Welcome to Middle-Earth! - Please Read This First! (Updated)

[Mirthgar]

Hi Folks,

Welcome to Middle-Earth and The Lord of the Rings Online!
So I wanted to make a consolidated sticky with some general info, common questions, common issues etc and with various helpful links so here we go!

First off are some of the links you might need right away:

(Note there is also now an index of some additional useful links at the bottom of this post, quick jump here.)

"My Account Page": https://myaccount.turbine.com
This is where you can go to review and make changes to your Turbine account.
(Haven't made a Turbine account yet or need info on how to do so? Here you go!)

Some notes and common questions about your "Turbine" account, and your Forums account:

- "When I signed up it said I would receive an email with the details but I haven't yet."
When you first sign up to make an account you are emailed the details including your "Product Key" (which was applied to your account automatically when you signed up) and it does this so you have this information for your records. So after you have signed up be sure to log into your email providers "web" interface to look in your Spam, Junk or Bulk Mail folders just in case. You should also add "noreply@turbine.com" and "customersupport@turbine.c om" to their "Safe Senders" list and your contacts list or address book to keep other emails from being flagged this way. (Review the section below regarding installing the game for some more information about "Product keys" as well)

- "I signed up but I've forgotten my username or my password."
On the "My Account" page are now two links for this: "Forgotten Your Password?" and "Forgotten Your Username?" for info on either case click one of those links.

- "I signed up but I can't access or post on the forums."
For help with that see here

- "I need some general information about the game account types, my account or my account type?"
Take a look at the link here as there is a very good guide to the differences between "Free" "Premium" and "VIP" accounts.

- "What are the rules and regulations?"
The "Terms of Service" "Code of Conduct" and "Privacy Policy" can all be reviewed here via the links at the bottom of the page and there is a Community CoC available here.

Okay that's the basics of getting started, now how about installing the game:

- "Where can I download the game install?"
The game can be installed via the downloads on the page here

- "What is the difference between the 'Standard' and 'Hi-res' options?"
The "Standard" res (or "Resolution") version of the game install has smaller lower resolution textures optimized for PC's with 256MB or less of graphics card memory. For graphics cards that have greater than 256MB of on-board memory (ie. not "shared" system ram) the hi-res can be used instead.

- "What are the system requirements for the game?"
See here

- "What is this 'Pando Media Booster' thing?"
The games installation files are very large, so a download manager known as "Pando Media Booster" is used. Please see the Pando Media Booster mini-FAQ here

- "I can't install the game!"

There are several causes of not being able to perform the installation, the two more common are:

• You need to be logged into Windows (XP) as a "Computer Administrator" which means your Windows XP user account needs to be an admin, (not "Owner" or "Limited") "How to check user profiles on XP" (Is your XP user account not listed as a "Computer Administrator"? Try the steps here just be sure to choose "Computer Administrator" when you get to the step to choose the "Account Type")
• If you are on Windows Vista or Windows 7 you need to have "User Account Control" (UAC) active. Both the game and the install downloader (Pando Media Booster) need UAC to be able to get administrator rights to install, copy/modify download and/or remove files etc. and as such they make use of UAC's controls. "Getting Started with UAC on Vista" and "How to Turn User Account Control on or Off" (Win 7)

- "Are there any 'requirements' to be able to run or install the game other than the system requirements?"
Actually yes there are some "pre-requisite" applications you need to have before the game can run/install. Some of them are installed by the launcher automatically though.

• First is "Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1" and after that the "Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack" (There's a very handy thread here as well that can help with installing 1.1 and its service pack)
• Second is "DirectX 9" (This one the launcher downloads and installs automatically)
• Note for Vista/Windows 7 users: even though you have later versions of DirectX (10/10.1 or 11) you still need the DX9 files. (These operating systems sometimes might give an error installing this see this KB article here if you get an error, XP users if you get this error see my info above about how you need to have a "Computer Administrator" XP user account.)
• Third is "Microsoft C++ 2005" (Again this one is downloaded and installed automatically, and Vista/Win 7 users might run into this error)
• Lastly, the game uses Internet Explorer's system-wide connection settings, so while Internet Explorer does not need to be your default browser it does need to be installed and able to reach the internet otherwise the game will not be able to connect as well. (See this post for more info)

- "If I'm reinstalling the game, or I want to install the game onto another computer, do I need another "account" or a new 'Product Key'?"
No, you can install the game (or re-install it) onto any PC you want to be able to play from. The options to create an account or submit a product key during the install are just there for folks who downloaded the game without doing those steps first. If you've already done so there's no need to repeat them, the installation will carry on if you skip those options.

- "Can I have a second account or a second subscription on my account to log into and play from?"
Yes if you want you can, however remember that you can only run the game once on one computer so if you want to play both accounts simultaneously you need to have a second PC.

Some information regarding technical issues you may encounter and helpful info:

- "Okay so what do I do if I have a technical issue Mr. Smarty Pants!?"
Well below I'm going to link some of the more commonly used technical support forums "sticky" threads and knowledgebase (KB) articles. For the most part they should help detail causes of the more common issues and help you get it fixed quick!

• First there's the Common Technical Issues sticky, This includes basic troubleshooting steps that in most cases will help to narrow down or even eliminate the issue.
• Second there's the "Network Troubleshooting" and the "Troubleshooting Connection Issues" stickies that come in very very handy if you're having any issues with connecting to or staying connected to the game and detail some of the causes and troubleshooting steps you can take to eliminate them or at least limit their effect on your game-play.
• For configuring Windows Firewall see the KB article here.
• For a list of known software/hardware conflicts see the thread here: "Hardware/Software Compatibility Alerts". This can come in handy if you're not able to pin-down an exact cause. I do try to update this one with info when we periodically come across some known conflicts.
• There is a very good thread here for classifying what the different terms and descriptions for crashing are all about, and there is also a good post as to why the "Microsoft Crash Report" with its "Send to Microsoft" option is very very helpful to send.
• Lastly for creating a new technical support thread to request help from your fellow players (see my signature for more info) go here and use the "New Thread" button.

- "Are the servers down?"
To start check the "Service Updates" thread here to make sure there isn't a reported update or downtime occurring (remember all times displayed are in Eastern Standard Time) and if there are no reported downtimes, take a search through the forums for others reporting issues, and lastly if you cannot resolve it via the links in the section above follow up with Tech Support (details on doing that are in the "direct support" section below).

- "I think I've found a bug, what can I do?"
There is a "Report a Bug" option in-game.In most cases you will not receive a reply to a bug report, but these bring the issue to the attention of our engineering and quality teams though. If you're not sure if the issue is a bug or not be sure to check any listed "Known Issues" listed here.

- I have a suggestion for a feature, quest, item etc. where can I tell you about it?
Unlike the "Suggestion Box" that's overflowing because no-one ever reads them, we do actually read our Suggestions. Post about yours on the forums here. Our developers and engineering teams might not reply in there much and they certainly don't use every suggestion but they do review them quite often (they have to, else we tie them to their chairs with taped-open eyes!).

Some final information and contact info:

- "Okay none of the above helped, now what?"
I cannot recommend this more, searching in the Forums and the Knowledgebase are still your best first option for an issue. If you cannot find anything to help you there try posting in the appropriate forums topic here using the "New Thread" button in the upper-left when you're in the correct section.

- "How the heck do I get direct support?!"
The forums are best for player-to-player help (Moderators do reply when they can but cannot always reply to every post) so for official support go here and click the appropriate topic for the type of issue you are having (ie. if you need help with your account, subscriptions or billing info choose "Account Support" for technical issues click "Technical Support", for issues with the forums, or "MyLotro.com" click "Forums Support").

My signature at the bottom of this post has some additional useful links and information as well.



Again Welcome to Middle-Earth and we'll see you in-game!

[Mirthgar]

I've complied a list of some useful links to add to the above. Some may be repeats but I've tried to filter those out, on to the index:

The Main Forums
The Customer Support Forums
Technical Assistance Forums
Account Support Forums
German Language Forums
French Language Forums

Knowledge Base & Support Portal (EN)
Knowledge Base & Support Portal (FR)
Knowledge Base & Support Portal (DE)