Modding Morrowind

[Stg-Flame]

I've mostly steered clear of modding Skyrim and Morrowind simply because of how long it always takes me to properly mod Oblivion to run with stability. The last time I booted up Oblivion, it took three whole days (started on Wednesday so I could play over the weekend) just to get everything to run properly with no major issues. Then again, every time I play Oblivion, I always start with FCOM which completely overhauls the entire game so it stands to reason it's going to take a while to get everything to work right. Still, the whole process kills the urge to play the game since it takes so long to get Wyre Bash, Python (the right goddamn version), OBMM, BOSS, NMM, and any other utilities I've forgotten and get them in the right order in the right folder then downloading and installing mods to the right destination then sorting them in the correct order... it's a long drawn-out process that I don't particularly care for.

So, since this community is pretty pro-Morrowind, I was wondering if someone could give some advice for modding Morrowind - mod suggestions, utilities, etc. I'll be checking out the Nexus for the top mods, but there's always some hidden gems people recommend that aren't features, not to mention there's almost always some beauty mods that don't interest me in the slightest. The last time I played Morrowind, I was using a stock HP Pavilion Windows ME and was barely able to run it at low settings.

For me, the only things I think I'd want changed would be the random missing based on (agility?) skill and maybe a high-res texture pack. I honestly can't remember anything else that bugged me about that game other than standing three inches from a Balmora guard and missing all 10 throwing knives I just threw right through his face. I may also be looking into something that randomly causes Skyracers to explode into an array of fireworks because **** Skyracers. Also, I loved stealing candles and placing them in my house.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[BSim500]

Pretty much this:-
http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Morrowind

MGE XE (Morrowind Graphical Extender) is critical. Adds widescreen, HD resolutions, solves MSAA problems on some "ATI" (AMD) cards, Borderless Window, shaders, FOV, Distant Land LOD generation, etc.

Morrowind Code Patch fixes a ton of unfixed issues, rain / snow collision, camera clipping, even calendar & save-gave corruption fixes. They're divided into fixes and gameplay tweaks (eg, turn sneak into toggle). Every single option can be individually ticked / unticked.

Tribunal Delay (Delay Dark Brotherhood Attack) delays the annoying "you're attacked when sleeping for the first time as a link to start the Tribunal Expansion" until later in the game (your attacker wears some pretty high level armor which breaks the game somewhat when you get it at level 1).

As for in-game improvement mods, better texturs (or at least "Real Signposts") is recommended. Default ones are a squiggle that you must mouse-over to read, but they're replaced by proper readable ones. Windows Glow makes some towns look nice at night, etc. Passive Cliff Racers is another popular one

If lack of fast travel is annoying, then one annoyance reducer is "All Boat / Silt Strider" mods that open up all destinations from every place.

As with Oblivion / Skyrim, how much you tweak is up to you, but the 2002 game can look pretty damn good for its age with a bit of effort:-
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/d/db/Morrowind_2016-12-17_16.51.29.215.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/5/57/Morrowind_2016-04-25_00.26.04.123.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/e/e2/Morrowind_2016-12-14_00.36.05.738.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/a/a9/Morrowind_2016-08-25_20.50.55.120.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/8/81/Morrowind_2016-08-26_23.54.18.543.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/1/18/Morrowind_2016-12-20_22.44.46.105.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/0/09/Solstheim.png

 

[shortylickens]

ADDS HD resolutions?

The base game went up to 2048x1536
I know cuz that was the resolution of my last CRT.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Pretty much this:-
http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Morrowind

MGE XE (Morrowind Graphical Extender) is critical. Adds widescreen, HD resolutions, solves MSAA problems on some "ATI" (AMD) cards, Borderless Window, shaders, FOV, Distant Land LOD generation, etc.

Morrowind Code Patch fixes a ton of unfixed issues, rain / snow collision, camera clipping, even calendar & save-gave corruption fixes. They're divided into fixes and gameplay tweaks (eg, turn sneak into toggle). Every single option can be individually ticked / unticked.

Tribunal Delay (Delay Dark Brotherhood Attack) delays the annoying "you're attacked when sleeping for the first time as a link to start the Tribunal Expansion" until later in the game (your attacker wears some pretty high level armor which breaks the game somewhat when you get it at level 1).

As for in-game improvement mods, better texturs (or at least "Real Signposts") is recommended. Default ones are a squiggle that you must mouse-over to read, but they're replaced by proper readable ones. Windows Glow makes some towns look nice at night, etc. Passive Cliff Racers is another popular one

If lack of fast travel is annoying, then one annoyance reducer is "All Boat / Silt Strider" mods that open up all destinations from every place.

As with Oblivion / Skyrim, how much you tweak is up to you, but the 2002 game can look pretty damn good for its age with a bit of effort:-
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/d/db/Morrowind_2016-12-17_16.51.29.215.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/5/57/Morrowind_2016-04-25_00.26.04.123.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/e/e2/Morrowind_2016-12-14_00.36.05.738.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/a/a9/Morrowind_2016-08-25_20.50.55.120.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/8/81/Morrowind_2016-08-26_23.54.18.543.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/1/18/Morrowind_2016-12-20_22.44.46.105.png
http://wiki.step-project.com/images/0/09/Solstheim.png

That is exactly what I was looking for and I've never heard of Step before. I read on one of the Steam discussions that modding for the Steam copy vs the physical copy differs slightly, but they didn't go into detail about what exactly is different. I would assume only the file pathing for where to install mods would be different but as I said, I've never modded Morrowind before.

As for fast travel, I absolutely hated that and loved it in Oblivion. Morrowind gave us (from what I remember) so much to find and see between locations that the only time I used the Silt Striders was when I needed to be on the opposite side of the map quickly. When Oblivion came, the world was so empty, there wasn't much reason to run anywhere other than power-leveling with Alchemy early on.

ADDS HD resolutions?

The base game went up to 2048x1536
I know cuz that was the resolution of my last CRT.

Good ol' CRTs. I still have mine (1536X768 I believe) and it works, but I don't have any use for a 20lb retina strainer anymore. I always thought they were heavy due to plates or mass amounts of wiring inside, but nope, it's that silly 4" thick glass that adds all the weight.

 

[bystander36]

The screenshots do look pretty good.

The only thing I can add is to make sure not to power level Alchemy until after you power level your primary combat skill(s). It can really suck if you level up, and have crappy combat abilities.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I don't think I ever messed around with anything but a stealthy archer character in Morrowind. Everything felt too cluttered back when I played it and I didn't understand half of what was going on since it was my first big RPG and it was a PC game which I had very limited experience with prior to Morrowind. I think I played D2 and Unreal Tournament prior to Morrowind - everything else was console games, so it was rather daunting to come in and find masteries for every type of weapon and be given free-reign to do whatever I wanted.

With Oblivion, I would always power-level with Alchemy but I had heard a lot of TES veterans advise against it - though I never understood why.

I think I'll try out STEP and see what all I can get to work. Also, I can't find my physical copy so I'll most likely buy the Steam GoTY edition. I don't suppose there's any major differences between modding the physical copy and modding the Steam version?

 

[bystander36]

I don't think I ever messed around with anything but a stealthy archer character in Morrowind. Everything felt too cluttered back when I played it and I didn't understand half of what was going on since it was my first big RPG and it was a PC game which I had very limited experience with prior to Morrowind. I think I played D2 and Unreal Tournament prior to Morrowind - everything else was console games, so it was rather daunting to come in and find masteries for every type of weapon and be given free-reign to do whatever I wanted.

With Oblivion, I would always power-level with Alchemy but I had heard a lot of TES veterans advise against it - though I never understood why.

I think I'll try out STEP and see what all I can get to work. Also, I can't find my physical copy so I'll most likely buy the Steam GoTY edition. I don't suppose there's any major differences between modding the physical copy and modding the Steam version?

If you really want to, in Morowind and maybe Oblivion (not Skyrim for sure) you can just not pick Alchemy as a starting skill. The skills you don't start with do not advance your level. It'll start off lower level, but it won't cause you to level up with crappy combat skills.

 

[Stg-Flame]

It's been so long since I last played Oblivion, but I thought all skills helped you level and not just the major/minor you chose at the start. Maybe I'm remembering wrong or maybe FCOM changed things up a bit. Either way, I don't want to gimp myself and I don't want to turn myself into a god early on.

I don't remember much about Morrowind, so I can't wait to get a fresh start going again. Even when I wait two or three years and replay Oblivion (with FCOM), it all comes back to me where everything is and how to do everything. My memory isn't that great when it comes to important things, but when I fire up an old game I haven't played in years, I remember every single aspect about it. I recently replayed Darkstone on the PSX and I was able to rush through the first five dungeons because I had the quests memorized when I was a kid. Fast forward almost 15 years and I still remembered everything about that game - even the power-leveling exploits.

 

[bystander36]

It's been so long since I last played Oblivion, but I thought all skills helped you level and not just the major/minor you chose at the start. Maybe I'm remembering wrong or maybe FCOM changed things up a bit. Either way, I don't want to gimp myself and I don't want to turn myself into a god early on.

I don't remember much about Morrowind, so I can't wait to get a fresh start going again. Even when I wait two or three years and replay Oblivion (with FCOM), it all comes back to me where everything is and how to do everything. My memory isn't that great when it comes to important things, but when I fire up an old game I haven't played in years, I remember every single aspect about it. I recently replayed Darkstone on the PSX and I was able to rush through the first five dungeons because I had the quests memorized when I was a kid. Fast forward almost 15 years and I still remembered everything about that game - even the power-leveling exploits.

I'm fairly certain Morrowind behaved that way, and I know Skyrim doesn't. I'm uncertain about Oblivion.

I once made a character which was an illusionist, and learned that once you passed level 50, the spells stopped working on the enemy. The whole class became nearly useless outside chameleon. I recalled making a character without any skills I wanted to use, so I could control my level and it worked. I could level up skills without leveling, then power level a skill the character wasn't using to gain levels, so I wasn't overpowered. I think I did that with Oblivion as well, but not sure.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

It's been so long since I last played Oblivion, but I thought all skills helped you level and not just the major/minor you chose at the start. Maybe I'm remembering wrong or maybe FCOM changed things up a bit. Either way, I don't want to gimp myself and I don't want to turn myself into a god early on.

I don't remember much about Morrowind, so I can't wait to get a fresh start going again. Even when I wait two or three years and replay Oblivion (with FCOM), it all comes back to me where everything is and how to do everything. My memory isn't that great when it comes to important things, but when I fire up an old game I haven't played in years, I remember every single aspect about it. I recently replayed Darkstone on the PSX and I was able to rush through the first five dungeons because I had the quests memorized when I was a kid. Fast forward almost 15 years and I still remembered everything about that game - even the power-leveling exploits.

Obliv and I think morrowind both had the skill/level system, with major/minor skills. 10? skillups between those I think gave you a level, and I think (at least in obliv) you got stat points available to distribute, quantity based on amount of stat-related skills you leveled, so 5 skillups in agility based skills gave 5 stat points for agility if you picked that, or some such weirdness.

It was probably one of the worst leveling systems developed, and you could absolutely destroy the game by either putting a bunch of common skills as major/minor, and leveling yourself far faster than your weapon skills can keep up, or the opposite, and never actually level up while wrecking face with daedric gear.