Update 31.1.1.2: Game Launcher Errors

[Roland_Deschain]

Well after patching earlier today, the client started up fine on the second try (after the "select EN" workaround). A few hours later though, it won't launch the client and the workaround doesn't work either.
https://ibb.co/254L1jq

Hmm, if I click the "Continue" button, it seems to work though.

[DanteIL]

Identical issue here! I thought that it might finally be reaching the point where I am no longer able to log into the game on my old Mac -- but strangely you are correct that "Continue" does seem to work. It's all very bizarre.

[Tralfazz]

Hey, guys! Can one of you show me a screenshot of your LOTRO launcher application with this "continue" button highlighted? I don't know what that is, I'm staring at my LOTRO launcher and don't see a "continue" button. I'm not experiencing this issue (nor should anyone who installs the latest wine-stable on their Mac using Mojave or earlier or is running LOTRO in Crossover) but I'm trying to understand it and the process you are using to work around it.

[Roland_Deschain]

1) Launch the client
2) Launcher says "Installing DirectX 9"
3) Install fails saying "Missing files" in a pop-up window with an OK button.
4) Click OK button
5) Launcher continues by doing some other checks
6) Get the Game Launcher Errors window I linked in my first post. Below that error window is the "Continue" button. Click that and it proceeds to the login window.

[DanteIL]

Adding images to show what it looks like:

1) Launch the client
2) Launcher says "Installing DirectX 9"
3) Install fails saying "Missing files" in a pop-up window with an OK button.

4) Click OK button
5) Launcher continues by doing some other checks
6) Get the Game Launcher Errors window I linked in my first post. Below that error window is the "Continue" button. Click that and it proceeds to the login window.

[Roland_Deschain]

Thanks for adding those screenshots. I was thinking of doing that but then I couldn't start the client anymore. I've had this issue happen a couple times now where if I launch the client several times in a row without actually logging in, I can no longer start the client. OS X thinks the application is still running but I try to force-quit it, nothing happens. I've looked as "ps" output but can't see any related process. Only way to resolve, is to do a shutdown.

[Tralfazz]

Thanks for the good descriptions and the screenshots, guys!

Thanks for adding those screenshots. I was thinking of doing that but then I couldn't start the client anymore. I've had this issue happen a couple times now where if I launch the client several times in a row without actually logging in, I can no longer start the client. OS X thinks the application is still running but I try to force-quit it, nothing happens. I've looked as "ps" output but can't see any related process. Only way to resolve, is to do a shutdown.

Try running Activity Monitor and use it to kill any process that has the word "wine" or "preloader" in its name. But logging out of your Mac user account or restarting your Mac will get the job done, it will just be more disruptive to whatever else you're doing.

You might also want to try installing WINE 6 using the instructions I provide here:
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...pler-procedure
With WINE 6 instead of WINE 4, you will not experience this problem – and as a bonus, you will be able to run the 64-bit client.

[Roland_Deschain]

Yup, tried finding anything related to lotro using "ps" but couldn't find anything.

I've been running the 64-bit client for quite a while now with Wine 4. I see Wine 64-processes running with some of the 32-bit code and it is using lotroclient64.exe:

<user>/Application Support/com.standingstonegames.lotro/common/usr/lib/../bin/wine64-preloader C:/Program Files (x86)/StandingStoneGames/The Lord of the Rings Online/x64/lotroclient64.exe

[Tralfazz]

Yup, tried finding anything related to lotro using "ps" but couldn't find anything.

I've been running the 64-bit client for quite a while now with Wine 4. I see Wine 64-processes running with some of the 32-bit code and it is using lotroclient64.exe:

<user>/Application Support/com.standingstonegames.lotro/common/usr/lib/../bin/wine64-preloader C:/Program Files (x86)/StandingStoneGames/The Lord of the Rings Online/x64/lotroclient64.exe

Roland, I don't know what exactly is going on with your client. But you are definitely not running the lotroclient64.exe under WINE 4. It's not possible (***), the components necessary for the 64-bit client to run since the patch released on 2021-03-17 simply aren't part of the WINE 4 distribution which is what SSG is still using for their "Mac Download" version of LOTRO.

FYI, as a test, just two days ago I did a clean install of SSG's "Mac"/WINE client into a virgin MacOS Mojave 10.14.6 boot volume and it worked as expected: I can run the 32-bit client but not the 64-bit client, and I get no glitches or annoyances other than the web browser nags regarding Microsoft C++. No issues with the launcher requiring weird workarounds regarding language/localization selection or having to hit some "continue" button after getting an unpleasant error log window. I would be surprised if anyone using SSG's "Mac Download" version of the game is getting different results – if so, I'd love to hear about it, either to help with whatever issue you're experiencing or to figure out what variable is causing your different result.

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(***) Unless you installed those specific components into the WINE bottle located at ~/Library/Application Support/com.standstonegames.lotro/common, or you are running the game using a WINE installation in a different location installed by you or for you by some other process. And in that case, it's not WINE 4 anymore.