How do I download the mac client?

[Safavid]

When I went to download it there were two links to do so. I clicked both but only one ended up working after waiting a few hours to download the client comes up, I click on a character but he comes up all red and the message reads "area character in not downloaded". Did I mess something up? I'm thinking about uninstalling and starting all over. Could somebody give me a step-by-step or better yet link me to a video so I don't screw things up again? Thanks!

[Yula_the_Mighty]

Did you try downloading:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/212500/
the full Mac client from steam?

[Valamar]

When I went to download it there were two links to do so. I clicked both but only one ended up working after waiting a few hours to download the client comes up, I click on a character but he comes up all red and the message reads "area character in not downloaded". Did I mess something up? I'm thinking about uninstalling and starting all over. Could somebody give me a step-by-step or better yet link me to a video so I don't screw things up again? Thanks!

Aha.

The Mac Download button does not work. It uses the Pando PMB downloader which no longer (since February 2013) works with OSX.

It sounds like you also used the "new" Happy Cloud downloader to "Play Instantly" ... with an "old" account which already had characters.

You have hit one of the "new" downloads. I have not had a chance to write up the details yet -- it apparently does work. But since I now have a 2meg DSL line it takes me forever to experiment with things.

Here's the basic scenario...

The Happy Cloud download allows one to begin playing with a partial download -- nominally about 4gig out of 20gig for LOTRO.

Once you hit the point where you can begin playing, you can launch the game and the HC downloader will continue to download the remainder of the game in the background.
(The HC client is configured to "auto-launch" at that point.)

When you launch the game "Instantly" only the 3 starter areas have been downloaded (Bree/Ered Luin/The Shire) so if you have an existing character, say in North downs, you will get the "Area Character in not downloaded."

Put another way, the Instant download is aimed at "first time" players who are just creating their first character.

At that point, you simply have to wait until the full 20GB download completes. Quit the client, re-launch, and you should be good to go.

[Yula_the_Mighty]

Put another way, the Instant download is aimed at "first time" players who are just creating their first character.

At that point, you simply have to wait until the full 20GB download completes. Quit the client, re-launch, and you should be good to go.

The Steam version is full installer with dedicated FTP servers. It should download a lot faster in this situation than a Happy Cloud incremental download with a quick start for totally new customers.

I have no idea which one is faster to get a totally new customer to start playing. I have a very high speed connection. It does not take me long to download a 10-20 GB installer.

[Valamar]

The Steam version is full installer with dedicated FTP servers. It should download a lot faster in this situation than a Happy Cloud incremental download with a quick start for totally new customers.

I have no idea which one is faster to get a totally new customer to start playing. I have a very high speed connection. It does not take me long to download a 10-20 GB installer.

I used to have a 20meg FIOS connection ... However, I believe you are correct ... the Steam Download is undoubtedly the fastest.

I am just getting around to writing up my first time HC download experience. My initial reaction was WOW... the estimated download time was only 188 minutes!... Surprise! it turned out that was the estimate for the partial download, however it was pretty accurate.
But then the remaining download "took forever! " ... to the point where I forgot to time it

[Safavid]

So I'm still a little confused. You guys replied with multiple answers. How do I go about downloading this? Do I need to uninstall what i already have?

[Valamar]

So I'm still a little confused. You guys replied with multiple answers. How do I go about downloading this? Do I need to uninstall what i already have?

See:

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Mac_...d_Installation

If you allow it to continue to run, it will eventually download the entire game... it took me something like 12+hours on a 2meg DSL line.