Can we close launcher while playing?

SeaGtGruff · October 2021

See title. Can we close down the launcher after we've logged in and are playing the game? Or are we supposed to keep it running in the background?

Vonnegut2506 · October 2021

I close it all the time; never had any issues.

Shewolf075 · October 2021

You can close the launcher once the game has launched with no trouble. No point in keeping it running if not needed.

Dagoth_Rac · October 2021

I only use Launcher for updates. Once patch day is over, I just use the eso64.exe directly.

SeaGtGruff · October 2021

Thanks! I'm hoping that closing the launcher to eliminate any extraneous background internet usage might help with some occasional WiFi connectivity issues I've been having.

I have to launch through Steam, so I can't run the EXE directly.

fiender66 · October 2021

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Thanks! I'm hoping that closing the launcher to eliminate any extraneous background internet usage might help with some occasional WiFi connectivity issues I've been having.

I have to launch through Steam, so I can't run the EXE directly.

@SeaGtGruff , I got ESO through Steam, but more often than not I run the app directly, and this works both on Mac and PC.
In my experience, it's the Steam app that causes problems (not always, but neither so rarely), not the launcher.

Saxhleel · October 2021

I always close it. Never had problems.

Faulgor · October 2021

I'm annoyed it doesn't close automatically.

Danikat · October 2021

Faulgor wrote: »

I'm annoyed it doesn't close automatically.

Me too. All the other games I've played which use a launcher do that, and as far as I know you can't do anything with it once the game has launched, especially now you choose your server from the login screen.

But I always close it manually and like everyone else I've never had any problems as a result of doing so. Years ago I was having a problem with something in the game and ZOS Support actually told me to make sure I closed the launcher as one of their possible fixes.

Tandor · October 2021

fiender66 wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Thanks! I'm hoping that closing the launcher to eliminate any extraneous background internet usage might help with some occasional WiFi connectivity issues I've been having.

I have to launch through Steam, so I can't run the EXE directly.

@SeaGtGruff , I got ESO through Steam, but more often than not I run the app directly, and this works both on Mac and PC.
In my experience, it's the Steam app that causes problems (not always, but neither so rarely), not the launcher.

Whether or not the Steam version can be launched without using Steam depends primarily on when you linked it to the account. Early Steam users can do so, others cannot. At least, that's my understanding of the official position but whether there are any "unofficial" workarounds I don't know. If I had any issues in those circumstances any such workaround would be high on my list of suspected causes.

fiender66 · October 2021

Tandor wrote: »

fiender66 wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Thanks! I'm hoping that closing the launcher to eliminate any extraneous background internet usage might help with some occasional WiFi connectivity issues I've been having.

I have to launch through Steam, so I can't run the EXE directly.

@SeaGtGruff , I got ESO through Steam, but more often than not I run the app directly, and this works both on Mac and PC.
In my experience, it's the Steam app that causes problems (not always, but neither so rarely), not the launcher.

Whether or not the Steam version can be launched without using Steam depends primarily on when you linked it to the account. Early Steam users can do so, others cannot. At least, that's my understanding of the official position but whether there are any "unofficial" workarounds I don't know. If I had any issues in those circumstances any such workaround would be high on my list of suspected causes.

I don't use any workaround, "official" or not. I am a (happy) Steam user since many years, and started ESO with Steam more or less just after beta ending.
On PC, Steam is very useful for me, as it is the easier (maybe the only) way to use the DS4 controller. On Mac DS4 is "native" and Steam gives me problems, like blocking the app (not the launcher) or sudden closure to start screen (a well known issue). These ones are not so frequent as to make the game unplayable, but not so rare either, and disappear starting the app directly, as I said.

huntgod_ESO · October 2021

Tandor wrote: »

fiender66 wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Thanks! I'm hoping that closing the launcher to eliminate any extraneous background internet usage might help with some occasional WiFi connectivity issues I've been having.

I have to launch through Steam, so I can't run the EXE directly.

@SeaGtGruff , I got ESO through Steam, but more often than not I run the app directly, and this works both on Mac and PC.
In my experience, it's the Steam app that causes problems (not always, but neither so rarely), not the launcher.

Whether or not the Steam version can be launched without using Steam depends primarily on when you linked it to the account. Early Steam users can do so, others cannot. At least, that's my understanding of the official position but whether there are any "unofficial" workarounds I don't know. If I had any issues in those circumstances any such workaround would be high on my list of suspected causes.

If you had a non steam version of ESO, then purchased a steam version and linked them, you are able to login without using the launcher, but they made a change a couple of years back and this trick will not work for newer accounts.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo · October 2021

I launch my eso64.exe file and never use launcher unless it's patch day.

SeaGtGruff · October 2021

I've tried launching the EXE directly-- not lately, but a couple of years ago when Steam was having some sort of issue logging in to ESO-- and it said I needed to launch it through Steam. Note that I haven't had any such problems in a couple of years-- in my experience, non-Steam users who claim that this issue happens "a lot" are grossly exaggerating about it, but whatever.

My specific issue is that my computer will occasionally drop its WiFi connection; it will say I'm not connected to a network but that connections are available. If you search the internet for "computers loses wifi connection while playing online games," it seems to be a common issue. When this happens, my iPad will still be connected to the network and internet, so I know that it isn't a problem with the modem and router. I might add that I'd love to connect via an actual cable if it were possible, but the modem is in another room of the house and I can't easily run a cable from my bedroom to the modem.

Anyway, I've just made another change to my computer to see if it helps. I'd already followed most of the suggestions I found when searching about this issue, but one suggestion I hadn't seen before is related to how aggressively your computer will search for roaming connections. I might add that there's a network extender plugged in directly across from my bedroom, so devices in the front of the house will have a stronger signal to connect to (since the modem and WAP are in the back part of the house), but I connect my computer to the main network for faster speed, because I'd read that connecting to an extender basically halves your speed. So I've just disabled the roaming option entirely, to ensure that the computer maintains a steady connection to the main network and doesn't ever try to connect to the extender instead (unless I tell it to). Time will tell if this change resolves my issue.

SeaGtGruff · October 2021

Just a quick update to say that I haven't had any more instances of my computer dropping or losing irs WiFi connection to my home network and internet since disabling the "roaming aggressiveness" feature on my computer's WiFi adapter's driver, so I think that might have been what the problem was. As soon as I discovered and changed that setting a few days ago, I stopped closing the launcher after logging in, hence any improvements I'm seeing in my connection have nothing to do with whether the launcher is open or closed while playing.