Unable to launch client using Crossover after updating to Mac OS Ventura 13.3 on an M1 Mac mini

I updated my M1 Mac mini to Mac OS Ventura 13.3 this morning. Since then, I've been unable to get past the LoTRO launcher*. I'm using Crossover Mac 22.1. Before the OS update LoTRO worked reliably. I can patch, login then hit "Play" and the launcher closes and nothing else happens visually. From the terminal can see that lotroclient64.exe is running along with several windows helper programs. I also see 0 byte lotroclient64_d3d10.log and lotroclient64_d3d11.log are created (config set to DX11). "The Lord of the Rings Online" has microphone permissions (reading the prior thread).

*I did get it to launch once without changing anything....which is rather annoying. I then rebooted the machine before trying again and was unable to get it to start after a dozen or so attempts. The one time it did launch, I was also able to launch another game that stopped working (Guild Wars 2).

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear. I've also opened a ticket with Codeweaver's Crossover support team.

This makes two reports of this identical problem, both from users who just updated to MacOS 13.3 (I assume from 13.2.1 although neither report indicated which version they were running before they updated to 13.3), both users of Apple SOC Macs. Second report is here:
https://www.codeweavers.com/compatib...msg=258795#c12

I do not have an Apple SOC Mac for testing but I am running MacOS 13.3 and Crossover 22.1 on three different Intel Macs (a 2019 that can run Ventura without hacks as well as 2012 and 2013 models running Ventura with OCLP) and am experiencing no problems with LOTRO. LOTRO also runs on these machines with no problems in 13.3 using free open-source WINE rather than Crossover.

In the meanwhile, one solution to get you back into LOTRO would be to downgrade to MacOS 13.2.1; of course, without a backup to restore there is no way to downgrade so you would have to create a new APFS volume and then install Ventura fresh and then update it to 13.2.1 using the combo updater here:
edit: No, that link wasn’t correct. I can’t find the 13.2.1 combo updater but it should be available, I’ll continue looking and edit here again if I find it.
edit 2: Here is a link for MacOS 13.2.1 Ventura. I do not know if you can use it to downgrade a boot volume which has 13.3 installed but it can certainly be used to create a new boot volume with 13.2.1 which should allow you to play LOTRO with Crossover:
https://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...lAssistant.pkg

If you are experiencing this issue on an Apple SOC Mac, please try this:
1- Quit out of Crossover.
2- Go to /System/Library/CoreServices and double-click Rosetta 2 Updater to run it.
3- Restart your Mac.
4- Launch Crossover and then attempt to run LOTRO.

If LOTRO still fails to run, and you usually have the game set to use DirectX 11, please try with DirectX 9. You can change to DirectX 9 before attempting to launch the game by editing ~/Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/UserPreferences.ini: Change the line GraphicsCore=D3D11 to GraphicsCore=D3D9.

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately neither running the Rosetta 2 updater nor trying DX9 allowed the client to start. I received a reply from CodeWeaver's saying that Ventura 13.3 has "messed with a lot of our Game clients " and they are investigating it.

Strangely, I was able to run LoTRO normally several times this morning after the Mac Mini had been sleeping all night. It went back to not starting after a reboot (putting the machine to sleep and waking it manually didn't help). ... I suppose I could just not reboot it if this happens again! Fortunately, I have another machine I can play on so I can wait for a solution. However, I'd advise holding off updating to Ventura 13.3 if you have an Apple Silicon Mac for the time being.

Same problems here - I can log in and get my Hobbit present, and then everything freezes and I get the pinwheel of death and then have to force-quit. I guess I'll just wait for Codeweavers to see what's up.

Hweldar, did you submit a help ticket with Codeweavers?

I'm sorry those attempted workarounds didn't allow you to get back into the game, bilgamesh.

It is super-duper weird that bilgamesh can sometimes get into the game and it works fine for him when he can do so; and that Hweldar can get into the game consistently but only briefly before experiencing an issue. The third report (on the Codeweavers website but not here) is more similar to bilgamesh's report.

Here is a link for MacOS 13.2.1 Ventura. I do not know if you can use it to downgrade a boot volume which has 13.3 installed but it can certainly be used to create a new boot volume with 13.2.1 which should allow you to play LOTRO with Crossover on the same machine – albeit requiring a reboot each time you wish to do so.

https://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...lAssistant.pkg

I think I just did. I was also just able to log into the game, get my presents, and port from Mattugard to Michel Delving to try to pick up the VIP bonus for the next two weeks. The port went fine, but as soon as I hit the arrow keys to try to move, everything froze and I had to force-quit.

4th report, this one on the Codeweavers website:
https://www.codeweavers.com/compatib...msg=258795#c16

Essentially the same report as bilgamesh's, although this report did not include detail about the Mac model or OS version.

Codeweavers believes they have a solution which they are testing right now and hope to have a public update available very soon:
https://www.codeweavers.com/support/...;msg=276841#c2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meredith Johnson (Codeweavers rep)

Hi all,

Yes, we are working on a solution. We have a build with potential fixes that we have been giving out to users with active entitlements to confirm that it's working for them. Once we get a few more tests and feel good about our fix, we'll release an update.

Best,
Meredith

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Codeweavers believes they have a solution which they are testing right now and hope to have a public update available very soon:
https://www.codeweavers.com/support/...;msg=276841#c2

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What a 24 hours to pick to install LOTRO via CrossOver on my MacBook Air M2 (2022)! All I wanted to do was pay my housing upkeep on all my houses before hit the deadline :)

Obviously many of the issues I experienced over the attempts are mostly down to this issue with the MacOS 13.3 Update which I did yesterday before trying.

For the record I experienced all the issues posted by @Jaman over on the Codeweaver forums thread, first trying to install via the CrossOver Install option (kept stalling at vcredist_x86/ x64 installs. Could not even install from manual download. Eventually had to omit them from the install list to get LOTRO to d/l and install. But then all the issues. Reading about the other causes of the 'The program lotrobrowserhelper64.exe has encountered a serious problem...' I tried other solutions, so TBH happy that this is most likely an issue with CrossOver itself with 13.3 and hopefully fixed soon.

There were some other issues which I was going to post to share my experiences for others with the same model but think I'll wait and see how the fix update goes and what, if any issues remain.

Just want to say a HUGE thanks to @Tralfazz for all your work and help on this and just generally supporting the (long suffering ;)) LOTRO Mac community. I know myself how much time and effort to do this and it's really appreciated even if I moved on from LOTRO via Mac some years ago.

Funny to look back and see the very first thread in this Mac Technical Support section (we petitioned for back then) was mine :) and spent many hours and research trying to help as I could in the same way. A little sad to see where we ended up 13 years later since the Beta testing on Bullroarer, then launch of the Mac client with RoR. But heartwarming to see such support to get Mac gamers into the game in whatever way is available.

Fingers crossed on a swift resolution and here's to crossing paths some day in-game o/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Codeweavers believes they have a solution which they are testing right now and hope to have a public update available very soon:
https://www.codeweavers.com/support/...;msg=276841#c2

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Update from Codeweavers today:

Quote:

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Our testing is going well, and I expect to ship this week :)

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Just a reminder about this specific issue:
–This is affecting only users of MacOS 13.3 Ventura, no earlier versions of MacOS are affected – even other versions of MacOS 13 Ventura such as 13.2.1.
–This is affecting only users of Apple SOC Macs (M1, M2, etc.), Intel Macs are not affected.

I too am not able to use LOTRO after upgrading to Ventura on a MacBook Air. Using Crossover 22.1 and had no problems at all prior to the iOS upgrade.
Now I can launch the client and enter my password, but as soon as I press 'PLAY' the game closes. :(

Thanks for the update from Crossover, Tralfazz. I hope they come up with a simple solution soon.

Crossover Mac 22.1.1 is now available. I do not have an Apple SOC Mac in order to perform any tests related to the latest issue caused by MacOS 13.3 and Apple SOC Macs with Crossover 22.1. Crossover 22.1.1 continues to work as well as Crossover 22.1 on my Intel Macs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Crossover Mac 22.1.1 is now available. I do not have an Apple SOC Mac in order to perform any tests related to the latest issue caused by MacOS 13.3 and Apple SOC Macs with Crossover 22.1. Crossover 22.1.1 continues to work as well as Crossover 22.1 on my Intel Macs.

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I don't yet have Ventura (13.3) but can confirm that LOTRO on Crossover 22.1.1 at least works perfectly fine on Mac OS 13.2.1 on Apple SOC (M1 Max).

I'll probably update to Ventura later this week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

If you are experiencing this issue on an Apple SOC Mac, please try this:
1- Quit out of Crossover.
2- Go to /System/Library/CoreServices and double-click Rosetta 2 Updater to run it.
3- Restart your Mac.
4- Launch Crossover and then attempt to run LOTRO.

If LOTRO still fails to run, and you usually have the game set to use DirectX 11, please try with DirectX 9. You can change to DirectX 9 before attempting to launch the game by editing ~/Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/UserPreferences.ini: Change the line GraphicsCore=D3D11 to GraphicsCore=D3D9.

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The D3D9 change worked for me. Before this, my game was starting but getting stuck on loading screen. Thanks for your valuable troubleshoot fixes :)

On a different note, can anyone suggest how to enable external store in LOTRO. I have been trying to buy vip with paypal but the store browser is not work. I read somewhere in the forums that it is under options but I cannot seem to find it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrDoT

On a different note, can anyone suggest how to enable external store in LOTRO. I have been trying to buy vip with paypal but the store browser is not work. I read somewhere in the forums that it is under options but I cannot seem to find it.

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Launch the game client, log into a server, log into the world with a character. Go to OPTIONS->GRAPHICS->DISPLAY->SCREEN MODE and choose WINDOWED in the drop-down menu. (Just to be sure you will see the browser window when you invoke the store with external browser enabled.) Then go to OPTIONS->UI SETTINGS->WEBSTORE and check the box for EXTERNAL STORE. Then click the ACCEPT button at the bottom-right of the OPTIONS window. When you invoke the in-game store, it should open in a Safari window (or a window of whatever browser you have set as your system default).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Crossover Mac 22.1.1 is now available. I do not have an Apple SOC Mac in order to perform any tests related to the latest issue caused by MacOS 13.3 and Apple SOC Macs with Crossover 22.1. Crossover 22.1.1 continues to work as well as Crossover 22.1 on my Intel Macs.

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My M1 Mac Mini is launching LoTRO and other games normally again with 22.1.1 on Ventura 13.3. Thanks for your help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Crossover Mac 22.1.1 is now available. I do not have an Apple SOC Mac in order to perform any tests related to the latest issue caused by MacOS 13.3 and Apple SOC Macs with Crossover 22.1. Crossover 22.1.1 continues to work as well as Crossover 22.1 on my Intel Macs.

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Setup:

MacBook Air M2 (2022)
MacOS Ventura 13.3
CrossOver: Version 22.1.1

The latest CrossOver update has resolved the screen freezing with any key interaction with the game, primarily once logged in.

Game seems to be working as intended. I have only just installed so can't comment/ compare previous behaviour via CrossOver.

Glad it has been resolved quickly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Crossover Mac 22.1.1 is now available. I do not have an Apple SOC Mac in order to perform any tests related to the latest issue caused by MacOS 13.3 and Apple SOC Macs with Crossover 22.1. Crossover 22.1.1 continues to work as well as Crossover 22.1 on my Intel Macs.

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New Mac Mini 2 with the newest version of Crossover ---my LoTRO launcher is still crashing. Any and all help welcome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mythrandir

New Mac Mini 2 with the newest version of Crossover ---my LoTRO launcher is still crashing. Any and all help welcome.

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I’m sure we can fix you up, there are plenty of people running LOTRO in Crossover on M1 and M2 Mac Minis.

I assume you are using MacOS Ventura 13.3.1, Crossover 22.1.1, LOTRO installed in a Windows 10 64-bit bottle with DXVK enabled and all other “bottle options” disabled. It would be helpful to know the amount of RAM you have and the size of your internal SSD as well as any other information which might be pertinent such as how many monitors you are using and at what resolution you run the monitor on which you are attempting to run LOTRO.

I am also assuming that when you say, “my LoTRO launcher is still crashing” that you mean the client is not running after you enter your credentials and click PLAY and the LOTRO Launcher application closes itself to get out of the way of the client application. If the LOTRO Launcher application is crashing, that will involve completely different troubleshooting steps (and is also very unlikely).

So if all my assumptions are true, try this:
1- Go to ~/Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/UserPreferences.ini and open the UserPreferences.ini file with TextEdit.
2- Look for each of these lines. If they exist, edit them as necessary to match exactly. If they don’t exist, add them.

Code:

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GameClientType=3
ScreenMode=FullScreenWindowed
GraphicsCore=D3D9

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3- SAVE your changes, CLOSE the window, QUIT out of TextEdit.
4- If you use more than one monitor, unplug all except one.
5- Attempt to launch the LOTRO Launcher application, enter your credentials, click PLAY. The LOTRO Launcher application should then close itself and the LOTRO client application should begin to run, eventually depositing you on the character creation/selection screen.
6- During Step 5, if you are asked if you want to use DirectX 10 or DirectX 11, say NO.
7- Report back here with your results and with the information requested above.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

I’m sure we can fix you up, there are plenty of people running LOTRO in Crossover on M1 and M2 Mac Minis.

I assume you are using MacOS Ventura 13.3.1, Crossover 22.1.1, LOTRO installed in a Windows 10 64-bit bottle with DXVK enabled and all other “bottle options” disabled. It would be helpful to know the amount of RAM you have and the size of your internal SSD as well as any other information which might be pertinent such as how many monitors you are using and at what resolution you run the monitor on which you are attempting to run LOTRO.

I am also assuming that when you say, “my LoTRO launcher is still crashing” that you mean the client is not running after you enter your credentials and click PLAY and the LOTRO Launcher application closes itself to get out of the way of the client application. If the LOTRO Launcher application is crashing, that will involve completely different troubleshooting steps (and is also very unlikely).

So if all my assumptions are true, try this:
1- Go to ~/Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/UserPreferences.ini and open the UserPreferences.ini file with TextEdit.
2- Look for each of these lines. If they exist, edit them as necessary to match exactly. If they don’t exist, add them.

Code:

---

GameClientType=3
ScreenMode=FullScreenWindowed
GraphicsCore=D3D9

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3- SAVE your changes, CLOSE the window, QUIT out of TextEdit.
4- If you use more than one monitor, unplug all except one.
5- Attempt to launch the LOTRO Launcher application, enter your credentials, click PLAY. The LOTRO Launcher application should then close itself and the LOTRO client application should begin to run, eventually depositing you on the character creation/selection screen.
6- During Step 5, if you are asked if you want to use DirectX 10 or DirectX 11, say NO.
7- Report back here with your results and with the information requested above.

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THANK YOU!!! That worked!
To answer your questions I have 16 GB of RAM and I have 500 GB of storage and only use 1 monitor (the Apple Studio monitor)
Do I leave the settings as they are? or change them back to DirectX11?
Also, when there is an update or another expansion to buy, do I just download them through the website as I have done previously or do I need to download them through Crossover, if that is even possible?
Thank you again for you incredibly rapid and effective help!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mythrandir

THANK YOU!!! That worked!
To answer your questions I have 16 GB of RAM and I have 500 GB of storage and only use 1 monitor (the Apple Studio monitor)
Do I leave the settings as they are? or change them back to DirectX11?
Also, when there is an update or another expansion to buy, do I just download them through the website as I have done previously or do I need to download them through Crossover, if that is even possible?
Thank you again for you incredibly rapid and effective help!!!!

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Nothing makes me happier than for a player to get back into the game. Except getting into the game without having trouble in the first place!

You can try switching to DirectX 11. If it doesn’t work just quit (restart your Mac if you can’t or don’t know how to quit due to a problem) then edit the UserPreferences.ini file to return to DirectX 9. DirectX 11 is better, but it isn’t compatible with some Mac hardware. It seems really random, I haven’t found a pattern to it, it affects both Intel and Apple SOC Macs.

As for buying stuff for LOTRO, pretend Crossover isn’t there. Use the LOTRO.com website for cash purchases (using whatever browser you like, they all work, I use Safari unless I’m testing something), use the in-game store for purchases with LOTRO Points and for purchasing LOTRO Points and VIP subscriptions. In the case of expansions, note that there is nothing to download: You buy ACCESS to the expansion content, whether you own it or not it’s already part of the game installed on your Mac inside of your Crossover bottle.

You are a gentleman and a scholar, thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tralfazz

Nothing makes me happier than for a player to get back into the game. Except getting into the game without having trouble in the first place!

You can try switching to DirectX 11. If it doesn’t work just quit (restart your Mac if you can’t or don’t know how to quit due to a problem) then edit the UserPreferences.ini file to return to DirectX 9. DirectX 11 is better, but it isn’t compatible with some Mac hardware. It seems really random, I haven’t found a pattern to it, it affects both Intel and Apple SOC Macs.

As for buying stuff for LOTRO, pretend Crossover isn’t there. Use the LOTRO.com website for cash purchases (using whatever browser you like, they all work, I use Safari unless I’m testing something), use the in-game store for purchases with LOTRO Points and for purchasing LOTRO Points and VIP subscriptions. In the case of expansions, note that there is nothing to download: You buy ACCESS to the expansion content, whether you own it or not it’s already part of the game installed on your Mac inside of your Crossover bottle.

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Tralfazz, Switching to DirectX 11 worked!!!
One more question. I use Plugin Compendium, how do I install that with Crossover? When I download the software and hit the setup file it takes me to a Star Wars file in Crossover. Please help. Thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mythrandir

I use Plugin Compendium, how do I install that with Crossover? When I download the software and hit the setup file it takes me to a Star Wars file in Crossover.

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I do not use Plugin Compendium. However, the key to getting any pair of applications to work together in Crossover is to install them both into the same bottle. Normally you want every Windows application to be installed into its own bottle; this is one of the exceptions to that rule. So be sure that Plugin Compendium is installed in the same bottle as LOTRO. If not, delete the other bottle then install Plugin Compendium into your LOTRO bottle.

I have no idea why the Plugin Compendium application would run a Star Wars file.

There are fellow LOTRO forum users successfully running the Windows version of the Plugin Compendium application in Crossover, perhaps one of them will be able to help you.

There is a Java version of the Plugin Compendium which runs natively in MacOS. Well, it runs in Java which is a virtual machine – but outside of Crossover, anyway. It works, people are using it today. Here is the link:
https://www.lotrointerface.com/downl...mMacLinux.html
You will need to install Java first:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/ja...s-2133155.html

edit: Had to remove the direct download links for Java. You'll need to go to the page I linked and choose the MacOS tab then download the jdk-8u371-macosx-x64.dmg file.