Game refuses to launch unless I play another game first.

BornDownUnder · August 2014

As discussion title states, the game refuses to launch via the launcher or the exe file itself, unless I play another 3d mode game first.

The launcher and exe both launch the game executable for 3-5 seconds, then the executable terminates. In the launcher, the play button greys out, then goes back to blue and click-able after the exe terminates.

This only happens post pc start-up for the first time, any game launch after first launch to shutdown of the pc works as per normal.

Any ideas?

Swampster · August 2014

I have a weird issue when starting up..as well, when I fire up the game for the first time, I hit play.. and all the loading screens start up as usual, only I can ESC through them, the game is unresponsive to any input. Eventually when it catches up the screen resolution goes completely mental, and looks like a VGA monitor.. so I have to shut down the game window and hit play again.. where it then always works perfectly!

BornDownUnder · August 2014

That almost sounds like a display driver issue you are having there, when you update your display drivers, do you completely uninstall them from your system?

Do you have the same display issue with any other game?

Driver Sweeper is a great program to make sure you get rid of any left-over drivers after you un-install them.

Anybody else have an idea as to why eso refuses to load for me before I play another game? I think it might have something to do with grabbing the video card, it doesn't engage 3d mode, or at least the clocks still sit on 2d MHz settings.

Grim13 · August 2014

Sounds to me like the game's trying to tell you to play a different game...

BornDownUnder · August 2014

It does indeed seem like that Grim13.

Anybody have an idea or experience a similar issue?

Tandor · August 2014

I had a similar experience with Vanguard. I'd been playing it for ages without problems, then when I went back to it after a break I found that the first time I ran the game after switching the PC on it would CTD as soon as I got into the game, but running it again it would work fine. I never got to the bottom of it (as SOE couldn't give me an answer they chose to close the game down instead

), but I was playing it through Steam which may have been a factor.

Elf_Boy · August 2014

Can you do the repair/verify function from within the launcher and see what happens?

What is your OS? Your GPU and CPU please?

BornDownUnder · August 2014

Repair function does repair it, it appears to download nothing at all (As I monitor by bandwidth usage) Though the launcher does display 'downloading' briefly for two parts whilst repairing, after the verification phases.

OS: Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
CPU: i5 2500 non-k @4.1Ghz (4 cores) BCLK @105.3 (By memory)
RAM: 8GB @ 1964Mhz (RAM is rated for 2000Mhz)
HDD: Samsung EVO 256GB SSD
GPU: Gigabyte HD6970 2GB WFIII @ 940/1460
PSU: ANTEC 850W Bronze Fully-Modular
Cooling System: Cooler Master Hyper 212X, 2 top fans, 1 side fan, 1 rear fan.
Case: ThermalTake V6

All temperatures are fine, also middle of winter here & bloody cold (I reside in Australia)
Everything is perfectly fine with system for every game I play.
System is heavily optimized for gaming, alot of services are disabled for those not needed.
Overclocking numbers are not maximum stable, can push a little further.

After repair function via launcher, game is playable.
Without repair function I have to play another 3d mode game first.
After playing another 3d mode game, I can play via launcher or exe file without having to repair prior to launch of eso.

I also use RadeonPRO to hook SweetFX 1.4 into ESO as it makes the game so much better in my opinion.

I do also use 3rd party hardware monitoring tools, 3rd party monitoring tools consist of HWiNFO64, MSI Afterburner.

I have tried vanilla ESO, ESO with SweetFX, both with and without 3rd party tools I listed above, with and without addons, via launcher and exe file. Same result for all.