Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Developers
	Monolith Productions
Publishers
	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Engines
	Firebird Engine
Release dates
Windows	October 10, 2017
Reception
Metacritic	75
OpenCritic	82
IGDB	84
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Expansion pack, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, RPG, Open world, Stealth
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Middle-earth: Shadow

Middle-earth: Shadow
Subseries of Middle-earth
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor	2014
Middle-earth: Shadow of War	2017

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a singleplayer third-person action, RPG, open world and stealth game in the Middle-earth: Shadow series.

General information

Official wiki for Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Download code only; no disc included.
		Definitive Edition also available.
GOG.com		Definitive Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming		Standard Edition not available in all regions. Definitive Edition also available.
Humble Store		Definitive Edition also available.
Microsoft Store		Included with Xbox Play Anywhere, Xbox Game Pass for PC. Definitive Edition also available.
Steam		Definitive Edition also available.
GamersGate (unavailable)

The Steam version requires Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM.

Monetization

Type	Notes
DLC	DLC includes new orc tribes.
Expansion pack	Expansion packs include two new mini-campaigns.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Expansion Pass	Includes all DLC (both nemesis and story expansions).
Story Expansion Pass	Includes the two story expansion DLC.
4K Cinematic Pack	Free.
The Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion
The Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion
High Resolution Texture Pack	Free. Must be installed to use Ultra textures.
Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion
Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion
Starter Bundle	No longer available for purchase since the May 8, 2018 update that removed microtransactions from the game.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	Middle-earth: Shadow of War currently contains no microtransactions.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War used to contain an extensive in-game real money payment marketplace, which offered lootboxes with gameplay-affecting premium orcs. Approximately 9 months after launch, the in-game marketplace was removed and the pacing of the game and the ending was rebalanced to account for this.

Demo

A Demo is available on Steam. Progress from the Demo will carry over into the full game.

Version differences

The Definitive Edition all includes all DLC.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete or rename video files
Go to <path-to-game>\game\interface\videos\legal. Delete or rename middleware_splash and legal_splash_OG. On GOG version 1.21, you have to replace both files with empty ones (not tested on other platforms).

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Microsoft Store
Steam	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WB Games\Shadow of War\
GOG.com	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WB Games\Shadow of War\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/356190/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WB Games\Shadow of War\<user-id>_ShadowOfWar.sav
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\6DA520A3.1673586F56C6C_ykvmsk3s73586\SystemAppData\wgs\<user-id>
Steam	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\356190\remote\
GOG.com	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WB Games\Shadow of War\<Device Name>_ShadowOfWar.sav
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/356190/pfx/

The game keeps 5 backup saves named <user-id>_#_ShadowOfWar.sav.

The <user-id> for the Steam save is the SteamID3 of the account in hex format.

The <Device Name> or "Computer Name" for the GOG.com save is your PC's Windows Name.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud		Only the latest save is backed up.
Xbox Cloud

Video

Video settings

Advanced video settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF report.
Ultra-widescreen			Cutscenes and menus are 16:9.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use FOV Adjuster or ME:SoW FOV Changer.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA, TAA, SSAA through Scaled Resolution option.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Capped at 240 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Menu controls cannot be remapped away from default WASD. Certain actions are in "Action Groups" and all the keys in said group can't be seperate (e.g. sword attack will always be the same key as shooting)
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Slider with arbitrary minimum and maximum values.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	Wired

Generic/other controllers		See expanded button prompts
Button prompts		With a controller connected, the button style can be switched in game regardless of the type of controller that is connected. Available options are XBox One, Xbox 360 and Dualshock 4 controller button styles.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

• 

  Bindings settings (Talion)

• 

  Bindings settings (Eltariel)

• 

  Bindings settings (Baranor)

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Middle Earth: Shadow of War (DX11).

Issues fixed

Crashing on startup on Windows 7 machines

Download and install both the Windows 7 Platform Update and Internet Explorer 11

Inability to transfer Steam saves to the GOG version

Tranfer saves manually

A variation of this process can be used to transfer a save file between Steam accounts (from one Steam ID to another). Back up your GOG x64 folder. Download Goldberg Emu. Apply the emu and run the game and set it to windowed mode then exit. Copy the save file that you need to convert to %APPDATA%\Goldberg SteamEmu Saves\356190\remote. Change your save file name to be the same as the original one in the folder and replace it. Install Cheat Engine, run it and set up the short key to pause the game then close it. Download and open EncryptIDs_V4. Run the game and attach the table. When the values pop up, freeze the game quickly by using the short key. Open Hexadecimal to Decimal converter. Copy the hexadecimal value from the file name of your old save file and convert it into decimal value. Change the values of the savefiles in the cheat engine like this. Unpause the game and after loading into the game and change the values to "0" (if the savegames doesn't load then start from step 1). Go to %APPDATA%\Goldberg SteamEmu Saves\356190\remote and delete the save (should be an empty folder now). Use fast travel in the game and you will see a new save of "xxxxxxxx_shadowofwar.sav" is created in the folder. Exit the game and copy the converted save to somewhere else. Delete "356190" in Goldberg save folder and "x64" folder from the game root folder. Restore your original gog x64 folder. Run the game and exit. Copy the converted save to %LOCALAPPDATA%\WB Games\Shadow of War and change the name to GOG original name (should be "USERNAME_ShadowOfWar.sav").

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	Wwise
Interface	Scaleform
Cutscenes	Bink Video	2.6e

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7 SP1	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-2300 2.8 GHz AMD FX-4350 4.2 GHz	Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	6 GB	12 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	70 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 AMD Radeon RX 480 4 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.