Can I transfer my existing non-Steam account to a Steam version of ESO?

Pallmor · November 2016

I was thinking about buying the Gold version of the game through Steam (since it's on sale and now spares you the annoyance of having to manually logon every time you launch it). But I have questions.

1) Will I have to completely re-download it, even though my non-Steam version is already installed?

I presume the answer to this is yes, since ZOS hasn't exactly played well with Steam in the past.

2) Will I be able to link my existing non-Steam account and characters to my Steam version?

I hope the answer to this is yes, otherwise I'm not buying it.

JamieAubrey · November 2016

Short answer: NO

Pallmor wrote: »

1) Will I have to completely re-download it, even though my non-Steam version is already installed?

Yes

Pallmor wrote: »

2) Will I be able to link my existing non-Steam account and characters to my Steam version?

No, it will be like buying the game again with a new account

Pallmor · November 2016

JamieAubrey wrote: »

Short answer: NO

Well, at least I saved $30 then. Still, it would have been nice to automatically login every time like with my PS4 version. I still don't understand why they couldn't just include a "Remember my username and password" checkbox, like other games do.

Skcarkden · November 2016

That's very strange....

I would have thought for a game where data is stored server side and requires logging in that version shouldn't matter.

Tsaza · November 2016

Yes.

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36514/~/how-do-i-make-my-non-steam-version-of-the-elder-scrolls-online-steam-integrated?

Elsonso · November 2016

Yeah, this is part of the new Steam support they rolled out.

susmitds · November 2016

JamieAubrey wrote: »

Short answer: NO

Pallmor wrote: »

1) Will I have to completely re-download it, even though my non-Steam version is already installed?

Yes

Pallmor wrote: »

2) Will I be able to link my existing non-Steam account and characters to my Steam version?

No, it will be like buying the game again with a new account

This information is a bit outdated. Yes, you can.

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO · November 2016

If you want to use the steam overlay or a steam controller in ESO then you can do it without buying the game a second time on steam.

Just add the client exe file as a non steam game in your steam library and launch it from your steam window and you have all the steam facilities running with your normal ESO game.

You just need to open the normal launcher every time you need to update ESO.

Tsaza · November 2016

I bought gold edition on steam and merged it with my old imperial edition. Got DLCs this way and can use steam now.

Sigma957 · November 2016

You can try and put your eso folder in steam/steamapps/common folder and then let steam find it, probably save you re downloading again.

Elsonso · November 2016

Sigma957 wrote: »

You can try and put your eso folder in steam/steamapps/common folder and then let steam find it, probably save you re downloading again.

Steam will find it, but I guess it downloads around 30gig after that. I have not really tried it.

Pallmor · November 2016

Thank you to tsazaoeb17_ESO and the others who finally provided the CORRECT info on this.

I can confirm that it works. I just bought the Steam Gold edition and linked it to my existing non-Steam account and it works just fine. It even recognized my existing add-ons. I personally uninstalled the non-Steam game before I downloaded and installed the Steam version, but you may not need to do this.

$30 is a great deal for the Gold edition. And thanks to Steam, I no longer have to manually login every time I start the game up. Sweet!

If you don't already have most of the DLC, I highly recommend it.

Pallmor · November 2016

And here's another helpful tip if you're using Minion with the Steam ESO client. If Minion is having trouble detecting your ESO add-ons folder, go into settings/options in Minion and expand the folder search depth to 6 (default is 4), then select the force re-detect buttons and restart Minion. It should automatically find your add-ons folder now.