By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.
Questions? Find answers in our FAQ section. Get the info you need, quickly.
You need to install the modpack. Instructions and a download for this can be found on the modpack page. There is no whitelist requirement, and once you have loaded to the main menu, just click 'Join Server'.
After exploring the server, you may feel that you'd like to help with the construction of this world. Applications are run via our Discord - please read the #how-to-apply channel there for more information.
Please join our Discord and ask!
Work began in WorldPainter on the map's terrain in mid-2013, and building began in November 2014.
We are working at a scale of 1:58. When completed, the map will be roughly 50'000 by 45'000 blocks large, or 2'250 square km - roughly the size of Dorset in England.
The map is set in the early autumn of 3006 of the Third Age, or 1406 by the Shire-reckoning. In terms of the narrative of the Lord of the Rings, it is set five years after Bilbo leaves the Shire, but twelve years before Frodo sets out for Bree.
Middle-earth is about the same size as continental Europe. The work required would take many lifetimes. At 1:58, we feel we are striking a good balance between scale and pragmatism.
When building a world as diverse and complex as Middle-earth, a vast number of textures are required. We decided to move to a modded server in 2014 mainly due to Minecraft removing metadatas of blocks, which severely reduced the number of textures we could use. Vanilla Minecraft also lacks lots of the necessary things we would like to have for our server, and ultimately fails to improve the building aspect of Minecraft. Having a modded client/server allows us to have full control over what we can do with blocks, textures, and server features.
