Ok, so I've spent quite a while searching the interenet for a lord of the rings total conversion but it seems they have all been shutdown. So am I missing something or has everyone just given up on trying to recreate middle earth?

I don't think that there are any total conversions of middle earth
total conversions take years to be any good

However their are numerous mods that add LOTR armor and such
but I've never tried them

I've only heard about http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showforum=42. I guess they kind of got shut down by the Tolkien estate lawyers, who are notoriously aggressive in protecting their franchise.

Hmm too bad. Do you know if there are any mods that add landmasses such as the shire and such?

All of the mods for Morrowind have been shut down but there is one for Oblivion going strong. You should be able to find the thread on the Oblivion mod forum pretty easily.

Ok, thankyou. I don't have a copy if oblivion at the moment (my computer is a dinasaur )
but I should be getting a new on this summer so I'll have to check that out.