What do I do if ESO is crashing with a black screen after I press Play?

If you are experiencing issues with the game crashing to a black screen, you should first check to ensure that your machine meets the game’s minimum requirements here.

Check graphics card drivers and settings

Download and install latest drivers for your graphics card:

In addition, you should ensure your video driver is selecting the correct GPU for ESO by opening either the NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Radeon Settings and ensuring that ESO64.exe is making use of your primary GPU. If you have AMD Adrenaline, please contact AMD Support for further assistance. 

To do so, follow the process below:

NVIDIA Graphics Cards

  1. Right-click on your desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.
  2. In the Control Panel, select Manage 3D settings, then click on the Program Settings tab.  
  3. Next to the "Select a program to customize" option, click the Add button.  
  4. From the pop-up window, navigate to the folder where ESO is installed and select ESO64.exe.
  5. In the "Select the preferred graphics processor for this program" option, open the drop-down menu and select High-performance NVIDIA processor and confirm.

Note: The above instructions may change depending on version and unique graphics card. If you require further assistance, you should contact NVIDIA Support here.

AMD Graphics Cards

Depending on if you use Adrenalin or Radeon, the instructions may vary, for ensuring that your card and ESO are set properly.

In the below, locate ESO from the list of applications. If ESO not listed, select Add application and select ESO64.exe from wherever you have the game installed. The default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online
Note: The instructions may change depending on version and unique graphics card. If you require further assistance, you should contact AMD Support here.
 
Download Windows Updates

Download and install the latest version of DirectX here.

Download and install the Visual C++ update here.

To ensure there are no issues, you should check that you have all Windows updates installed (using Windows Update), including both the required and optional updates. After running all of the required updates, please reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. Once you have rebooted your machine, you should check to see if any additional updates are now available. You may need to update and restart your machine multiple times before all updates are installed.

 
Remove any mods or add-ons

Turn off or remove all mods or add-ons you have installed.  

 
Repair the game client

To repair the game client, open the ESO Launcher, click Game Options, and then select Repair.

game options