In an age long ago... when EA made good games without ridiculous monetization schemes... Anyone remember this? That music takes me back... The game is outright abandonware (EA lost the license and won't make a deal to get it recirculated) and yet an active community still remains that has continually updated the game with more goodies, better textures, etc. Because this game is likely to stay abandonware forever, this is probably the best example of "software piracy" done ethically correct. BFME II https://www.gamereplays.org/battleformiddleearth2/ BFME II: Rise of the Witch King (the expansion) https://www.gamereplays.org/riseofthewitchking/ Installation Guides: Install The Battle for Middle-earth II (original release) Download and install Daemon Tools Lite or any equivalent program which works best for you. Daemon Tools is legit as freeware goes, but BE SURE TO OPT OUT OF THE INCLUDED ADWARE WHEN INSTALLING IT! (supposedly, Dameon Tools-like programs can be emulated in Windows 10, but I don't know how to do this) Download the clean ISO of The Battle for Middle-earth II - 5.54 GB (Mirror 1) (Mirror 2) Mount the downloaded .iso file with Daemon Tools or equivalent program. If you already have the original game CDs or DVD, however, you can just insert it in the DVD drive. If you have Windows 10, supposedly, you can just open it and install it (untested). Install the game from the now-mounted disk image. If you need a serial key, check HERE. If you are lazy or plan to play only single player, you can use one of the keys below. Keep in mind that using the same key as a friend will prevent you from playing together: HNB3-GRYM-GLUS-HKTU-Y9V8 XLWW-55XX-5MB8-Q6QJ-5JAP 42FP-FQES-GW72-MT37-MCGQ QJXX-3TVM-EE2V-NUYU-SWDW 3QWW-QZQ7-USET-Z8NQ-WUYB HZKB-QJTS-W5E3-83PJ-K9AA ATK3-5TTF-9HJH-3TRW-2F8F M9NN-6NWW-5VRB-5KLN-EVV3 Download and install the unofficial Patch Switcher:. You will need this to play the most up-to-date version. setting BFME2 to version 1.06 is required to play RotWK! Install Rise of the Witch-King (expansion) Make sure you have installed BFME2 as per our guide above. RotWK will not work on its own, as it is merely an expansion pack (but it is better than the original). Download the clean ISO of The Rise of the Witch-king - 4.2 GB (Mirror 1) (Mirror 2). Mount the downloaded .iso file with Daemon Tools or equivalent program. The process is equivalent to point 3 and 4 of The Battle for Middle-earth II installation. You only have to change your serial key with Rise of the Witch-King's one. Install the game from the now-mounted disk image. If you need a serial key, check HERE. If you need more serial keys for this process, here you go (but a key should not be needed): HE55-26J3-XSSL-A58B-BZ96 YQFX-M2HH-LM62-NJ9T-KMZG TJLC-V87P-E5CY-ELRS-VLYP DJ7F-LB8A-NZDE-BJXN-8X8M 3WH9-CR7P-4UPH-PPQE-DT39 GG22-XGJA-GQ96-YJJS-NKVG HR55-MLNM-WFJN-UNWR-4X6T JW9R-97QL-NRFW-QAFL-UDEX Download and install Patch 2.02 There are two versions that must be loaded in order: install Patch 2.02 v.8.0.0 "Main Installer" to the With King expansion directory install Patch 2.02 v8.4.0 after during the installation process choose the standard (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) version if you have a 4:3 monitor or 16:9 one. Run the game! You will no longer need the ISO mounted, or the DVD inserted in your drive. Play Online Multiplayer! Although the official servers closed down long ago, the fan community has even figured out how to re-enable online server functionality. Game Ranger has some mild annoyances, but it does in fact work! A couple things to keep in mind: The built in video ads are VERY annoying, but thankfully they can be muted through your windows volume mixer (just mute the program there). Due to some limitations (either user or software related), you will have to go back the the Game Ranger lobby each time to launch a new online game. Discord Support & Contact Info Join the official Discord Server and engage with the community I downloaded everything above without issue. Hearing all the music and voice acting pulled straight from the movies really took me back. Can't believe how well it has held up after all these years. The game looks great, plays great, and best of all... it's FREE!
Recommended Community Expansion Mod: While I know many of us are wary of using half-broke mods, I cannot recommend this single standalone mod enough. It has been one of the highest praised mods on MODDB.com and the mod team has been carefully improving and balancing it ever since. It is also easy to install and very stable in my experience. It adds new maps, new units, new factions, drastically improves textures, and even has online campaign coop! It even adjusts units to be more "lore-friendly" and faction specific. It is extremely well polished for a mod and improves upon many aspects of the vanilla experience Download mod here: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-horse-lords-a-total-modification-for-bfme AotR Game Ranger patch for online multiplayer here: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-hors...me/downloads/age-of-the-ring-gameranger-patch Unzip and copy the new lotrbfme2ep1.exe file into the existing AOTR file path (wherever you put it): C:\Program Files (x86)\AOTR4.0 Launch GameRanger Go to Edit -> Options -> find RotWK on the list -> click "Browse" - navigate to your new .exe file you just copied in above. When you launch as host for the first time a new window will appear. Set the settings to the following: Game Executable: navigate to the location of your vanilla ROTWK exe (default location is in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Lord of the Rings, The Rise of the Witch-king\lotrbfme2ep1.exe") Extra flags: -mod "C:\Program Files (x86)\AOTR\aotr" - This is if you installed AOTR to the default installer path. If it is located elsewhere, the easiest way of finding the right path is to go to your shortcut and copying the -mod command. Should look something like this when you are done (your filepaths may be different): Go to Network and play A (somewhat incoherent) video guide on getting MP working:
