Hi guys,

I recently started modding Morrowind. Since I wasn't very familiar with the vast amout of Morrowind mods that exist out here, I decided to keep things simple and use MGSO. At this point though I have two issues with MGSO.

First, installing mods over an MGSO install is a mess. If you have every mod BAIN-ready then you are immediately informed of any incompatibilities between old and new mods and any possible file overwrites can be undone upon uninstallation. I like this level of control.

Second and perhaps more important, I realized that I don't always agree with the mod choices that MGSO makes. For instance, I much prefer Westly's head replacer over better heads. This makes me think: will it also be the case for other mods? (flora? architecture?) Ultimately, can I do better with a custom install?

So my question for the Morrowind veterans is: if we ignore the convenience that it brings for a second, would you still recommend using MGSO? Or are there better graphical mod combos out there?

Thank you!

My personal thoughts on the matter are that everyone has their own preferences of how they like things to be. So if you are willing to put in the effort, you will get a much more satisfying result doing everything yourself because you get to pick things you like instead of what someone else liked.

I agree with Spirithawke. Personally, I use an MGSO install, but I like the look of the vanilla options in MGSO and I use it primarily because of convenience. It is easier to install MGSO and the fixes from the MGSO thread (thanks to Spirithawke for fixing Fyr's armor), than it is to track everything down yourself and install it.

I don't make many changes to the graphical mods from MGSO, other than updating to Skies IV, so it does not much matter to me whether I have the ability to adjust install order of my graphical mods through BAIN. But if that's important to you and you are willing to put in the effort to track down and install all the graphical mods you need, then that's probably the route to go.

If you know what you're doing, a custom install is inarguably better. MGSO is simply outdated. It's also incompatible with many of the best mods out there (like MAO).

That said, if you're not willing to invest the days/weeks into learning how to get a proper install running, just go with MGSO and save yourself the headache.

What is MAO? And what other mods are incompatible with MGSO?

MGSO should be pretty much compatible with most mods other than perhaps ones that alter graphics or sound.

http://download.fliggerty.com/download-76-1045 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fV-Y7oeVZA)

Ahh, yeah, I could see MGSO being incompatible with another acoustic overhaul.

If you disable the conflicting audio mods and follow the readme I don't see why it wouldn't work.

If you disable the conflicting audio mods and follow the readme I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I'm a control freak, so I made a small collection of mods that I like, rather than using a big overhaul that changes everything (although its convenience is very tempting). But I prefer a mostly vanilla look anyway, so I only want a handful of changes. Depending on how much you want to change, it can be very time-consuming to do things yourself.

I'd recommend just using MGSO and combing through it a bit to see if there's anything you don't particularly like, then look for alternatives. For example, your preference for Westly's heads. That certainly seems easiest, if you want to change as much as possible but still make a few personal adjustments. I don't know how easy it is to install new mods on top of MGSO, though.

It's the same way you would install any other mod. MGSO just installs a lot of mods for you and all at once. Sometimes you have to delete certain things that MGSO installed to get other mods to work, but none of it is too hard or impossible to do.

I figured it would be like you said in your post. That's good to know.

Custom all the way.

My biggest complaint with MSGO is that if you ever change the options, it messes up all your mods that were manually installed. I know it was not avoidable, but that design flaw is a huge nuisance to anyone that likes to have control of their mods.

At the end of the day, it's much simpler to install everything manually, and never have to worry that MSGO is going to start erasing mods if I want to change one option.

It also doesn't let people learn how to actually install mods, and how mods actually function. But that's beside the point, I guess.

I would never mess with the installer after installing for this precise reason. But there is no reason you can't change a MSGO installation manually if you want to update it or change options after the original installation. You don't have to mess with the "options".