User blog:HubToo/LOTR schematics project

The one thing that is really missing in the current version of the LOTR mod is villages and towns.

While we all know that they are planned (and in fact already available in Near Harad), many people would like to have an alternative today. We need to bring life in MiddleEarth!

Some (including me) have considered using the (excellent) Millénaire mod for this: Unfortunately, it would be an uncertain undertaking needing significant efforts, and it apparently doesn't play well with Mevans plans for the future...
 * User Designed Structures & Millénaire/LOTR mods crossover
 * Mods to draw inspiration from
 * Millenaire Village Help

A compatible alternative would be to work on a library of MiddleEarth structures (either individual or full villages/towns), like Millénaire does, which would be usable in LOTR servers.

Fortunately, there is a widely used format for that, WorldEdit Schematics, and existing libraries of ready made buildings, including some LOTR related.

These blue prints for buildings can then be used with WorldEdit, which exist both as a mod or a Bukkit plugin.

The plugin version has the advantage of being compatible with most existing LOTR servers as the majority of them are hybrid Forge/Bukkit Cauldron servers (check my January 3 comment on the Servers page).

Even more interesting, there's another plugin which would allow for Millénaire like behavior: the Builder NPC character, for the Citizens Bukkit plugin.

While the Citizens plugin allows you to have credible villagers, the Builder NPC is able to use a WorldEdit schematic to build something on his own, with a configurable option where you have to provide him with the needed blocks first.

The only thing missing is to convert each of the LOTR structures in WorldEdit schematics (really easy to do in a flat creative world with structure eggs), and start working on new ones, or combinations forming villages and towns.

This could be done on an external library such as Minecraft Schematics, or in a new area of this Wiki.

Anyone interested to join such a project?

I will soon test the inclusion of Citizens and Builder in our It's a hARDA world LOTR server.