[2022] I've launched the launcher and got "checking invalid game files..."

Hello! For those of you encountering this issue, do you have ESO on Steam?

Also if you could, please let us know if you are playing on PC or Mac.

Thanks all. Another question. Are you on PC NA or PC EU? Just trying to make sure we are covering all of our bases as we check.

And would you be able to get a copy of your host developer folder and share it via DM? This is the help article to access the folder: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25196/

Hi all. Thanks so much for the host dev files so far. A few other questions from the team.

When you are in the launcher and you get the ,"checking for invalid game files", are you stuck at the message? Does anything happen after that is up for some time? Or is it in infinite loop?

And the team would also like to know if anyone keeps their patcher or PC on overnight? Not sure what the context is here, but this could be helpful to the team.

Thanks, @HappyDan. This is helpful.

We have a potential work around from the team if you would like to try. I'll list the steps below:

[list=1]
[*] Close the Patcher
[*] Navigate to their Patcher directory
[*] Delete the Bethesda.net_Launcher.version file
[*] Restart the patcher to see it self updates and opens normally
[/list]


Let us know if this works for you. If not, we'll go back to the drawing board.

Thanks for the feedback all. Appreciate your patience here. Relaying your feedback to the team to continue investigations.

So for those who are not using steam and running the native client, we would like you to delete and reinstall the patcher. The team wrote up some steps for you to try here. Again, any feedback regarding if this worked is helpful. We'll pass any and all information over that could be helpful to the team. Thanks, all.

[list=1]
[*] Close the Patcher
[*] Navigate to the main Zenimax Online directory
[*] Delete the "Launcher" directory
[*] Download the latest ESO installer from www.elderscrollsonline.com
[*] Run the installer and install it to Zenimax Online directory (or whatever your directory is called)
[*] The patcher will open automatically when the installer completes.
[*] See if it opens without issues.
[/list]

If this works for non-steam users, we will write something up to help those on steam replicate the process.

Inari Telvanni;c-7742253

Bypassing the patcher by launching eso64.exe (Zenimax Online -> Game -> Client -> eso64.exe) has allowed me to log in. I suggest those reading this do that until ZOS can provide a more permanent solution.

If those with issues could try what @"Inari Telvanni" did and try launching the eso64.exe to bypass the launcher, that would be helpful. Let me know if that works and I can pass that on to the team.

Thanks for the continued feedback all. We are going to continue investigating into tomorrow. Remember, if you haven't done so already please make sure to note the following to help us during the investigation.

Are you playing on PC or Mac?
Are you using the native client or Steam?
Are you on PC NA or PC EU?
And would you be able to get a copy of your host developer folder and share it via DM? This is the help article to access the folder: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25196/

This info will help us narrow down the issue. Thanks so much.

Just wanted to note that our team is still looking into this. We have narrowed down the potential issue, but nothing concrete to share yet. I will follow up once we have more solid info. Thanks for your continued patience.

Hi All, I am once again coming to you for an additional file. The dev team is looking for a copy of the launcher.settings file from your installed Launcher directory. You can dm that to me. It's the highlighted file in the image below.

Thanks to everyone who has sent the text in the file so far. Sending the text to my DM works as it seems like attaching the file itself is not possible.

So to continue the game of hide and seek, could folks let me know what version of Windows everyone is using? We haven't gotten any Mac errors reported, so we are making the assumption about windows. But if that assumption does not fit your scenario, please let us know that as well.

Hi all. We want to provide an update as we are reaching the end of the day here for us at ZOS. So the team is still looking for the culprit in the code causing this issue. We have been testing throughout yesterday and today and have not been able to reproduce the issue on our end. We are still working today to see if we can track the issue, but this issue is likely to persist into tomorrow. I know that is the last thing any of you want to hear. We are working to get this resolves as soon as possible and will provide more updates as they appear. Thanks again for your understanding and patience.

@StabbityDoom we'll look into your request, but the answer is likely no, unfortunately.

Hi All, we believe we have a fix for this issue. Please see below:

If you are receiving a "checking invalid game files" error when you try to launch ESO, you may have files like "screenshots" saved under your Game Client Directory. (These will be detected as invalid.)

Some addons may save your ESO screenshots in the game client folder, and this can result in the "checking invalid game files" error.

Please locate the folder where your screenshots are being saved and either delete them or save the screenshots folder on your desktop.

Your default ESO screenshot folder file path should look something like this:
C:\Users\\Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live\Screenshots

This is where your screenshots should be saved to avoid the patcher detecting "invalid files" under your Game Client directory.