Project Tamriel & Tamriel Rebuilt - Morrowind modders keep chugging along

[JarlFrank]

Telvanni have lots of quests, but consider it "legacy" content.

Anything released before 2018 is quite rough, and the TR team is working on overhauling all of it eventually.

Consult this release map for reference:

Old Ebonheart and anything south and west of it is excellent, as is the reworked coastal western Telvanni area from 2022.
My suggestion for newcomers: go to Andothren, go to Old Ebonheart, and go to Firewatch. Talk to NPCs, get a bunch of quests, and just go with the flow from there.

The area they're overhauling for Poison Song is pretty bland right now. The Mephalan Vales area that was released in 2012 is rougher than the newer stuff, but it still holds up well enough. Has some excellent dungeons and a city or two with good quests. The Sacred East expansion - the 2008 area - is the least developed from my experience. Much lower content density when it comes to dungeons, and also much fewer quests. Necrom is a cool place to look at but doesn't have a lot going on in it. They'll eventually overhaul it.

Anything in the 2018-2023 releases is absolutely excellent and some of the best RPG content I've played in 20 years.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

I only played TR once like 10 years ago, and really tempted to get to it right now. However, what are the chance of a new release this summer (Grasping Fortune)? Also kind of waiting for Project Tamriel's next content (there is a small piece of Skyrim and there should be more "soon" + Cyrodill coast content?).
But these projects seem to be in that "soon" state that could be in a couple of months or late 2025.
Is the Project Tamriel content for Skyrim comparable in quality to TR?

Also, is OpenMW much better perfomance wise relative to the other more modding friendly alternatives?

 

[I eat frozen vegetables]

I only played TR once like 10 years ago, and really tempted to get to it right now. However, what are the chance of a new release this summer (Grasping Fortune)? Also kind of waiting for Project Tamriel's next content (there is a small piece of Skyrim and there should be more "soon" + Cyrodill coast content?).
But these projects seem to be in that "soon" state that could be in a couple of months or late 2025.
Is the Project Tamriel content for Skyrim comparable in quality to TR?

Also, is OpenMW much better perfomance wise relative to the other more modding friendly alternatives?

Peformance wise, OpenMW is better, but the base exe has more complicated mods.

 

[None]

I only played TR once like 10 years ago, and really tempted to get to it right now. However, what are the chance of a new release this summer (Grasping Fortune)? Also kind of waiting for Project Tamriel's next content (there is a small piece of Skyrim and there should be more "soon" + Cyrodill coast content?).
But these projects seem to be in that "soon" state that could be in a couple of months or late 2025.

I'm betting on Grasping Fortune releasing this fall/winter. Cyrodiil's Gold Coast is probably about the same if not a bit earlier, but Skyrim's new release is definitely next year at the earliest.

Is the Project Tamriel content for Skyrim comparable in quality to TR?

Yes, it's just as good if not better.

Also, is OpenMW much better perfomance wise relative to the other more modding friendly alternatives?

Out of the box OpenMW will perform better. Running vanilla on Vulkan and with mods like Project Atlas you can get performance almost as good or the same as OpenMW. I've heard people argue a proper setup can actually outperform OpenMW, but I've never checked for myself.

 

[deuxhero]

OpenMW can actually use full power of a modern PC. Morrowind.EXE is forever stuck as a 32 bit exe. For TR and especially Project Tarmriel the point precision errors of Morrowind.exe are also a major issue that simply can not be overcome without totally replacing the engine (which OpenMW does).

 

[thesecret1]

I really boils down to mods. Do you want to have a heavily modded playthrough or use fairly complicated mods? If no, go for OpenMW. If yes, you're stuck with vanilla. Should OpenMW ever become compatible with all the mods for vanilla morrowind, there'd be no reason not to use it.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

Currently playing through the Skyrim content. Absolutely amazing stuff. Shits on all Bethesda content.

However, it's quite obvious there is no way of keeping any kind of fair balance through TR + PT content. I arrived at Lvl 6 from Vvardenfell and I'm already at 12 and I'm OP without even trying (and using a x2 slower leveling mod). By the time I tackle Old Ebonheart/Firewatch/Andothren I will be eating numidiums for breakfast.

 

[Funposter]

However, it's quite obvious there is no way of keeping any kind of fair balance through TR + PT content. I arrived at Lvl 6 from Vvardenfell and I'm already at 12 and I'm OP without even trying (and using a x2 slower leveling mod). By the time I tackle Old Ebonheart/Firewatch/Andothren I will be eating numidiums for breakfast.

I mean, the vanilla game is the same way. Get halfway through a single faction questline and you'll probably find an artifact that trivializes the other 90% of the content in the game. Every questline goes out of its way to kit the player out by the end, and the Main Quest dungeons have a huge amount of good gear lying around.

 

[None]

New progress update. It covers a wide variety of future releases, from the modestly sized Firemoth Rekindled to the massive Hlaalu-centric Grasping Fortune. Link in the title below.

September 2024 Progress Update​

We can expect these two areas, Abecean Shores from Project Cyrodiil, and Grasping Fortune from Tamriel Rebuilt, to be released within the coming months.

The first will undoubtedly be Project Cyrodiil's Abecean Shores release, which I'd expect that to show up within the next month or so. After that is TR's Grapsing Fortune. From what I've heard will be ready to release at the end of this year or the start of next. Regardless, there'll be an enormous amount of fresh content ready to explore and enjoy relatively soon. Already released content will get some updates as well in the form of new quests and new and overhauled areas.

There's a lot in the update so it'd be best just to read it.


The only thing I'll drag out to show is what I think is a good example of why redo's are necessary:

This is the same inn at different points of time. The first captures typical modder's megalomania, the second a creative approach done with old materials, and the last what is possible when new assets can be utilized. I think the most recent iteration is the best.

 

[Spike]

Mama mia, here I go aga-ain...Ma-ma, how can I resist you

 

[thesecret1]

The only thing I'll drag out to show is what I think is a good example of why redo's are necessary

I think people complaining about redos don't know what state some of the old areas actually are in. You have an area the size of a third of Vvanderfel, and there's a grand total of 3 small quests in all of it, and like 5 dungeons. Yeah, it shows "done" on the map, but that doesn't mean it's done in reality...

 

[wwsd]

Top one looks like a completely realistic inn to me. Like that's totally how you would build a place for n'wahs to enjoy a jug of mazte.

 

[Spike]

Top one looks like a completely realistic inn to me. Like that's totally how you would build a place for n'wahs to enjoy a jug of mazte.

I love the middle one, it almost looks Spyro-esque

 

[ds]

Top one doesn't really fit MW (too generic fantasy), bottom one looks like any random MW settlement. Middle one has a distinct style but still fit the other structures in the area.

 

[Butter]

Top looks cool, but obviously modded content, doesn't fit the rest of MW. Bottom one looks like MW, but like an area that got slapped together last minute and is generic as a result. Middle one looks best.

 

[wwsd]

I'm just being facetious. Top one is obviously pretty shit, but I feel kinda nostalgic for that era of MW modding. Having long rope bridges to every mundane building seems pretty peak 2006 to me.

I have come to accept the constant reworking in TR now. If everything has to be perfect on launch, we would only get updates every 5-10 years. Sometimes you only find out what really works when the masses have played it, or you develop new insights into what you actually want a certain part of the world to do.

 

[None]

The only thing I'll drag out to show is what I think is a good example of why redo's are necessary

I think people complaining about redos don't know what state some of the old areas actually are in. You have an area the size of a third of Vvanderfel, and there's a grand total of 3 small quests in all of it, and like 5 dungeons. Yeah, it shows "done" on the map, but that doesn't mean it's done in reality...

Even some of the actual "done" areas need it. Like the Telvannis, which is mostly just copy and pasted Azura's Coast crap you'd find on Vvardenfell, a big missed opportunity really.

 

[thesecret1]

The only thing I'll drag out to show is what I think is a good example of why redo's are necessary

I think people complaining about redos don't know what state some of the old areas actually are in. You have an area the size of a third of Vvanderfel, and there's a grand total of 3 small quests in all of it, and like 5 dungeons. Yeah, it shows "done" on the map, but that doesn't mean it's done in reality...

Even some of the actual "done" areas need it. Like the Telvannis, which is mostly just copy and pasted Azura's Coast crap you'd find on Vvardenfell, a big missed opportunity really.

That's what I'm talking about though. Everything prior to Old Ebonheart is scheduled for a full redo.

 

[luj1]

The only thing I'll drag out to show is what I think is a good example of why redo's are necessary:

This is the same inn at different points of time. The first captures typical modder's megalomania, the second a creative approach done with old materials, and the last what is possible when new assets can be utilized. I think the most recent iteration is the best.

Honestly the middle is the best for me

The most recent one looks nothing like the other two

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Original inn is a reference to the Dragonlance campaign setting's famous Inn of the Last Home, in the town of Solace, where most of the buildings are erected in giant trees.

Middle inn is in the House Indoril style, which makes sense if located in Indoril territory.

Bottom inn is in the House Hlaalu style, which makes sense if located in Hlaalu territory rather than Indoril territory.

Rethan Manor from Morrowind base game

 

[JarlFrank]

The second Inn Between iteration may look best, but it uses assets from Tribunal's Mournhold, a city under Indoril control, which the inn isn't. And the team decided to create their own Indoril assets, the Mournhold ones will be exclusively used in the expanded city of Almalexia once they get to that.

Many cool-looking settlements in the current eastern regions will be re-made from the ground up because they still use assets that have now been decided to not be used in that area anymore. The team keeps refining the worldbuilding, being as true to vanilla lore as possible, and while the mod has always prided itself on its vanilla-accurate interpretation of lore, a lot of the older content is a bit wonky.

Also, when it comes to density of actual content, the current state of the Telvanni areas is rather dismal compared to the newer areas. I'm looking forward to the overhauls of old areas, even if they end up removing some cool-looking things.

 

[None]

Original inn is a reference to the Dragonlance campaign setting's famous Inn of the Last Home, in the town of Solace, where most of the buildings are erected in giant trees.

Middle inn is in the House Indoril style, which makes sense if located in Indoril territory.

Bottom inn is in the House Hlaalu style, which makes sense if located in Hlaalu territory rather than Indoril territory.

Rethan Manor from Morrowind base game

It's not Hlaalu style, but Velothi or generically Dunmer. Think Vos or Vivec's canton interiors

 

[None]

Honestly the middle is the best for me

The most recent one looks nothing like the other two

With some custom assets and some cleaning up I think the middle would be great but right now though there are just way too many statics, the same is generally true for most of that area. You often end up with areas where there are a few predetermined paths to walk as the rest is surrounded by statics and generally unnavigable thanks to countless rocks, arches, cliff walls, trees and boulders.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if that iteration makes a return somewhere else.

 

[thesecret1]

The second Inn Between iteration may look best, but it uses assets from Tribunal's Mournhold, a city under Indoril control, which the inn isn't. And the team decided to create their own Indoril assets, the Mournhold ones will be exclusively used in the expanded city of Almalexia once they get to that.

The inn is under Indoril control, but the idea for Indoril is to be feudals that rule the unwashed masses from their castles. Hence, you will see Indoril architecture only in said castles, while the rest of their lands is built in Old Velothi style (ie. generic dunmer). Telvanni are much the same in that regard, while the other 3 houses mingle with the populace a lot more.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

It's not Hlaalu style, but Velothi or generically Dunmer. Think Vos or Vivec's canton interiors

That might be the intention of the designers, but it seems farther removed from base Morrowind's Dunmer strongholds than from Hlaalu architecture:

Had forgotten about the non-Telvanni, non-Imperial part of Vos / Tel Vos, though (even UESP doesn't have a good screenshot of it):