Welcome to Version 1.3 of The Elven Alliance: Community Edition!

The mod has been uploaded to the following locations for download:
Moddb

Version 1.3 contains significant changes to the AI and campaign (both good and bad). The Hard Mode AI has been adjusted to be more balanced, and the campaign has been adjusted for increased difficulty and challenges! More balance changes and bug fixes are included in Version 1.3. Finally, a camera system has been included in the mod.

A few things to note:

• You do NOT need any previous versions of TEA:CE installed to play this mod.
• You can view a complete change list of the mod here.
• If you have any questions about installation or have problems running the mod, please use this topic in our forums.
• You can view the official Elven Alliance forums here.
• Vote for this mod here.
• View our Moddb page here.

DISCLAIMER: If Celeglin does return and does not approve of the community edition project, the project will stop immediately and the download will be removed. Also, the original version of Celeglin's mod will still be available to download. It can be found here.

 It's been a while since the last news post, but I've been having connection problems from the end of December through the better half of January. But it's all fixed now.

The ModDB Awards were announced today. Though The Elven Alliance didn't win anything, Mental Omega another Revora mod for Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge got an honourable in the Strategy Genre Award. Half-Life 2 mods nearly swept the Awards (again), but there were still some great mods up there. Make sure to check out all the awards here. Thanks for all your support, getting into the Top 100 has to have been the biggest accomplishment of this mod ever. Can't thank you all enough.

Make sure to check out the higher-resolution version of the exclusive trailer I submitted to the Awards here.

In terms of the mod, a new release may be scheduled for the near future, featuring further balancing and a completely high-resolution Gondor faction. At the moment though, there isn't enough new/changed content to justify making you all download another huge file (as I can't quite get patches working).

Next, I have a little announcement for you all (make sure to click the picture):

Anyone who frequents the forum will probably have seen plans for this project already in the making, but here's the official announcement. Once I feel that I've sufficiently completed work on The Elven Alliance, I'm going to be working on The Last Twilight. Call it a sequel, call it an expansion, whatever. In a nut shell, the Elven faction will be split up into two factions (Eriador and Rhovanion), allowing for lots more units and more heroes, including the Sons of Elrond who are featured in the above teaser poster. Work won't begin in The Last Twilight until the original mod is completed, so please don't ask for progress until I give it.

As a final note, I may have to take a short break from modding for a few weeks. I'm very busy with classes and shoots for the next while. I'm also finding that motivation is hard to come back lately. But don't worry, I won't "disappear" again.

 Thanks to all you voters, The Elven Alliance has made it through to the next round of the ModDB Mod of the Year Awards. The Elven Alliance is one of the Top 100 Nominees out of the 4000+ mods at ModDB. Now you must vote again (or for the first time, if you haven't already) in the new voting stage. You guys have gotten me further than I ever dreamed, so let's see what miracles you can accomplish in this round. Get friends and family to vote if you can: every little bit counts!

Here it is, the latest version of The Elven Alliance. This update features the many changes made to Rohan since the last release, as well as all the new models and skins for other factions featured in updates. A full list of additions, changes, fixes, and bugs can be found here.

A few things of note:

• you do NOT need the original release installed to install the update
• if you already have the original installed, this will replace the older version
• PLEASE read through the installer. It includes Installation Troubleshooting as well as important terms of use information
• If you're still having problems after reading everything included in the installer, make a post in the forums, and I'll do my best to help you out

Also, if you haven't already done so, make sure to vote for The Elven Alliance for the ModDB Mod of the Year Awards. Many thanks. Also remember to hit the "BFME Top 100" button at the bottom of this page at least once a day (if you have the time to kill).

 Well, I've done it. I've reskinned pretty much all the original good faction heroes (I, unfortunately, couldn't get Aragorn's Fellowship and Helm's Deep outfits finished for the update) plus Saruman. This update includes (from left to right) Black Gate Aragorn, Boromir, Gandalf the Grey, Dernhelm/Eowyn, Faramir, and Saruman, as well as a bunch of screenshots on this revamped content. As a note, Faramir's mounted model is based off his Prince of Ithilien/Coronation outfit, rather than his standard battle armour.

I didn't bother doing captions this time around, as everything is pretty self explanitory.

In other news, I have set up an IRC channel for The Elven Alliance. For those who don't know what IRC is, it's basically a series of chatrooms (channels) in which you can talk about any number of things. To use IRC, you will need a client. There are a number of these available on the net, and the one I use is called mIRC. Installation is quite easy and any problems can probably solved on the mIRC site above. Here is a quick post by Blaat on how to connect to The Elven Alliance IRC channel:

Connect to the server by typing: /server main.acidchat.net in the window that opens on start up.

"After this you will have to choose a nickname. A nickname isn't 'yours' in that you don't need to register for one (although you can if you want, using the /nickserv command). You can just change nicknames without trouble (to change your nick name, type /nick and then the name you want to use). When you have it all ready you can connect to an IRC server. You'll get some text from the server and a text box. This box is where you type your text, but IRC also offers a lot of commands that you can use to do other interesting stuff.

One such command is the /join command (IRC commands always start with a slash) which lets you join a channel." To join the Elven Alliance channel type: /join #elvenalliance and you're all set!

Alternatively - so long as you have mIRC installed - you can simply click this link here:

I strongly encourage you to use the chatroom, especially for idle chatter and to set up online games. And even if there isn't anyone active in the channel, I ask that you leave the channel open so that you're around for when somebody does come by. This attempt to make your lives just a little easier can only succeed with your participation.

 One common problem many people had with the Beta was that the old Good faction heroes really didn't stand up well when placed next to the new, high resolution skins of the likes of Haldir, Eowyn, and Gamling. To fix this, I've decided to reskin all the original Good heroes. So far I have done Eomer, Theoden, Gimli, Gandalf the White (two updates ago), and Faramir. Renders for these can be found below. I've also done Gandalf the White's mounted variation and have also done 3 new variations for Eowyn's unarmoured model, though I didn't bother making renders for any of these.

Next in line: Faramir on his horse, Boromir, Gandalf the Grey, and Aragorn. That should cover everyone.

 

ModDB is holding it's annual Mod of the Year Awards. While there isn't much of a chance of The Elven Alliance getting anything in any of the categories, I'd love to get some votes. Just click the banner above and hit the Vote button on my mod's ModDB profile. And while you're at it, how about you click on the ModDB Topsite link just below and bump my site up there.

Thought it might be nice to give you guys some statistics on how well we're doing here. From its separate sources, The Elven Alliance has been downloaded nearly 3000 times since release. Site hits have been increased dramatically, and this site is the source of 80% of The3rdAge.net's traffic. Thanks guys for making this a success!

 Lots to get through today, so let's get started.

The beta has been hugely successfull with thousands of downloads so far and a dramatic spike in site hits. Thanks to everyone who's given the mod a shot! I will be releasing another version of the beta fairly soon that will fix the exploitable bugs.

I've done a good deal of unit revamping over the last while. I've redone the Spearmen of the Havens with their own unique armour, reminiscent of Gil-Galad (as they are a memorial unit). At a request on the forums, I've also reskinned Gandalf the White. Nertea donated a lot of new Rohirrim skins which I took and made light/heavy armour version of, as well as some colour randomisation. He also gave me some new Rohan shields, which I've used for both the Rohirrim and the Peasants.

Speaking of Rohirrim, Rohan has been greatly reworked over the past few days. The Elven Warriors have been (finally) removed and the Archery Range has been replaced by Rohan Barracks. To take the place of the Elven Warriors, I've added Eorlingas (anti-cavalry) and Royal Guards (on foot, bow and sword). The Fire Arrow upgrade has been shifted over to the Armory, and Peasants can no longer receive Heavy Armor. More info on all these changes can be found on the Units and Structures pages.

Captions are on the Screenshots page.

On the website side of things, I've removed the Links page and have moved all affiliates to the bottom of every page. In place of the Links page, we now have a Campaign page giving information on all new campaign items. On the forums I've created an Avatar Gallery and am also taking requests for The Elven Alliance signature images.

 So I've been really busy with film school these past few weeks and I felt guilty at the lack of... anything going on here. So I've packed up the mod as is and put it up for download. Please know that there are a large number of bugs still present (most of which can be found in the included README). Also know that the installer is not the most wonderful thing ever and may appear to freeze up during installation: don't worry, just give it a couple minutes.

Any questions/comments/reports (though the last won't really be needed) can be brought to Beta thread at the forums.

 I've added information to the Heroes page on the four hobbit heroes. Both Frodo and Sam have received some new abilities, while Merry and Pippin have a new upgrade. I've redone all of EA's original hobbit stuff, while also creating new versions of Merry and Pippin for their new upgrade.

I've never really been happy with the colour scheme that I had used for the Riders of Rivendell. While I like the colours themselves (and think they work well together), I didn't find it fit with the films' and books' depictions of the culture. Furthermore, I also wanted to work in the some of the armor and clothing motifs I had created for the Rivendell heroes. So I've redone the Riders of Rivendell. I've also added a weapon variation for the Avari Bladesmen (name changed from Swordsmasters) and did a render for both Avari units while I was at it.

As I side note, I've updated the Heroes, Units, and Structures pages with proper prices.

 It was pointed out in the forums that I've hardly shown any screenshots that show off the new Elven buildings. So... Here we are. I've also made a small change to Arwen's Asfaloth: he now runs with an arched neck as he does in the films.

Captions are on the Screens page.

 This update features the campaign mission Mirkwood, though it could probably be renamed Dol Guldur with all the changes I've made.

Mirkwood

• Castle base in the south west has been removed. Elven "shrine" takes it place.
• As the player moves east from their starting point (a message at the beginning of the mission will tell the player that Thranduil is in the east), he/she will be assaulted by giant spiders. Depending on how quickly the player moves, they may also be attacked by part of the Mordor starting army. The spiders will attack anything, including the Mordor forces.
• As the player moves further east, they will probably see the rest of the Mordor starting army attacking some trees (Elven Flets, to be exact).
• When the player is in sight of the Mirkwood Scout, Thranduil (level 10) and six battalions of level 5 Mirkwood Scouts will join them. The Flets (if any remain) will also be transfered over to the player. At about this same time, a whole wack of spiders will begin attacking the Elves. These spiders, like the first group, will also attack anything.
• When the player moves south from the Elves' camp and approaches the Mordor base outside of Dol Guldur, the map in that area will be revealed, and the "host of Dol Guldur" will come in and attack. The host includes lots of orcs and orc archers, many trolls, a fair amount of Easterlings, and two Nazgul. All these units have some upgrades.
• If the player gets very close to the base, a very, very large amount of spiders will come out of the trees all around the base. Some will attack anything, but most will only attack the player.
• After some time, a Lothlorien army will arrive just west of Dol Guldur. This army includes Galadriel (level 10), Celeborn (level 10), Celeglin (level 8), and 10 battalions of level 6 Galadhrim Warriors (all with Fire Arrow and Heavy Armor upgrades). They will arrive under the cover of the "Blessings of the Golden Wood" special power.
• Shortly after Lorien arrives, a wave of orcs, orc archers, and spiders will arrive and attack them.
• A little while after that, a second wave will come again from Dol Guldur, much like the first wave (only without the Nazgul).
• To win the mission, you must destroy both the Mordor base and Dol Guldur itself. Only Galadriel, using her "Throw Down Its Walls" ability can destroy Dol Guldur.
• If Galadriel dies, you lose the mission.
• No Elven units (minus those that were already in the player's army (Haldir, Legolas, Helm's Deep Elves)) will join the players army after the mission is complete.
• Music scripted to certain events: Elven theme when you enter the south west "shrine"; Elven Alliance theme when the siege of Dol Guldur begins; Charge of the Galadhrim theme when the hosts of Celeborn arrive.

Can I make a suggestion? Get to Thranduil as quickly as you can. Captions, as always, are on the Screens page.

As a final note, Galadriel has finally been reworked to actually look like the film's Galadriel. Hope you all like her now!