Error 209 after patch?

Tabbycat · April 2014

I honestly think this is something that ZOS is going to have to patch to fix. I believe this because of two things.

1. Players who try the steps given by Jess and re-download the entire game all over again still have the error. So doing that is a huge waste of time.

2. Fiddling around with the launcher eventually gets it to work and you can successfully log in to the game. However, the problem eventually manifests itself on the launcher again meaning you have to fiddle around with it again in order to get it to work.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom, can you guys please continue to work on fixing this for us? It's obviously an issue caused by the current patch. We've seen these manifest errors before on the PTS and you guys always eventually fixed them.

Katsutoshi_ESO · April 2014

You do not have to "Delete" any files at all! the game run fine after the patcher done!

I to got the "error 209" that only due to patcher software! not game it self!

They need to fix patcher software! okai this what i did to get the game to run for me!

it realy easy! (*)

okai what you do is go to "run command" on window 7/8
typ ""k:\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\eso.exe"

just make sure which drive put it on as you kan see i have many drives! the game should start playing like should normaly it does...

the only thing i found out is that patcher is what need to be fixed not the main game... (ps: sorry mai english not strong)

red_wolf_sb14a_ESO · April 2014

brandon wrote: »

Ok make that 4 hours of waiting the least you could do is say that your working on it.

There have been no new posts in the Dev Tracker at all in the last 3 hours 36 minutes as I am typing this. Anyone else starting to wonder if they took the money and run?

manofcolombia · April 2014

Yea its just a stupid launcher issue that needs to hurry up and be fixed. The amount of crap that has come out of this game even though it went through so much testing and live betas is ridiculous. Just launch the game via the .exe in the install dir and all is well for now

Mirkz · April 2014

I'm not re-downloading the size of this *** game because you guys f*#%ed up the thing with a patch. Seriously... show some real customer support and get another patch happening immediately to rectify.

Not only is that a ridiculous request to ask someone to re-download the entire game (people have bandwidth limits you know?), but the amount of time it'd take to do so is appalling. I have a friend in the US who has been trying to download for quite some time and he has a 15mb/s download rate, and after 3 hours he got to 8%.
I'd hate to even TRY it on my connection which maxes out at 1.5mb/s and I'm located in Aus.

Daenerys · April 2014

I just got this error too, but I repaired and now I'm in. Now just in case this helps isolate a problem, earlier when I opened launcher, the patch did not initially start downloading. I thought that was odd, having read the patch notes, so I waited a min, still nada, then shrugged and hit play. However, when I tried to log into character select I got the unknown error.

I exited, and then it started patching. After installing patch, playing for hours, and exiting the game (and launcher) taking a break - it just now decides to pop up randomly. Worried that this will pop up again though, after reading all through this

edit: cannot sleep so decide to log back in... and yep, you guessed it the zombie error 209 is back. however, repairing does not work this time. ran game consultant, and then hit apply and voila I can play again. hope this is fixed soon, don't want to have to do this every time I want to play.

Pintobean · April 2014

The local newspaper offered me a free subscription for a month. I had not received the newspaper for years, and it sounded like a pretty good deal. The first morning I was to get my copy of the newspaper, I got up at 6 AM ( I usually get up at 6 AM) but there was no newspaper. I waited until 9 AM and called the newspaper office to tell them I had not received today's newspaper, mildly upset, but only mildly. The company apologized and assured me i would get a copy the next day, there must have been a mixup.

The following morning, still no newspaper. I called the company at 8 AM and told them i had not received my newspaper, I was upset, not mildly, and not overly, just upset. Again the company apologized and guaranteed they would call the delivery person and make sure I would get the next day's paper.

The third day, still no paper. I am outraged, screaming, calling the company at 7 AM and yelling at the poor woman at the other end of the line. " I haven't received your paper for years!" " I never missed having the paper, I didn't want the paper, I still had not paid for anything and had no intention of ever paying for their stupid paper, ever!"

I thought about it, the only difference between these three days and the prior few years, was my expectation. I had not received the newspaper for a long time and that had not changed, only the last three days I had begun to expect a newspaper, and that is where the outrage came from. Seemed silly. Still seems silly.

My experience with Elder Scrolls Online is reminding me of the power of underachieved expectations, over and over. I am not quite to the 'outraged' stage, but I can feel the heat iminating from my body as I type this.

Please fix your game. Fix it now.

squeeze · April 2014

To the above poster:

That's the whole frikkin point. There are at least two types of players receiving Error 209 from the Launcher (Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe).

Player Type A: no ability to recieve patches. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.964485. The game is completely broken for them and they will most often receive "Login timeout" error if they try to connect directly via the executable Client (exo.exe).
Player Type B: able to get the most up to date patch, THEN received the error. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.968197. These guys are the ones who are able to (at least temporarily) bypass the Launcher successfully by connecting directly via the executable Client (eso.exe).

If Player Type B uses the Launcher, sometimes they will avoid Error 209, but eventually it catches up to them too. Hence, they should only use the Client until Zenimax fixes this whole mess.

Player Type A, in the meantime, is totally and utterly screwed because almost none of them will be able to fix the Launcher so that it starts to do a full update and patch the whole game to the correct version. If they do succeed it, seems out of pure luck because their method cannot be reliably reproduced nor confirmed by Zenimax.

If Player Type A uses the official instructions, or even if they do not and merely rename or delete version files, they may end up being required to redownload and reinstall the entire game (requiring 60GB) or make available an additional 60GB for a total of 90GB or 120GB, if they have both region folders, to get past the INSTALL disk space check.

In addition, there is a subset of Player Type B, lets call them B1 who may receive Launcher errors and then bypass them by using the Client directly, however they end up hitting a wall via another login error, typically an impossible to disable "Access Code" email error (because they never receive the emails) or lobby Error 30X.

Put another way: do you honestly think that anyone who has come to these Customer Support (not player) forums, read, followed and responded to this thread would not have tried to simply start the Client "eso.exe" directly by now?

This mess is far more complicated than you think and has been artificially created directly by Zenimax from this latest 15th April 2014 maintenance patch. There are no doubt thousands of players, who were previously able to play or just bought the game, unable to play at the moment for all these reasons...

Karius_Imalthar · April 2014

Yeah, this is happening to me too after today's (4/15/14) patch.

travisepickren · April 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

If you are getting error 209, please try the following:
First, please ensure you are accessing the game via the launcher, not the .exe file.

Try closing out of the launcher and re-open it, then run a repair.

If you try to repair and it does not work, please delete all .version files in the game's sub folders and try repair again.

*Please note that if you do delete all .version files, the launcher may require you to re-download the game.

Edit: for clarification

You just led me to reinstall the entire game!! Thanks $:\$

Dewster82 · April 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

If you are getting error 209, please try the following:
First, please ensure you are accessing the game via the launcher, not the .exe file.

Try closing out of the launcher and re-open it, then run a repair.

If you try to repair and it does not work, please delete all .version files in the game's sub folders and try repair again.

*Please note that if you do delete all .version files, the launcher may require you to re-download the game.

Edit: for clarification

is this the kind of 'fixes' we are going to see? This is getting closer and closer to a point of no return for me...disappointed is beyond how i feel

Rage_Frost · April 2014

Me too Brother this was left out when I first read that "Fix" that is not a fix or even a workaround. I am getting more and more upset as this goes.
I never had a problem yet with patching even in beta and when it hit live.
but today this is mind blowing.
I am reinstalling the whole game was at 4mb download then 600kb now 176kb with 12 GB left...

I tried the pause and resume to get the higher speed again and it only worked for a couple of mins.

I AM SO SORRY to the players would be a start but at this point I think we have passed that as an option.

Katsutoshi_ESO · April 2014

you do not have to do that at all what this person said "ZOS_JessicaFolsom"
if did omg that bad for you...

try read mai post... scroll up...

Gunsang · April 2014

It might be fixed now. I haven't tried anything fancy except close my launcher, be patient, and bring it up and launch again.

For the record, those are "problem solving steps". Like diagnosing what's wrong with your computer, sometimes you don't know what's wrong until you eliminate the other variables. I'm also pretty sure the staff of ESO are not all knowing gods of programming, otherwise everything would be perfect.

Now take a chill pill, be patient, and if it's still not working--either wait it out or contact customer support. Last I heard, vomiting didn't make the wheel.

Celysa · April 2014

UnderratedF00l wrote: »

Something that worked for me when I got the Error 209:

In the settings, select the Europe server and hit apply -- the launcher will want you to install, but don't do it. Change it back to the US server, and see what happens -- it let me in.

That's what I did and now it let's me play

squeeze · April 2014

Gunsang wrote: »

It might be fixed now. I haven't tried anything fancy except close my launcher, be patient, and bring it up and launch again.

For the record, those are "problem solving steps". Like diagnosing what's wrong with your computer, sometimes you don't know what's wrong until you eliminate the other variables. I'm also pretty sure the staff of ESO are not all knowing gods of programming, otherwise everything would be perfect.

Now take a chill pill, be patient, and if it's still not working--either wait it out or contact customer support. Last I heard, vomiting didn't make the wheel.

You just admitted doing nothing while bashing others who have tried EVERYTHIING for hours including working with Zenimax to make the game work for themselves and communicate what is going on to others too?

selisa86 · April 2014

squeeze wrote: »

Player Type A: no ability to recieve patches. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.964485. The game is completely broken for them and they will most often receive "Login timeout" error if they try to connect directly via the executable Client (exo.exe).

Player Type B: able to get the most up to date patch, THEN received the error. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.968197. These guys are the ones who are able to (at least temporarily) bypass the Launcher successfully by connecting directly via the executable Client (eso.exe).

@squeeze - As I understood from the patch notes, the patch version was 1.0.3. Is that not what the game version would be patched to? Where are you getting your info that [eso.live.1.0.0.968197] is the latest patch version?

squeeze · April 2014

selisa86 wrote: »

squeeze wrote: »

Player Type A: no ability to recieve patches. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.964485. The game is completely broken for them and they will most often receive "Login timeout" error if they try to connect directly via the executable Client (exo.exe).

Player Type B: able to get the most up to date patch, THEN received the error. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.968197. These guys are the ones who are able to (at least temporarily) bypass the Launcher successfully by connecting directly via the executable Client (eso.exe).

As I understood from the patch notes, the patch version was 1.0.3. Is that not what the game version would be patched to? Where are you getting your info that [eso.live.1.0.0.968197] is the latest patch version?

Patch version 1.0.3 is Client build version on Live of "eso.live.1.0.0.968197".

There are almost always differences in large projects between versions for communication and versions for builds because there tend to be many different builds for the same communication version and many components to a build, e.g. the Launcher has its own version.

The new Client build version I obtained from a consensus of players from other ESO forums. No doubt you could trivially confirm it yourself from players on these official forums too.

You can easily find your own Client build version by checking the version at the bottom of the Client login screen ("The Elder Scrolls Online" -> Game -> Client -> eso.exe). Mine is, unfortunately, "eso.live.1.0.0.964485".

Gunsang · April 2014

You just admitted doing nothing while bashing others who have tried EVERYTHIING for hours including working with Zenimax to make the game work for themselves and communicate what is going on to others too?

So, who here is the problem solver and who here is spouting useless feel-good "vomit"? Exactly. Since you seem seem to enjoy adding pithy comments in a fully technical forum, here's one for you:

If you cannot say anything useful, don't say anything.

One, others did not admit to trying anything. Some sat around and complained, some didn't. A lot of them didn't even know what their options were (don't give the human race too much credit)
Two, the problem solver is customer support--I also just mentioned it might be working now--better then what you're trying to accomplish here
Three, Want to talk about admission? I admitted nothing about enjoying the act of "adding pithy comments". In fact, I admitted nothing--I did try and "be patient" and "did nothing --FANCY--".
Four, and right back at you, if you cannot say anything useful, don't say anything--at all. Not one thing from you was useful, my cheesy squeeze.

I'll make sure to gloss over your posts in the future. For now, if you got a problem with me, you either take it up with myself in private or staff. This isn't the place for your personal beefs... unless it's roast, then pass me a slice.

toad.in.a.tophatb16_ESO · April 2014

I know that it won't work for everyone but I did the delete the four .version files etc "fix" two or three times. This time, I can launch the game from the launcher, but still get hit with the everlasting cycle of "Login Timeout".

I love paying for stuff that doesn't work from a company that don't communicate effectively but instead, have their CUSTOMERS work out various possible fixes.

EDIT: Same error again now after my launcher stopped responding

Mephiston87 · April 2014

same errror209

Gunsang · April 2014

I would keep exiting the launcher and bringing it back up. Eventually it had"repair" for me. Though it still gave me the same error after the repair, the launcher let me by regardless and I was past the never-ending-loading-that-goes-on-and-on-my-friends.

phatbandit · April 2014

i seem to have been able to repair the problem - if it stops working i will update this post (keep u apprised). for this to work u need to have recent backups, fortunately i had one from yesterday

!

edit: DAMN, worked 5 times, then failed on the sixth...

1. close the launcher, go and find the .version files Jessica Fulsom quoted (in: depot, game, and vo_en folders), and rename them .txt files (sort of a backup, program cant find them then, can rename back again if this fails

)

2. go back to the zenimax (folder in program files), right click on 'The Elder Scrolls Online' click properties, previous versions tab, and find the most recent version (NOT TODAYS - NEEDS TO BE PRE-PATCH!)

3. go and find the .version files (in: depot, game, and vo_en folders) and copy them from the backup into the current folders (into the folders where u renamed the .txt files, does this make sense? hope so)

this will convince the launcher u are pre-patch, and will re-download the lastest patches - if u backed up yesterday like i did this is a tiny download ('bout the size of a floppy disk or something, remember those? no? awwww

)

4. run launcher - should download patch again - DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, DO NOT SURF THE WEB, LOOK AT FACEBOOK OR UTUBE! JUST WALK AWAY AND LET IT PATCH!!!

that should do it, worked for me, after this it said 'play' not 'repair, and no error popup! good luck!

NightOwl68 · April 2014

Trying this got the "play" to come up once. After exiting the game the error came back. If I keep re-launching the launcher I can get it to show "play" once every 10 or 20 tries. As soon as I exit the game the error returns. So the solution isn't permanent for me.

Telekawhatsi · April 2014

purplebutters16 wrote: »

Ok, same problem after a repair and close/open of the launcher. "Error 209, PatchManifestError_VersionFail", "Unable to determine current version. Please run the Game Consultant Tool...".

I have the exact same problem I could log in after the patch the game froze and now its fails to recognise my current game version and refuses to repair it , after restarting the client 5 + times over , this should be patched im not really in the mood to re download with Aussie quota'ed net to get the same problem ...

Traisa · April 2014

I'm just going to uninstall and do a fresh install. I've tried these suggestions and still nothing works. It's obvious this is happening to a vast majority of people. I've started to wonder if it has something to do with patching something that was the beta application, since the game appears as The Elder Scrolls Online Beta in my programs list. I would hope that this last resort will fix this issue, so my computer is going to be on overnight. If it still doesn't work, then I'll have no choice but to cancel my sub. I don't want to, but I also don't want to pay for something that is unplayable.

elisethechemist · April 2014

Barely 7% into the re-install. Why did I pay $80.00 USD for this?

Elsonso · April 2014

squeeze wrote: »

Player Type B: able to get the most up to date patch, THEN received the error. Version number of eso.live.1.0.0.968197. These guys are the ones who are able to (at least temporarily) bypass the Launcher successfully by connecting directly via the executable Client (eso.exe).

All that seems to be happening is that the Launcher update routine is not getting the version information from the server and so it cannot validate that your client is up to date. If you have patched to 968197, it is up to date, no worries.

Player B can run ESO.EXE directly, but from what I can tell from experimentation, there is no need to do anything but wait.

The 209 error will come and go. If it happens, clear the error and wait. If you see Play, press it immediately and without hesitation. If you see Repair, you can just wait or you can try restarting the launcher. Personally, I just wait. There may be variables that determine how long you wait, but I observed that the Launcher tries every few minutes to check for updates and any time it does not like the answer from Zenimax, this message pops up.

This all means that the problem can pop up again, even after you get it working. My experience says that just waiting it out will usually resolve the issue long enough to press play.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that there is a problem with the servers. I am sure that it is not one server that answers at the IP address and one or more of them may not have the right patch information for download. When the launcher hits one of those, it chokes. When it hits a server that has the right information, everything is OK.

phatbandit · April 2014

Katsutoshi_ESO wrote: »

You do not have to "Delete" any files at all! the game run fine after the patcher done!

I to got the "error 209" that only due to patcher software! not game it self!
They need to fix patcher software! okai this what i did to get the game to run for me!

it realy easy! (*)

okai what you do is go to "run command" on window 7/8
typ ""k:\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\eso.exe"

just make sure which drive put it on as you kan see i have many drives! the game should start playing like should normaly it does...

the only thing i found out is that patcher is what need to be fixed not the main game... (ps: sorry mai english not strong)

this is generally correct! the launcher seems to be the problem! just run the game directly! eso.exe!

Rage_Frost · April 2014

Its been over 8 and a half hours since any Dev/GM has posted any new news on this problem. I have been dealing with false info on the deleted of files to find out that oh hey if you delete them you might have to re-download the game Edit from the Dev post in this topic 5 hours after the fact...

I also have requested a Call from their Support which has not come yet.
it at the time said within one hour a call back its been 4 hours now.

After the failed patch all its tried to do is trying to re-download 22GB then I stopped it then it downloaded just 5GB didn't work. Then opened it again to find out it wanted to do the whole 22GB again I said I will just do a Clean Install from the account page download of the game...

Download speed's started at 4mb then dropped to 800kb then 600kn then down to 146kb and now I am back to around 1.5mb download with 2.5GB left of the game not including any patches they have not added or updated from the game download link in your account page.

Now I have read that folk's who did a clean install from the Disk are getting this error again even after a clean install....

Again I find the lack of communication for the last couple of hours on this problem from any official source very disturbing. I am not happy with the official fix that was stated. I found that did not fix the problem.

And again Here is my Official Complaint and wish to have someone contact me with a resolution to my set back.