For those playing on a SSD

Reyleigh · January 2020

Did it really improve performance with regards to loading screen and texture ?

AlnilamE · January 2020

Well, I just got a better computer (with a better SSD than the previous one) a few weeks ago, and my load screens are definitely shorter (and I'm playing at highest textures again).

But I haven't played on a non-SSD for a couple of years, so I can't remember exactly what it was like.

r3turn2s3nd3r · January 2020

On PS4 Pro, yes. I used to have 'black silhouettes' for 20 - 30 seconds after landing at the wayshines in Elden Root, Mournhold, Wayrest and Craglorn. Now, everyone is fully rendered once I land and loading screens are a bit shorter. Full disclosure, I did not go external drive via USB, I installed an internal 1 TB and reloaded the PS OS.

DUTCH_REAPER · January 2020

I just bought a new computer as well with a newer ssd and I can tell a massive difference in my crappy internet with shorter load screens better FPS and over all playability has improved

Nestor · January 2020

SSD may have a small impact on framerates, but will have a huge impact on load times.

rpa · January 2020

I've been playing with SSD and my loading screens are limited by mood of the server. SSD is roughly 5x faster than a HD.

daemonios · January 2020

It improves "regular" loading screens by a lot. I still get random long loading screens, though. Just restarted my PC because after queuing for over an hour for Cyrodiil, I was spending 90% of my time there in one loading screen after the other.

Anotherone773 · January 2020

When it comes to actual HDD , faster RPM improves performance. Then you have a standard SSD drive, which if i remember correctly cuts load times down to 30-50% of an HDD. Then you have Nvme M.2 SSD which is twice as fast as a standard SSD.

I have an Nvme M.2 and i can boot to windows 10 in about 15 seconds from power off. My in game load screens from zone to zone are typically 5-10 seconds. I even load into a full campaign in cyro in 10-15 seconds.

Now the SSD isnt the only component you need to worry about. Well balanced systems are crucial to resource heavy games. For example, 16GB of RAM or better is what you really want to play this game. And you need a good CPU and good GPU. Neither have to be high end, but they need to be decent. That is where you are going to see your performance will increase is when your system is well balanced.

phairdon · January 2020

Made little noticeable difference. Certainly has not helped with load screens as they are quite long at the moment, especially in cyrodiil when entering or exiting delves.

Reyleigh · January 2020

Thank you all for your input
I'm playing with 16GB ram, 1070ti, i5-8400 and a 7200 rpm HDD
Sometimes the loading screens are fast and other times they're really long but what bothers me the most are the black silhouettes whenever i log in vivec city

MEBengalsFan2001 · January 2020

Reyleigh wrote: »

Did it really improve performance with regards to loading screen and texture ?

I would say it does, even a hybrid drive improves load times. I'm on a PS4 and going from the standard to a Hybrid I am usually first the player loaded onto the screen.

Nestor · January 2020

Reyleigh wrote: »

Thank you all for your input
I'm playing with 16GB ram, 1070ti, i5-8400 and a 7200 rpm HDD
Sometimes the loading screens are fast and other times they're really long but what bothers me the most are the black silhouettes whenever i log in vivec city

Those black textures will improve.

Also, upgrading to an SSD is beyond easy. You can use the included cloning software and copy your OS, Programs and Files over is minutes. No need to reinstall anything.

Note, you will want to use something like CC Cleaner, and maybe defrag your platter first. And further, once on SSD, no need to defrag that.

rpa · January 2020

Reyleigh wrote: »

Thank you all for your input
I'm playing with 16GB ram, 1070ti, i5-8400 and a 7200 rpm HDD
Sometimes the loading screens are fast and other times they're really long but what bothers me the most are the black silhouettes whenever i log in vivec city

SSD will not help with really long loading screens because those are caused by server pondering data you need.

Anotherone773 · January 2020

Reyleigh wrote: »

Thank you all for your input
I'm playing with 16GB ram, 1070ti, i5-8400 and a 7200 rpm HDD
Sometimes the loading screens are fast and other times they're really long but what bothers me the most are the black silhouettes whenever i log in vivec city

I play with a standard 1070, 32 GB, i7, and the SSD. My graphics settings are on high i believe with a bit of customization and the game runs and loads fine for me.

The SSD should help you with load times and the black silhouettes should disappear unless your connection is terrible. Latency is important, bandwidth not so much.

If you have "graphics problems" such as low frame rate, turning a couple of graphics features down a notch should improve that. The resource cost for increased graphic effects is exponential like trying to obtain the speed of light. the closer to the speed of light you get, the more energy is require to move you another 1% closer. Going from medium to high graphics cost significantly more resources than going from low to medium for example. SO playing with graphic settings a little bit can solve so many problems.

erliesc · January 2020

I wouldn't buy any computer...let alone a gaming box without an SSD. Makes a major diff...

furiouslog · January 2020

I have had an SSD for 4 years, so I don't remember the difference. I can say that I'm running an m.2 at high speeds, and my loading times are still crap, with lots of rendering issues.

rumple9 · January 2020

Didn't notice any difference. ESO game engine just sucks

Huyen · January 2020

I tried several games on an ssd and I can honestly tell you the only thing loading quicker is windows atm. It really depends on the games and other hardware you use. An ssd sounds nice, but if your cpu and ram can't handle it, it's a waste of money.

spekdah · January 2020

Its a huge improvement, even on an external SSD with usb3, didn't have enough space on my internal m2.

Load screens are typically 5-10 seconds. Disclaimer, exludes cryidil near pop cap.

Do get some outliners like 20-30 seconds, usually event related with a ton of peeps in an area.

PC.

Gythral · January 2020

SSD is a huge improvement in load times, but as others have said I would not use a PC with out the OS and games that are in current use on it

Even SATA/USB3 is better than any HD, with NVMe being better still

Server still badly affects initial load times but most after that are better that most on a HD and you can tell by how long it takes others to appear in the same instance!

robpr · January 2020

Loading screens between different instances didn't differ so much, but loading screens within the same zone (like going through shrines), between rooms in dungeons/trials and reloading UI is nearly instant. 'Black silhuettes' dissapeared completely. Also huge frame dropping in first pulls in dungeons/trials is also gone. Whenever you log or zone, all models and textures are already loaded.

Rahar · January 2020

Reyleigh wrote: »

Did it really improve performance with regards to loading screen and texture ?

I switched to a 1TB PCIe SSD (the best of the best in terms of read/write time... aka loading time, ~$200 USD at time of purchase?) and noticed negligible differences in loading screens. Very disappointing. However, textures popping in are nonexistent and intermittent frame lag is greatly reduced.

So: DO NOT buy an SSD if you want to fix loading screens (in ESO). That is server latency and you can't fix it with better hardware.

Naftal · January 2020

Rahar wrote: »

Reyleigh wrote: »

Did it really improve performance with regards to loading screen and texture ?

I switched to a 1TB PCIe SSD (the best of the best in terms of read/write time... aka loading time, ~$200 USD at time of purchase?) and noticed negligible differences in loading screens. Very disappointing. However, textures popping in are nonexistent and intermittent frame lag is greatly reduced.

So: DO NOT buy an SSD if you want to fix loading screens (in ESO). That is server latency and you can't fix it with better hardware.

Something is wrong with your setup then. My old SSD has much shorter loading screens than my HDD.

Rahar · January 2020

Naftal wrote: »

Rahar wrote: »

Reyleigh wrote: »

Did it really improve performance with regards to loading screen and texture ?

I switched to a 1TB PCIe SSD (the best of the best in terms of read/write time... aka loading time, ~$200 USD at time of purchase?) and noticed negligible differences in loading screens. Very disappointing. However, textures popping in are nonexistent and intermittent frame lag is greatly reduced.

So: DO NOT buy an SSD if you want to fix loading screens (in ESO). That is server latency and you can't fix it with better hardware.

Something is wrong with your setup then. My old SSD has much shorter loading screens than my HDD.

Are you sure that's not just placebo? Loading screens are server side.

Loves_guars · January 2020

Reyleigh wrote: »

Did it really improve performance with regards to loading screen and texture ?

Yes for me it cut nearly half of the loading screen but consider theres a lot of time independent of your pc like when it says "requesting character" that can take the same amount of time as the loading itself and I wish they would fix that. Still I highly recommend if you do writs with lots of chars or change zone frequently.

bearbelly · January 2020

I play on a SSD (on a machine with 16Gb RAM and a GTX 970), have since I started this game, and I still regularly (not daily, but often enough to be insanely frustrating) get stuck in long load screens. And all too often, infinite load screens.

It happens often enough that I don't think having a SSD makes much of a difference (UNLESS you're upgrading from a mechanical hard drive); you're still going to get nailed with overly long load screens, regardless.

tspecherb14_ESO · January 2020

I noticed a considerable difference moving ESO to a SSD from a HD on the same comp in regards to load screen times.

krachall · January 2020

Semi-related question.

I had a 120GB SSD for Windows and a 1TB HDD for content, including ESO. There isn’t enough room on the 120 SSD for ESO so I replaced it with a 255 GB I had. I’m waiting for the forced re-download to install ESO on that.

But my PC case has an odd slot on the top with a built-in tray to directly mount an external SSD. Not a USB but actual drive connections. I plugged the cleaned 120GB in there and it’s showing as a third drive.

Would it be best to install ESO on the 256 that has Windows (plenty of room for ESO too) or the 120GB third drive?

Elsonso · January 2020

I switched from a fast HDD to a SSD a couple years ago and the difference was noticeable. Game load times and patch install were places I noticed right away. I've been running SSD for so long that it seems normal, now. On top of that, we have about 10-20 GB more "crud" in the game, so I am sure things have slowed down since I switched.

markulrich1966 · January 2020

xbox one s, massive improvement moving game to externnal ssd.

Even playing on NA from europe, almost no more "this is an unusual long load time".

No more black silhouettes.

Load time maybe 30% faster, 50% on cashed content (you travel to a location twice, second time is faster).

The game also looks more detailed, as the textures load instantly, instead of using low-res placeholders.

Small investment, huge effect - absolutely recommended.

It does NOT fix the ridiculous amount of crashes though, like using wayshrines (Alinor, the stitches) or keeps.

Reyleigh · January 2020

Nestor wrote: »

Reyleigh wrote: »

Thank you all for your input
I'm playing with 16GB ram, 1070ti, i5-8400 and a 7200 rpm HDD
Sometimes the loading screens are fast and other times they're really long but what bothers me the most are the black silhouettes whenever i log in vivec city

Those black textures will improve.

Also, upgrading to an SSD is beyond easy. You can use the included cloning software and copy your OS, Programs and Files over is minutes. No need to reinstall anything.

Note, you will want to use something like CC Cleaner, and maybe defrag your platter first. And further, once on SSD, no need to defrag that.

My OS is already on a SSD, its only 120Gb though, so not enough for eso
Some people from another forum also said that they didn't notice much of a difference... Seems like there are diverging opinions on this