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Unknown error has occurred (After logging in and long loading times)

Xilian
Xilian
The issue: I keep receiving the message "An unknown error has occurred" after logging in and then it just sends us to a loading screen that takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes and then gives you the error message once that time is up.

THE FIX: After hours of research on the topic I have come to the conclusion that it has something to do with a few network ports not being open and being blocked by a firewall. After talking to a representative of Zos I understand that you have to contact your University's IT help line and they can open those ports for you that will give you access to the Zenimax servers. While talking to the Zos Rep he said you will need to open up the ports: 24100 through 24500 as well as 24131 through 24507 for both TCP and UDP. You don't have to be very knowledgeable about this to explain it to someone who works in the IT department, if you tell them that you need some ports to be opened and then give them the codes above and for both TCP and UDP they will know what you're talking about. However if you are experiencing this problem and you aren't on a college campus you will have to do this by yourself manually, in which case just google/youtube some things and learn that way.

So now for the problem that this creates for people like me: So while trying to get help from my IT department I had to talk to them, talk to another guy who transferred me to another guy and so on.. after getting to my head IT specialist for housing he said he had to talk to a guy above him and he would get back with me with an email... well its been 8 hours and past work ours so I don't foresee there being much help from them opening up these ports.. So what now Zos? Am I just going to be screwed for the few more months of college I have or is there anyway you could help me on your end?
We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • bale.of.hailub17_ESO
    This is exactly what im experiencing! I had the error and the long load screens. i only twice got into the actual game during three beta weekends after 20-30 hrs of trying to log in. I am however able to play on my homes internet network and through my phones hotspot. but my university's internet refuses to let me on. I spoke with an IT guy today and he told me some other IT guy said the only ports they block are related to microsoft services. So...if its not a port problem what is it? He also said its not a bandwith problem, not only do we have more than enough, but they dont throttle individual students. I think it IS a port problem. Also, I ran the Game Consultant program via the launcher and I failed the ping test. Who needs to work with me? ZoS or my school IT, or both? I just wanna play ya know?
    We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • Xilian
    Xilian
    Well after days of trying to get help from both I think this is more of something you will have to do individually and Zos. I am currently being sent to their tier 2 support department for further help but from what I have come to conclude at this point for myself is that my IT department aren't being compliant and won't help me for, "Safety issues" and "Won't open the ports for the needs of a single student." Which I can understand from a pure business stand point where they could think there would be a problem helping me or a security breach of some sort so I can't really put that against them so now I'm left with only help from Zos and trying to work around it myself. At this point Zos told me i may just have to buy a whole new router and install that myself just to play this game.. really? $80 then this on top of that? Like the more time that goes on the more I'm leaning towards just asking for a refund.. like this is outrageous for many college students..
  • buttpirate63
    I have had the same exact issue for a few days, and after a bunch of dumb troubleshooting suggestions from the email service I finally decided to look on my own Im wondering why this game wont work when all other games seem to work fine, such as Wow star-craft ect. all seem to work without incident. I wonder if the eso team dident consider people who play from college I dont think It should be that dificult because I can play small online games such as marvel heroes fine must be something to do with the so called mega sever. Anyway thanks so much Xilian for doing all the leg work for us hopefully Zos will look at this and base a response for people having the same issues instead of being told that I need to try and relog in in 10 mins then respond telling the person that that's not the issue im dealing with and never being responded to.
  • verna.harrisonub17_ESO
    I am having the same issue, but I am not playing from a college... just from home. I've had the issue in the last 2 betas and now. I get an Unknown Error and disconnect typically within 5-30 min. I was able to play up to two hours one time. This happens on the character creation screen, standing in town, traveling somewhere, fighting, etc. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing. I also run several other games with no issues, like WoW, GW2, Diablo, and others. I've tried a number of things suggested by tech support and reading the forums and nothing works. I reinstalled, repaired, ran as Admin, selected the XP SP2 compatibility, ran the game on a clean boot, made sure drivers are updated, made sure anti-virus isn't running and several other things. I'm at a loss... no idea what to try next. Otherwise, the game runs great while I can manage to stay in! Any ideas??
    Edited by verna.harrisonub17_ESO on April 1, 2014 10:11PM
    We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • ItsGlaive
    ItsGlaive
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is becoming very tiresome! Been having this issue now for an hour - closest I've gotten to playing is the one time I managed to get past char select, tried entering Spindleclutch then kicked back out - unknown error again!
    Allow cross-platform transfers and merges
  • Naeloran0234
    I'm also having this problem; was able to play the beta during the first weekend of last month with minimal problems, but haven't been able to log in since with the exception of about 5 minutes on the 30th. I was then booted back out to the Log in screen and haven't been able to get back in. I've had this issue for a couple months during the beta and it has killed me to watch my brother back home experience the beta while I'm unable to due to an "Unknown Error". I took your advice, Xilian, and contacted my university's IT department who subsequently argued with me over an exchange of emails regarding whether or not I should have the privileged of having those ports opened. After a while, I was finally able to get my request passed on to the "Infrastructure team", but I haven't heard anything from them yet and I'm only assuming I'll need to battle it out once again...It is becoming obvious that this problem isn't few and far between, so I'm really hoping that ZoS notices and fixes this...Otherwise I don't see the point in owning and subscribing for a game I can only play for a couple of months out of the year. It might just be me, but I don't feel like anyone should have to trudge through so much crap just to be able to play the game simply because they are living on a college campus.
    Edited by Naeloran0234 on April 1, 2014 10:01PM
    We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • bale.of.hailub17_ESO
    Its been three days and I havent received a call from ZoS..i know..theyve been swamped. But i paid for the IE and was expecting to play since day 1. My university keeps insisting that the ports are open, they cant figure out why ESO just doesnt run on their internet but will run on other networks. I ordered from GMG, anyone know their return policy?
    Edited by bale.of.hailub17_ESO on April 1, 2014 11:43PM
  • Maldamus
    Maldamus
    ✭✭✭
    TBH guys got nothing to do with your uni internets, non-students in multiple countries, multiple different isp's are having this issue. no definite response from ZOS either :(
  • bale.of.hailub17_ESO
    I have physically brought my desktop home and to a friends house and using their internet I was able to instantly get in game. Also, I connected my desktop to my phones hotspot and got in as well. This problem only exists using my university's internet.
    Edited by bale.of.hailub17_ESO on April 2, 2014 3:50AM
  • SirCheetah
    I'm having this issue too, I'm starting to reach a point where I just want a refund I paid good money for this game and I want to play.
    We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • Tuonelan
    Tuonelan
    ✭✭
    I am not at a university and have a good understanding of routers and networking. However, I am experiencing this issue too. Therefore, having the ports open is not a guarantee that it works.

    What has worked for me however is the following:
    1. Launch Launcher
    2. Select character in character selection and wait for loading screen
    3. During loading screen quit launcher in background
    (Step 1-3 might have to be repeated twice)


    However, when I have any major area loading, I have the same issue and I can start from the beginning. Support so far did not help and I got a variety of answers to different Tickets:

    1. Checking background processes
    2. Disabling addons
    3. Running Launcher AND ESO as administrator and XPS3 compatible

    When I change my internet connection it works like a charm.
  • zachary.sorensonb14_ESO
    This is a problem for me. I'm in an environment where I have no control over my ISP. However, the internet is fast and you shouldn't have to have secret special setting just right like Goldilocks just to play this game. Or… They have to come out and admit this bug and possibly offer refunds.
  • ZOS_Bill
    ZOS_Bill
    admin
    Hey Everyone,

    Would you be able to go into this thread and post the information requested?

    http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/65328/unknown-error-received-upon-disconnecting/

    This will help out network architects in narrowing down the exact cause of the "unknown error" that everyone is getting. It would be greatly appreciated!
    The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited - ZeniMax Online Studios
    Forum Rules | Code of Conduct | Terms of Service | Home Page | Help Site
    Staff Post
  • Vargtask
    Vargtask
    ✭✭
    They made any progress at all so far? We been waiting and the problem is old.
    We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • Tuonelan
    Tuonelan
    ✭✭
    ZOS_BillE wrote: »
    Hey Everyone,

    Would you be able to go into this thread and post the information requested?

    http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/65328/unknown-error-received-upon-disconnecting/

    This will help out network architects in narrowing down the exact cause of the "unknown error" that everyone is getting. It would be greatly appreciated!
    Can you maybe give us an update if there is an ETA when this is fixed or any additional troubleshooting steps we can take. Also I am wondering: If players receive the "unknown error" does ZOS automatically get a crash report about this? This way they would have more data to pinpoint the problem since only a fraction of people fill out a ticket when they actually incur the problem.
    We have contacted our Customer support team to help you solve your issue.
  • Lioben
    Lioben
    Yes an update would be nice.
  • Paenimob16_ESO
    I have this issue as well, loading a character will be infinite with the message saying retrieving character, and any load screen has a 75% chance to give me the unknown error and kick me into the log in screen. this is incredibly frustrating.
  • tiaineeneb17_ESO
    Getting the same error, this is by far the biggest problem out there. It would actually be nice to at least be able to play the game even with some buggy quests.
  • wanderingbluedragonub17_ESO
    I have this issue too...would be nice to get an update on this situation...
  • Lioben
    Lioben
    It is so annoying. I have free time this week and could play, but instead have to waste my time, starting the game over and over again hoping that i could log in with one char until i have to zone the next time and get kicked out again...
  • Tuonelan
    Tuonelan
    ✭✭
    Lioben wrote: »
    It is so annoying. I have free time this week and could play, but instead have to waste my time, starting the game over and over again hoping that i could log in with one char until i have to zone the next time and get kicked out again...
    In the mean time: If you have smartphone and a data package you can setup a WiFi hotspot. ESO is not that bandwidth extensive. Due to the nature of LTE/3G data transfer you should not receive the "unknown error" problem.
  • Lioben
    Lioben
    Actually i use already 4G Mobil Broadband, because my college Internet does somehow not allow Online Games and Team Speak. I have an LTE Mobilephone with Flat, but i am studying in England and the card is from Germany, so as long as i am here it is a problem, because it would coast a lot.
  • Paffe
    Paffe
    Tuonelan wrote: »
    In the mean time: If you have smartphone and a data package you can setup a WiFi hotspot. ESO is not that bandwidth extensive. Due to the nature of LTE/3G data transfer you should not receive the "unknown error" problem.

    Eh, I have this exact issue and I'm using LTE. Doesn't work through either my phone nor a router and I'm suspecting that's my problem. It probably varies from isp to isp and country to country tho. And again, never have had any problems with mobile connection before.

    On another note, all my quests now are at a point where I must enter a dungeon or othervise different zone.
  • Lioben
    Lioben
    The problem is and that was already in other threads analyzed that the TESO programm kicks you out because it is overly protective. It has problems with non-static IP's in certain cases. Sometimes it goes protective if i only use my Wifi connection and it does kick me out definitly if i used my static connection (the one from the college) only for a while, not even with the game, to research things in the Internet. The program does somehow recognize that a different IP was used and assumes the worst. If you look deeper in it than you would see that 80 up to 90 percent of the people experiencing the issues have either non-static IP or are in regions with problematic ISP (problematic only in case of the TESO program, they are perfectly fine of course).
  • Tuonelan
    Tuonelan
    ✭✭
    Lioben wrote: »
    The problem is and that was already in other threads analyzed that the TESO programm kicks you out because it is overly protective. It has problems with non-static IP's in certain cases. Sometimes it goes protective if i only use my Wifi connection and it does kick me out definitly if i used my static connection (the one from the college) only for a while, not even with the game, to research things in the Internet. The program does somehow recognize that a different IP was used and assumes the worst. If you look deeper in it than you would see that 80 up to 90 percent of the people experiencing the issues have either non-static IP or are in regions with problematic ISP (problematic only in case of the TESO program, they are perfectly fine of course).

    Interesting post. At any rate: ZOS, please can we have some kind of response to know you are at least working on it or not. Either way, then everyone has an a status update and can make an informed decision.
  • Vargtask
    Vargtask
    ✭✭
    I felt so frustrated that I even created a ticket even tho we talked over the forums like mad about it, asking for an update. Funny part is that the 3 people that contacted me do not seem to really understand what I was after, they keep bouncing me between different teams. Is it so hard to give us an update on this horrible totally game screwing problem? Last evening I forced myself to play through numerous Unknown Erros that killed me, gave me rollbacks, bugged quests and just generally disconnected me over and over. I especially enjoyed doing the mage guilds Cheesemonger instance, omg that bugged out like totally mad with unknown errors. Even had to redo entire quest line at one point...
  • Tuonelan
    Tuonelan
    ✭✭
    well a tracert shows that the server appear to be in the US:

    10 257 ms 256 ms 257 ms vl-3608-ve-232.csw2.London1.Level3.net [4.69.166
    .30]
    11 259 ms 258 ms 258 ms ae-56-221.ebr2.London1.Level3.net [4.69.153.129]

    12 255 ms 255 ms 255 ms ae-41-41.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.137.66]

    13 255 ms 255 ms 256 ms ae-81-81.csw3.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.134.74]

    14 256 ms 257 ms 257 ms ae-82-82.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net [4.69.148.41]

    15 256 ms 255 ms 256 ms ae-3-3.ebr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.69.137.121]
    16 256 ms 255 ms 255 ms ae-82-82.csw3.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.69.151.153]

    17 * * * Request timed out.
    18 ZENIMAX-MED.ear1.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.31.132.194] reports: Destination ne
    t unreachable.

    Trace complete.
    Whenever I start playing I see the ping from 198.20.200.207 go absolutely crazy. Can anyone in the EU confirm this as well?
  • verna.harrisonub17_ESO
    Vargtask wrote: »
    I felt so frustrated that I even created a ticket even tho we talked over the forums like mad about it, asking for an update. Funny part is that the 3 people that contacted me do not seem to really understand what I was after, they keep bouncing me between different teams. Is it so hard to give us an update on this horrible totally game screwing problem? Last evening I forced myself to play through numerous Unknown Erros that killed me, gave me rollbacks, bugged quests and just generally disconnected me over and over. I especially enjoyed doing the mage guilds Cheesemonger instance, omg that bugged out like totally mad with unknown errors. Even had to redo entire quest line at one point...

    I'm with ya Vargtask. I've been forcing myself to keep logging in because I really enjoy the game when I can stay in it. Once in a while I get lucky and I'm able to play for about an hour without getting kicked. But yeah, I got kicked a lot last night and had the same problems... came back dead, rollbacks, etc. I've been emailing back and forth with tech support since the last beta. I only had the opportunity to play 2 beta sessions, but I had the same issues. I've been spamming the heck out of @ZOS_JonahT with my crashes, per their request. I sure hope they can figure this out soon!
    Edited by verna.harrisonub17_ESO on April 6, 2014 3:37PM
  • Princess_Leia
    I have had this 'Unknown Error' occur to me every so often but tonight, i had it quite a number of times and it starts off by lagging really badly, and then i can't seem to use items, cant post in chat, can't do anything really, and then i get disconnected with this error. I played all day today and got it once earlier in the day but tonight, its been near unplayable. And i play on a private computer with my husband at home and not from a uni or anything like that, and still having this issues. I had a bit of it in Beta as well. I feel its on their end more than on ours. Please give us an update as to what is going on please.
  • Eluminati
    Eluminati
    I am having the same issue, followed by errors trying to log back in.
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