Game Crash Message

Horace-Wimp · March 16

Yesterday (March 15, 2026) and now today when logging out of the game (selecting QUIT) i have gotten a popup message on top of my launcher stating that a game crash has been detected and that repairing my installation could fix this issue.

Problem is my game has not crashed. I've had intermittent MASSIVE lag and yesterday while running White Gold Tower on my Dragon Knight my game did seem to disconnect on the second to last boss again for a few minutes (I was unable to loot the boss and unable to use the door to follow my group but eventually was pulled to the final boss once my group reached it.)

So, without an actual crash how would I repair my installation? I play via Steam and I do not see an option like 'Verify integrity Of Game Files or any other option that would suggest the ability to repair.

I intend to continue playing as usual unless I have an actual game crash. Could this be a communication issue between the servers and my PC? Just wondering.

Thanx.

lillybit · March 16

I've had that message pop up a couple of times too and haven't even had lag. I've just been ignoring it!

Horace-Wimp · March 17

Third day in a row now. Plus the intermittent MASSIVE lag continues. /frown

AzuraFan · March 17

That happened to me once a few days ago, but hasn't happened again.

ETA: No lag, but the popup.

SeaGtGruff · March 18

This has started happening to me since U49, as well-- not every time, but more often than not. It has nothing to do with lag, as far as I can tell. I thought it might have something to do with a problem saving the game's user settings when shutting down the game, but I honestly have no idea. I also thought maybe it's related to something in a Windows Update that just happened to get released at about the same time as U49-- but again, I honestly have no idea.

ivaylo.krumoveb17_ESO · March 18

To the best of my knowledge, you can't fix it. And the message is harmless. It will stop appearing when they fix it with the next update. Or not.

frogthroat · March 18

I have that every now and then. Started ... I think after U48 and addon updates, so probably some addon. I think it happens after a long session and I think usually after I have been to a trial, maybe. So, probably some trial related addon, perhaps. Or maybe not. Anyway, doesn't affect playing.

SeaGtGruff · March 18

I saved a copy of the crash details that were in the Event Viewer the last time it happened, but I don't know if they would be of any help to ZOS.

Horace-Wimp · March 19

Looks like it took today off. Maybe it has found a more worthy player to happen to. Regardless, I smile.

Horace-Wimp · March 24

This issue returned the day after my last post and has been occurring every day since.

Also, yesterday, March 23, 2026 and again today my game locked up and crashed. When I tried to log back in I got several different error messages after each attempt and was not able to login to the game for more than an hour.

Specifically, each re-login attempt resulted in a different error message each time. No two were the same. I did not bother to write down what they were but they were each different. I restarted my PC (NA) between each login attempt hoping that might somehow fix whatever could be the issue on my end.

Yesterday, I waited apx. one hour and ten minutes between my last two login attempts and still could not get back into the game. I finally got back in several hours later. The same thing happened today.

With the double XP event starting tomorrow I am concerned that I will miss out on being able to take full advantage of the time should this newer issue persist. I would like to participate but have better things to do than babysit login attempts for hours.

Please fix this ASAP ZOS.

Oh yeah. ALL of my software is up to date so that's not whatever this is.

freespirit · March 25

But even if all your software is up to date it does seem the issue is on your side....... otherwise this thread would be full of people with the same issue!

10 replies in 8 days suggests this is not impacting loads of people!

Edit:- Maybe something here can help?

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8445401#Comment_8445401

Horace-Wimp · March 28

freespirit wrote: »

...10 replies in 8 days suggests this is not impacting loads of people! ...

Or that people are creating/posting in other threads.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/690215/still-with-ridiculous-crashes#latest

tohopka_eso · March 28

I still get this and occasionally an actual crash. the crash usually happens when my character is Auridon.

but, what i found is when I am doing the crafting daily writs and log in and out on different characters then take a break and actually quit the game. I'll get the crash message on the launcher.

this all started after U49 for me FYI. I also don't use add-ons.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/689627/since-update-i-get-a-crash-alert-with-no-crash-happening#latest

Maybe @ZOS_Kevin can ask whomever to look into it.

JeroenB · March 28

I have been encountering this error message in recent days as well.

I've even had a single crash-to-desktop, which is extremely rare for ESO for me, but the message did not pop up that instance.

My ESO install is one of those impacted by the launcher often being permanently stuck on 10% CPU use. (So I always open the launcher and Task Manager, and if the launcher does not drop to <1% CPU quickly, close and restart.) My impression is that these two issues do not necessarily coincide either way.

Recently there's been the other new issue whereby the launcher often fully freezes on "Running" for thirty seconds (iirc) after quitting the game normally. Now I'm wondering whether this problem and the error message ever appear at the same time; my impression is that they do not.

A repair seemingly did not find any errors to correct. (@OP: Does the Steam version not use the ZOS launcher as well? If so, there's a 'Game options' dropdown in the middle of the launcher, with a 'Repair' option.)

AzuraFan · March 28

tohopka_eso wrote: »

I still get this and occasionally an actual crash. the crash usually happens when my character is Auridon.

Funny you should say that because I'm still getting this message very occasionally, and I crashed in Auridon a few days ago. It's rare for me to crash in ESO and hadn't happened in a long time.

JeroenB wrote: »

Recently there's been the other new issue whereby the launcher often fully freezes on "Running" for thirty seconds (iirc) after quitting the game normally.

That issue has been around for months. There's a thread about it somewhere.

JeroenB · March 28

AzuraFan wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Recently there's been the other new issue whereby the launcher often fully freezes on "Running" for thirty seconds (iirc) after quitting the game normally.

That issue has been around for months. There's a thread about it somewhere.

These days, "recently" and "around for months" feel like pretty much the same thing... Anything less than two years ago counts as "recent" while simultaneously anything longer than two weeks ago counts as "too long ago to remember".

barney2525 · March 28

My game, over the last 2 weeks, has crashed 5 times. I have not had an actual Crash with ESO before that for literally several Years. Now I suddenly get a white box with crash message. It irritates me so much, to this point I have not screen shot it. Didn't think it was going to be a regular thing.

What did you do ??????

barney2525 · March 28

AzuraFan wrote: »

tohopka_eso wrote: »

I still get this and occasionally an actual crash. the crash usually happens when my character is Auridon.

Funny you should say that because I'm still getting this message very occasionally, and I crashed in Auridon a few days ago. It's rare for me to crash in ESO and hadn't happened in a long time.

JeroenB wrote: »

Recently there's been the other new issue whereby the launcher often fully freezes on "Running" for thirty seconds (iirc) after quitting the game normally.

That issue has been around for months. There's a thread about it somewhere.

Mine does that regularly too. I use Logout, then Back, then Quit. Usually that gets it to shut down mode. But sometimes it takes a couple minutes.

16BitForestCat · March 29

Add me on to the list of people crashing in Auridon, after not crashing in...many months? Years? I can't recall the last time the game crashed since getting my new PC in fall of 2023. But just now, I was leaving the Jester's pavilion and running to the Vulkhel Guard Wayshrine. I jumped off the rocks behind Mara's Kiss as usual, landed on top of one of the flat-topped stone pillars marking the path into town (not intended, heh), and immediately got a crash message. Prior to that, I've had some weird game freezes for a few seconds each time since U49, but never an actual crash till now, and I've been running as many as four accounts at once to help some of my squishier alts with Golden Pursuits. I was only running one account when I crashed, though I still had the resolution bumped down to 1920x1080 (my system runs at 4K settings normally, and can't juggle multiple ESO accounts at max resolution without melting down).

The_Boggart · March 29

Been getting this message since U49
also weird UI fault cannot use
"WIN / V" to fetch text to copy into game

Tallon_IV · March 29

I think the game isn't closing properly because Reliability Monitor in Windows shows it as "Stopped working" under Critical events every time I shut the game down.

It's at least getting past the point where it saves addon settings because I haven't had any of those corrupted.

AzuraFan · March 29

16BitForestCat wrote:

Add me on to the list of people crashing in Auridon, after not crashing in...many months? Years? I can't recall the last time the game crashed since getting my new PC in fall of 2023. But just now, I was leaving the Jester's pavilion and running to the Vulkhel Guard Wayshrine.

I was also going towards the Vulkhel Guard Wayshrine, except I was in the town and riding, not running. Hopefully ZOS will take a look. I did send the crash report.

JeroenB wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Recently there's been the other new issue whereby the launcher often fully freezes on "Running" for thirty seconds (iirc) after quitting the game normally.

That issue has been around for months. There's a thread about it somewhere.

These days, "recently" and "around for months" feel like pretty much the same thing... Anything less than two years ago counts as "recent" while simultaneously anything longer than two weeks ago counts as "too long ago to remember".

But you also wrote "new issue," which generally means "since the last update," so it's not surprising I took it that way.

Wittychick42 · March 29

I, too, am encountering this message as well as random game crashes to desktop while doing nothing significant in game to explain it; like running to a wayshrine. Like others, this message in the launcher, as well as the game crashes, have occurred after U49

Maitsukas · March 29

I think it would be helpful if everyone here said what platform they are playing on. If you're on PC, include if you are using either the ESO Store, Steam or Epic Games Store versions of the game.

Historically, Steam's version of the game has had many issues while the ESO Store version wasn't affected at all.

BretonMage · March 29

I've been getting this message fairly regularly since U49. I can't really predict when I will get it, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with crashing or lag. It happened to me today after I was logged out for inactivity, but I've also received this message when quitting the game normally. I have been repairing my game more often than not, because why not.

Edit: PCNA through Steam.

randconfig · March 29

I use the non-steam version, windows 10, Nvidia 3090Ti GPU, and I also get this issue PC NA.

Also in my task manager, I can see that the launcher is using CPU in addition to the game using CPU.

So after I launch the game, I'll tab out and close the launcher to free up the CPU, and that does seem to improve in-game performance. Not sure what the launcher is doing...?

I do not have any game crashes though with or without closing the launcher.

AzuraFan · March 29

I'm on Windows 11, non-steam version, PC/NA. I'm getting the popup (not every run, but frequently), and I've crashed in Auridon once (sent the crash report to ZOS).

Potrimpo · March 29

The wrong launcher report/issue/error has existed since at least U48 (see, for example, the german forum entry november 2025 Beezle_org and Diviano)

ZOS_Icy · March 30

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the PC Technical Support section, as it is better suited there.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team