My Modern Morrowind Build Guide
So this is the only place I have published this guide. I made this guide for my friend Nessa because she has helped me with Fallout 3/V. I am more than happy to answer questions however the best place to ask questions is where the links lead you. Most of the time they will take you to Bethesda Forums. be on your best behaviour over there because they take no crap and will boot you straight out. You can find me there as ktbu. Guess what that stands for?
***this is copied from a private PM from another conversation so just read it in that context
***
I will write my advanced Morrowind Build after but first I am going to write the easier way. Why? Because the Easier Morrowind Build will save you HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of hours replacing every mesh and texture and it will automatically include all the must have executive mods that are required to update the game to modern standards. ***The advanced links are at the bottom*** Everything you need to know is over at Trainwiz's old forum.*** I should copy it before it disappears but the links will have to do for now.
This is for the DISK version of Morrowind. I do not support the STEAM copy of Morrowind. Sry.
Fast & Easy Morrowind Build
Morrowind Overhaul - Sounds & Graphics 3.0 by Kingpix and company will update the game to more modern standards. No more clunky robot walk. ***Make sure you update everything and follow all the instruction on front page. MGSO installs,.. I don't know really... hundreds of mods and texture and mesh replacers and includes all the other exe programs (BSA updater, MCP, MGEXE and others) so the updates are a must.
*read all the issues and recommended updates mentioned in MGSO thread*
This will take a whole day to install but you will have modernised the entire game from a-z. And just to reiterate; even though MGSO does a fantastic job there are still so many better mods you can eventually upgrade too but it is the fastest and easiest way to start.
***this part just covers the update process for one of the mods that you need for MGSO. Everything is told to you in the above MGSofficial thread but it helped me and it may help you;
Installing MCP is a bit more difficult, but luckily not so much. The only problem is that there are several programs that modify morrowind.exe.
Okay, I just checked the readme for MCP and there are instructions for updating. This is what is recommended:
1) Launch Morrowind Code Patch.exe and select uninstall.. then exit
1) Copy all contents of the new MCP archive to morrowind directory (NOT data files, but morrowind directory) and overwrite existing files
2) Launch new Morrowind Code Patch.exe
3) Select all patches, tweaks and fixes you want
4) Click apply patches, wait for the program to patch your game and exit
5) Download latest exeOptimiser (version 1.9) from here: http://timeslip.user...nt/exeopt1.9.7z
6) Try to apply exeOptimiser on Morrowind.exe
7) Launch 4gb patch.exe in Morrowind folder and apply it to Morrowind.exe as well
You are all done... just do not activate the esp that comes with MCP, it is just showcase of the features.
Also very important is the johnmoonsugar patch that is mentiond in the MGSO official thread. *****REMEMBER*** whenever you use any feature in MGSO you have to re-apply the patch. Also once you update the the utility exe. then NEVER use the ones from MGSO otherwise you will have to update everything again!!! TRUST ME that is a real pain.
This is the big trick because one day you'll have a perfect install and if you make one small error when fiddling inside MGSO then it will over ride all the updates and install all the old ones again!
Of course this will be solved with MGSO 4.0 when it is released.
The main quest is amazing. It is written like a novel and I highly recommend that you install Julan Ashlander Companion 2.0 by Kateri before you start a game. You can not play it if you get too far in the game. I am serious. The mod will tell you if you are too far into the main quest for Julan to follw you. Go get him right away! This mod will enhance the main quest and give you a Companion mod that imo is the best companion mod out there. Companion Vilja a distant second! Vilja was my fave until I met Julan. Why? Because of the way this mod is tied into the main quest. It is brilliant and it just makes sense that other people would be involved too.
[REL] Jasmine, a Morrowind companion Very pretty black girl that comes with a handy house mod at the beginning of the game so she is a good Starter companion. You have to sign up though to get her.
Emma's thief companion constance is also a veery funny mod.
Lougian is a new modder in the scene but he has become THE texture model replacer guy. Go grab all his mods. The quality of his Bump Mapped texture replacers are out of this world. I am not exaggerating. Just take a look at his Daedric ruins bump mapped. I believe the inside even has lighting effects added to it.
Install Skies .IV by starwarsgal9875 and New Starfields by Melchior Dahrk.
Weapons of the 3rd Era - Morrowind Edition. The original was made for Skyrim. This is a pluginless weapon replacer for, 37 vanilla weapon meshes. Even more will be replaced in game due to different weapons using the same mesh as others. AWESOME!
Go get Tyddy's creature replacers
Abot is another morrowind modding ledgend. All his mods are incredible but these three are must haves: Where are all birds going and Water Life and Move or Take My Place.
Vanilla Morrowind is void of any character. It is an empty world. Fill it up with life by using Starfire's NPC Additions v1.11 and CHILDREN OF MORROWIND ver 2 by Emma and Robert
I am not too sure what happened to this section. i seemed to have lost a huge part of this information... Anyways Children of Morrowind (CoM) is not an easy mod to set up. It also conflict with stuff so you need to be careful and do your homework but... it is fun to see the kids everywhere. Using starfires NPC additions and CoM can cause some FPS issues even with the best gaming rigs in certain places and with certain mods. Like it can drop to 10 sometimes but it normal and it is only in certain places. Just be aware. Personally I would choose Starfire NPC mod over CoM but both of them together make MW look like a real living fantasy world.
Melian's Teleport Mod Unlimited teleport Marks. Cast as many as you want. Name your Marks whatever you like, either by typing in a name or choosing from a list. ummon all followers together or individual followers one at a time with a no-cost spell. This also works anywhere, anytime, unless teleporting is disabled AND the follower is not in the same cell. You can always summon individual followers if they're in the cell with you, even when teleporting is disabled - so you can fish them out of the lava in Akulakhan's Chamber for example - and if teleporting is allowed you can summon them anywhere, regardless of where they (or you) are.
DBAttack Tweaked by hollaajith This is not the delay mod. I'll include that later. This does add an extra realistic layer to the attacks. It just makes sense. ***Dark Brotherhood Delay - Murderous Dreams by Avelon ok here it is. This is a must otherwise the DLC will start almost right away before it makes any sense to you. It really should start at a certain point in time. Trust me this is a must have mod.
Keening and Sunder Replacer by Star Boi and thePOSTALdude by starwarsgal9875 I think this already may be included in MGSO but I am not checking right now. These models are so good... so good!
Versus Vivec by Trainwiz Anything by Trainwiz is awesome. I am serious. The man is a genius and he loves trains. Weird eh? Maybe but his mods are mind blowing. He is off working in the video game business now making his own game. This is a great mod. It turns Vivec into a real GOD. It will make the battle with Vivec into an EPIC 3 hour fight. It could possibly take you all week to beat him now.
Darknut's Greater Dwemer Ruins Volume One This mod affects Dwemer ruins “Odrosal”,” Vemynal” & “Dagoth Ur” in Main Quest timeline, and it is an attempt to make the quest to find Kagrenac’s Tools and destroy Dagoth Ur a much more involved task.
You can expect to find much larger ruins to explore as well as traps, puzzles, and a completely new final battle with Dagoth Ur featuring a new end sequence. Never a dull moment. Oh, and did I mention traps.
Endusal and Tureynulal Redone by Trainwiz Despite Darknut's GDR doing a wonderful job of overhauling some of the Sixth House Citadels, he missed a few. So, I decided to undertake the massive task (and by that I mean spend three hours of downtime) of redoing some of the other citadels.
This turns the other two neglected citadels, Turenyulal and Endusal, into proper dungeons, bringing them up to modern standards.
Turenyulal is now a massive underground library, fitting for the archives of the Chief Tonal Architect.
Similarly, Endusal has been overhauled into Kagrenac's private resarch facility, with tonal bells and orchestra rooms ripe for the plundering.
Cavern Of The Incarnate Overhaul by Aoimevelho Completely update the cavern making it look like a GOD actually is there.
Balmora Underworld by Fulgore Total eye candy mod and dungeon romp. I like it.
-WIP- Magic Diversity by Arkann The aim of Magic Diversity is to make your experience as a mage more, well... diverse, by making (almost) every magic effect visually unique. **This mod had been completed now*** It is incredible!
Your Character
MGSO comes with the Better Bodies ZW by Psychodog Studios. I just thought I would link it and mention it here first. Trust me, the old bodies looked like old skinny crawly old man skin. Not that there is anything wrong with that hehehe but you know... The Better Bodies mod changed that and for the better.
Meldiocre's hi rez heads and hairs. I love them. Not only can you get the sexy but you can also find extra hi rez facial mods that add creases and lines for an ultra realistic look that a person would have living off of the land. Like this. Actually it is the same face used in both. An older looking sexy face. I love it!
MacKom' hi rez Races Redone! These are ultra cool! I have used both of these head replacers and they are both of the highest quality. These heads are not compatible with everything but I didn't really have too much of a problem. Still this is for someone who wants that extra special rarity of a gem character.
Slof's Lair She is my hero. She make mods for women if you know what I mean hehehe. Yes that's it! Eye candy for the ladies. Yummy! So If you want to man character to have his pipes and gears all oiled and ready to go then Alien Slof has you covered. BUT don't fear guys and don't run away just yet because she also made hi rez Muscled Skins for Better Bodies. This includes the bodies for females. Check it out in this pic.
She also created two other must have mods; Better Beasts which is a replacer and if you want to play as a Khajitt White Tiger Race which includes Robe Traders, which is clothing for the tigers, and her first clothing mod.
Higher Resolution Better Body Females by Westly who is also a very well known modder from back in the day. He always made quality stuff. This mod is great. Most of you will like this over Slof's muscle skin mod.
Rejoice! Finally Robert's Body has been ported to Morrowind. Robert's Body is the best male body mod for all the TES games period.
Robert's bodies by Robert Bahamut and Moranar brings together 3 of the best Morrowind modders out there. (Don't know who Bahamut is?.. I'll have a special section on him when I complete the ARMOUR section.
Tribunal
This was the first DLC and overall was kinda a disappointment. Fortunately Trainwiz came along and created a top 10 all time MW mod that makes sense of this failure. Sotha Sil Expanded is my favourite mod I have played in Morrowind. This mod itself is bigger than the entire Tribunal DLC and it is voice acted. Everyone who has played vanilla Morrowind was disappointed that they never got to see the mythic Clockwork city where the god Sotha Sil lived. Well now you can. It is hard, it is amazing. Don't bring followers because they will die.
Bloodmoon DLC
This 2nd DLC was my favourite part of the game. The main quest is just so much fun. You can wait a little before modding this part of the game because the trainwiz mod of the first dlc will take you a while to complete.
Solstheim: Tomb of the Snow Prince aka: Solstheim Overhaul By Wollibeebee This is a must have mod. It completely updates the entire Island of Solthsteim. It is tricky to set up with MGSO so just go to the mgso official release thread over at bethesda forums and ask your questions there. That is where the pros hang out when they are not in there little modding groups like here. The tricky part is because of Vurt's Trees. Vurt is a legend. He has made tree models for many different games. However his tree mod creates conflicts in Solthsteim with this overhaul. Both mods are must haves so it is best to get good advice with your install.
The White Wolf Of The Lokken Mountain ver 2.1 by Emma and TeuTonic;This is an incredible achievement. Emma shows off her story telling abilities with a great adventure mod that rivals the Bloodmoon main quest itself. The models by TeuTonic are amazing! It is no wonder why Emma fell in love with the place as she wrote in the mod description.
***Be careful to use the ESM version and not the esp; the latter is not compatible with all the add-on mods. Those add-on mods look amazing and I wish I was able to try them however when I tried to switch from esp to esm My game saves became corrupt. I couldn't even fix them with Wrye Mash and some other tools. I always back up my saves and you should too before using any mods. It is a wise habit that I learned from my Oblivion playing days. When you finish playing this mod you will want those add-on mods. Take my word on that!
Also there are some real old tree models being used. They are real ugly and Vurt's trees will be placed all over the Island through MGSO so you may want to go into the Construction Set and remove them because they really stick out and look weird. They are in the Meshes folder and called aa_Flora_arctictree_01 (to 09). Or you can just replace them with some of Vurts tree models. All of his stuff is free to use and you can find them easily over at the official forums here.
Spriggans and Twiggans by Melchior Dahrk The main version of the mod has them glow mapped. They look amazing at night!
House Mods
Arvs-Spelun by Stavroguin This is really a cool place. I have tried dozens of housing mods. This is a keeper. It is the only house mod I am recommending although there is a rotten sunken ship home that looked kinda cool XDDD
Advanced Mods
Wrye Bash & Wrye Bash Stand Alone (WBSA) You need this for your load order and to clean your saves. Even if you don't know anything about it, just get it anyway. Learn how to use it here.
AutoMW - Improved Morrowind Enhanced, New AutoSave System, and more Just using this mod will cut you ctds in half. Since using this mod I literally don't get them any more. It also solves the dreaded exit crash; that is when you try to exit the game and it crashes your computer.
Morrowind Enchanted Editor v0.91c This is an important tool that can be a life saver. It does things that the construction set can't do. For example I once added a mod to the game and the mod added a character to fight in a cell that I had already visited. Morrowind is an old game and it does wonky stuff. The mod worked and the character was in the right place and all the changes were there but the changes on the character did not appear. That was because I had already visited the cell and interacted with the character. The character was Umbra and this mod changed Umbra with some sick armour and made the battle an epic one. However his new armour did not show up. The armour was the best part and you wanted it as a prize. So through this editor I was able to reset the entire cell as if I had never visited. So when I went into the cell in game it was completely reset and everything worked fine. When you think about this the other functions as a modder then this little tool becomes a little gem!
MGE XE Shaders - Library and Development If you want your game to look like this, this and this, this and THIS then the custom shaders here will rock your world. TRY THEM ALL! ***Make sure you have a very good card or your pc may catch on fire! Don't worry as MGSO 3.0 comes already packed with top notch shaders but some people want that extra little bit like this!
Instruction for how to get sweet FX to work with mgeXE
For the SweetFX I used "Boulotaur2024's Injector with 1.5.1 Shaders (x64 support)", got it from here, as far as I know it's the most recent version.
You just unpack it to the Morrowind's main directory (where the exe is located). To change settings, go to SweetFX_settings.txt . you can also change the keybindings there, at the end of the file.
The settings I use I just made by myself, don't know if they are "good" or "bad" but I like them If you want them you can get them from here.
Top of the settings file is where you turn shaders on / off , 0 = off, 1 = on. Beneath are settings for the each shader, you can experiment without switching off the game, after saving the file just press the "key_reload_sweetfx" button (default is delete).
When you take screenshots, the MGE screenshot button probably won't record the image after SweetFX'es changes, I use Fraps to capture the image, The SweetFX'es screenshot key should work properly too.
Here is something to look at
Modding Tutorial Websites for Morrowind
Lougian's Lair Bump Mapping visual tutorial
Tutorial: Basic Animation with Nifskope
Advanced set up
Morrowind Modding Guide by Knots
The best guide if you don't want to use MGSO and many people don't because it is a lil bit screwy. If you really understand modding then I recommend skipping mgso. Still, MGSO includes so much texture replacers... hard choice. But it is not mine to make. I would still choose MGSO because I am lazy XDD
Trainwiz's Morrowind Gameplay Guide Most of this stuff is included in MGSO and my personal list but this is trainwiz and trainwiz trumps everything XDDD
Random Updates
Westly's Pluginless Head and Hair Replacer
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