TMC Modder's Interview - Easterling news - Tolkien Modding Community

Welcome to the fifth interview of the TMC Modder's Interviews. Back again at the M&B series, my own modding home. It is simply the easiest to ask questions if some knowledge about the game is given but I promise I will delve into the games outside the big three soon enough! For now, enjoy the interview with

Hello, Easterling. While it would be more comfortable for both of us to conversate in our mothertongue, we want to give the non-german speaking readers a fair chance to follow the interview too. Lets start with an introduction of yourself for those who don’t know you.

Answer: Hi, I'm Easterling (like the evil men from Rhun). I love Lord of the Rings and I do modding as a hobby beside to my studies. Right now I'm doing the mod "Middle Earth at War". That's a lotr sandbox mod for Mount & Blade: Warband.

First one of the most important questions for some people here: What do you prefer, the books or the films?

Answer: The films. Even they are old they are so well made and the music and everything… I could watch that every day. I have to confess honestly, I have only read parts of the books, I have never held out. But I'm also really interested in lore, so I read a lot around it. So much about LOTR. The Hobbit is another topic. We better not talk about the films in detail. I mean rabbit sleds, an axe in a dwarf’s head and killing orcs by headbutts - seriously? Some parts are good but all in all its a total disaster in my opinion.

When and how did you come into touch with modding? Did you have any past experiences which helped at the start?

Answer: I started 5 years ago or so, I do not remember that exactly. Back then I had zero experience in modding and programming and it was a slow process. It started with a few changes and with the time I did more and more until a complete mod was born. Now I made so many things, models, textures, the whole mod structure and stuff. That all wouldn't have been possible without the great support and the amount of content in the modding forums.

There exists quite a bunch of LotR mods for M&B Warband, nearly the same count of planned ones have never been released. Often it can be read. ‘If only they would combine their workforce and bring us The One Mod!’. Still, here you are, another one who started to work on his own mod. But at least someone who eagerly works on it too! What was the reason why you didn’t join one of the other teams?

Answer: I can understand that from the point of view of others. It's sad how many promising mods have died. I also think it would be nice to play "The One Mod", but I think you have to look at the modder's view as well. In my case I didn't even had the plan to publish a mod in the beginning. I just had fun modding around to implement my own ideas. Nothing has changed so far. I'm proud of my years of work. If I would merge with other mods or let my mod die to join another one, it would make me sad. I love what I did so far and I want to continue and finish it. If after all a nice mod comes out, that's good. But that was never my main goal.

What was the main goal?

Answer: Actually I just wanted to make a good mod for myself. Make my own ideas come true.

You are a one-man-team which is not uncommon in the modding-scene, some might name similar reasons for it as you did. Do you like the freedom of deciding everything by yourself or are you not sometimes missing to have co-workers who you can ask for their opinion and thoughts?

Answer: I like to work alone. You keep the overview and you're unrestricted. Of course, you need more time for everything but I don't mind. I enjoy it. I love the work and have a lot of fun with everything. Nobody should take that away from me.

I do not miss co-workers. I get feedback on the ModDB site. For an opinion or advice I can still ask others like you.

How is your working flow? Do you have a working schedule upon which you orientate or are you simply working on what just comes into your mind?

Answer: I realized early on that I needed a plan, even though I work alone. Otherwise it would end in a mess very fast. You forget what is already done and what's not. I've made a list of all the things I have to do and then I work off of which I have time and desire for. These things get crossed out and I can see how much progress I made. That’s motivating. Sure the things that are then of least fun stay to end. But isn't that always the case?

You are pretty often uploading screenshots from new scenes into which you have put time and love. I am sure that you are always reading the comments and suggestions given there but are you taking care of the feedback since you will do everything anyway as you want it yourself?

Answer: No, I appreciate it when I get feedback. There is no problem for me because others don’t have to have always the same opinion, and I don't feel offended by them. And often it's great to have a second opinion. A good example: Lake-town. I got a request for a more frosty look. I didn't come up with the idea by myself, but I liked it a lot and immediately went to work on it. Now I’m very happy with the solution.

How much time do you need for creating a new scene? Are you using some images which are guiding you while working at the scene? Or are you just using your own imagination?

Small ones take me a few hours, the large ones multiple days. The search and import of the scene props not included. I try to use images as templates as good as possible to get the atmosphere of these places which is the most important in my opinion.

For The Last Days (of The Third Age of Middle Earth) (TLD) there exists an extra TLD LOTR Scene Pack, created by In_Vain, which got already partially integrated into the mod itself. Have you ever thought about the idea to just create another scene pack for TLD since this seems to be where you excel at? Or has an own mod been what you always wanted?

I would say the latter one. InVain did a great job at these maps and I think TLD is really getting enriched by them. I myself don't see any need of redoing all these scenes even if my mod definitly also focuses on scenes and a graphical overhaul. However I also want to implement the new factions and their corresponding troops and scenes, to give the players a complete new unique gameplay.

At which moments do you get the feeling that you have done a good job at your mod?

Answer: That happens on the one hand when I get something nice done what looks great. That’s also when I start doing screenshots for the ModDB page. On the other hand of course I am pleased when I read nice messages in the comment section.

Which problems occured for you while working at the projects? How did you solve them?

Answer: Of course, the biggest problem is time. Often I don't even get in it, because "offline" life has priority. There is nothing I can do against it, you have to be patient. Then of course there are ideas that I can't implement. Also it happens sometimes that I unsuspecting use unauthorized stuff from other mods and so on. I don't do that on purpose and if anyone is upset with it, I try to talk about it. I think there is no problem on which you're not able to talk about. Of course that is unpleasant when something like that happens, but you must not stop and just have to keep going.

For some it might sound ridiculous. How does it happen to accidentally use unauthorized stuff from other mods?

Answer: I do not have the skills and the time to do everything from scratch, so I have to use models from other mods and games. It is almost impossible to find out the origin of all models, and in the beginning I was a little careless. Now I've tried to collect all the permission but I do not know which are still missing.

You have created a lot of new scenes and also a bunch of nice textures to give the units are more worn look, so they are not the shining troops like in some other mods. How much time did you need at this before you thought that you have now gathered an acceptable level of knowledge at this?

Answer: Tricky question, I do not actually have the skills to create texture files. I usually only copy things together or change the brightness and saturation. There I got better with the time but I wouldn't call me an expert.

Scenes are more my thing. Since I play games – Stronghold was my first one – I do maps* in the editors. Warband was no exception. Long before I started modding it I already did a few maps in Native.

*scenes is more common in M&B slang

As common for modders who are no modellers you are relaying for a lot of your 3D-objects from mods which gave you the permissions to use them if they haven’t been OSP or LSP anyway. Using assets from other sources have always been a topic for the LotR modders out there. Is it rather easy for you to gather all the permissions?

Answer: Until now I had no problems when I asked for the permissions. But that is not the problem. It is difficult for me to find out where all the models come from. In some mods there are contained many different sources. I don't know exactly for which models I have an authorization or not. I just hope that if I use someone's models without authorization, that he doesn't imputes a bad intention to me. I am willing to talk about it and, if necessary, to remove these items if it bothers anyone.

My opinion is that modders shouldn't think in competition. This is not about profit but fun. No one has any harm to share content, it only benefits the individual mods and thus the community. That's why everyone can use my work in every way they want.

‘That's why everyone can use my work in every way they want.’. Isn’t that sentence a bit misleading others into believing that everything in your mod is free to use for them? In the end it just reproduces the same problem which you have already yourself, don’t you think?

Answer: You're right, that would be bad of course. I try to make a clear division between my work and that of others. For example the scenes are from me but not necessarily the used scene props. When I come to release I will write an article to point that out and where I'm separating that exactly.

On the one side there are the old LotR-games which are no longer supported by the companies which released them. On the other side there is the program ‘ninjaripper’. Together the perfect couple it seems, for all the modders out there seeking for useful assets. Do you think modders should have a bad conscience using them or that it is for a greater good, giving at least parts of these games a second life?

Answer: Of course, I think it's great if the modders can spare the work to create models that look in the end exactly the same as the ones that already exist in the old games. This is time wasting and I think no one gets harmed with it.

On the other side, however, it is problematic if such models come into circulation. As I already said, it is almost impossible to determine the exact origin of the models. It would be a pity if modders unknowingly violate rights and thereby have to fear consequences.

I have seen that you are working at the currently biggest Middle Earth map for M&B Warband. There are also appearing a bunch of unknown places. Are you taking inspiration for their names of other mods or are you thinking of some for them by yourself?

Answer: I try to keep as close as possible to the real Middle Earth. But for gameplay and balancing it is sometimes good to add a few places. Then I look for inspiration in other games or call them like the landscape around them. The same applies to the names of the lords ect.

Do you think your modding experience influenced you in any way? Maybe, your professional career or your studies? Was it purely a hobby for you?

Answer: I've always liked working on the computer and I think it has influenced my decision to change my field of studies. But I think that's good, so the hobby becomes work.

Working on a mod is hard work and time consuming. Isn’t there sometimes a moment at which you think: ‘Nah, it’s not worth all the trouble, I rather play mods than help developing them.’? If time would be set back, would you put into your project the same amount of work again?

Answer: At any time! It's a great experience. Of course, you have less time to play but you have fun with modding as well. Besides, in the end you can hopefully play your personally perfect mod.

So you have never thought sometimes about giving up?

Answer: Two years ago or so I thought if Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord comes out soon I will stop. But that's not released until today and I'm almost done. So no. I will do continue until the end.

Some readers here might be eagerly waiting to play the beta version of your mod. Is the release near? Or did I just delay it by another month with my question?

Answer: The beta is definitely close, so much can I say. In the past semester holidays, I also made a lot. It is only a fraction to do. So far I would say are about 95% done. But here again the time factor comes into play. Since this week the semester starts. How often I have time for modding I can hardly say. In the worst case, this will go until the next semester holidays, but they should suffice definitely.

Once upon a time, a LotR-mod has received a C&D order and had to stop developement. You might have read about it or not but you might have made some thoughts about it on your own. Do you think your work comes into conflict with intellectual property rights? And do you fear sometimes that ‘Middle Earth at War’ might share the same fate?

Answer: I do not know if there is a legal conflict here. Of course, I hope that something like that doesn't happen, but if that's the case I would stop. But for me it doesn't make a difference, I can still play the mod anyway.

What is your favourite LotR mod? Why do you like it? Also, is there any project that caught your attention lately?

Answer: Clearly 'Third Age - Total War'. The TW series matches perfectly for a LotR-game and I think it is well implemented. I had a lot of fun. I'm also following the "successor" 'Total War: Rise of Mordor' and the ‘Kingdoms of Arda’ mod for Bannerlord. They look promising.

What is your overall impression of the LotR modding community, of the ones for Mount & Blade, and in general?

Answer: I don’t have much contact with the modding community. But until now I found everyone friendly and helpful and also very talented.

And – to turn a bit around the table - What do you think about the player base of Mount & Blade in general? Are they sometimes demanding too much from our fellow LotR-mod developers? Or are they mostly giving productive and encouraging feedback?

Answer: Sure there are some idiots, but usually they encourage me. I never feel rushed. I think most people appreciate the modders and that they are doing the work. I have already received a few offers to help me. Something like that then makes me happy.

Finally: Would you like to say anything to creative people who are reading this interview at the moment and might think about bringing LotR into a game?

Answer: I can highly recommend it. I'm happy about every LotR mod that exists out there and I think that's the opinion of many. So just give it a try, the work is worth it at the end! And if you haven't done it yet: watch the LotR extendet edition at once!

Thank you for the interview!