We’re working hard to make sure The Elder Scrolls Online runs as best as it possibly can. Read our plan for the game’s upcoming performance improvements from ESO’s Creative Director Rich Lambert.
MAY 2020 UPDATE
While the planned game performance improvement work continues, we are prioritizing the game performance issues that surfaced with the launch of Update 26 and Greymoor – specifically high ping in some zones. We are also exploring the best ways in which we can share performance improvements updates with you moving forward. With this in mind, we have made the decision to shift away from the monthly updates to this game performance plan article. Thank you and please stay tuned.
APRIL 2020 UPDATE
A lot has happened since our last update – with the Covid-19 concerns, we’re all now working from home. This has been a challenge, but we were able to transition quickly and we’re working full speed ahead. In addition to everyone working from home, the game has seen record numbers of players in ESO these last few weeks – numbers that we haven’t seen since console launch back in 2015. There’s been strain on the servers, but they are holding up well – a testament to the team and the hard work they’ve done over the past year on performance and stability.
Things aren’t perfect, and there are issues, but overall it’s great that so many people are able to stay and play in Tamriel with their friends. We have made several fixes for the input lag issue that appears to address the problem on our internal development environments. However, it is impossible for us to simulate “real” server load internally, so we are going to include these fixes in Update 26 (they are not yet on the PTS but will be soon). Note that until we move these fixes live, we can’t 100% be sure that this resolves the problem. Additional work may be required. Thank you for your patience as we work through this issue.
Q2 2020: Update 26 – Complete and currently on the PTS!
- Server Optimization & Stability
- Non-combat Pets: We are rewriting how non-combat pets are handled to be more performant (work better, more efficiently, and take up less overhead/resources on the server). Internal bug fixing is underway. This work is on track to release with Update 26.
- Player Character Loading: We are making the player character loading process multi-threaded on the server to improve performance. Internal bug fixing is underway. This work is complete, on the PTS, and on track to release with Update 26.
- Client Optimization & Stability (previously named – Frame rate improvements phase 2)
- Multi-threaded Fixture Creation on the Client: This work centers around how art assets are constructed and drawn on the client, ultimately spreading this work out over multiple cores. Internal bug fixing is underway. This work is complete, on the PTS, and on track to release with Update 26.
- Fixture Creation: This work is complete, on the PTS, and on track to release with Update 26.
- Character Update: This work centers around how characters are drawn on the client, spreading work out over multiple cores. This work is complete, on the PTS, and on track to release with Update 26.
- FX Update: This work is complete, on the PTS, and on track to release with Update 26.
- *New* Animation Set Caching: Improved caching for our animation sets in order to reduce memory usage in situations with many players/monsters. This will result in improved stability, fewer “out of memory” crashes, and a slight improvement to FPS. This work will go into the week 3 PTS patch and is on track to release with Update 26.