Eso Stadia Review: The Benefits and drawbacks/Pros and Cons of the Google Game Streaming Service.

Thevampirenight · June 2020

Well after finally managing to get access to the Stadia version of the Game after some issues with that Google Play card in having to have andriod to use it on Stadia I managed to get the game and tested it out. My Findings on this may surprise or not surprise you on the Latency factor.
The Benefits the Pros of Stadia.
Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range i'm not kidding it was that good and it was consistent within in that range. That was really surprising to me to be honest with you I thought it would be a little higher or higher latency then I see on Live. But in actuality it was the exact opposite and i wasn't exactly expecting that. This could be beneficial if it works for everyone and not just like potato quality laptop players like me would be better performance. Even Though with one of the cons of a capped 30 Fps. Latency in Eso is a big thing a good latency is vital for gameplay even more so then Fps, While Fps may help your speed and everything and how things look on screen and the speed of it. Latency is vital for most of the stuff like running, sprinting, combat, everything combat side requires a very good communication. So can have poor fps and still play the game if you have good latency. Though maybe not as effectivily without a good enough fps I can imagine. If latency is bad the gameplay quality really goes down and one can really feel it as well. Not only is Stadia giving 33 to 67 Latency. Its also very stable in sticking with those two numbers compared to the Non Stadia Version which can go all over the place. So if your having very bad Latency then the Google Stadia will be good for that.Though there might still be imput delays and stuff like that and that is on Esos end but at least latency is far better and with better latency means better quality of gameplay even if its still choppy. That is the biggest Benefit from Stadia is that good and stable Latency.

The Cons the Drewbacks of Stadia.
Cannot edit most video settings other then contrast so your stuck with most of what Google/Zenimax has set for the Stadia Version.
It kinda feels a bit lower quality like a flip phones best quality photograph compared to a high camera quality but not sure if that is the default graphics for Eso on Stadia as I have seen this on the Pts when i was running the new Anti-Analizing setting. My screen resolution of 1600x900 hopefully isn't the cause of it. After relaunching Staida after a while of having Eso Closed on it since I was distracted by Skyrim, the Low quality issue seems to be not as bad be so maybe its because I was using Incognito mode for it. So maybe it won't be as bad as I thought.

Fps seems to capped at 30 like the Consoles it could be Zenimax did it that way or it could be even a worse possibility having a requirement to have have to have Stadia Pro to access 60 fps not sure on that. If its done for performance I understand because the consoles do it for that reason so capping it could help with performance but won't be the best Fps. I mean 30 is good compared to what I have on non Stadia and the latency is really good compared to Non Stadia version.I was hoping to at least get it to 50/60 and that was the point in trying out Stadia but the 30 Fps might actually pair well with the good latency Stadia is providing so. Hopefully they can get it up to 60 Fps per Second. But either way it does seem to be an upgrade to what I have with Steam.

Another Drawback of Stadia is like Consoles we do not have the ability to use addons. Now I really only just use like three of them, Lore Books, Skyshards and the Oblivion Ui Mod. Plus all the libraries and their requirements but its disappointing that Skyshards and Lorebooks are not built into it. However I do have the ability to switch between versions.So that is what I'll do when it comes to addons.

Eso on Stadia is still a new thing and given that Stadia has better Latency then the actual Steam Version and potentially the non steam version of Eso. It goes to show that whatever Zenimax is using isn't very good and they need to seriously upgrade it. Given that Stadia is giving really Good Latency compared to the non Stadia that is really telling how much investment Zenimax has actually put into good internet infrastructure for their servers.

dhboy123 · June 2020

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

Thevampirenight · June 2020

dhboy123 wrote: »

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

I went ahead and tested the Eu Servers and its giving the latency of the range I typically see on na except stable in the 167 range average by the looks of it something sometimes going to 200 something. Its not surprising because the servers are farther away but that is better then the last time i tested eu on the non Stadia Version which was going into 250ish into the 300/400s/900s.

eKsDee · June 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range

Not your fault, but I'm calling BS on that. You're probably seeing lower latency due to the Stadia servers being closer or having a better connection to the ESO servers, hence the latency on the ESO Stadia client is being reported low, but the actual latency you'd be experiencing would be higher, and would affect you in a different way.

You have to think of a cloud-ran game as a middle-man connection. When you're running the game on your machine, it goes 'You/Game <---> Server', as you're directly interacting with the game on your machine. When you're playing the game on Stadia's servers, it goes 'You/Stadia-Client <---> Game <---> Server', where Stadia has a client that's taking your inputs, sending them to the game (while at the same time receiving output from the game and displaying it on your machine), then the game sends those inputs to the server.

What you're seeing is the latency of the connection between the game and the server, not the latency of the connection between you and the server. Under a cloud-ran game, you need to figure out the latency between you and the game, and add that to the latency between the game and the server, to get the total latency between you and the server.

The best way to compare as a player would be doing a rough input lag test, where, say, you cast a skill and count how long it takes the server to recognise that you cast that skill.

Normally what should happen is you press the button and immediately the slot on your skill bar should depress, signifying that the ESO client accepted your input, then a little bit later the server should receive your input and start casting the skill, based on your ping to the server.

Under Stadia, I'd imagine what would happen is you press the button, and after a slight delay the slot on your skill bar should depress, based on your ping to the Stadia servers that the ESO client is hosted on (doubly so since your key press needs to be sent to the Stadia servers, then the video stream needs to be sent to your Stadia client), then after another slight delay the server should receive your input and start casting the skill.

This is what people mean when they say that Stadia should have worse input delay, because it's introducing latency to when your client accepts your input. The server might respond faster due to having better latency (as the game client is physically closer to the servers), but you're going to be experiencing a delay in input being sent and the video stream being received.

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Thevampirenight · June 2020

eKsDee wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range

Not your fault, but I'm calling BS on that. You're probably seeing lower latency due to the Stadia servers being closer or having a better connection to the ESO servers, hence the latency on the ESO Stadia client is being reported low, but the actual latency you'd be experiencing would be higher, and would affect you in a different way.

You have to think of a cloud-ran game as a middle-man connection. When you're running the game on your machine, it goes 'You/Game <---> Server', as you're directly interacting with the game on your machine. When you're playing the game on Stadia's servers, it goes 'You/Stadia-Client <---> Game <---> Server', where Stadia has a client that's taking your inputs, sending them to the game (while at the same time receiving output from the game and displaying it on your machine), then the game sends those inputs to the server.

What you're seeing is the latency of the connection between the game and the server, not the latency of the connection between you and the server. Under a cloud-ran game, you need to figure out the latency between you and the game, and add that to the latency between the game and the server, to get the total latency between you and the server.

The best way to compare as a player would be doing a rough input lag test, where, say, you cast a skill and count how long it takes the server to recognise that you cast that skill.

Normally what should happen is you press the button and immediately the slot on your skill bar should depress, signifying that the ESO client accepted your input, then a little bit later the server should receive your input and start casting the skill, based on your ping to the server.

Under Stadia, I'd imagine what would happen is you press the button, and after a slight delay the slot on your skill bar should depress, based on your ping to the Stadia servers that the ESO client is hosted on (doubly so since your key press needs to be sent to the Stadia servers, then the video stream needs to be sent to your Stadia client), then after another slight delay the server should receive your input and start casting the skill.

This is what people mean when they say that Stadia should have worse input delay, because it's introducing latency to when your client accepts your input. The server might respond faster due to having better latency (as the game client is physically closer to the servers), but you're going to be experiencing a delay in input being sent and the video stream being received.

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland. Only thing is now that Google is connected to the Servers. So I wouldn't be any closer to the servers then where I am and Google is still using the Maryland servers.
That does make me wonder why is it better? Why is the Latency better and in 33/67 compared to the 150ish I average on Steam. Though it could be that its actually the same or worse and its giving false numbers. Which I hope it isn't because I actually like those numbers. There is a chance you could be correct on this being a middleman connection thus making it seem better then it actually is.
We will have to wait and see if that is the case. As more players use the google service we should get a better understanding of it.

mairwen85 · June 2020

dhboy123 wrote: »

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

The latency displayed is skewed. What's showing is the latency between stadia and eso, not client to eso via stadia, only half the conversation. So it's a slight misrepresentation.

Thevampirenight wrote: »

eKsDee wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range

Not your fault, but I'm calling BS on that. You're probably seeing lower latency due to the Stadia servers being closer or having a better connection to the ESO servers, hence the latency on the ESO Stadia client is being reported low, but the actual latency you'd be experiencing would be higher, and would affect you in a different way.

You have to think of a cloud-ran game as a middle-man connection. When you're running the game on your machine, it goes 'You/Game <---> Server', as you're directly interacting with the game on your machine. When you're playing the game on Stadia's servers, it goes 'You/Stadia-Client <---> Game <---> Server', where Stadia has a client that's taking your inputs, sending them to the game (while at the same time receiving output from the game and displaying it on your machine), then the game sends those inputs to the server.

What you're seeing is the latency of the connection between the game and the server, not the latency of the connection between you and the server. Under a cloud-ran game, you need to figure out the latency between you and the game, and add that to the latency between the game and the server, to get the total latency between you and the server.

The best way to compare as a player would be doing a rough input lag test, where, say, you cast a skill and count how long it takes the server to recognise that you cast that skill.

Normally what should happen is you press the button and immediately the slot on your skill bar should depress, signifying that the ESO client accepted your input, then a little bit later the server should receive your input and start casting the skill, based on your ping to the server.

Under Stadia, I'd imagine what would happen is you press the button, and after a slight delay the slot on your skill bar should depress, based on your ping to the Stadia servers that the ESO client is hosted on (doubly so since your key press needs to be sent to the Stadia servers, then the video stream needs to be sent to your Stadia client), then after another slight delay the server should receive your input and start casting the skill.

This is what people mean when they say that Stadia should have worse input delay, because it's introducing latency to when your client accepts your input. The server might respond faster due to having better latency (as the game client is physically closer to the servers), but you're going to be experiencing a delay in input being sent and the video stream being received.

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland. Only thing is now that Google is connected to the Servers. So I wouldn't be any closer to the servers then where I am and Google is still using the Maryland servers.
That does make me wonder why is it better? Why is the Latency better and in 33/67 compared to the 150ish I average on Steam.

I think you're misunderstanding what Stadia is and how it works. You are out of the conversation wrt the latency measured. The client you play through non-stadia is essentially what you are streaming via stadia, so the latency you are seeing is stadia to eso, and your client side (local) latency is not in that measurement.

Thevampirenight · June 2020

mairwen85 wrote: »

dhboy123 wrote: »

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

The latency displayed is skewed. What's showing is the latency between stadia and eso, not client to eso via stadia, only half the conversation. So it's a slight misrepresentation.

Thevampirenight wrote: »

eKsDee wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range

Not your fault, but I'm calling BS on that. You're probably seeing lower latency due to the Stadia servers being closer or having a better connection to the ESO servers, hence the latency on the ESO Stadia client is being reported low, but the actual latency you'd be experiencing would be higher, and would affect you in a different way.

You have to think of a cloud-ran game as a middle-man connection. When you're running the game on your machine, it goes 'You/Game <---> Server', as you're directly interacting with the game on your machine. When you're playing the game on Stadia's servers, it goes 'You/Stadia-Client <---> Game <---> Server', where Stadia has a client that's taking your inputs, sending them to the game (while at the same time receiving output from the game and displaying it on your machine), then the game sends those inputs to the server.

What you're seeing is the latency of the connection between the game and the server, not the latency of the connection between you and the server. Under a cloud-ran game, you need to figure out the latency between you and the game, and add that to the latency between the game and the server, to get the total latency between you and the server.

The best way to compare as a player would be doing a rough input lag test, where, say, you cast a skill and count how long it takes the server to recognise that you cast that skill.

Normally what should happen is you press the button and immediately the slot on your skill bar should depress, signifying that the ESO client accepted your input, then a little bit later the server should receive your input and start casting the skill, based on your ping to the server.

Under Stadia, I'd imagine what would happen is you press the button, and after a slight delay the slot on your skill bar should depress, based on your ping to the Stadia servers that the ESO client is hosted on (doubly so since your key press needs to be sent to the Stadia servers, then the video stream needs to be sent to your Stadia client), then after another slight delay the server should receive your input and start casting the skill.

This is what people mean when they say that Stadia should have worse input delay, because it's introducing latency to when your client accepts your input. The server might respond faster due to having better latency (as the game client is physically closer to the servers), but you're going to be experiencing a delay in input being sent and the video stream being received.

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland. Only thing is now that Google is connected to the Servers. So I wouldn't be any closer to the servers then where I am and Google is still using the Maryland servers.
That does make me wonder why is it better? Why is the Latency better and in 33/67 compared to the 150ish I average on Steam.

I think you're misunderstanding what Stadia is and how it works. You are out of the conversation wrt the latency measured. The client you play through non-stadia is essentially what you are streaming via stadia, so the latency you are seeing is stadia to eso, and your client side (local) latency is not in that measurement.

I see what your saying, I should have thought of that. I see how it works now. Though I still hope that its better then the latency I have on non Stadia.
Stadia seems promising but can it hold out. That is a good question and we'll see what happens.
I just don't know yet if I wasted my money on it. I'm hoping I didn't waste any money on the service.

mairwen85 · June 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

dhboy123 wrote: »

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

The latency displayed is skewed. What's showing is the latency between stadia and eso, not client to eso via stadia, only half the conversation. So it's a slight misrepresentation.

Thevampirenight wrote: »

eKsDee wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range

Not your fault, but I'm calling BS on that. You're probably seeing lower latency due to the Stadia servers being closer or having a better connection to the ESO servers, hence the latency on the ESO Stadia client is being reported low, but the actual latency you'd be experiencing would be higher, and would affect you in a different way.

You have to think of a cloud-ran game as a middle-man connection. When you're running the game on your machine, it goes 'You/Game <---> Server', as you're directly interacting with the game on your machine. When you're playing the game on Stadia's servers, it goes 'You/Stadia-Client <---> Game <---> Server', where Stadia has a client that's taking your inputs, sending them to the game (while at the same time receiving output from the game and displaying it on your machine), then the game sends those inputs to the server.

What you're seeing is the latency of the connection between the game and the server, not the latency of the connection between you and the server. Under a cloud-ran game, you need to figure out the latency between you and the game, and add that to the latency between the game and the server, to get the total latency between you and the server.

The best way to compare as a player would be doing a rough input lag test, where, say, you cast a skill and count how long it takes the server to recognise that you cast that skill.

Normally what should happen is you press the button and immediately the slot on your skill bar should depress, signifying that the ESO client accepted your input, then a little bit later the server should receive your input and start casting the skill, based on your ping to the server.

Under Stadia, I'd imagine what would happen is you press the button, and after a slight delay the slot on your skill bar should depress, based on your ping to the Stadia servers that the ESO client is hosted on (doubly so since your key press needs to be sent to the Stadia servers, then the video stream needs to be sent to your Stadia client), then after another slight delay the server should receive your input and start casting the skill.

This is what people mean when they say that Stadia should have worse input delay, because it's introducing latency to when your client accepts your input. The server might respond faster due to having better latency (as the game client is physically closer to the servers), but you're going to be experiencing a delay in input being sent and the video stream being received.

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland. Only thing is now that Google is connected to the Servers. So I wouldn't be any closer to the servers then where I am and Google is still using the Maryland servers.
That does make me wonder why is it better? Why is the Latency better and in 33/67 compared to the 150ish I average on Steam.

I think you're misunderstanding what Stadia is and how it works. You are out of the conversation wrt the latency measured. The client you play through non-stadia is essentially what you are streaming via stadia, so the latency you are seeing is stadia to eso, and your client side (local) latency is not in that measurement.

I see what your saying, I should have thought of that. Though I still hope that its better then the latency I have on non Stadia.

It's one of my concerns actually. I can see this causing confusion and frustration as input lag may be experienced greater than what is visually represented by the game. The greatest benefit of this architecture is that you will never need to upgrade your hardware to meet the game's requirements and the system serving you the game will always provide the most optimised configuration, often times better than what the average player can afford, but latency cannot be a defining factor of the decision because of the points mentioned by myself and others in this thread. the upstream data will logically be lower between yourself and Stadia than direct client to ESO, which may be beneficial, but without hard metrics, it's something of a fool's errand to take that as consideration to choose Stadia as your preferred platform; there are 2 conversations taking place:

client to stadia
stadia to game server

Does the Stadia client provide metrics on the first anywhere?

eKsDee · June 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

dhboy123 wrote: »

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

The latency displayed is skewed. What's showing is the latency between stadia and eso, not client to eso via stadia, only half the conversation. So it's a slight misrepresentation.

Thevampirenight wrote: »

eKsDee wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Much Better Latency without Stadia it tends to go into the 150 or over or less range sometimes going into 90s.
With Stadia, it can be in the 33 something range to 67 range

Not your fault, but I'm calling BS on that. You're probably seeing lower latency due to the Stadia servers being closer or having a better connection to the ESO servers, hence the latency on the ESO Stadia client is being reported low, but the actual latency you'd be experiencing would be higher, and would affect you in a different way.

You have to think of a cloud-ran game as a middle-man connection. When you're running the game on your machine, it goes 'You/Game <---> Server', as you're directly interacting with the game on your machine. When you're playing the game on Stadia's servers, it goes 'You/Stadia-Client <---> Game <---> Server', where Stadia has a client that's taking your inputs, sending them to the game (while at the same time receiving output from the game and displaying it on your machine), then the game sends those inputs to the server.

What you're seeing is the latency of the connection between the game and the server, not the latency of the connection between you and the server. Under a cloud-ran game, you need to figure out the latency between you and the game, and add that to the latency between the game and the server, to get the total latency between you and the server.

The best way to compare as a player would be doing a rough input lag test, where, say, you cast a skill and count how long it takes the server to recognise that you cast that skill.

Normally what should happen is you press the button and immediately the slot on your skill bar should depress, signifying that the ESO client accepted your input, then a little bit later the server should receive your input and start casting the skill, based on your ping to the server.

Under Stadia, I'd imagine what would happen is you press the button, and after a slight delay the slot on your skill bar should depress, based on your ping to the Stadia servers that the ESO client is hosted on (doubly so since your key press needs to be sent to the Stadia servers, then the video stream needs to be sent to your Stadia client), then after another slight delay the server should receive your input and start casting the skill.

This is what people mean when they say that Stadia should have worse input delay, because it's introducing latency to when your client accepts your input. The server might respond faster due to having better latency (as the game client is physically closer to the servers), but you're going to be experiencing a delay in input being sent and the video stream being received.

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland. Only thing is now that Google is connected to the Servers. So I wouldn't be any closer to the servers then where I am and Google is still using the Maryland servers.
That does make me wonder why is it better? Why is the Latency better and in 33/67 compared to the 150ish I average on Steam.

I think you're misunderstanding what Stadia is and how it works. You are out of the conversation wrt the latency measured. The client you play through non-stadia is essentially what you are streaming via stadia, so the latency you are seeing is stadia to eso, and your client side (local) latency is not in that measurement.

I see what your saying, I should have thought of that. I see how it works now. Though I still hope that its better then the latency I have on non Stadia.
Stadia seems promising but can it hold out. That is a good question and we'll see what happens.
I just don't know yet if I wasted my money on it. I'm hoping I didn't waste any money on the service.

Unless your ISP is doing something wrong with routing, or the route your connection took to the servers had high latency, it should actually be a little bit worse.

Information only moves so fast. If information moves over 100km in 100ms, splitting it right in the middle and adding a node that basically takes one side's input, does something with it, then forwards it to the other side (this is basically what Stadia is doing) splits the distance/time to 50km/50ms x2, but will also add a bit of time onto it, as it's doing something with the input before it forwards it to the other side. The total distance is still 100km, but the total time might be 110-120ms, as there's other work being done in the connection.

You're kinda asking the wrong question, if you're wanting to know if Stadia was worth it or not. Stadia isn't meant to give you better latency, it physically can't do that due to the above. Stadia is meant to allow you to play your games anywhere you want, at any time, without needing to have a system capable of running them.

If you have a good gaming PC, IMO, you did waste your money, since there's a free alternative that you can set up yourself, that runs the game on your own machine, and allows you to stream the game on any Windows, Mac, iOS or Android device, provided you have an NVIDIA graphics card in your gaming PC and you're good with spending 10-15 minutes following instructions to set up NVIDIA GameStream, link the program to it, and set up the streaming client on your other devices.

Still, though, ultimately it's up to you to figure out if it was worth it.

anitajoneb17_ESO · June 2020

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland.

As far as I know, ESO servers have never been in Maryland. The EU servers are in Frankfurt (Germany), the US servers are somewhere in Texas.
Doesn't change the fact that your on screen latency with Stadia reflects only half the way, like others have explained.

eKsDee wrote: »

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Sure it's complicated to measure latency on Stadia while including the Stadia server/client journey.
However, latency as a figure is just a figure. It only matters as it influences gaming comfort and fluidity (fluency ? not sure what word is correct in english here).
So in this case, the issue would be if one feels more or less comfortable and fluid playing ESO on Stadia as compared to non -Stadia devices. It may include some subjectivity, but in the end that's the indicator that matters.

Thevampirenight · June 2020

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland.

As far as I know, ESO servers have never been in Maryland. The EU servers are in Frankfurt (Germany), the US servers are somewhere in Texas.
Doesn't change the fact that your on screen latency with Stadia reflects only half the way, like others have explained.

eKsDee wrote: »

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Sure it's complicated to measure latency on Stadia while including the Stadia server/client journey.
However, latency as a figure is just a figure. It only matters as it influences gaming comfort and fluidity (fluency ? not sure what word is correct in english here).
So in this case, the issue would be if one feels more or less comfortable and fluid playing ESO on Stadia as compared to non -Stadia devices. It may include some subjectivity, but in the end that's the indicator that matters.

I assumed the Na servers were located in the same area as their Headquaraters.
Anyways yeah I should have not forgotten to mention the Eu servers as I was referring to the Na ones. Sorry about that.

Reekes · June 2020

Dear all

On CCU it works superb on a 4 k TV. Butter smooth. Just put aside your techno PC loving hysteria, relax and enjoy it as another method to enjoy the game.

eKsDee · June 2020

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland.

As far as I know, ESO servers have never been in Maryland. The EU servers are in Frankfurt (Germany), the US servers are somewhere in Texas.
Doesn't change the fact that your on screen latency with Stadia reflects only half the way, like others have explained.

eKsDee wrote: »

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Sure it's complicated to measure latency on Stadia while including the Stadia server/client journey.
However, latency as a figure is just a figure. It only matters as it influences gaming comfort and fluidity (fluency ? not sure what word is correct in english here).
So in this case, the issue would be if one feels more or less comfortable and fluid playing ESO on Stadia as compared to non -Stadia devices. It may include some subjectivity, but in the end that's the indicator that matters.

And that's the thing, Stadia may actually end up feeling worse since there's a delay between when you press a button and when the ESO client (running on Stadia's servers) responds. ESO does give the ESO client a bit of agency (namely regarding movement), and Stadia would introduce a delay that otherwise wouldn't be there.

Agree with latency alone not being the sole deciding factor, though, which is what I said in my last comment. The reason Stadia exists is because of the convenience of being able to launch the Stadia client, select the game you want to play, and be able to play it anytime, anywhere, without worrying about if your own PC is running (if you've got a third-party streaming application set up like the one I linked in my last comment), or whether your home's upload bandwidth is able to handle the video stream.

Sephyr · June 2020

eKsDee wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Thevampirenight wrote: »

Eso Servers are still located in Maryland.

As far as I know, ESO servers have never been in Maryland. The EU servers are in Frankfurt (Germany), the US servers are somewhere in Texas.
Doesn't change the fact that your on screen latency with Stadia reflects only half the way, like others have explained.

eKsDee wrote: »

More and more detailed testing needs to be done before you can say that Stadia has half the ping as running the game on your machine, because that's just not how the internet or physics works. Again, not your fault, this is just a very complicated and nuanced system, so it's understandable and somewhat expected that most people would come to that conclusion.

Sure it's complicated to measure latency on Stadia while including the Stadia server/client journey.
However, latency as a figure is just a figure. It only matters as it influences gaming comfort and fluidity (fluency ? not sure what word is correct in english here).
So in this case, the issue would be if one feels more or less comfortable and fluid playing ESO on Stadia as compared to non -Stadia devices. It may include some subjectivity, but in the end that's the indicator that matters.

And that's the thing, Stadia may actually end up feeling worse since there's a delay between when you press a button and when the ESO client (running on Stadia's servers) responds. ESO does give the ESO client a bit of agency (namely regarding movement), and Stadia would introduce a delay that otherwise wouldn't be there.

Agree with latency alone not being the sole deciding factor, though, which is what I said in my last comment. The reason Stadia exists is because of the convenience of being able to launch the Stadia client, select the game you want to play, and be able to play it anytime, anywhere, without worrying about if your own PC is running (if you've got a third-party streaming application set up like the one I linked in my last comment), or whether your home's upload bandwidth is able to handle the video stream.

That's something that I was highly skeptical on as well. As someone who does all modes of gameplay, the delay would probably get me even more dead in Cyrodiil.

gronoxvx · June 2020

Out of curiosity what content were you playing? Eg overland questing, trials or pvp?

Thevampirenight · June 2020

gronoxvx wrote: »

Out of curiosity what content were you playing? Eg overland questing, trials or pvp?

I didn't do much other then move around face a couple of small mobs and well did a battlegrounds. Just logged back in and the loading screen from character screen to in game was almost like a Cryptic game it was really fast. Typically it can take its time to load in but this was the fastest load screen to log in I have ever had from Eso..

zammo · June 2020

Reekes wrote: »

Dear all

On CCU it works superb on a 4 k TV. Butter smooth. Just put aside your techno PC loving hysteria, relax and enjoy it as another method to enjoy the game.

Stadia won't work for everyone, I get that, but finally some sense, and the best comment i've read on these forums in a long time. Don't fancy sitting at your desk and would rather lounge on the sofa playing your on your TV? Want to get your writs done on the toilet? Here's an option...

eKsDee · June 2020

zammo wrote: »

Don't fancy sitting at your desk and would rather lounge on the sofa playing your on your TV?

Already possible without even streaming. Build a small form factor PC and hook it up to your TV, have a wireless keyboard and mouse to control it from your sofa, and play the game using a controller.

zammo wrote: »

Want to get your writs done on the toilet?

Already possible with a third-party streaming service, like Moonlight, which is free and piggybacks off of the NVIDIA GameStream streaming protocol, to stream the actual PC version of the game to any Windows, Mac, iOS or Android device.

Just needs an NVIDIA graphics card, and 10-15 minutes of your time setting up, and supports any game being streamed at up to 4K 120 FPS, with controller support.

Gythral · June 2020

Con
I never intend to go near it & I stil cant get away from it!

TineaCruris · June 2020

dhboy123 wrote: »

Baffles me how a streaming service can have better latency than playing through the game client.

Ya, I think the jury is still out, but one thing Google does have is server capacity. I'll never play on stadia, so it's up to Zenimax to fix things on their end if I want to play.

gatekeeper13 · June 2020

I just hate this new kind of "streaming gaming".

mairwen85 · June 2020

gatekeeper13 wrote: »

I just hate this new kind of "streaming gaming".

It means relinquishing quite a degree of control, I agree. I can see the benefits of having evergreen gaming experience, however, but as a control freak, it's not for me.

eKsDee · June 2020

mairwen85 wrote: »

gatekeeper13 wrote: »

I just hate this new kind of "streaming gaming".

It means relinquishing quite a degree of control, I agree. I can see the benefits of having evergreen gaming experience, however, but as a control freak, it's not for me.

I kind of think it should be treated sort of as an open hosting platform with FTP access and game preinstalls. Give players access to the install directories of the games they remotely install, so they're able to modify them, all within a virtualised environment.

mairwen85 · June 2020

eKsDee wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

gatekeeper13 wrote: »

I just hate this new kind of "streaming gaming".

It means relinquishing quite a degree of control, I agree. I can see the benefits of having evergreen gaming experience, however, but as a control freak, it's not for me.

I kind of think it should be treated sort of as an open hosting platform with FTP access and game preinstalls. Give players access to the install directories of the games they remotely install, so they're able to modify them, all within a virtualised environment.

I dunno, that does present a security risk, and opens up a whole new attack surface for Google to maintain. Lock-down over the hosted file system is how it is for a reason. I have no doubt they reviewed, weighed off, and ultimately disregarded many potential options to provide some semblance of user interaction with the file system. Unless they have a fully maintained addon-manager or similar that is pre-configured server side, or other dedicated tooling, much of the benefits as a PC owner are lost.

Ruder · June 2020

Capped at 30fps OMEGALUL, this is the most [snip] thing ... seems like Google does not want to spend compute resources, but want you to pay subscriptions ROFL

[edited for bashing]

anitajoneb17_ESO · June 2020

zammo wrote: »

Stadia won't work for everyone, I get that, but finally some sense, and the best comment i've read on these forums in a long time. Don't fancy sitting at your desk and would rather lounge on the sofa playing your on your TV? Want to get your writs done on the toilet? Here's an option...

An option that costs 120 EUR a year... on top of buying the game, extensions, ESO+, etc. , a ChromeCast Ultra for those who don't already have one, ... plus the impossibility to use add-ons.

Doesn't sound like a good deal to me, but to each his own...

As I said, this option sounds valid for those who don't already have a gaming platform (PC or console), but for those who already have one, I don't see the point. If it's just about playing from the sofa, you can already do that for free with just a couple of meters of extra cable, or some cheap streaming tools. Then again, to each his own.

Firstmep · June 2020

I thought Stadia was DOA, I was very surprised to hear zeni put Eso on there.
Nvidias cloud gaming actually works much better.

Dovahkiin02191973 · June 2020

Stadia is just another way of grabbing players money to play this and other games. It's a waste. You are getting all the same garbage from the game and probably more because it has to go through a cloud to play all in the name of making a few more dollars off the Stadia services. If you fall for this that is on you.

Elsonso · June 2020

eKsDee wrote: »

Unless your ISP is doing something wrong with routing, or the route your connection took to the servers had high latency, it should actually be a little bit worse.

Not necessarily. It depends on Google and ZOS.

The Stadia ESO client is going to be right on the main Google internet backbone, and is likely well connected to what ZOS is using (likely CenturyLink/Level 3). Ping times between the two will be small, and most of the latency reported by the ESO client running on the Stadia system will be ESO server latency.

The route from the Stadia ESO client to @Thevampirenight is going to be largely internal to the Google network. (or could be) Google has connections everywhere because they have stuff everywhere. If the routing is set up properly, it should go from the Vampire's ISP almost directly to the Google network. This could very well be more efficient than the current route to the ESO servers, which could meander around, depending on service agreements, traffic loading, DDoS mitigation, and other things.

In the end, even a low latency, well routed, connection from Player to Megaserver might be slower than Player to Stadia to Megaserver.

the1andonlyskwex · June 2020

eKsDee wrote: »

And that's the thing, Stadia may actually end up feeling worse since there's a delay between when you press a button and when the ESO client (running on Stadia's servers) responds. ESO does give the ESO client a bit of agency (namely regarding movement), and Stadia would introduce a delay that otherwise wouldn't be there.

I think it's possible that Stadia-style latency could actually be better. Sure, you might get some input lag, but you also won't have as many situations where your screen shows you dodged an attack but you still take damage anyway (which is super frustrating).

zergbase_ESO · June 2020

gatekeeper13 wrote: »

I just hate this new kind of "streaming gaming".

Stadia is dying it will go away. Only streaming servie that was epic was geforce one but developers and publishers wanted more money so they're pulling out. As mountain of reviews state Stadia a great idea on paper but in reality they failed to deliver on promises.