Johnny Matthews | Install LOTRO on Windows 11

Have you tried to install Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) on Steam, but it just won't open? Well, it's not opening because the game relies on a particular version of C++, which Standing Stone Games does not distribute with the game. Here's how to install it. This was written on 28th of February 2022.

The specific package we’re looking for is Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable Setup. There are a few places to find this package:

Microsoft’s website

I grabbed a version of the C++ installer from microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=26999. However, there’s a chance that the link is now broken. Microsoft likes to move packages around to spice things up a bit.

Search for it

If the above link to Microsoft is dead, try searching for Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable Setup. Only download the package from an official Microsoft domain, though; there’s a bunch of sketchy sites offering this package, but they’re usually trojans or the like.

Download it from this site

If, after those three steps, you still haven’t managed to install the package, then I’ve made the package available on this site.

Using HTTP

Here’s the file.

If you’re a nerd who likes to use PowerShell, you can download and verify the file with this command:

wget https://johnnymatthews.dev/blog/2022-02-28-install-lotro-on-windows-11/vcredist_x86.exe
Get FileHash vcredist_x86.exe

Make sure the output of Get FileHash matches below:

Algorithm       Hash                                                                   Path
---------       ----                                                                   ----
SHA256          99DCE3C841CC6028560830F7866C9CE2928C98CF3256892EF8E6CF755147B0D8       C:\Users\You\Downloa...

Only run the package once you’ve verified the SHA256 hash of the download matches above. If it doesn’t, don’t run the .exe and find another copy somewhere else.

Using IPFS

The file is also available on IPFS, somewhere. It’s CID is: QmfLnF7SE41vBhRAc7WKNr3TtxHatTUXudvpoNXru7e81e

If you’re a PowerShell nerd with IPFS installed, here are the commands you need to download the file:

ipfs get QmfLnF7SE41vBhRAc7WKNr3TtxHatTUXudvpoNXru7e81e

Following the install

Once you’ve got the C++ package installed, LOTRO should open normally. If it doesn’t, though, check out this post on the Lord of the Rings Online support site.