Moving PS4 account to PC when next gen consoles release.

Toxic365 · August 2020

I know that this subject is beat to death but has anyone heard anything about a possible plan to do one more switch over whenever the release of the next-gen consoles rolls out?

Nairinhe · August 2020

Didn't they move accounts to consoles because their databases were empty at the moment?

Toxic365 · August 2020

Yes, They did the initial transfer of PC to consoles whenever the game released to consoles. They haven't had anything like it since. I am hoping they could let people who want to go from console to PC instead of restarting due to the next gens releasing.

Nairinhe · August 2020

I mean, how do new consoles change anything? Why would anyone restart if everything is backward compatible and they just can go on with their account on a new console? I'm on PC, so, maybe, I'm missing something?

Toxic365 · August 2020

From PC to console you cant. From Console to PC you cant. Only back in 2015. My question was since they are releasing the next-gen consoles can they make it where we can switch our accounts to the other platform like the console to PC. I know there will be some people who want to go from PC to next-gen and they cant use their accounts and will have to restart. Only the consoles are backward compatible.

mictrost · August 2020

I would pay to do this.

Firstmep · August 2020

I'm pretty sure its Sony and Microsoft that doesn't let you guys transfer ur accounts over for obvious reasons.

Sylvermynx · August 2020

There have been various threads over the two + years I've been here where people have asked about transferring accounts from console to PC, and PC EU to PC NA. IIRC, ZOS hasn't addressed any of those, but others who've been here longer than I (@Nestor I think is one) have explained that the only reason it happened the one time was because the console databases were entirely empty at the time, and that there was too much that could go wrong putting info from one database into an already existing one like PC NA.

I'm sure those threads would show up on a site search.

Devil_Keyz · August 2020

But what if i hVe both xbox and pc n
Accounts could i potentially swap account Data with both my acciunts? Tried to get into pc but have speny to many thousands on xbox1 version to stick to pc

Snowgoons · August 2020

I don't understand how it could be done, and all of a sudden can't, but I bet if you could it would cost six-seven digits crowns.

stybbe17b16_ESO · August 2020

Their database structure must be a mess if they have problem doing it. Sounds like free money to make a payed service for it, also include na <-> eu transfer.

Nairinhe · August 2020

Snowgoons wrote: »

I don't understand how it could be done, and all of a sudden can't, but I bet if you could it would cost six-seven digits crowns.

"All of a sudden can't" suggest that it was possible for some prolonged period of time. But AFAIK it was a strictly one-time thing.

stybbe17b16_ESO wrote: »

Their database structure must be a mess if they have problem doing it. Sounds like free money to make a payed service for it, also include na <-> eu transfer.

I'm sure it's at least partially because of character names, which have to be unique

SpiderKnight · August 2020

Snowgoons wrote: »

I don't understand how it could be done, and all of a sudden can't, but I bet if you could it would cost six-seven digits crowns.

It has been explained time and time again why. The servers on console were empty. There was no concern for things such as existing character names, probably a lot more work to it than just having the system automate a "name change token" when your account is copied over.

stybbe17b16_ESO · August 2020

If character name is taken you name it "character_xxxxxxx" where xxxxxxx is an increasing number. And just force name change like support do when you got a foul name. Cant see this being an issue.

PizzaCat82 · August 2020

The amount of work that would take is staggering. I don't see them ever allowing account transfers.

Sylvermynx · August 2020

Here's how it worked in WoW and RIFT (neither of which had console support when I played - and I have no idea if they do now either):

You paid the company to transfer a character to a different server. YOU had to rename your character if the name already existed on the destination server. It wasn't cheap, and it wasn't necessarily easy - couple of times I had issues with stuff gone missing, some of which could not be recovered.

And in neither game at the time I was playing them was it possible to move an entire account to a different server - unless you were willing to pay PER CHARACTER to have that happen. Since IIRC each character move was around $25 US.... well....

Reverb · August 2020

It was done at console launch because console data hadn’t been populated yet. Everything from the PC accounts was copied into an empty database. Once the system was opened to players no further transfers were possible.

While the technology to merge databases exists (and has for a long time) we on these forums have zero knowledge of the ESO data structure or keys, and have to trust Zeni when they tell us (which they have several times over the years) that it’s unlikely to be possible without destabilizing the game environment, and it’s not something they have any plans to explore.

RedTalon · August 2020

Could see them doing pc to consoles again or even xbox to pc if you have win 10 and things linked up, sony is going to be the tricky one with any data stuff all things considered.

Just my two crowns, dont get your hopes up .

trackdemon5512 · August 2020

Toxic365 wrote: »

From PC to console you cant. From Console to PC you cant. Only back in 2015. My question was since they are releasing the next-gen consoles can they make it where we can switch our accounts to the other platform like the console to PC. I know there will be some people who want to go from PC to next-gen and they cant use their accounts and will have to restart. Only the consoles are backward compatible.

If I understand your question correctly your postulating that there might be a new megaserver for PS5 and XBOX SX thats a blank slate for account transference. If this were the case then yes, a PC to Console transfer may be possible and not the other way around (due to the data amounts)

However, the real question lies in whether the PS5 and PS5 backwards-compatible/PS4 versions (Ditto for XBOX) will allow characters to interact with one another between systems. Likely PS5 is getting the same ESO client as PC without assets being paired down across the board as the consoles currently get. If this is the case then console owners really get just a graphical upgrade and not so much a performance one. This would allow fair play parity between the population as well as continue the already robust console population without fracturing it.

Furthermore if this is the case then the consoles will already have characters and thus transferring from PC will be an impossibility due to overlap of character names. We shall see when more details are released.

RedTalon · August 2020

trackdemon5512 wrote: »

Toxic365 wrote: »

From PC to console you cant. From Console to PC you cant. Only back in 2015. My question was since they are releasing the next-gen consoles can they make it where we can switch our accounts to the other platform like the console to PC. I know there will be some people who want to go from PC to next-gen and they cant use their accounts and will have to restart. Only the consoles are backward compatible.

If I understand your question correctly your postulating that there might be a new megaserver for PS5 and XBOX SX thats a blank slate for account transference. If this were the case then yes, a PC to Console transfer may be possible and not the other way around (due to the data amounts)

However, the real question lies in whether the PS5 and PS5 backwards-compatible/PS4 versions (Ditto for XBOX) will allow characters to interact with one another between systems. Likely PS5 is getting the same ESO client as PC without assets being paired down across the board as the consoles currently get. If this is the case then console owners really get just a graphical upgrade and not so much a performance one. This would allow fair play parity between the population as well as continue the already robust console population without fracturing it.

Furthermore if this is the case then the consoles will already have characters and thus transferring from PC will be an impossibility due to overlap of character names. We shall see when more details are released.

Most of the char data is stored server side, so unless they are opening fully new servers for ps5 for the game don't think it will be an issue If your account data and user id is the same from system to system that likely would factor in also, so lots of tricky stuff to work out. Also some questions for sony and mircosoft in there.

Just my two crowns and sorry if consoles are not my strong suit in knowledge haven't used one since ps2

Dagoth_Rac · August 2020

The big problem is database keys. The various details in game are almost certainly not linked by character names but big gigantic numbers unique to each player. So your character named "Joe Schmo" might have character_id 67897895637. And that 67897895637 is all over the place linking what inventory belongs to you, what achievements, what quest progression, what mounts, what pets, what guilds, what friends, your guild trader listings, what daily rewards you have claimed, and on and on and on. There are probably dozens or hundreds of tables. Someone on another megaserver, regardless of their character name, probably has character_id 67897895637 on that megaserver. That causes conflicts. So you would not only have to give the transferred player a new character_id, but update all those related tables to have the new character_id. And I am sure there is also an account_id. And probably even more keys that are not obvious if we do not know details of database structure.

When ZOS were copying into empty databases at console launch, there was no worry about those database keys already existing and causing conflicts. So it was just a flat copy. Now it would be: copy into some kind of temporary storage, generate new database keys that do not overlap with megaserver you are transferring into, reassign all the existing database keys to new database keys in that temporary storage, then copy from temporary storage and merge into megaserver you are transferring to. And all without messing up and having your items or other details suddenly appear or disappear or get duplicated because of database key errors or overlaps.

I am sure this is not impossible, but it is also not trivial. It is not just renaming a character. And it is a "high risk" change. The kinds of things that can go wrong are very serious.

Kiralyn2000 · August 2020

But the main thing is - why do you think there'll be new servers and "starting over" with the new consoles?

They're just going to keep going with the same PS & XB servers. Of course. Why would you think otherwise? It's just a new version of the client with better graphics settings/etc. It's not a "new game".

Toxic365 wrote: »

I am hoping they could let people who want to go from console to PC instead of restarting due to the next gens releasing.

And if they could transfer your characters to the PC server (so that you "didn't have to restart"), why wouldn't they just transfer your characters to the "next gen console server" instead? Either way, it'd be not having to "restart".

But that's all theorycrafting anyway, because there won't be a restart.

Nestor · August 2020

@Sylvermynx

Has this correct. The only reason the accounts could be transferred is the console database was empty. Since there are now hundreds of thousands of essentially duplicate accounts on each platform, no efficient way to move the platform files around.

No provision was ever made for designating a server in the database, as there is only one server for each platform and each region. WOW and Rift and every other MMO out there have several, if not dozens of servers, so they have to have a mechanism in place to move files around from server to server. In ESO, they can't, or won't move an individual file. The Won't is pretty easy to figure out why if you think about it.

Before you ask, cheating is one reason, as BOTs are easier to run on the PC so wholesale account selling could happen, not to mention the ease as to which massive amounts of gold can be moved from one platforms account to another. This is done by borrowing gold from friends prior to the file copy, then paying that gold back once the copy is made.