ear Middle Earth Enthusiasts!
Today we want to announce a very drastic step in the development of the vision "Adventure Middle Earth": AME is getting frozen.
The technical limitations of the publicly available Construction Set makes it impossible to realise AME for TES IV: Oblivion with the planned size. Based on the fact that we could already implement our whole landmass in Morrowind we did not think it could be a problem for Oblivion. Just when rumours spread that there is a limitation of 6x6 Quads (1 Quad = 1024 cells) in Oblivion we started testing the whole size of the heightmap instead of testing it step by step as we had done before. The result was shocking: As soon as the amount of the quads surpassed 20 the Construction Set crashed, when trying it in one rush and also with parts of 10 quads each. So altogether nothing above 20 Quads can be imported to Oblivion. Additionally for these 20 Quads no LOD-Terrain (LOD is what you see in the distance) can be created anymore - this is only possible with a maximum of 16 quads. As we had planned Adventure Middle Earth with 225 quads, the realisation is impossible due to an ever crashing Construction Set. Even a request for help at Bethesda did not result in anything. This does not astonish us too much as the Community's calls for a new Version of the CS, which is used for the Pay-PlugIns, were unheard. We have tried everything, tested as much as possible and searched for solutions - but it is simply impossible. We hope you can understand this sad but inevitable step.
Now, after about four years, we could of course review the past time and wallow in memories, but we won't, as AME is not cancelled and thus we rather look hopefully into the future. AME is a vision we want to realise for ourselves, and to do this the way we want we accept waiting for some more years which we will use to look for a new technical basis and to extend our skills. We will also proceed with some work on AME. So today we want to say goodbye to all those who have eagerly awaited Middle Earth in Oblivion and whom we have disappointed. But we also want to invite all those who share our vision to visit the forums from time to time, because it will definitely go on. Time is not yet ripe for such a Middle Earth, but some day it will be, and with today's progress rather tomorrow than the day after. As a bridgeover for this time we have a composition from our musician who has already transferred our vision into a melody:
Er-Chorf - The One Ring.
We will meet again - in Middle Earth!