Morrowind Enjoyers Thread

[Settyness]

This is a thread for Morrowboomers, by Morrowboomers. A thread for one of my favorite RPGs and my favorite Elder Scrolls installment: Morrowind.

These days, I play on Linux and Android, using OpenMW and omw to manage multiple modlist profiles. I play mostly a custom Total Overhaul setup from the modding-openmw dot com website:



I also sometimes play the Starwind: Modded list from the same site, but I've yet to truly sink my teeth into it.

While on the subject of the OpenMW Engine, there is also a boomer shooter total conversion, made with the OpenMW engine, called RoboWind Construct. It is still in active development by a small team. If you've ever played Unreal Tournament, you should absolutely look it up and give it a try!

There is also a singular person working on an implementation of Biohazard 2/Resident Evil 2 in the OpenMW engine and it is absolutely wild to see! If anyone is interested, I can post some screenshots of that. ?

Show me the characters you're working on or your mod setup! I can also answer general questions about OpenMW, modlists, or whatever. I helped design some of the tools at modding-openmw.

 

[RandomHajile]

OpenMW is my favorite thing I ever downloaded off the net. No exaggeration. I still don't know why some folk insist on playing with the vanilla engine when it crashes so much, especially in the late game when the data starts piling up on your save file. Heck, just about every major vanilla MW mod now runs on OpenMW, so everybody should be switching.

Your graphics look DAMN good too in your install. What are you using?

My most recent character is in this video of mine

I have it mildly modded, nothing too extreme. Mainly since the more extreme mods to me all look too bright or too much like a modern game. They lose that early 2000s aesthetic I love.

 

[Geo]

I have started and finished Morrowind for the first time in my life last month. For all these years I only really knew Skyrim (played it since the launch day), and I've always been irritated by typical Morrowind fans constantly bashing Skyrim for being a lesser game. But after finally giving Morrowind a try myself, I...

Spoiler

...am still irritated by this. Annoying as hell.

But damn, Morrowind is good. I have enjoyed playing it immensely. After finishing it with my first character, I have created a new one and tried min-maxing, which some people call tedious and don't recommend, but I loved doing it as well. Such a gem of a game.

I still don't know why some folk insist on playing with the vanilla engine

I'm one of those people. The reason is my (undiagnosed) OCD. It tells me I'm not getting the intended experience if I'm not playing vanilla. Can't help it even though I fully realize it's a load of nonsense. I have tried poking around in OpenMW, and it's objectively awesome, but I don't know if I'll be able to bring myself to use it for a serious playthrough. My brain just automatically invalidates such experience and demands that I play untouched, unmodded vanilla only. Sadface.

 

[Settyness]

I still don't know why some folk insist on playing with the vanilla engine ...

Most of the time I've seen, it's specifically because of MWSE-Lua. It has a lot of history, a lot of support, and some incredible mods, like this one. OpenMW has OpenMW-Lua, which will be released in 0.49.0 (still a ways away), but is currently available in the development/nightly builds (I personally use the AppImages). It's unfortunately not compatible with MWSE-Lua, and probably never will be. Being that OpenMW's goal is safety -- and as it stands now, MWSE-Lua essentially allows for ACE -- the developers are trying to be super careful, which simply takes time. Following 0.49.0, OpenMW-Lua will continue to be developed, and more features will be exposed.

Your graphics look DAMN good too in your install. What are you using?

Thanks! ? I'm usually playing with Total Overhaul and a few extra mods. The latter guide is a bit dated, as we've already added a few of those to Total Overhaul since I wrote it. I will probably update it when I play again. I also can't really recommend the TR Preview data, as it may break your save; I just like to live dangerously. ?

EDIT: If you want the shader setup I'm using, it's basically this badboy (use the included shaders.yaml). It's a collection of shaders that we got permission to repack, so it's an all-in-one package. I've made some additional changes that'll I'll throw up on my GitLab if you want. You can drop this right into your install and continue your playthrough unimpeded; it's only postprocessing.

That actually reminds me of a shortcoming of OpenMW: the save format. AFAIK, it behaves like a .omwaddon and is a completely different format than a Morrowind.exe save, thus current tools (like Wrye Mash) will not work on them. Currently, there really is no standard way to fix broken save files in OpenMW, which is why it is never recommended to mess with your mod list during a playthrough. There are really smart people trying to parse out the save format for the purpose of developing tools for this reason however.

My most recent character is in this video of mine

Awesome character! I actually play something quite similar most of the time. I love content like this and have been thinking about filming my own playthroughs next time I get the Morrowind itch.

It tells me I'm not getting the intended experience if I'm not playing vanilla.

If it helps at all, any out-of-the-box, mechanical deviation from vanilla Morrowind that OpenMW may have is considered a bug and should be reported.

 

[It's Thinking 2]

The only Elder Scrolls game i had back then was Redguard, and it wasn't even compatible with my computer.

 

[Sayo Sayo]

Try as I might, I have never been able to fully get into Morrowind because of its combat system. I realize I am missing out on a lot by not getting past it but I just can't.

 

[Settyness]

Try as I might, I have never been able to fully get into Morrowind because of its combat system.

The best way to make combat feel better, while staying mostly balanced, is to better balance the fatigue system (requires OpenMW). Running everywhere puts a constant drain on your fatigue. When you encounter an enemy, you often have little to no fatigue left with which to fight effectively. You will then miss most, if not all, of your attacks. At worst, I consider this a bit broken.

I also recommend Solthas' Combat Pack (requires OpenMW) for a handful of configurable combat enhancements. I'm sure there are even crazier combat mods for MWSE-Lua on Morrowind.exe as well.

Making it so your attacks always hit comes with its own balancing issues, but there is a system that supports this, called Combat Enhanced (comes with Blocking Enhanced), which requires Morrowind Enhanced (requires Morrowind.exe). If you use those, I also recommend Writing and Journal Enhanced (optionally with D-I-Y Journal Keeping if you would like to write your own journal entries).

 

[solidbatman]

some friends and i managed to get the multiplayer mod up and running and it went very predictably with us constantly getting each other killed. but look how happy i am!

 

[Ajderniz]

Can't add much to the discussion except that DOGGAM I love Morrowind. One of the greatest, most unique RPGs ever made. To think it came from one of the would-become lamest game companies in existence.

Can't add much to the discussion except that DOGGAM I love Morrowind. One of the greatest, most unique RPGs ever made. To think it came from one of the would-become lamest game companies in existence.

And as was mentioned, it's one of the most stably ported games. Windows? OpenMW. No Windows? OpenMW still.

 

[It's Thinking 2]

You know what I did play a lot of? Warcraft II, Lords of Magic, and the Exile trilogy.

 

[Smiley Cat]

You know what I did play a lot of? Warcraft II, Lords of Magic, and the Exile trilogy.

Lets keep this topic directly Morrowind related please ^^

 

[Sayo Sayo]

The best way to make combat feel better, while staying mostly balanced, is to better balance the fatigue system (requires OpenMW). Running everywhere puts a constant drain on your fatigue. When you encounter an enemy, you often have little to no fatigue left with which to fight effectively. You will then miss most, if not all, of your attacks. At worst, I consider this a bit broken.

I also recommend Solthas' Combat Pack (requires OpenMW) for a handful of configurable combat enhancements. I'm sure there are even crazier combat mods for MWSE-Lua on Morrowind.exe as well.

Making it so your attacks always hit comes with its own balancing issues, but there is a system that supports this, called Combat Enhanced (comes with Blocking Enhanced), which requires Morrowind Enhanced (requires Morrowind.exe). If you use those, I also recommend Writing and Journal Enhanced (optionally with D-I-Y Journal Keeping if you would like to write your own journal entries).

Noted and screencapped, this will make for a fun run (hopefully) once I am done with my current FO run.
That pesky combat won't get in the way of my noobishness no longer, there being additional balancing mods for combat is a plus I appreciate because I don't want to make the game too easy.

 

[Deleted member 494]

 

[PhrawzT]

Found the Xbox version of Morrowind at a used game store. I'm excited to go back and play it again. I have the PC version, but remember playing the Xbox version for days on end in college.

 

[Settyness]

Found the Xbox version of Morrowind at a used game store. ...

Fun fact about that version of Morrowind is that the Xbox does a soft reboot during the loading screens because it's the quickest way to clear the RAM.

 

[Nachzehrer]

I played through the base game in OpenMW using no additional mods last year. I went with a warrior build and I had a lot of fun. I still need to finish the DLC but I wanted to start again to try some of those crazy wizard builds people make but ended up finding out that playing a mage is extremely grindy to level up your spells. One day I'll return back to Morrowind when it is a little less fresh in my memory and I'll play the DLCs too.

 

[χKai]

Be me:

player->addspell "magicka mult bonus_5"
player->addspell "magicka mult bonus_10"
player->addspell "magicka mult bonus_15"

 

[Mechablade-X]

 

[PacGuy]

Hello fellow n'wahs

 

[Qquil716]

 

[PierceHolden]

Thanks for reminding me to do my semi-regular Morrowind run sometime this year.

I once accidentally boosted my stats too high, meaning I actually accidentally one-shotted a certain character at the very end of the game that shouldn't be able to die, softlocking me entirely.

Turns out his "invincibility" is just him healing to full every frame. Turns out I did enough damage to put him into the negatives in one hit. Oops.

 

[cornpops]

Well, he's supposed to be able to die. He just comes back. He's done this many, many times before and doesn't take it personally. RIP your sword, I guess.

Your problem is that you didn't boost your stats impossibly high, one-shot a different very certain character, take a very specifically painful object and boost your other stats impossibly high so as to successfully manage to handle another very specifically significant object, which you use in a very specific way, so that you can then go and detonate a dagger on the forehead of that originally very certain character.

I mean, you don't even need to do half of that, actually, but why wouldn't you? He did admit to doing it, anyways.

Incidentally:

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2026

As a side point, TES3MP is a kinda fun and amusingly busted way of playing the game. It functionally turns the game into a MMO along with all the persistence considerations that follow -- namely, that zones reset once you've unloaded them and that NPCs respawn. Containers and dropped items sometimes reset, which happens anyways save for some known safe locations. The real magic is that you're kinda forced to play the game as intended; without savescumming or using wait to accelerate quests. Similarly, the world does not pause the moment you enter your inventory or talk to an NPC. This makes reading idle scrolls in the Mage's Guild a somewhat dangerous proposition (because you will actually need to wait several hours in real time to get your expulsion lifted).

The tradeoff is that death is like going to jail (you lose some skill points and get interventioned). You can roll a second (or third or fourth) character and use them as mobile containers, or as buffers or skill toons, and even have them running simultaneously in a side client. That means you could have as many Azura's Stars as you want (but be aware that only the last one in your inventory is allowed to stay).

And mods are shareable. Let me tell you, Tamriel Rebuilt massively extends the main quest and you honestly gotta up your levitation game if you want to even survive it.

Fun stuff. Like reading the matrix.

This too is possible, though TES3MP server configs are set to smack you down to your unmodified stats once you exceed a certain threshold (usually 300-500 for attributes, and I think 200 for skills), but that's easily modifiable on your own server. I'm sure that there are probably plenty of servers that allow alchemical jailbreaking.

In either case, the lack of pause-on-inventory makes alchemy cheese a considerably larger time and resource commitment, but it's rewarding once you've figured out how to game the system.

 

[Iraito]

Well, he's supposed to be able to die. He just comes back. He's done this many, many times before and doesn't take it personally. RIP your sword, I guess.

Your problem is that you didn't boost your stats impossibly high, one-shot a different very certain character, take a very specifically painful object and boost your other stats impossibly high so as to successfully manage to handle another very specifically significant object, which you use in a very specific way, so that you can then go and detonate a dagger on the forehead of that originally very certain character.

I mean, you don't even need to do half of that, actually, but why wouldn't you? He did admit to doing it, anyways.

Incidentally:

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2026

As a side point, TES3MP is a kinda fun and amusingly busted way of playing the game. It functionally turns the game into a MMO along with all the persistence considerations that follow -- namely, that zones reset once you've unloaded them and that NPCs respawn. Containers and dropped items sometimes reset, which happens anyways save for some known safe locations. The real magic is that you're kinda forced to play the game as intended; without savescumming or using wait to accelerate quests. Similarly, the world does not pause the moment you enter your inventory or talk to an NPC. This makes reading idle scrolls in the Mage's Guild a somewhat dangerous proposition (because you will actually need to wait several hours in real time to get your expulsion lifted).

The tradeoff is that death is like going to jail (you lose some skill points and get interventioned). You can roll a second (or third or fourth) character and use them as mobile containers, or as buffers or skill toons, and even have them running simultaneously in a side client. That means you could have as many Azura's Stars as you want (but be aware that only the last one in your inventory is allowed to stay).

And mods are shareable. Let me tell you, Tamriel Rebuilt massively extends the main quest and you honestly gotta up your levitation game if you want to even survive it.

Fun stuff. Like reading the matrix.


This too is possible, though TES3MP server configs are set to smack you down to your unmodified stats once you exceed a certain threshold (usually 300-500 for attributes, and I think 200 for skills), but that's easily modifiable on your own server. I'm sure that there are probably plenty of servers that allow alchemical jailbreaking.

In either case, the lack of pause-on-inventory makes alchemy cheese a considerably larger time and resource commitment, but it's rewarding once you've figured out how to game the system.

You are tempting me

 

[Burzuru Burzuru]

breton
atronach star

major:
blunt
heavy armor
conjuration
restoration
alteration

minor:
blocking
light armor
destruction
mysticism
alchemy

its morrowind time

 

[skeletonmeister]

At this point it's almost a ritual to install a bunch of gameplay changing mods, play for 1 or two weeks and uninstall.