Launcher Stuck at "Loading..."

gc.sabbaghrwb17_ESO · April 2014

This issue started for me last week.. I am from Lebanon, my ISP is Moscanet SAL (Wise)

Friends on other ISP's do not have this problem.

Andukai · April 2014

Did The temp solution worked out for you?

Nyndra · May 2014

Can confirm here in Australia that this worked for me, have been having this issue for 2+ weeks.

Scinder · May 2014

I would NOT be using Ultrasurf as a solution to this. You can easily google what that thing can do. Even upon trying it, my Malwarebytes instantly blocked some malicious site it was trying to connect to.

For me, changing SET RequestedNumThreads "-1 to "0" seems to be opening the launcher consistently at the moment.

Andukai · May 2014

It's a proxy

It's supposed to connect to site as if it's a foreign server. Besides we are using it just to update the launcher, not open our bank accounts

But your suggestion/solution got me curious. Can you be more specific?
What file should we change and where to find it?

bellossy · May 2014

Andukai's method of using Ultrasurf works here in Bahrain (for 2 different ISPs), champion effort in recommending that. So happy to have a way around this issue, has been ongoing since patch 1.03.

evilwizardington · May 2014

Andukai wrote: »

well, I'm in direct contact in private mails where I got them to understand that it's a routing problem. They asked me from my gameconsultant report to check the tracert.
By the way, I live In saudia arabia, which means many countries (well at least 2) are affected by this.

While we wait, I can provide you with a temporary solution, just download a program called ultrasurf (basically a free proxy) fast, free and very easy to use, specially made for these kind of problems. you just need to double click on the program and it'll run on its own.
Keep it running till you get pass the launcher + update, as soon as you are able to hit the play button. Close ultrasurf and enjoy your game.

If I get a decent working solution from the support, I'll let you know ! Promise

Let me kiss you.... ok... no....
But thank you for a solution. I tested a lot of things before, and I discard this sort of solutions because I tested connection in two different ISPs services... but apparently both have the same issue.... -.-

When I read this, I tested the launcher connecting my laptop to Internet via 3g (using my cellphone as bridge)... and.... it runs... T.T

Thanks for helping. Please Technical Support... check what verification is stucking the Launchers. -.-

Sev · May 2014

I've been seeing it a lot since the latest patch. Before that it was fine. Playing from New Zealand if that's at all relevant.

dekain · May 2014

Hello my name is Cesar and im from Mexico, i have the solution for this issue:

Open the launcher.
Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\Launcher\ProgramData or something like that,
You will see one folder and 1 file(maybe)
Folders Name: Host.dc170dba81ddf1d6d35f51b7e692cc50f4a4ccba or something like that.
File name: applications.json
Now you need to delete that two files, this is a cycle because the launcher always create the folder and maybe the file.
NOW YOU NEED TO DELETE THE FOLDER WHEN THE LAUNCHER CREATE THAT FOLDER UNTIL THE LAUNCHER GIVE YOU THE PLAY OPTION ,ALLWAYS DELETE IT.
sometimes you can do that around 1 minute but this method allways work

DarKnives · May 2014

I just got into the same problem. Was playing fine yesterday after the maintenance and then I had to restart the pc. Since then I've been trying everything to pass from that loading screen with no luck and didn't thought there would be some many people with this issue.

Hecubusprimeb14_ESO · May 2014

I used the UltraSurf program and it worked. There were a few times where it didn't but I changed the Ports under settings in the UltraSurf program and eventually it worked again. I suspect that once in a while I will have to swap around ports.

I would venture to guess that I can hook up 7 out of 10 times using Ultrasurf, than might need to change the Port settings.

Tech support had me add the Ip number for a specific patch server in my My hosts file under windows, but that didn't work.

Any idea why this is doing this? After the EASTER patch no less?

what exactly is occurring? it requesting the initial ProgramData manifest file, over and over again.

Why? Corruption is assumed. It gets the file, than accesses it, than redownloads it.... forever if you let it.

iNeptune · May 2014

Thank you for this, Andukai. Love you for this fix man. I live in Jordan my ISP is called Next, they provide the internet alongside Orange. I have never had this problem with any other online game apart from this, so I am sure my ISP has no problems, its some settings back in ESO headquarters. I really hope they get to the bottom of this fast.

Andukai · May 2014

Glad it solved the problem to all of you guys.

Sadly, I came back with bad news. As you know, I am in direct contact with Zenimax support team. And after dozens of mails, they concluded that there is no solution other than vpn for this matter.
See for your self, I'll quote the last e-mail exchanges as they've been written (except for my name for obvious reasons

)

Zenimax:

Greetings Andukai,

Unfortunately there isn't much else to do besides the VPN.

More than likely this is down to the ports being closed or some aspect of our service being disallowed on one of the servers in between you and us. There is also quite a lot of ground to cover, so packet loss may be an issue if the data just becomes unusable after a certain point, especially in and around sparsely populated areas.

I wouldn't say it's the specific server blocking the connection in this case, as a lot of people connect fine from within and the outside of the US with only a handful of issues, yours included occur.

For the moment you have a good work around. There is also the possibility that the connection will improve once they fully migrate to the EU.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Kind regards,
Matthew.
Elder Scrolls Online Team

My reply:

Greetings Matthew,

I was afraid we'd conclude this.
Was hoping for some kind of miracle like you figuring out where it is blocked and maybe contact them.
You have to realize this is a serious problem affecting many countries, not just mine... And the VPN solution is not known to everyone.
I was just lucky to be knowledgeable in this field and shared with the people who had the idea of searching for help on your forums and finding the good thread.
You will lose a lot of players this way.

The thread I'm talking about:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/711688#Comment_711688

Anyway, Do you mind If I relay your message to this thread? they are waiting for news on my end. Unless one of you guys do it.
Thank you for your time and support anyway.

Best regards

Andukai

Zenimax Final Email:

Hello again,

I understand Andukai, solutions like this are hard to recommend on our side as they involve third party programs, but I am glad we have players like you supporting other players on the forums.

Unfortunately in cases like this, the connectivity issue is very hard to pinpoint and the cause is seemingly out of our control, we had a similar issue with Time Warner in California during a beta, thankfully it was able to be resolved with them as it had a specific location and ISP, and the scope of affected customers was very large and in a single location, in a situation like this where it spans countries and the cause is not clear, it becomes a different story and could lie with any number of points between yourself and our servers - different countries, providers and connection points.

In this case we have determined that the cause lies somewhere beyond your router, and there are quite a few possibilities, and unfortunately they can't be resolved by us.

I understand it's not an ideal situation, it would be great if we were able to resolve an issue like this, but there are too many points of failure and even if you could determine the exact cause, the solution would depend on hardware or settings that lie beyond our reach.

If you have any other questions, please let me know and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Kind regards,
Matthew.
Elder Scrolls Online Team

So Basically, i'm sad to report that my temporary solution is the simplest one for now. At least until the European servers are out and then MAYBE it'll be solved on its own.

Aesha · May 2014

EGYPT here..

Also stuck on the launcher at Loading...

while the same patch manifest downloaded over and over and over..

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the info about Ultrasurf.. at least now I can update until they fix this POS launcher.

sekta · May 2014

Delete everything in the Launcher folder except the Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe, .dll files and the uninstall files. Run the launcher and it will rebuild the folder. The launcher should run sweet afterwards.

Andukai · May 2014

Already tried it Sekta

Small bump in case people are having this issue and don't know how to solve it !
The solution is here

sodasrwb17_ESO · June 2014

Problem intermittently for a while... have been dreading game updates. (NZ user here). Ultrasurf worked a charm... this solution really needs to get out there... took me ages to find this thread. Andukai... you're a legend.

IvorySamoan · June 2014

I'm sensing this is a certain NZ/Aus/Other country ISP problem, NZ user here - same problem every now and then (about half the time, at least, stuck on loading).

haamfish · June 2014

i downloaded ultrasurf, it worked at first but its decieded to stop working now. i might try hotspot sheild and let you know how that goes

Andukai · June 2014

Did you try switching between the 3 servers of ultrasurf? Try that

Rackzoo · June 2014

Thank you for the temporary solution (UltraSurf). Worked like a charm. Been having problems with the launcher after every patch last three weeks, and up till this recent one, I've somehow managed to patch the game up (Though obviously I had to run it directly 99% of the time via the .exe). Out of all the bugs and things that are "wrong" right now, they really need to sort this out asap, since obviously there's a handful of unsatisfied customers, if I may call us that, out there, suffering the ongoing agony of launcher not working as it should, wasting our precious (subscription) time.

Again, thank you for the temp solution, then again, it's not me who should be thanking you really, is it? *stares at Zenimax*

Yahndarkwoodrwb17_ESO · June 2014

Same problem ... Also New Zealand, just wondering NZ people, are you all on Vodafone for your broadband ?

Qyrk · June 2014

Hi yahn,

I''ve also experienced this on my Mac. But purchased a proxy app and this bypassed the problem. Also have Vodafone broadband in NZ. I believe this might be an internet provider problem with their proxy compatibility.

Tick18 · June 2014

Upon scrounging around the folder in which the launcher was located i found a file named report i opened it and after scanning it for 5 minutes found this.

Diagnostics

Windows Error Reporting:
+++ WER0 +++:
Fault bucket -266791291, type 5

Event Name: AppHangB1

Response: Not available

Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:

P1: Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe

P2: 3.5.2.0

P3: 522d61dc

P4: 7db5

P5: 137216

P6:

P7:

P8:

P9:

P10:

this was repeated and varied 10 times if you fix this you may fix the launcher problem. However this is probably different for each person and the crap ton of information before the actual error report (located at the bottom) showed up probably has something to do with it. here is the file.

funwithayoyorwb17_ESO · June 2014

Yeah NZ here. I am with Vodafone yes. I havea VPN, if I connect to it, all good.

Yoshie · June 2014

Growlernoth wrote: »

oh ok here is my report file after I worked around a fix for that lol

Heads up Update your Graphics card its dated January of this year

Yoshie · June 2014

Andukai wrote: »

Could we at least get a reply? Here's my report...

You too update your graphics card its dated March of this year. This should help with any problems in the future loves

firetoadrwb17_ESO · July 2014

I am also in new zealand on vodafone network experiencing the issue - i use flyvpn.com/freetrial as a work-around i have talked to vodafone and they seem reluctant to admit the problem is on their end but knowing other people on their network in new zealand are experiencing the same issues i will try hounding them again.

Ghostextechnica · September 2014

With Vodafone New Zealand and had the same issue.

Opening TCP / UDP Ports 49100 through 54000 will get the launcher to stop loading and work (for anyone).

No idea why Zenimax chose such a terrible port range. This seems to be blocked and/or shaped by many ISP's.

Now I'm talking to Vodafone about the horrible horrible lag experiencing in game now that I've got past the launcher. I suspect Vodafone NZ are shaping ESO traffic because it's close to ports that P2P traffic uses.

NZ Vodafone people should weigh in here: https://community.vodafone.co.nz/t5/Broadband-landline-packs/Application-Traffic-Issue-Blocked-Shaped-Something-else-ESO/m-p/136337#U136337

showtimecorleoneb14_ESO · March 2015

I tried that ultra surf thing and it didnt work does any one else have any tips?