Structures

Generated structures redirects here.

Every specific group of blocks purposefully formed in Lord of the Rings Mod based on coding is considered to be part of a generated structure. They are randomly generated in the world; most generated structures will only appear in certain biome(s).

Trees[]

Main article: Tree

Trees are generated structures that appear in most biomes, and can be chopped down by the player in order to obtain wood logs. Their leaves will despawn when the logs are cut away, dropping saplings. These saplings can be replanted, and will grow back on their own if given sufficient time, space, and light; alternatively, you can use bonemeal on a sapling to make it grow faster. Fallen leaves can be found beneath the canopies of trees.

Boulders[]

Main article: Boulder

Boulders are large formations of various kinds of rock that can be found in various biomes. They are mostly there for decoration, but they can also serve as an easily-accessible source of stone. They always consist of the kind of rock that is most abundant in that biome, for example, boulders in Rohan will consist of Rohan rock, while boulders in Mordor will consist of Mordor rock.

Caves[]

Similar to vanilla Minecraft, many caves generate under the surface of Middle-Earth. The caves of Middle-earth can be a rich source of ores to those that are prepared; but are often very dark; in many biomes, finding Orcs inside caves is not unusual, although this may not be a problem, depending on your alignment.

The caves that generate in the mod are essentially identical to the carver caves of vanilla, and typically consists of a series of irregular tunnels branching off and winding in other directions. Sometimes, these tunnels cut through to the surface, creating natural entrances to the cave.

A cave may have a main room (aka circular void) connecting 1 to 4 trunks, each trunk with zero or two branches. It may also have no main room, only one trunk and zero or two branches on it, that is, an I-shaped or T-shaped cave. There is a one-in-four probability of generating a cave with the main room, and another three-quarters probability of generating an I-shaped or T-shaped cave.

The main room is an ellipsoidal void of various size. It sometimes may be too small to be found, making the cave looks I-shaped or T-shaped. But as long as the cave is not I-shaped or T-shaped, it must have a main room.

For each trunk or branch, it is usually thin at both ends and thick in the middle. However, the thickness does not vary so evenly. It sometimes flickers thick and thin as it advances. Sometimes it becomes so thin that there are some interruptions. Multiple interruptions make it look like a series of continuous bubbles. The length from the root of the trunk to the top of a branch varies from 85 to 112 blocks. The trunk and branches are curved, and they are often intertwined with each other to make complex caves. Multiple caves sometimes merge with each other, making them more messy and spacious. The ceiling of the main room, trunks, and branches is usually round, while the floor is usually flat.

In the mod, caves (along with ravines) are generated shortly after the basic terrain. Most other generated structures, such as trees, roads, and buildings, are built afterwards. Orc Dungeons will always spawn connected to a cave. If a cave breaks the surface, trees can grow in the entrance. However, roads and most other buildings will level the terrain around them, thereby filling the cave entrance.

Ravines[]

Also similar to vanilla Minecraft, there are ravines that spawn undergound. Occasionally, these ravines will spawn near the surface, posing a hazard to players riding or walking carelessly. They can be a rich source of ores and minerals, similar to caves. Ravines are especially common in Mordor, where they often spawn filled with lava, and are notoriously hard to notice until it is too late.

Termite Mounds[]

Main article: Termite Mound

Termite Mounds are special generated stuctures that spawn in Far Harad. They contain two kinds of blocks, infested and non-infested. The non-infested blocks can be used for decoration, but the infested blocks will spawn an Exploding Termite when broken, which will attack the player, often breaking more mounds and releasing more termites.

Roads[]

Main article: Road

While not technically considered a generated structure in the same way that other structures are generated, roads are nonetheless made up of a specific group of blocks that are formed based on coding, in this case, using a Bezier curve. They will always spawn in the same places, regardless of the world, and will smooth out the terrain around themselves, making travel on the roads significantly easier, especially in mountainous regions. They will be made of local brick blocks and slabs when available, and gravel and dirt in areas such as the lone-lands. If naturally spawned water crosses a road, a generated bridge will cross it, connecting the edges of the roads.

Fixed mountains[]

Main article: Biomes#Fixed Mountains

In Middle-Earth, there are a number of mountains and hills that will always spawn in the same places, regardless of the world. These are included both to make the topography more realistic, and also to make it easier for players to build structures accurate to the lore. The first fixed mountain to be added was Erebor, and since that time, many fixed mountains have been added, ranging from Caradhras to Weathertop.

Buildings and ruins[]

By far the most diverse kind of generated structures that are found in the mod are buildings and ruins. These range from small, such as the Underwater Elven Ruin, to quite large, such as the Rohan Fortress. There are also structures that spawn in the same location, regardless of the world, such as the Pits of Utumno. In the far future, there will be even larger generated structures in the mod, such as Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep, Barad-Dur, and so on. Sometimes, groups of buildings will spawn together to create a village, as in the case of the Southron Village.

NPCs in structures[]

Certain structures will spawn with NPCs inside or around them. These NPCs may appear the same as normal NPCs, but they are "bound" to the structure that they inhabit. What this means is that the NPCs will stay within a certain distance of the structure, and that if, for any reason, some of the NPCs are removed from their position (by slaying or other means) the structure will gradually spawn more NPCs to replace the original NPCs. NPCs that spawn with a generated structure will also not despawn when a player moves away from the area, even if they would despawn under normal circumstances.

Traders[]

Many traders and captains can be found inside various generated structures, so if you're looking to hire troops or to trade, a generated structure can be a good place to look.

Easter eggs[]

Overview: Category:Easter Eggs

Some structures are unique, surprising and look somehow misplaced. If you run into something like that, it might be either a bug or - more probable - an Easter Egg. Enjoy!

Technical aspects[]

All structures are spawned in the exact same way, whether it be a tree or a Southron Village. All of them have their own .class file, and are built after the basic terrain has generated. To spawn a structure, the game first checks the biome that it is in, then it looks at the list of possible structures that can be spawned in that biome. Every structure has a "weight", with a higher weight corresponding to a higher probability of spawning that particular structure. Finally, the game checks if there's enough room to build the structure it's chosen. If yes, the structure is built. If not, then the game goes back to the list and looks for another structure that will fit in that space. This keeps on going until a suitable structure is built.

Structure spawners[]

The Mod holds a lot of structure spawners in the creative inventory. You can also obtain these via commands. They can be used to spawn in buildings, even whole villages. In survival mode they are one-use-only, in creative mode they can be used as often as desired.

In Public Beta 30, there was a slow motion option included into the game. So, if you are curious, how the buildings are generated, edit your config file accordingly, or use the command:

/strTimelape on|off|interval

with interval is the time in ms (milliseconds) between each placement of a block. Don't try it on Taurethrim Pyramids, unless you want a very long break. Warning: This feature might be buggy and cause a crash!

Structure bugs[]

On very rare occasions, a structure made out of unusual blocks will spawn instead of a normal generated structure. This can happen in any biome, and is not an easter egg, or even a feature of the mod. Instead, it's caused by a rare bug within Minecraft, in which the block IDs of a generated structure are mixed up. Because trees are by far the most common generated structure in the mod, this bug shows up most frequently with trees, but it can in theory happen with any generated structure.