Modding Morrowind

[thorgrim29]

So, the Skyrim thread has me all nostalgic about Morrowind, so I was thinking I'd like to play it again, especially since I never did get to the end of the main quest. But I've been spoiled by all the shiny not blocky graphics of modern games, so I'd like to get mods for it. Nothing affecting the story, only graphic and sound mods, plus the rich creeper mod (only one I used to use, Gro Gorak manor was the house of basically every character I played for more then a few days). I lost my discs years ago, so I'll probably be buying the GOTY edition on steam if it doesn't interfere with the mods (does it???). So basically, which mods work best and are the easiest to install? My modding experience is a few Mount and Blade mods, and the STALKER graphics mod (another game I should get to he end of, but I'm in a fantasy mood right now), plus the rich creeper thing.

Thanks

[Eldan]

Well.

I used this list for modding. (http://www.mwmythicmods.com/telesphoros.htm) )It's very complete, just go through it and get what appeals to you. I recommend Better Bodies/Heads, for a start.

[nooblade]

Ionno about the steam thing, I don't use it, but there are still plenty of Morrowind mod sites the last time I checked. Of course, most of the time you'll just see something you want and get linked to Fileplanet (the... !), but I managed a nice collection way back when. Google for Morrowind Mods gave me most of the ones I remember. Some of them were a little on the shady/creepy side.

Also, I'm not the one to ask about the graphics ones, although there were a few really nice ones, like one that fixed "seams" (is that the right word?) on various landscape textures. IIRC. This one (http://www.freewebs.com/slartibartfast1/).

Have fun.

Edit: Oh. Steam + Morrowind looks fun (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=618). I just found that with google. But it does look like people expect it to work.

[Volatar]

Steam does not interfere with the modding of any Bethesda game.

Also: I love that list Eldan linked and use it myself.

Installing mods to Bethesda games is really easy, as for most of them all you have to do is put the file in the data? (I forget, its been a while) folder, and check it in the launcher.

Texture mods are a different matter, but those will all come with readme's.

[thorgrim29]

That's a lot of fish mods... Is there some kind of consolidated graphics pack?

[Eldan]

None that I know. However, go down to "Graphics Replacer: World". There are notes at the end of the section, read them carefully: you only need one of the world packs, really. Get one of those, and Better Heads/bodies, and you should have the basics. The city mods, if you want them, though from what I've seen of Balmora, it adds a lot of shops selling high-powered, not very lore-friendly gear (i.e. weapons from real-world legends, historic earth gear...)


I tried Darker Morrowind, and didn't like it much. I don't know if it's my computer, my settings, this mod or another one, but it got literally too dark for me. At night, I had to turn the gamma correction up to see where I was going, even with a torch, and during the day, it was still too dark to see details. And one of my mods, I don't know which one, replaced Morrowind's beautiful night sky with a darker version of the day sky. Dark blue and a handful of clouds.

I'm reinstalling it, currently (my last character didn't get out of Balmora yet, so not much of a loss) I'm thinking about trying Vivid or Vibrant Morrowind. Maybe Fantasy morrowind, but that seems a bit too colourful for my tastes.

[Agent_0042]

Funnily enough, I just finished pimping out my Morrowind yesterday. Planet Elder Scrolls (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.List&category_select_id=13) is your best friend for this. Yes, you need a FilePlanet account, but you can just use a throwaway e-mail address if you don't care for the site. Must haves include Better Bodies (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=213) and Better Heads (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=2735). I'm a big fan of Vibrant Morrowind (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5607), as it's pleasant to look at and really helps to bring the landscape to life, without being excessive. This guy (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5607) also has a boatload of great work, including remodeled trees.

Going outside of textures and models, unless you're running this on an older (say, pre-2005) machine, I strongly recommend you use the Morrowind Graphics Extender (http://sourceforge.net/projects/morrgraphext/). It provides Morrowind with graphics options closer to par with more modern games; some stuff it enables includes distant land viewing (e.g., see Red Mountain from Balmora), more reflective water, and (when used in conjunction with some of Vurt's stuff above, or similar plugins) animated grass. It's a little advanced, but SourceForge has full, step-by-step documentation and guides, so you shouldn't have much trouble figuring it out.

Another utility I urge you to use, regardless of the age of your computer, is the FPS Optimizer (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Utilities.Detail&id=22), a utility that runs alongside your Morrowind executable. It allows you to choose a set frame rate, say 15 or 20, and will modify your graphics options on the fly to maintain it. If you have the frame rate to spare, it'll convert that into better graphics; if not, it'll shorten your view distance to keep your game running smoothly.

Music-wise, Morrowind is easy to work with. Any tracks you want to add, you simply drop and drag into the "Explore" or "Battle" subfolders, and it'll be played in-game with no fuss. Here (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5332) is a (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=8454) great (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5414) set of (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7271) tracks (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7935), or you can just copy and paste mp3s from whatever other video games you have on your hard drive.

Hope that helps!

{EDIT} Typos.

[thorgrim29]

I've got an I7 720 QM, 1GB of VRAM and 4gb of RAM, I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever the modding community throws at me

[Eldan]

Welll...

I can run Oblivion or Fallout on highest settings, with improved textures, but some of the features available for Morrowind lead to some low FPS, actually.

[YeahThatGuy]

plus the rich creeper modYuck! :smallyuk:

:smalltongue:

[thorgrim29]

Hey, I like the rich creeper mod. Saves a lot of time I would have spent packing his inventory with 5k items and selling them all back to him again and again and again