Pressing PLAY - game does not launch in Windows 11 (launcher itself is fine) Fresh OS and game install)

[alwaysbroke]

Some more progress @Ranebow. I installed Windows Home N. Initially the launch still crashes without showing any message. Then using above method it reveals, just like you experienced, it says "...ResampleDmo.DLL was not found.". Just like you suggested, I installed the Media Feature Pack. The game now works in 64-bit. I didn't even need to run the directx web installer (dxwebsetup).

Everything is the same version wise. So the steps I've needed to run the game are:

Windows 11 Pro/Home
After installing the game you will still be missing d3dx9_42.dll. Running the latest dxwebsetup installs the file.

Windows 11 N Editions
The game requires the features from Media Feature Pack. After install, reboot, and no further steps are required.

At least some of the problems can be fixed in the launcher. In the log file there's a line:

NeedDirectXSetup : Need DirectX setup? false

which if working properly would be true prompting the automatic run of dxwebsetup during install.

Throughout all this I've been using the defaults (for location and options). I notice @Ranebow you've used non-default locations. This might be a good thing to avoid. You would definitely need to force run-as admin. The game installs system wide even when installed to a user accessible location.

[Laura_of_Dor-lomin]

Thank you for your time
All the above was tired and highlighted in the original post

Ah, apologies. Though, the June 2010 DirectX Redistributable I suggested trying isn't mentioned in the OP, but just in your post yesterday. Though I did indeed miss that entire post (it might have been posted between when I read the thread, thought about it a bit, then came back to post without first checking for anything new).

I've got some time on my hands and might try Windows N on a spare rig, just for the fun of it. (Edit: Looks like alwaysbroke has beat me to it)

Glad you got 32-bit working in the meantime, at least.

[Ranebow]

Hello both

Thank you for your time again ; and excuse the late reply

@Alwaysbroke

I am not sure what to do now. When the Media pack was installed, that allowed to be able to install DirectX in both forms (web setup/offline installer) which was the original cause of the launch symptoms

Good to hear you got it done simply with media feature install and maybe if nothing else this thread will help others

It's difficult that the launcher log doesn't show hand over errors with the client - meaning it doesn't take ownership until the client actually launches. Otherwise we could see the error there
Which would be helpful given the client isn't producing any logs for itself

To your point about leaving default locations for install, I tried Steam version and it went to default path, so no go there

@Laura
That would be kind, always good to have another set of eyes

[alwaysbroke]

Still having trouble running x64... Okay maybe it's the prerequisites. The game requires a number of Visual C++ libraries. It looks like you've already installed them, but we can try reinstalling them.

Open "Apps and Features", and scroll to the area "Microsoft Visual C++ ...". There should be a total of six:

- Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64) <-- this one may be listed without the (x64) due to wrong version
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x64) <-- outdated
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x86) <-- outdated

Uninstall all of them. Click the three dots far right, choose uninstall. After uninstalling all six of them, reboot. After reboot download the prerequisites directly from Microsoft. Some of these are named the same, so you'll want to download each set (x86 and x64), then install them before proceeding to the next set.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347
After clicking download, choose both the x86 and x64 installers. Install them both before proceeding.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999
After clicking download, choose both the x86 and x64 installers. Install them both before proceeding.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable
(x86): https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
(x64): https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe
Download both, install both.

After reinstalling the prerequisites, some will have been upgraded from the version included with LOTRO. The updated versions are still 100% compatible.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable x86: version 8.0.61001
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable x64: version 8.0.61000 <- upgraded from 8.0.56336
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable x64: version 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable x86: version 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable x64: version 14.32.31332.0 <- upgraded from 14.26.28720.3
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable x86: version 14.32.31332.0 <- upgraded from 14.26.28720.3

Relaunch the game and it will confirm the prerequisites exist. It might "process" a few again. Change client to 64-bit then see if it works.

[Ranebow]

Still having trouble running x64... Okay maybe it's the prerequisites. The game requires a number of Visual C++ libraries. It looks like you've already installed them, but we can try reinstalling them.

Open "Apps and Features", and scroll to the area "Microsoft Visual C++ ...". There should be a total of six:

- Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64) <-- this one may be listed without the (x64) due to wrong version
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x64) <-- outdated
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x86) <-- outdated

Uninstall all of them. Click the three dots far right, choose uninstall. After uninstalling all six of them, reboot. After reboot download the prerequisites directly from Microsoft. Some of these are named the same, so you'll want to download each set (x86 and x64), then install them before proceeding to the next set.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347
After clicking download, choose both the x86 and x64 installers. Install them both before proceeding.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999
After clicking download, choose both the x86 and x64 installers. Install them both before proceeding.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable
(x86): https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
(x64): https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe
Download both, install both.

After reinstalling the prerequisites, some will have been upgraded from the version included with LOTRO. The updated versions are still 100% compatible.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable x86: version 8.0.61001
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable x64: version 8.0.61000 <- upgraded from 8.0.56336
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable x64: version 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable x86: version 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable x64: version 14.32.31332.0 <- upgraded from 14.26.28720.3
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable x86: version 14.32.31332.0 <- upgraded from 14.26.28720.3

Relaunch the game and it will confirm the prerequisites exist. It might "process" a few again. Change client to 64-bit then see if it works.

Something to note is that prior I had let the game do it's thing initially, and then obtained the most recent consolidated pack for VC
Which results in the following

[alwaysbroke]

If you try to launch the 64bit client in an elevated command prompt, does it give you any errors? Try opening Event Viewer>Custom Views>Administrative Events, then launching the 64bit client. Did you get any new events in event viewer?

If, as your testing has indicated, virtual machines work, but the host doesn't, then your only other option is to reinstall/reset windows. However, all virtual machines have a hypervisor which is detectable, and will likely be banned. So don't rely on the virtual machine for long term LOTRO.

[Ranebow]

If you try to launch the 64bit client in an elevated command prompt, does it give you any errors? Try opening Event Viewer>Custom Views>Administrative Events, then launching the 64bit client. Did you get any new events in event viewer?

If, as your testing has indicated, virtual machines work, but the host doesn't, then your only other option is to reinstall/reset windows. However, all virtual machines have a hypervisor which is detectable, and will likely be banned. So don't rely on the virtual machine for long term LOTRO.

Aye, tried the client elevated - what happens is the launcher shows the word "Initializing" in white text where the login boxes were a moment before.
It then prompts you to browse to a client file in Explorer. When you choose it, it then gives that error from prior about Failing to Start Client
This is not mine though example from the previous gentlemen, however that's what it looks like




And it doesn't produce a client log, presumably a the client never launched
I went and rand the 32 bit again and checked the client log, thought maybe I could glean something - anything even under 32bit and I saw this at it's end

000000000.000: Initializing display with title 'The Lord of the Rings Online™'...
000000000.000: Device_WIN32::Init: called.
000000000.000: Device_WIN32::InitDEVICE| Detected operating system: Windows 7
000000000.000: DEVICE| Starting up the graphics engine...
000000000.000: Initializing the smartbox...
000000000.000: Initializing the user interface...
000000000.000: Client ready
000000000.000: gmClient::AttachMembers Current locale set to English_United States.1252
000000000.000: gmClient::AttachMembers Client ready
000000011.437: Device_WIN32::Cleanup: called.



So it thinks it's Windows 7 get none of the client files or the launcher are set for compatibility mode

[Tralfazz]

Ranebow, as I asked earlier: Is there any reason why you can't install the standard version of Windows 11 rather than the "N" version? If you don't have any special reason, it is very likely that the standard edition of Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro will include whatever is missing. Based on that error message window, there is something missing in the Windows environment which is preventing the 64-bit client from running. You might be able to track down whatever that is – doing so might be very satisfying to accomplish, but it has already been and might continue to be time-consuming; and there is no guarantee of success. There is no guarantee of success if you take the route of installing a non-N version of Windows 11, either, but it should at least put you on the same playing field as anyone else attempting to run LOTRO in Windows 11 and remove some variables which are proving difficult to control for.

[alwaysbroke]

000000000.000: Initializing display with title 'The Lord of the Rings Online™'...
000000000.000: Device_WIN32::Init: called.
000000000.000: Device_WIN32::InitDEVICE| Detected operating system: Windows 7
000000000.000: DEVICE| Starting up the graphics engine...
000000000.000: Initializing the smartbox...
000000000.000: Initializing the user interface...
000000000.000: Client ready
000000000.000: gmClient::AttachMembers Current locale set to English_United States.1252
000000000.000: gmClient::AttachMembers Client ready
000000011.437: Device_WIN32::Cleanup: called.

You can ignore that part. Every Windows install has that same line (Windows 10 and 11 Pro/Home/N). WIN32 is an esoteric reference to the Windows API which is being accessed in a Windows 7 compatible way. It's not the cause of your issue.

If that's the only error we have to work with, you might as well submit a ticket with the message. It has to be something particular about your system so a reset seems to be in order.

[Ranebow]

Ranebow, as I asked earlier: Is there any reason why you can't install the standard version of Windows 11 rather than the "N" version? If you don't have any special reason, it is very likely that the standard edition of Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro will include whatever is missing. Based on that error message window, there is something missing in the Windows environment which is preventing the 64-bit client from running. You might be able to track down whatever that is – doing so might be very satisfying to accomplish, but it has already been and might continue to be time-consuming; and there is no guarantee of success. There is no guarantee of success if you take the route of installing a non-N version of Windows 11, either, but it should at least put you on the same playing field as anyone else attempting to run LOTRO in Windows 11 and remove some variables which are proving difficult to control for.

I'd prefer not to start again for one game. Also who doesn't like a challenge!
Though your thoughts dually noted


@Alwaysbroke Ok will disregard

[Rochonfuin]

Dear friends, I had that troubles, this is how I solved it. I use a fresh new LOTRO installation in a MSI gaming Laptop where i installed Windows 11 Professional. Although I could play in a very low resolution (the "as is" result or default configuration after game installation) and with unproportional horizontal and vertical image size, I asked the game to selfadjust to optimal specs (in Options), and then it crashed inmediately showing me error windows (105 and 128 errors) related to DirectX. I even installed DirectX 9.0c runtime library but that made no improvement. Windows 11 Professional comes with DirectX 11. This is how I fixed it:

1) close your LOTRO game and its related error message windows.
2) go to your \Documents\The Lord of The Rings Online\ folder with you file explorer.
3) there you will find the file UserPreferences.Ini (or UserPreferences if you keep your file extensions hidden); edit that file with your Notepad editor.
4) find the DisplayAdapter parameter into that file and just change the 0 (zero, not O vowel) value to a 1, and then save the file. Do no more changes there.
5) run LOTRO again (I always run the launcher as administrator); after launching it, it will appear a window telling you that DirectX 11 (although the one that belongs to Windows 11 is DirectX12) has been detected and asking you permission to use it. Accept DirectX11, use it, of course.
6) the game should start and work properly. if you want to try another screen resolution, once into the character menu, go to Options, Graphics, and adjust the video resolution you like and fits your screen best.
7) in case my advise is no use, quit the game and assign the DisplayAdapter value to 0 again and save the file, and ask for more help, I cannot be of more help than this. Good luck.

[wilfrido]

I have now tried over Steam version, same issue


I've done a VM of Windows 11 using Home N and like with my current arrangement on the main machine, the same issue was present - no launching
I then tried to install Direct X (web setup and or end user run time package) and the same failure occurred as on my main device - DirectX could only go about half way then it would error out

I reinstalled on VM as Windows 11 Home, and the DXwebsetup completed without error
Lotro launched fine

I've tried to find a manifest of what all the Direct X installs - the best I could come up with was the DirectX log file in C:\Windows. It seems to cover four areas D3D/X files (included D3DComplier), XACTengine, Xinput, Xaudio. I moved all the files that had that nomenclature to my main machine. Some were overwrites, some were new - meaning main machine was missing them and some could not be replaced (three in total) as they system is using them. That said they are newer versions anyways therefore may not be relevant

Despite this, Lotro still does not run.
I am confident that there's more files that are included with Direct X installer

Should either of you or anyone be able to advise or share a list of all the files that are installed, or at least confirm that what is shown in the DirectX log is the full listing - that would be kind



@Alwaysbroke which Windows 11 did you install? presumably not an N version?
If you did or do an N version can you run the DXwebsetup. Does it get near end then give an error about an internal system error?

Hi,

I installed windows 11 N version and had the same experience as you. I tried installing Windows Media Feature but it was not an available option in my listing of optional apps. Here’s what worked for me:

• at the lotro launcher go to options. select high resolution version
• select 32 version, 64 was crashing for me and had that “direct x 9” error
• press ok
• log in

Once in the game, i went to graphics options and selected direct x 11. Restarted and I am now running lotro on ultra, 8x anti-aliasing at 90-110 fps. — using 32.

Hope this helps.

[Tralfazz]

• select 32 version, 64 was crashing for me and had that “direct x 9” error

While it's great that you're able to play the game now, be aware that you are probably going to need to get the 64-bit client working by 01 Jan 2023. The r33 release notes state that the 32-bit client will be fully deprecated on 01 Jan 2023. So you should be OK for the rest of this calendar year, and it's possible that the 32-bit client will still work after the end of the year. Sticking to the 32-bit client to work around a problem is not a good long-term solution, however.

[wilfrido]

While it's great that you're able to play the game now, be aware that you are probably going to need to get the 64-bit client working by 01 Jan 2023. The r33 release notes state that the 32-bit client will be fully deprecated on 01 Jan 2023. So you should be OK for the rest of this calendar year, and it's possible that the 32-bit client will still work after the end of the year. Sticking to the 32-bit client to work around a problem is not a good long-term solution, however.

Agreed. Hoping SSG will find a fix for this issue, given the number of players affected. The 64 error is telling me to download dx9.0c, which doesn’t work since I already have dx11. It won’t even install. If there’s no fix, there’s always SWTOR and ESO next year.

[Tralfazz]

The 64 error is telling me to download dx9.0c, which doesn’t work since I already have dx11. It won’t even install.

Try installing this:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/down...s.aspx?id=8109
That should install even if you have DirectX 11 installed. Then restart your computer.

[wilfrido]

Try installing this:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/down...s.aspx?id=8109
That should install even if you have DirectX 11 installed. Then restart your computer.

Nope, mission failed. I switched to 64-bit, and the game did not proceed after pressing "play". I went to repair, selected reset display settings, and pressed ok. Game started but screen was compressed and was on the lowest resultion. I then went to Options-- only directX 9 was available. I then selected "detect optimal settings" and the game crashed. Here's the error message:

"Could not initiate Direct3D. Please ensure that DirectX 9.0c [Dec. 2005] or higher is installed [105]"

After I pressed "ok" it repeated again. After pressing ok again, another message appeared:

"The game encountered a fatal DirectX issue while attempting to start. Try a different screen resolution or bit depth. If that doesn't work, try new video drivers. [128]"

My rig has GTX3050 and the latest core I5 with 16GB of RAM. I have the latest video drivers and direct X 10 to 12. I have all the .NET and C+++ software installed. Looks like my LOTRO days are numbered, after 11 years, it's time to retire. I'll be switching to 32-bit for now, it's the only one that works and has direct x, 9, 10 and 11, playable in Ultra settings.

Thanks for the help.

[Dunephor]

Dear friends, I had that troubles, this is how I solved it. I use a fresh new LOTRO installation in a MSI gaming Laptop where i installed Windows 11 Professional. Although I could play in a very low resolution (the "as is" result or default configuration after game installation) and with unproportional horizontal and vertical image size, I asked the game to selfadjust to optimal specs (in Options), and then it crashed inmediately showing me error windows (105 and 128 errors) related to DirectX. I even installed DirectX 9.0c runtime library but that made no improvement. Windows 11 Professional comes with DirectX 11. This is how I fixed it:

1) close your LOTRO game and its related error message windows.
2) go to your \Documents\The Lord of The Rings Online\ folder with you file explorer.
3) there you will find the file UserPreferences.Ini (or UserPreferences if you keep your file extensions hidden); edit that file with your Notepad editor.
4) find the DisplayAdapter parameter into that file and just change the 0 (zero, not O vowel) value to a 1, and then save the file. Do no more changes there.
5) run LOTRO again (I always run the launcher as administrator); after launching it, it will appear a window telling you that DirectX 11 (although the one that belongs to Windows 11 is DirectX12) has been detected and asking you permission to use it. Accept DirectX11, use it, of course.
6) the game should start and work properly. if you want to try another screen resolution, once into the character menu, go to Options, Graphics, and adjust the video resolution you like and fits your screen best.
7) in case my advise is no use, quit the game and assign the DisplayAdapter value to 0 again and save the file, and ask for more help, I cannot be of more help than this. Good luck.

I wanted to add some knowledge to this thread because I had so many headaches trying to get LOTRO to work, and this step was what finally fixed it. However, I wanted to share the steps I had to do before getting to this step, my specs, etc.

I'm running an Alienware M17R5 with AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor and Radeon Graphics as the primary GPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Windows 11 Home OS, 64GB RAM, and running DirectX 12.

My saga begins with actually all of the frustrations mentioned in this thread. First the launcher wasn't working, and then when the launcher did work here and there (but not consistently) it would give me the errors for 105 and 128 which is the Dx9.0c and Dx3D problems not being detected. This was not solved running in 32-bit, 64-bit, or most of the solutions I could find here on the forums and Microsoft's. After doing some research online here, I tried running the DxWeb installer, but it wouldn't ever install anything because it detected the Dx12 already on my machine. I even tried downloading the 'Media Files' from the Settings>Apps>Optional Features (which is now only found as 'Graphics Tools' from what I could find). After downloading that and running the DXDIAG utility, I confirmed that I had Dx12 and that the utility didn't show any problems.

Once I realized that the Dx12 was an issue and I couldn't seem to install any other previous versions, I was tempted to find a way to uninstall Dx12. Thankfully I didn't do that, and I ended up doing this set of steps to get the necessary drivers to work. This was after I made sure there were no LOTRO files on my machine. I did this by uninstalling it from the programs menu located within the apps menu, and then deleting the files within the Users>Documents>LOTRO, as well as from the hidden AppData folder found under the User folder (make sure to enable viewing of hidden files). I then restarted the computer and did the following:

1. Open the Windows/Start menu and type "DXDIAG" and run the utility (if you don't have it, follow the above steps for Windows 10 and 11)

2. Confirm there isn't any other outstanding problems before continuing

3. Open the 'directx_Jun2010_redist' zipped file (you can find it mentioned earlier in this thread), and I extracted it to a new folder on my desktop

4. Then I went to this file path and created a new folder for the files to be copied to (since you can't extract them here) C:>Windows>SysWOW64>DIRECT_X I created this destination folder to segregate these new files from the native ones

5. After you have copied all of the files to the destination folder, search for the "DXSETUP.exe" and run it from within that folder. I tried running it from other locations and it never seemed to work for whatever reason, but someone more knowledgeable than me might recommend a different place to store the files.

6. Restart the computer

7. Open up CMD in Administrator mode, and run this: "svc /scannow" and allow the utility to run

8. Restart the computer

9. Install LOTRO from Steam (for some reason this seemed to work better than from the LOTRO website), which actually prompted me several times to install updates along with the game and client. This never popped up when I used the installer from LOTRO.com oddly enough

10. Restart the computer

11. If you have more than one graphics card like my Alienware, apparently Microsoft also made this process difficult by default. For some reason on older games, the GPUs will fight with each other, so you have to select which one you want as the default for LOTRO. I did this through the Nvidia Control Panel application, but you could also do it through the Graphics Settings found within the settings menu, find LOTRO, and stipulate which GPU should be the primary for the game. This step was key for me

12. Restart the computer

13. Launch the game in admin mode, but make sure you select under the 'options' tab on the client login to choose which GPU you selected in step 11. If you don't have multiple GPUs, disregard. Regardless, make sure the 'allow multiple game instances' is unchecked (general tab in the options menu), and that you check the box for 'reset the game display settings' (under the repair tab).

14. At this point my game either crashed with the dx9.0c/dx3d errors, or loaded just fine until I messed around with the graphics settings and then gave me those errors. However, this is a good thing because now you have had the game create the preferences file (refer to the reply message above)

15. After making the changes in the preferences document, I restarted the computer, and it prompted me to run the game with Dx11 settings. Select yes, and you should be golden!

This came after a lot of trial and error, reading through the forums here, and on Microsoft's website. I just want to say thank you to everyone that has troubleshooted thus far, you guys have been a lifesaver. For whatever reason, the vulkan1 copies of the .dll files didn't ever work for me, and messing around with the C++ versions in the app settings page didn't work either. I'm really hoping this helps someone else out there, and I'm happy to troubleshoot some other ideas since I have another laptop with similar specs that I used as my guinea pig.

Cheers!