About us | ArdaCraft

2013

Our founder Fornad began his map of Middle-earth in WorldPainter, initially working alone.

2014

In a quiet corner of the internet, Fornad and a group of friends decided to bring Middle-earth to life, starting in the peaceful Shire. This fellowship of skilled artists embarked on an ambitious journey to recreate Tolkien's world, one location at a time.

2015

Our adventure began with the charm of the Shire and Bree-land, recreating the lands covered over the first few chapters in The Fellowship of the Ring. We stepped into the Old Forest and delved into the Barrow-downs.

2016

Initially, our map had clear edges, but we steadily expanded its borders. We reached the Elven harbours and Dwarven mines in the Blue Mountains, pushing the boundaries of our virtual world. We meticulously added forests, mountains, and rivers, creating a more expansive and immersive Middle-earth.

2017

A pivotal moment came when we teamed up with the creators of the Conquest Reforged mod. Merging our mod with theirs, we pioneered new building techniques and set higher standards in creative Minecraft.

2018

Our focus returned to Eriador, the region that includes the Shire. We explored the green mounds and ancient ruins of Arnor, the fields of Rohan, and the serene beauty of Rivendell, faithfully recreating the paths of Bilbo and Frodo.

2019

Delving into Tolkien’s lore, we brought to life the wonders described in his books. Our journey took us along the Anduin River, through the golden woods of Lothlórien, past the Argonath, and down to the majestic falls of Rauros.

2020

With growing expertise, we reimagined the terrain. We crafted taller mountains, grander trees, and mightier rivers. Enhancing older areas like the Shire was a challenging but rewarding process that brought our vision closer to perfection.

2021

Our dream of a better world started to unfold as the Conquest Reforged mod received a major update. We relearned and refined our building techniques, further pushing the limits of what we could achieve.

2022

The first half of the year presented challenges as our team worked on a separate, private server. Despite these obstacles, new talent and fresh ideas reinvigorated our project, helping us to overcome and thrive.

2023

This year marked significant achievements. We upgraded to a faster version of modded Minecraft, revitalised beloved locations like Bree, and celebrated our progress with the community. We participated in Tolkien Reading Day, sharing readings and adding extraordinary music to enhance our immersive world.

2024

As we move forward, we continue to seek ways to enhance the experience for our guests. We are developing comprehensive guides and a new starting area to ensure every visitor can follow the path of the Fellowship and fully immerse themselves in Middle-earth.

Why use mods?

When building a world as diverse and complex as Middle-earth, a vast number of textures are required. We have decided to move to a modded server mainly due to Minecraft removing metadatas of blocks, which severely reduces the number of textures we can 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.

Our story starts
10 years ago...

Our contributors

Why use mods?

Our story starts10 years ago...

Our contributors

Why use mods?

Our story starts
10 years ago...