.Net Framework 1.1 Problem Solved

So I encountered an annoying technical problem. I was logging onto Lord of the Rings Online on Zephyr (my desktop computer) earlier this week, and got an error message saying that some .tmp file crashed. I closed the error message and the launcher still started up just fine, so I just got into the game and figured I'd solve the problem later. 

Upon getting into the game, for some reason the textures looked horrible. I went into the graphics options and no matter what setting I changed things to, nothing would change. Just a flash of the screen, and same pixelated appearance. Immediately I pointed the blame at that error message. There's no way I'm playing this game on my high-end awesome computer in anything less than HD textures, so I quit the game to solve the problem.

After turning the game launcher off and on again (the first step to many solutions), I recreated the error message. It appeared to point to Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1. I figured what the heck, that's a quick reinstall fix. I removed .Net Framework in preparation for reinstall it, but as I was reinstalling it it explained that there were known compatibility issues with the program. Wtf, Microsoft? You seriously can't make this easy by just making it compatible? .Net Framework 1.1 is still being used by many programs today. One of them being Lord of the Rings Online. A popular MMORPG with MILLIONS OF PLAYERS.

So .Net Framework seemed to install just fine, but its Service Pack 1 crashed upon install with the same error message I got from the lotro launcher. I think I found the source of the problem, don't you? I tried reinstalling it in compatibility mode for Windows XP. That did nothing, as expected.

After an hour of Googling around while reinstalling lotro as a (failed) experiment, I found many many useless forum posts and solutions that didn't work. Some of which involved deleting registry keys that did not appear to me to be the problem, so I didn't even try them. Incidentally, DO NOT delete registry keys without knowing what they do. My eventual solution worked fine without any alteration of the registry.

So now here we are today, about 4 days later, and I finally worked my way toward finding a solution again. I stumbled upon some Microsoft blog posts that helped me find the following solution.

The solution is to create an msi package via command prompt that will install a streamlined and fully compatible version of .Net Framework 1.1 based on your downloaded installation files. Here are step by step instructions on how to do this:

1. Download .Net Framework 1.1 and .Net Framework 1.1 SP1. Make sure .Net Framework 1.1 is named dotnetfx.exe, and .Net Framework 1.1 SP1 is named dotnetfxsp1.exe.

2. Open your start menu and type cmd. Right-click on cmd.exe and click run as administrator.

3. In the command prompt, type cd.. and press enter. Repeat that until you get to the root C:\> directory.

4. Type MD C:\DotNet and press enter, then type cd DotNet.

5. Now, outside of the command prompt, move the two .Net Framework installation files into the DotNet folder, located on the root of your C drive.

6. Now go back to the command prompt and type 
dotnetfx.exe /c:"msiexec.exe /a netfx.msi TARGETDIR=C:\DotNet"
and press enter.

7. Click okay to install the .Net Framework 1.1 and proceed through the installation as normal. If anything prompts you about compatibility issues, just continue the installation.

8. Once the installation is finished, go back to the command prompt and type
dotnetfxsp1.exe /Xp:C:\DotNet\netfxsp.msp 
and press enter.

9. Wait a few seconds, then type
msiexec.exe /a c:\DotNet\netfx.msi /p c:\DotNet\netfx.msp 
and press enter. If anything pops up, just click "ok" and move on.

10. Close the command prompt and go to the DotNet folder, located on your C drive.

11. Open netfx.msi (the customized compatibility installation file that you just created) and it will install a streamlined version of .Net Framework 1.1 which includes the Service Pack 1.

12. Wait for the installation to finish, then you're done.

Another problem solved. That was such a pain in the butt to have to go through for something that should be compatible in the first place.