Here it is, the second news letter of May 2020. It's again a short read, so suitable for a good start into the weekend ^^
Released or updated mods
H4lbarad has released two new addons for H4lbarad's map pack, Rohan and The Minas Twins. Both are coming with that as addons for the modding project Age of the Ring for Battle for Middle-earth II: Rise of the Witch King, you need the version 5.0.1 of the mod if I have seen it correctly. An alternative download for the Rohan addon is also available here.
nfs_fred has also uploaded a Helm's Deep multiplayer map, tested with ROTWK, Edain 4.5, AOTR 4.1. It is an overhaul of Gotyams edit of the old Edain mod map. The creator noted that there are still annoyingly loud uruks and horns and that the AI factions are not working properly. You can find the addon here.
There has also been a first release of a submod for Divide and Conquer, one of the two big submods for Third Age - Total War. Castellan*Taurion* made a reskin of some units at his modding project Ar-Adunaim reforged for DAC V4.5. The stats itself are unchanged, so it's a cosmetic overhaul for the Umbar faction as far as I have noticed. I was not aware that there are flame thrower units around. Check it out here.
At many little BfME modding projects came little signs of still being alive. The beginning made lord_ellessar by taking a short break of studying for his exams and crafting a Dol Amroth Castle for Folks of Middle Earth (edain submod).
At the mod Blue Wizard Mod for Battle for Middle-earth pallandoya wrote down a short article about the Moria Spell Book. Beside Cave Bats and other creatures who can be summoned one can enshroud the entire map in darkness or let the earth quake. A creative solution is the spell 'Dwarven Treasures' which basically enables to transfer money to allies in multiplayer. Have a full read here.
NewErr showed off a picture with Legolas and soldiers of the Woodland Realm. He noted that it is planned for The Ridder Clan Mod to replace the the original Knife Fighter ability of the Prince with a full toggle ability. We will see what the future brings here.
And at Age of the Ring the developers are eagerly working, currently at buildings for the Southrons, a Haradwaith Bazaar and a Fortress of Haradwaith.
After more than two and a half years, The Last Days (of The Third Age of Middle Earth) for Mount & Blade: Warband got an update on moddb, on par with Nightly Patch r3211. As fans of the mod will now, it is constantly getting worked at, there are only rarely updates at moddb to not confuse the people a lot. Most is done via the Steam Workshop and the Nightly Patches. This year in September it will be the 13th years of existence, being then 8 years since the 3.1 release on the TaleWorlds forums and 5 years since the Warband port. And version 3.6 is on the way. You find the latest upload here in case you aren't following the mod on other places already.
Kael_ uploaded a showcase for evil units at the modding project Persistent Lord of the Rings (PLotR). I really hope that the guys there are making their mind up soon if it's now a mod for Warband or for the new Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. Currently they are showcasing screenshots from Warband but are at the same time labelling it with Bannerlord. I see no reason to put a wrong label on it except that they try to profite from the Bannerlord hype which is at this point just bad practise.
A lot of stuff has been crafted for the Elves at the modding project Silmarillion for Bannerlord. Efe writes also that they are very close to completely fleshing out the Doriath Troop Tree visually. I am looking forward for that.
TheCoweringComa showed off a new unit of the modding project Third Age: Reforged for Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms, the Firebeard Warborn for Ered Luin.
At the other big Silmarillion modding project, Silmarillion: Total War, we got some new units to see but also some voice actor stuff to hear. So maybe find some earphones and have a listen at them. There has also been a Tournament Update about which I haven't been sure how to categorise it since it didn't seem to be important.
At the modding project Last Alliance: Total War for Total War: Shogun 2 we got a lovely armour from Sara Temer
And at the end - yes, it's already the end of this news this time - the developers at Total War: Rise of Mordor wrote out an article, offering intern positions at their team. It might sound of a bit at the beginning but newcomers to 3D modelling with get guidance from more experienced fellows. So it is a really good opportunity to get into 3D modelling and with that into modding. Have a more detailed read here if it sounds interesting for you.
That's it for the second half of May 2020. A nice and short read in my opinion. I hope it was a nice and informative overview for you about the happenings in the Tolkien Modding Community.
As always, should I have forgotten to show off the recent progress of some of your favourite mod teams, don't forget to comment about them. I will mention them then in the next news article. Feel also free to join the Tolkien Modding Community Discordapp.com
Best regards,
Earendil
Hey, thank you for doing this, it is very cool.
Always welcome ^^
Great rich update :)
Thanks :)
after you released the article Age of the Ring as just released verison 5.1 xD
Yeah, I have just seen that XD
Lord of Universalis 2 is out
I have had it in mind yesterday but forgot it today while writting everything down. Will mention it next time at the top place. Thanks for the note!