Total Conversion mod Based on Lord of the Rings?

[TolkienRJJ]

Given that this game is suppose to be completely moddabel, I was wondering if anyone was interested in trying to put together a group to do a total conversion mod based on Lord of the Rings. I know nothing of modding but could help on the lore side and perhaps recruiting others from other Tolkien/gaming forums interested in a mod.

[ErissN6]

You know nothing about modding, like everybody, as the game has not be released yet.
When the game is released you will be able to know, then you'll have to work on your mod and once you have a serious start you'll be able to add other workers on the mod. If you don't mod yourself, actual modders won't care and you'll have to wait for THEM to invite you.
So, if you really want this mod, then become a modder. Every modder knew nothing about modding before learning it.

[TolkienRJJ]

You know nothing about modding, like everybody, as the game has not be released yet.
When the game is released you will be able to know, then you'll have to work on your mod and once you have a serious start you'll be able to add other workers on the mod. If you don't mod yourself, actual modders won't care and you'll have to wait for THEM to invite you.
So, if you really want this mod, then become a modder. Every modder knew nothing about modding before learning it.

Thanks for the great advice.

[Pocus]

Lets keep the positive mood everyone, and even if it is possible to convert Empires into a War of the Ring game, the task is just immense... You should anyway, and that's a practical advice do two things:

* learn to mod the game a bit, this will give you more legitimacy if you want to manage a team of modders
* give you some insight of how are things are done for them

So try to edit the campaign or the extra scenario before anything, that's my advice

[TolkienRJJ]

Lets keep the positive mood everyone, and even if it is possible to convert Empires into a War of the Ring game, the task is just immense... You should anyway, and that's a practical advice do two things:

* learn to mod the game a bit, this will give you more legitimacy if you want to manage a team of modders
* give you some insight of how are things are done for them

So try to edit the campaign or the extra scenario before anything, that's my advice

More great advice.

[Qwixt]

To do such a mod, you would need an artist, or have the talent yourself, to create all the units required to support it. Then if you are going to have magic units, like Gandalf's Light from his staff, then you have entirely different unit stat to implement, and you would need to support that new stat in the AI. Also, let's not forget flying units which is a different movement type altogether, with AI support and movement. Those seem like the biggest hurdles to creating such a mod. Ignoring the obvious like learning how to mod.

[vakarr]

I like this idea, I love playing Third Age: Total War and there are similar mods of Medieval Total War 2 that have a lot more colour and music and action than are present in FOG - that will be your competition. Most of the instructions on how to mod the game are in the rules for FoG Empires, which can be downloaded now. Perhaps before trying to mod Empires you should try working your way up to it by doing something like this:

1. Create one FOG 2 army list that will work on your computer. It's just a text file, no coding involved - you can modify the existing army lists if you prefer - but make sure you don't modify them in place, copy the file to a scenario/campaign folder first.
2. Create a Lord of the Rings FOG 2 set of army lists using existing models (there are a lot of variables you can play with to get the desired result and they are all in one spreadsheet - magic would have to be in the form of special abilities I suppose) - just a few text files and a spreadsheet, no coding required. At this stage it would be just a matter of using say warband to represent orcs, medium warband for goblins, etc
3. Create a FOG 2 campaign using your lists (just a few text files and the spreadsheet, no coding required)
4. Create some FOG 2 individual battles and scenarios using your lists - a bit more complicated as you have to learn to use the FOG editor but still, no coding involved and lots of advice available. Maybe you could get somebody to start working on some 3D models for your lists (TT mod would be a good start)
5. Pick a simple fantasy board game like "Divine Right" and make a FOG Empires map and mod of that (I friend of mine can't wait to do the Divine Right mod actually!)

Actually perhaps you should wait until Fantasy General 2 is released to see if that would be a better platform for a LotR mod, as it already includes magic (though it may not be a better platform if you can't fight out the battles on a tactical screen)


6. Do the full LotR mod, including new models and troop types. Maybe the people who did the Medieval Total War 2 mods will let you use some of their 3D models (no idea if they are compatible in any way though).