[RELz]/[WIPz] The Middle-Earth Roleplaying (MERP) mod

[names_are_useless]

What is the Middle-Earth Roleplaying Project?

Welcome to the Middle-Earth Roleplaying Project - There and Back Again (MERP) mod. This is a Total Conversion modification for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, based on the magnificent world of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings. MERP was being created for The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and we have released Beta 0.2.6 for Oblivion (see below).

Who are we?

The MERP team is making an addition to Skyrim. That is, the world of Middle Earth! We are adding all of Middle-Earth in it's entirety, obviously including such places as: The Shire, Eriador, Gondor, Rohan, The Rhovanion, Moria, Mordor, and many other locations!

We have a very large, dedicated, and talented team working to create the world of Middle Earth!

Our Goal

Our goal as a team is to realize the world of J.R.R. Tolkien as closely as we can to his vision. We hold the lore to a very high standard and will not compromise the lore as often as we can. We do use the visual appearance of the films, but if there is a conflict then we always take the books over the movies. We work very hard to bring a quality product even better than the original Oblivion game. We want to make our work look as though professional game developers have created this, an open-world Middle-Earth RPG like no other!

Currently, we have a completed heightmap of Middle Earth (over 10 times the size of Skyrim!) that we will be populating once the Creation Kit is released for Skyrim. Our goal is to create detailed landscapes, towns, interiors, new playable races, weapons and armor, and more!

Preview

With the release of v0.2.6, we are planning to create a trailer for it. In the meantime,

is our old trailer for Beta 0.2.4. You can also find some older trailers of our work on our MiddleEarthRP channel. Check out our http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgNlm_654Jo, and this older http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieIh1KgvUmg.

Here is an image of our new heightmap for MERP Skyrim:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7214/comparisonyq.png

Also check out this video showcasing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qokc-YlQZTo, a per-conceptual sub-mod for Oblivion that is planned to be created for MERP Skyrim. It's goal is to give MERP more Mount&Blade-esque combat!

Here are also some screenshots of our work for MERP Oblivion:

I would also advise that you check out our Moddb page for more videos, screenshots, music, the latest news, and more!

Download the MERP Beta

MERP Beta version 0.2.6: Download it HERE!

This is our final release of MERP for Oblivion (with a possible mini-patch or two to fix any bugs). From here on, we will be working on developing MERP for Skyrim!

More Information

To contact us, or see more of the MERP mod, you can go to:

Our developer's forum

Our Moddb page

Our most recent Bethesda forum thread

We are always looking for more help. If you'd like to join the MERP team, please feel free to make an account on our developer forum and check out our Application section HERE!

Any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. are appreciated.

Edited February 7, 2012 by names_are_useless

[Critterman]

We're starting to get to building towns like Bree, so like nau said we need modders of all types (but especially modelers)!

Even if you don't feel like being a long time contributor, you can help us out once and leave and we'll both be happy .

And don't be afraid, the community is friendly and the mod is as healthy as it has ever been (so don't fear it dieing off). We need more modelers so we can be able to really start building some spectacular towns and landscapes. Otherwise it would be boring old vanilla models and no one likes those .

[Nextmastermind]

Over seven times the size of Cyrodiil? This is gonna be about 112 square miles? DO WANT!

[Critterman]

Over times the size of Cyrodiil? This is gonna be about 112 square miles? DO WANT!

Ya it's huge, you should see the mountains

You can explore the entire landmass on our Beta

Some areas have been landscaped too

[Si-Shen]

Wow, I knew of the project but never paid it much heed, I will be keeping my eye on this one!

[names_are_useless]

Wow, I knew of the project but never paid it much heed, I will be keeping my eye on this one!

Many people in the Oblivion community seem to think that MERP has been dead, or they don't even know about it. I find that VERY surprising, considering MERP is probably the biggest total conversion mod in the works for Oblivion ...

We're really hoping we can find some more skilled modders. Right now we're having to reuse a lot of previous vanilla meshes and such just due to our limited manpower. We'd really like to make all of Middle Earth unique if we can.

[grond]

Working on this mod ( and I'd want to make the Forbidden Pool if I had the nerve to ) is so intimidating to me. I have been reading LOTR for 30 years. If I can work up the stones to, I'll register over at your site. But I shiver a little thinking about it. I'm beyond purist. Tolkien's works are very nearly divine to me ( check my location ), and very personal indeed.

But I watch your progress with excitement! Maybe I'll stop by your site anyway, as a cheerleader.

[names_are_useless]

Working on this mod ( and I'd want to make the Forbidden Pool if I had the nerve to ) is so intimidating to me. I have been reading LOTR for 30 years. If I can work up the stones to, I'll register over at your site. But I shiver a little thinking about it. I'm beyond purist. Tolkien's works are very nearly divine to me ( check my location ), and very personal indeed.

But I watch your progress with excitement! Maybe I'll stop by your site anyway, as a cheerleader.

I hear you, Tolkien's works are very dear to my heart as well. Can't say I've been reading LOTR for THAT long (I'm not even 30 ), but I can say that Tolkien's lore comes first to this mod (although we have made a few design decisions that go a bit against lore here and there, but they were only for good reason). Like how our main questline will allow the player to take on the role of the Ringbearer, yet the events will follow the books as opposed to the films (the player getting a home at Crickhollow, the Old Forest and Barrow Downs, etc.).

Unfortunately we have a guy working on Henneth Annun and the Forbidden Pool already (and he's also working on the rest of Ithilien). So if you ever did want to join the team, I'm afraid you'd have to reserve another region entirely.

However, we do enjoy fans rooting for us (although I think most of our fans end up becoming members on the team at some point in time ).

[firespark]

I hear you, Tolkien's works are very dear to my heart as well. Can't say I've been reading LOTR for THAT long (I'm not even 30 ), but I can say that Tolkien's lore comes first to this mod (although we have made a few design decisions that go a bit against lore here and there, but they were only for good reason). Like how our main questline will allow the player to take on the role of the Ringbearer, yet the events will follow the books as opposed to the films (the player getting a home at Crickhollow, the Old Forest and Barrow Downs, etc.).

Unfortunately we have a guy working on Henneth Annun and the Forbidden Pool already (and he's also working on the rest of Ithilien). So if you ever did want to join the team, I'm afraid you'd have to reserve another region entirely.

However, we do enjoy fans rooting for us (although I think most of our fans end up becoming members on the team at some point in time ).

Looks great. I can probably guess how many hours must have gone into such a project. Perhaps you don't want to reveal this, but in what way will you be handling active story content? Will you actually know Frodo and the Fellowship will be going on a large scale adventure of their own? Or the assault on Minas Tirith? How will the Ringwraiths be implemented? I have alot more questions though. The simple way would be actually playing it's first complete release It will be alot of fun for alot of players to get into this already magnificent looking world.

Cheers.

[names_are_useless]

Looks great. I can probably guess how many hours must have gone into such a project.

Look, if I or even the original mod leader (Grey Wizard, who I talk to regularly) can't remember the exact year that he first started with MERP when it started as a Morrowind mod, then I really doubt you can guess the hours

Perhaps you don't want to reveal this, but in what way will you be handling active story content? Will you actually know Frodo and the Fellowship will be going on a large scale adventure of their own?

Actually, we're developing a main questline where you can actually play as the Ringbearer ("The nephew/niece of Bilbo Baggins", which is an identity you'll get to choose to be near the beginning of the game (if you're a Hobbit) if you wish to take on the responsibility of the One Ring). You get to hold the one Ring, have NPC Fellowship companions, etc.; you'll have the choice to either destroy the Ring or use it for your own greedy desires. Of course you'll also be allowed to play as a no-name character, but let's just say you get to follow the book events if you so choose to be the Ringbearer

Or the assault on Minas Tirith?

Ah yes, large battles. It's heavily discussed, as Oblivion has many limitations when it comes to large groups of battling NPCs. We'll try our best to simulate large battles even with such limitations (instancing sections of battlefields, groups of NPCs dying, and then another group coming in its place, etc.).

How will the Ringwraiths be implemented?

If you play the Ringbearer and you put on the Ring, I hope we script it so that the Ringwraiths go straight after you! Otherwise, if you're a no-name, you probably shouldn't expect to run into the Ringwraiths (except if your character takes part in such battles as the Battle of the Pellenor Fields and/or the Battle at the Black Gate).

I have alot more questions though. The simple way would be actually playing it's first complete release It will be alot of fun for alot of players to get into this already magnificent looking world.

Cheers.

First "complete" release ... I can't say that that will ever happen really. With the size of this mod, even if we finish landscaping and populating it, there will ALWAYS be room for more quests, gear, and content, I can't ever see this mod as ever being "complete"

[names_are_useless]

MERP Beta version 0.2.4 has finally been released to the public on TESNexus. Go download it HERE!

It can also be downloaded here on TESAlliance HERE!

[names_are_useless]

It's finally here. MERP Beta v0.2.6 is here!

Happy downloading, and if you have any bugs to report, please post them here.

This will be our final MERP release for Oblivion (excluding perhaps a minor patch or two to fix bugs). With the Creation Kit planned to be released tomorrow (according to Bethesda), MERP will be focusing on moving our full development team over to Skyrim!

We have a new heightmap all ready for creating MERP in Skyrim, and let me tell you its even better then the one we created for Oblivion!

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7214/comparisonyq.png