Click play from the lanucher but..

ACESsiggy · July 2022

Nothing happens. They play button remains greyed out but the application never loads. Opening task manger shows the application running but trying to 'end process' doesn't do anything each time either. Not sure whats going on tbh. It's like the application is completely unresponsive.

ZOS_Bill · July 2022

@ACESsiggy

Being unable to launch after hitting the "Play" button in the launcher may be a permissions issue. Check your anti-virus settings and make sure the correct exceptions have been setup.

The application files that may require exceptions are:

Bethesda.net_launcher: C:\Program Files (x86)\ZenimaxOnline\Launcher
ESO.exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\ZenimaxOnline\The Elder Scrolls Online\game\client\eso.exe
Steam.exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe

Some antivirus programs require entire folders to be selected instead of a single file. When this is the case, the file paths below are what you should use. If required by the anti-virus program, include all subfolders since every file is critical to run the game.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online\
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\

Danikat · July 2022

I'm having exactly the same problem. It's only happened today, I have been able to log in since the last update, today the game won't even launch.

I've made sure both the game and the launcher are on the list of exceptions for my anti-virus but it made no difference. When I launch the game via the launcher nothing happens, when I launch it directly using the ESO.exe file the screen goes black for a second as if it's launching then it goes back to the desktop. It looks like the game is crashing or freezing on startup.

ACESsiggy · July 2022

Thank you so much for the replies and I'm sorry for not responding sooner. Been busy with RL work. I'll check file path and make sure it is correct and respond if that was the root cause of it.

ACESsiggy · July 2022

Yea, I currently have it installed on my 3rd SSD Drive. So this game has to be installed on x86 program folder?!!?! tears.

Danikat · July 2022

ACESsiggy wrote: »

Yea, I currently have it installed on my 3rd SSD Drive. So this game has to be installed on x86 program folder?!!?! tears.

I don't think that's the problem. I had it installed in B:\Program Files\Elder Scrolls Online for years and it worked and I've known other people who had it in places other than the C drive as well. I think that's just an example of where the files or folders you need to white list in your anti-virus are likely to be (it's the default location).

ACESsiggy · December 2022

Downloaded the game again for the 3rd attempt this year. Still the game never launches. On the launcher window the "play" button is greyed out. CLT ALT DEL processes shows "ZENIMAX ONLINE STUDIOS" / "ESO" / "ZENIMAX ONLINE STUDIOS LAUNCHER" running.

This is the only game I've had issues with out of over 30 installed on my computer over 4 SSD hard drives (2 ssd) (2 m.2). All over 1tb.

ZOS_Bill · December 2022

@ACESsiggy

If you've not done so already, please go ahead and open a ticket with customer support.