Return of the Shadow: The War of the Ring

Lord Malbeth

Emperor
Joined
Feb 28, 2006
Messages
1,859
Location
Tower of Fornost
Introduction

Many years ago, during the Second Age of Arda, Sauron - under the guise of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts - deceived the elves, and tricked them into helping him make the Rings of Power. At first they whole-heartedly received him, not knowing he was evil, but then Celebrimbor, their leader, discovered his dark secret after he, Sauron, forged the One Ring in the fires of Mt. Doom. Celebrimbor hid his rings and rebelled. Sauron attacked and laid waste to Celebrimbor and his people. During this time, darkness reigned. Many years later, the Dunedain of Middle-earth, and the Elves formed a Last Alliance and marched on Mordor. After a 7 year siege, they defeated Sauron and cut from his hand the One Ring. With nothing left, his spirit fled and his armies were leveled. But it wasn't a complete victory, for the One Ring was not entirely destroyed. It was lost for years...
Until it was rediscovered...

So... What's New?

  • A beautiful map by Hagbart tweaked using information from "The Atlas of Middle Earth"
  • Playable Civs in the main game: Gondor, Mordor, Isengard, Rohan, Elves, and Dwarves
  • Non-Playable Civs: Dunland, Corsairs, The Easterlings, Bardings, and Haradwaith
  • The Ring is an flag unit (but also functions as a dangerous weapon i.e. a nuclear missile), and Mt. Doom is the goal of Reverse Capture the Flag victory
  • Mass Regicide is in effect, and each king unit has special abilities according to their characters
  • Mountains cannot be crossed except for where there are roads crossing them (i.e. their passes)
  • Each civ has its own UU, including Guard of the Citadel, Orcs, Uruk-hai, Riders of Rohan, Shirrifs, Elvish Bowmen, Swordmen, and Spearmen, Dwarven Ironbreakers, Guardsman, and Warriors, Dunlendings, Mumakil, Corsairs, Wainriders, Bardish Bowmen, and several others...
  • Airfields and Radar Towers are included as Eagle Eyries and The Argonath. However, you can't build them--they're preplaced. Railroads don't feature at all. Craters are featued as "carnage."
  • Customized Wonders like The Lair of Shelob, Meduseld, and Akallabêth, etc.
  • Extensive modding to create the atmosphere of the books: for instance, the Ruins of Tharbad, Annuminas, Ost-in-Edhil are present on the Map, the Balrog is... somewhere, Forests and mountains are overrun with all sorts of evil, there are a lot of barbarian units that you can capture and upgrade to aid you in your war, etc.
  • Every unit/building/civ/tech/etc. gets a custom Civiliopedia entry (Some sampled from Quasidemo's older LOTR: War of the Ring ver. 0.92 scenario) from Wikipedia, Encyclopedia or Arda, lotr.wikia.com, Tolkien Gateway, or various other books.
  • Difficulty levels from Orc to Eru Ilúvatar

SWEET! I want it!

You can get it here:

Link Updated: April 28, 2023
DOWNLOAD NEWEST VERSION NOW VIA MODDB

INSTALLATION: Install in either:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Scenarios
OR
C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Scenarios

(Note: If you have both a "Program Files" folder and "Program Files (x86)" folder, I believe you should place it in the latter one. At least, that's the folder that works for me!)

IMPORTANT NOTE IF USING STEAM: If you are playing on Steam, you will need to replace the "labels.txt" file included in this download with the one called "labels_steam.txt". I've included both of 'em in the Text file, so either way, you should be good to go!
 
Last edited:
Here are some screenies for you guys...

The Fall of Osgiliath...

The Fall of the Gap of Rohan

The Battle of the Hornburg

The One Ring

The Argonath

Civilopedia Preview: Ranger

Civilopedia Preview: The Witch-King
 
Last edited:
Although the bulk of this scenario was put together/ordered by myself, there are many that I need to thank, ordered by importance, here's a big THANK YOU to...

Quasidemo - Playing Quasidemo's "LOTR: War of the Ring ver. 0.9" inspired me to make this scenario. He is an absolute genius when it comes to atmosphere and Civilopedia entries. I used several of his 'pedia entries (albeit modified) in this new scenario, and as such due credit definitely goes to him!

Unit Makers - Kinboat, beboy, Embryodead, Aaglo, Plotinus, Vuldacon, NavyDawg, Orthanc, Wyrmshadow, utahjazz7, Hikaro Takayama, ruby_sauce, MoscaTnT, CamJH, LizardmenRule!, and I'm sure a few more... (If I didn't mention you, and you'd like credit, just post, I apologize in advance if I indeed left your name off, it was totally an accident!)

Hagbart - For his wonderful Middle-earth map! I've heavily modified it for this scenario, but the base structure is all his!

The Encyclopedia of Arda, lotr.wikia.com, wikipedia.org, and Tolkien Gateway, Misc. - For providing Civilopedia entry descriptions which saved me quite a bit of time. (In compliance with the Encyclopedia of Arda's wishes, I would like to provide a link to their site; it is amazing. GO THERE NOW! :D ). lotr.wikia.com and Tolkien Gateway are amazing resources, and I urge you all to check them out if you are fans.

The LOtM Mod Team AND ROTCWinter - For providing graphics on this forum and some novel ideas!

Karen Wynn Fonstad - For her amazing Atlas of Middle-earth, without which this scenario would've never been completed.

JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, and Firaxis - For making all of this (LOTR and Civ III) possible!

Once again, THANK YOU ALL!!!
 
Last edited:
HaHa, why yes it did. I got inspired around 2004 to make this, and Quasidemo's scenario pushed me even further... But it still took around, what, 5 years to make? Yikes...
Hope you enjoy it!
 
Hope you guys enjoy it!

BTW, if you have any interesting screenshots, feel free to upload them and I'll add them to the previews!
 
Sorry for the double-post, but, has anyone checked this out yet? :)
 
I was excited to see it. DLed & installed. Got "file not found" errors while trying to start as a couple of different factions / scenarios. Didn't want to post yet, as that was on my Mac & may just be an issue with the differences in file paths for some game data. Haven't had a chance yet to install it on my PC & see if it works there because I am out of town for a few days.
 
Hmmm, well that's strange. I know for a fact it works fine on my PC, I've even test all the units and such. I hope it's just a seach path problem with the Mac (HaHa, I mean that in the nicest way. :) )

If you get it to work, don't hesitate with the feedback. :D If not, I'll look into it.
 
Alrighty, thanks! Out of curiousity, did you ever get a chance to play it on your PC?
 
I've looked at it on both my Mac & winbox. There are problems with both installs. Missing pedia entries, missing sounds, etc. Too many to list here, especially with 5 different biqs to look through, load playing each of the available factions, etc.
 
Well... that is bizarre, as I can play it. Hmmm, I look into it. Sorry for this.

I'm sure since you're a mod you know, but are you sure you installed it in

C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Scenarios
OR
C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Scenarios

Always have to check. ;)
 
The path on both is like you posted, but on another drive. Being on another drive has not caused problems with any other mod or scenario.

I'll try the patch - it may take a couple of days to get back to you.

EDIT: The error messages depend on who I play as. One example is the run sound for the wizard - sorry I don't remember the exact name. I also remember getting an error message related to the shirrif. And a problem with the pedia text for the iron_working tech. All these are occuring without the patch - haven't installed that yet.

That's about the best I can do. I don't have time to beta-test anything besides the steampunk scenario just now.
 
Top Bottom