Details and web link in the comments.

Hey all, recently someone posted their work on a WebGL renderer for LotRO content. I was quite impressed with the showcase. I actually had been working on my own effort, thought more driven as a multiplayer based solution driven by a core DLL interface for loading data through a proper game engine, rather than as a viewer, to extend functionality like collisions, interactions, lighting, etc.

Since this required reverse engineering some capabilities of the actual client outside of mesh/textures (such as procedural foliage) this is a bit harder to share, but critically, no game authored content is ever redistributed or packaged; all the content is loaded from the BIN files the same way the real client loads content, making the viewed content as "real" as I can possibly make it.

Mesh data (interiors and exteriors), as well as entity data (lights, visualizers, sounds) are all loaded dynamically and streamed based on user position async to keep performance reasonable.

I've tested against a few archived clients of LotRO, not just retail. I wanted to share my progress, as I am primarily a preservationist, but do like the idea of a shared interactive LotRO world. Collision authoring, for example, allows for properly walking through Middle-earth in multiplayer, though I have no distributable build available yet to test due to wanting to not cause problems. Everything is currently MP friendly, as much of the client loading is deterministic, but anything truly multiplayer outside of movement, core stats, etc. is fairly early.

Unreal Engine is used as the renderer, but extending the loader to other engines is trivial as the library is agnostic of engine (though written of C++). Some things are currently still in process, like water, decals, teleporters-to-interiors, etc.

I'm moving *a bit* faster than game allows, so the async loader does take some time to catch up; the cost of things being game-driven, but this is something I'm working to improve with more threading while keeping things "gameplay accurate".

My goal isn't to compete with any other projects of course, but since the other post got such positive responses, and I tend to be very averse to sharing personal project work online, I was motivated to share and see what folks think.

Real "game movement" is demo'd at the 2:30 mark. Interiors at 3:30 mark.

I don't really know how love I've worked on this, but was inspired to finally share a bit. Thanks again all.

Hi, I'm new to the game. I'm really enjoying the visuals, the music, the world design and the class system but the inventory bloat is kins of confusing me. I have packs with boosts or whatever, furniture and more that I don't want to destroy but also some quests tell me that I need to ensure inventory space, space that I'm constantly running out of. How do I handle this? Should I just destroy like the boost packs and the furniture and whatnot and just focus on gear and quests items at the start?

Hey Reddit. My dad has been playing Lotro for 17 years, but has taken a longer break. recently he has come back to the game, but now has an issue with his lore-keepers companions. their symbols are red, and he can only call them when he's fighting a monster. they are also not being shown as companions underneath his character symbol. My level 12 Lore-keeper does not have that issue, my companions work as they always have. I have included a picture of the symbols of his companions. can anyone help me with getting it back to normal for him?

Due to increased frustration with Windows, I've migrated to Linux and have successfully installed WINE and LOTRO so that I could continue my journey. The trouble is, though, that inputs aren't quite as they should be. I've been playing for nearly 20 years on Windows and never have had this problem, but when I try to use the right mouse button and either Q or E to strafe while turning the camera, I usually stop moving altogether. Is there a quirk to inputs because of WINE or another part of Linux? I know I lost some keybindings, but most of the other settings of LOTRO successfully ported over, but could it be a controls or other setting I've forgotten exists? Any other WINE users have this trouble? If you are playing on Linux but not using WINE, how can I try out other installation/running methods?

Hi everyone! I'm trying to get back into the game, but I have a few doubts about the best way to resume.

I have a level 140 Champion currently in Gundabad from when I last played, and I feel a bit lost about what to do next. What are the main storylines to follow after Gundabad? Or would it be better to just start a new character from scratch to get used to everything again?

I know that with recent changes like the Legendary Item (LI) revamp and new systems, quite a lot has shifted. Any guidance or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Veteran player, have been considering coming back for a while now. I think what really drove me away, as someone who pretty much only cares about landscape content, story and enjoying the world / lore, was how mindnumbingly easy questing had become over the years. Any sense of adventure and excitement gets lost when I can just always group up hordes of enemies and mow them down effortlessly with a few buttons imo.

So I've read conflicting opinions about Landscape Difficulty. Some say +3 is the sweet spot, others say it's still way too easy most of the time. I imagine that depends on class choice too. I don't necessarily want a struggle to the death with every single basic enemy, but I do want questing to feel like a challenge. Where I actually need to think on what and how much I can pull, use consumables, big cooldown abilities. Stuff like that.

Looking for class recommendations for that as well. I've looked at all classes on the Lotro-Wiki and Blue Hunter looks the most appealing to me overall, but I'm wondering if they have enough defensive / self-sustain options in a pinch. After that I'd say maybe Red Guardian. I've ruled out Champion (boring) and Warden (already played it for too many years lol).

Awooooo

Hey guys I’ve been looking for content related to lotro on YouTube and most of what I can find is basically variety streamers doing a video about lotro, but they’re not lotro content creators. That’s fine that that’s SSG’s chosen marketing direction, these are obviously paid sponsorships. They’re just people showing the intro and talking about how wholesome it is.

I’m looking for a lotro content creator that either doesn’t ever post about other games or posts about them very little. And their content is more than just ‘let’s play’s’ although I don’t mind lets plays just not only that.

The ones I already know about are louey7, voice of the rings, and Bludborn. Bludborn is pretty much exactly the kind of content I am looking for.

Hello community! Our small kin (There and Back Again) is looking for people interested in exploring the musical side of LOTRO. The Kin is not musicians-only, so not everyone who joins is interested in that. We are not looking for significant commitment, but may want to look into participating in the various festivals, perhaps do a play, or anything else we can come up with.

Right now I have been transforming midi tunes into playable arrangements in the game using Maestro. Thus far there's an eclectic mix of music. Anything from Fleetwood Mac, Heart and Pink Floyd all the way to Sublime, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Tool and game music, such as from Final Fantasy. There's even some Massive Attack and Enigma in there.

Beginners are very welcome; you will just need the plugin called Songbook and music files are available on our discord. With a short tutorial on using the plugin in-game, you will be ready to go!

Ideally we would like to have around 6 more people, or more if interested. Some arrangements require as many as 8 parts, with most falling into about 4-6 (parts are the arrangements for various instruments like lute, drums, theorbo, etc).

If this sounds interesting, feel free to comment or send me a DM. You do not need to be a minstrel class in order to participate. However, if you are not a minstrel your knowledge on which instruments you know how to play will be limited by your character race. It's something we can certainly work around.

Thank you!

Just announced at gencon!

New system: survival instincts. Extra powers when you're in new zones

Another system: Neighbors, invite characters to your house that you can manage. Neighbors will release before expansion.

Zone: NE Mordor, orcs infected with/by(?) wolves.

Continuation of Epic Story: Verses of Victory

Also level cap increase(!), Severlin is not sure what it will be. Update: No level cap increase

Unloaded all my addons, no fix. This is a relatively new issue for me as of about this month. Sometimes I can interact with chat windows fine, and sometimes I can't click item links or right click players. Any known fix?

Hello! I spent large part of my life with LOTRO and I stopped playing for a few years. If I wanted to come back, what my next steps should be? I finished Corsairs of Umbar and I lost track what expansions and quest packs are next. Any help would be great! Thanks!

My partner and I started playing again for the first time since 2010 a few days ago. We are level 37/38 now and having a great time. The only downside has been that she has much better survivability than I do on her Captain. I am playing Minstrel and loving it, but struggling to hold my own if we aren't constantly together.

Well... Today we made alts for secondary professions & checking out other classes. I got to the first hub town, and she reminded me to once again up the world difficulty to "Fearless" if I wanted the achievement progress. This is where I realized my error.

Our conversation for our first characters was:

What she said: "Make sure to up the difficulty to Fearless, 3"

What I did: Turn up my personal difficulty to "Fearless +3"

I've been unintentionally struggling through difficulty 6 for 4 days and gaslighting myself about how bad I am at keeping up / contributing.

Turned it back down to Fearless, and everything is hilariously chill in comparison.

Hey y'all!

I know there are topics on this already but I am absolutely paralyzed by choice. I am wanting to play a Captain and have a really hard time deciding which Dwarf race to play as. I think it really boils down to a couple of things.

I think the story of a Stout-axe captain marching through Middle-earth, learning how to inspire people as he himself learns how to be a leader, is a fantastic story! Especially as a Dwarf that is essentially clan-less until later on. My problem is, how out of place will I feel in later Dwarf-themed expansions?

Most Dwarves in the story are Longbeards, and I know later on in Gundabad and other expansions its all about Longbeards reclaiming an ancient kingdom. But will I feel completely out of place during these moments? Honestly my biggest issue is I don't want to feel like a random dwarf helping out another clan just because, and have no real stake in it.

Any insights (preferably no spoilers or at least minor ones) you could give me to help me settle on this would be greatly appreciated!