I've created a new trailer for the mod. Not overly happy with it (my computer has been very difficult these past few days), but it's done. Enjoy!

Furthermore, Middle-Earth Center is hold its Mapping and Modding Open Day today. It's a chance for all BfME I & II mappers and modders to get together and show off their stuff. Make sure to go support The Elven Alliance at this thread. Exclusive and fancy hero renders will be waiting for you.

 Aaaagh! So much Minas Tirith... I've been tweaking it for the past long while, and I think I finally have it working in a way that I like. Here are some more changes:

Minas Tirith

• Six Wall Trebuchets are prebuilt on the second level.
• Orc Archers now have random skins. 3 out of 4 have Morgul armour for this mission.
• Seige Towers are now twice as hard to bring down due to increased armour values.
• Grond is indestructable. Because it's too big to turn around and leave the map after destroying the gate, Grond self destructs about 30 seconds after the gate is destroyed.
• Main gates are not controlled by the player. They automatically shut when Mordor begins to arrive, and cannot be opened again. This is because Grond gets very confused when you open the gate on it, leaving the ram blocking the way in.
• Wargs become part of the Mordor attack waves after the gate is breached.
• Mordor attack waves are no longer affected by Command Point limits. Re-enforcements arrive frequently to keep the player on their toes.

Captions for the below screenshots are on the Screens page.

I had an urge to make a Gil-Galad model and skin a couple days ago. After doing that, I decided to make a couple new animations for him, and then I coded him in the game. All just for fun. I'll leave all his stuff in the mod, but he won't be usable by default (anyone who wants to use him would just have to add in a wee bit of code in playertemplate.ini). If you do decide to code him in, you'll be happy to know that he's fully functional, and the AI will recognize and use him. But once again: he's not officially in the mod, so he offsets any balance. Hero information added to the Heroes page.

And finally, here's a new wallpaper for download:

 This update's campaign mission is Minas Tirith. The original really lost any challenge when the mod made it possible to have a fully upgraded Gondorian army with a Command Point limit of around 450. While there are still some kinks to be ironed out, this mission is pretty well completed. Here's a list of new features:

Minas Tirith

• Gothmog now arrives with the first wave of Mordor, mounted on his Warg.When he gets to his commanding position (just outside of trebuchet range), he dismounts and stays there until a way into the city is created.
• Catapults have less range than they used to (around 550, rather than 650). Trebuchets range increased to match Catapult range.
• Three out of ever four Orc Warriors will have a Morgul orc model and skin.
• There are now at least 10 times as many Mordor Orc Warriors, Soldiers of Rhun, and Haradrim Warriors throughout the mission. Six times as many Orc Archers, three times as many seige towers, and twice as many Mumakil.

As always, check the Screens page for captions.

Next order of business comes from the lovely Morgan Casey. Some of you may know her as the musical genious behind the score for the Rhovanion Alliance mod. Some time ago, Ms. Casey kindly put together a theme for The Elven Alliance, entitled Imladris Unleashed. You'll be hearing this place in a number of places, but I thought now would be a good time to give you a short sample. Make sure to check out Morgan's website here.

You may have noticed that Glorfindel is looking a little different in the above banner. I've wanted to give Glorfindel a heavy armour upgrade, so here it is.

 Yes, that's right! AI will be included for ALL new material for the initial release. This means that the computer will be able to use the Elven faction and all the new heroes added to the original four factions. For those of you who are not completely familiar with Battle for Middle-Earth mods, this is a rather big thing: very few mods include AI. The AI for all the new heroes for the original faction has been completed and is working great (Frodo and Sam are so adorable when they follow each other around everwhere) and I'm in the final stages of setting down the basic structure of the Elven faction AI. I'm really excited about this, and I hope you all will be too!

As a side note, Glorfindel's abilities have been added to the Heroes page.

 I've been working non-stop on the campaign for the past several days. While I've done the scripting for two other missions, only Lothlorien and Helm's Deep have been locked off so far. The Command Point limit has been significantly increased for the campaign, and as such, I've also greatly increased the scripted opposing forces in these missions (for example, there are three times as many ladders coming at the Deeping Wall in Helm's Deep).

List of New Campaign Features:

Lothlorien

• Haldir now arrives with the two Galadhrim hordes at the beginning of the mission
• Voice-overs by Galadriel occur as the Fellowship moves closer to the city
• Celeglin is waiting at the bridge, and Celeborn and Galadriel are waiting in the city; they become usable once the Fellowship enters the city
• Bridge assault waves are nearly double their original size

Helm's Deep

• Hama and Gamling are available as heroes from the start at level 3
• Eowyn cannot receive her armour upgrade, nor can she mount her horse. She wears her Refugee Helm's Deep outfit
• Two extra build plots added behind the Deeping Wall
• Gamling says his nice little "Every villager able to wield..." line about a minute or two into the mission
• Haldir enters with the other Elves at level 4. He says his famous speech, rather than EA's unnamed Elf captain
• Isengard's armies are nearly three times their original size. This increase comes mostly from the ladders, rams, swordsmen, and pikemen. Watch out for the mines! It can be hard to spot them until it's too late
• Gamling, Hama, and Haldir all continue the campaign with the Rohan army

I've gotta say that Helm's Deep is now a rather challenging mission. For the first time since I first played the original mission, I lost the Deeping Wall to a mine. For the first time ever, I lost the main gate and had my forces overwhelmed in the Deeping. I had to pull everybody back to the Keep. Very fun.

Another change I've made recently is getting rid of that god aweful golden heavy armour for Isengard and Gondor. EA actually made a black heavy armour texture with white hand symbols, but never used it. I simply coded it in. For Gondor, I've given the Soldiers, Knights, and Archers a new unarmoured texture; they use their old unarmoured texture as heavy armour. For the Tower Guards, I've let them keep their unarmoured texture, but have toned down the amount of gold on their heavy armour. All these textures are just quick, small replacements: don't expect huge detail when you zoom in.

And now for the screenshots. Be sure to check the Screens page for captions.

Another announcement I'd like to make is the voice actor who has done the voice of the Elven narrator. (Toshi Nakamura) has done an excellent job with the huge script he was given. I can only offer great complements for his astounding work. I'd recommend him to anyone.

Next update should include Dunharrow and Mirkwood. Watch out for those.

Bah. Once again, I must apologise for my long, and unexplained absense. I doubt anyone's following this mod anymore (I, frankly, don't blame you), but I've decided to just finish this at my own leisure, now that school and work - for the most part - are completed.

As a "I'm sorry" gift, I have some new artwork. The first being some more Eowyn and Arwen stuff (not sure why I like doing so much for these two... but whatever). Arwen's first dress is based off the concept of an rejected "chase sequence dress"; her second is a slightly altered version of her Cranberry gown; Eowyn's new outfit is can be found at Edoras, as the people evactuate for Dunharrow. The second set of artwork is a set of 26 screen shots, the captions for which can be found on the Screenshots page.

 

 As it's all been mindless coding from here on in, I decided to go ingame for a bit and take a slew of screenshots for you guys. Hope you all enjoy them!

Info on the shots can be found on the Screenshots page.

 I'm sorry that I'm late once again. Life is just really hectic at the moment.

Anyway, here are the winners for the Elven Alliance Voice Acting Contest. Congratulations guys! A huge thanks goes out to everyone who participated. I never imagined that the contest would have been as successful as it has been. Thank you once again!

Glorfindel - Tom Walsh
Thranduil - Drewry
Cirdan - Whopper
Avari - Mike Dapello
Mirkwood Scouts - Drewry
Riders of Rivendell - Soulfather
Amroth's Knights - Guardian of the Citadel
Spearmen of the Havens - Drewry
Sentinel from Woody End - Mike Dapello

As for the Narrator and the Banner Carrier... I'm still not certain about them. I'll announce the winners there when I'm absolutely positive. Furthermore, I'll be emailing all the winners individually to discuss what I'll be needing from them. So don't start recording right away, guys.

As a final note, I've added another wallpaper. It was made as a portfolio piece for my University application (and as such, isn't really suited as a wallpaper), but it still looks fairly pretty. Enjoy!

 The contest is now over. Thanks go out to everyone who participated. I ended up receiving entries for every single character, which is so much more than I expected. Thank you once again for making this a success.

It will be a little while until I post the winners as I want to test them ingame.

 Here are the final two models/skins for the Elven Alliance, Initial Release. The first is the Rivendell Smith. He's just like the Gondor/Rohan workers in that he can't be selected and he's just there for show when buildings are being built/repared. The second set of images is a real treat for me. This is the new Rivendell Stables building. This masterpiece was a cumulative effort put together by Drewry (the majority of the model) and Nertea (the skin and a few model tweaks) from the Rhovanion Alliance team. I'm infinitely thankful towards these two and am still awe-struck at their work. Thanks a bunch!

Please note that while I'm done all the art stuff that can be shown online, it doesn't mean that I'm done the mod. Quite the contrary. I still have lots of coding left to do, and I'm not all that quick with it. So don't hold your breath.

I had completely forgotten about writing scripts for the narrator and banner carrier for the contest, but here it is now. It should be noted that I will accept both male and female voices for the narrator.

 

Well, I think that's self explanitory. Support the mod and have some fun doing it!

By request, I've also made a new wallpaper featuring the Havens units. Here it is:

 Since last August, I've had Cirdan tucked away in the back of my mind, but could never figure out how to add him without giving another powerful hero to the Elves. A couple weeks ago, I finally figured out how.

Cirdan can be purchased from the Citadel. Though he is a powerful melee hero, he cannot move outside of the Castle/Camp/Outpost's radius. This fits in with how Cirdan faithfully protected the path to the Undying Lands. He cannot be selected and has no special abilities; as such, he is more of an upgrade to the Elven defenses than an actual hero unit.

I've locked off the original four Elven units and have given Elrond, Galadriel, and Legolas some more model/skin stuff.

Note that the model for the Spearman and Rider shields are done by Vapula, though the skins and mapping are now all mine. For logic's sake, I gave Elrond a heavy armour upgrade which gives him his armour from the Second Age. However, I've changed the colour scheme to fit with the fading season of the Elves during the Third Age. All in all though, it's still EA's creation for the most part (I did, however, add the proper chainmail to his arms). Galadriel has been given a secondary skin (it'll work just like Elrond and Arwen's random textures) based off her Grey Haven's cloak ensemble. I've changed the cloak to a shawl for animation purposes.

As a final note, I will be moving The Elven Alliance over to The3rdAge hosting in the near future. This is not a hit at gamemod in the least. As I am a staff member at T3A, it only makes sense for me to have my site there. See you on the other side!

 To put more emphasis on strategy for the Elves, I've added two new units: the Sentinels from Woody End and Amroth's Knights.

The Sentinels from Woody End stand as look outs along the road from Rivendell to the Havens. They carry no weapons of combat to burden them and are virtually invisible to anyone they do not wish to be seen by. The Sentinels ensure that any travelling party of Elves will not be taken by surprise.

Amroth's Knights are a group of warriors oriented towards heavy cavalry. It is said that in their beginnings they were a small company sent by Amroth to find Nimrodel when the two were seperated in Calenardhon. After a long, fruitless search, they sought out again for Amroth and upon arriving at Edhellond, they were unable to find the king as well. The company remained in Edhellond, ever protecting the havens and awaiting their mistress and master.

Check out the Units page for more information!

With these new units comes a new structure: the Lookout Tower. Here you will recruit Sentinels from Woody End and Mirkwood Scouts. And on a totally unrelated note: as has recently been stated on the forums, Merry and Pippin will receive a small boost; this boost comes in the form of an armour upgrade pictured below.

Lastly, I've converted the Overview page into a FAQ page. Make sure to take a peak!

 First, I'd like to apologize for my long and unexplained absence. Life hit me square between the eyes and left me without time to even go on MSN to talk with friends. However, with the holidays here and university applications behind, I have found time to come back to the mod.

As is obvious, I have finished the trailer for the Elven Alliance. Please note that you will need both a program to unpack ZIP archives as well as the latest version of Windows Media Player. Enjoy!

It should also be noted that the beta is closed now. Anyone who has applied but has not yet received the beta will not be getting it. Sorry for anyone who was too late!

 If you still haven't signed up for the beta, make sure you do it before noon (-5 GMT) this sunday. Any applications sent after this date will be rejected.

Also, please take note that if you have sent in an application but have not received an e-mail from me, consider your application rejected. Sorry, but I really need quality testers here, and your e-mails failed to show me that you could be one. Sorry again.

 Well, I had planned on having this out a week ago, but that just didn't happen (my computer died on me). The Elven Alliance Beta has been released to all those who sent in applications through e-mail and were accepted. If you sent in an application through PM, please resend it through e-mail (I've decided to run this thing through e-mail alone). Those who sent me an e-mail but have not yet received a response, consider your application denied (if you'd like to try applying again, do so; just write a better letter this time). Anyone else who still wishes to get the beta but has not yet applied may do so now.

In other news, I have some info on how Banner Carriers will work in the Elven Alliance. Rather than purchasing the upgrade from an Armory and then again for each battalion, you will purchase Banner Carrier units from the Armory. This unit can then attach itself to any level 1 Elven battalion to rank it up. Each Banner Carrier will only cost 250 resources, which is very inexpensive in comparison to the sum that the other factions come to. This lends to the trend that the Elves have many methods of quick "leveling up".

 I have a bunch of stuff to get through, so let's get started.

First, I have a slew of new Arwen and Eowyn skins. Both have been given two new "pretty" dresses each as well as heavy armour skins (in Eowyn's case, I've done a reskin of her Dernhelm costume). To learn more and see some renders, check out the Heroes page. Here's a new wallpaper to show these new skins.

Next, I'd like to announce that I have some more people added to my staff. Hostile, the grandmaster behind The3rdAge.net, will be doing building animations for all the new Elven buildings. Ched, winner of the lifetime achievement award at T3A, will be adding special fire effects to damaged buildings. Finally, {IP}Gil-Galad who will be doing some mapping and campaign work (as well as a super-secret suprise I hope to show soon).

As an end note, I'd like to let everyone know that the Beta Signup Sheet is now open! What I'll need from you before putting your name on the list is a short paragraph telling me why you would make a good beta tester. What modding experience do you have? Have you been a beta tester in the past? How long have you been playing the Battle for Middle-Earth? Anything that will assure me that you will be a decent beta tester. You can submit your entry to me through PM at the forums or through my e-mail. If you try to apply through any other medium, your request will be automatically rejected. Please know that space is limited on the beta list, and I am only taking the best. So take your time and prove to me I can trust you. Thanks!

 Since I don't have anymore models to show you, I've whipped up some screenshots. Please know that as I have a slower computer, I must run the game on Low Graphics setting. As such, the quality of some textures in the shots has been compromised.

 I wasn't planning on releasing this information for a while, but I'm feeling guilty as September has been all-but-update'less (school and work has hit me square between the eyes).

I'll start off with a brand new hero: Thranduil. The King of Mirkwood is an interesting hero with a few things that make him rather unique. His shield offers him additional protection against arrows and pikes, but his lack of armor makes him weaker against slashes. His abilities are also a little different; he can summon trees, deal damage over time, and "teleport". As a further update to Mirkwood, Legolas has been given a heavy armor upgrade.

As a result of the addition of Thranduil, Celeglin has been demoted to a hero that can only be summoned (through Celeborn). More info on these hero changes can be found here. As a side note, the Armory has been reskinned/modelled. Check it out here.

Next, I've made some downloadable wallpapers featuring Lothlorien, Rivendell, and Mirkwood. Enjoy!

Now I'd like to announce that Núkumnëhtar will be the first member of the Elven Alliance modding crew aside from myself. He will be working on coding most of the new Rohan material. Some background info: Núkumnëhtar is one of the INI coders for the Rhovanion Alliance mod and is currently working on his own, very ambitious mod, the Romhaya mod. Let's all give him a warm welcome!

Finally, I'd like to make a whole-hearted apology to the length of time it's taking me to finish this mod. Between school, work, student council, and I don't even remember how many clubs, I have next to no time to do mod work. Hopefully, Nuk will be able to help me speed along the process. Once again, I'm terribly sorry.

 I've got a few more things to show you all. Firstly, I've finalized that Gothmog will have a mount toggle, and I've fixed up his model (no more torch). I've also revamped Eowyn with some new stuff; info on all these changes can be found on the Heroes page. The Royal Guards are finished and have been added to the Units page. Lastly, I've created an Orchard to replace the Elven Farms. Note that this render shot is still a work in progress, and will look much better in the game (the branches and leaves will actually look like branches and leaves, rather than masses of green mesh).

I just want to let everyone know that school has started and I start my winter job next week, so I'll have very little time to do mod work.

PS. Don't forget to hit the ModDatabase Topsites button at the bottom of the page :P .

 Here are the rest of those renders I promised. I've redone Elrond and the new skins and model will replace the old one (the face is still courtesy of EA) and Elrond will now be a melee-only hero (this helps with balance as well as being closer to the character). Please take note that Haldir is based off Vapula's model and skin, and thanks still go out to him even after the changes I've made. I'd also like to thank EA for some resource material used in Arwen's Dove Grey riding dress.

 Well, the big update I was planning is taking much longer than I had expected. However, I do have part of that update done and (as the rest of it may not be done for some time) will show it now.

I have revamped most heroes' skins and models (and actually made them for Gamling and Hama) and have made pretty looking renders of them (not a patch on the renders Whopper does for Rhovanion Alliance though).

More renders can be found on the Heroes page. The next update will include Haldir and Celeglin, mounted Gamling, Hama, and Arwen, and the Royal Guards.

Next, I'd like to introduce Guardian of the Citadel and Núkumnëhtar as the heads of voice actor recruitment for the Elven Alliance mod. We've worked out scripts for all the new units and heroes and if you're interested in doing some voice work, contact one of us through PM (personal message) at the Forums (note: you'll need to register to send PMs at the forums; registration is free and easy). I'd also like to let everyone know that we have some aspiring voice actors from Hollywood that want to lend a hand in the audio department.

I've registered the Elven Alliance at the Mod Database and have added the website to their TopSites. If you feel like giving the mod a pat on the back, click the TopSite link at the bottom of this page. Thanks.

Lastly, just a bit of house-keeping. I've moved all older news articles to a News Archive. Those who share my pain of a slow net connection can now load up the home page just that much quicker.

 A few weeks ago I had an interview with Lord of Gifts, the owner of LotR BFME. The Elven Alliance is now the Featured Mod of the Month over there, and the interview has been posted! Click here to read it: there's some never before seen information there that might interest you. Also make sure to take a look around the site and forums there for some great Battle for Middle-Earth info!

I have a couple of minor reskins that I may as well show. I've changed Haldir's heavy armour to better resemble my own Galadhrim (thanks still go out to Vapula for the base of this skin); Celeborn has also had some minor skin changes and model tweaks (I doubt you'll notice the difference, but it's done anyway):

Now, you may be asking, "Celeglin, why on earth are you wasting our time with these minor images?" Well, I'll tell you why: I'm lonely and need a hug. lol. All kidding aside, I like to have some visuals to incorporate into as many updates as possible. However, these aren't the only bits of art I have ready for you guys: I'm hoarding most of the new stuff for a large update I'm planning.

 I wanted to keep this a secret until release... But well, I was never very good at keeping secrets.

To replace the "Summon Elven Allies" in the Elven spell book will be "Call of Cuivienen". This power will summon two battalions of Avari Archers and two battalions of Avari Swordmasters out of the Far East. More info on the Avari Warriors can be found on the Units page. An in-game shot can be found on the Screens page.

Just a quick note on some of the other projects I'm currently working on. I'm doing some modelling and skinning for GothmogtheOrc's Minas Morgul mod as well as for the Rhovanion Alliance mod. Links to these sites can be found on the Links page, at the bottom of this page, somewhere in these news posts, and on about a dozen different forums. Take your pick.

Now, I'd like to announce that the mod is coming close to completion. It's currently quite playable, but there's still a fair amount of polishing up that needs to be done. Some of the things that are left to be done include building animations, new Rohan heroes, and completing Gothmog and Glorfindel. I have also decided to push removing Elves from Rohan (AI issues) to a later release. Added to that is the fact that the computer will not be able to play the Elven Faction with the initial release.

 Quite a bit has been going on since the last update, but I'm going to start off with the recent downtime. Over the past few days, Revora (my host) has been upgrading their server. Say goodbye to temporary outages and incredibly slow load times - Revora is now only limited by the speed of your own connection. Let's all give the administrators a round of applause for their unceasing efforts to make this the best place for creative works.

Next, I have a wack-load of screens to show you all. These last few things were the last items that needed to be skinned/modeled for the Elven Faction (with the exception of the banner carriers; still need to do them).

Armory:

Camp/Outpost Citadel:

Elven Stables:

Glorfindel Mounted:

Reskinned Spearmen of the Havens:

Also, make sure to stop by the Units page for some action shots of the Galadhrim Warriors. A few misc. screen shots have also been added to the Screens page. Check them out!

My last item of business is this: I'm going to be away for a week at a film course, so all progress on the mod will be halted. I may be able to check up on the forums a couple times while I'm away, but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a week. See you all later.

 Small update for you. I've reskinned the Galadhrim Warriors (my original skins didn't stand up well ingame):

The first is light armour, the second heavy.

Here are a couple more mods that I suggest you take a look at:

GothmogtheOrc: A bunch of small mods all ready for download (Hope you like the Witch King). He also has a Minas Morgul faction mod in the works (I'm doing some skins and models for it).

Rhiea Mod Productions: Home of the upcoming "Scouring of the Shire" mod. Expect lots of cute hobbity stuff soon! Also helping out with the Massive Mod.

 Okay, so I lied. I have more art stuff to show you (and while looking around the mod, I'll have plenty enough of it to share for some time now). I've put the Riders of Rivendell ingame:

While screwing around with WorldBuilder, I came across a nearly complete Gothmog: all he needed was a skeleton. As this was easily fixed, I did so and have thrown him in the mod. Check out the Heroes page for more information.

As a side note: All the voices for the Elves (and Gothmog, for that matter) have been added. My general feelings towards them: oh my gawde are the Elves ever negative. Galadriel and Elrond are telling you how we're all screwed while Celeborn blames you for it. Arwen sounds like she's perma-sexually aroused. Celeglin has a single line while Haldir sounds like he's making a pronouncement half the time. It's all good though lol.

Now, I'd like to direct you to some Great Sites for the Battle for Middle-Earth that you'd be crazy not to visit

(in no particular order):

The 3rd Age: Simply the best place for help modding BfME. With countless tutorials as well as excellent personal help from the community, you'll be modding total conversions in no time.

GameReplays.org: Everything you could possibly want to know on strategy for BfME can be found here. Looking for a tournament? Stop by GR. And don't forget their replays!

nickthemenace: This guy's done it all. Check out his Elves Mod, Hero Mod, First Age Mod, and all the other projects he's had a hand in creating.

Lotr BFME: Another great place for news, strategies, mods, and just about everything else BfME. Make sure to check out the monthly Featured Strategies!

Realism Mod: The mod being created by a master of skinning and modeling: Dain Ironfoot. With this mod, he will make the game a much more realistic and immersive experience.

Rhovanion Alliance: My personal favourite. As you can see from the button above, there's very little this mod won't be doing. I swear, they have the kitchen sink in there somewhere!

Halbarad: An amazing coder and even better modeler (I'm totally serious, his stuff is nuts). Stop by his site to see some of his works.

All these sites and more can be found on the Links page.

 I've finally fixed the thumbnails so now they open up in a new window when you click them. I've also done the same for all external links (links to other sites). Now more Right Click... Open in New Window for us! I've also added a new header featuring Glorfindel and Celeglin.

Feeling good after skinning Glorfindel, I've reskinned Celeglin. I'm not sure whether I'll give him an armour upgrade (new skin as the light armour, old skin as the hero armour) or if I'll just replace the old skin altogether with the new.

I'm wondering if ingame this skin will look grey enough, or if it will look blue. If it turns out blue, I'll have to go back and take out more of the colour.

I've decided Glorfindel's Special Abilities will remain "secret" until release, so his hero card will remain empty for now. However, I'm still looking for ideas for a couple more abilities, so don't forget to visit the forums to pass on your suggestions.

As a final note, updates may slow down now, as I'm pretty well done all the art stuff for the mod. So don't get too worried if the updates become slightly less frequent.

 Firstly, I'd like to welcome GothmogtheOrc as the first member of the Elven Alliance team. He will be formatting the audio files used for the game (as my program does not do so properly). Let's all give him a warm welcome. Make sure to check out his mods as well; they can be found on the main page of The3rdAge Forums.

Next, I've created some new fx for Arwen's Loudwater Fury ability. While it's not completely finished, here's a screenshot:

Screenshots of the Tribute to the Valar and Galadriel's Well have been added to the Structures section. Nothing special, they are just some objects from the campaign's Lothlorien mission.

And finally... NEW HERO!! I have been pressured into doing this. Due to overwhelming community desire for Glorfindel to be in the mod, I have caved and thrown another heap onto the pile. However, while I'm dreading putting him ingame, I had an extremely fun time doing the skin for him:

This is, without a doubt, my favourite of all the skins I have done for this mod. I decided to just go nuts with textures and patterns and kept adding until there was just too much and had to pull back a bit. I'm very proud of the result. I'll have to fix up the shoulders a bit (texture got squared-off there).

However, I haven't the slightest clue how this guy will work in game. All I have so far is that he will be melee-only and on par with Elrond and Celeborn (if not, better). So, I need you guys to mosey on down to the forums to the thread marked "Glorfindel". There, spout out whatever ideas you have. Don't worry too much about being reasonable, but don't give me stuff that will be impossible to implement. And don't expect me to take many ideas and directly put them ingame; I will be mixing your ideas together with some of my own to make the best Glorfindel I can make. Thanks in advance for your support!

 Happy Canada Day to all my beaver-loving friends out there! As a result of this holiday, I'll be out for a couple days. If there's anything you need, make sure I hear of it before this afternoon (GMT -05:00). Otherwise, I won't get back to you for a few days. Have an awesome Canada Day everyone (and anyone not from Canada, go grab a Canadian flag and show that you love us (because you know you do!).

Now for mod updates. If you look up at the button bar above, you'll notice that the Progress button has been removed. I found this section of the site to be a little redundant and a pain to constantly update. In it's place you'll find the Structures button. You can go there to see an overview of the buildings of the Elves as well as some prices for buildings and units (which are all tenative). If you want some screenshots of the Elven Flets and the Elven Farms, I suggest you go take a peak at the Structures page.

 Sorry to anyone who didn't get in but beta is now closed. Anyone who has already been accepted but has not downloaded the files, please do so as soon as possible. The files will be taken off the site within a few days. Also be reminded that those testing the beta should check in at the forums to offer up what they've found. Thanks!

I've started working on the bases and have just about everything about them working. The only thing I'm stuck on are the base defence plots. Here's a screenshot of the Elven Castle:

The green boxes are where buildings will be placed. All those taller trees surrounding the base are the Treetop Flets, the Elves' defensive structure. The castle has 16 of them total. The two on the far left aren't supposed to be lighter in colour than the others, that's just worldbuilder being difficult (they look fine ingame). The Flets aren't built with the castle (you have to buy them from defence plots), but I have them prebuilt here just so you can see. If you find the whole thing is lacking a bit of colour, don't worry, the buildings will take care of that ^_^ .

I've also made a few small adjustments to the Heroes page (mainly special ability levels).

 Alpha, beta, theta, whatever you wanna call it, it's out! Here's your chance to test Arwen, Elrond, Celeborn, Haldir, Galadriel, and Celeglin and to help out with the progress of the mod. This is a closed beta, but admission is pretty easy (just contact me through the forums or by e-mail with a nice message). Once I approve you, I'll send you a link to the download site (with some terms of agreement).

If you sign up for this beta, I actually need some help out of you. Does someone need to be nerfed? Are prices reasonable? Are the fx just too much in spots? Not enough? Something just not working right? Any bug reports would be much appreciated.

Known Bugs:

General: No voices have been added yet.

Arwen: Her model (and possibly her skin too) will need to be redone (dress and hair don't animate properly, part of her arm comes out of her dress). Her Loudwater Fury attack will also be getting new fx (I hope).

Galadriel: Visions doesn't work properly. It will be taken out because it's near to impossible to do. Fx on Light of the Valar need to be fixed (for the record, the ability lasts 15 sec [can't tell because the fx shut off and come back on wierdly]). I need to make a button image for Light of the Valar as well.

Haldir: Elven Swordsman doesn't do what it's button says it's supposed to. I still need to tweak this ability (his attack rate doesn't change, but he does get a speed, attack, and armour bonus). His cloak goes through the back of his "skirt armour". I'll have to fix that some time.

Celeglin: Need to edit the button images for Double Shot and Archer of Doriath. His shoulders don't animate properly (you can't tell unless you zoom in though).

 It's by no means a flashy job, but I need some help with this.

The program I use normally to edit music (and consequently, the voices for this mod) doesn't seem to be compressing files properly and the game doesn't wanna read them. On top of this, GoldWave (the program suggested by The 3rd Age) doesn't like me and won't work either.

So, I need someone who has successfully been able to add new voices to the game (voices, mind you) who can take the files I create, convert them to the proper file type, and then (possibly) do up the proper coding so they will work in game. If you're interested, please contact me through the Forums. Thanks!

 I found some spare time yesterday and today and got some more stuff done. Arwen now works perfectly and has the Evenstar ability. Haldir has a working fx for his Elven Swordsman ability, but I've found that the HeroWeapon for it isn't working properly. I'm going to leave that be for now. Still no progress on Galadriel's Visions.

I should have Beta ready to be release this weekend and am willing to do so even without these two problems fixed. Beta will be by request, ie. you must PM me through the forums to make a request to be part of the beta. I will then send you a list of conditions that you must agree to. I have the right to refuse anyone I deem unfit for testing.

I've also redone the home page (this page), so the intro information doesn't hide the news. I added a few more screenshots to the Heroes and Screens sections too. Finally get to see some in-game shots of Haldir and even more (lol) Arwen. Have fun!

 As I am nearly finished making the Elven Heroes, I am going to be releasing a Beta version soon so I can have them tested. However, exams start this week so I haven't a clue when I'll have time to make my last few changes.

Things to do before beta:

• Arwen gets a strange fxparticlesystem error whenever she mounts and I have yet to figure out how to fix it. I also need to add her Evenstar ability.
• Change the fx on Haldir's Elven Swordsman ability (current one reverts his skin to the unarmoured texture)
• Get Galadriel's Visions ability to work properly

I've also updated the Heroes page with some changes to abilities as well as some new screenshots. Enjoy!