LOTRO under Linux and Mac OS/X

Original content created by various community members: Forum Discussion

DISCLAIMER: This is not for the faint of heart. All of this information is on an as-is basis, no guarantees are made about anything whatsoever and most importantly: IF YOU TRY THIS, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN! TURBINE DOES NOT, WILL NOT, HAS NEVER AND (probably) WILL NEVER PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR IT! There. If your toaster explodes as a result of this, it's your own fault. The instructions below worked for many people but also failed for a few.

REQUIREMENTS

Mac users should head directly to the lower part of this entry. Most of what is presented refers to outdated versions of LOTRO and Linux, none of which apply. The Linux section remains intact for editing/updating by a Linux user.

1. A PC with at least the minimum system specs for the game.
2. Wine (for Linux) or Crossover Games (runs on Linux too).
3. Download a recent version of the LOTRO installer (the shipped "Shadows of Angmar" DVD will not work). For the north american servers you can download the most recent Trial Version for North America or Europe.
4. You'll need to install VC++ runtime libraries, use Winetricks to download and install them

CAVEATS

There's a few things you need to look out for:
- Neither the help function nor the bug reporting works with a stock Wine install. Installing the Mozilla engine fixes the crash, but you still cannot use help/bug reporting. (as of Wine v.1.1.1). (Seems to work now, tested on Kubuntu 9.04beta)
- If you run Linux and you run Beryl/Compiz (or some other 3d Desktop Effects software), disable them before launching LOTRO. The game will run normally, although with somewhat degraded performance. However, many hotkey functions and mouse gestures used in the game will also activate 3d Desktop effects, and could cause the game to crash.

LINUX

Getting that patch

(Not needed anymore. However, you'll need at least an up-to-date installer which you can grab off the trial download on the LOTRO homepage - Don't use the original install CD)

Installing Wine

1. Install Wine (follow the instructions on their webpage if you run into problems).
Many distros have older versions of Wine in their repositories. Using the version from winehq will almost always give better results. Ubuntu users can add the Wine repository for easy installation. 2. Edit the Wine registry and set the proper amount of video memory: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Wine/Direct3D/VideoMemorySize = < amount of video memory, e.g. 256 > (LOTRO works fine for me without this step though)
You may need to create the key Direct3D and the string VideoMemorySize. You can do it using the file regedit.exe (nameuser/.wine/drive_c/windows)
3. Use the Wine config util and set the Windows version to Windows 2000.

Installing VC++ Runtime

From the command line, execute these commands:

wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks
bash winetricks vcrun2005
bash winetricks vcrun2005sp1

(note: you will need cabextract installed for this to work correctly. If you don't have cabextract, the installations may seem to finish correctly. You may be able to simply install it with 'sudo apt-get install cabextract' or 'sudo yum install cabextract'.

Installing LOTRO

1. Use the fakeNET11.reg file, available from various locations, such as http://pub.kxd.cc/ddo/freebsd/fakeNET11.reg.
You can import it with Wine's Registry Editor. Rather than manually importing the file, you can go to the location where fakeNet11.reg is (e.g., cd Desktop) and type regedit fakeNET11.reg. You can add this file using regedit.exe (nameuser/.wine/drive_c/windows)
2. Install LOTRO. DO NOT USE THE DVD FOR THIS! Install a downloaded trial version.
3. Decide whether you'd like a nice graphical launcher (GUI) or a text-mode command line launcher. The GUI launcher is highly recommended.
GUI launcher:
1. Install the Mono package onto your Linux installation if you'd like the GUI launcher. If not, skip to Command line launcher.
2. Install the GUI launcher, following the instructions here.
3. Launch the GUI launcher and go to Tools->Options and make sure the Game Directory is properly set.
Typically, this is ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Turbine/The Lord of the Rings Online.
Command line launcher:
1. If you would prefer a command line launcher, get it here.

Running LOTRO

The first time you run LOTRO it'll fail, because it's missing its config files. During the crash it will create them however. From then on it will work fine. If you use the GUI launcher please remember to patch when needed (Tools->Patch->Apply, close when done).

Troubleshooting

Q: LOTRO does not start!
A: 1. On first run, it will crash because it's missing its config file, that's normal.
2. Make sure you set the path to the LOTRO directory correctly in the GUI launcher. If you use the command line launcher, make sure you copied it into the LOTRO directory.
3. If it still does not start after that, make sure that you have the proper graphics drivers installed in Linux (i.e. the proprietary nVidia and ATI drivers are needed) and that OpenGL works properly. From the terminal console, enter "glxinfo" and make sure that the glx vendor string does say nvidia or ati.

Q: The graphics are all messed up!
A: Most often this is caused by either an ancient version of Wine (use version 1.0.0 or higher, the latest version is highly recommended) or bad graphics drivers. You will need to have the proprietary nvidia or ati drivers installed, the open-source drivers will not give you satisfactory results.
On top of that, LOTRO is pretty graphically demanding. If all else fails, set the graphics options to LOW and then slowly start cranking them up and see where it pukes.

Q: LOTRO crashes when I try to file a bug or go to the help menu!
A: You'll need to install the Mozilla rendering engine. Open a terminal and enter "wine iexplore http://winehq.com". You'll be prompted to let Wine install the Mozilla engine. Sadly, this only prevents the crash - you still cannot use the help menu or file a bug.

Q: The help menu/bug reporting does not work!
A: LOTRO requires Internet Explorer for that, and Internet Explorer does not run very well under Wine. It's possible to install IE, but not recommended since it breaks a lot of other things. Thus, at the moment, you cannot report bugs, file tickets or use the help menu. Sorry.

Q: I get the following error: unimplemented function d3dx9_36.dll.D3DXGetShaderConstantTable
A: You may need to get the .dll from a real Windows installation. You can find the file in c:\Windows\system32\ Copy that file to your wine installation's drive_c\windows\system32 folder. You can also get the .dll files from "dll-files.com.

Q: I get the following error: WARNING: Cannot find Mozilla directory containing libgtkembedmoz.so. Some Addins may not be able to function. Please set MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME to your Mozilla directory.
A: This library module used to come with Firefox 2.x, but doesn't come with Firefox 3.x in many distros. You can probably get it by installing libxul-dev in Ubuntu or a similar xulrunner-related package in other distros.

Updated for PyLotro, with major overhaul of information as of 11-MAY-09

Mac OS/X (Intel)

Links to required files

1. Download Crossover Games or Mike Kronenberg's Wine-WineBottler Build

2. Download PyLotro for Windows (no, that is not a typo)

3. Download the Standard Res or High Res client for LOTRO

Installation

Create a Windows 2000 bottle to house LOTRO and use either the Install Software or Run command to launch the appropriate installer that was downloaded.

Part of this install will fail. This is normal. Just dismiss the error.

Next, install PyLotro into the bottle you just created. (LOTRO and PyLotro must be in the same bottle) This utility replaces the Launcher and serves the same purpose.

And, from here on, you will start LOTRO with PyLotro only.

Notes and Clarifications

CrossOver Games (CXG) is a commercial product based on the open-source WINE project. It is developed by CodeWeavers, not to be confused with Codemasters, the international publisher for LOTRO. A time-limited demo version is avaialble.

Mike Kronenberg's Build is a free WINE build for Mac that can import CrossOver bottles. It is not supported by WineHQ but there are no builds of WINE for Mac supported by WineHQ.

The issue plaguing Linux and Mac users is that the Launcher (and the Trial download client) rely on Microsoft .net, which does not work with WINE (and by extension CrossOver or Cider). PyLotro was developed to be a launcher and patcher that works properly in this environment

LOTROLinux and LOTROMac have been discontinued and replaced by PyLotro. PyLotro is written in Python and no longer relies on mono. Also no longer required is the fakenet11.reg hack.

Due to technical headaches, the Mac version of the PyLotro has been scrapped. Mac users should install the Windows version of PyLotro in to the LOTRO bottle instead.

For further information and support, visit the LOTRO Forum on CodeWeaver's website.

REFERENCES

Forum discussion: LOTRO under Linux and OS/X (ask for help there)
LOTRO Pre-patched NA installer: http://turbine.fuzeqna.com/lotro.support/consumer/kbdetail.asp?kbid=1554
LOTRO Pre-patched EU installer: http://www.lotro-europe.com/full_client.php
LOTRO Linux GUI Launcher: http://www.lotrolinux.com/ (requires Mono)
LOTRO Linux CLI Launcher: http://bmx-chemnitz.de/~mfr/LOTRO/
LOTRO under Ubuntu (Forum): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=386480
Wine: http://www.winehq.org/
Wine AppDB entry for LOTRO: http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=8273
Crossover Games: http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxgames/
X11 for OS/X (comes with OS/X Leopard and newer): http://developer.apple.com/opensource/tools/X11.html
MONO .NET Framework for Linux and OS/X: http://www.mono-project.com/
Fake .NET Registry settings: http://www.uvog.org/~kylerr/fakeNET11.reg/