Unable to start ESO from Steam

Mercury_1967 · July 2020

The last time that I played ESO was about a month ago - everything ran fine then. I know there was at least one update since then, so maybe that has something to do with my issue?

I'm on Windows 10 Pro. Windows is up-to-date and all drivers are up-to-date.

When I click the Play button a Steam box quickly opens saying "Preparing to start The Elder Scrolls Online". It happens so quickly that I had to click the Play button repeatedly to get all of the sentence.

I know one thing to do with Steam games is to verify the integrity of the game files in the Local Files tab of the game's Properties window, but that button is disable for ESO - I'm assuming that's due to how ESO is installed and run.

I've also seen instructions and screenshots of the launcher (which I can start by clicking on Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe), and clicking Repair under the Launcher's Game Options. That instructions is from the official ESO site: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3330/#poru. But that is no longer available in the Launcher.

I'm starting everything as admin - Steam, the Launcher, eso64.exe and I added the Launcher and eso64.exe to my AntiVirus allow list.

I've exhausted everything I can think of short of reinstalling the game - which doesn't always fix the issue, but if I have to go that route, I will.

ZOS_Bill · July 2020

@Mercury_1967

Here are some additional changes you may need to make to get the ESO launcher working correctly with Steam.

1. The .exe that Steam requires to be launched to be compatible with the Steam overlay is not actually eso.exe, but a file called "zosSteamStarter.exe". If your Steam library is "pointing" to the wrong .exe file, it won't launch from the library. The correct file "zosSteamStarter.exe" will usually be in the following directory:

Steam\Steamapps\Common\Zenimax Online

After locating "zosSteamStarter.exe", right click it to run it as an administrator. You may want to set it to permanently run as an administrator in your Compatibility tab. You can also create a shortcut to this .exe to use it more easily in the future; this is the .exe that must be run to access the Steam overlay and log your Steam play hours.

2. In order for "zosSteamStarter.exe" to log the information such as play hours properly, you may have to lower your Windows UAC (User Account Control) settings. Lowering User Account Control settings to the minimum will allow Steam to gather this data properly.

You also may be encountering an issue where the ESO Launcher is not being added to the Zenimax Online directory. The thread linked below has troubleshooting which can help resolve this issue.

SOLUTION: Steam Windows 10 "Elder Scrolls Online is preparing to install" crash at 100% downloaded

Mercury_1967 · July 2020

Thanks, ZOS_BillE.

I located the zosSteamStarter.exe file and set it to run as administrator.

I clicked on Play in Steam and an ESO fullscreen image opened. There was a short pause and then I got a message saying, "Unable to initialize connection to Steam. Ensure game was launched through Steam."

So, it must not be pointing to the correct executable? (I don't know why that would happen in the first place because it ran fine when I played about a month ago.)

Trying to find out what executable Steam is pointing to, I dug around in the various menus for ESO in the Steam Library, but I'm not able to find where I can determine or change what executable Steam is pointing to. The closest thing that I can find is the Launch Options in the General Tab of the game's Properties.