How-To
Installation
Before attempting to install LOTRO using wine you need to setup/check two things. First download fakeNET11.reg and run using regedit fakeNET11.reg, this fools the installer into believing that .NET 1.1 is already installed, without this the installer will attempt to install .NET and fail.
With Wine 1.1.2 you no longer need to use the registry hack as .NET 1.1 (including service pack 1) will install cleanly.
Run lotrosetup.exe, I find it best to select the custom option so that I can untick the option that creates a desktop icon as this points to the original launcher with currently does not work. Allow the installer to complete but untick the box that asks if it can launcher the game for you.
Launcher Script
To launch the client on Linux you need to download this script and this support script (rename it to urlencode.sh). Extra details about the script can be found on the script developers site.
These scripts must be placed in directory containing the file lotroclient.exe
To run the script type either bash ./scriptname or ./scriptname if the scripts permissions allow for execute (where scriptname is the name of the downloaded script)
An alternative to the CLI launcher is the GUI launcher, available here, note you need the mono compiler installed to compile (see README for additional information), once compiled install using make install, this will also create a menu entry under games for LotROLinux. It works with the EU and US version, book 13 now patches the hi-res graphics file.
winecfg settings
Windows Version: Windows 2000
regedit settings
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Wine/Direct3D/UseGLSL = enabled **** wine-0.9.48 or less **** HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Wine/Direct3D/VideoMemorySize = < amount of video memory ie 256 >
UserPreferences.ini settings
Note this file is found in the equivilant of your "My Documents\The Lord of the Rings" folder which defaults to ~/The Lord of the Rings
If you do not currently have a UserPreferences.ini file run the game using the script or gui it may crash with an error but will create a default UserPreferences.ini file, with Wine 1.0 onwards it doesn't crash however it is worth setting the AllowFakeScreen to False as changing to certain resolutions does cause an error.
AllowFakeFullScreen=False **** wine-0.9.60 or less **** FullScreen=True **** wine-0.9.51 or less ****
Those settings will enable you to start the game and log in as a character. If you change any settings via the graphics or advanced graphics tabs ensure that those setting are correct (ie choosing a new level of graphics via the graphics tab may alter some of these values)
Updating
To update the game you need the patchclient.dll file from LOTRO book 11 or higher, the patchclient.dll from book 13 is available here, that is the EU version so it might not work with the US version of the game (the file may disappear if Turbine request that I cease hosting it
The CLI launcher automatically patches the game when it runs so no additional steps are required. Note you might have to amend the script and add the option --HighResOutOfDate to the line that runs the game.
With the GUI launcher select Tools->Patch then follow the instructions. You no longer have to disable hi-res graphics under Tools->Options