Sorry if this is an old topic, but...

Moderators? Anyone?

I can understand the executable being off limits, but how about the Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon .esms? From what I gather of the EULA, they're untouchable, but I thought I'd try for a more definitive answer.

I tried some preliminary 'experimenting' and the results were somewhat brilliant. I'd like to pursue this if allowable.

Modding the ESM's isn't advisable. A single error can lead to requiring a full reinstall and since all other mods require those ESMs as Masters changing anything in them may cause some serious issues.

Also since they are classed as game files you wouldn't be able to distribute them, any changes (that don;t kill your game) would be for personal use only.

The compatibility issue, I should point out, would not be a consideration. The end result of such an undertaking would be such a radical departure that it would have to be considered a stand-alone entity and unuseable with other mods in the conventional way.

So, yeah, the distributability would be my main concern. I suspect you're right about that (unfortunately) .

you dont need to mod the original .ESM's......you can just make new ones.

But, if I understand you, they would still be dependent on Morrowind.esm, n'est ce pas? (and TB and BM if you choose) which would have to load ahead of what you create.

Modding the originals would have several potential advantages:

- removal of redundancies by combining numerous plug-ins into a super plug-in; no more of that annoying dialogue skip when loading the CS
- loading the game and combined mods straight from a base plug-in with no 'sifting' of mod material; incredibly fast load times
- the ability to delete objects without incurring 'deleted' references
- the ability to redesign the whole of the database in a more logical efficient fashion; renaming scripts, references etc. with impunity
- generally, separating the wheat from the chaff for a wholly streamlined experience

It works.

Well there are many things that have been taken as fair use already,

1. Normal Mods
2. Modifications to the original executable
3. A brand new engine (two actually)

Although, by Fair Use, making a personal use copy is legal, stripping out protection is NOT by Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Messing with CD check is illegal by law, not just that it might get you banned form the forum.

Redistributing game content is alright in small quantities, for example screenshots and videos, but it is NOT in big quantities. Avoid when possible.

For example the unofficial Morrowind Patch contains fixed scripts as well as as other copyrighted content that has been modified.
Many mods contain modified models, textures, and so on that they DO NOT own. They are fully legal though. Why?
1. They are nonprofit
2. They do not redistribute a big chuck of the game (EDIT: To be more clear, Fair Use is a defense - so avoid this as much as possible)
3. They do not circumvent the cd check
4. They do not diminish the product, they promote it.
5. It is also worth mentioning where these mods come from....

TLDR: You can mod one of the main BSAs, redistributing is illegal though.

I have attempted to mod my Morrowind esm in the past and results were unsatisfactory , few utilities will allow you to edit your main game file and i do not know of any that will allow you to merge your Morrowind esm with other mods, i think Bethesda have put in some sort of write protection to limit editing.

I thought it would be useful to incorporate the various bugfixes directly into the Morrowind esm , so i attempted to incorporate ''Texture Fix ' which is a simple case of replacing the landscape data from the Morrowind esm with the landscape data in Texture Fix. I tried several times with differing techniques, using different utilities and trying different formats, but the best i was able to achieve was to replace some data with a lot of information being lost during the process.

If you do try editing your Game esm's then i suggest thorough testing to ensure any changes have beem properly incorporated.

I've modified once in 2004 all 3 main ESMs in Polish verion of GOTY. I fixed this way typos, bugs in scripts and dialogs, untranslated or misnamed cells, and results were satisfactory. However, it required an update to all mods with changed size of ESMs, and change the cell names in mods depending on the original with typos or those untranslated. This also involved patching English->Polish plug-in converter with updated cell names. I needed to use a hex editor for changing some things.
IIRC, the only texture fixes were only changed file names, but I haven't tried to 'Texture Fix' what was embedded in ESM though.

Since I bought English version of the game, and started to use it instead of the Polish one, I haven't done the same to it.


What would it need so these modifications could be redistributed without enormous size of file and legality problems?

- A differential patch and a patching application that would apply the patch to ESMs.

Lord Udedenkz,

Yes, this is along the lines of what I was thinking. There are so many ways to impact the original game it's hard to know how far you can go before you've crossed a line. Not just the Morrowind Patch, but almost ANY mod altering the original gameplay is, by definition, operating on copywritten material to some degree. Still, a typical mod does not change copywritten material directly; it works on a level above, keeping the original .exe, .esm's, and .bsa's intact. My tinkering does not alter the CD check, but probably goes deep enough to be non-distributable. Too bad, because...

Slartibartfast1,

Here is what went into my experimental prototype:

- Morrowind
- Tribunal
- Bloodmoon
- Wizards Islands
- Silgrad Tower
- Five Keys of Azura
- Veldion
- Leyawiin
- Necessities of Morrowind
- Morrowind Patch Project
- GOTY Script Tidy
- a Role-playing suite including Miscast Mod, Breath Holding, and more
- Rideable Guars
- Water Life
- Where Are All the Birds...
- Import Business
- Resources Enhanced
- Necromancy Realism
- Vampire Embrace
- Vampiric Hunger
- Starfire's NPCs
- Real Wildlife

..all combined into one super-plugin of some 160 MB - zero conflicts, zero merged-list files

It can be done, though I won't disclose how.

krzymar,

That's impressive. Yes, any external mods that you use in conjunction with this would need updating and possible editing.

*An aura of mystery surrounds him.* :angel:

I am aware of 3 currently under development. Only 2 are public though.

If only two are public, how do you know about the 3rd?

There are mods that released the textures from morrowind with a sharp filter applied, and nobody questioned the legality of that, even though the assets released were far bigger in size than the esms themselves. Other mods take vanilla meshes and just change one or two small things before re-releasing them (for instance adding bump maps to them, or changing the lighting properties), again nobody said it was wrong to do so. I don't see why the esms would be so different.

:huh: Why not? Especially since you're not sure you're going to release your own modified esms, I'm sure other people would like to modify their own esms themselves.

Lol, this is the topic for secrets it would seem.

Edit: fixed a quote

i remember in the mpp thread that the author discussed that editing the master files themselves made a lot of fixes very easy to implement, at the cost of compatibility, and community cohesion. combining all three would likely prevent many issues too, but falls under piracy for distribution.

master files are easy to fix themselves, just convert them through wryemash. it's funny to notice that the tribunal and bloodmoon esms are filthy just like amateur mods, with loads of dirty refs and objects.

The Merge to Masters function mentioned on page 1 on the link below looks promising, no harm in being secretive about information available in the public domain i suppose

http://www.ageinc.com/Morrowind/Thanos_Tower/Download/ShadowsongCreatingESM-Files.pdf

I will if there're enough backers to form a class action suit in the event of trouble :fallout: hehe
Seriously, if I can figure it out, it can't be that hard.

Slartibartfast1,
nice resource, thanks.

I'd be careful with that tutorial: it is outdated and at least partly incorrect. At least this part is not true:


As I stated a couple of weeks ago: