Windows 10

RavenSworn · June 2015

Hi all!

Just wondering if the specs of Windows 10 is compatible with the current incarnation of ESO. Saw the reservation icon and thought about it but hate to not be able to play ESO on the new OS.

Have fun and cheers!

KhajitFurTrader · June 2015

Hi @uniq_faznrb18_ESO,

there are quite a few threads on the forums where folks talk about their experience with ESO on Windows 10, here is one of the more recent ones. So far, there seem to be no (or only very minor) problems with the later builds. I'd like to point out @Attorneyatlawl 's testimony in particular, because it's a positive description of his first-hand experience.

Attorneyatlawl · June 2015

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

Hi @uniq_faznrb18_ESO,

there are quite a few threads on the forums where folks talk about their experience with ESO on Windows 10, here is one of the more recent ones. So far, there seem to be no (or only very minor) problems with the later builds. I'd like to point out @Attorneyatlawl 's testimony in particular, because it's a positive description of his first-hand experience.

Thanks... I've been using it a little longer now and Windows 10 continues to perform much better for me than Windows 8.1 ever had with ESO. In particular the difference in cities/towns, and large player count situations is extremely noticeable. Whereas at times I would dip down with the same settings in-game/usersettings.ini to 25-30fps or so when Daggerfall City was packed or extremely large keep sieges with zergs rolling through, I'm now maintaining a comfortable 45+ in even those kinds of worst-case times, and higher full-time otherwise (I recently upgraded to a 4k Gsync monitor, so my in-game framerate is now capped at 59FPS to take full advantage of it including the zero input lag and full-time variable refresh rate), only rarely dipping below the 59 mark. I had tried 4k awhile back without Gsync, but couldn't come close to maintaining the same settings while staying at 50+ fps.

By nature, DX12 is most helpful towards lower-end computers or mid-range ones, so it's safe to say that everyone will probably see very similar, if not better, gains as my PC is high-end. While ESO isn't targeted at DX12 yet (it's built under DirectX 11), DX12 does provide large benefits even for DX11 titles, which is extremely well-evidenced with ESO and another game I play all the time (Battlefield 4) that I'm familiar with on its performance quirks from playing it so long. While the current Tech Preview builds (the current one is Build 10300) are very close to what Windows 10 will release like, if you're skittish about it just wait it out as it's officially launching on July 29th

. It's a free upgrade for anyone using Windows 7 or 8/8.1.

JamilaRaj · June 2015

ESO is built on DX9, DX11 DX10 and OpenGL, of which Windows version can use any (except perhaps Windows XP), Mac version uses OpenGL (for DirectX being ugly and evil proprietary tech, which is MacOS too but of different company) and we enlightened Linuxmen doomed to suffer Windows client can choose either DX9 or OpenGL, unless there has been some progress on DX11 DX10 front in Wine. Yeah, ZOS hates us, no native Linux client, but nevermind, we hate it back.
I'd say more crappy computers would perform better with DX9 than 11.

wrlifeboil · June 2015

The key, as it is for all new versions of Windows, is driver availability.

If you are running a typical computer system, you'll encounter fewer problems than if you were running a computer with components made by manufacturers who don't release regular and timely driver updates.

Attorneyatlawl · June 2015

JamilaRaj wrote: »

ESO is built on DX9, DX11 and OpenGL, of which Windows version can use any (except perhaps Windows XP), Mac version uses OpenGL (for DirectX being ugly and evil proprietary tech, which is MacOS too but of different company) and we enlightened Linuxmen doomed to suffer Windows client can choose either DX9 or OpenGL, unless there has been some progress on DX11 front in Wine. Yeah, ZOS hates us, no native Linux client, but nevermind, we hate it back.
I'd say more crappy computers would perform better with DX9 than 11.

Yet, you're incorrect

, so I have to disagree that as a Linuxmen you're "enlightened" on this topic. Propietary technology doesn't mean "wrong" or "immoral", in fact it is simply "fair" to the creators of it by allowing them to leverage what they themselves created and to help protect their ability to fairly gain the potential fruits of their labor. While some people are happy to work for free, justifying it as "right" or a "labor of love", make no mistake that it is a donation on their behalf. Charity is a great thing, and I do what I can myself... but no one is "evil" for not giving away or helping others with what is rightfully theirs.

On the tech end of things, each successive DirectX/Direct3D version is a superset of the last, and since DX10 has had automatic fallbacks to lower feature level support when run on a system that has a video card incapable of using the newest API features, for those that changed substantially. DirectX 12 runs much more efficiently, especially so on "cruddy computers" as you termed it, with a lot of focus going into optimizing draw calls and eliminating redundant work alongside large changes to how shaders are handled. The end result of this is that DX11 performs better when properly implemented than DX9 on the same game title, and DX12 runs DX11-targeted games that are not specifically changed at all towards DX12 more efficiently, depending on the title the CPU and even some rendering can see gains of upwards of 20-70% or more in real-world gaming situations (I am seeing that "70% or more" part in ESO!), and due to reducing the amount of CPU work required in the first place as well as making the work done more efficient, it's even being marketed from a power efficiency standpoint to boot to mobile manufacturers.

You can read more about it here, for anyone interested in more depth. The long and the short of it is that once games begin re-targeting through patches, and entirely new titles (both Unreal Engine 4, Unity 5, and most in-house engines already have support ready for transitioning or implemented in the wings), the performance gains will be multiple times more substantial, with a firm foundation fixed up for the future as newer games are made against the DX12 runtime providing more eye candy as well

!

Wily_Wizard · June 2015

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

You can read more about it here, for anyone interested in more depth.

Nice article, thanks for posting.

Attorneyatlawl · June 2015

Wily_Wizard wrote: »

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

You can read more about it here, for anyone interested in more depth.

Nice article, thanks for posting.

You're welcome

, glad you enjoyed it.

JamilaRaj · June 2015

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

JamilaRaj wrote: »

ESO is built on DX9, DX11 and OpenGL, of which Windows version can use any (except perhaps Windows XP), Mac version uses OpenGL (for DirectX being ugly and evil proprietary tech, which is MacOS too but of different company) and we enlightened Linuxmen doomed to suffer Windows client can choose either DX9 or OpenGL, unless there has been some progress on DX11 front in Wine. Yeah, ZOS hates us, no native Linux client, but nevermind, we hate it back.
I'd say more crappy computers would perform better with DX9 than 11.

Yet, you're incorrect , so I have to disagree that as a Linuxmen you're "enlightened" on this topic. Propietary technology doesn't mean "wrong" or "immoral", in fact it is simply "fair" to the creators of it by allowing them to leverage what they themselves created and to help protect their ability to fairly gain the potential fruits of their labor. While some people are happy to work for free, justifying it as "right" or a "labor of love", make no mistake that it is a donation on their behalf. Charity is a great thing, and I do what I can myself... but no one is "evil" for not giving away or helping others with what is rightfully theirs.

1) The creators of DirectX however can not harvest fruits of their labor because they, despite the tech being proprietary, ironically do not own it. Except perhaps upper echelon employees who may have some share in MS and, in a sense, own a bit of DX too. Their ability to use the tech to their benefit is lower compared to that of creator of open source tech.
2) DirectX is leveraged to bind software written in it to Microsoft platform, to make it more costly for the devs to target different platforms and for users/customers to leave, which I would argue is indeed wrong.

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

On the tech end of things, each successive DirectX/Direct3D version is a superset of the last, and since DX10 has had automatic fallbacks to lower feature level support when run on a system that has a video card incapable of using the newest API features, for those that changed substantially. DirectX 12 runs much more efficiently, especially so on "cruddy computers" as you termed it, with a lot of focus going into optimizing draw calls and eliminating redundant work alongside large changes to how shaders are handled. The end result of this is that DX11 performs better when properly implemented than DX9 on the same game title, and DX12 runs DX11-targeted games that are not specifically changed at all towards DX12 more efficiently, depending on the title the CPU and even some rendering can see gains of upwards of 20-70% or more in real-world gaming situations (I am seeing that "70% or more" part in ESO!), and due to reducing the amount of CPU work required in the first place as well as making the work done more efficient, it's even being marketed from a power efficiency standpoint to boot to mobile manufacturers.

You can read more about it here, for anyone interested in more depth. The long and the short of it is that once games begin re-targeting through patches, and entirely new titles (both Unreal Engine 4, Unity 5, and most in-house engines already have support ready for transitioning or implemented in the wings), the performance gains will be multiple times more substantial, with a firm foundation fixed up for the future as newer games are made against the DX12 runtime providing more eye candy as well !

Which is all good but one should not forget that Windows 10 are to be launched soon and DX12 is coincidentally Windows 10 (perhaps 8) only. Kinda sheds different light on articles like this.

Ranique · June 2015

Have been running eso on windows 10 since march. No issues notable. The only real bug is the start menu misbehaving in full screen windowed mode, but ESO isn't the only game with this issue. (bug is that the startmenu stays over the game, easily fixed by alt-tab)