Regarding "Log In and Patching Issues: Friday, May 3rd" announcement

[Roland_Deschain]

Given the solutions posted in the announcement, it seems to imply that the problem is only on windoze. Or does it also affect OS X?

[maartena]

Given the solutions posted in the announcement, it seems to imply that the problem is only on windoze. Or does it also affect OS X?

DNS issues affect all operating systems, it doesn't matter what OS.

[Roland_Deschain]

Yes, I realize that about DNS. I was just pointing out that SSG has again ignored Mac users.

[Lord.Funk]

Edit: Ignore what was written here before about one of the links, as it has now been corrected.

[Roland_Deschain]

In any case, I did not experience the issue on May 2 nor just now when I logged on just fine on Gladden.

[Androhir]

Strange.. Besides of the verry slow downlowading of the loading screens it is working at me.
I could sucessfull login to char select without any changes.

Windows 10 pro 1903 Insider preview.(safe branch)

[Beia]

Oh I can login but cant get my character screen to come up.... Started to day. Get a black screen before character select screen.... Anyone else having this issue ... By the way the links don't work.

[Meenadrai]

I am still having the same issue with the black screen after the SSG logo. I tried the re-download solution Cordovan posted but it gives me a "there was an error generating the hash code for a patch file" when it goes to download the patches. I have removed the old version of lotro, though I still have it on my external drive just in case, but the new download is on my C drive so shouldn't be conflicting. Any other ideas?

[Ballie]

I still have my original codemasters install folder. Copied it on to a SSD and it's still working. By the sound on today's stream it must be a minor miracle.

[Elemiire]

None of the solutions have worked for me so far. I log in, but can't get to the character selection. I just see a black screen and task manager shows that the program isn't responding.

[Lord.Funk]

I still have my original codemasters install folder. Copied it on to a SSD and it's still working. By the sound on today's stream it must be a minor miracle.

I did too for a long time on the old Vista PC. Some links had been changed so it worked with Turbine. I remember doing that back in the days. Eventually I had to re-install it with a newer one though. I might still have it on the old XP machine that I don't even have hooked up to internet. Although there the game haven't been updated for years, so it would definetly not work in any case. I rarely even have that machine switched on. On Windows 7 machines the installs are much newer ones, but not the latest install maybe. I will see what happens with the new LoTRO update next week if we then will have to re-install again on our machines. As of now we can play with the ones we have.

[Lord.Funk]

None of the solutions have worked for me so far. I log in, but can't get to the character selection. I just see a black screen and task manager shows that the program isn't responding.

Could it be a firewall or anti-virus software issue, if not the ISP DNS issue I mean ??? If anything changes on my PC within the game directory, my firewall both hardware and software must be set to allow the LoTRO client or I can not proceed either. Even after every update as it changes the hash/size of some files and then the anti-virus software want a confirmation that I am Ok with the "new" or altered file with the "new" size. I even had to allow LoTRO to alter things in my directory where it saves screenshots, or it would not work as my anti-virus software blocked that.

Might not be Your issue at all, but still worth to try to at least exclude. Some anti-virus are easy and a pop-up comes up and You just chose to allow. Others are more of a pain and You need to go into the settings of the anti-virus and manually find the files to allow.

[Ballie]

I did too for a long time on the old Vista PC. Some links had been changed so it worked with Turbine. I remember doing that back in the days. Eventually I had to re-install it with a newer one though. I might still have it on the old XP machine that I don't even have hooked up to internet. Although there the game haven't been updated for years, so it would definetly not work in any case. I rarely even have that machine switched on. On Windows 7 machines the installs are much newer ones, but not the latest install maybe. I will see what happens with the new LoTRO update next week if we then will have to re-install again on our machines. As of now we can play with the ones we have.

2009 install, showing the age of the Hard Disk I used to run it from. It always seemed to be a waste having a top range rig under utilised. Maybe the 64-bit will make it worth a new rig.

[JH15547]

Could it be a firewall or anti-virus software issue, if not the ISP DNS issue I mean ??? If anything changes on my PC within the game directory, my firewall both hardware and software must be set to allow the LoTRO client or I can not proceed either. Even after every update as it changes the hash/size of some files and then the anti-virus software want a confirmation that I am Ok with the "new" or altered file with the "new" size. I even had to allow LoTRO to alter things in my directory where it saves screenshots, or it would not work as my anti-virus software blocked that.

Might not be Your issue at all, but still worth to try to at least exclude. Some anti-virus are easy and a pop-up comes up and You just chose to allow. Others are more of a pain and You need to go into the settings of the anti-virus and manually find the files to allow.

Having same "black screen" after SSG logo and before character selection. Have re-installed, and greenlighted LOTRO client in firewall settings.

[Elemiire]

Could it be a firewall or anti-virus software issue, if not the ISP DNS issue I mean ??? If anything changes on my PC within the game directory, my firewall both hardware and software must be set to allow the LoTRO client or I can not proceed either. Even after every update as it changes the hash/size of some files and then the anti-virus software want a confirmation that I am Ok with the "new" or altered file with the "new" size. I even had to allow LoTRO to alter things in my directory where it saves screenshots, or it would not work as my anti-virus software blocked that.

Might not be Your issue at all, but still worth to try to at least exclude. Some anti-virus are easy and a pop-up comes up and You just chose to allow. Others are more of a pain and You need to go into the settings of the anti-virus and manually find the files to allow.

Nah. I tried that. Still getting the black screen and program not responding. I'm out of my depth here.

[Lord.Funk]

Having same "black screen" after SSG logo and before character selection. Have re-installed, and greenlighted LOTRO client in firewall settings.

Nah. I tried that. Still getting the black screen and program not responding. I'm out of my depth here.

Well in a way a good thing, as at least then that is excluded. One thing less to troubleshoot.

It's good to start with the most easy things to test. Both because often they can acctually be so simple that we overlook them, but also as they are easy and fast to test and at least exclude.

Still with so many things that has been happening these last 2 days, it is hard to give any advice really. It could be that some started getting downloads, although they already had an install and that broke and corrupted their existing install. It could be the DNS thing. That some ISP's haven't updated their DNS, which sounds a bit far fetched after like 24 hrs. It could be that the user needs to flush their DNS, shut down their modem/router and restart it and then it will work. It could be old installs still looking for Akamai when booting up etc etc etc. It is even harder as SSG haven't acctually said or confirmed what acctually happened other than "server issues" and "DNS issues". Some theorised that SSG forgot to renew the old Turbine domains that were still in use and that screwed things up etc. I do not know and do not want to speculate on that. Some have fixed it by deleting their CEF directory in the User\My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online directory, NOT in the LoTRO directory on the C Drive in the Programs (x86) directory (or whatever drive You have it installed on). It might be that some have old paths from old installs like Turbine. Some run Steam installs etc. Various O/S ranging from XP, Vista, Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10 to Mac O/S, or Linux.

It is definetly time for one new installer that unifies everyones installs into being more or less the same (other than that mac and linux of course has to have their own installers). An installer that includes for example DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer, so people stop getting Direc X 10 and 11 errors and have to install that manually. Especially as Microsoft is starting to delete alot of their files in an attempt to force everyone to only use Windows 10 and newer things. Soon that might not even be available to d/l from Mircosoft anymore, then what ??? An installer that works for both Windows 7, 8.1 and windows 10 at least, as far as if using Windows as O/S goes I mean. As it is now even what Windows version You use can cause different errors, like the Direct X 10 and 11 errors on Fresh Windows 10 installs for example.

It should have been easy in one update to have removed any traces of the client looking for Akamai on boot-up for example without having to re-install the whole game again.

I am sorry that I can not come with more advice than that, as it is now I feel that it is a big risk to break even more stuff coming with any advice. It could be that we use some work-around then SSG realize that they did miss something in the fix and add that and then the work-around ends up breaking things instead. I'm at a loss atm as to what is causing peoples problems, as the problems seem to vary a bit, but ultimately lead to that they can not play. Which su x.

I will of course try to give advice if any more ideas pop up in my head. Hopefully others more tech savvy than me can come with solutions for You guys. Specially those that have English as main langugae, because it is really hard to use all the correct technical terms in a foreign language. I can attest to that.

Atm I have an Error message myself as I boot-up the client, but I can still get in and play.

As You can see in this post, link: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...77#post7931977

I have even tested switching accounts and characters and it all seems to work for me at least...so far... Not much comfort to You guys though, I'm sorry to say.

However that error meassage was not their prior to yesterday, so something has changed for sure. I have not gotten any new files or updates, so still some link/server or something that SSG is now linking to is changed somewhere.

It would not surprie me that with the next patch, next week, I will start having problems and my game will not update properly due to that issue/error. I have to wait and see myself. Atm I'm afraid to d/l a new install as the current install is at least working even with that "failed" text.

[fergucs]

Was working fine yesterday before lotro made DNS fixes.

Yesterday I used OpenDNS DNS numbers to get in. It worked ok once today then not later. Didn't work today.

Renamed "The Lord of the Rings Online" folder to something else, re-launched client an it works fine now. I'm back in game. No idea if this is permanent fix or what the issue was.

Windows 7 ,64 bit, AT&T U-verse

[Elemiire]

Okay, after trying all the quick solutions, I did a clean reinstall, but then I got an error when patching.

So I went to Options on the launcher and selected Repair Game Data. That did it for me.

However, the same solution isn't working on my husband's computer. The game launcher show "Game Error 201: Can't Open the Data Files..."

[Lord.Funk]

Okay, after trying all the quick solutions, I did a clean reinstall, but then I got an error when patching.

So I went to Options on the launcher and selected Repair Game Data. That did it for me.

However, the same solution isn't working on my husband's computer. The game launcher show "Game Error 201: Can't Open the Data Files..."

I'm glad You at least got it to work on one PC now. About the "Game Error 201: Can't Open the Data Files...", there is acctually a help article about that specific problem.

Link: https://help.standingstonegames.com/...-now-exit-201-

I hope that helps.

However I still wonder why people get that problem now, whom have been able to install the game in the past without it, on the same PC ??? It just gets weirder and weirder in my opinion.

I have a friend who's struggling with this too last I checked with her on Discord. She has restarted the download and reinstall all over again after the first attempt did not work at all. She has played LoTRO for years without any of these issues. She could not get in with her old install. Then after first attempt at a fresh d/l and reinstall she too got the 201 Error, and other errors while downloading and patching etc. It's all like a big mess atm for some, or possibly many. I wonder how many will just give up, or already have ???

[Artegall]

I've been getting the black screen after the Standing Stone logo since yesterday morning, so I tried the client reinstall and got the patching error. Then I tried doing the data repair from the launcher options and got the 201 error. I've been playing since 2007, mostly as VIP, and this is the biggest mess I've seen so far. If it isn't cleared up by tomorrow I'm probably going to cancel again, this time for good.

[Elemiire]

I've been getting the black screen after the Standing Stone logo since yesterday morning, so I tried the client reinstall and got the patching error. Then I tried doing the data repair from the launcher options and got the 201 error. I've been playing since 2007, mostly as VIP, and this is the biggest mess I've seen so far. If it isn't cleared up by tomorrow I'm probably going to cancel again, this time for good.

Did you already do all the other things like disabling antivirus and whitelisting through firewall, etc?

[Artegall]

It's probably too late for that since the client reinstall said it was wiping out the DAT files to replace them with new ones, and then it failed to complete. The game was working fine until yesterday morning so I doubt there are any firewall problems.

[Artegall]

Interesting . . . I just tried again and now it's downloading 25,915 megabytes of files. Got my fingers crossed.

Oops, I spoke too soon, it hung and now it won't start downloading again, I'm getting a couple of different error messages. Looks like a sinking ship to me.

[Kachina777]

This has been an issue for me for a few days now. I was on Wednesday night fine, come Thursday and today I am getting the black screen after the Standing Stone Logo. I am not sure if I like the idea of not being able to contact someone for support in a matter like this. This is not my computer as I have tried my other computer also, same thing. I had flushed out my dns cache and that doesn't help. I have been reading all kinds of advisement but I do not like playing around with files on my hard drive and I don't think this is my problem to solve. If a lot of us are having the same problem this stems from something Standing Stone did that created this. I hope that they quickly fix this problem for us who are experiencing this nightmare. Is there a resolution?

[culhwch1066]

Was working fine until Friday evening, then my screen was black after the Standing Stone logo. Tried the reinstall, but now getting "error while generating hash code" This was on my desktop. Launched the game on my laptop, and got the same hash code error. I haven't tried reinstalling on my laptop. Not sure if this will help anyone figure out what's going on, but here's the error in the log file.


000000005.817: Hash of D:\Program Files (x86)\StandingStoneGames\The Lord of the Rings Online\forward/ProjectVersion did not match the patch list. GetFileHash returned F44C582113D03D3C619BEDEE74B8EC 2C, but hashvalue is DEBFC333229C1C031AE90BBC508AF0 E1. Downloaded from 1904260448/allwin32/ProjectVersion.
000000005.817: Could not download url <1904260448/allwin32/ProjectVersion> to file <D:\Program Files (x86)\StandingStoneGames\The Lord of the Rings Online\forward/ProjectVersion>: error 0x8004f003
000000005.817: Failed to patch, error 0x8004f003
000000005.910: Queueing download of <http://download.lotro.akamai.turbine. com/lotro/patch/1904260449/allwin32/locales/de.pak> to <D:\Program Files (x86)\StandingStoneGames\The Lord of the Rings Online\forward/locales/de.pak>
000000005.910: File patching failed with error 0x8004f003