I'm working on adding support for Morrowind to the BOSS API's general load order management functions, and to do so I need to check that some assumptions I've made (I don't have Morrowind myself) are correct.

The assumptions are:

• Morrowind.esm is the game's main master file.
  
  
• Morrowind.exe is the game's executable.
  
  
• Morrowind stores its list of active plugins in a AppData\Local\Morrowind\plugins.txt.
  
  
• Morrowind's install path is recorded in the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind\Installed Path"
  
  
• Morrowind's Script Extender has the acronym MWSE, and can be detected by looking for MWSE.dll in the Morrowind installation folder.
  
  
• MWSE does not have a plugin system.
  
  
• Morrowind's installation folder has the structure:
  Morrowind
  - Data
  -- Morrowind.esm
  - Morrowind.exe

As far as I know, the assumptions are correct with the exception of the active plugins list - googling has suggested that this is stored in the Morrowind.ini. However, I don't know the format of this list, and whether it lists active plugins only, or all plugins, and if it lists all plugins, how are active plugins marked as such?

I'd be very grateful for any assistance in verifying my assumptions and helping with this Morrowind.ini stuff.

1) Yes.

2) Yes.

3) Active plugins are stored in the Morrowind.ini under the [Game Files] section. Here's a quick example:

[Game Files]
GameFile0=Morrowind.esm
GameFile1=Tribunal.esm
GameFile2=Bloodmoon.esm
GameFile3=moddymod.esp

...and so on.
As I said before ONLY the active plugins are stored in this list.

4) Yes. Also I don't know how your plans are, but consider adding manual search for the Install Path, since Morrowind with Vista and 7 can screw up something, writing the Install Path key somewhere else (due to the UAC crap).

5) Yes, but also remember that MGE includes MWSE in it. So if an user has MGE also has MWSE installed, but the dll is not there. To check if an user has MGE installed simply look for MGEgui.exe or MGEXEgui.exe inside the Morrowind folder.

6) Correct except for "Data" being "Data Files".

Hope this helps.

Does the Game Files list use hex or decimal for the numbering? Ie. is it

GameFile0=Morrowind.esm
GameFile1=Tribunal.esm
GameFile2=Bloodmoon.esm
GameFile3=moddymod.esp
...
GameFile9=moddymod9.esp
GameFileA=moddymod10.esp
GameFileB=moddymod11.esp

or

GameFile0=Morrowind.esm
GameFile1=Tribunal.esm
GameFile2=Bloodmoon.esm
GameFile3=moddymod.esp
...
GameFile9=moddymod9.esp
GameFile10=moddymod10.esp
GameFile11=moddymod11.esp

Also, when MGE is installed and MWSE.dll is not in the Morrowind folder, is there a registry key for its location (the MGE install folder?) I can check?

Thanks for the clarification so far.

It uses the decimal method.

Hmm, no. I think you misunderstood me.
MGE must be installed (unzipped) in the Morrowind folder to work. MWSE is fully integrated into the MGE-specific dlls, so MWSE.dll no longer exists.
In the end, just check for MGE, and you'll know the user also has MWSE.

Ah, OK. Is there any way to check the version of MWSE that MGE uses, in that case?

EDIT: For example, are MGE and MWSE releases coordinated so they share the same version number, or is there a MGE DLL with the same version number as MWSE?

Also just remembered another crucial assumption: is load order decided by plugin timestamps, or is it decided by the order in which plugins are listed in Morrowind.ini?

Hm, my MGE XE has MWSE.dll file, but no MGE.dll (though there is MGEfuncs.dll in mge3 subfolder). I think it may vary between MGE versions (standard vs XE) as MGE 3.8.0b only has d3d9.dll and dinput8.dll

Yes, forgot to say that MGE XE still has external MWSE.dll file, the revisions not. With MGE dll I meant d3d8.dll. Edited the post to clarify.

@Ninja:
In any case every MGE version has the lastest MWSE version in it, since the MGE stable (that is very old). So therei isn't a proper need of checking the MWSE version.

EDIT: Load order is decided by timestamps.

Oh, and what encoding is Morrowind.ini in? I assume it's in Windows-1252 (since that's what plugins.txt, Oblivion.ini and the rest of various gamesas games' files are in)?

Yep!

Edit: Never mind. Shouldn't post before I've had my morning coffee.

In addition to what Kingpix said about timestamps, I'll also say that the .ini stores them in alphabetical order, with .esm first and .esp later.


How can I check that? I imported Morrowind.ini to Firefox, and Windows-1252 messes Polish characters. Windows-1250 displays them properly.

I use Notepad++ to check file encodings. I would have thought that Windows-1250 would be an unlikely choice of encoding, considering Bethesda's use of 1252 for its later games. There's no real major benefit to be had from switching from 1250 to 1252, so it's unlikely that they changed it (especially since they could have then just gone unicode instead).

Thanks for the help, I've got everything sorted now, I think.

Cool!

MGE and MGE XE use MWSE 0.9.0b I believe. As far as I know, MWSE is no longer being developed, so looking for another version isn't necessary if the user has either MGE or MGE XE.

Yeah, this.