ESO client freezes and shuts down

gamefreak__9_ESO · February 2019

So for a while now my ESO client would freeze while trying to update for several minutes. (Cant click any buttons, move it or anything.) and then it closes itself after that.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the client. No other game of mine (including other online games and their launchers) and they all work fine. But now the game won't even install because it again freezes for a couple minutes then closes itself after I download a fresh launcher installer from the website.
ESO is one of my favorite games I would greatly appreciate some help.

Kozer · February 2019

Same issue here

purplederpy · February 2019

I had the same issue trying to fully install the game, and today when the update dropped. I managed to fix it both times with this solution:

1. Run the launcher, let it freeze and crash and shutdown by itself once.

2. Open the patchdata folder located here: PC > (C:) > Program Files (x86) > Zenimax Online > depot > patchdata.depot

3. In this folder you should see some Partial Download files named something like "depot_-1to269.26." The partial download is what's messing everything up. Don't delete these just yet, though.

4. In another window. Locate the "host.developer" files here: PC > (C:) > Program Files (x86) > Zenimax Online > Launcher.

5. There's gonna be one called "host.developer" and potentially "host.developer.(a number)," open whichever one is larger, it will typically be around 400,000+ KB.

6. Scroll to the bottom of the the "host.developer" file and you should see a bunch of error messages that say something like this:

02/25/2019 12:15:04 Hostname not found in whitelist (151.205.0.27)
02/25/2019 12:15:04 WebGet Error: (http://151.205.0.27:80/pdata/052584 blah blah blah blah)

7. See that link there? After "WebGet Error:" there is a link in parentheses. This is important, that's a link to the file(s) you'll need to download.

8. NOW, look back at your patchdata.depot folder. Look at the names of any Partial Download files you see, only 1 will have the same name that you find in the link.
(Example: http/blahblah/eso/blahblahblah/depot/depot_269to271/depot_269to271.z01 is to download file depot_-269to271.z01)

9. Copy that link, and paste it into google chrome. The file should immediately start downloading.

10. If you have multiple Partial Download files, you can just edit the last couple digits of the link. So if you need file depot_269to271.z01 and depot_269to271.z02, you can repost the link into google chrome and change the ".z01" at the end to ".z02" or ".z03" or ".zip" and so on for each file you need.

11. Once you have downloaded all your files, take them and put them in that patchdata.depot folder and now you can delete any "Partial Download" files that are in there. Your installer now has the correct files it needs to finish the installation.

12. Also delete the host.developer files, you don't need them anymore. They'll recreate themselves if another issue arises.

13. Run your ESO launcher, it should install without any freezing or crashing.

Hope this helps!

Kozer · February 2019

purplederpy wrote: »
I had the same issue trying to fully install the game, and today when the update dropped. I managed to fix it both times with this solution:

1. Run the launcher, let it freeze and crash and shutdown by itself once.

2. Open the patchdata folder located here: PC > (C:) > Program Files (x86) > Zenimax Online > depot > patchdata.depot

3. In this folder you should see some Partial Download files named something like "depot_-1to269.26." The partial download is what's messing everything up. Don't delete these just yet, though.

4. In another window. Locate the "host.developer" files here: PC > (C:) > Program Files (x86) > Zenimax Online > Launcher.

5. There's gonna be one called "host.developer" and potentially "host.developer.(a number)," open whichever one is larger, it will typically be around 400,000+ KB.

6. Scroll to the bottom of the the "host.developer" file and you should see a bunch of error messages that say something like this:
02/25/2019 12:15:04 Hostname not found in whitelist (151.205.0.27)
02/25/2019 12:15:04 WebGet Error: (http://151.205.0.27:80/pdata/052584 blah blah blah blah)
7. See that link there? After "WebGet Error:" there is a link in parentheses. This is important, that's a link to the file(s) you'll need to download.

8. NOW, look back at your patchdata.depot folder. Look at the names of any Partial Download files you see, only 1 will have the same name that you find in the link.
(Example: http/blahblah/eso/blahblahblah/depot/depot_269to271/depot_269to271.z01 is to download file depot_-269to271.z01)

9. Copy that link, and paste it into google chrome. The file should immediately start downloading.

10. If you have multiple Partial Download files, you can just edit the last couple digits of the link. So if you need file depot_269to271.z01 and depot_269to271.z02, you can repost the link into google chrome and change the ".z01" at the end to ".z02" or ".z03" or ".zip" and so on for each file you need.

11. Once you have downloaded all your files, take them and put them in that patchdata.depot folder and now you can delete any "Partial Download" files that are in there. Your installer now has the correct files it needs to finish the installation.

12. Also delete the host.developer files, you don't need them anymore. They'll recreate themselves if another issue arises.

13. Run your ESO launcher, it should install without any freezing or crashing.

Hope this helps!

Trying this now. Pasted the link and now chrome is downloading a 2 gig file. So...Will be back when it finishes to let you know if it worked.

Thanks for the post.

Kozer · February 2019

Ok this worked for me eventually.
Had to download multiple files and one of them did not belong in the patchdata folder. But it eventually worked.

Thank you

domintheus · February 2019

I'm getting tired of having to do this manually, and am wondering why I waste my money on a subscription when I have to go through the work myself of getting their product to work. Has there been a solution to this yet aside from manually going through log files that are far too large for most people's computers (host.developer.log - 446,510kb - notepad can't handle it)?

Currently, I have to use Git Bash to see the extremely redundant error info by running the following in the launcher folder:

OUT=`tail host.developer.log` && echo $OUT >> temp.log

This isn't something you would have to do in WoW, or any other MMORPG that I've played, so why hasn't this been addressed yet when it's obviously an ongoing issue?

Sedare · February 2019

Ran into the freezing error. Never saw the webget stuff in the file. Windows just did an auto trouble shoot and is running the launcher in Win 8 compatibility mode and now the patch is downloading . . .

c'mon ZOS.Seriously this is beyond stupid. I've been having launcher problems since the autumn of last year. I've reported tickets, uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times. Every time there is a patch I've repaired to update (it's worked except for today's patch). Now apparently running in Win 8 mode works . . .

Sedare · February 2019

i spoke too soon. hit "play" and the game kept crashing opening the crash app.

Junkriid · February 2019

This is a long time issue, 2 of my friends (we're italians) already uninstalled the game because they couldn't fix the launcher in any way. I knew it was just a matter of time for me and there we go, 2 days of downloading *** and reapplying patches and verifying hundreds and hundreds of gigas. Still not able to launch the game and after months and months they don't fix this damn problem.. I wish someone had the money to start a lawsuit against them but we will only be another voice unheard. I guess after years and years, this is a farewell.

Sedare · February 2019

c'mon zos we need CUSTOMER SUPPORT! start answering and providing solutions. Do we need to get the patcher IP and have our AV mark it safe?