It should be in the same folder...But Steam may replace it.

Although, IIRC, it is not the lack of a Launcher that is making you enter your credentials. It is not launching through Steam.

This kind of thing happens from time to time and either Steam or Zos will sort it.

In the meantime, just use the EXE, make a shortcut to the Desktop to make this easier.

I think Steam saves the credentials when launching games normally. Since I'm launching the exe directly, I have to enter credentials.

I think this is Steam support. I recently bought the High Isles Collection pack but they list the cheaper High Isle Upgrade as what I purchased, but I didn't. I wrote them about it and they said they were going to "fix" it by removing my Elsweyr DLC. I don't know what removing Elsweyr has to do with High Isle, but this is what they said.

The only other change was an Nvidia driver update made tonight.

The High Isles Collection pack may be a stand alone game, where the Upgrade is what you need. The stand alone would require a new account, or, if applied to the existing game install, it might be a more expensive way to upgrade. Although the real difference between them is more marketing than actual content.

I have been scratching my head for more than 20 years on how Bethesda/ZOS packages its upgrades.

Nestor wrote: »

The High Isles Collection pack may be a stand alone game, where the Upgrade is what you need. The stand alone would require a new account, or, if applied to the existing game install, it might be a more expensive way to upgrade. Although the real difference between them is more marketing than actual content.

I have been scratching my head for more than 20 years on how Bethesda/ZOS packages its upgrades.

No, the upgrade does not come with any Chapters. The Collection has all the chapters, you just don't get the base game if you already own it. It tells you this before buying.

Okay, I'm going to explain the magic fix. Why there is no official fix posted to this common issue, I don't know.

SYMPTOM

I had installed from fresh only a few weeks ago and, all of a sudden, Steam would not launch ESO. It would simply start the "Launch Anywhere" thing to try and install it again. Game was fully installed (115 GB).

SOLUTION

If this is your issue, go to your account on ESO and "Download Client" button at the right. Run this and it will at first appear that the game is going to have to download again, but it won't. Many people are running into the error that they don't have enough hard drive space to reinstall. Of course not, ESO is taking up most of it.

When you have the launcher running, follow the install prompt until it shows the installation folder. It will probably be the default non-Steam path like:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online

Change the path to your Steam ESO previous installation:

C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Zenimax Online

... or whatever yours is.

Ignore the warning that you don't have enough hard drive space available and click "Install". The launcher should continue and begin updating. It took only a few seconds when I did it. This worked for me, I hope it helps someone else. After fixing it, I would recommend making a Zip archive of the "Launcher" folder in case this happens again.