I would like to know what kind of laptop I would need to run Morrowind with the MAX graphics including MGE the best shaders and darker Morrowind + Vurts replaces and others. I also would like to know the name of the shading mod that adds on to MGE's that gives real time shadows I believe it was? Anyways what kind of specs will I need to run Morrowind with the best of the best? I am currently looking at buying a laptop with these specs for $2000 and would like to know if they are good enough or if I'll need a better one.

These are the specs. (Sorry for anything that may be unnecessary.)

Processor & Cache Memory Intel? Core? i7 "Gen2" Mobile Quad Processor 2630QM up to 2920XM
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Chipset Mobile Intel? HM55 Express +ICH10
Main Memory 8GB DDR3/1066MHz System Memory - 4 Memory Slots
Display 17.3" FHD (1920x1080) LED backlit Color-Shine (Glare-type), Asus Splendid Video Intelligent Technology
Video Graphics & Memory nVIDIA? GeForce? GTX 460M 1.5GB DDR5 Video Memory - DX11
Hard Drive 2 x 500GB 7200rpm Hybrid SSD (1TB Total)
Optical Drive Blu-Ray Reader/8x Super Multi Combo Drive
Blu-Ray Read-Write/8x Super Multi Combo Drive (Optional)
Card Reader 8 in 1 card reader, SD,MMC,MS,MS-Pro,xD,Smart Media,mini SD w/ adapter,MS-Duo

That'll do the job, no problem. Not sure about the shading mod, but I'm sure someone else knows

Guess you will get approx. 15-20fps with this setting.

15-20 fps is perfect... I'm used to having a 5-10 with my current laptop on unmodded Morrowind. So that'll do perfectly.

For real time shadows you need http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1157400-shelter-from-magnus-blaze-3/.

Thank you for the link!

I'm sure someone will be along to give you a more detailed assessment; however, keep in mind a few things:

• As the Morrowind program itself can only utilize one core of a CPU, the CPU can be a significant limiting factor with regards to fps; my dual core P8700 shows 50% utilization when running Morrowind. Although I can dedicate that core to Morrowind, I cannot force it to use more than that one core. I only get 2.53 GHz per core.
  
• In addition, the speed of the hard drive will affect gameplay. 7200 RPM is good, but read-ahead capability is better.
  
• Bear in mind that you don't want to install Morrowind or any of the third party programs that need access to the Morrowind folder, to any Program Files directory. Windows 7 64-bit will not give any program permission to write to files in the Program Files directory, no matter the compatibility settings or if it is run as administrator. I personally recommend installing in a partition on your fastest harddrive which does not also have your OS on it.
  
• Your Blu-ray combo drive will be nice, but at best, it won't affect Morrowind, at worst it may slow down gameplay . The CD speed may actually be as low as 24 X 24 X 24. Granted, the only thing Morrowind uses the CD for is video, I find it arbitrarily accesses the CD throughout the game.
  
• Although it is less likely to happen with a laptop, make sure you check the manufacturer's feedback to be certain your mobo doesn't have problems with WIN 7 and 6+ GB of RAM. Such limitations aren't usually discovered until people start using the hardware and discover maxing it out causes problems. Believe me, it was very disappointing to find out my husband's brand new mobo has a design flaw which causes BSODs when all RAM slots are full and maxed.
  
• Unless you run a program like the 4GB patch, Morrowind.exe won't use more than half of your RAM. I have never benchmarked it, but I do *feel* as if the 4GB patch has improved my experience with many older games and programs, not just Morrowind.
  
• Although the Graphics Card may be sound and stable, you will have to d/l and install DX9c and have at least shader 2.0 support to utilize MGE. Keep in mind the most recent drivers may not be the best suited for this kind of backwards compatibility. NVIDIA is good in that older drivers are always available ** HOWEVER ** laptops will not always run with drivers that are not specifically written for laptops. My own ASUS N71V series will BSOD all over the place if I try to use NVIDIA drivers not written for it. This will limit the availability of older drivers, since some of the best and most stable graphics drivers were never written for laptops.

I hope this helps and you haven't already bought the system. The absolute most important thing you can do is what you are doing now, research. Just be sure to check the Support forums of the laptop.

He'll get more than that. I'd say at least 40, if not more depending on what and how many mods he's running.

I honestly disagree.

I'm using
? i5 Quad-Core, overclocked to 3,2ghz
? GTX 460, 1024mb
? 4gig Ram

and I get arround 25-30fps. Don't forget that Desktop-Hardware is in most cases more powerful then it similar labeled Laptop-Counterparts.

Check my post; it isn't as simple as "bigger is better".

I'm aware of it, but as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that even in this special morrowind-case, his posted laptop-specs won't perform better than my system.
As he said, he want to use "the best shaders", which will include imo SSAO, which svcks pretty bad, performance-wise. No way that he will get ~40fps in this scenario.

Yeah he may get 50 fps indoors but 15 fps in heavy areas like Balmora is more reallistic to expect.

For best performance get at least a dual core CPU and buy one with good single-threaded performance. The charts at tomshardware.com might help you choose the CPU.
Quadcore or better is great but it could be very expensive and won't help Morrowind.

Having loads of RAM is useful because it will help with file caching, and will decrease game and cell loading times. More than 4 GB and I think you get diminishing returns with Morrowind though.

>Granted, the only thing Morrowind uses the CD for is video, I find it arbitrarily accesses the CD throughout the game.

I disagree. Copying the Videos folder(s) to Morrowind\Data Files should avoid CD access except for the initial copy protection check.

> I have never benchmarked it, but I do *feel* as if the 4GB patch has improved my experience

It should allow it to go beyond 2 GB of RAM without crashing. My Morrowind never goes much beyond 1 GB but it might depend on how long a session you are playing.

I really don't think anyone can accurately say what his fps will be without knowing what 3PP and mods he intends to run. Even estimating how much better it might be isn't possible unless he were to list what his current system is *with the exact programs and mods he plans to use* with the new system.

If I were looking for a new system, I would definitely *not* buy it on the basis of Morrowind fps. Thanks to Fliggerty, I did a bit of research on the SSD and it looks like you'll probably feel the most speed difference right there.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't see your post, Blouge,



I did, it didn't help. Morrowind still accesses the CD for no apparent reason.



The longer I go without crashing, the longer my session.

My laptop:
3gb ram
processor:2gh
and video card with 512mb(8700M GT for those that care)
(mine is over 2 years old now though)
I dont play with full graphics on(exteriors is like 7 for view distance), but with what I play at plus mods, I get about 15 outdoors and 30 and above indoors, without mods, my FPS is about 30 outside and caps at 60 inside.

I would say his fps will be sufficient.

Here is an interesting thought, I keep all my programs on a hard drive separate to the one my OS is on, does this actually do anything? I just like having stuff segregated.

You racist!! j/k