The Elven Alliance: Community Edition 1.3 Installation Instructions

Introduction

If you follow the installation instructions correctly, The Elven Alliance: Community Edition 1.3 (TEA:CE 1.3) will not interfere with the vanilla version of Battle for Middle Earth (BFME1) nor will it interfere with any other mods on your computer.

NOTE: The following instructions were designed and tested for Windows operating systems.  Other operating systems such as Macintosh have not been tested.  Please use the following link for any questions or issues about installation: 

•	http://forums.revora.net/topic/89002-installation-instructions-and-help-version-13/

Installing Battle for Middle Earth (BFME1) and Patch to 1.06

Note: If you already have BFME1 properly installed and have already patched the game to 1.06, then skip this section.

Before TEA:CE can be installed, several steps must be followed so that the mod can be played properly.  First, to play this mod, you will need the following:

1.	A working version of BFME1.  There are two ways to have a working version:

1.	Install the game using an official copy of the CD/DVD.  Unfortunately, EA (Electronic Arts) no longer sells the game so unless you already own a copy, the only other way to get a copy is going to a used videogame store and hoping one is there or purchase the CD/DVD online through a site such as Ebay.  Please note that there are two versions that can be purchased.  One is the standard CD version.  This version comes with multiple discs that need to be installed in succession.  You need all the discs installed for the game to work.  Be careful when buying this version and make sure you get all the discs.  There are a total of four discs.  The other version is the DVD version.  There is only one disc for this version. 
 
2.	Download a torrent version of the game.  There are many sites where you can download a torrented version of the game.  You will need an application such as utorrent in order to get a torrent copy of the game.  There are various tutorials and videos online providing instructions on how to download a torrent.  One thing to note.  Do not worry about getting a mini image or crack of the game.  The patches that need to be downloaded (explained below) will resolve this issue.

2.	Patch the game to 1.06.  The following are instructions to do this:

1.	Download and install Patch 1.03 using the below link.  Please read the brief instructions on the web page on to know which file to download.
•	 http://www.the3rdage.net/item-364 

2.	Download and install Patch 1.05 using the below link.  Simply open the .zip folder and drag all the files into the BFME1 program file folder and replace the old files with the new ones.  To locate your BFME1 program folder, look in your hard drive (generally local disk C: ) and then either Program Files or Program Files (x86).  It will be in the EA GAMES folder. 
•	http://www.moddb.com/mods/bfme-patch-105/downloads/get-patch-105 

3.	Download and install Patch 1.06 using the below link.  By downloading Patch 1.06, you also will install T3A:O (The Third Age: Online).  This will allow you to play online with others!  Please read the instructions on the web page for further instructions and help.
•	 http://t3aonline.net/bfme1/

Fixing errors to BFME1 Installation

Before installing TEA:CE, test to make sure the game works on patch 1.06.  If it does not, please follow the below steps:

1.	On the game shortcut link on your desktop, right click and select Run as administrator.

2.	If the game is still not loading, then the likely issue is that the game is not creating an Options.ini file.  To fix this, download the file using the below link.  After downloading the file, open the zip folder and place the Options.ini file in the My Battle for Middle-Earth folder.  To locate this folder, simply type in %appdata%\My Battle for Middle-earth Files\ in the Windows Explorer Address Bar (also known as the search bar) (not Internet Explorer!).  When you start the game, adjust your graphic settings by clicking on the options button in the main menu.
•	http://elven.the3rdage.net/TEACE/Options.zip

3.	If the game is still not working, then you may need to re-install everything.  You may not have a clean BFME program file folder.  An unclean BFME folder is a result of self-tampering with the source BFME files or from poorly delivered mods.  Almost all well-known mods will not cause any problems.  In the chance though that something is wrong, you must first uninstall BFME from your computer.  Next, go to the root BFME folder and delete any excess files still around.  To locate your BFME1 program folder, look in your hard drive (generally local disk C: ) and then either Program Files or Program Files (x86).  It will be in the EA GAMES folder.  Finally, reinstall your game and patch to 1.06 again.

Installing The Elven Alliance: Community Edition 1.3

The mod comes with a fully functional installer.  If you installed BFME1 correctly using the above steps, then the installer should work without any issues.

Debug Section – Question and Answer

1.	Whenever I try to play this mod, another mod, and/or vanilla BFME1 in the Skirmish menu, the game crashes.
•	The easiest way to fix this problem is to first open up the last mod you played.  Next, go to the Skirmish set-up screen and make sure all the players (human and AI) are set to one of the four original factions (Rohan, Isengard, Mordor, and/or Gondor).  Once this is done, click play and let the map load up.  Once the map loads and the game starts, exit the game and then the mod.  You should now be able to play another mod.  Whenever you play with a new faction that was not in the original version of BFME1, the Skirmish bug will occur when you try to play another mod.  So, for example, let’s say that I played a skirmish game in TEA:CE with Elves as my faction choice.  When I want to play another mod, I must follow the above solution first before switching to another mod.

Optional – Adding Custom Screen Resolution to BFME1

BFME1 was developed to run with a screen resolution of 4:3 aspect ratio.  Unfortunately, BFME1 does not naturally support widescreen ratios (generally 16:9).  The game will still work on widescreen ratios, but the 2D art in the game will be stretched.  To make sure the game runs on 4:3 aspect ratio with a widescreen monitor, follow these simple steps:

1.	Make sure your monitor is set to original/fixed ratio.  This generally can be set by pressing the buttons located on your monitor and going through the menus.
  
2.	Check to see what the max resolution is for your monitor.  This can generally be checked via your video card control panel.

3.	Add a custom resolution for your monitor via the video card control panel.  You want to make the resolution is the max size your monitor can display on a 4:3 aspect ratio.  For my monitor, it is 1440x1080 (if you divide this down, it becomes 4x3).  Once completed, the resolution size will now appear in your game options menu.  Please note that BFME1 will only display 4:3 aspect ratio sizes.

Optional - Cleaning My Battle for Middle-Earth folder

The My Battle for Middle-Earth folder is generally where all the mods and custom maps for BFME1 are stored.  If you wish to see what is in the folder, type in %appdata%\My Battle for Middle-earth Files\ in the Windows Explorer Address Bar (also known as the search bar) (not Internet Explorer!).  Once in the folder, you can delete any mods or other custom files that you no longer want in your computer.  I recommend only doing this though if you know what you are doing.  Otherwise, there is really no need to mess with the folder.