ESO Launcher does not close elegantly PC/NA

blackpool9 · May 2021

I see several previous posting regarding this or a similar issue, but none with an actual fix, so posting again:

After I exit the game and close the launcher by clicking the "X" button in the upper right, the window disappears but the launcher remains on the Windows taskbar. If I left click the icon on the taskbar, nothing happens. If I right click and select "Close Window", nothing happens. If I try to restart the launcher, I get "launcher is already running" error. The *only* way to get the launcher to close is to bring up task manager and "end task". I thought this was a Steam issue, but it happens on my second (non-Steam) account. I thought maybe it was a repair issue, but I am seeing the exact same behavior on my laptop, on both launchers. At first it was intermittent, but for the last week it has been every time.

OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Version: Steam and ZOS direct

blackpool9 · May 2021

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiI6WC9gRE7WugiSXTihuKc3UWPi?e=MhOfyf

rumple9 · May 2021

Same pc eu

The_Old_Goat · May 2021

Unfortunately the game doesn't run very elegantly either...

Sarousse · May 2021

Same pb here.

laksikus · May 2021

The easy fix is to not use the launcher.

perfiction · May 2021

laksikus wrote: »

The easy fix is to not use the launcher.

Unfortunately not for Steam users - you can't login without the launcher.

PigofSteel · May 2021

perfiction wrote: »

laksikus wrote: »

The easy fix is to not use the launcher.

Unfortunately not for Steam users - you can't login without the launcher.

Add as non steam game and link to "game".exe and not "launcher".exe

Ippokrates · May 2021

Same on EU.

However, if you leave launcher for minute or two, it works ok.

cheriella · May 2021

Haha thought was just me had that weird problem. The eso icon just sits there in the taskbar… if I play a couple times a day and not check the taskbar I can have like 4 eso icons down there. BUT I just hover over em and they disappear. So no big deal for me. 😝

RandomKodiak · May 2021

This is a problem they need to address as it also affects ping, I think it hangs on one of the transitions. I have to do the cntrl-alt-delete bring up the task manager and kill it manually, but once I have the ping gets better as well.

Sylvermynx · May 2021

cheriella wrote: »

Haha thought was just me had that weird problem. The eso icon just sits there in the taskbar… if I play a couple times a day and not check the taskbar I can have like 4 eso icons down there. BUT I just hover over em and they disappear. So no big deal for me. 😝

Yeah, don't click it, just wipe the cursor across it. I have a couple of other programs that leave a ghost of themselves in the tasktray like that - paint shop pro 6 and 8 - which yes, are antique now but still work fine.

scorpius2k1 · May 2021

I've posted about this before as many others have and our voice falls on deaf ears as many things seem to, unfortunately.

laksikus wrote: »

The easy fix is to not use the launcher.

perfiction wrote: »

Unfortunately not for Steam users - you can't login without the launcher.

PigofSteel wrote: »

Add as non steam game and link to "game".exe and not "launcher".exe

Sure, this works but the bigger picture is it's just another workaround, another bandaid to "fix" a problem that the company should be addressing and actually fixing, not the players. Not to mention we have to open the launcher for updates anyway. All these small things and quirks add up to ESO being a chore to work with instead of play. It's why so many still feel like this game is a beta product, 7 years after releasing. It's not just this as things like this are all too common with ESO. Just look at what console players have to deal with right now, another "workaround" and just deal with it until the next patch or later.

perfiction · May 2021

PigofSteel wrote: »

Add as non steam game and link to "game".exe and not "launcher".exe

Umm... No. Adding game exe ("eso64.exe") as non-steam game and starting it brings you to the UserID and password screen instead of logging you in through Steam. You can't login with ID and password as a Steam player, you must run the launcher. (unless you bought ESO before November 2016 or bought ESO once again on the ESO website, then your steam and non-steam accounts are linked together. Some people did that as a "workaround" when ESO login servers for steam players were burning after every maintenance few years ago).

I force close the launcher in task manager once the game starts anyway, just to avoid its freezing.

Ashryn · May 2021

For the last 3 or 4 weeks I've been getting Blue screens that said there wasn't enough memory- even though I have tons of memory on my computer. I've finally narrowed it down to a ESO launcher problem. Now I make sure that once the game launches, I immediately shut down the launcher, and no blue screens problems! (My original game was bought on Steam)

AinSoph · May 2021

An annoying part of the Launcher is that it stays there even after launching the game when literally every other game launcher disappears on game launch.

deyjasagus · May 2021

PigofSteel wrote: »

perfiction wrote: »

laksikus wrote: »

The easy fix is to not use the launcher.

Unfortunately not for Steam users - you can't login without the launcher.

Add as non steam game and link to "game".exe and not "launcher".exe

This won't work on any Steam accounts after a given date. I used to know the exact date but it's been a while so I couldn't tell you. Most players on Steam will get an error if they try to input their account information on the login page using your method that will state they need to use the Steam launcher.

AcadianPaladin · May 2021

I routinely have the same problem on non-Steam PC NA. Will have to try launching game via exe.

Edit to update: I tried launching the game via the ESO64 exe and it works superbly, cutting quite a few steps out compared to using the launcher (and routinely having to close it via task manager). I had heard about launching from the exe but forgotten about it. I'm glad someone brought it up in this thread.

blackpool9 · May 2021

Sylvermynx wrote: »

cheriella wrote: »

Haha thought was just me had that weird problem. The eso icon just sits there in the taskbar… if I play a couple times a day and not check the taskbar I can have like 4 eso icons down there. BUT I just hover over em and they disappear. So no big deal for me. 😝

Yeah, don't click it, just wipe the cursor across it. I have a couple of other programs that leave a ghost of themselves in the tasktray like that - paint shop pro 6 and 8 - which yes, are antique now but still work fine.

I've tried that. Doesn't work for me. I've also tried shutting down the launcher once the game has started. That doesn't work either.

It's gotten to the point where I'm keeping Task Manager running 24/7 because I'm tired of having to start it every time I want to switch from one account to the other.

NettleCarrier · May 2021

Can confirm, happens on both computers I regularly log into the game with. Not sure why this is tagged PC-NA as the region has nothing to do with it. It's just a minor inconvenience that about 20% of the time I close the launcher it doesn't actually end the task and must be closed via Task Manager. I'm no tech slouch either, I'd understand if it was just ghosted and hovering over would make the icon go away, this is not what is happening here. If you close the launcher and it doesn't close properly, attempting to open a new one up will alert you that a launcher is already running.

Before anyone else suggests, no I cannot just skip the launcher. I do not use Steam as I bought the game at launch and so the only way to get updates is to use the launcher. Of course between updates I could skip it but that's a little silly. I'd say this problem started happening a few months ago, but I can't quite pinpoint when it occurred as I figured it was just a fluke the first few times.

WackyOldMan · May 2021

Same problem here, (EU-Account, german language)...

A workaround: The command
"C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /f /IM Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe"
in a cmd-window kills the task too, inho faster than opening the taskmanager, finding the task etc...

Alternatively, you can also put a shortcut with the command on the desktop, which makes things even more convenient.

Nevertheless, it might be time for the developers to take care of this annoying problem

Jacozilla · May 2021

Could it be windows10 related, or at least some combo factor with win10?

On win7 and have both steam and non-steam accounts. Never had issue with launcher client - click to close shuts process immediately for me.

madman65 · May 2021

I for one can tell you that I open the launcher once and still have to manually "end task" in the task manager.

Ashryn · May 2021

I have Windows 7 and the launcher still misbehaves.

ZOS_Bill · May 2021

If the launcher remains stuck when quitting, there could be a permissions issue. Try setting the launcher to run as an administrator. They should also make sure the launcher is added as an exception in their anti-virus. Steps for doing so can be found here.

Lenox · June 2021

ZOS_BillE wrote: »

If the launcher remains stuck when quitting, there could be a permissions issue. Try setting the launcher to run as an administrator. They should also make sure the launcher is added as an exception in their anti-virus. Steps for doing so can be found here.

I've had this issue for about two years and this seems to have resolved it. I'll keep testing and will post back with results.

scorpius2k1 · June 2021

ZOS_BillE wrote: »

If the launcher remains stuck when quitting, there could be a permissions issue. Try setting the launcher to run as an administrator. They should also make sure the launcher is added as an exception in their anti-virus. Steps for doing so can be found here.

@ZOS_BillE @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

For me, it has nothing to do with a permissions issue or anything of that nature, my launcher is completely unloaded and not listed in the task manager. The ESO Launcher tray icon stays (near the clock) after the launcher has been completely closed until I mouse over it. I have seen this issue persist across Windows 7 / 10 and also on completely fresh installs of both OS and ESO. I can open the launcher, and close it again, and the icon will stay. Just simply open and close the ESO launcher, this can happen a infinite number of times until mouse over. Something in the software of the launcher is not telling the OS to remove the icon on close. Assuming the ESO launcher is written in a C based language, the basic premise would suggest missing code to remove the tray icon on app close (WM_DESTROY).

NOTIFYICONDATA nid = {};
...                    
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, &nid);

An example from Microsoft's Github, specifically:
https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-classic-samples/blob/27ffb0811ca761741502feaefdb591aebf592193/Samples/Win7Samples/winui/shell/appshellintegration/NotificationIcon/NotificationIcon.cpp#L350

and

https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-classic-samples/blob/27ffb0811ca761741502feaefdb591aebf592193/Samples/Win7Samples/winui/shell/appshellintegration/NotificationIcon/NotificationIcon.cpp#L111

Of course, I have zero access to the launcher code and this is an assumption, but having worked on collaboration apps in the past that displayed the same behavior I would guess this is not much different, even if it is in another language other than C.

ZOS_GinaBruno · June 2021

Hey everyone, we should have this issue resolved in a future update. We run into the same thing, too!

Lenox · June 2021

scorpius2k1 wrote: »
ZOS_BillE wrote: »

If the launcher remains stuck when quitting, there could be a permissions issue. Try setting the launcher to run as an administrator. They should also make sure the launcher is added as an exception in their anti-virus. Steps for doing so can be found here.

@ZOS_BillE @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

For me, it has nothing to do with a permissions issue or anything of that nature, my launcher is completely unloaded and not listed in the task manager. The ESO Launcher tray icon stays (near the clock) after the launcher has been completely closed until I mouse over it. I have seen this issue persist across Windows 7 / 10 and also on completely fresh installs of both OS and ESO. I can open the launcher, and close it again, and the icon will stay. Just simply open and close the ESO launcher, this can happen a infinite number of times until mouse over. Something in the software of the launcher is not telling the OS to remove the icon on close. Assuming the ESO launcher is written in a C based language, the basic premise would suggest missing code to remove the tray icon on app close (WM_DESTROY).
NOTIFYICONDATA nid = {};
...                    
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, &nid);
An example from Microsoft's Github, specifically:
https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-classic-samples/blob/27ffb0811ca761741502feaefdb591aebf592193/Samples/Win7Samples/winui/shell/appshellintegration/NotificationIcon/NotificationIcon.cpp#L350

and

https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-classic-samples/blob/27ffb0811ca761741502feaefdb591aebf592193/Samples/Win7Samples/winui/shell/appshellintegration/NotificationIcon/NotificationIcon.cpp#L111

Of course, I have zero access to the launcher code and this is an assumption, but having worked on collaboration apps in the past that displayed the same behavior I would guess this is not much different, even if it is in another language other than C.

Agreed. And good write-up. I also have your issue. In other words, there are two issues:

Launcher remaining open in Task Manager AND icon despite pressing X on launcher
Launcher system tray icon remaining no matter what until mouse-over

The instructions earlier resolved only issue # 1.

Lenox · June 2021

ZOS_BillE wrote: »

If the launcher remains stuck when quitting, there could be a permissions issue. Try setting the launcher to run as an administrator. They should also make sure the launcher is added as an exception in their anti-virus. Steps for doing so can be found here.

Didn't work.

System Tray icon still shows
Task Bar application still hangs
Task Manager Bethesda.net_Launcher.exe process still hangs

GreenHere · June 2021

Friendly reminder for everyone needing to open Task Manager all the time:

You can hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager directly!

It always surprises me how few people know this keyboard shortcut. Enjoy!