The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

[Actaeon]

... it runs like crap.

I bought the original game on Xbox 2 years ago, it ran pretty crappy, but it was a great game. I remember at the time, people with there Geforce4s (top of the line at the time) was complaining about how slow it was running and such.

So, I'm thinking now, I have a pretty good computer, and since I never beat it for Xbox, I should give it another try. The game of the year edition is only $30, so why not? I really wanted another game since I am about done with DOOM3.

So, I get it, I set it to 1600x1200, the game runs pretty slow. I turn it down to 1162x962 (whatever, something like that), and it still runs like crap. This game runs slower than Doom3 and looks much worse.

Rig:

AthlonXP 2500 @ 3200+ (2.2ghz)
1gig of PC3200
NF7-S V2.0
Geforce6800GT @ Ultra (400/1100)
WindowsXP SP2


Great game... but really really choppy. Any solutions?

EDIT:

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
* Windows ME/98 128 MB RAM
* Windows XP/2000 256 MB RAM
* 500 MHz Intel Pentium III, Celeron, or AMD Athlon processor
* 8x CD/DVD-ROM Drive
* 1 GB free hard disk space
* Windows swapfile
* DirectX 8.1 (included)
* 32MB Direct3D compatible video card with 32-bit color support and
DirectX 8.1 compatible driver
* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
* Keyboard, Mouse

I would really hate to see someone run it on that kind of computer.

 

[Looney]

hmm that's odd. I ran it pretty decent on a 8500... i haven't touched the game in a couple of years, so i'm not too sure... have you gotten all the latest patches and stuff?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Text

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
hmm that's odd. I ran it pretty decent on a 8500... i haven't touched the game in a couple of years, so i'm not too sure... have you gotten all the latest patches and stuff?

I couldn't find any updated patches. I installed Bloodmoon (2nd expansionpack).

Link to patches


BLOODMOON PATCH v1.6.1820 seems to be the latest patch, when I go to "Technical Support" and "Read Me", it appears to be that same version.

I assume i have the latest patch.

 

[CTho9305]

I played it on an Athlon 700 w/ GF2 GTS. It wasn't pretty, but it was fine. I play it now on an XP 2100+ w/Radeon 9100Pro. I can play at 1280x1024 (monitor limitation), and it's very smooth (smooth enough that I got an app that lets me increase the view distance beyond 100%). You shouldn't have to tweak. Are you sure you aren't forcing 8x FSAA or something ridiculous?

edit: First step in troubleshooting (even performance troubleshooting, esp. if people with slower hardware don't have perf trouble): stop overclocking. It makes stuff difficult.

edit2: here is a review of some cards showing performance... I love when someone says a game is poorly optimized, even though it works fine for many other people :roll: (not to imply that it's well written - I find Morrowind is a pretty unstable [crashy] game).

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Text

Thanks for the guide! I'll look into that later tonight before I get around to playing it again.

You shouldn't have to tweak. Are you sure you aren't forcing 8x FSAA or something ridiculous?

I took it off "application control" and put it on user control. I put 2xAA/8xAF @ 1600x1200, and its running smoother now, not sure on exact framerates though. I'll look into the tweaks posted earlier.

edit: First step in troubleshooting (even performance troubleshooting, esp. if people with slower hardware don't have perf trouble): stop overclocking. It makes stuff difficult.

You're right. But these overclocks are extremely stable. Before I got the 6800GT, I've had the computer running 69 days @ 2.2ghz before I had to turn it off. The only reason why I had to turn it off/restart it, was to install the 6800GT 🙂, otherwise it was completely stable for a daily use computer. The 6800GT is very stable too, I can run Doom3, UT2k4 demo, and Painkiller demo with absolutely no problems. No reason why it should occur in morrowind.

edit2: here is a review of some cards showing performance... I love when someone says a game is poorly optimized, even though it works fine for many other people (not to imply that it's well written - I find Morrowind is a pretty unstable [crashy] game).

Interesting benchmarks, my current PC should be much faster than those, yet it feels like 20-30 FPS.

I am running a slightly higher graphical setting with viewdistance at 100%, real-time shadows enabled, and pixel-shading enabled. I'm running 1600x1200, 2x AA/8xAF. According to AMDMB, a R9600XT with the same settings but 50% viewdistance and real-time shadows disabled was at 54.5fps. I feel like I'm getting much less than that.

Something is very wrong. My system should be much faster than what they are getting. I'll have to look into tweaking some settings.

How can I check my FPS in-game?

 

[flexy]

get "FRAPS" for checking FPS.

1st, start with the basics and check you bios settings (AGP aperture), try DXDIAG (start -> run -> type dxdiag) to check drivers, directX version and whether hardware acceleration and all that is enabled.

USe standard benchmarks (3dmark etc..) and compare your score to others. Is it in the same range or is only morrowind slow ?

I run this game years ago on a radon 8500 AMD 1900 nicely...got a 9800Pro but didnt play any more...it should run MUCH faster on your system ! AS said..first check all the basics...also....update chipset driver, graphics drivers etc.....check ystem for weird programs (spyware) with ad-aware etc. and check for virii.

Use a program like "taskmon" to check whether weird programs are running in the backgrund stealing CPU cycles...etc..etc... make sure you have the latest drivers, directx etc..etc...

 

[flexy]

>>>
You're right. But these overclocks are extremely stable.
>>>

dont want to sound like a knowitall...but my personal opinion is that MANY, MANY people dont have a clue how to *really* check whether an OC is stable or not.

They just set their CPUS/FSBs/CARDs highr and assume everythig is right as long as the thing is running.

It takes a LOT (ok, SOME) knowledge WHICH programs/benches to use for determining a 'stable' overclock...

Theres MUCH more to it than 90% of users know. Thats also ONE reason now all of a sudden many Doom3 users have to clock down their cards, assuming that their OCs were 'good'.....but comes a game/app which tortures the card like Doom3 it turns out it was not that good at all...

Just for your information, as a sidenote 🙂

Addendum:

ever used prime95 for hours to know whether your cpu is stable ? Memtest86 to check whether the memory takes it too ?
and then 3dmark03, only certain parts in 3dmark where actually artifacts appear, and rthdribl, 3dmarks creek-bench is more sensitive, next comes rthdribl which is very sensitive too
Do this for a few hours testing and decide then whether you have a halfway stable OC.
And even then Doom3 could torture the system even more.....so...you knever know for sure except you do NOT overclock 🙂
Also....AA/AF settings are important too. ALl these tests are worthless done without AA/AF...because they might very well pass with 'no artifacts'...but turning AA/AF on is another story.
As said...90% of people do NOT know these facts and 90% of 'stable OC claims' are not true and done just halfass....

Edit: Also...your 'SP2'....i mean its not even official for home users and i hear ONLY complaints how it f***cks up networks....too bad you installed it already...maybe it screwed something up ?

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Actaeon
Any solutions?

No. It's just a crap coded engine.

 

[Actaeon]

get "FRAPS" for checking FPS.

I found an ingame setting to check it. I'm getting a low of 10-20, an average of 30, and maybe a 40 if things are "right".

1st, start with the basics and check you bios settings (AGP aperture), try DXDIAG (start -> run -> type dxdiag) to check drivers, directX version and whether hardware acceleration and all that is enabled.

AGP Aperture is at 256mb, Direct X = 9.0c with 61.77 drivers

USe standard benchmarks (3dmark etc..) and compare your score to others. Is it in the same range or is only morrowind slow ?

Synthetic benchmarks are a waste of HD space. My Doom3/Painkiller scores are within range of other people/reviews with similar hardware.

I run this game years ago on a radon 8500 AMD 1900 nicely...got a 9800Pro but didnt play any more...it should run MUCH faster on your system ! AS said..first check all the basics...also....update chipset driver, graphics drivers etc.....check ystem for weird programs (spyware) with ad-aware etc. and check for virii.

Chipset, graphics driver are the very latest available. I scanned with Ad-Aware earlier today, and I have a real-time virus scanner (Panda) running all the time, I scanned 2 days ago, no virii.

Use a program like "taskmon" to check whether weird programs are running in the backgrund stealing CPU cycles...etc..etc... make sure you have the latest drivers, directx etc..etc...

I was running the game, and checked task manager, it was pretty much all devoted to Morrowind.

dont want to sound like a knowitall...but my personal opinion is that MANY, MANY people dont have a clue how to *really* check whether an OC is stable or not.

They just set their CPUS/FSBs/CARDs highr and assume everythig is right as long as the thing is running.

It takes a LOT (ok, SOME) knowledge WHICH programs/benches to use for determining a 'stable' overclock...

I'm 100% sure these overclocks are stable. I've run Prime95, I've run other DC programs (SETI/SoB/LifeMapper/DPAD). I've had this OC for months, it is extremely stable. I only had to shut down because I went to go install my 6800GT. I'm sure it would still be running right now had I not needed to install the 6800GT. My temps are incredibly cool, idling at 40C, with full load around 45C.

Theres MUCH more to it than 90% of users know. Thats also ONE reason now all of a sudden many Doom3 users have to clock down their cards, assuming that their OCs were 'good'.....but comes a game/app which tortures the card like Doom3 it turns out it was not that good at all...

I ran Doom3 with these settings, and it runs perfectly fine. I assure you again, these overclocks are stable.

As said...90% of people do NOT know these facts and 90% of 'stable OC claims' are not true and done just halfass....

You're right, most people do not know these facts, but I'm positive these overclocks are stable, and something else is hindering performance in this game.

Edit: Also...your 'SP2'....i mean its not even official for home users and i hear ONLY complaints how it f***cks up networks....too bad you installed it already...maybe it screwed something up ?

I'm using the offical one from MS' site, not any betas. My network is fine, and game performance (between Doom3, UT2k4, and painkiller) has not changed before and after the install.

Some weird setting is hindering my performance, I need to figure it out.

Meanwhile, I can adjust image quality/resolution settings with nearly no framerate change. Disabling Real Time shadows helped alot. Not sure if any of those tweaks I applied did anything. I didn't notice.

I'm getting a low of 10-20, an average of 30, and maybe a 40 if things are "right", at just about any resolution/AF/AA setting.

No. It's just a crap coded engine.

You're right, it is.

 

[Actaeon]

Man... this game looks good at 1600x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF 🙂

mw
mw2

 

[viivo]

The engine is fine (Dark Age of Camelot uses NetImmerse and it doesn't suffer from the same problems.) Blame it on Bethesda.

Just hope they don't screw up Fallout 3 as badly.

 

[PsharkJF]

Morrowind renders everything on screen, wether you can see it or not. I'll let my brother write it.

---

(Disclaimer: If I seem rude, sorry. This ain't PShark, so don't banz0r him over me.)

get it, I set it to 1600x1200, the game runs pretty slow. I

*stifles a laugh*

First off, its important to know how Morrowind runs things. go into Morrowind's console and hit 'twf', sans quotes.

See all those lines? That's what Morrowind is rendering. The water, far underneath the landmass, is being rendered. Morrowind renders back-to-front.

Why is it rendering everything? Because the open-ended nature of the plugin system requires it. The game needs to tolerate someone putting a giant house in the middle of nowhere, immediately. As such, its going to render *everything* you can see.

You set it to 1600x1200? Hah! With Morrowind's engine, you're just going to have to bring down the resolution a whole bunch. 1024x768 or lower. Which leads me into another aspect:

1600x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF

Perhaps I'm not understanding something here. You're attempting to run a game, with a history of performance issues, at a high-ass resolution, with a whole boatload of AA, and 3.4 tons of AF...

And you're complaining about performance? In *Morrowind*, for Vivec's sake? Yeesh.

In short, here's what you need to do -

1) Lower Resolution
2) Disable needless AA and AF settings, or lower them extremely
3) Download things like Morrowind Visual Pack 1 and Morrowind Visual Pack 2, and Morrowind FPS Optimizer to compensate.

Now, it ain't gonna be a perfect fit, but it'll help.

So, you have 2 options. You can either run at ungodly high visual settings, and get 'pretty slow' framerates, or do these options which might not be the best looking, and get comparitively better settings.

Its really your call.

Regards,
Scumbag

 

[MustangSVT]

it runs very smooth @ 1280x1024 on my 2100+ xp with ti4200 (280/580).
but it is after the tweaks.

the game is beautiful. and im rich as hell after i killed those soldiers and sold off their expensive armor 🙂 kekekeke

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: PsharkJF
Morrowind renders everything on screen, wether you can see it or not. I'll let my brother write it.

---

(Disclaimer: If I seem rude, sorry. This ain't PShark, so don't banz0r him over me.)

get it, I set it to 1600x1200, the game runs pretty slow. I

*stifles a laugh*

First off, its important to know how Morrowind runs things. go into Morrowind's console and hit 'twf', sans quotes.

See all those lines? That's what Morrowind is rendering. The water, far underneath the landmass, is being rendered. Morrowind renders back-to-front.

Why is it rendering everything? Because the open-ended nature of the plugin system requires it. The game needs to tolerate someone putting a giant house in the middle of nowhere, immediately. As such, its going to render *everything* you can see.

Uhhh, why can't they do culling anyway?

 

[raystorm]

I also recommend the visuals packs from a previous post.

Here's a post from the Elder Scrolls board with a full listing of some great mods.

Morrowind Mod List

 

[Actaeon]

stifles a laugh*

First off, its important to know how Morrowind runs things. go into Morrowind's console and hit 'twf', sans quotes.

See all those lines? That's what Morrowind is rendering. The water, far underneath the landmass, is being rendered. Morrowind renders back-to-front.

Why is it rendering everything? Because the open-ended nature of the plugin system requires it. The game needs to tolerate someone putting a giant house in the middle of nowhere, immediately. As such, its going to render *everything* you can see.

Thanks for letting me know how Morrowind runs, I do not know much of its engine, despite the fact its coded horribly. It ran like crap on my Xbox, it runs like crap on a higher-end PC.

You set it to 1600x1200? Hah! With Morrowind's engine, you're just going to have to bring down the resolution a whole bunch. 1024x768 or lower. Which leads me into another aspect:

There was no performance difference from 640x480 to 1600x1200 with all the goodies. Balmora always seems to be 20-40fps, depending on the area, no matter what the resolution/visual goodies is.

Perhaps I'm not understanding something here. You're attempting to run a game, with a history of performance issues, at a high-ass resolution, with a whole boatload of AA, and 3.4 tons of AF...

I do not run the game at those settings, I was simply looking at how pretty the game can be. My in-game settings are 1600x1200, 2xAA, 8x AF. It hovers between 20-40 in Balmora, typical forest wandering, around 70fps, and indoors 100+fps.

1) Lower Resolution
2) Disable needless AA and AF settings, or lower them extremely

There is no performance difference from 640x480 to 1600x1200, 2xAA, 8xAF, its not the problem.

3) Download things like Morrowind Visual Pack 1 and Morrowind Visual Pack 2, and Morrowind FPS Optimizer to compensate.

I'll check these mods out and see if they do me any good.

Its really your call.

Regards,
Scumbag

Thanks for the help,
Jonathan

 

[yhelothar]

Yeah turning off real time shadows should make it run buttery smooth. Get morrowind fps optimizer, it adjusts the number of shadows and the view distance in real time to maintain a certain framerate.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Actaeon
... it runs like crap.<BR><BR>I bought the original game on Xbox 2 years ago, it ran pretty crappy, but it was a great game. I remember at the time, people with there Geforce4s (top of the line at the time) was complaining about how slow it was running and such.<BR><BR>So, I'm thinking now, I have a pretty good computer, and since I never beat it for Xbox, I should give it another try. The game of the year edition is only $30, so why not? I really wanted another game since I am about done with DOOM3.<BR><BR>So, I get it, I set it to 1600x1200, the game runs pretty slow. I turn it down to 1162x962 (whatever, something like that), and it still runs like crap. This game runs slower than Doom3 and looks much worse.<BR><BR>Rig:<BR><BR>AthlonXP 2500 @ 3200+ (2.2ghz)<BR>1gig of PC3200<BR>NF7-S V2.0<BR>Geforce6800GT @ Ultra (400/1100)<BR>WindowsXP SP2<BR><BR><BR>Great game... but really really choppy. Any solutions?<BR><BR>EDIT:<BR><BR>

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:<BR>* Windows ME/98 128 MB RAM<BR>* Windows XP/2000 256 MB RAM<BR>* 500 MHz Intel Pentium III, Celeron, or AMD Athlon processor<BR>* 8x CD/DVD-ROM Drive<BR>* 1 GB free hard disk space<BR>* Windows swapfile<BR>* DirectX 8.1 (included)<BR>* 32MB Direct3D compatible video card with 32-bit color support and<BR> DirectX 8.1 compatible driver<BR>* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card<BR>* Keyboard, Mouse

<BR><BR>I would really hate to see someone run it on that kind of computer.

Seems to run fine on every system I've ever ran it on. My old 1Ghz Tbird w/GF3 Ti200 ran it very well. My firs notebook, a Compaq XP1700 with a 32MB Mobility Radeon ran it alright at low res and detail. Seems to run fine on my A64 3200 w/ Mobile 9600 Pro as well.

 

[randumb]

It runs fine on my Ti4200.

 

[Sureshot324]

The realtime shadows in Morrowind are very poorly coded and look like crap anyway. Turn them off and you'll be fine

 

[Somniferum]

Turn off shadows. I mean, turn them all the way off. The performance hit is so huge, you almost have to call it a bug. On my system at least, the difference is like night and day.