Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log

License server system out of network connections. The vendor daemon can't handle any more users. See the debug log for further information.-110: Cannot read dongle: check dongle or driver. Either the dongle is unattached, or the necessary software driver for this dongle type is not installed.-112: Missing dongle driver. If you're asking for technical help, please be sure to include all your system info, including operating system, model number, and any other specifics related to the problem.

1. Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log Files
2. Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log For More Details
3. Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log
4. Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Logistics

A Unity ID allows you to buy and/or subscribe to Unity products and services, shop in the Asset Store and participate in the Unity community. Dec 12, 2011  If you're asking for technical help, please be sure to include all your system info, including operating system, model number, and any other specifics related to the problem.

Hello Bill,

Welcome to Microsoft Community. I will certainly help you with the issue that you are facing.

By submitting this form, I agree to the data entered being used by PrestaShop S.A for sending newsletters and promotional offers. Your data shall be kept until you unsubscribe. More Information: He has gotten rid of the problem locally, but has received emails from individuals outside of his organization who have the Common Policy cert installed. When someone receives an email from one of these individuals you get a message (see screen image below) that asks if you want to install the policy.

To understand the issue better, I would like to ask a few questions.

1. What are the error messages on the Windows update logs?

2. Are there any failed Windows updates? If so, what is the KB number of the failed update?

Let us know the exact update which was installed, after which this issue started. To do so, you may refer to the section “How will I know what updates have been installed?” on the following article:

Windows Update: Frequently Asked Questions

Please provide us with the event logs as well, so that we can research more on the issue. Check in event viewer for the exact error code and cause of the issue. Refer the following Microsoft article to check in Event Viewer.

What information appears in event logs? (Event Viewer)

Reply to this post with answers, so that we can research more on this issue.

Thank You

2Mac Client System Requirements 2.1Notes from Turbine Technical support team on their new hardware specs: 3Download information 4Support for the Mac Client 5Important Notes about OSX 5.2From Apple Developer notes for Sierra (September 4, 2016) 5.3Gatekeeper defined 6The Mac Client Communication Notes 6.2The Mac Client and Firewalls (Port Forwarding) 6.5Communication with the server has been lost. 8Assorted notes about the Mac Client 9Assorted Mac Client Messages (including errors) 9.1Turbine Knowledge Base Articles 10File locations: 10.1Where are the .dat files? 13Stopping the constant downloading of the Transition Screens 14Misc Notes

Mac Client Related Information

With the release of the LOTRO Mac Client (Beta Version) there are many overlapping areas of information between First time users and on-going activities. The information is split to improve readability. Problem resolution information!Mac Client Communications notes - Port Forwarding, UDP and other notes Problem resolution information!General Trouble Shooting Techniques File Locations - Where files reside and where you need to put things like Plugins, Skins and Music files. Messages - Screenshots of various messages generated by the Mac Client and an attempt to intuit their meanings and explain them. Known Issues -- A compilation of known problems with the Mac client. Gatekeeper Information -- Screenshots of Apple's Gatekeeper control panels and instructions. Steam Installation - Steam Installation notes Happy Cloud Installation - a description of the Happy Cloud Installer obsolete

Routing changes related to the new Data Centers

Turbine support has recommended: 'If you previously setup port forwarding on your router and/or modem for ports 9000-9010 UDP, updating the range of ports to 9000-9100 is now recommended.'

'If you have not previously done this and are experiencing disconnecting issues on transitioning areas in game or in general gameplay then you might need forwarding enabled. '

More details and instructions are in the original post.

Mac Client System Requirements

• Turbine has not made any official statements as to hardware system requirements however, from the Beta:

• The only KNOWN restriction is: the client will only run under Lion (OSX 10.7), Mountain Lion (OSX 10.8), or Mavericks (10.9) It will not run under Snow Leopard (10.6).

Performance under Lion (OSX 10.7) and Mountain Lion (OSX 10.8) is 'acceptable,' but not stellar.

Note that this restriction in itself will limit the hardware on which the Client can Run, as Lion and Mountain Lion are restricted to certain Intel based Macs.

See Apple: OSX Mountain Lion - how to updgrade for hardware information (Nominally a mid-2007 or later iMac).

(Personally, I would recommend a minimum of 4GB of system memory. Any Mac capable of running Mountain Lion has more than adequate Graphics capabilities.)

At this point in time, the Retina Displays are NOT supported at full resolutions.. there is no matching Text Font. So, while the Graphics are gorgeous at full Retina resolution, you cannot read any Text!)

Minimum	Recommended*
Processor:	Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel Core i5	Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7
Video:	Intel HD Graphics 3000 or better	NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M or better
OS:	OSX 10.7.5	OSX 10.7.5
Memory:	2 GB	4 GB
Disk Space:	25 GB available	25 GB available
Internet:	56kbps Modem	Broadband DSL/Cable
Sound:	Integrated Sound	Integrated Sound

• Turbine's recent (December 2013) update of PC hardware System Requirements

Minimum	Recommended*
OS:	Windows XP	Windows Vista 64-bit
CPU:	Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz or AMD Equivalent	Dual Core 2.66 GHZ
System Memory:	1GB (2GB for Windows Vista)	2GB
Graphics Card:	at least 128MB Onboard graphics memory	512MB dedicated discrete card
Internet Connection:	Cable or DSL Connection	Cable or DSL Connection
Direct X Version:	Directx 9.0c
Disk Space:	12 GB (+3 GB for international clients)	20 GB (+3 GB for international Clients)

Notes from Turbine Technical support team on their new hardware specs:

• Please keep in mind that these are requirements we (Turbine) feel should allow you to run the game reliably at low to moderate settings.

If you wish to experience the game at the highest settings, additional system memory and higher end graphics cards should be considered.

About Graphics cards

• The recommendations in the post above mention memory suggestions for discrete graphics cards, but please be aware that we suggest you have a video card that at least falls into the Nvidia 7000 series or the ATI equivalent range. Card falling under those performance levels may not offer sufficient performace, despite meeting the stated onboard memory requirements.

• Intel integrated chipsets are good basic graphics solutions, but not ideal for gaming. If you’re using an older Intel integrated video solution you may experience poor performance and low frame rates on even modest settings. If you are using a newer Intel chipset, and the game reports that you can use DirectX 10 or 11 modes, we recommend not enabling these. Doing so may cause some graphical elements to display oddly or not display at all.

Use a 64 bit OS

• Although LOTRO is a 32bit application we strongly encourage players to use a 64 bit OS like Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Please note that Windows 8 and 8.1 are not officially supported). 32bit operating systems may encounter memory limitations when the game client is running and stability issues may result. This is especially true for those using the High definition installation which uses significantly larger amounts of graphics and system memory due to larger textures. Those who choose not to or cannot upgrade to a 64bit OS are encouraged to use the standard resolution client install to reduce memory usage and avoid the memory limits for applications on 32bit versions of Windows. (If you have already installed the High Resolution version, lowering “Texture Detail” in Options > ADV Graphics to medium or lower can also aid in avoiding this memory limitation and improving game stability and performance on 32bit systems.)

Direct X vs OpenGL

• Note that the Mac Client has native OpenGL support.

OpenGL is the native Graphics language of OSX.

The Mac Client does NOT recognize DirectX -- 9, 10 or 11.

• The side effect of this is that many Options settings in Graphics and Advanced Graphics have no effect (i.e. they do not work).

In particular, the 'Detect Optimal Settings' button is normally 'grayed out.'

How to reset to the Default Graphics settings

• The Mac Client (especially all Mac models from 2013 and later) works best when run with the default graphics settings.

1. Launch the Launcher - do not enter your userid and password!
2. In the upper right corner of the main window click on the down arrow and select 'Options.'
3. On the General tab, select 'Use high resolution game data.'

   If this is your first time, you will wind up waiting for another approximately 4 Gb of High Resolution files to download.

   If you already have the High Resolution files downloaded, nothing will happen.

4. Click on the 'Repair' tab and check 'Reset the game display settings.'
5. Click the 'Restore Defaults' button.
6. Switch to the Proxy tab and verify that you have 'No Proxy' checked.
7. Click the 'OK' button.
8. Enter your userid and password and login.

Download information

Update 17.x Bullroarer Beta

The Mac client for Bullroarer is again available from Turbine:

http://content.turbine.com/sites/clientdl/lotro/preview/lotropreview.dmg

• This will download the file: 'lotropreview.dmg' - it is a dmg file. Double click on it and it will open a finder window with instructions to drag the file 'The Lord of the Rings Online(tm).app' to the adjacent Applications Folder.

1. This drag action will likely generate the pop-up box message: 'An item named 'The Lord of the Rings Online(tm).app' already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with th eone you're moving? -- 'Keep both, Stop, Replace' -- click on 'Keep Both'; This will result in the 218.1 MB file 'The Lord of the Rings Online(tm)-2.app' being created.
2. Double click on this new file: It will result in a pop-up 'Verifying' allow that to complete, when a new pop-up will appear: 'The Lord of the Rings Online(tm)-2.app can't be opened because the identity of the developer cannot be confirmed.' a description of your security preferences and a note on when and how it was downloaded.
3. Click 'OK' to dismiss that box.
4. Open System Preferences and select 'Security & Privacy.' You should see a notation: 'The Lord of the Rings Online(tm)-2.app' was blocked from opening because the identity of the developer cannot be confirmed.' and a button 'Open Anyway' -- click the button. The message will disappear and another pop-up message box will appear: 'The Lord of the Rings Online(tm)-2.app' is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?'; details on the download and 3 buttons - 'Cancel, Show Web Page, Open' - click 'Open.' (The 'System Preferences' window can now be dismissed.) The Launcher window will now display and downloading begin.
   • It is strongly recommended that you turn OFF Time Machine Backups while the download is taking place. The download will typically take longer than multiple Time Machine Backup cycles resulting in a significantly longer download time because of the disk I/O activity.
5. Go have breakfast, coffee, lunch, snack, dinner and check to see how it is doing. The download has a 'Pause/Resume' button if you care to use it.

• The game will be installed at: ~/Applications/The Lord of the Rings Online(tm)-2.app - to see the files associated with the download rick click on the .app and select 'Show Contents.'
• Remember to turn Time Machine backups back on when the download is completed.
• Note that this download will NOT NECESSARILY include the High-Res files. To obtain them, after the download has completed and before you enter your userid and password, click the down-arrow in the upper right corner of the Launcher, selection Options, and check 'Use high resolution game data.' (Note that this is a persistent setting, and will carry over between both the Bullroarer client and the live Game client.

Update 16.2 - July 2015

Sometime around the release of Update 16.2 Turbine again changed the download options for both the Mac and PC Clients.

Apparently the WB/Turbine relationship with Happy Cloud has been terminated as the 'Play Instantly Options are no longer available.

What now exists is a straight download of the Low Resolution Client via the Akamai network.

Once the download is completed, one uses the option in the Launcher to upgrade to (add) the High-Resolution files -- another roughly 6 GB of download. This then requires another patch pass. Other than re-launching the Launcher this process appears to work flawlessly. Probably the best download situation since the days of FTP! (When the client was MUCH smaller.)

Update 13 - 14 April 2014

The new Mac download on 'lotro.com' is now up and running.

The U13 release notes state:

Akamai Netsession

With today’s release of Update 13: The Breaking of Isengard, we have introduced a replacement for our Pando-enabled client and downloader. We now use a non-peer-to-peer version of the Akamai NetSession client for the LOTRO launcher, and wanted to update you on how we plan to utilize this service in the future.

The Akamai NetSession client allows us to quickly and reliably deliver fresh LOTRO client installations to you, and assist in the repair of missing or corrupted files in current game installations. The client utilizes Akamai’s large network of edge servers to deliver this content to you from a location which is deemed geographically closest to you, and ensures that we are able to efficiently and effectively get you what you need to play LOTRO.

Although some versions of the Akamai NetSession client used by other software providers utilize Peer-to-Peer technology, we have decided not to use P2P for LOTRO. What this means is that Akamai NetSession will NOT use peer-to-peer when delivering LOTRO-related content.

Once you install the LOTRO client, or patch your game to Update 13, it will be possible to uninstall Akamai NetSession from your computer, and NetSession will not reinstall unless it is necessary to deliver a deleted file or a fresh installation. Typical game updates will not require the use of Akamai NetSession.

In reality, the Mac Client download uses the Happy Cloud system, which grabs its data from Akamai. See:

and

for more information

LOTRO Mac Client is also available as a download via STEAM

• The Mac Client for LOTRO appeared on STEAM 7 December 2012. http://store.steampowered.com/app/212500/

• This download has not been updated. Consequently after the Steam Download, an extended Patch (Update) session is needed to bring the client current.

This 'patch' frequently takes longer than the original download, as it includes both Expansions (Update 8 - Riders of Rohan; and Update 12 - Helm's Deep) as well as the various updates along the way.

• The Steam download of LOTRO of the Mac Client for LOTRO requires roughly 20GB of disk space. Download time is approximately 2.5 - 3 hours depending upon your communications speeds.

NOTE: The Mac Client downloaded via Steam is identical to the Mac Client downloaded from lotro.com. Steam is simply a download mechanism.

• See: Mac Client Steam Installation for more information on the Steam download

Support for the Mac Client

• There is an official Mac Technical Support Thread:http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?710-MAC-Technical-Support Mac players should post in this forum.

• Turbine support links

Turbine SupportKnowledgebaseHow to Get Help on the Tech Forums Common Tech Issues New Player Help

Note:

Disclaimer
This site, 'Lotro-Wiki.com,' is for players by players, dedicated to LOTRO! This site is neither endorsed by, nor associated with, Standing Stone Games. Content at this page is copied from Standing Stone Games, 'as-is,' with minor wiki adaptions. See also our general disclaimer.

• The LOTRO Customer Support forums are for Player-to-Player help!
• For official support, please submit a ticket to the appropriate team via the form here.
• After contacting support, log into your email webpage to add noreply@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their 'safe senders' list and your contacts list/address book.
• Be sure to check Spam/Junk Mail folders as well since most email providers do not let external email programs or cell phones download mail flagged this way.

Player created Support and Information

• www.lotro-wiki.com is the home of the Mac Client player created and maintained documentation of the Mac Client as well as much information about LOTRO!

Turbine Customer Support: Accounts

• For problems not specifically related to the Mac Client, but relating to the Account (myaccount.turbine.com), Financial, etc.:

(From CarpeNocturm - Turbine Customer Support - signature)

LOTRO SUPPORT Page & Knowledge Base

• To request a Paid Service or support from a specific team, click the 'Support Center' tab, then 'Submit a Ticket'
• English Account/Store Support is available from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, 7 days a week. (GMT -5). 855-WBGAMES (855-924-2637)

Support Portal - Deutsch

Portail de support - Français

Important Notes about OSX

1. The Tilde character, '~' is shorthand for '<your home directory>'. (This is classic UNIX(tm), OSX Terminology.)
2. Beginning with OSX Lion (10.7), and continuing under Mountain Lion (10.8) and Mavericks (10.9) the Library directory (folder) is no longer normally visible in the finder.

   You can change this Finder behavior with a terminal command or simply use the Finder 'pull-down' menu 'GO' and select 'Go To Folder' (Keyboard shortcut = Cmd-Shift-G).

   This will open a window which defaults to '~/Library' and open a finder window to that location. You can then simply continue to navigate from there as you normally would.

3. There are two 'library' directories: '/Library' and '~/Library'.

   '/Library' is the root or System Library. You will 'GO' here if you forget the Tilde!

   '~/Library' is your userid's personal library and where all of the LOTRO Mac Client information is stored.

4. Case-Sensitivity - HFS+ (the Mac filesystem) is usually configured to be Case-Insensitive but Case-Preserving. This means that 'hello.txt,' 'Hello.TXT', and 'HELLO.txt' all refer to the same file. This is the same behavior found in the normal FAT32 File system in Windows. Since Tiger, it has been possible to create a Case-Sensitive File system for OSX. Most users will never do this, hence this note is somewhat superfluous, however it is more likely under OSX, and because of it's Unix(tm) background. All Unix(tm) file systems are Case-Sensitive.
5. Filename extensions, '.app' for example -- By default these are turned off. In the Finder under Preferences, Advanced, you can display them by checking the box 'Show all filename extensions.'

The Mac Client and Gatekeeper

• Images of the Gatekeeper preferences screens can be found here: Mac Client Gatekeeper Information

From Apple Developer notes for Sierra (September 4, 2016)

Technical Note TN2206

macOS Code Signing In Depth

Gatekeeper Changes in macOS 10.11 (Sierra) and Later

On macOS 10.11 and later, signatures that don't cover the entire code are rejected. This should not affect anyone using normal build tools.

Gatekeeper also rejects apps containing symbolic links that:

• point to nowhere
• point to places that are legitimately excluded from the app's signature
• point outside the app bundle, except to locations in /System and /Library.

Shipping your Signed Code

The preferred way to ship a signed app is via the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store provides a secure channel for app delivery and installation that requires minimal action on the part of the user.

For distribution outside of the Mac App Store, the preferred options are to use a signed disk image (DMG) or signed installer package. Signing these allows validation of the contents and their source. ZIP archives may also be used, but this is discouraged.

If using a disk image to ship an app, users should drag the app from the image to its desired installation location (usually /Applications) before launching it. This also applies to apps installed via ZIP or other archive formats or apps downloaded to the Downloads directory: ask the user to drag the app to /Applications and launch it from there.

This practice avoids an attack where a validly signed app launched from a disk image, ZIP archive, or ISO (CD/DVD) image can load malicious code or content from untrusted locations on the same image or archive. Starting with macOS Sierra, running a newly-downloaded app from a disk image, archive, or the Downloads directory will cause Gatekeeper to isolate that app at a unspecified read-only location in the filesystem. This will prevent the app from accessing code or content using relative paths.

Do not ship apps using ISO images. There is no provision for signing these.

Gatekeeper defined

Gatekeeper is a security feature introduced by Apple in OSX Lion (10.7).

• Gatekeeper is documented by Apple at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5290Learn about Gatekeeper.

Neither Turbine nor Happy Cloud is recognized by Apple as a 'Known Developer.'

This means that the OSX Download security - Gatekeeper - will not allow the downloaded .dmg file to mount or the Game Client (or Launcher) to launch when using the default OSX security settings.

• In Mountain Lion (OSX 10.8.2), Gatekeeper has a 'known bug' in that the error message output when attempting to verify and mount a downloaded .dmg file is NOT the correct error message. It incorrectly indicates a corrupt download file, and the appropriate Gatekeeper dialog is not displayed. (Fixed in Maverick, OSX 10.9, upgrade your version of OSX!)
• Images of Gatekeeper windows are shown on this page: Mac Client: Gatekeeper Information
• The installation is a two phase process (until Turbine and Happy Cloud become a Registered Developer with Apple):

Gatekeeper and Yosemite (OSX 10.10.x) or El Capitan (10.11.x)

Phase 1 - allow the downloaded .pkg file to launch

1- Selecting 'Play Instantly On Mac' or 'Mac Download' will download the 7.5 MB 'Happy Cloud Install Pkg' --

LOTRO_MAC_4.46.pkg to your Mac.

2- Proceed to double click on the .pkg icon. This will attempt to launch The Happy Cloud Installer installer:

• Under Lion (OSX 10.7.5) and later versions of OSX (Mountain Lion, Maverick, Yosemite), all files downloaded from the Internet are blocked from opening - either automatically or by double-clicking on the .pkg file icon - by Apple's Gatekeeper: see: Mac Client: Gatekeeper Information for more details on Gatekeeper.

When you first launch the Happy Cloud installer, you should get the pop-up

'LOTRO_MAC_4.46.pkg” can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer. Your security preferences allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers.' (Screenshot: Gatekeeper Warning-2)

Before you click OK:

2.1 Under the Apple menu, select System Preferences

2.2 Under 'General' (top row of icons) select 'Security & Privacy' - a House icon

2.3 Select: the General Tab

2.4 When you click 'OK' - you should see a message appear in the lower portion of the panel:

'LOTRO_MAC _4.46.pkg' was blocked from opening because it is not from an identified developer.' (Screenshot: Gatekeeper Warning-3)

2.5 Simply click 'Open Anyway.'

2.6 The installer installer will now proceed to install the Happy Cloud downloader and to install the LOTRO Launcher and Game client consolidated app.

Phase 2 allow the installed LOTRO Client to launch

(You can also simply skip the phase 1 section above and go directly to phase 2. Just remember what you have done so that you can reset your security once the installation is completed, as the download and patch process for LOTRO can take several hours!)

1. Under the Apple menu, select System Preferences
2. Under 'General' (top row of icons) select 'Security & Privacy' - a House icon
3. Select: the General Tab

   • You will need to 'Click the lock to make changes' and supply your Administrator Name and Password to enable the change.

4. Select: Allow applications downloaded from: 'Anywhere'

   • Answer the pop-up box .. NOTE that the 'Allow From Anywhere' box is NOT highlighted (meaning, you MUST click on it, not simply hit return) and that it is on the LEFT side of the alert box.

   Now the .pkg file should launch and the install complete with no problems.

• Once you have verified the .dmg file and launched the game client the first time, you can reset this to the default setting: Mac App Store and identified developers
• Note that this only needs to be done once. Gatekeeper will remember that you have authorized this application to run.

The Mac Client Communication Notes

General Communications issues

Many problems seen with both the Mac and PC Clients are truly caused by 'Communications issues.'

The nature of the Internet and the encrypted UDP (see next section) used by LOTRO and DDO cause untold 'non-obvious' problems.

• The first step to fixing most of these communications issues is to get 'new addresses and routes' (ARP and DHCP).

1. Quit LOTRO
2. Power OFF your system i.e. Shut Down your system (not reboot or sleep)!

   un-check the box to 'Reopen windows when logging back in'

   (With a MacBook Air or PowerBook DO NOT just close the lid, shut it down completely and do not leave any programs running!)

3. Power OFF as appropriate (unplug the power cord if you can't find a switch):

   (these three devices are frequently one box, especially from a Cable TV or FIOS provider)

   • your WiFi Access Point
   • your Router
   • your Modem
4. Wait at least two (2) full minutes! on the wall clock.
5. Power up the item(s) in step 3 in reverse order -- Modem ,Routher, Access Point -- waiting until each device is completely rebooted and back 'in the green.' (typically between one and two minutes per device)
6. Power up your Mac
7. Launch LOTRO and try again.

This process 'forces' your Router to clear its ARP cache and usually, acquire a new address from your ISP; and then your Mac or PC to obtain a new DHCP address from your router.

The few of you who have 'Static Addresses' already know what I'm talking about and this article won't try to elaborate as it doesn't know your specifics.

The Mac Client and Firewalls (Port Forwarding)

Note especially: Depending upon your home networking setup you may simply want to disable the Firewall option in OSX -- System Preferences / Security & Privacy / 'Firewall tab' and allow your Router to be your firewall. (Configuring two firewall devices can lead to significant confusion. This is especially true when your ISP provides you with a 'Router.')

• LOTRO and DDO both use the same two sets of Firewall ports.

Normally, you don't need port forwarding because the client always sends to the server before the server tries to respond. In most NAT firewalls, this implicitly triggers a port forward from that server to your client.

A 'NAT' (Network address Translation) router or firewall device will typically be your home Internet connection offered by your ISP. This is frequently a WI-FI device.

• Port 80 - TCP
• Ports 9000-9010UDP - Server Port This changed with the datacenter move on 11 January 2016.
• Ports 9000-9100UDP - Server Port
• Ports 2900-2910UDP - Server Port

These ports need to be opened out-bound

Note that the following is rarely necessary:

• With the Windows Client, when configuring port forwarding explicitly, you need to specify the CLIENT's port. By default, the client lets the operating system choose its port. If you edit your UserPreferences.ini (My DocumentsLord of the Rings OnlineUserPreferences.ini), you'll see a section titled [Net]. There's an entry there for 'UserSpecifiedPort', which defaults to 0. Set that value to something else (like 9000), and then forward that port to your computer (either by port forwarding or by a trigger).

Two files may also need to be added to your firewall exceptions list. These two files are 'launcher.exe' and 'lotroclient.exe'. Both of the files need to have full permission in the firewall to access the servers.

See: Turbine's Knowledge Base http://support.turbine.com/link/portal/24001/24001/Article/347/Port-forwarding-and-LOTRO

• For the Mac Client, the preferences file is '~/Library/Preferences/com.turbine.lotroclient.plist', which is a binary file that must be edited with Xcode or TextWrangler. TextEdit CANNOT be used to edit the file. 'Net.UserSpecifiedPort' is assumed to be the equivalent variable. (This has not been verified.)

The two file names are: 'LotroLauncher.app' and 'lotroclient.app'

Encrypted UDP

• Both DDO and LOTRO connect using encrypted UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packets over Ports 9000-9010UDP (This changed with the datacenter move on 11 January 2016.) Ports 9000-9100UDP (for the general data communication) and 2900 to 2910 (for the chat and voice chat connections) and they use 'loose' routing methods, usually referred to as 'asymmetrical packet routing'. What this means is that while the game client sends data outbound (upstream) on port 'x', the response packets coming back from the server inbound (downstream) are using port 'y'.

• Whenever there is an issue with these ports being accessible, the two-way data method being supported, or the inbound/outbound data being mis-routed then connection issues at these stages can and do occur.

The Mac Client and anti-malware (anti-virus) software

• It has been determined that if you use any of the various anti-virus software packages which ALSO check for 'malware' from websites, the Mac Client will encounter problems in the initial phases of loading resulting in the error: 'An Update Error Occurred.'

• If you use the avast! for Mac product, it is known that this will prevent the Mac Client from contacting patch.lotro.com and updating. The end result is the 'classic' error: 'An Update Error Occurred.'

In the System Preferences control panel for avast!, [B]'Web Shield'[/B] is the culprit.

If you have it enabled, the Mac Client will not get started!

• You can either disable 'Web Shield' completely, or select 'Advanced' and add 'patch.lotro.com' (HTTP) to the list of exclusions.

(For the Bullroarer client also add 'moria.patch.lotro.com' (HTTP) )

Communication related Knowledge Base articles

The Turbine Support Knowledge base at support.turbine.com has information related to communications issues in many articles. While much of the information is technical, and generally written from a Windows point of view, an understanding of many different things is necessary to troubleshoot your problems.

• The game launcher is not connecting. -- http://support.turbine.com/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=24001&task=knowledge&questionID=710

• The Connection to the Server has been Lost' or 'Searching for logon server .. Attempt 1 of 20' or similar connection issues such as severe packet loss, going linkdead, chat server connection loss. -- http://support.turbine.com/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=24001&task=knowledge&questionID=570

• [201] Can't open the data files. Check that they exist and that you have permission to write to them. The program will now exit. [201].' -- http://support.turbine.com/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=24001&task=knowledge&questionID=283

• How can I reduce lag? -- http://support.turbine.com/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=24001&task=knowledge&questionID=445

NOTE: It is not possible to 'check for the latest drivers' or 'update your graphics drives' with OSX. No third-party drivers exist. Apple purchases the technology from the Graphics vendors and integrates it directly into OSX and then releases it along with any other OSX Updates.

Communication with the server has been lost.

After playing for some random amount of time I get a black screen with the message 'Connection with the server has been lost.'

The error message: 'Connection with the server has been lost.' -- is specifically a communications problem.

99+% of the time that problem is with YOUR ISP, not Turbine.

If Turbine's servers are having trouble, then you may get that error, but not likely. You will normally simply get no connection.

However keep in mind, that error message is generated by the game-client on your system, it does not come from Turbine's servers, so you will only ever get it if you WERE logged in to the game.

So, what is the fix? Sadly, the accurate answer is -- 'It depends.'

All communications problems can have multiple causes and therefore multiple fixes.

That said, most communications problems are extremely transient.. here one minute and gone the next. That is because of the 'Connectionless' nature of the Internet.

* Frequently if you wait three to five wall-clock minutes and then try again you will discover the problem has resolved itself!

In reality, the 'Net's Topology' is extremely redundant, except for the 'Last Mile.'

The 'Last Mile' is that piece of wire between your ISP and your home. (Very few folks have 'fibre to the home,' but rather have either twisted-pair from the phone company or coax from the cable company.) Unless you physically move, that 'last mile' never changes.

The 'Next mile' is between your ISP and the thing known as the Internet Exchange point (IXP) -- the location where your ISP connects to the Internet.

Depending upon your ISP (i.e. how big they are and how much capital they have invested), that 'next mile' may only be a single link or it may have multiple redundancies.

The ARP Cache

What happens?

A typical scenario is a problem with that 'Next mile' -- today, many ISPs have multiple connections to the 'Internet backbone,' that 'Internet Exchange point.'

If a problem develops in the primary link, it is like a wound -- it will 'fester' for some time, until it gets 'bad-enough' that various detection software determines that a significant failure has occurred or is about occur. At that point, the software will switch the ISP's connection to its alternate 'ROUTE.' Bingo, everything is restored to full functionality.. almost. (If you really care, 'festering' typically means Packet Loss.)

Why almost? Because of things known as 'Routing Tables' and the infamous 'ARP Cache' (Address Resolution Protocol).

Because you had a working connection the ARP cache on your system KNOWS that it has to send packets addressed to Turbine via that failed link.. Oops. That won't work.

The ability of the IXP to switch and recover is fairly instantaneous -- maybe only taking 30-90 seconds.

However, the ARP software on your Mac or PC 'takes time' to realize that the old route is broken, and to ask for a new one.

How long? Hard to say. There are many issues revolving around such timers, not the least of them being -- maybe this is only a very brief outage and things will return to normal faster than we can figure out how to get a new Route.

Flush the ARP Cache

There are multiple ways to flush the ARP cache on OSX -- however they all involve being familiar with the Terminal Window and the command line.

Consequently, I simply recommend the 'power-cycle' route, as part of the flushing involves access to your modem/router.

1. Quit LOTRO
2. Power OFF your system i.e. Shut Down your system (not reboot or sleep)!

   un-check the box to 'Reopen windows when logging back in'

   (With a MacBook Air or PowerBook DO NOT just close the lid, shut it down completely and do not leave any programs running!)

3. Power OFF as appropriate (unplug the power cord if you can't find a switch):

   (these three devices are frequently one box, especially from a Cable TV or FIOS provider)

   • your WiFi Access Point
   • your Router
   • your Modem
4. Wait at least two (2) full minutes! on the wall clock.
5. Power up the item(s) in step 3 in reverse order -- Modem ,Routher, Access Point -- waiting until each device is completely rebooted and back 'in the green.' (typically between one and two minutes per device)
6. Power up your Mac
7. Launch LOTRO and try again.

All of this takes time, and frequently during that time, the original problem as been healed by the ISP, etc. and you will be up and running again.

Again, depending upon your ISP, that may simply not happen -- a storm might have knocked out power, a back-hoe could have cut the Fibre, etc.

Obviously, if the 'wire' to your home is cut -- you are simply SOL until it is repaired.

What happens when you launch the Mac Client?

• As with the Windows Client, the first thing which the Mac Client will do is to download the English, French and German 'teleport screens.'

At present, the Mac Client downloads all 30 screens (10 for each language) every time it is launched. This is a 'Known Issue.'

• Next the client patches the patcher, launcher, and game engine as necessary. Then if necessary, reboots the Launcher and downloads the 'teleport screens' again.
• At which point the patcher will begin patching in earnest.. as with the windows client, depending upon what needs updating since the 'app' was built.

  This is a good time to right-click on the ring icon in your dock, select options, 'keep in dock' To make it easy to launch the application the next time you want to play.

• Enter Userid
• Enter Password
• Respond to EULA (Must scroll to end of text to make Accept button 'live.')
• Respond to Terms of Service (Must scroll to end of text to make Accept button 'live.')
• Select World
• Game launches in fullscreen mode
• Intro Movie plays (you can hit escape to skip to the end of it)

Assorted notes about the Mac Client

• Note: many of these 'notes' are 'design' items which (hopefully) will change as the Client becomes more 'mature.' However, they are currently 'issues.'

• If you use the Finder to view the LOTRO Mac Client, you will find the name of the Mac Client to be: 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app' (the .app suffix may or may not be visible depending upon the settings of your Mac's preferences).

However, if you use the Terminal window to view the Mac Client, you will discover the name to be: 'LotroLauncher.app'.

Allowing multiple users on a single machine

Permissions and protections have changed in OSX over the releases, from a very wide-open environment when it was known as Darwin, to a very restrictive one today. Setting up multiple users on a 'non-server' implies that everybody is in their own 'pigeon-hole,' and not sharing things with other users on the same system.

This is compounded by the fact that the Mac Client Application is NOT quite multi-user. That is to say, It suffers from several 'Windows-isms' in file names -- Back-slashes ' , in path names which cause path names to break and therefore reads and writes to fail. And makes assumptions that only one person will be using the Mac, which impacts how Updates are processed.

• In ~/Library, the Preferences, Log and Application Support folders are written to regularly.

Each user should have their own. This appears to happen with no problems. ('~/Library' is the User's Library directory, not '/Library' which is the system Library.)

• However, the application itself (The Lord of the Rings Online™.app) and its contents DO need to be readable, writeable and executable by all users in your 'Group.'

This is because of the way the launcher updates files each time it is launched -- all of the 'transition' screens are downloaded each and every launch and are written into the '.app' file! AND, there is a second executable buried inside the first!

In theory, you should be able to set User and Group to [B]'Read & Write'[/B] and everything should work.

• You need to use the Terminal (Utilities/Terminal) and enter the command:

chmod -R ug+rwX <path to your installation>/LotroLauncher.app

This will take care of the corresponding issue of Directories not being searchable by Group, and the fact that there is a second executable buried down inside the '.app' structure: lotroclient. Avast.

To verify success:

ls -al <path to your installation>/LotroLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/lotroclient.app/Contents/MacOS/lotroclient

Note: If you have installed LOTRO in 'Applications,' the <path to your installation> will be '/Applications'.

You should see something like this (all on one line):

-rwxrwxr--@ 1 user group 56458116 Nov 4 22:16 <path to your installation>/LotroLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/lotroclient.app/Contents/MacOS/lotroclient

rwx = Read, Write, Execute in three groups - User, Group, Others

This verifies that the embedded executable 'loroclient' is in fact executable by everyone in your Group.

You should now have all of the permissions necessary to allow any user in Group staff (or whatever your Group name is) to read and update the various 'transition' screens and other files.

Internal Error on Logging in (German and French users)

This applies to folks who are not using the American English language selection.

You get all the way to entering your userid and password and selecting a server when you get the error: 'Internal Error. Please contact customer support.'

This happens on your FIRST login, when you have not yet accepted the EUL and T&C.

Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log Files

• The solution/work-around is to 'Select a Language' -- In the upper right corner of the Client is a little blue box with a downward pointing arrow. When you mouse over it, you get 'Select a Language' in German, English and French. Click on that button and select 'English.'
• The Client should re-launch, and you will be presented with the EULA and TOC to accept.
• Once you have accepted the two agreements, you can switch back to your preferred language at any time.

How can I get F1 - F12 to work in game?

If you are using an Apple keyboard:

• Open System Preferences.
• Click on Keyboard.
• Click on the checkbox next to Use all F1, F2, etc, keys as standard function keys.

The Function buttons will now work as you want.

To use the special features instead of F1 etc. then just press the fn key at the same time as the F key as before, except the function is now reversed.

F16 > F19 do not map in LOTRO even with this selected on the Apple extended keyboard.

'Standard' ANSI 101-key and 102-key keyboards (such as Logitech) should 'just work.'

Assorted Mac Client Messages (including errors)

Images and interpretations of various messages generated by the Mac Client can be found on this page: Mac Client Messages.

Turbine Knowledge Base Articles

Note that many of these articles refer to both LOTRO and DDO, both Turbine games.

Turbine Knowledge Base Articles related to the Mac Client

Note: This article is not accurate for Mountain Lion.

• Under Mountain Lion, there is no longer a 'Save as' option. The document can NOT be saved as an RTF document, only as '.spx'.
• The default location to save the document is in your 'Documents' folder. The Desktop option may not be visible.
• The save can take a while as it includes log files. It may also be a LARGE file as a result.

An alternative is to

• Select print
• In the Print window select PDF
• Select Save as PDF
• The default location to save the document is in your 'Documents' folder. The Desktop option may not be visible.

File locations:

All support files are being stored in:

~/Library/Application Support/com.turbine.lotroclient/

• lotro.keymap
• lotroclient.log
• Chat logs (Capture Chat)
• Screenshots (F11)
• Music (folder) -- ABC Music files
• Plugins (folder) -- Lua Plugins
• PluginData (folder) -- Lua Plugins Data
• ui (folder) -- Skins and Layouts

The 'UserPreferences.ini' file (as found in the Windows Client) is stored as a plist file:

~/Library/Preferences/com.standingstonegames.lotroclient.plist

And the launcher

~/Library/Preferences/com.turbine.lorolauncher.plist

Note that .plist files are 'binary' files which need to be read and converted into readable text. Xcode (free from the App Store for Mountain Lion users) does a fine job as do other third party text exiting programs. TextEdit cannot read or convert them. (TextWrangler - Bare Bones Software can convert them into XML form, however the resulting file contains all of the Apple plist boilerplate which tends to make the resulting file less than readable and therefore useful.)

Where are the .dat files?

Steam

• For the Steam installation of the Mac client, they are located here:

Open the Finder to: ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Lord of the Rings Online/The Lord of the Rings Online™.app

• Right click on 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app'
• In the pop-up menu select: 'Show Package Contents'
• Select 'Contents'
• Select 'Resources'
• Right click on 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app' (Yes this is the same name. This is the actual game-client.)
• Select 'Contents'
• Select 'Resources'

All of the .dat files will be visible in this folder.

Happy Cloud Installation: File Locations

NOTE: There is no longer a Happy Cloud installer available for LOTRO.

Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log For More Details

SSG

• /Users/<username>/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ -- Standard Apple location for dump files
• /Users/<username>/Library/Logs/LotroLauncher.log -- LOTRO Launcher log file (Typically contains no useful information)

• For the SSG installation of the Mac client, they are located here:

Open the Finder to: <path to your installation>/The Lord of the Rings Online™.appNote: the <path to your installation> will typically be /applications -- /Applications/The Lord of the Rings Online™.app

• Right click on 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app'
• In the pop-up menu select: 'Show Package Contents'
• Select 'Contents'
• Select 'Resources'
• Right click on 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app' (Yes this is the same name. This is the actual game-client.)
• Select 'Contents'
• Select 'Resources'

All of the .dat files will be visible in this folder.

• Note that in both cases here, the file names are as seen from the Finder. If you use the Terminal App, the file names ARE DIFFERENT.

See the example in Video files and transition screens below.

The Turbine LOTRO Game Manual:

A PDF copy of the Turbine LOTRO Game Manual is included in every download (PC or Mac). The current version (Update 9) is still entitled: 'Siege of Mirkwood.' However, this 'Treasure' is 'buried' in the download!

As the Mac Client is distributed as a single '.app' file, the file is 'Buried Treasure' within this single file.

To access the Game Manual via the Finder,

• Navigate to where the Mac Client App is stored, typically in /Applications;
• Locate the The Lord of the Rings Release(tm).app file and right click on it.
• From the pop-up menu select, 'Show Package Contents.'
• Navigate from 'Contents' to 'Resources,' and as with the PC client choose your language: de, en or fr. (Deutsch de, Français fr or English en)

In that directory you will also find copies of the EULA and TOS documents AND the 'LOTRO Game Manual.pdf.' The EULA and TOS documents are in html format and will display in your browser if double-clicked on. NOTE: the EULA and TOS are in their respective languages, however, the Game Manual in each directory is in English.

TIP: as this is a PDF file, you can view it in either Preview or your Browser, depending on how your system is configured. Either mechanism allows you to navigate to individual pages, and to print single pages if you wish.

TIP: Because of the complexity of accessing this manual, it is recommended that you create an alias and drag that alias to your desktop rather than printing it.(Right click on the .pdf file, and select 'Make Alias' from the pop-up menu.) The PDF file is 5.7MB in size and 42 pages in length.

Log files:

Client:~/Library/Application Suport/com.turbine.lotroclient/lotroclient.log

This file can be clicked on and read via the Console app, however it is usually only a report of events taking place AFTER login credentials have been validated. It is overwritten at each launch.

Launcher (Patcher):~/Library/Logs/LotroLauncher.log

This file can be clicked on and read via the Console app. It is normally quite short, as it is usually only a report of password failures and its full text can be read in the Finder preview window. (It represents the initial dialog between the Launcher(Patcher) and the GLS data center.) Drive cleaner for mac.

Launcher (Patcher):~/Library/Logs/com.turbine.lotroclient/PatchClient.log

This file can be clicked on and read via the Console app. It is appended to at each launch or patch session.

This log is the most useful for diagnosing patching and other issues. It records activity during the patching phase of the client, both when patches actually exist as well as for each launch when LOTRO checks the files (including .dat files). If there is any issue it usually will be indicated in this log.

However, in classic Unix fashion, this file is not normally created for you. You need to create a blank file to 'initialize' it. (Note that it is also never truncated an can therefore grow infinitely.)

You can most easily create the file from the Terminal window the 'classic' Unix way :

$ touch ~/Library/Logs/com.turbine.lotroclient/PatchClient.log

Yes that is a tilde, shift of the key to the left of 1 on the top row.

You can also create it using Text Exit or any other text editor (such as Text Wrangler or Emacs).

• Launch Text Edit;
• Create a New document making sure it is in plain text format;

Textedit > Format menu drop down > Make Plain Text

NOTE: You may only have 'Make Rich Text' as option if you have chosen the Preference:'New Document - Format - Use the Format menu to choose settings for an open document. -Plain text.'

• Enter nothing, just Save with the name;

Library/Logs/com.turbine.lotroclient/PatchClient.log

Important Note: if you are running Mountain Lion (10.8.x), your default may be to save the document to iCloud AND you may discover that you do not have Library as a visible folder (directory)! If that is the case, you may NOT be able to save the file in this manner using Text Edit. (Apple re-defined how the 'Save/Save as' options in Mountain Lion work, as well as removing Library from the normally visible list of folders.) You will need to either use the Terminal window (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and the 'touch' command listed above. Or use a different Text Editor which does make your Library folder visible.

To 'truncate' this log file, you can simply erase it (Move to Trash), in which case no further logging will take place until you re-create it. Or, again in classic Unix fashion, use the Terminal and the command:

> cat /dev/null > ~/library/logs/com.turbine.lotroclient/PatchClient.log

Lua plugins:

For Lua plugins, I recommend using LPC - LOTRO Plugin Compendium (Mac / Linux) - http://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=689This is a Java program which allows one to easily install and update Lua Plugins.You simply point it at the directory mentioned above and it will create the Plugins Folder and generate a list of available plugins for you to 'pick and choose' -- then it will track updates to your installed plugins for you. (You simply launch it, and let it do its check prior to launching the game.)

• The Plugins folder is not created for you. You need to create the 'Plugins' folder, or allow LPC to create it.

• An important Note about using LPC with the new Native Mac Client:

Because the Native Mac Client is storing the Plugins in a place different from Windows, you need to make certain that you Configure LPC before you use it -- ESPECIALLY, if you have previously used it with a WINE based distribution. LPC will look for, and find, its old settings information, and store the Plugins in the wrong location. It is not known if Turbine will change the location for the Native Mac client to match the Windows location at this time. We have bugged it and asked them to change it.. but nobody knows if they will or not.

Lua Articles on LOTRO-Wiki
* Writing Lua Scripts

Music:

Work-aounds for Play bugs: Mac Client - Music work-around

ABC Music files go here for use with /play (/playlist /playstart) commands.

• The 'Music' folder is not created for you. You need to create the 'Music' folder.
• See: www.thefatlute.com - No longer on-line
• http://www.thefatlute.eu new domain name for fatlute
• See: http://lotro.glenneroo.org/music.html
• See: http://lotromusic.mymiddleearth.com
• See: http://www.lotro-abc.com

UI Layouts:

This is the default location where the in-game command /ui stores its output./UI allows you to save and restore (across characters) the placement of UI (User Interface) elements on your screen.

• The 'ui' folder will only be created for you if you use the in-game command /ui. This will also create the folder 'layouts' within that folder.

Note that these files are plain text files in XML format. They also contain all of the aliases defined for a character.This provides a mechanism to also make your aliases common across all your characters. The files are visible to all characters on all servers when using a game-client accessed from the Mac. (I.e. they are not restricted by either account or server.)

• Note also: This command is currently (Update 9) broken in the Mac Client Beta Version, one needs to use the FULL PATH NAME for <filename>.

For example, to save a layout to the same location as all other Mac Client support files use:

/ui layout save '/Users/<userid>/Library/Application Support/com.turbine.lotroclient/ui/layouts/<layoutname>'

If you are doing this frequently, you can assign this command to a shortcut (i.e. create an alias). Replace <userid> and <layoutname> with your values:

/shortcut xx /ui layout load '/Users/<userid>/Library/Application Support/com.turbine.lotroclient/ui/layouts/<layoutname>'

where xx = the desired quickslot number (The version in the shortcut example loads the UI layout)

Skins:

Skins change the visual appearance of your User Interface. They go in a folder called 'skins' located inside the 'ui' folder.

• The 'ui' folder will only be created for you if you use the in-game command /ui (see 'Layouts' below).
• The 'skins' folder is not created for you. You need to create the 'skins' folder inside the 'ui' folder.
• See: [www.lotrointerface.com www.lotrointerface.com] for available skins

Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Log

Video files and transition screens

The Video vignette files and the Transition screens are located inside the .app bundle. As most users are not expected to need to access these files, this information is primarily for debugging purposes.

You need to be familiar with the Terminal or adept at the Finder.

1- Navigate to wherever you have LOTRO.app installed (nominally in /applications) and select it.

2- In the Finder toolbar click on the 'Gear' to get the pull-down; then select 'show package contents' (You can get that same menu as a pop-up by right-clicking on the filename.) A 'new' finder window will appear to show the 'Contents;' you navigate down from there.

3- In terminal, simply keep CDing your way down:

At that point, you can simply select the file you want to trash, right click on it 'move to trash' or simply drag it 'up a level.'

Note that from the Finder, the top-level application name is different from that which is seen in Terminal.

Yes, you do wind up passing through two '.app' files and using the 'show package contents' twice.

This is because the Mac Client is actually two nested applications -- the launcher/patcher and the game-client itself.

FWIW, this is actually the same location as in the Windows version -- just with the Mac 'bundle' around it.All three languages tress are symmetrical.

How to find LOTRO files on a Mac

• As of Yosemite (OSX 10.10) and El Capitan (OSX 10.11) there is a new method for exposing the user's Library directory.

How to Always Show the User Library Folder in OS X El Capitan & Yosemite the Easy Way - OSX Daily.

http://osxdaily.com/2014/12/16/show-user-library-folder-os-x-yosemite/

Apple in their infinite wisdom decided back about Lion, that the User never needed to visit the Library directory (folder) and hid it from from the Finder. -- However at the same time 'The Apple Way' promulgated to Developers advocated that all application program support functions be placed in '~/Library/Application Support' -- which the user can't see! Duh!

Let me describe the two situations as relating to the LOTRO Mac Client.

1- Note also that there are TWO libraries -- /Library (slash Library), the System Library and ~/Library (tilde Library) the User's Library. Needless to say both Libraries have 'Application Support' directories.

It is easiest visit them via the Terminal window, but that requires Unix (OSX) command line expertise.

To access them via the Finder, use the 'Go' drop-down menu. Pressing the Command (alt) key while that menu is down, will add 'Library' to the list. That entry will take you directly to the User's Library.

Alternately, you can use the 'Go to Folder' option (Apple-Shift-G). This will generate a pop-up 'Go to Folder' which ill be automatically filled in with '~/Library'.. the User's Library.

Once there, you are 'halfway' there.. 'Application Support' will contain 'com.turbine.lotroclient' -- this is where your screenshots are stored, and where you create the 'Plugins' folder for Luas, or 'Music' folder for ABC files, etc.

Note that it is also possible to make the Library directory permanently visible again. In terminal, issue the command: chflags nohidden ~/Library

2- Again in their advocating of the 'The Apple Way' to developers, primarily so that Applications can be distributed through the 'App Store,' all Application programs are 'bundled.'

In 'Finder Preferences,' 'Advanced,' if you have 'Show all filename extensions' checked, you will see the extension '.app' at the end of each application in '/Applications.' (Note that while there are again TWO -- '/Applications' and '~/Applications.' The User's ~/Applications directory is rarely used by third-party developers.)

Once in /Applications, select 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app' and Right-Click, select 'Show Package Contents.'You are now 'inside' the 'application bundle' of the 'Launcher' for the LOTRO Mac Client.

This top level folder 'Contents,' contains a number of other folders: 'Resources' being the one of interest.Inside the 'Resources' folder, you will find ANOTHER 'The Lord of the Rings Online™.app' -- this is the actual game client.

Another Right-click and 'Show Package Contents' and you will find another set of folder including another 'Resources.'

Inside this second 'Resources' folder you will find all of the Game's data files, and the file : 'DownloadFilesList.xml'.

Stopping the constant downloading of the Transition Screens

15.3

As of 15.3 - 30 March 2015:

• The OSX Launcher will no longer download all the splash screens every time you start it. It does make an HTTP request for each splash screen to see if you have the most recent one on disk each time.

20 December 2014 - NOTE: These instructions no longer work. Turbine has changed the way the screens are downloaded and as yet a way to prevent the 30 screen download has not been found.

• The Mac Client constantly downloads the 'Transition' screens every time it is launched, if they have been changed or not!

To stop that behavior and dramatically shorten launch time, follow the instructions below.

• This set of commands is for a STEAM installation. The 'standard' installation location is slightly different. (see below)

Note that this is a single line for use in the Terminal window. Each ' ' represents and 'escaped' space. There is a single space after 'Rings'.

ls -als ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Lord of the Rings Online/LotroLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/lotroclient.app/Contents/Resources/DownloadFilesList.xml

This is a list command: which will return something like:

12 -rw-r--r-- 1 User staff 8703 Feb 22 13:51 /Users/User/Library/Application Support/Steam/ ..

If you get 'No such file or directory' you most likely have one of the escaped spaces wrong.

Once you have verified that you have the ls command 'spelled correctly' and gotten the list response back, change the command to:

cd ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Lord of the Rings Online/LotroLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/lotroclient.app/Contents/Resources

This will Change your Directory to 'Resources' where a simple 'ls -l' command will return something like,

If you examine the contents of the file: 'DownloadFilesList.xml,' you will discover that all of the file names are in 'Windows' format, with ' instead of '/' as the path separator. Consequently, the launcher cannot find them, and assumes that they must be downloaded again.

Next backup (Copy) the file: 'DownloadFilesList.xml'

cp DownloadFilesList.xml backup.xml

Then run the following SED command:

sed -i .bak -e's////g' DownloadFilesList.xml

Yes, this does create a backup file: DownloadFilesList.xml. -- belt and suspenders :)

• For the standard installation in /Applications, the process is identical, just the initial path is somewhat simpler.

Start off with ~/library again, but leaving out the 'Steam Parts' :

ls -als ~/Library/Application Support/LotroLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/lotroclient.app/Contents/Resources/DownloadFilesList.xml

cd ~/Library/Application Support/LotroLauncher.app/Contents/Resources/lotroclient.app/Contents/Resources/

and continue as above.

Misc Notes

Capturing Screen Shots on the Mac OUTSIDE of the game

This can be used to capture a particular window on your Mac.

Avast Internal Error Mac For More Info See The System Logistics

• The resulting file will be placed on your desktop as 'Screenshot <date>

1. Position the cursor over the window you wish to record. (The cursor does not appear in the screenshot.)
2. Hold down the APPLE [Command] and SHIFT keys
3. Press 4 to get 'Crosshairs' so you can select just the section of the screen you want in your screenshot.

• You can drag the crosshairs around the object you wish to capture.
• Note that you only get one try to select an area. As soon you release the mouse, the screenshot is taken.

Alternately:

• Press the space bar after you press 4 to automatically size the screenshot so that it matches the window the cursor is over.
• After you press the space bar, the window under the cursor window is highlighted, and a camera icon should appear.
• Click the mouse to take the screenshot.

You can also easily capture the entire screen:

1. Hold down the APPLE [Command] and SHIFT keys
2. Press 3 for a screen shot of the entire screen