I’ve been doing a little research on BFME modding because I find the population cap annoying. I keep on turning up results on a mod called MASSIVE (slightly ironic…) that raises the pop limit, redoes some hero stats, and gives bigger battalions and maps, but I can’t seem to find a place to get it. Any help? Bert Umans is the author’s name, here’s an interview someone from EA did with him.
I recently had the pleasure to interview Bert Umans, the creator of the MOD for The Battle for Middle-earth, simply titled, MASSIVE. Many of you were concerned about the population cap in the game, so Bert, like many others, has taken it upon himself to ensure those with powerful machines can play the game with many more units on screen at once, and I mean many.
Who are you and where are you from? For those who don’t know, what is the Massive Mod?
I’m Bert Umans, leader of the Massive team. I’m from Diepenbeek, Belgium. That lies in Europe. The Massive mod provides the opportunity for people to play the huge battles from the movies. Units come in bigger hordes and the population limit is bigger.
I’ve personally played the Massive mod and thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Witch-king and his new powers. Do you intend to bring other new heroes to each of the sides?
I don’t know, but I’m thinking of a hero for Isengard. Isengard only has only two heroes which I feel is unfair against the other races. I’m still working on this issue. Got any suggestions?
What inspired you to create this modification?
The movies and the books of course! I’m a big fan of fantasy movies and books, and when I played The Battle for Middle-earth I was a little disappointed because the armies I felt were too small. The originals trailers created a very large sense of scale in the battles, and I felt the gameplay itself needed more of that.
What is your favorite side to play as and why?
My favorite side is Rohan. I like the Elven Warriors and the Rohirim. It’s funny when a whole army of Rohirrim rides against the Orcs of Mordor and just piles right over them. But I also like Mordor as well, especially now that the Witch-king can dismount.
What separates the Masssive mod from all the other “extended edition” type mod’s out there for BfME?
Other extended mod’s only change the population limit and/or the unit costs. I did that also and more. I made the hordes bigger, so instead of five Gondorian Soldiers, are there now nine. I very much admire Deezire’s Extended Edition mod however, and think we could both have some very close associations and fun with our mod projects.
Why did you make particular choices to lower build costs and increase the command point limit?
I think you mean the command points limit for units particularly. I didn’t change those. When I added units to the hordes, the command points automatically went higher. But if you mean the population cap, then it’s logical that I increased it. Otherwise you can’t have big armies.
What is your favorite aspect about The Battle for Middle-earth?
Everything to be honest! I just like The Lord of the Rings and when you can fight with the armies, you really get a sense of emotion and feel like you are reliving the film trilogy, it’s great. Huge battles are an important thing in the movies, and that is something I wanted to bring to the community with the Massive mod.
How complete is the Massive Mod and when do you expect to release the final version?
The coding is mostly done. Now we are working on the maps. Bigger maps for bigger battles of course. I don’t know exactly when it’s finished, but definitely before August.
Thanks Bert and we’ll definitely be looking forward to the final release!
-June 30, 2005
