Frequently Asked Questions

This is a list of Frequently Asked Question which the team have already answered many times, therefore it is possible to consult this page instead of asking the question so that time is saved on both sides.

General Questions

Q:Is the Mod dead/on hold?

A: No.

Q: What do I do if I have a suggestion?

A: Post on Modding Union for other users to debate. However, remain civil and polite lest your post be deleted. In addition, provide logical arguments and proof to the best of your ability for each change propose. Before posting have a look here, follow these guidelines and all should be well.

Q: When will the next update come out?

A: Short Answer: When it's done. Long Answer: In order to avoid disappointment, anger and resent if something delays the announced release, the Edain Team never announces the release more than a week in advance, once everything is completed and only a couple tests remain (supposed). Long periods of silence are often a sign that the Edain Team are hard at work and are preparing something big to announce to all, therefore one must remain patient. "Do not be hasty young master [username]."

Q: Will you ever add [long lists of units from the first/second/early third age]?

A: That is unlikely to happen, the Edain Team has repeatedly stated that they prefer to keep all elements of the mod from the Third Age during the events of The Quest for Erebor and the War of the Ring with the small exception of Arnor and Angmar. Therefore dead characters from older ages will likely never appear permanently in the faction, they may however appear in certain spells such as Gil Galad but on rare occasions.

Q: Will the Edain Team ever implement a system where you can pick between the BFME 1 fixed plots system and the BFME 2 free build system?

A: No, to create such a system is a task so colossal it could be compared to the making of the Silmarillions, the task would take ages of coding, testing and bug fixing and in the end the final system would be quite buggy as the game tries to sort through all the file it has been given. In addition, balancing the fixed plot system is a much easier task but still quite complex, having to balanced two systems with the same buildings would be a never-ending task.

Q: Will the Wizard Create a Hero be implemented in the future?

A: No, giving the player the ability to train their own wizards goes too much against the lore, the Edain Team has refused to implement them officially. However you can always download the Wizard Submod if you wish.

Q: I think that the Free Orcs system should be removed; it's too OP...

A: No, the Team has repeated multiple times they would never remove that feature because of how unique and interesting it is, a true representation of Mordor. In addition, they have always worked towards balancing the system, telling it is OP without providing further arguments is not going to bring any change but you are more than welcome to state suggestions for balancing the free orcs system on the Modding Union forums

Q: What do I need to play the Edain Mod?

A: Follow the guide here

Q: Some textures are pink, what happened?

A: Corrupt asset.dat files. Try updating the mod, if that doesn't work you need a clean reinstall of the ROTWK.

Q: Why am I gaining power points so slowly?

A: If you feel like you are suddenly gaining power points very slowly right after you played a special map such as Horde or Mission restart your game to clear your cache.

Q: How do I select a Custom Hero for Rohan or Imladris

A:To pick any hero for any faction first click on their greyed out names in the selection toolbar and then type the first letter of their name.

Q: What decision led you to go back to the BFME1 build plot system?

A: See below:

Edain 3.8.1	Edain 4.0
Build your resource buildings at the same spots with a builder	Build your resource buildings at the same spots without a builder
Nearly all resource buildings are exactly the same, and offer no differentiation between tactics or factions	Decide which resource building you want at a settlement/fortress build plot to get the cost reduction of your choice, or build a supporting building for a different tactic
Capture an inn, which are not available on all maps, or not equally available, to get. The inn is easily capturable, so the faster player can get both. And inns are that crucial for some factions that you loose if you don't have one.	Get supporting units at an outpost/settlement (two outposts are equally available for all players on 1vs1 maps)
Military buildings were freely buildable, allowing you to flank an enemy, or hide a building even after a clear defeat to absolutely annoy your enemy	Military buildings can build at outposts allowing you to flank your enemy
Towers, wells and fortresses were freely buildable and either banned or causing a stalemate	defensive buildings can only be build inside the fortress, or at the sacrifice of other buildings so players have to decide if they want to play more aggressive or defensive. A bigger variety of defensive buildings is available for players to choose

Q: Why doesn't the mod install using the -mod command?

A: The mod is too big to be installed a different way, since the big files have a maximum file size. We therefore can’t use the mod command other mods use to keep the game out of the main directory.

Q: Why isn't Edain based on the 2.02 patch?

A: 2.02 is not an official patch, it is a fan-made patch and its full name is unofficial 2.02 balance patch. So in truth, it is more or less just like another mod. The Edain Team has decided against using it for multiple reasons:

• the balance changes it brings can't be used in Edain due to the difference in play style
• it is in development and therefore requires fixes to be uploaded whenever a new patch is released for every modder
• switching to 2.02 now would required hundreds of hours to convert the existing codebase into something compatible with 2.02
• 2.02 was created after Edain and at the time the team could not predict how popular it would have become
• 2.02 is an unofficial patch and the Team always prefers to use official materials as the foundations
• 2.02 uses a modified no-cd game.dat to allow players to skip mounting files which is technically illegal even if the game is very old

Faction Implementation Questions

Q: Can you implement Arnor as a full faction?

A: No, Arnor's gameplay is too similar to Gondor's to make it interesting to play individually. This would also limit the amount of faction that can be added to the mod. Currently it is estimated that a total of 11 factions can be added to the mod, any beyond that will result in glitchy AI and other bugs. There is a possibility of a faction called Arnor being implemented as a full faction but it will in no way resemble the current Arnor faction.

Q: But think, they could be added as subfactions, like the Dwarves

A: This is not possible due to the spellbook. It works for the dwarves because the same spellbook works for all of them, however, the spellbooks of Arnor doesn't work with Gondor and neither does the Gondor spellbook work with Arnor. The faction are also not from the same era so making a spellbook that they can share would render out a lot of bland spell that don't have any faction specific flavor because of how little the factions have in common.

Q: Can you make Mirkwood its own faction?

A: No there isn't material for Mirkwood to be able to be fully implemented. In addition, their current implementation fits quite nicely both lore-wise and just in term of general gameplay. Removing them from there to make them a full faction would be a terrible loss for Lorien. If you wish to play with Tauriel you just have to build a Mirkwood outpost on the 6 player map "Mirkwood" there you will be able to recruit her as a hero. For more information see here.

Q: Will you ever release Hobbits?

A: Unlikely, the Hobbits were never a major military force, only ever fighting (and winning) one battle, therefore thinking that they could overpower the likes of Mordor, Imladris or Erebor is madness. They were announced as an April Fools prank but the Team has given no sign of an official release of the hobbits. In addition as they are already implemented in many ways, it is unlikely they will be a faction.

Q: When will Misty Mountains be released?

A: The Misty Mountains faction will come out in 4.6. No, nobody knows when 4.6 will come out.

Q: Will there ever be an Evil Men faction?

A: The Team hasn't made an official statement about whether or not they will implement Evil Men as a faction but there are still two factions that can be implemented within the game that have not yet been revealed so Evil Men might be one of them. We can only wait.

Hardcoded Bugs

Those bugs cannot be fixed because of game engine limitations:

Q: The AI keeps building the Dwarven Heroes from all three realm...

A: That's a hard coded bug, nothing the team can do about it. The ROTWK Game engine was never meant for this level of complexity, it is a miracle that the team was able to do all of this already.

Q: A troll became invulnerable after I set him on fire...

A: Another hardcoded bug from the vanilla game, it just happens sometimes. Nothing the Team can do about it, it's best to simply restart the skirmish you were having at the time.

Q: Units keep glitching through my gate...

A: Another bug that cannot be fixed, the best you can do is try closing your gate as early as possible, like this the AI won't try to get into your fortress in the first place.