The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
Developers | |
---|---|
EA Los Angeles | |
Publishers | |
Electronic Arts | |
Engines | |
SAGE | |
Release dates | |
Windows | December 6, 2004 |
Reception | |
Metacritic | 82 |
IGDB | 84 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | One-time game purchase |
Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Pacing | Real-time |
Perspectives | Bird's-eye view |
Controls | Multiple select, Point and select |
Genres | RTS |
Themes | Fantasy |
Series | The Battle for Middle-earth |
The Battle for Middle-earth | |
---|---|
Subseries of Middle-earth | |
The Battle for Middle-earth | 2004 |
The Battle for Middle-earth II | 2006 |
Warnings
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RTS game in the The Battle for Middle-earth series.
The game received three official patches, the third of which was produced by the GameReplays.org BFME section.
As of December 31, 2010, the official GameSpy service was shut down and all purchases were halted due to Electronic Arts' loss of the Lord of the Rings license.[1]
Same as with immediate technological predecessor, Command & Conquer: Generals, the game remains playable on modern Windows versions with some major technical hiccups that can be worked around; issues like errors when starting the game and DRM issues, and input lag. Unofficial patches resolve most of the game's problems save for off-host delay.
General information
- T3A:Online - fan-hosted multiplayer server replacement
- Battle for Middle-earth section on GameReplays.org
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- All versions include custom DRM code which can sabotage the game by destroying all units and structures owned by the player after 3 minutes and 30 seconds, triggering an automatic defeat. It can occur on legitimate copies under certain circumstances - see Auto-defeat after 3 minutes and 30 seconds for instructions to fix this.
Essential improvements
Official patches
- The latest official patch for the base game is 1.03, available from Patches-Scrolls, GameFront, and CNCNZ.com.
Unofficial patches
- Patch 1.05 fixes a lot of bugs and removes the disc requirement. Requires patch 1.03.
- Patch 1.06 fixes more bugs and adds some new maps. Requires patch 1.05. Widescreen interface available here.
- Patch 1.09 fixes bugs and imbalances, adds new visuals and comes with a patch switcher. Designed for multiplayer.
Skip intro videos
Skip intro videos[4] |
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|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %APPDATA%\My Battle for Middle-earth Files\ |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %APPDATA%\My Battle for Middle-earth Files\ |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | Use -win parameter. |
||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
High-fidelity upscaling | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | Can be forced using Nvidia Control Panel (Manage 3D Settings) | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | Frame rate is capped at 30 FPS, with game speed tied to frame rate. | ||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | See the glossary page for potential alternatives. |
Widescreen resolution
Instructions[5] |
---|
Resolution = YourWidth YourHeight |
Alternatively[6] |
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|
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | ||
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
---|
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | ||
Surround sound | ||
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | ||
EAX support | EAX3 | |
Royalty free audio |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Simplified Chinese | ||||
Traditional Chinese | ||||
Dutch | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Italian | ||||
Japanese | ||||
Korean | ||||
Norwegian | ||||
Polish | ||||
Russian | ||||
Spanish | ||||
Swedish | ||||
Thai |
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Local play | ||||
LAN play | 8 | Versus |
||
Online play | 8 | Versus The official GameSpy service has been shut down on December 31, 2010 due to Electronic Arts losing the Lord of the Rings license.[7]. Replaced by T3A:Online. |
Connection types
Type | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Matchmaking | ||
Peer-to-peer | ||
Dedicated | ||
Self-hosting | ||
Direct IP |
Ports
Protocol | Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
---|---|
UDP | 16000 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues unresolved
Out of Memory
- This error has no proper workaround and is a symptom of the game engine's limitations (restricted RAM indexing)
- Lower graphical settings, and avoid memory-heavy mods.
- Any mod that uses high-resolution textures are highly susceptible to this crash.
- Some users report reinstallation fixes the issue.
Off-host delay
- All games in this series suffer from a delay when giving commands, measured in seconds, if the player is not the host of the multiplayer match.
- For Battle for Middle-earth, there is no known fix.
Issues fixed
Exception Access Violation on startup
- When first starting the game after the installation, the game instantly crashes with an error.
- Caused by the installer not creating a crucial
options.ini
file automatically.[8] - If the game is uninstalled and reinstalled on the same system, the file is always deleted and has to be created anew every time the game is installed.
Make missing options.ini[9] |
---|
AudioLOD = Low HasSeenLogoMovies = yes IdealStaticGameLOD = VeryLow Resolution = 800 600 StaticGameLOD = VeryLow TimesInGame = 1 |
Auto-defeat after 3 minutes and 30 seconds
- Is triggered by DRM, even on legitimate installations.
Use unofficial patches[10] |
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|
Check game's serial key registry entries[11] |
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Clean reinstall of the game as administrator[12] |
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|
Mouse input lag
Install unofficial patch 1.06 or newer |
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Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 9.0b |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Cutscenes | On2 VP6 | |
Multiplayer | GameSpy | Shut down in 2011. |
Command line arguments
Command | Description |
---|---|
-win | Runs the game in windowed mode |
-mod [path to .big file] | Runs the game with the selected mod |
-xres [number] | Sets resolution width |
-yres [number] | Sets resolution height |
-noaudio | Disables the game audio |
-noshellmap | Disables the main menu animation |
Modifications
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 2000 | XP |
Processor (CPU) | 1.3 GHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 256 MB | 512 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 3.5 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce2 GTS ATI Radeon 7500 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible | Nvidia GeForce 6800 ATI Radeon X800 |
Notes
References
- ↑ Middle-earth Online Server Shutdown Announced - Battle for Middle Earth - GameReplays.org - last accessed on 2023-08-11
- ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
- ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2021-09-14
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2021-09-14
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2021-09-14
- ↑ Middle-earth Online Server Shutdown Announced - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ Exception Access Violation - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2021-09-14
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2022-08-10
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2022-08-10
- ↑ Verified by User:Plok on 2022-08-10