Endless loadscreens before the character select screen on Xbox one

Lluanda · October 2021

Since previous posts I made in threads others created (seemed to make sense as it was the exact same issue) either got ignored, or closed I will open one myself.

So regularly (but not always) I struggle to log in on Xbox One X. After starting the game I get stuck in an endless load screen before character select, eventually getting a 308 time out error if I don't close and try again before that. This is happening since the Waking Flame update. It has taken me anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours to get through to the character select screen. Once I get there I can swap characters, servers etc. with no problems at all for hours as long as I don't completely close the game. The moment I close the game the problem starts again.

Before I even try and start playing the game I delete the save file and I take the power off for about a minute to fully restart the xbox. I even went through a full reinstallation of the game twice (thankfully I don't have a data limitation and a good download speed). None of this permanently fixed the problem. I normally only have a wired connection, connection tests on Xbox are always fine, I also tried connecting wirelessly to my router and even my mobile phone, all these options gave me the same results. Sometimes it suddenly works, most of the time it doesn't.

The last few days the problem seems to be a little less frequent (to my shock I managed to get in directly two days ago!) But it is still an issue. I also know I'm not the only one with this problem.

ZOS_Bill · October 2021

@Lluanda

Thank you for providing a rundown of all the steps you've taken so far to resolve this loading issue. At this point we recommend opening a ticket with customer support for further assistance.

Lluanda · October 2021

So I made a ticket and exactly as expected after asking me to do all the steps again even though I mentioned I had already done then several times I get told to contact Xbox support.

Even though I've not had this issue before the waking flame update, I can name at least five others I play with from various countries who have the exact same thing happen since then (and there are multiple people who posted here too), nor do I have any problems with any other game.

I know I'm probably silly enough to keep playing anyway because I still love this game despite its many flaws and absolutely terrible performance over the last year or so, but what worries me much more is that these things add up and it is pushing away a lot of players that aren't as invested yet or maybe as stubborn as I am. So I really hope you look into this further even after this disappointing reply I have received.

HybridFreak · November 2021

I have the exact same issue once again. Lost count now how many times it's happened. It's completely random when it happens and fixing it is completely hit or miss. Sometimes deleting the save and clearing the cache works, other times it's required a complete reinstall. Figures that this crap would happen to me on the last day of the event when I actually put in time off from work to play today.

MissPan3024 · November 2021

Same. And several other players in my guild also have the same issue. I followed the exact same steps as the original post here including uninstalling and reinstalling it. So far today I have been trying to get in game for 2 hours. Starting to think that it won’t be worth playing soon. After 6 years it would be a shame to quit. I can’t afford a new Xbox series console though. It has been happening too long to keep paying for eso plus at this point.

HybridFreak · November 2021

Happened again this morning. Again. Had to leave the Xbox unplugged for 10 minutes and delete my save files for probably the 20th time in order to login. Was playing just fine last night. This is getting ridiculous. Between this, the update coming in 2 weeks that's expected to completely break my main stealth character based on PC feedback about the patch, and crap show that is cyrodil, I'm finding it harder and harder to justify continuing to pay for this each month. Only game I've ever had an issue like this with of Xbox.

RogueShade · November 2021

I have the same problem. It’s really frustrating and by the time I get on I’m either too irritated to play or out of time.

ksbrugh · November 2021

ZOS_BillE wrote: »

@Lluanda

Thank you for providing a rundown of all the steps you've taken so far to resolve this loading issue. At this point we recommend opening a ticket with customer support for further assistance.

My situation is very similar here's a breakdown of my situation.
If I'm playing the game and go back to title menu and leave my Xbox on to watch YouTube movies whatever I can go back to ESO and load my characters in just fine, but as soon as I decide to play a different game or turn my Xbox off for the night. Then the problem of loading into character screen or game gives the infinite load screen and then I have to go through all steps deleting data cache, hard reset, sometimes works first time sometimes it takes 10 times doing it to get it to work. Me and my three sons and their kids we all play ESO in different households (a total of 11 people) and they all have the same problem. I'm now leaving YouTube playing in the background all night long so if I know I'm going to play ESO the next morning it will load my characters right up without any problem. Lord forbid if XBox decides to shut down then I'm looking at 10 minutes to hours+ getting back on to the game.
I have found it best to work for me in this order clear game cache do hard reset and then start a different game exit out of that game and then try ESO nine out of 10 times this works better than just clear data cache hard reset start ESO. I have close to a thousand games and this is the only game that does this this is not an Xbox problem this is a problem when the game is ended it leaves a corrupt file somewhere in the save data cache. But most likely the saved data error is on zos's end. Get your devs to look at what data it saves when you quit the game on their end. Because when you clear data cache you're downloading your saved files from the network cloud.
Oh yeah and PS don't ever rage quit ESO because you will spend days trying to get it to load back up possibly even locking up the character that you raged quit on.