Finding Resources

Ores

Middle Earth provides all the standard vanilla ores in approximately the same locations you'd normally expect to find them. It also provides copper, tin, silver, and a number of even more exotic minerals. Check the the LotR Ores page for full details.

Vanilla diamonds and emeralds do not appear in Middle Earth. Instead, you will find native variants of both stones. The modpack has taken steps to ensure that these variants can be used in all the usual ways (despite what it says on the LotR wiki), so there is no need to seek out their vanilla versions. Check the LotR Ores page on details of how to find the native variants.

Redstone Ore also does not appear in Middle Earth, but one can obtain redstone dust by grinding up rubies using a Millstone.

For particularly rare ores, you may find it easier to trade for them with travelling traders who drop in from time to time. May of them will buy and sell rare ores and gemstones.

Seeds

All vanilla flowers, trees, crops, and other plants can be found throughout Middle Earth. Some climate-sensitive plants (e.g., melons) may only appear in distant climates (e.g., the southern jungles), so some extensive travel may be required to find them.

Istari also includes HarvestCraft. In lieu of its usual "gardens", all HarvestCraft seeds may be found by breaking any of the variants of "grass" commonly found throughout all biomes.

Trees

The vanilla trees you're used to can be found in abundance in appropriate biomes along side an enormous variety of trees added by the LotR mod, itself. Spruces, pines, and other conifers predominate in cold, northern climes. Jungle trees, acacia and similar trees may be found in the steamy jungles of the far south. More temperate trees, of course, predominate in between.

The LotR Mod adds a huge variety of its own fruit trees ranging from cherry, apple, and plum in the north to orange, lemon, and pomegranate to the south. HarvestCraft, too, adds many of those same trees. So, all "conficts" of that sort have been resolved by removing the overlapping trees from HarvestCraft. The remaining few trees which haven't been removed may only be found in the overworld.

The Greatwood trees needed by wizards may be found in most temperate biomes. However, they tend to prefer lonely open spaces to dense forests. It's not hard to spot them riding along the road heading east from the Shire.

The magical Silverwood trees are rare, and only found in the Gondorian province of Ithilien. Take care, however, Ithilien is subject to frequent incursions of orcs from nearby Mordor!

Nether Materials

Each of the materials ordinarily found in The Nether can either be found in Middle Earth or can be made from materials found in Middle Earth:

• netherrack: can be smelted from Cargon stone found in the Red Mountains to the far east
• netherwart: can be made by alchemy from red mushrooms
• quartz block: can be made by alchemy from salt blocks
• blaze powder: can be harvested from the Cinderpearl plant found in the deserts of the south
• blaze rod: can be assembled by crafting an obsidian rod with blaze powder
• wither skull: can be made by infusing an ordinary skull at an Infusion Altar
• ghast tear: can be made by transmuting a mithril nugget using alchemy
• nether shard: can be made by alchemy from durnor

The End Materials

Each of the materials ordinarily found in The Nether can either be found in Middle Earth or can be made from materials found in Middle Earth:

• ender pearl: can be made by infusing pearls with gulduril at the Infusion Alter
• end stone: can be made by crafting stone with ender pearls
• end shards: can be made by alchemy from gulduril

In this version of Minecraft (1.7.10), the only significant resource to be found in The End are Ender Pearls and End Stone. In Istari, Ender Pearls can be created using an Infusion Alter... once you've learned how to make one!. End Stone can be created by crafting an Ender Pearl with ordinary stone.