I logged over 750 hours into morrowind. It was probably the single best game i've ever played in my entire life. However, in the past ungodly amount of years, i've tried a few times to come back to it.

All of these "coming back" attempts have failed.

So here I am looking for mods to make morrowind "playable" to me. I have a few things that make it unplayable, and I'll list them below.

1. Graphics (I have a 1700 dollar home built PC that benchmarks at a 2700 dollar alienware desktop. I want to make the game pretty, and I've been spoiled my games lately. Morrowind is just too hideous to play, for me at least)
2. Engine (though this isn't as big of an issue, dropping a fork on a table and having a plate and sword fall of is a tad annoying)
3. Sound effects (I love the voices, and fargoth's voice makes me happy and oh-so-furious all at the same time. It's the awkward sound effects that frustrate me)
4. Menu (The game menu is just plane annoying. Though I feel like this would fit in with my first issue with playing morrowind again, i'd really like to see a re-skin of the in-game popup menu.)
5. Fight Mechanics (Swing, Swing, Swing, Swing, Swing, Jab, Swing, Swing, they're dead. need I say more?)


So yeah guys, I'm basically just looking for a total re-skin of the game, to make it playable to at least where oblivion was (remember, oblivion was released 5 years ago now... that's not so much to ask for, is it?) I'm even willing to pay for the mod, probably up to 20, 25 bucks, and i'd certainly donate 10 bucks to any gnu based or other free mod I use.


So let's start up the suggestions? Because I'm dying to play morrowind again!

1. MGE and your choice of texture pack
2. Morrowind doesn't have physics so this isn't an issue
3. There are definitely some sound effect mods if you search for them.
4. Same as #3.
5. There's some always-hit mod or something like that out there, probably.

I also recommend using the Morrowind Code Patch and possibly Morrowind Patch Project. Others will recommend Better Bodies and/or Better Heads.

Also, all mods are free. Otherwise they are illegal.

I'd start with Morrowind Overhaul, it's really great and quite simple if you follow the guide of installing it.

*Points to sig*

thanks guys! those definatly seem like answers to my big issue (graphics) but i'd still like to see some of the meshes that i've seen on the forums (I know Apel has posted some wicked ones, and there are a few cool other ones too that I'm a big fan of.) is there not a complete overhaul of the entire graphics, to make it look decent?

so i've gone through and downloaded a TON of them... I mean, it'll be a [censored] trying to lean how to install all of them, but hey! whatever...

i got these in the list

1. bug fix
2. better bodies
3. better heads
4. beast bodies
5. some shadow fix that i needed for one of those
6. both clothes ones (NOT THE ROBE ONE THOUGH)
7. weapon textures
8. armor textures
9. creature textures - i will definatly delete that one file, for sure.
10. visual pack
11. connary's textures
12. mesh improvements
13. correct UV rocks
14. slartibartfast's texture fix


any other particularities that i should check out / worry about?

also, it might take me a while to get these in place, because i don't even know how to mod the game... so if anyone has any other suggestions, let me know.

Get Morrowind Overhaul by KINGPIX, it has almost everything you could possibly need in it! Good luck! :celebration:

okay, big problem.
when i go to put the folders into my morrowind/datafiles/meshes thing, the meshes folder doesn't exist... just morrowind/datafiles/ (fonts, music, sound, splash, and video)

You can create your own 'meshes' folder. It would be a good idea to create 'textures' and 'icons' folders too

That's because most of the game's data is contained in the .bsa files, which the game unpacks when it loads.

okay i got that.
now, where do the esm, bsa, and esp files go? and which ones do i need / not need?

for instance, better heads has .esp and .esm files... do they both go in the datefiles section (not in a subfolder?)

Use Wrye Mash insallers to install everything if you are going to do a large mod install game.

As far as BB goes...read the readme. That goes for pretty much every mod

Here's my comments on your bullet list:

1. Graphics - Morrowind Overhaul first. BTB's list, Povohulu's list as an appetizer towards building your own massive modded game (like the Overhaul is)
2. Engine - There's nothing in relation to engine changes beyond bug fixes. MCP here is the answer. Make sure you download the latest beta. It's in the "Repairing the Cogs of MW" threads on this board. There are multiple re-development of the MW engine ongoing, but none of them is anywhere near completion that I can tell.
3. Sound effects - lots and lots of options here, depending on if you want Ambient, Music, Voice, etc. The Overhaul and the lists I mention go over many of these. DL the ones you want. Browse PES and TES-Nexus for others.
4. Menu - You'll only find a re-skin that inverts the background and foreground colors to my knowledge. This is called "Darker Morrowind".
5. Fight Mechanics - These exist, but in my experience, don't work well (if at all). Some require you to deal with MWE (outdated script extender) and you really don't want to go there if you're a newbie to modding.

General Comment- You've got 750 hours into MW and never modded it? The base game in 2002 needed modding IMHO!

yeah, and allright, and rad. i'll check out the installer thing.

also, i'm having some issues with one other thing...

i've moved all of these texture and mesh files into their respective folders, so morrowind - goty/data files/meshes and /textures, but when i load up the game, nothing seems different? the mods didnt' come with a .esp or a .esm... so idk whats up? any clue?

There's a link at the top of my list that explains the basic concepts of modding... given your line of questioning thus far, I think you might find it helpful.

Are you running the Steam version? That may be the problem (fixable, of course). I recommend that you 'start over' with a clean install. Install http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1177820-relz-morrowind-overhaul-sounds-graphics/ which has the easiest instructions to follow ever. After that is done, you may want to scavenge for some other mods, like http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/ (new release coming soon). If you are adding a large amount of mods on top of MW Overhaul. You may want to utilize http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1106095-wrye-mash-stand-alone/ to merge leveled lists and update masters (along with a few other features). You might also want to use http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1167004-relz-mlox-a-tool-for-anolyzing-and-sorting-your-load-order/ to sort your mods automatically (similar to BOSS for Oblivion).

Anyway I hope I have helped out. :celebration:

Everybody has been giving great advice, so I'll just pipe in with a few small additions.

First, if you're using Vista or Win 7, for the love of god, install outside of C:\Program Files *\. I'd suggest C:\Morrowind to make modding a tiny bit easier.

For NPC Head Replacers, check this out: http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=994490 (a whole lot of screenshot comparisons).

To add to or tweak the above, if you don't mind some extra work, try these: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1093073-wipz-westlys-head-replacers-still-working-on-a-better-title/ and http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/981790-wip-fresh-faces-ii/page__hl__illuminiel. Both are amazing.

People have already said, and I agree, that there isn't a great combat "fixer". I did a 300+ hour game with http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1161892-relzwipz-realistic-combat/, which was the closest I could find to what I wanted. There's a rare bug that requires a console fix (once in my game), and I ended up tweaking both the scripts and all creatures > level 20 to be about 25% tougher (higher level, more hp, better stats, more and nastier spells) to balance the game. It makes combat faster and more deadly, but it was too easy for a 20+ level character to rush in, stun a creature, and finish it off.

For combat AI tweaks, look for mods by Horatio, Fliggerty, and Yacoby.