Dear Players.

Following contact and negotiations, first in letters with the solicitors to the holdings of Tolkien Estate, and today, in international telephone calls to the holders of the electronic media rights to the works of Tolkien, a decision on the Middle-Earth Mod has been made.

As a result of the contacts and discussions, it has been concluded that, barring a near miraculous turnaround in legal stance, MeMod does not have the right to the use of the copyright content of Middle-Earth for any Electronic Media production, profit-making or non-profit.
Nor, it would appear, has it held any such rights over the last two and a half years, despite our belief in such an agreement. This comes as just as much of a shock to the current Dev and Team members as it does to you.

This situation therefore means that Memod is no longer a viable project, irrespective of it’s nature as a non-profit tribute. In light of this breach of copyright law with the holders of the rights, we would be unable to release the MeMod without threat of legal repercussion on all members, and it is therefore our only practical option to call a halt to the project at this stage.

In light of this closure, I would like to publicly thank the following members, for their work and effort for the Middle Earth Mod, over the years.

Ancalagon
Atti
Casuir
Communist James
Daerk
Dark0ne
Dark Lord Sauron
DeLite
Diplomat
Diseased Punk
Earendil18
Earrindo
Ember
Ent Went Moot,
Eru
General Timothy C
Geonox
Ghorgareth
Gogeka
Greywolf
Howlingoak
Illvarin
Iluventi
Immortal Snafu
JamaicanMeCrazy
Jesugandalf
Kahenraz
Kethruch
Kfmccall
Kyp
LadyMidnight
Lethmorra
Lord of the Boards
Lord of the Cheese
Lordoverkill
Lyte
Mighty Mule
Morgoth
Mr Badger
Nailo
Phr33ksho
Porcupine 1
Ring
Sarrowa
Seremegil
Sereph
Shizzy
S MacNelly
Smuli
Sone One
Stewart
Surian
Rynos
Theta Orionis
Tolkienniste33
TypeIII
Wardem
Wookiee


There have been many others. Each deserves their mention, and I wish I could, but in the course of two and a half years of work on this mod, as an artist, as lead artist, and as the lead designer for the entire mod, I’m afraid there are more than I can remember.

Thankyou. Each and every one of you, for the effort you gave, that got this project so far, to be halted. We’ve overcome letdowns, design changes, leadership issues, technical problems we thought would be impossible to overcome, and a hundred other problems. Sadly, this is the one problem we cannot get through.

Likewise, I’d like to thank everyone who applied to join the MeMod team over the years.

In a later post, I may well outline what MeMod’s timeline and story were to be. But that’s not for today. Today is to say goodbye to a dream we struggled for years to produce, stillborn.




Suzerain.


----
Kahz - edit

Updated members list.

Wow........this is....sad

What was their complaint? I don't understand why they won't allow you to continue this project, it's non-profitable, it's not hurting them in any way it seems.

Unfortunately the legal system isn't that logical.

*goes off to cry *

MAN WTF!! How can they shut down a FREE GAME, I mean wtf to think of how long many of us waited for this mod, how long we watched and input. This is total Bulls**t. What a bunch of money hunger assh**es. I mean whats wrong with the Tolkien estates? Does this not go against the entire spiret of the Middle Earth seires? Maybe we Memod fanatics should start flooding them with our outrage of this big heap of stinking S**T!

Farwell Memod i guess morrowind will just stay on the shelf.

*sigh* What a waste of time, effort and talent. I thought the question of legallity had been brought up several times and was taken care of by Daerk's lawyers. I guess their legal counsel was not as good as he thought...

I feel real bad for all of the team members that busted their butts for this mod. I can only imagine their anger and frustration at being misled that what they were doing was legal and so would not be a waste of their time.

I am so sorry guys!

Eno

this was not due to the stance of the Tolkien estate.

Please do not rant at what you do not know about.

Oh sorry for my miss inturprisintation but its just so angering that so big capital buissness would through their wieght around on a free non-profit tribiute to these fine works, not to mention all the wasted time.

Sigh...

This is horrible!

I guess Professor Tolkien's only legacy to his family is a big number with a huge dollar sign. They actually tried to trademark the word "shire"!! I'm going to trademark the word "greed" so that any time someone describes the Tolkien Estate I an sue. I have a couple of links that may be of some use to team or forum members who want to try to persuade them to stop this crazed witch hunt. Tolkien Society with tolkien Estate contact and free online petitioning service

I would have started one myself, but I didn't want to step on toes without asking, and I would state it to crudely and ineffectively to make an impression.

But this doesn't necessarily mean your efforts as modders have all been in vain, does it? You have mad untold models, textures, scripts, and other modifications that it seems almost sinful to waste. Perhaps you use these assets to create a mod of your own world. I'm sure that anyone wouldn't be less pleased with what you could create other than MEmod.

I am so, so sorry that it came to this. Thank you all for the time you gave.

peace

Repeat. This is Not due to the Tolkien Estate.

nor was the word "money" mentioned once in any of the dialogues and correspondences that were involved in this issue.

Suz

Let me just say, that it has been an extreme pleasure working for you guys. It is sad that things must end like this, with MEMod being "stillborn" and all.

I think, now, that I understand what the Elves felt after the One Ring was destroyed, and their time on Middle-Earth was ended. Nothing to stay for, just ghosts and memories of times long gone. At least the memory of this mod will still exist...

But isn't there any hope? Isn't there anyone we can appeal to, anyone we can try to make understand how much this means to us and how many people are affected by it?

I guess there won't be, I don't supposeyou gave up as long as there was any hope.

And there is nothing that we, being so many, might do that you could not do?

if anything the mod would give publicity to Tolkien estate, it would help them by increasing interest in middle earth... damn, i just don't have anything to say, btw is this final, or is there still a chance

My only question is why they waited so long to tell you this.

...and also what the whole staff is going to do now.

Thank you for all the work you did, watching the progress of this mod has been inspiring for me at all times, and even if this should be the end I don't consider it a waste of time. Thank you for all you gave to us!

If there's anything we can do, just tell us

another question, is it possible to continue production and privatly distribute the mod?

Also: This is bad news, anyone can see that, two an a half years of eagerness, hard work out of people lives is now pointless, not to mention the mass dissapointment by fans, but the real 'victims' are the devs. I am incredibly sorry for those of you who were hoping this mod to be your ticket into the gaming industry, for those of you whos hopes and dreams have been shattered in that way I cannot even begin to express my anger, I am deeply sorry.

Everyone who's posted their support, thank you.

I don't really understand this...but..
Does that mean that AME and all those other ME mods out there are illegal?!?

So it's....gone...wow...after all that..

This is horrible...

Not illegal, they would be illegal if they were produced and distributed, especialy if they were sold for profit. But since these mods are no longer in production and will not be distributed even if for non-profit, then they are not illegal simply because they no longer exist...sadly.

If I recall correctly AME was able to continue, because they were making it privately as art to be distributed only among its creators. However, their forum members, giving valuable input that contributed to the overall product were considered co-creators and therefor could legally download the mod. So anyone who posted even once was eligible to receive the mod.

PLEASE, DO NOT LET THIS GET YOUR HOPES UP!!!! I may be having a failure of memory, or maybe that didn't work for them, or maybe German trade law is different than US or UK law, but is this possible?

I feel so bad for all you devs, spending as much time on this as many do on there careers. Thank you so much.


peace

Wow I'am realy surprised at the underwhelming response to this thread, this thread which brings us all to are most darkest hour.

We'll all miss this break in our day to antisipate and dream at would now could have been.

Eh...

....


SHIT

Sorry, I'm done now... Oh well, at least Battle For Middleearth is coming out near my birthday.... ::sniff::


~Val

EDIT~ After several minutes of reflection.... You might as well cancel Christmas too

Who has to grant you the rights to distribute this mod? I take it that it is either The Tolkien Estate, Electronic Arts who has the exclusive rights to make games out of the movies, Vivendi Universal who has the exclusive rights to make games out of the books, or some combination of the three. How much would it cost to purchase the rights for this non-profit project from any of them? It'll probably be more than any of us can afford, but maybe for a non-profit venture which can not harm them in any way, the prices would be lower... and I guess many of the people here, myself included, would be willing to make a donation. And who knows... maybe there is a millionaire between us simple Me-Mod fans, and we don't know it! For now, the Me-Mod has been burnt to ashes... but maybe it'll prove itself a phoenix. Stop working on it to avoid being sued... but don't give up hope completely!

... ... ... now... is there a lawyer in the forums?

To make the biggest understatement of my entire life, this completely sucks.

The MEMod team has put countless hours into this mod, creating an entire world from scratch, purely as their own tribute to Tolkien. They did not do it for money, nor for any personal gain, but purely for the love of Tolkien's work. They went through many trials and tribulations, and after all that, they end up being essentially told it was all for nothing.




One thing:

there is no point in pointing fingers and trying to find "fault".

This is the nature of the games industry.

In this case the sale of the media rights was made during tolkien's lifetime, from what I know of his biography, to pay his living expenses (Tolkien made very little from LoTR in his lifetime, nor is the estate the money grabbing entity which members of this forum seem content to slander it as.)

Such rights are are only rarely released - before the last glut of products to tie in with New Line Cinema, the previous release was almost 20 years ago.

May I likewise suggest that the amateur lawyers give up trying to concoct impractical schemes to "solve" the difficulty. Not least because not one suggestion of finger-pointing has actually been at the actual company involved, and I do not wish to see Viventi Universal, Sierra, EA or Tolkien Estates being given ill-feelings for what is not their issue at all.



As for the issue of what comes next, at this point we are coming to terms with the fact that we've been badly let down with what we had been led to beleive.

The MeMod teams may be back producing something. Do not expect it to be advertised heavily, promoted, or otherwise hyped however. if there's one thing we won't miss about the death of the MeMod Project, it is the weight of hyped expectation that had become developed around the product.

Suzerain.

For quite a while, waiting for the Beta for MeMod was the only reason I kept Morrowind installed on my computer.
It's a shame such a wonderful project was shut down, and I knew if I was a little more skilled with graphics or code I would have applied too.
I'd still like to learn more about everything that was going into the mod (timeline, missions, main plot, etc.), even though it seems masochistic since it won't be brought to light.
Have you thought about asking the other modders about releasing some of the code into the Morroiwnd modding community? I'm sure the team has thought of some great use of scripts.

This is not Badomen, but his older brother Brood.
Guys this is really sad, many people have been looking forward to this mod for quiet some time, and respect the amount of effort and time you have taken away from your personal lives to bring Middle-Earth alive!

I would like to say on behalf of BroodModding.tk and the morrowind community a big thank you for donating all your efforts to create what could have been the greatest mod ever created!

Thank you
Brood...

My brother just informed me about this very sad event. It is discouraging at least to those involved, I imagine, seeing all that work go for naught. Oh, well… That is how it is I guess. But, I might say, it is a good thing, perhaps, that the earlier “Final Release Betas” were not released, as that certainly must have avoided some serious snafu’s.

I can also very clearly see Suz’s point about not pointing fingers. The cancellation of MEMod is obviously a pre-emptive action on the part of the ME Staff to prevent possible legal action, and was indeed a smart move. If nothing else, in the event there is an agreement made between MEMod and the holders of the electronic media rights, this could be shown as a good faith effort, bolstering their position. There is unmistakably a person of shrewd intelligence taking care of things here.

I read in Suz’s original posting that he may release more details of the scheme of MEMod, and perhaps there will be some in game or CS screen-shots as well (?).

I would like to thank all the development staff and teamsters for engaging in what was at least an exciting diversion from the hum-drum world of mods for Morrowind.

My sincere thanks and deepest sympathies,

A. VanDorssen III

that was beautiful !

No words can describe the level of disappointment that your loyal fans are feeling right now. I somehow think I will continue to lurk these forums for some time to come just hoping for a glimpse of hope. What you have created thus far has proven your talent and commitment to providing a quality product and I am sure that much of the work completed will be used when all of you devs apply for gaming industry positions so it is not a complete waste. I only wish we could have played some of it. I would have loved being able to explore the world Tolkien envisioned but my disappointment is nothing compared to what all the devs must be feeling. I salute each and every one of you for keeping this dream alive for so long. You are all truly worthy of our thanks and hopefully we will see some of your work in another mod soon.

I had never believed that such big projects will exist, or even survive. Whenenever a team was making a decision to create such a big project I knew it was doomed for failure. However, not in MEMod, I was impressed when I read the first posts in the forums, I thought it would be the ONLY that would survive. I thought that because off the staff (30 or more people is not a small number) and how the team was working (with perfect mysticism and such)

However, I am sure that the reasons this project has been closed is more and beyond the law issues. I am sure that the dissapearance of Daerk caused most of that, however I don' t talk further, cause I know nothing of this matter.

I am thankful for the moments of joy this mod has given to me and all other members (especially when screenshots were released). However I can' t excuse any of the team for the loss of time (you can't believe how heavy it was) which misleading me out of purpose, reading for my final school class (the only important class for people's future, in my country). I am sorry

The only good I can see from this is the release of all the info that was hidden from us over the years.

Have you given much thought into what you wonderful people could put your talent to use at? Maybe a different mod for Morrowind, or an entirely different game? You guys are blessed with some kickass skills, and I just don't want them to go to "waste", for lack of a better word.

Anyway, in my opinion the best thing that happened to MEmod was Suz taking over. Thanks for whatever good you did for us, Suz.

~V

Daerk returning will not solve anything. When Daerk was still here, from what i know, he told eveyone that he had looked into the legal issues involved with MEMod, once he left there was a void of information and Suz took responsiblity to make sure that things were as they seemed. As he stated earlier, after quite some time he was able to get in contact with the parties involved and just yesterday got the unfortunate news.

I'm not sure what exactly happened. Either Daerk didn't actually look into the situation (but said he did) or his information was severly flawed. Either way, his return would not be able to undo what is done. It's out of our hands now. I'm very sad about this but it's just the way it is. I'm not going to say anything specific because I really don't know the specifics as far as Daerk goes, his departure preceded my arrival by a few months. Also, anything I have heard through the teamster forums and the team member IRC is private and I'll leave it to the Devs to make any information public about internal workings of the Mod and the team members.

As for whether or not we will make another mod? I would really like to do this. I'm not sure if everyone else will be up for it, I would completely understand if Suz specifically would not want to lead another large scale mod (you, and even I, have no idea how much work he put into MEMod). I would love to keep working with this team, it's a very motivated group of people and almost everyone takes their role very seriously.

LOL, it's very annoying. I had just gotten a stable build of a database that would have made viewing our models much easier, it was about 1 1/2 months of nightly work in the making and now it seems like a corpse without a soul. The same goes for all the rest of the team-member's work, it would just be a shame to have all our work go to waste.

I've been a lurker in these forums for a very, very, very long time... Posted only a few times on another account that i dont even know the name of anymore.


To hear this news today, saddens me greatly.... I was expecting the biggest things from memod because i felt that its staff was as profesional as any other staff in the industry.

I offer my sympathy to all you guys,including the fans that stuck with it till the end. I know that you guys will move on to bigger (maybe not better, cuz u just cant beat memod) things... so good luck to you all!

i will still continue to check in daily as i have for the past couple years, and i offer my services in any way that you guys might need em (mite be a little late for that)...



Sincerly,

Marko Stankovic

Thank you all for your sympathy and support.

I cannot even begin to describe how hollow and drained this leaves me, and many of the others among the team and devs I have spoken to.


Last night, we had to bury our dream.

A dream that we had the skills, the vision and determination to realize.


And now it is no more - the dream is over. All that could have been now never will be.


RIP MEMod.


*cries*

Again, thanks everyone.

*goes off to cry with everyone else*

Well, thank you for everything you have done so far and everything you were planning to do. I know that, had there been a way to bring this mod to life, you would have found it, but as there isn't, all I can do is to wish you luck for your future projects, should you decide to start something again... It has been a beautiful dream, and I feel no less grateful to you than I would have if this mod had been actually completed.

Hi, I have been waiting intently for thid mod for a year now, it was the last reason I kept Morowind after I completed everything and the fact the Dev's have chosen to end development out of fear of legal reprecussions saddens me greatly.

It is terrible that all the comitment and effort they put into the creation of the Memod should be wasted. I guess now we have to wait to see if the Dev's start on another project.

The Memod shall live on in the memory of all those who had anything to do with it, even if they didn't make themselves know on the forums.

To the developers of Memod and all the fans who patiently waited for its realease, I salute you.

A suitable song for this moment would be Slaying the Dreamer, by Nightwish

Best wishes to whatecer the team decide to do.

This is the most sad thing I've ever heard in my life! Whoever is responsible for this, I hope they are having a very bad taste in their mouth right now!
But anyway, now that the dream is definatly torn into piecen, I will probably be leaving these fora in a short time. Thank you so much, devs, teamsters and regulars alike for the time I've spent here! Especially the devs and teamsters must feel completely terrible and nothing I could say would make it better. But still: thank you so infinitely much for trying to make all of our dreams come true!

pharzon..

You have made so much effort as a team so far, and it cannot be wasted. Only a few days ago Suzerain was describing the size of the MEMod files in his HD. You can't just kill all these hours, because simply you 'll lose them from your life. Things like pixel shaded grass, visions of another world that we, the followers, had imagined can't be thrown in the trash bin.

And my question is: all these stuff that your team has indeed done can't be released publicy as they serve no purpose any more? Just to have an idea of the dream as it will fade away. Or at least all the wonderful scripts Wookie had invented; can't be modders recource for other modders?

Of course the stuff is yours and you make it whatever you want. However it would be considered as "movement of good will" if you offer some of them to Morrowind modders.

Brood here again, not Badomen.

Yes, we will miss u, my brother (badomen) is pissed off, he wants to come on here and insult (as he does).

But I am working on a TC of mine, and we are only 10% of the way through, already it has been difficult making progress, although things are starting to look up now.
I can only imagine how hard it must be for you guys to leave this project. Guys don't point the finger, I'm guessing here but magazine coverage would not have helped, also with EA announcing their upcoming game. This would have only brought this mod further out into the public eye aswell as that fiery eye of the tolkein estate it would seem.

I hope that you guys move onto another project or release some of the models you have worked on, I have seen some of your screenshots and love the amount of detail in you moddeling.

Guys its been a great (of a bit bumpy) ride, don't look at this as a bad thing, look up, you have worked on one of the most anticipated and hyped mods ever created, mods don't usually get the attention you guys have had till the first release at least.

I'm sure there will be happier times, aswell as grey times, but always try to look on the bright side no matter how hard it may seem!