Lord of the Rings Online Forum

I’ve been trying to make lotro work with crossover and it just won’t work. I’m using a mac Mojave I think. I don’t understand why lotro has always been a hard game for me to make work, even on windows

The game launches and everything, but when I get to the loading screen to show my characters, the loading bar fills up and nothing happens. I can hear the music for the character select screen. I can move my cursor and even press the button to enter middle earth with one of my characters. Then when I load into my middle earth, I can hear the game and everything. Everything works, but it’s a visual issue and all I can see is the loading screen. I’ve tried changing the resolution on the mac, it didn’t work

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote:

I’ve been trying to make lotro work with crossover and it just won’t work. I’m using a mac Mojave I think. I don’t understand why lotro has always been a hard game for me to make work, even on windows

The game launches and everything, but when I get to the loading screen to show my characters, the loading bar fills up and nothing happens. I can hear the music for the character select screen. I can move my cursor and even press the button to enter middle earth with one of my characters. Then when I load into my middle earth, I can hear the game and everything. Everything works, but it’s a visual issue and all I can see is the loading screen. I’ve tried changing the resolution on the mac, it didn’t work

Hi, Ragnar! I've never seen anyone report this specific symptom before. Let's gather a little bit of information before we proceed:
1- Please tell me exactly what version of MacOS you are using. You can get this information from the Apple menu (in the upper-left corner of your screen), choose ABOUT THIS MAC.
2- Please also tell me your exact Mac model and all the other information (Processor, Memory, Graphics) provided in ABOUT THIS MAC except your Mac's serial number. You can just post a screenshot if that's easier for you.
3- Do you use more than one monitor?
4- Please tell me exactly what version of Crossover you are using. You can get this information by running the Crossover application, going to the CROSSOVER menu (second from the left in the upper-left corner of your screen), choose ABOUT CROSSOVER.
5- What is your bottle type? For example, is it a Windows 10 64-bit bottle or something else? You can get this information by clicking on the little "i" to the right of your bottle's name in the main Crossover window.
6- What are your bottle settings? To find out, right-click on your bottle name in the main Crossover window and go to SETTINGS. You should have PERFORMANCE ENHANCED GRAPHICS and DXVK BACKED FOR D3D11 checked – HIGH RESOLUTION MODE and PERFORMANCE ENHANCED SYNCHONIZATION (ESYNC) should be un-checked.
7- Are you attempting to run the 32-bit LOTRO client or the 64-bit LOTRO client?

Once you provide that information, we can begin tracking down your problem and repairing it. If you want to try something that often resolves issues for people, here is a totally wild swing that might help and will at least give you something to try until I can read the answers to my questions and get back to you with something more likely to work:
1- If you can get to the character creation/selection screen, go to OPTIONS->GRAPHICS and choose FULL SCREEN WINDOWED.
2- If you can't get to the character creation/selection screen, open ~/Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/UserPreferences.ini with your favorite text editor and look for the line...
ScreenMode=X
...and change the value of X so that the line is exactly...
ScreenMode=FullScreenWindowed
Then save the file and close that window of your text editor.
3- Again, if you can't get to the character creation/selection screen, open ~/Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/UserPreferences64.ini with your favorite text editor and look for the line...
ScreenMode=X
...and change the value of X so that the line is exactly...
ScreenMode=FullScreenWindowed
Then save the file and close that window of your text editor.

(You must do both 2 and 3 if you can't do 1.)

I got it to work before seeing your message, simply by changing my gameclienttype to 1 in one of the user files

The game runs fine but still crashes randomly even on the lowest graphics. I feel like I should be able to play on at least medium without crashing or losing fps. Would changing to dx11 and the 64 client help run the game smoother and with less crashes? I’m using dx10 rn and I think 32 client

how do I even change to dx11 and 64 client

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote:

I got it to work before seeing your message, simply by changing my gameclienttype to 1 in one of the user files

The game runs fine but still crashes randomly even on the lowest graphics. I feel like I should be able to play on at least medium without crashing or losing fps. Would changing to dx11 and the 64 client help run the game smoother and with less crashes? I’m using dx10 rn and I think 32 client

how do I even change to dx11 and 64 client

GameClientType=1 means the 32-bit client. The 32-bit client is going to give you inferior performance – including being more crash-prone – compared to the 64-bit client. More importantly, the 32-bit client is being deprecated at the end of this calendar year so you're going to need to use the 64-bit client by 01 January 2023 anyway.

DirectX 10 is a hot mess with LOTRO. DirectX 11 is best, DirectX 9 is still fine it just has a few minor glitches which most people don't ever notice. DirectX 9 is better to use when performing troubleshooting as it is compatible with a wider variety of Mac hardware and OSes and is not as dependent on bottle settings being exactly correct. So for now, use DirectX 9, we'll get you onto DirectX 11 after solving your problem.

To enable the 64-bit client and DirectX 9, open your UserPreferences.ini file with TextEdit and change the following lines to match:
GameClientType=3
GraphicsCore=D3D9
Make changes to your UserPreferences.ini file only when neither the LOTRO launcher application nor the game client are running.

Please go back to my previous reply and provide the information I requested and try the procedure I wrote for you. I'm happy to help but if you ignore my requests for information and don't plan to follow the instructions I suggest, things are going to take a lot longer and be less likely to produce a satisfactory result for you.

edit: Note that since my first reply to you, the game has changed the way it uses .ini files. It no longer uses a UserPreferences64.ini file, only a UserPreferences.ini file. So you can skip Step 3 from my previous reply.

I changed the client type to 3 and started using dx11 in game. I’m gonna play and see how it works on medium graphic settings

My mac is a macOS mojave, the version is 10.14.6, it’s an imac from late 2013. The processor is 2.7 ghz intel core i5, memory is 8gb 1600 mhz ddr3, graphics is intel iris pro 1536 MB

no, I only use one monitor, and I’m using crossover version 21.2

yeah my bottle is windows 10 64 bit. The bottle settings are all checked as they should be, not counting the “default bottle” that I checked

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote:

I changed the client type to 3 and started using dx11 in game. I’m gonna play and see how it works on medium graphic settings

My mac is a macOS mojave, the version is 10.14.6, it’s an imac from late 2013. The processor is 2.7 ghz intel core i5, memory is 8gb 1600 mhz ddr3, graphics is intel iris pro 1536 MB

no, I only use one monitor, and I’m using crossover version 21.2

yeah my bottle is windows 10 64 bit. The bottle settings are all checked as they should be, not counting the “default bottle” that I checked

OK, well, if the game is running for you, I guess we don't have any troubleshooting to do after all. Great!

It's fine to have the "default bottle" setting checked.

That's a perfectly nice Mac. I mostly use a 2019 iMac but I also run LOTRO on a late-2012 Mac Mini (albeit with 16gb or RAM) and it runs just fine there, too. Your Mac is a smidge better than my Mini (with the exception of its installed RAM, which is very significant). You should be able to bump your settings up well past medium for the most part. Definitely turn on "post processing effects" as those have a very large effect on the quality of water and some other surfaces, but keep your TEXTURE CACHE SIZE at zero – slider all the way to the left – to avoid running into memory issues. I also recommend setting the screen mode to FULL SCREEN WINDOWED as this tends to avoid a lot of problems, even on Windows boxes.

Your RAM is going to be a bit of a limiting factor. While the 64-bit client is better than the 32-bit client in every way, one of those ways is its ability to address RAM. Your Mac has integrated graphics which means a pretty big chunk (1.5gb) of RAM is set aside as VRAM, leaving less for the system to use. And of course, every app/process running simultaneously leaves less RAM for LOTRO. RAM is not expensive and your Mac can handle at least 16gb. If your Mac is a 27" iMac, the RAM is just behind a little door so it's easy-peasy. If it's a 21.5" iMac, you need to remove the screen cover which involves suction cups and either cutting some adhesive (then replacing it with new adhesive when you're done) or just pulling against magnets depending on the exact model, so somewhere between a major PITA and less than easy. If your iMac is a 27" model, and given how inexpensive RAM is relative to the performance boost it will give you and the ease of installation; consider adding RAM. Otherwise, well, it's a tough value call depending on how handy you are and the exact model of 21.5" iMac you have (i.e. adhesive or magnets).

Have fun in Middle-earth!

Best wishes,
John H
(Tralfazz on the LOTRO forums.)

thank u so much!

I encountered another issue. The game loaded fine today and I wanted to see what’s the highest graphics I can use without losing much fps, so I set it to ultra high, then the screen was just black and all I could do is run around and hear the game audio

i restarted the game and now I’m encountering the same issue this post is about, how I can hear the character screen music but can’t see anything. Changing the game client to 1 doesn’t help, bcuz it makes the launcher crash after I press PLAY

EDIT : messed around a bit and got it to work again with the 64bit client and dx11. I’m currently trying out high graphics, and I’m too scared to put it on ultra high or very high

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote:

I encountered another issue. The game loaded fine today and I wanted to see what’s the highest graphics I can use without losing much fps, so I set it to ultra high, then the screen was just black and all I could do is run around and hear the game audio

i restarted the game and now I’m encountering the same issue this post is about, how I can hear the character screen music but can’t see anything. Changing the game client to 1 doesn’t help, bcuz it makes the launcher crash after I press PLAY

EDIT : messed around a bit and got it to work again with the 64bit client and dx11. I’m currently trying out high graphics, and I’m too scared to put it on ultra high or very high
Both the 32-bit client and the 64-bit client now use the same local settings file, UserPreferences.ini. So any setting that is going to crash or cause the 64-bit client problems is still going to be present if the only change you make is to launch the 32-bit client.

The 32-bit client can't use DirectX 11. On a Mac under Crossover, you need to use the 64-bit client for DirectX 11. So if you try the 32-bit client again, be sure you change to GraphicsCore=D3D9 as well as GameClientType=1. I don't think there's much point in bothering with the 32-bit client, it's going to stop working after 31 December 2022 anyway.

Remember that you have integrated graphics and (for an Intel processor in 2022) a limited amount of RAM. Every graphics setting you bump up is going to require more out of your CPU and more memory usage. I'm fairly certain that your issues are entirely attributable to GPU and memory limitations. Be sure you are running the 64-bit client and that you are running with ScreenMode=FullScreenWindowed. Don't push Antialiasing over 2x. Don't push Anisotropic Filtering over 4. This isn't a "twitch" game so you might want to cap your frame rate, you can do that in the OPTIONS->TROUBLESHOOTING section – I use 30fps, it's plenty smooth for a game like this and allows the computer to run quite cool. Other than that, I think you should experiment with your graphics settings to find the right balance of visual quality, frame rate, and crash avoidance. Make one change at a time then do some testing before making another change. Any change you make that doesn't work out can always be reverted, even if you can't get to the in-game OPTIONS panel you can edit the UserPreferences.ini file to revert your change.

I hope that helped. Report back if you have a specific question or when you've found the right setting for your specific Mac, other people might read this in the future and benefit from your results!

edit: One more thing: Do NOT change your OVERALL GRAPHICS QUALITY in the OPTIONS->GRAPHICS panel. That isn't really a single setting, it makes a bunch of pre-defined changes to a bunch of actual settings. I bet that when you changed OVERALL GRAPHICS QUALITY to ULTRA HIGH it increased TEXTURE CACHE SIZE and possibly a few other settings that are known to cause problems when the hardware has a limited amount of physical RAM. So instead, make changes to the individual settings in OPTIONS->GRAPHICS and OPTIONS->ADV GRAPHICS but do not change the OVERALL GRAPHICS QUALITY because that will make changes to a myriad of other settings.

Everything’s been running good. As for anyone else reading this, I went into my overall graphics and put it on HIGH just because I’m too lazy to mess with all the advanced graphic settings. I don’t put antialiasing above 2x. I don’t push anisotropic filtering over 4. I capped my FPS at 60 bcuz I’m scared my mac will overheat if it’s on unlimited. I run the 64bit client with dx11. I put the texture cache size to 0. That’s about it, and I get like 30 to 60fps when playing and I can deal with it. I’m used to playing 30fps games anyways

another thing is that u should repair your game client if u ever get the error “string table error” and certain maps won’t load. My Moria and lothlorien wouldn’t load the floors and walls, and I was unable to use mounts in those areas. I repaired my game client and it just took like 2 hours. It fixed those issues and didn’t change any of my game settings

thx again to John for helping me with this situation

The message from “Snowboarding Pete” contains an edited-in link in the text he quoted which has nothing to do with the topic of this thread and is most likely a malware site. Do not click on the link! Please delete his message from this thread.

Thanks John; I missed that one. That seems to be the favorite new trick of spammers and I've been deleting a lot like that :/

Best,
Meredith