Can't log on: STILL stuck on "Examine Game Data"

[potent1]

I've read numerous posts about people having issues w/ ROR. Me too!! Has Turbine created a work-around? I didn't play since Sun b/c many said to wait until Tues w/ the new patch. The log on screen keeps getting hung up at examine game data. It's been stuck for 2.5 hrs today! Should I reinstall using the DVD combo set? Other suggestions?

TIA!

[Schmidster]

No, I would suggest you not re-install. I am not a computer expert, compared to many on these forums, but I doubt the troubles with downloading are about your current installation. It seems to be a matter of "clogged pipes" with so many folks patching.

Look for official announcements for sure, but I would just wait, or if you have NOT tried to re-start your connection, maybe try that. It should not hang for that long.

Good luck!

[Sheldoc87]

I've been trying to get on since yesterday and having no luck so decided to reinstall. Currently no official work around as turbine seem to just be ignoring the issue as usual. Your best bet is trying a fresh install, heard some have had success with it. Plus waiting 12 hours to download is still quicker than waiting for any acknowledgment from turbine. Good luck in getting in game.

[mikalar]

If you get hung up, give it 15 minutes, shutdown client, restart client, rinse repeat until you get through to the download server.

Leaving it hang or repeatedly restarting client are both bad, don't do it.

[Hobbit-boy]

Tuesday morning the pipes should not STILL be so clogged. I work in the afternoon/evening so mornings are my only time to play, when most people are at work or school. So it's normally very low numbers on the servers.
As for a work around, dems and republicans will learn to work together before turbine fixes crashes, their motto is "it will eventually work itself out"!

[Hordvin]

I am stuck there too. But my patch did not complete due to a "undedefined error", I guess there is no hope for solving the problem without reinstallation.

Someone posted a workaround in an older Thread "9 hours......" but I´m not an expert so I do not understand it. Maybe it is something for the OP in case his patching crashed too.

[Zopar]

I uninstalled and reinstalled the client. It started patching and then it slowed down to a crawl of like 20 kb/min which was unacceptable, so I restarted the client and now I am back to examining game data endlessly.

So not happy right now.

[llronyan]

I uninstalled and reinstalled the client. It started patching and then it slowed down to a crawl of like 20 kb/min which was unacceptable, so I restarted the client and now I am back to examining game data endlessly.

So not happy right now.

I just wait a bit, close the launcher then restart it : now it download the update. Going to smoke a good shire pipe while that works now

update 8% (1772/13247)

[Rithradriel]

Just to let the OP know, that there are more people out there still stuck at "Examine Game Data"...

[Magnoo]

I uninstalled and reinstalled the client. It started patching and then it slowed down to a crawl of like 20 kb/min which was unacceptable, so I restarted the client and now I am back to examining game data endlessly.

So not happy right now.

Yesterday I started the game, patched and made it to the installing updates stage (on two different PC’s). To me it seemed to be very slow so I closed the client and restarted it. From 4:30 PM EST to 11:30 PM EST after more restarts than I can count all I got was “Examining Game Data”. Finally I said screw it and wiped the game and re-installed on one pc and didn’t have a problem after that. I will say that when the patcher slowed down to snail’s pace I didn’t shut it down I just let it run. On the other PC I have tried numerous times to run the game and it is still stuck at the “Examining Game Data” and that was at 5:20 AM EST. I honestly don’t think it is a bottle neck issue.

My suggestion, just re-install and do not close the patcher no matter how slow it is.

[jolmanus]

Same boat 24 hrs later and yet not 1 word how to fix the problem since they have the money i put up for the expac and subscription.Yeah good intentions here i see...

fix the problem so ppl can get what they paid for already!!!

[Tikarah]

I ended up deleting and reinstalling and then patching and all went smooth.. no hang ups and no more crashing.

[Branthil]

Shut down the launcher. Then try disabling your antivirus.

[zorn777]

closed launcher, shut down process, run launcher (repeatedly)
moved dat files
run launcher and download 9000+ components. - receive error about access to dats.
Replace dats.
Moved good dats from user data
Reboot system throughout
Remove program from Control Panel, delete installed folder.
Download client from lotro support (2+ hours)
Install client to local drive
Still nothing
24+ hours later and I still am unable to play.
seriously?

[Thokal]

If you are still stuck at Examine Programs, or are otherwise experiencing errors after patching Rohan, try the following:

1. Close the game launcher if it is open.
2. Open the game installation directory ('C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online' by default).
3. At the top of this window sort by file type by clicking "Type".
4. You should see 13-14 .DAT files listed. Right-click each of these files individually and select “Restore previous version”. Please note that some files may not have previous versions available. From the available dates, select any previous version before 10/15 and click Restore.
5. If restore is not available as an option, select Copy instead. You can copy the restore of this file to another location (such as your desktop) and them manually move it into your game installation directory.

After doing this for each dat file, restart the launcher and allow the game to patch again. Feel free to detail whether these steps worked for you or not in this thread. I would also recommend submitting a help request using the link in my signature if your issues persist after the steps above and you have not done so already.

[Darbs]

Today after doing the wait 15 minutes and try again for 8 hours I completely uninstalled lotro from my computer.
downloaded game from lotro.com and 1 hour later I had my warhorse. so for me at least a new download worked.

[Hirdol]

I just reached Level 20 Sun. and I'm eager to get back into the Game but, every time I attempt to play, the loading screen gets stuck at "Examine Game Data". I waited for an Hour and a half for it to load but, it was still at the same spot. Any "WORKING" Solutions? Please contact me.

[Hobbit-boy]

If you are still stuck at Examine Programs, or are otherwise experiencing errors after patching Rohan, try the following:

1. Close the game launcher if it is open.
2. Open the game installation directory ('C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online' by default).
3. At the top of this window sort by file type by clicking "Type".
4. You should see 13-14 .DAT files listed. Right-click each of these files individually and select “Restore previous version”. Please note that some files may not have previous versions available. From the available dates, select any previous version before 10/15 and click Restore.
5. If restore is not available as an option, select Copy instead. You can copy the restore of this file to another location (such as your desktop) and them manually move it into your game installation directory.

After doing this for each dat file, restart the launcher and allow the game to patch again. Feel free to detail whether these steps worked for you or not in this thread. I would also recommend submitting a help request using the link in my signature if your issues persist after the steps above and you have not done so already.

Did the dat files thing, it got me past examine to where I logged in user name and pw, going to my server then I get the splash screen Loading Characters, BAM, error 201 or quit, cant patch

So your telling me the only option from the developer is to un-install 16 gigs and then re-install?
Wow, you guys know how to inspire confidence since your still not sure that will work either!

[Aedfrith]

You have to move ALL the restored files back and ensure they are ALL updated before the game will work, as per my previous advice in this thread.

[Blue_Ringed_Octopus]

If you are still stuck at Examine Programs, or are otherwise experiencing errors after patching Rohan, try the following:

1. Close the game launcher if it is open.
2. Open the game installation directory ('C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online' by default).
3. At the top of this window sort by file type by clicking "Type".
4. You should see 13-14 .DAT files listed. Right-click each of these files individually and select “Restore previous version”. Please note that some files may not have previous versions available. From the available dates, select any previous version before 10/15 and click Restore.
5. If restore is not available as an option, select Copy instead. You can copy the restore of this file to another location (such as your desktop) and them manually move it into your game installation directory.

After doing this for each dat file, restart the launcher and allow the game to patch again. Feel free to detail whether these steps worked for you or not in this thread. I would also recommend submitting a help request using the link in my signature if your issues persist after the steps above and you have not done so already.

It went from stalling at 'examine game data' to getting the red 'X' now and "retrying". So this made it worse for me - if that's even possible.

Why is it that every expansion I have to reinstall the game?

[SneakPeek]

How do I restore files? No option on right-clicking. And I can't understand step 4 :S

Update: Tried using a recovery software. Didn't work.

[Hayden102]

I have done everything! guess what? Examining game data........ waiting

To restore files right click on the file then go up to restore previous versions, I then had to click copy and put the older files somewhere else (desktop) then i threw the old ones back in which overwrited the lasted ones but I still have the same problem

[Doulos]

Just a head's up. I had followed advice in two other threads to move .dat files to a temp folder, delete the contents of the "Forward" folder inside of the "Lord of the Rings Online" folder, and then put the .dat files back one by one until the offending file made itself known. I did this and deleted the ones that seemed to be causing the hangup, thus allowing me to avoid downloading all of the .dat files over again, but removing only the one that gave me trouble. This successfully jump-started the client past "Examine Game Data." However, after the patch completed, I tried to login and got the 201 error.

I then read Thorkal's workaround in this thread, but because of my deletions I had only 7 files, and not the 13-14 .dat files that I should have. I tried Thorkal's workaround on the 7 files I had, which did force a second patch. But after it jumpstarted and completed, I got the 201 error again.

So I decided to just restore "The Lord of the Rings Online" folder itself. This would give me all 13-14 files back in their pre-patch state. The Restore option was not available once the window popped up, so I followed Thorkal's advice and chose the "copy" option. I put it into a Temp folder that I created on my Desktop (like I used in the player suggested workaround in another thread.) The restore/copy took 15 minutes on my pc, because the LOTRO folder's huge. I then swapped it in for the old "The Lord of the Rings Online" folder, tried the client again and it succesfully completed a full patch.

I just got into the game after an hour or so of downloading. So, if any of you have tried other workarounds and as a result don't have all 13ish of your .dat files available to be restored, you can do one of two things. You could do a full system restore to a date prior to Monday. This would restore your .dat files to said date. Or you could restore the "LOTRO" folder (using the method Thorkal outlines for individual files), which will have the same effect. With a fresh pre-patch set of .dat files, the game patched fine for me. Not sure why that is, but wonder if something happened to "Examine Game Data" hang-time players' .dat files (or the "Forward" folder and its interaction with those files....mine had 10 gigs worth of files this morning when I was trying a player workaround...no idea if that's abnormal, but deleting them resulted in my first successful patch.)

[Durzos]

Ok probably being thick here, but also have no option to restore the previous version on right click, I don;t understand the copy bit, surley if I right click and copy the file then place it in a folder elsewhere all I have is a copy of the file in the LotRO folder not a copy of a restored version.

If i am wrong please let me know this is driving me up the wall

[Tony.Preston]

Here's what I've done in the past (and this time!) when it's happened to me. And it's worked each time.

I went to my LOTRO folder (where it was installed - c:\program files (x86)\turbine\the lord of the rings online)

there's a Patches folder

I went into the Patches folder.... selected all the files and folders in there.

right clicked... "Cut"

I went back to the "The lord of the rings online" folder... right clicked... "Paste"

restarted Lotro... enjoyed

No promises it'll work for anyone else, but it's worked for me at least 3 times now