The Lord of the Rings Minecraft Mod Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Note that Renewed redirects here.

The Lord of the Rings Mod Renewed is a version of the Lord of the Rings Mod that is being ported to run on Minecraft 1.16, as opposed to the 1.7.10 version that the mod currently runs on. Over the next several months (following the completion of Update 36 for the Legacy version) Renewed updates will be released on a regular basis, either weekly or biweekly. Glflegolas covers the major changes in each update in his video playlist.

GrukRenewedLogo

Besides porting mod features, tweaking things along the way, and incorporating new vanilla content, a key focus of the Renewed version is the ability to customise the mod via data packs. Renewed leverages the vanilla data pack framework to make many key aspects of the mod data-driven, including the map biome generation, waypoints, roads, and factions. These features have all been rewritten from the ground up to read their content from JSON files, which can be substituted by installing data packs - other mod features will follow.

Renewed version development was originally for Minecraft 1.15 and was updated to 1.16 in early 2021. The hope is that it will be further updated for future Minecraft releases once they have stabilised and a stable Minecraft Forge build exists - 1.17, and so forth.

Why the move to 1.16?[]

For many long years, Mevans, the developer of the mod, had been reluctant to move the mod to a newer version of Minecraft, as seen in a blog post in 2015, and his long-running forum thread.

However, in 2020, he changed his mind on the matter, as seen in a comment on the mod's Facebook page when asked why he moved to 1.15:

A few mishaps with 1.7.10 forge/gradle which temporarily made it impossible to build the mod, and had us worried that it might spell the end of development for the mod. Luckily I managed to fix them by updating to newer versions of the support software, but it did make me think about what would happen if support for some aspect of 1.7.10 forge/gradle were ever withdrawn in a way that wasn't fixable. That, and some newfound appreciation for the newer versions.

–Mevans

In a nutshell, the mod is being updated to 1.15 because it currently runs on a version of Minecraft that dates back to mid-2014, for which Forge has long since ended support, and which may therefore stop working at some point for reasons beyond our control (though we do hope not). Furthermore, the code changes between 1.15 and 1.16 were expected to be minor (in reality, they were quite major), so updating to future versions of Minecraft may be easier.

The move to 1.16 was justified, for in late December 2021, a security hole (Log4J) was discovered in Minecraft. Soon thereafter, the Minecraft Forge team released a fix for Forge for Minecraft 1.16.5 (version 1.16.5-36.2.20), and the current release of Renewed worked on it no problem. A few days later, a new renewed version that mandated the use of this Forge version was released, fixing the vulnerability once and for all.

Unfortunately, there was no reliable fix for Legacy. Therefore, players were advised against connecting to any Legacy LOTR Mod servers, else they ran the risk of having their computer hacked, personal details stolen, and worse. Server owners were advised to shut down their severs immediately (even private ones), else they ran a serious risk of having the host machine hacked. Forge stated they do not intend to fix this version, because the fix they were able to apply to 1.18 down to 1.12 would not work for 1.7-1.11, 1.7.10 has been unsupported for years now. While it is possible that a third-party mod will be released that patches the security issue in 1.7.10, it is not a given, so players have been urged to stay off Legacy servers for the time being.

Why does it take so long to update the mod?[]

The entire workings of the mod are essentially nothing more than a giant set of mathematical equations.

In case anybody is curious, the estimations made for the Mod to be translated 1:1 would be about 4 Lord of the Rings trilogies worth of characters, but then all of it is math equations, and if 1 answer is wrong, the entire thing fails.

And then imagine you are basically translating math homework worth of 4 LOTR collections, which you have already made once.

Boyd on the Facebook page

Since 1.7.10, the changes to the game's code have been enormous and far-reaching, some rewriting the very deepest of its workings. Most of these are for the best - it is much cleaner codebase. However this does mean that adding a new Block or Item, for instance, shares nothing in common with the respective 1.7.10 code.

And the Lord of the Rings Mod is an enormous mod. As has been said a lot over the past few years, updating it to a newer version is no small or easy task. Furthermore, this mod interfaces with almost all parts of the game, in many complex ways. Attempting to directly update the whole codebase would mean fixing hundreds of thousands (yes!) of compile errors before the mod could even start, let alone checking for bugs. Again, we cannot overemphasise how complex some parts of this mod are, and how many areas of the game it interfaces with. Updating this mod will follow much the same path as the mod's initial creation, but will proceed considerably faster.

What gameplay features will be added?[]

See also: Mevans' post here.

Vanilla features[]

Most of the content in 1.16 and earlier post-1.7 versions will be present in some form in the mod. These include, but are not limited to:

Mobs[]

  • Polar bears will spawn in Forodwaith.
  • Bees and their hives can be found in Middle-earth.
  • Foxes will spawn in most forests.
  • Parrots will be found in the jungles of Far Harad.
  • Turtles and dolphins will both be found in the Sea.
  • Pillagers and Shulkers won't spawn in Middle-earth, for obvious reasons (who needs pillagers when you have bandits and invasions?)
TestDriveHouse

A house built by Glflegolas, showing some of the mod's features as of version 1.2

Combat[]

The combat system of Vanilla will likely be tweaked to act somewhat like that in the mod. Shields have also been added, and they actually work to block attacks, though the cosmetic shields of the mod are planned to remain available, possibly as optional reskins for the functional shields.

Water mechanics[]

The mechanics for water flow in vanilla post-1.13 will be present in the mod. Besides the familiar block types (slabs, stairs, fences etc.) added by the mod, many mod blocks, including kegs, treasure piles, and dripstones, can be waterlogged.

Stones[]

The new vanilla stone types - granite, diorite, and andesite - are present in Renewed Middle-earth. In contrast to their random and ever-present generation in the vanilla game, in Middle-earth the generation of these minerals is intended to follow their occurence in the real world. The mod takes inspiration from Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth on this subject. For example, andesite and diorite are principally found in volcanic regions, and regions where a great deal of erosion has taken place, such as the various downs and hills in Eriador. Granite is found commonly in most biomes but is especially prevalent in the regions of Eriador. It is planned that the Harad Mountains, when ported, will be a major source of andesite, as this range is the closest analogue to the real-world Andes in South America (the namesake of the mineral, indeed).

TestDriveBridge

Note the vertical slabs in this bridge, and how they don't cause air pockets around them.

New slabs[]

A feature exclusive to Renewed that is not present in the vanilla game is the presence of vertical slabs. They are the default placement mode when a slab is placed on the side of a block, but can also be placed on the horizontal surface of a block by holding down shift while placing the slab.

New crafting[]

In Renewed, any faction crafting table can craft anything that's craftable on the vanilla crafting table, along with that faction's exclusive recipes. So there's no longer any need to have vanilla crafting tables in your base.

Crafting monuments[]

As there are currently no generated structures containing crafting tables, crafting tables can be obtained in survival mode from pyramid-like crafting monuments.

Dwarven equipment[]

Blue Dwarven Steel doesn't exist in Renewed; all dwarven equipment is crafted using Dwarven Steel.

New wood blocks[]

Following the Renewed Building Contest of late 2020, the winners' choice was 'wood slabs and stairs'. True to form, the mod team added over 200 new wood blocks in Renewed Snapshot 2.7, including slabs and stairs for logs and full-bark wood blocks, slabs for wooden beams, and new branches (similar to walls, but for wood) - for all the existing wood types up to that point. Further wood sets ported will include these new block types.

Custom waypoints[]

In Renewed, custom waypoints have been redesigned so as to be more grounded in the physical world. They are created by building a small structure at a location instead of clicking map buttons. Map markers, a new Renewed feature, can be placed at any point on the map but are visual only.

Caracals[]

Renewed includes caracals, inspired by Big Floppa. They spawn in the various regions of Near Harad.

Fog of war[]

In Renewed, the map comes with a 'fog of war' feature enabled by default. At the start of a world only the Shire and the surrounding regions in western Eriador are visible; the rest of Middle-earth is covered by clouds. New areas are revealed as the player travels (or fast travels) throughout Middle-earth. Because this is aimed at increasing the immersion for new players, it is possible to disable the fog of war in the mod's config file with veteran players in mind.

Conditional speech engine[]

The mod team have developed the brand new Curuquesta speech system for Renewed. This is a more advanced version of NPC speechbanks, which allows the NPCs to take into account various aspects of themselves, the NPCs, and the surrounding environment when deciding which speech line to say. Curuquesta has a number of other advantages over the Legacy speechbanks too, like [To be Confirmed].

Will it be compatible with 1.7.10 worlds?[]

As of now, the new mod will not be compatible with 1.7.10 worlds, however, it is hoped that there will be a way to import worlds created in the original mod into the new mod.

JEI Support[]

Thanks again to The Ranger Malvegil, the Lord of the Rings mod also supports JEI - the modern recipe manager mod, similar to NEI from older versions. This includes full support for all faction-specific crafting tables, forges, and barrel brewing, as are currently implemented in Renewed. The JEI plugin can be downloaded here.

Officially supported mods:

Lord of the Rings Mod (Renewed)
Utilities: JoetaterEmmaitarNEI PluginPvP Mode modSiegeMode LOTR DRP


Unsupported mods:

Recommended 3rd party mods: FastCraft
Mevans' other mods: The Lion King Mod

Advertisement