64-bit startup crashes every time

Aztlan · June 2016

I have never been able to get the 64-bit client to start. It crashes on startup every time, including after today's update. Help?

My system:

GPU: GeForce GTX 980 Ti
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @3.5 GHz
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Nvidia Driver version: 368.39
OS: MS Windows 10 Home

Yirmeyahu · June 2016

I'm in the same boat. The 64-bit client had previously worked for me. After the 06/20/2016 patch, it crashes every time upon login attempt.

CombatPrayer · June 2016

Add another to that list.

Aztlan · June 2016

I submitted a ticket about this with my system information. Still no response.

W0lf_z13 · June 2016

very odd, luckily i haven't run into this issue at all, hopefully u get the issue resolved... looking at ur specs .. its not too far off from mine... only difference is i run with the 970 and an i7 4790k

ZOS_DaryaK · June 2016

For those of you using Nvidia graphics cards, particularly on laptops, please try the following:

Open NVIDIA Control Panel and select Manage 3D settings.
Click on the Program settings tab.
Under "1. Select a program to customize:" click the Add button.
When prompted, click the Browse button and select eso64.exe
Default location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\).
Under "2. Select the preferred graphics processor..." select High-Performance NVIDIA processor.
Click Apply.
Close NVIDIA Control Panel and launch the game.

If you do not have an Nvidia card or this does not help, please submit a ticket to our support team and be sure to include your game consultant.

Aztlan · June 2016

I get to step 6, but under "2" I only see "Specify the settings for this program." There is no option to select the preferred graphics processor, just a bunch of other settings such as "anisotropic filtering" and others. That makes sense, because this is a desktop and I only have the one GPU (GeForce 980 ti). Ticket submitted, no response in 3 days.

granger334b14_ESO · June 2016

Valwe, I'm in the same boat as you, my friend. The 64 bit client is at a crawl in fps. 32 is fine, however.

Magnys · June 2016

@Valwe I'm also having the same issues and same options under the Section 2 as you. Game crashes/black screen after about 10-15 minutes of playing. I downloaded a temperature meter and when i run the game is jumps the temp up to 65 degrees Celsius....According to Nvidia's website normal gaming temp is 50-70 degrees Celsius

My laptop system is:

GPU: GeForce GTX 980M
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4710HQ CPU @2.50GHz
Memory: 16 GB RAM (15.95 GB usable)
Driver Version: 368.39
OS: Windows 10 Home

Aztlan · June 2016

I did eventually hear from Technical Support, but their proposed solutions did not work. When I reported this, the person who was helping me said he would have to escalate my case to someone higher up, but so far I haven't heard anything else.

Amerin · July 2016

I am having the crash to black screen also. I just returned to this game after a year plus away and decided to sub but I'm regretting that decision now. I tried loading in 32bit and that did not help. Happens randomly and can happen 5 min or an hour or more into play.I have a gtx660 (soon to be upgraded to a 1070 I hope).

Ashtaris · July 2016

DaryaK instructions mainly affect laptops, but can also happen to a few desktop systems. Usually why this happens is that either your motherboard, chipset, or processor contains a built-in GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), along with a Nvidia card. So when the game starts, it's trying to use the lower powered built-in GPU instead of the Nvidia card and crashes. So the instructions above is mainly forcing the system to use the Nvidia card when the game starts up.

Actually I would imagine that ZOS could force the game to use the Nvidia card itself instead of everyone trying to do a workaround, so they have the reponsibility of eventually fixing this issue.

Aztlan · July 2016

Well, I've been back and forth with ESO support, but they haven't been able to solve this problem for me--namely, that the Elder Scrolls Online 32-bit client works fine, but for some reason the 64-bit client crashes on startup every time.

ESO support directed me to check my virus software, to uninstall all addons, disable my keyboard and mouse software, and finally to completely uninstall and reinstall the game. None of these suggestions worked. I am running a new system, which I assembled in December 2015, and it should have no problem running the 64-bit client.

Now ESO support says they have no more suggestions to offer.

I haven't tried updating the bios yet. I don't think I have any other GPU besides my Nvidia GTX 980 ti. I'm not given the option to select one anyway. I have a Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 motherboard. I'm looking at the manual, and I don't see anything about an onboard GPU.

According to this post on the Microsoft Community site, some people have had similar problems, which they solved either by updating the bios or installing a different Windows 10 build.I have Windows 10 Home, build 10586. Someone solved their problem by switching to build 14251, but I'm confused. I thought I already had the latest version and don't know if or how I should switch to 14251.

Hmm. I feel like I'm out of my depth here.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

RinaldoGandolphi · July 2016

I am going to suggest something that won't cost you anything.

Have you tried down clocking your card a little bit?

Some of the factory Overclocked Nvidia 900 series of cards had a bad batch that would cause them to crash like your describe only under certain conditions( 1 game would play fine, another may cause it to crash)

Try under-clocking the GPU in 25mhz increments and see if it solves the issue. You won't hurt anything by underclocking it, as long as you leave the voltages alone and don't raise them...just reduce the core clock by 25mhz or so and try the game again and see if it makes a difference...some reports had people lowering it by 100mhz fixed the issue completely . Its worth a shot. If it doesn't work you can always change it back