaningless term, btw) software doesn't mean that the data has actually been overwritten.

Physically overwriting a file can be recovered from, it takes multiple overwrites to remove a file from a hard drive. This is why there is a term "government wipe" it is multiple passes of 1s and 0s to be sure the drive is completely wiped.

Edit: I probably should have stated that differently though, as software cannot recover overwritten files, though they can be recovered, or at least back in about a decade or so ago, there was discussion on a way to do it.

Soloeus

I hope a solution comes up , and hopefully it can be learned how this happened to avoid it happening to others.

TheScorpion

All I can say about this.... unbelievable this has happened to more than one person and even more unbelievable that people defend Zenimax in this! Blatant example of POOR coding practices and lack of efficient testing prior to release. Not everyone is computer savvy and not everyone would know to create that folder and Zenimax need to take responsibility for their programmers short comings! ....which by reading these forums, there are MANY!

trucqulent

class101 wrote: »

Imo this is human error

Not even an opinion really. It's a matter of fact.

bayley-doberwb17_ESO wrote: »

Brabok wrote: »

i would agree with Class101.
any program installer (ESO included) will come up with a default line

install to [Drive]:\...

it is then up to the user to make sure a folder is created with the name of the software that is being installed.(sometimes that is done automatically but not always)
if you don't create that folder but install directly in the drives root directory things are likely to get messy.

True. I understand this is mostly my fault. I still think that the launcher deleting everything in my Programs(86x) folder, just because I forgot to add a Zenimax folder, is a bit silly.

it's very silly... and it has nothing to do with Zenimax. it has to do with your "auto" configuration and human error.

You told the computer to overwrite the drive location within that specific partition. How does that have anything to do with eso at all?

coryevans_3b14_ESO

clone10thub17_ESO wrote: »

Well, I'm suing you guys. Your installer just wiped out half my hard drive when I pressed cancel on the installer. All my personal files and important data are gone now. You guys need to do a recall on the faulty discs right away.

You can't sue for something that was clearly your fault.

captain_awesome

It's not his fault.

Read the thread.

RatsnevE

Venithar wrote: »

@athena_o2‌ Professional recovery can still recover files that have been over written. I would suggest using trial versions of a couple of the recovery software programs until you find one that actually find data and buy that one, or send the drive out for recovery. The only downside to this, is the software can be expensive as can sending it out. (maybe you can convince zenimax to foot the bill for professional recovery)

I've been wondering if this is still the case concerning SSDs? How can you recover over written data on an SSD? Sadly it also points to ALWAYS backing up somewhere critical data you CANNOT lose...and never 'assume' anything unless you know data you cannot lose is safe elsewhere even if the computer burns up.

Ysne58

So is the problem with the physical disks, or are there issues with the download that have crept in since the game went live.

AntonTakk

clone10thub17_ESO wrote: »

I would also like to point out that the human error doesn't lie with the user but the developers. Out of all the games I've installed, ESO is the first game to actually do harm to my machine. Proper coding and testing before delivery of the disc could have prevented this. And I have no idea why they used the UDF format for a retail DVD!

UDF is an exceedingly common filesystem for DVDs. I seriously doubt that had anything to do with the problems you have encountered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format