I know alot of people use mods like Better Bodies and graphics replacers and call them "essential" mods, but I don't. Is that weird? I like mods that add quests/items, but if they alter the actual game then I don't use it. Does anyone else feel this way?

This game requires mods, yes or yes.

Why do not using them? Smart people use them. I do it.

Most of the people who still play Morrowind seriously these days have taken advantage of the technological advances we've made just like with many other aspects of life outside of the game. Unless Morrowind's appeal to you is the authenticity of the game or you just find mods hassling, it is a little weird that you wouldn't want to improve your game beyond the capabilities of 2002. Not that 'weird' should have negative connotation though-Morrowind is a game that you play how you want to play, and if you like vanilla and your game IS vanilla, more power to you.
It's all about fun so it doesn't really matter that much.

How do mods that add quests and items not 'alter the game'? Regardless: At the very least, I'd recommend using bugfix mods like the Morrowind Patch Project and the Morrowind Code Patch. Beyond that, it's entirely a matter of personal taste.

You shouldn't insinuate that someone isn't smart if they don't use mods. I also prefer to add interactive content to my games rather than visual enhancements.

Oh i use Morrowind Patch Project and stuff, I hate bugs. But by "altering the game" I meant sort of like altering the actual Morrowind game, not Vvardenfell. I don't really consider the patch project a mod, even though it is, because it just fixes bugs.
And even when it comes to quest/item mods I only use the ones that are lore friendly, and don't just dump a bunch of unique weapons in a crate in Seyda Neen. If a mod added an M16, I'd want an explanation of how it wound up in Vvardenfell, and why there's only one and why it's in a crate in seyda neen. I'm really picky i guess when it comes to mods.
Call me crazy, but I actually like the old graphics of morrowind better than oblivion's.

Not me.

I wouldn't play it without the 150+ mods I've in my default installation (most of them in Solstheim).

Use whatever mods you want. It's your game.
That's the great thing about how versatile Morrowind mods are.

Everyone is different, do you think you are wierd for not using mods? Is there even a need for you to ask that question?
This is one thing I keep in mind, never question why people are the way they are(well at least in cases that arnt extreme anyway). Some people like things certain ways, some of these people cant really give an answer why they like something the way they do. In your case, if you are happy, does it matter what other people think? As long as you know why you like what you do, there is never a reason for you to question yourself. If you dont know why you like or doing something the way you do, then perhaps thinking about it or trying new things wouldnt hurt.(Ok, I will stop there, I dont think this is a counseling forum, haha)

I suppose there are different ways of altering the game. I like to have things that stay true to the original game. So while I may add better textures, they are still in the style that the original game had; although this requires me to go through every texure I add, hah. I like better bodies because it makes the people more realistic looking.
In the end, alot of what people do is in the name of realism, being able to make the game more realistic is likely also why it has survived so long(a major reason aside from storyline); because as time goes on, people can update it to keep with the times. If in the end you wish to keep the original feel to the game(the original definitly had a certain feel to it), thats up to you, but if you do add mods, you will always have the ability to go a turn them off.

I'm kinda the same way, I use Better Bodies/Better Heads and Morrowind Code Patch but that's about it. I actually prefer to keep texture replacers and MGE out of my main install of Morrowind. I love content mods (quests, dungeons, houses, islands, books or music mods) but I've never really understood the appeal of texture replacers. Sure it makes the game look better, sometimes, but I prefer the vanilla look (though I do have a separate Morrowind install with MGE and a few texture packs for mod testing purposes). And I gotta agree with you that Morrowind looks a lot better than Oblivion, even with old graphics.

I use content mods and MGE but I do not use Better Bodies or texture replacers.

Very many people have this same viewpoint; they prefer only content that is lore-friendly. It isn't really "changing" Morrowind any, because it "fits" right were it should. I myself take a minimalist approach to mods, using the ones that either fix bugs or flesh out the world a little. For example, MCA isn't really my thing, but the Random Items mod adds a little more random factor to what weapon you might find in the next bandit cave.


Me too.

I thought like that for a while. Just bug fixes and texture replacers.

Then I started adding things that I feel should have been in the game. And tweaks.

What the hell, it's my game, I'll change it however I want. It isn't like it is sacred or something. I'll play it however I damn well please, and I'll have fun with it, too.

personally, I like things that are lore-friendly. But, if someone wants to add something that isn't TES-related - well, so what? Why should I be upset? Everyone has different tastes.

Everyone is playing Morrowind and yet no two mod-users are really playing exactly the same game. It's pretty cool, if you think about it.

That is a pretty cool fact.
Every single one of us sees/plays/experiences the game a little bit differently, based on the the mods we use.

I bet none of us have the exact same installation. :twirl:

Do what suits you. Personally, I mod the ever-loving **** out of mine. The only requirement for me is that it's lore friendly. No Final Fantasy crap or M16s in my installation.

I can understand your preference, I am rather stingy with what I add to my own game. I really loved Morrowind in its original form and I guess it's something of a phobia of mine that if I add too many modifications, the game just won't be the same anymore. Even though I know that's not always rational, I still can't help doing it. :rolleyes:

That said, I've been playing and modding my game for so long that I've developed some tolerance for mods just by adding 'absolute must haves' one at a time for years and years. Now I have a setup that has over 100 mods not including all the pluginless replacers and 3rd party apps I have installed. But the game is still the same underneath.

I also like to take a mod that I wouldn't otherwise play (for the above reasons), and just install and enable it for one playthrough. It's usually immense fun to experience the game from a side I didn't know existed. On my current character, I added a bunch of companions for the first time in my life, and we are adventuring through the main quest together. I must say, it's quite epic. :goodjob:

I just started a new game of Morrowind a couple weeks ago. I am using only one mod: Westly's Halfing Race. I can play just fine without using Better Bodies, world-changing graphics mods or gameplay tweaks but I cannot play without a face and hair mod for my character.

Sometimes

However i enjoy items like clothes being added - as I tire of the original ones and my characters are typically unarmoured so seeing as most clothes use a better Bodies mesh then that mod becomes essential for me - now that i have my own face replacer Better Heads is not essential as I get a kick out of seeing my own work in game and enjoy discovering the same face but on a different NPC.

When you say alter the game do you mean step outside game lore? I like quests to be lore friendly but will bend my mind if I just think something will be fun to play with for a while.

I am a bit lost between the title and the content. The title indicates you don't use mods, the content of the post indicates you do.

First I think we need to settle on what the word mod means. IMHO not using mods means that you use nothing more than the base files and the base three data files.

:shrug:

I play backwards-compatible Xbox 360. There are times where i've thought it'd be nice to have a PC mod somewhere, usually small personal tweaks rather than enhancing Morrowind itself, but other than that i'm very serious about Morrowind, and don't use mods.

I played Morrowind for 2 years before using mods. Granted, I didn't have broadband and easy access to internet, but you can still get heaps out of the game before you resort to an endless amount of gameplay with mods.

i started out with basic morrowind on the xbox. and loved it. played through it twice before getting it on pc and finding mods. at first i was like you and only went with what kept it originalish. then i started getting mods for better textures, more questing. more options for gameplay depth. weapons, armor, more lands, more npc's. and then that wasn't enough even with well over 300-400 mos using the cs to combine them for more room for mods. so now i mod myself and hardly ever really sit down and play the game for being bit hard by the modding bug. so if you are very happy playing as is. then keep on playing because i am very happy for you. since i am forever lost. taken by modder-itist. :dry:

Amen to that. I try to keep my game modding lore friendly to whatever game I'm modding - Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, New Vegas, Dragon Age, but occasionally I'll install something that isn't 100% lore friendly only because its an awesome piece of work, like a quest or something that's really well done.

Put me in that category of modding the living crap out of Morrowind. So much so, that I get bummed when my Wrye Mash says I can't add any more mods and am forced to snip some just to add the new content that these impresarios(as) are creating. I agree about the M-16 thing, only with regard to that if I want any modern elements in a game, I will play a modern game. The last thing I want in my Morrowind game is any tech, save for the Dwemer items and whatever cunning magical items these great modders have added.

I love mods, and those that add new land, even moreso. The LGNPC mods are so great that following their advice in the ReadMe, I installed them all and "forgot" about doing so, so you can be surprised. I got TOO surprised, because I it was so fluid into the feel of the game and NPC's that I can barely remember what was vanilla and what was modded. Mods are inspirational as well. Three of them inspired me to write a novel about them and five of the modders here inspired me to create action figures of their inidividually created personalities. The game alone inspired recreating the terrain in tactile fashion, but the mods(and by proxy the modders themselves) are so much more than just "added content". There are some extremely talented modders here.

To me only the error-fixes are essential mods. I do use better bodies and darker morrowind (next time, I'll probbably try another one), but they are not essential to me.
What is essential to me is added contents from questmods, since I've completed just about everything in Morrowind and expansions, and I there like something new to do in my game. So in every game I add a lot of quest/landmass mods and some small but useful mods.

Without mods the game was brilliant, when I started to play it in 2007, but I wouldn't still spend 100+ on a character, if there wasn't also something new to do.