Yet Another Morrowind Thread

[IDtenT]

I originally played Morrowind and fell in love with it, while having everything turned down, my fps counter stuck at 5 and having graphical glitches in my inventory screen. And yet it was still one of the best gaming experiences of my life.

 

[Magitex]

With TR and other content addons in my sights, I followed the total overhaul modlist for OpenMW. This was after initially planning to use one of the WJ modlists (YAJAN) but being dissuaded by the author, who said that OpenMW was the way to go if TR was my goal, and gave me lots of suggestions and guides along with an offer for further help should I need it. Huh, usually these guys have their heads up their asses when it comes to providing support. A positive surprise to be sure.

So what followed was my most careful and organized modding adventure yet, taking three days to install and test almost 300 mods. OpenMW provides handy tools for this with a built-in test mode. The actual installation process is a bit involved - MO2 works fine with OpenMW, but you always have to import your load order again and manually edit the config files on top of running a command line tool. Also, rename omwaddon files to esp's so that MO2 can detect them. (What's the benefit of this format anyway? It just got in the way, I found.)

The list itself was very good - organized, categorized, with detailed instructions for every mod and alternatives where applicable. I never found myself lost due to bad instructions. I didn't follow it to a T - I mostly omitted mods with a heavy performance impact as well as some with questionable direction. Mods related to Vivec in particular I was pretty iffy on, the statue and palace replacers stuck out in a bad way and I may end up replacing the statue mod in particular if I find a good replacement. Vurt's trees not only destroyed my fps in the Balmora swamp but also turned previously gnarled and mostly dead treed into big, lively ones. So I went with simple HD vanilla textures instead.
The oddest omission in the list was LGNPC or anything else that would flesh out the writing, so I grabbed LGNPC lite since every NPC being a generic info booth got old quick. Also, no music mods, but that's because none of them are fully functional yet. The one I grabbed has no battle music which... which is actually really nice because having the music constantly change because a mudcrab saw me 50 meters away isn't something I particularly care for.

The big silt strider in the room is of course performance and the good news is that if you're looking for a vanilla÷ playthrough, it's going to be great. 200-300 fps in cities and even more in the wilderness. Fully modded... well, sacrifices have to be made. I strove to strike a balance between visuals and performance. Increased the rendering distances so I wasn't constantly seeing shadows and grass pop in, but didn't go overboard. Distant terrain seems very well optimized - I set it at 10x, because each increment below that only granted 1 fps, so +3 fps at 7x, and so on. Set the (very nice) water shaders to average settings. On my OC'd 5600x/GTX 1070 system, I get 35-60 fps in cities, 80-100 in the wilderness. Old Ebonheart makes it drop all the way to 25 - I'll have to see if I can raise that once I reach TR content. If I were desperate for performance, I could regain 5 fps from tweaking the distances, and 10-15 from disabling the water shaders, but that would look just awful compared to everything else. And this is with a CPU that's very close to the best for this job that's currently out on the market. Damn, Morrowind.

As for the plans for my actual playthrough, I made a "fleetcaster" - quick on her feet, with focus on all the schools and some sword training for good measure. Dunmer, of course. I fully intend this to be a proper playthrough, but I'll definitely aim for the added content as soon as reasonable (TR, SHOTN, P:C, ROHT).

..I predict in the future, we will have jobs in which people will pay to have modded games set up. It's so much work. Normally when I go through the effort of setting something like Morrowind up, something, somewhere, will crash and I'll never end up playing it.

 

[Xelocix]

I tried Morrowind for the first time when I was a super horny teen falling into the furry porn vortex. I modded the fuck out of the graphics and found out later that the body mod I used also had a nude version that applied to Khajiit. Then I encountered Ahnassi and found a mod that let me move NPCs around and reposition them.

What started as your average plebian Dark Elf roleplay playthrough turned into me recalling to Ahnassi's house whenever I got horny so my dude wearing crab armor could eat her cat poon in 1st person. I still have screenshots on an old imgur account too.

Thank you Morrowind modders for your hand in worsening the most sad, cringe, and pathetic period of my entire life.

 

[MWaser]

I tried Morrowind for the first time when I was a super horny teen falling into the furry porn vortex. I modded the fuck out of the graphics and found out later that the body mod I used also had a nude version that applied to Khajiit. Then I encountered Ahnassi and found a mod that let me move NPCs around and reposition them.

What started as your average plebian Dark Elf roleplay playthrough turned into me recalling to Ahnassi's house whenever I got horny so my dude wearing crab armor could eat her cat poon in 1st person. I still have screenshots on an old imgur account too.

Thank you Morrowind modders for your hand in worsening the most sad, cringe, and pathetic period of my entire life.

When you think about it, it was a very dedicated RP playthrough. You got so in character that your in-game self had to sexually satisfy himself whenever you got horny playing irl. Few people can bolster such degree of character-dedication on their resume.

 

[Puukko]

Haha, I was a bit optimistic and careless. I had forgotten to install a number of mods and enable one bsa which led to some issues (read: NPCs in their underwear). So that was another day of modding, but it should be all ready to go now. I'll have to see if I can find a spell sounds/sfx overhaul other than Better Sounds, because that was just flat out broken for me. These vanilla sounds are a bit more painful than I remember.

Morrowind acoustic overhaul seems to do the job.

 

[Xelocix]

I tried Morrowind for the first time when I was a super horny teen falling into the furry porn vortex. I modded the fuck out of the graphics and found out later that the body mod I used also had a nude version that applied to Khajiit. Then I encountered Ahnassi and found a mod that let me move NPCs around and reposition them.

What started as your average plebian Dark Elf roleplay playthrough turned into me recalling to Ahnassi's house whenever I got horny so my dude wearing crab armor could eat her cat poon in 1st person. I still have screenshots on an old imgur account too.

Thank you Morrowind modders for your hand in worsening the most sad, cringe, and pathetic period of my entire life.

When you think about it, it was a very dedicated RP playthrough. You got so in character that your in-game self had to sexually satisfy himself whenever you got horny playing irl. Few people can bolster such degree of character-dedication on their resume.

I remember keeping all the gifts Ahnassi gave me in my strongholds bedroom, and always kept her flower in my inventory when exploring the world as well. It was like a locket or something my character could look at while taking a break or having lunch (I actually went out of my way to pack/buy food and eat meals in-game too.) I did a lot of perma-virgin shit like that. On lazy days where I didn't feel like questing much I'd walk the countryside chewing on hackle-lo leaf just enjoying the scenery.

Playing Morrowind unlocked an absolutely ungodly autistic side of me and turned me from a completely normal teenager into a basement-dwelling shut-in for like 3 years. I played it so much that I even started dreaming about it. It was like Dagoth Ur himself was invading my mind. I probably have like 300-400 hours logged in this game.

ᴵᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᵃ ᵇˡᵃˢᵗ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I tried Morrowind for the first time when I was a super horny teen falling into the furry porn vortex. I modded the fuck out of the graphics and found out later that the body mod I used also had a nude version that applied to Khajiit. Then I encountered Ahnassi and found a mod that let me move NPCs around and reposition them.

What started as your average plebian Dark Elf roleplay playthrough turned into me recalling to Ahnassi's house whenever I got horny so my dude wearing crab armor could eat her cat poon in 1st person. I still have screenshots on an old imgur account too.

Thank you Morrowind modders for your hand in worsening the most sad, cringe, and pathetic period of my entire life.

When you think about it, it was a very dedicated RP playthrough. You got so in character that your in-game self had to sexually satisfy himself whenever you got horny playing irl. Few people can bolster such degree of character-dedication on their resume.

I remember keeping all the gifts Ahnassi gave me in my strongholds bedroom, and always kept her flower in my inventory when exploring the world as well. It was like a locket or something my character could look at while taking a break or having lunch (I actually went out of my way to pack/buy food and eat meals in-game too.) I did a lot of perma-virgin shit like that. On lazy days where I didn't feel like questing much I'd walk the countryside chewing on hackle-lo leaf just enjoying the scenery.

Playing Morrowind unlocked an absolutely ungodly autistic side of me and turned me from a completely normal teenager into a basement-dwelling shut-in for like 3 years. I played it so much that I even started dreaming about it. It was like Dagoth Ur himself was invading my mind. I probably have like 300-400 hours logged in this game.

ᴵᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᵃ ᵇˡᵃˢᵗ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ.

What a grand and intoxicating innocence.

 

[Sigourn]

My Morrowind guide.

 

[Deadass]

My Morrowind guide.

put that shit on wabbajack bruh i ain't reading all that text

 

[Sigourn]

put that shit on wabbajack bruh i ain't reading all that text

It's not on my plans to spoonfeed an entire installation to others just so they go "why can't I do" 10 minutes into the game.

 

[Sigourn]

My Morrowind guide.

put that shit on wabbajack bruh i ain't reading all that text

Honestly I would comply if it wasn't because it takes a lot of work. Perhaps one day I will do it.

I'm back to confirm that I definitely prefer Morrowind over New Vegas. Been playing it non-stop for quite a few days ever since I got my guide updated. No Combat Menu + Hotkeys Extended makes for so much more enjoyable combat, as now you tackle fights as puzzles: if you die, you need to think what you could do to win next time, and respec your hotkeys accordingly. And eventually you get into a "build" that just works.™

 

[Deadass]

My Morrowind guide.

put that shit on wabbajack bruh i ain't reading all that text

Honestly I would comply if it wasn't because it takes a lot of work. Perhaps one day I will do it.

i don't know how much difficult would it be to set it up, but at most you'd be competing with one other modlist, morrowind wabbajack scene is pretty ded

 

[Sigourn]

My Morrowind guide.

put that shit on wabbajack bruh i ain't reading all that text

Honestly I would comply if it wasn't because it takes a lot of work. Perhaps one day I will do it.

i don't know how much difficult would it be to set it up, but at most you'd be competing with one other modlist, morrowind wabbajack scene is pretty ded

It's a bit difficult because some mods (including Mod Organizer 2) either aren't available on Nexus or aren't mods per se. So you have to teach Wabbajack all that.
Plus I think it requires Windows 10, and I'm on an older Windows.

 

[CootKeeper]

My Morrowind guide.

Good list Sigourn, you definitely know what you're talking about. a couple questions:

- you're not using django's dialogue? why not?
- last time I tried graphic herbalism mwse, some mushrooms (the Hypha Facia and violet coprinus) on Bitter Coast up North from Seyda Neen still opened as plant containers for me. I also noticed some plant meshes were spinning when I picked them. have you encountered the same problems?
- I tried using AURA some time ago. The weather sounds are either super loud or super quiet, but never at the right level when loading in a new cell. looks like sound levels are not well managed with mwse. have you got that problem too? I've returned to using Kirel's interior weather as a result since I don't have that problem with that mod, perhaps because it loads with a esp.
- you're changing the MGE XE distant static override and it only keeps track of vanilla meshes. what happens if you use a land mod such as tamriel rebuilt? will the override still work? are you supposed to update the distant land during a playthrough? no way to make it automatic?
- you're not a fan of animated morrowind? new body mods? animation compilation?
- you don't use nighttime door locks?
- i saw that you've made patches for other mods and also new mods entirely that you didn't put on the nexus. they look good, you should put them up.

 

[Sigourn]

Good list Sigourn, you definitely know what you're talking about. a couple questions:

Thanks! :D

- you're not using django's dialogue? why not?

Django's dialogue has a very... particular style, which I feel clashes with the vanilla game. But also, it overwrites many fixes from Patch for Purists.

- last time I tried graphic herbalism mwse, some mushrooms (the Hypha Facia and violet coprinus) on Bitter Coast up North from Seyda Neen still opened as plant containers for me. I also noticed some plant meshes were spinning when I picked them. have you encountered the same problems?

Nope. None of that over here. The only bug I've encountered is addressed by another mod (something about Ash Yams not losing their collision when picked).

- I tried using AURA some time ago. The weather sounds are either super loud or super quiet, but never at the right level when loading in a new cell. looks like sound levels are not well managed with mwse. have you got that problem too?

I definitely got the latter problem. I can't hear shit with AURA. I'll have to give that mod you mentioned a go.

- you're changing the MGE XE distant static override and it only keeps track of vanilla meshes. what happens if you use a land mod such as tamriel rebuilt? will the override still work? are you supposed to update the distant land during a playthrough? no way to make it automatic?

Basically MGE XE's Distant Static Override deals with how certain meshes should be dealt with in Distant Land generation. I don't know what the case is with Tamriel Rebuilt, but in vanilla Morrowind there are some quests that modify the terrain after they are completed (or while they are being completed). Such as the Ghostfence disappearing after you beat Dagoth Ur. What this file does is allow you to edit whether you want those meshes to be accounted for when generating Distant Land.

- you're not a fan of animated morrowind? new body mods? animation compilation?

Nope. For compatibility and for consistency, if anything.

- you don't use nighttime door locks?

Same with this one: compatibility. If there was a lua based mod that did what this mod does, it would be fantastic.

- i saw that you've made patches for other mods and also new mods entirely that you didn't put on the nexus. they look good, you should put them up.

I was thinking of doing this. I already have a Nexus page which is a collection of minimods and patches. Who knows? Maybe in the next weeks.

 

[Aholf Ditler]

My Morrowind guide.

Thanks Sigourn I will try it.

 

[Funposter]

The update to Tamriel Rebuilt's first released map, the Telvannis district, is finally happening as discussed a few pages ago. They're starting with a re-design of the Imperial cities/settlements which will be released alongside the upcoming 'Dominions of Dust', which moves further west into mainland Hlaalu territory.

https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/content/october-2021-progress-update

The early Tamriel Rebuilt content is still fairly decent, but it feels really outdated in comparison to the newer content released from Old Ebonheart (2018) onward. This goes for everything about the project - quest design, interiors, exteriors etc. Quests were generally quite basic and exteriors were often quite large without much thought for navigability, culminating in the insane preview version of Almalexia. Releases since then have really reigned in the exterior design, keeping the size of locations a bit more similar to vanilla Morrowind but making them more dense. Comparing Old Ebonheart to Firewatch or Port Telvannis is a fantastic example. I'm really looking forward to this next release and what it means for the next few years of the project. Finally, we'll see an update to all of that old Telvanni and Indoril/Temple content in eastern Morrowind.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

Did any of you boys even zero sum yet today?

Spoiler

I never realized there was only enough space in the interface for six digits as well. I'm well over it in terms of INT.

 

[zool]

The update to Tamriel Rebuilt's first released map, the Telvannis district, is finally happening as discussed a few pages ago. They're starting with a re-design of the Imperial cities/settlements which will be released alongside the upcoming 'Dominions of Dust', which moves further west into mainland Hlaalu territory.

https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/content/october-2021-progress-update

The early Tamriel Rebuilt content is still fairly decent, but it feels really outdated in comparison to the newer content released from Old Ebonheart (2018) onward. This goes for everything about the project - quest design, interiors, exteriors etc. Quests were generally quite basic and exteriors were often quite large without much thought for navigability, culminating in the insane preview version of Almalexia. Releases since then have really reigned in the exterior design, keeping the size of locations a bit more similar to vanilla Morrowind but making them more dense. Comparing Old Ebonheart to Firewatch or Port Telvannis is a fantastic example. I'm really looking forward to this next release and what it means for the next few years of the project. Finally, we'll see an update to all of that old Telvanni and Indoril/Temple content in eastern Morrowind.

Though I can understand the rationale behind it (and it is true both Firewatch and Helnim were in some ways incoherent with the lore), I still wish they would focus on releasing new content. There is still so much Redoran territory to be released before we finally have a chance to see southern Morrowind and House Dres - which should be the most exotic part of Morrowind, as in, the most different from Vvardenfell. Then, there is Almalexia of course.

 

[Funposter]

Though I can understand the rationale behind it (and it is true both Firewatch and Helnim were in some ways incoherent with the lore), I still wish they would focus on releasing new content. There is still so much Redoran territory to be released before we finally have a chance to see southern Morrowind and House Dres - which should be the most exotic part of Morrowind, as in, the most different from Vvardenfell. Then, there is Almalexia of course.

I'd say the same thing, but re-working old content is a lot less intensive than creating entirely new stuff and a look at the claims section of the forums proves it. It's mostly fixing the locations of quests focused in Helnim and updating Helnim interiors to current standards, while relocating them to Firewatch. 90% of the work has already been done. House Dres is the holy grail of Tamriel Rebuilt and I still think it's a long, long way off for the simple reason that it can't rely on any pre-established assets and visuals. You're asking a team of modders to conceptualize and implement something entirely brand new and try to keep it married to the aesthetics of vanilla Morrowind. It's going to be really tough.

 

[RNGsus]

Are they redoing all Telvanni or just the imperial settlements? I remember Port Telvannis sucking fps and making no sense.

 

[zool]

Are they redoing all Telvanni or just the imperial settlements? I remember Port Telvannis sucking fps and making no sense.

Didn't have any FPS problem in Port Telvannis. What do you mean "made no sense"?

I really hope they're not going to to redo all of Telvanni, most of it was fine.

 

[RNGsus]

Are they redoing all Telvanni or just the imperial settlements? I remember Port Telvannis sucking fps and making no sense.

Didn't have any FPS problem in Port Telvannis. What do you mean "made no sense"?

I really hope they're not going to to redo all of Telvanni, most of it was fine.

No, they need to take a dozer to that entire map.

 

[Funposter]

Are they redoing all Telvanni or just the imperial settlements? I remember Port Telvannis sucking fps and making no sense.

Tucked away somewhere in the forum, you can see that they intend to overhaul all of Telvannis at some point, and the update to the Imperial settlements is just the start of it. By the look of things, the overhaul to the Telvanni content will be a lot more drastic and I get the feeling a lot of the quest content and so on will be getting replaced too. Port Telvannis is definitely too large for its own good and doesn't really fit with how cities in Morrowind are navigated, and its layout is pretty nonsensical. I wouldn't be surprised if the footprint gets downsized but it becomes more vertically dense. The city already has a large "skywalk" section, but the problem is that there's nothing below it, so the benefit of a skywalk is completely negated and what you end up having is a situation where the player walks from the river strider to the Parliament of Bugs without the ability to stop at services on the way. It's the opposite of how literally every single city in the game works. It shouldn't require two maps on the UESP or take up something like 9 cells.

You can see that in the Telvanni planning document that several characters are due to be replaced or merged, although I know some of the stuff in here is quite contentious (like making Gothren a Wizard lmao) and other proposals can be found in the Brainstorming thread. I'm sure more discussion goes on in the discord which I have no wish to join. It's all still up in the air and subject to change, but I think everyone involved is aware that the Telvannis content is currently only adequate in the sense that it's playable and provides Telvanni players with something extra to do.

 

[RNGsus]

That's what I thought, but thanks for doing the legwork.