ESO crashing my computer on load

mtbikernate · February 2018

Not even making it to the character screen. This started on Friday. I was able to log in just fine on Thursday and played the new update for a few hours.

On Friday, I wanted to play a bit and that's when the crashing started. Managed to fill out a support ticket. Also e-mailed bethesda. No word whatsoever. Was having account login problems on the website, too. Apparently, last time I logged on, my e-mail address worked fine as my username but at some point that changed and it no longer worked. FINALLY got an invitation to the forums today so I could report my problems here.

Went through some of the steps of the troubleshooter, but since each failure results in a hard reboot with a disk check thrown in for good measure, it's not a pleasant or efficient process. Skipping some steps now and uninstalling ESO.

3 days without access, and I'm paying for ESO+. Frankly, I should get an account credit for this, or at least a stack of crowns or something. Sounds like a lot of people should get something like that, too, since I'm far from the only person with trouble. ZOS probably won't do anything, of course.

mtbikernate · February 2018

FWIW, I'm PC/NA on Steam. Windows 10. Older PC, but still meets or exceeds minimum requirements.

mtbikernate · February 2018

No dice. Reinstalled game. Install appeared to be successful, but no dice. I forgot to write down the errors I received, but I ran a repair. No dice.

I'm getting an error 302 - PatchError_CorruptDest
The patch data downloaded appears to be corrupt. Please run a repair. If the issue persists, please contact customer support.

That's great. I contacted customer support yesterday, with no acknowledgement of my request. Not even an auto-acknowledgement form letter. I totally reinstalled the game, which was broken. Then I ran a repair, which was broken. And now it's telling me to do all the same crap again. If this keeps up, I'm just going to quit this game altogether.

Trinity_Is_My_Name · February 2018

Look here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/61678/login-error-codes-their-meaning-and-solutions

Error 302 is listed there. You may find the answer to your issue. Good luck!

mtbikernate · February 2018

My Error 302 was not the exact same error as listed in that document.

Another "Repair" cycle took care of the Error 302. But now I'm back to the game hard rebooting my computer. Same problem I started with.

mtbikernate · February 2018

I see Monday is slated for some "patch maintenance" which I hope is code for "We f*cked up and we're going to try to fix what we broke." Guess I have to wait till then to see.

Jaraal · February 2018

Yeah, I haven't been able to play since the patch, either. I hope they fix the bugs, sucks paying for ESO+ with nothing to show for it. Not to mention probably being kicked from some guilds for not being able to help out and no way to notify them why I'm not playing.

Akinos · February 2018

I have this problem too with one of my storage characters, tried to load it three times, pc shutdown 3 times lol.

ZOS_Bill · February 2018

@mtbikernate

We have sent you a PM regarding your issues with contacting customer support.

mtbikernate · February 2018

Came back briefly for me on Sunday/Monday. But now ESO is back to crashing my computer. Am wasting more hours doing more troubleshooting for support...game continues to crash.

ZOS_Bill · February 2018

@mtbikernate

Your support ticket 180215-003791 has been re-opened so customer support can continue to assist with the crashing.

mtbikernate · February 2018

Yippee skippy. I've been informed that the reason the game has been crashing my computer is because my processor is inadequate. WTF? It's worked fine for about the past year. I've only been having any problems whatsoever since the last update. I was not informed that I would no longer be able to play.

And my ESO+ fees just got taken out yesterday. Dammit. I want some refunds.

So Steam doesn't care and won't issue a refund. I have disputed the charges with my bank.

Jaraal · February 2018

Wow, that sucks. Doesn't seem fair for a company to sell you a game, and then a year later tell you they aren't going to let you play any more.

Hope you can get your money back!

mtbikernate · February 2018

Jaraal wrote: »

Wow, that sucks. Doesn't seem fair for a company to sell you a game, and then a year later tell you they aren't going to let you play any more.

Hope you can get your money back!

Oh, my bank will get me my money. They're great about it. Only bank I've ever done business with where every interaction with them is positive. USAA if you're curious.

Honestly, at this point it's more about the principle. I feel like I got my money's worth out of my original purchase of the game a year ago and each month I paid for ESO+. According to Steam, I've got about 640hrs into it. I I'm pissed that the crowns I've bought have been a bit of a waste. Bought a big house a few months back and had been putting crafting stations in it. That certainly feels like a waste.

And definitely, the ESO+ fee for this month's sub that I cannot use is a contestable charge. I'm irritated that Steam's support system is so impersonal and detached that I can't even make my case for a refund without making a complaint with my bank.

It's not like I was uninformed about the update, either. I read most of the official releases about it. A simple notice in there that "hey, this update is going to bump the system requirements upward. check to make sure you meet the requirements" would have caught my eye. And also the rigmarole with Zenimax's support staff has been ridiculous.

FIrst I couldn't get logged into the website. Turns out the login procedure changed from the last time I logged into the website and my e-mail address doesn't work as a login anymore. Using just the handle is fine. Except there's no notification of this ANYWHERE! So I change my password, thinking that's the problem. I get the e-mails just fine so I know the account e-mail is correct and I haven't been hacked or anything. But no word whatsoever about what to use for the login. No message saying, "hey, make sure you use just the login, NOT your e-mail address" when the login fails. Derp.

I spend hours digging around and I find an e-mail address for Bethesda. I message them and get a form response back to login to the website. WTF, I was e-mailing because I couldn't get in to fill out a support ticket! Takes a few days to get that process rolling to get anyone actually looking at anything.

Then, after I finally get in and fill out a support ticket, the support ticket system fails and nothing happens. I decide to check in these forums to see if there's anything with my problem. There's a notice saying that the server problems are fixed, but mine weren't. Oh, I can't login to the forums because on top of having a login already, I need an additional invitation to the forums. Which guess what, takes an extra 2 days!

I finally get in and start this thread. By this time, the support ticket started by my initial e-mail is moving through troubleshooting steps and I've submitted a Game Consultant file to both @ZOS_BillE and the support staffer I'm e-mailing with. It still takes days for them to decide that my computer lacks the hardware to run the game.

If the support for this game had been a bit more prompt and responsive, I might have been able to avoid this whole contesting charges with my bank business.

I get it, I've worked a lot of years in customer service myself. I try to be cooperative and understanding when stuff gets tough and overwhelming. But the support with this game/company is crap. THEY could have prevented the whole thing if they've been more communicative in the first place.

Jaraal · February 2018

The only thing I recall seeing is that they would no longer support 32 bit systems. Is that why you can't play? Or was there something else they changed that increased the hardware requirements? I know my system is on the low end, and when Dragon Bones went live, I could not play at all. But after Mondays patch, I could play again with no problems.

mtbikernate · February 2018

Jaraal wrote: »

The only thing I recall seeing is that they would no longer support 32 bit systems. Is that why you can't play? Or was there something else they changed that increased the hardware requirements? I know my system is on the low end, and when Dragon Bones went live, I could not play at all. But after Mondays patch, I could play again with no problems.

Nope. I've been running a 64 bit OS for almost 10yrs.

I've got an Intel Q6600 CPU. It's a quad core at 2.4GHz. It may not be blazing fast anymore, but it chugs along on everything else I run.
8GB RAM
GeForce 560 Ti 1GB GDDR5
Plenty of HDD space

Basically it's the CPU that ESO says prevents the game from running now because they've done some things that push the game towards more intensive use of system resources.

When I started playing, the system requirements looked more like this:
https://www.geforce.com/games-applications/pc-games/elder-scrolls-online/system-requirements

Now it looks like this:
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/26031

Looks like they bumped the requirements with the Morrowind update, and then support told me that the game didn't really use all that until Update 17. And really, I played Update 17 just fine for a couple days until they did something else that broke everything for me.

Sure, I'd love to buy a newer, faster computer. But that's simply not in the cards right now and it won't be for awhile. This old workhorse runs $1600 geographic information systems software and chugged through calculations on some hefty datasets when I was working on my MS research. Maybe not optimally, but it moves along. That program is WAY more intensive on system resources than this silly game. And it doesn't shut my whole computer down when it has trouble.