An acquaintance game has some of the characters on the items names (specifically clothing and jewelry, example here: http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2775/morrowind20100322172120.jpg) are intelligible, but I can't figure what addon is causing it from this list:

GameFile0=Bloodmoon Landscape Overhaul 1.0.esmGameFile1=Bloodmoon.esmGameFile2=Morrowind Patch v1.6.4 (WIP).esmGameFile3=Morrowind.esmGameFile4=Texture Fix - Bloodmoon 1.1.esmGameFile5=Texture Fix 1.8.esmGameFile6=Tribunal.esmGameFile7=TR_Data.esmGameFile8=TR_Map1.esmGameFile9=TR_Map2.esmGameFile10=abotGuars.espGameFile11=abotGuarsBloodmoon.espGameFile12=abotGuarsTribunal.espGameFile13=AtmosphericSoundEffects-3.0-Tribunal.espGameFile14=AtmosphericSoundEffects-3.0.espGameFile15=Barabus' fireplaces 2.espGameFile16=Better Bodies.espGameFile17=Better Clothes Beta_1.4.espGameFile18=Bloated Morrowind.espGameFile19=Clear Glass.espGameFile20=Fliggerty's Fleeing Fetchers.espGameFile21=IceBradyHurdyRobeReplacerALL.espGameFile22=KS_Ren's_Oblivion_Hair_for_Morrowind_1.0.espGameFile23=Meteor.espGameFile24=Morrowind Code Patch Showcase.espGameFile25=Mournhold, The Great Bazaar.espGameFile26=Protective Guards.espGameFile27=Seyda Neen Docks V7.0 Bloodmoon.espGameFile28=Slof's Better Beasts b.espGameFile29=SpzInteriorDaylight.espGameFile30=TLM - AdjMod - Spuzzum's Interior Daylight.espGameFile31=TR_CensusAndExciseTravel.espGameFile32=UUMPP Bloated Morrowind removal patch.espGameFile33=UUMPP LGNPC Andus Tradehouse fix.espGameFile34=UUMPP LGNPC wild nix hounds fix.espGameFile35=Better Heads.esmGameFile36=Better Heads Bloodmoon addon.esmGameFile37=Slof's BB neck fix.esp

I already told him to fix the conflict between mods doing the same thing, like abot's guars and landscape overhaul/texture fix bloodmoon etc, but seems like it wasn't solved.

Looks like one of your friend's mods--presumably an add-on that affects clothing and jewelry--is actually in Russian. Your screenshot is what happens when a US version of MW attempts to display Cyrillic characters.

Come to think of it, IIRC I've seen this problem before with this mod: GameFile21=IceBradyHurdyRobeReplacerALL.esp. Where did your friend download the mod from? If it's from a site other than CanadianIce's forums, he may have mistakenly gotten a version translated into Russian.

Spot on, Tyraa!. Thanks for your help, it was indeed "IceBradyHurdyRobeReplacerALL.esp". Weird that it affected jewelry names as well, but now it's solved .