My computer runs normal Morrowind just fine, but after several hundred mods, it struggles quite a bit. I'm wondering if there's any easy way to tell what specifications my computer would need to run my entire mod list without slowing down or having graphic glitches. Is there a utility or a program that could evaluate my mod list (or perhaps run while I was playing Morrowind with my mod list) and could tell me what, ideally, I would need in a computer to run everything smoothly? I know I've never seen one, but I would think it would be useful.

I don't know of any utility like that and it seems like it would be rather complex and difficult to write one.

Have you tried to use the FPS Optimizer? It's pretty great for keeping your fps smooth even when going through heavilly-modded areas.

EDIT: If you post your modlist we can probably tell you right off which ones will cause large game slowdowns.

It would be cool to have a program that could anolyze a mod a give it a rating based on how script heavy it is. Scripts can bring nearly any computer to it's knees I would think because of how badly optimized Morrowind is. On the other hand it doesn't seem likely that it would ever be able to recommend hardware upgrades. It's not likely that you would be so close to the line now days where a single upgrade is going to put you over the top. Unless, 1 you are using a very very old computer and a stick of ram might let you go from, say, 2 mods to 4. Or, you slacked on the video card or something. The fps drop from MGE would be easy to see though. No need to have a program tell you. It's just not likely a processor upgrade is going to help you much because your mobo Socket is probably out of date anyway. In other words you probably just need to scrap your mobo and take things seriously.

I don't think that there'll ever be a machine which can handle a fully-modded Morrowind 100% smoothly.
I think Morrowind chokes sometimes because it simply wasn't designed for the hoops that we make it jump through, not because of a lack of power.

Psyringe posted an interesting, detailed http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=877881 of his system.
From his conclusions, I would first try removing mods that add NPCs/Creatures (MCA, COM, Wilderness Mod, etc.), then I'd try removing big city expansions (he mentions Seyda Neen Complete, so things like that). Unless you have a very old video card, you probably don't have to worry about the FPS impact of higher resolution graphics replacers.

Vharlak: :blink: I have to admit, I don't think I understood a word of what you were saying. Sorry.

The reason I was asking had more to do with what I should look for in a new computer than how to make my old one work better. My current computer was a standard new computer when I got it about 6 years ago, not particularly high end even then. I'm not using MGE or anything particularly script-heavy, and while I do get FPS problems, my major problem is with graphic corruption and CTDs that seem graphically related. A new graphics card could possibly solve the worst of my problems, but since it's possible I will be getting a new computer sometime soon anyway, I was wondering if there was a way to know what I would ideally want to run my current Morrowind setup.

If Morrowind is the primary thing you are going to do with the computer then look for a prebuilt computer (or build or find someone to build for you) with a processor that clocks high on a single core. This means you are looking for a large number of GHZ 3.0 or higher but you want a good architecture. You might have a 3 ghz p4 or something for all I know. I haven't been keeping up but Intel probably is still leading. Dual core processors are probably going to clock higher than quad core processors for the money still, and more importantly will clock higher with stock settings which is a big deal if you can't build yourself or pay someone to do it. Don't slack on the video card because MGE can do amazing things now. It's hard to say what video card to get exactly but don't spend anything less than 200 especially if you are going to play other games. The key to besting Morrowind is getting a fast, highly clocked processor. Something like an overclocked Intel Core 2 Duo 8500. That's probably kind of old now but your looking for something like that. Your goal is to push a nice Intel processor into the 4ghz range if possible.

Just wanted to say that my Phenom quad-core overclocked to 3.2GHz seems to run morrowind fast even with a buttload of script-heavy mods, so don't necessarily avoid higher core CPUs unless the price is too far out of your range. Morrowind may not take advantage of more than a single core, but more and more other progams and even games will start to. It may not be possible to "future proof" a computer system with how quickly things develop, but that doesn't mean you should ignore it completely. I am assuming you'll want to do plenty of other things aside from playing Morrowind on your computer. And, btw, you don't need a >$200 card. A GeForce 9800 GTX+ can run it even with very high settings in MGE/ENB and can be obtained for less. I've heard bad things when using ATi with Vista, so I'd avoid ATi if you are not using XP.

Yea, you don't need a $200 card for Morrowind but I think it's a good idea to hit that budget card sweet spot of 190-200. If all you are going to do is play Morrowind then yea 1. Don't buy a Quad core like I said and 2. Ask someone what the cheapest card to max MGE is and your done. Still, for like $30 or so you can jump up to a GTX 260 black edition or ATI equivalent. Worth the money to me.

Actually, if you use other programs besides morrowind, such as ENB and MGE, your other cores will work for those programs, allowing you a much higher potential then a single core setup, and even a duel core(in some cases) when it comes to Morrowind. Before I had MGE, my core usage was somewhere between 80% on one core and 5% usage of the second core, to now utilizing close to 60% of the second core, and not suffering any loss in fps. I highly recommend looking for multicore optimizers designed specifically for your CPU, it is amazing how much better my 6000x2 runs since installing the optimizer for it.

Also, while I agree that intell does have an edge over AMD, the edge is narrowing down to efficiency more then speed, especially when looking at AMD's newest black edition offerings. They are playing catchup, but its a race of inches, not miles. They are close enough now, that a 6400x2 with its very moderate pricing, is probably the best bang for your buck when it comes to cpu's to run morrowind with. Semantics aside, I prefer the pricing and upgrade structure found in AMD's am2(soon to be am3) line, but Intell has some very impressive tech in its I7 line which is more efficient and faster then the best AMD has to offer, but it still comes down to inches. If money is an issue, AMD will more then suffice, if money is not an issue, I would probably go Intell for a new build.

Yeah, I went with AMD for my system because price-for-price they offered better performance and I was on a budget. It's unfortunate that they don't have anything in the high-end to really compete with Intel though.

Thanks so much to everyone! The suggestions and comparisons have been very helpful, I appreciate the advice. As Earth_Wyrm pointed out, it may be a somewhat futile exercise to get Morrowind to run smoothly with lots of mods, but this will hopefully give it a better shot.

I've installed Morrowind on at least four different computers, and even on my newest one (dual 3.0 ghz processors, 4 gigs of RAM, Geforce 9800 GT) I've been unable to run more than about 100 mods without slowdown or crashes, and even less than that if I'm trying to use taxing mods that add scripts to hundreds of NPCs, objects, or creatures. I'm truly convinced that the strength of computer hardware has outpaced the limits of the Morrowind engine.

I use about 60 mods now, including one MWSE mod, MGE, and a bunch of texture replacers. I haven't had a single crash on any of my last 3 characters, and my frame rate never drops below 25ish.

Interesting read, thanks.
I wonder if much has changed ...

Good find Ronin49.

I think relevant to this is Fliggerty's http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1032460-some-hardware-upgrade-benchmarks-for-morrowind/ thread.

I did a survey some time ago.

Here is the results.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f386/vtastek/morrowind/morrowindmisc/surveyres.png


1. AMD seems to perform better.
2. You need 3500+ Mhz to run modded Morrowind. 4000 does the job. :grad:
3. Number of cores or graphics cards do not matter at all for Morrowind performance.
4. There are people besides me who think Populous is one of the best games ever.
5. There isn't enough data.
6. I don't know how to create averaged charts. :rolleyes:

Here is the original thread:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1084215-morrowindmge-benchmarks/

Survey is still open ladies and gentlemen.