Repo ↗ · Source README ↗ · Markdown & license bundle

Image reference (original game): Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor · original-game artwork, provided by IGDB. Image rights remain with their respective owners. This illustrates the referenced original game, not the actual visuals of this rewrite or mod.

Source maintainer: Jimmybobthegreatson · Revision: 478cadd9a628 · Catalogued: 2026-10-12

Source license: MIT · LICENSE · Article: Source README (format adapted)

The source README follows, with formatting adapted for this site and images replaced by source links. Feature, completion and testing claims belong to its authors and have not been independently playtested here. The Traditional Chinese translation was prepared with AI assistance.

mordor-combat

An unofficial Rust / Bevy reimplementation of the combat, combat animation, walk / run and crouch / stealth systems of
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, driven by the game’s own data: the animation banks, the game database (attack pools, move nodes, counters,
stun and knock-down rules) and the player behaviour graph (gait clips and rates, camera).

This repository contains no game assets and no character models. You need your own copy of the game. The program reads the .arch05
archives of your install in place at runtime (animations, game database, behaviour graph) and never copies or writes them. Characters are our own
plain humanoid stick figure (a 26-bone rig defined in code, Skeleton::humanoid) on a flat baseplate, so no model, skeleton, mesh, texture or material of the game is ever loaded. Climbing / traversal is not part of this project.

Run

You need your own copy of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC). On the first run a dialog asks for its game folder (Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor); the choice is remembered. Nothing starts without it. --set-install asks again, and the SOM_DIR environment variable overrides it
(also used by som-tool).

cargo run --release -p som-game

An enemy stands on the plate and fights back. cargo run -p som-tool -- <command> inspects the data (ls, clips , attacks, moves, nodes, applied, db ...; no arguments lists them).

Controls
WASD move (walk)
Shift run
C / Ctrl crouch (stealth)
Space roll
LMB (or L) attack, tap to chain (free-flow)
RMB or Q counter, when the orc’s prompt shows
F execute, when the Hit Streak is charged (every 8 hits)
T provoke the orc, H get hurt
Crouch + attack behind an unaware orc stealth kill
Mouse / scroll look / zoom, Esc releases the mouse

What is in it

  • som-formats: readers for the LTAR archives and BNDL bundles, .skel, .anix animations (with root motion and cues), the game database, the move nodes and combat tables, the behaviour graph.
  • som-game: the player (locomotion, free-flow chains, counters, executions, stealth kills, roll, draw / sheathe), orcs with recoils, stuns and attacks, the follow camera. HUD: health bar and minimap with the health arc, hit counter (xN, red when the Hit Streak is charged), enemy health markers, the counter prompt (a mouse icon with a pulsing ring over the attacking orc) and the execute prompt.
  • som-tool: command line inspection of the data.
  • NOTES.md: every format and rule decoded, what is approximate, and what is undecoded. tools/ghidra: the scripts used to read the executable.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Warner Bros. or Monolith. Shadow of Mordor and its assets belong to their owners. Do not commit or share anything extracted from the game.
Code is MIT licensed (see LICENSE).

License and provenance

The README and its translation retain MIT terms. Changes comprise translation, links and formatting. Editable Markdown, the original README, LICENSE and NOTICE files are included in the linked bundle. This grants no rights to the original games, their assets or trademarks.

LICENSE

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 mordor-combat contributors

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.