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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

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Revision as of 18:25, 14 June 2021 by Caligula (talk | contribs) (Fixed a typo)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind cover
Developers
Bethesda Game Studios
Publishers
Bethesda Softworks
Europe Ubisoft[1]
Engines
NetImmerse[2][3]
Release dates
Windows May 1, 2002
Reception
Metacritic 89
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on HowLongToBeat
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on IGDB
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind guide on StrategyWiki
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on MobyGames
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on Wikipedia
The Elder Scrolls: Arena 1994
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall 1996
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire 1997
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard 1998
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind 2002
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 2006
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 2011
The Elder Scrolls Online 2014
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition 2016
The Elder Scrolls: Legends 2017
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR 2018
The Elder Scrolls: Blades TBA
The Elder Scrolls VI TBA

Key points

For Windows 8 and later apply The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind fullscreen border fix.
OpenMW is an open-source engine that improves some technical drawbacks and adds native support for MacOS and Linux.
Active modding community.
A wide array of bugs have been fixed through community patches.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Morrowind Nexus, the largest active modding community for Morrowind.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Install the latest patches to remove SafeDisc DRM. Requires the disc to be always present (even after patches).[4]
Windows
Bethesda.net
DRM-free after installation through Bethesda.net Launcher (notes may include more details)
Includes both expansions but not the Construction Set.
DRM-free when launched directly from executable.
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Includes both expansions and the Construction Set.[5]
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Microsoft Store
DRM-free after installation through Microsoft Store client (notes may include more details)
DRM-free after being copied to any other folder.
Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Includes both expansions but not the Construction Set.[6]
Windows
The in-game soundtrack can be found at <path-to-game>\Data Files\Music in 128kbps MP3. These differ in arrangement from the versions on the official soundtrack.

Version differences

The Game of the Year Edition includes both expansions and the latest patches. All digital distribution versions are the Game of the Year Edition and are already fully patched.
The Elder Scrolls Anthology includes both a retail version and a single Steam key that unlocks Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim.[7]
The retail and GOG.com versions include The Elder Scrolls Construction Set.[5] The Bethesda.net and Steam versions do not include the Construction Set.[6]
The GameStop PC Downloads/Impulse version is not compatible with some mods.[8] This version is no longer sold.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Tribunal Included in the Game of the Year Edition.
Windows
Bloodmoon Included in the Game of the Year Edition.
Windows
Construction Set Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages and NexusMods.
Included in retail and GOG.com releases.
Windows
Entertainers Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Bitter Coast Sounds Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Area Effect Arrows Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Helm of Tohan Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Master Index Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
LeFemm Armor Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Adamantium Armor Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Siege at Firemoth Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
Windows
Official downloads for addons no longer hosted on The Elder Scrolls Official Site. Alternative downloads are available.

Essential improvements

This section may require cleanup to meet basic quality standards. The specific problem is: Test intercompatibility between the mods and patches listed here. You can help by modifying the article. The discussion page may contain useful suggestions.

Patches

The Game of the Year Edition and the digital distribution versions are already fully patched.
  • The latest patch for the base Morrowind is 1.2.0722.
  • The latest patch for Tribunal is 1.14.1313.
  • The latest patch for Bloodmoon is 1.6.1820.

Unofficial Patches

Patch for Purists

Aims to fix the bugs in the game without controversial rebalancing or additions.[9]

Unofficial Morrowind Plugins Patched

Fixes for the Official Plug-Ins (freely available via UESP, included in the GOG edition)
Comes in merged and individual forms, as well as compatibility variants
Has non-vanilla enhancements in PikachunoTM's Misc Mods

Expansion Delay

Delays Tribunal's Dark Brotherhood hit on the player significantly and adds sanity check.
Not everyone knows about Bloodmoon's Solstheim and immediately tells you to go there, also has sanity checks.

Morrowind Code Patch

Fixes bugs in the Morrowind executable that could not be covered by the Morrowind Patch Project.
Includes several optional gameplay enhancements, such as a sneak toggle and smoother magic casting.
Modifies the executable. To revert to vanilla, use Morrowind.Original.exe.[10]

Morrowind Optimization Patch

Greatly improves performance of outdoor (and to a degree indoor) performance

Morrowind Script Tidy

Fixes scripting errors to reduce save bloat and improve stability.

General Fixes Mod for Russian version [1С-Акелла]

Requires both the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions.
The official plugins are included in the patch.
Fixes several hundred bugs and inconsistencies not covered by the official patches. Including edits of Russian localization

Morrowind PL Patch

Complete update of Polish texts in the form of dictionaries and converter for the latest version of the game.
Correction of as many errors in the translation of the Polish version of the game as possible.
Allowing to run English mods without errors on the Polish version.
Translation of Patch for Purists and Official Plugins (should also work with Unofficial Morrowind Plugins Patched).

UV Texture fixes

The following mods fix texture seams:

Large Address Aware

Improves stability on systems with at least 3GB RAM by allowing the application to use more than 2GB RAM. Particularly useful when using large numbers of mods or heavily scripted mods.
Included with Patch for Purists.

MGE XE

A graphics improvement add-on to Morrowind. Also known as Morrowind Graphics Extender XE.

Allows you to select any resolution, custom FOV, variety of shaders any many other options
An updated fork of MGE with expanded features, bug fixes and performance enhancements over standard MGE.

Skip intro videos

Use replacement video files
  1. Download the Morrowind intro skip files.
  2. Apply the files into Video, replacing existing files if prompted.
MGE XE
  1. Install MGE XE.
  2. Open MGEXEgui.exe.
  3. Go to In-Game tab.
  4. Check Skip opening movie.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Morrowind.ini[Note 1]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind[Note 2]
Microsoft Store <path-to-game>\Morrowind.ini
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22320/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Saves\[Note 1]
Microsoft Store <path-to-game>\Saves\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22320/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Stores up to 953.67 MB of game saves online (maximum 100 files).
Xbox Cloud

Video

Video settings.
Video settings.
Launcher settings.
Launcher settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Widescreen resolution or use OpenMW.
Multi-monitor
See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen
See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD
Use OpenMW to fix HUD scaling.
Field of view (FOV)
75° by default; see Widescreen resolution or use OpenMW.
Windowed
Set in launcher.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Use MGE XE or OpenMW (set Fullscreen and Window Border to off if using the latter)
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Use MGE XE or OpenMW
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See Anti-aliasing (AA) or use OpenMW.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See Vertical sync (Vsync) or use OpenMW.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
No frame rate cap (Morrowind.ini specifies a 240 FPS cap but this setting is ignored).
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Widescreen resolution

Use MGE XE[11]
Edit registry[12]
  1. Open the configuration settings in the registry.
  2. In the right hand window, change Screen Height and Screen Width to the desired resolution.

Notes

FOV change is Vert-.
Set widescreen resolution[citation needed]
  1. Run Morrowind at least once.
  2. Download and run Morrowind FPS Optimizer. (all versions)
  3. Choose Change Morrowind registry settings here.
  4. Change defaults to the resolution you want.
  5. Uncheck novice mode and set your field of view (FOV) on the misc/2 tab.

Notes

FOV change is only applied when the Morrowind FPS Optimizer is running.
Some UI elements have maximum resizing limits; use Morrowind Code Patch to remove these limits.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Use MGE XE[11]
Enable MSAA[12]
  1. Open the configuration settings in the registry.
  2. In the right hand window, change Multisamples from 0 to the number of samples you wish to use (ie, 4 = 4x MSAA).

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Use MGE XE[11]
Enable Vsync[12]
  1. Open the configuration settings in the registry.
  2. In the right hand window, change Presentation Interval from 0 to 1.

Input

Input settings.
Input settings.

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Voice, Effects, Footsteps, Music.
Surround sound
Up to 7.1 output[citation needed]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Subtitles must be enabled as they also enable closed captioning.
Mute on focus lost
EAX support

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Fan translation by «Morrowind Italian Translation Project», download link and WM-link on PES.
Polish
Retail version only. For digital versions download this
Russian
Official localization by «Akella». Retail only, digital version available here.
Fan translation official plugins
Russian
Unofficial translation by «Fargus Multimedia». Poor quality translation. Expansion "Bloodmoon" not translated (English translit).
Spanish
Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Co-op, Versus
TES3MP
Online play
Co-op, Versus
TES3MP

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
TES3MP provides server browser
Peer-to-peer
TES3MP client can establish connection to TES3MP server without using the master server
Dedicated
TES3MP server can run headless
Self-hosting
TES3MP provides server executable
Direct IP
TES3MP client can connect to TES3MP server using server's IP address

VR support

Issues fixed

Crashing During Install or Launch

Crashing During Install or Launch[citation needed]

Some users have reported issues with crashes whilst installing or launching the game.[13] This can often be put down to a conflict between the Macrovision SafeDisc encryption software packaged with the game, and specific background programs installed on your computer. Programs known to lead to this conflict:

  • Iomega removable hard disk drives and flash drives
  • Hex and kernel editors.

In order to resolve this issue, the user should use the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination, and end all running processes except Explorer and Systray (these are essential system processes).

Render Creation Failure

Render Creation Failure[citation needed]
This issue often occurs with users who have a corrupted install of the MGE XE. If this is the cause, it can be resolved by reinstalling the mod correctly.

However, the issue may also be caused by the following:

  • The system does not meet the minimum system requirements for Morrowind, or is using an unsupported video card. In this case, there is little that can be done to resolve the issue, other than upgrading the under-performing parts to meet system requirements.
  • Outdated graphics card drivers. In this case, the user must update their drivers to the latest version, available from their respective manufacturer's website.

Audio Problems (Windows XP)

Audio Problems (Windows XP)[citation needed]
Some users have reported issues with in-game audio, which may often lead to crashing. One way to resolve this is to reduce sound quality to low in the options menu. If this does not work, try the following:
  1. Open the Start menu, and search dxdiag, then open the program.
  2. Go to the "Sound" tab, and reduce the audio hardware acceleration down two notches to Basic Acceleration.

Grey Haze

Grey Haze[citation needed]
Users with Nvidia cards who report a grey haze in their games often have their "fog emulation table" turned off. It can be turned back on by doing the following in Windows XP:
  1. Click the Start button, and navigate to the Control Panel
  2. Double click Display, and navigate to Settings, then Advanced
  3. Select the GeForce Tab and click Additional Properties
  4. Click on the Direct3D Tab
  5. Place a check mark in the box for Enable Fog Emulation Table

Crash After a Few Minutes of Play

Crash After A Few Minutes of Play[citation needed]
Users with the Nvidia GeForce 2MX video card and a Via based motherboard often report this issue.
  • It can be resolved by downloading the latest drivers.
  • It is unknown where the latest version of Via's 4-in-1 driver can be obtained, after the original domain (viaarena.com) elapsed and was bought by malware groups.
Many computer and motherboard manufacturers have special version of these drivers for use with their hardware. It is highly recommended that you contact the system/motherboard manufacturer to see if the manufacturer has a special version of these drivers, in which case you should use the version specified.

Mouse Lag

Mouse Lag[citation needed]

Turning down the music slider to its minimum often results in severe mouse lag, particularly indoors.

  • This can be resolved by moving the slider one notch up, which will halt the lag whilst keeping the music inaudible.

Load Failure

Load Failure[citation needed]

Some users who have installed both the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions separately have reported loading errors, which are caused by the expansions being installed in the wrong order. This can be resolved by installing Bloodmoon over the top of the existing installations, with no need to uninstall anything.

Black Sun

Black Sun[citation needed]

Users with ATI Radeon graphics cards often see a black sun during gameplay. This graphical anomaly can be resolved by installing the fan-made "ATI Card Sun Fix" mod. MGE XE also fixes it.

Installing The Elder Scrolls Construction Set Disc

Installing Disc[citation needed]
If the user purchased the game on disc, they may be unable to install the construction set through its packaged disk. This issue can be resolved by installing the set from the game disc (Disk 1) instead. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Place Disc 1 in the CD-ROM drive
  2. Right-Click on your CD-ROM drive and click on Explore
  3. Go to CSInstall, then double click on setup.exe
This will launch the construction set install from the play disc rather than its specific disc, and should resolve any install issues.

Unable to construct potions, due to a wrong message it does not have a name

Use Morrowind Code Patch[14]

Use the Morrowind Code Patch to apply the "Alchemy name bug" fix.

Window border visible in fullscreen mode

Morrowind does not go fullscreen correctly on Windows 8 and later.
Apply the fix

Apply The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind fullscreen border fix.

Retail version does not work

Install the latest Patches to remove the incompatible SafeDisc protection from the retail version.[4]

Settings don't stay saved

Run as administrator[citation needed]
  1. Right click Morrowind Launcher.exe
  2. Select properties
  3. Select compatibility tab
  4. Tick run this program as an administrator

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8 MGE XE implements DirectX 9.0c and OpenMW implements OpenGL
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
For 64-bit use OpenMW
macOS (OS X)
Natively supported by OpenMW
Linux
Natively supported by OpenMW. ARM32 builds of OpenMW are not easily available, but do exist;[15] ARM64 is widely available. Raspberry Pi is not officially supported.[16]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Bink Video 1.5.1.0

OpenMW

Open-source re-implementation of game's engine
Allows Morrowind to be played natively on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It allows for technical drawbacks to be fixed at the level of the engine, as well as enhance the game by correcting design flaws such as savegame "doubling" and improving physics, combat, AI, and graphics.[17] OpenMW requires a legal copy of the game in order to play Morrowind.[18]
Not all mods are compatible with the engine, the official wiki maintains a compatibility guide.
Mod installation guides are available on the wiki or in the documentation

Mods

Morroblivion / Skywind

Morroblivion, a full port/remake of Morrowind in the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion engine has been released and is available here.
Skywind, a full port/remake of Morrowind in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim engine is still in progress. More information can be found here.

Intelligent Textures

AI upscale of vanilla textures.
Authentic to the original textures' artstyle.

Morrowind Enhanced Textures

AI upscale of vanilla textures.
100% vanilla-friendly.

Normal Maps for Morrowind

Normal maps for Morrowind adding depth to original flat textures.
Compatible with Intelligent Textures and Morrowind Enhanced Textures.

Better Dialogue Font & Better Daedric Font

A high resolution replacements for Morrowind's Magic Cards font, used in most of the UI and for the Daedric font used in scrolls.
Both mods have special version for Polish fonts compatibility.

Better Balanced Combat

Modernizes combat by removing the dice roll hit chance and changing parts of the game that were built around it.
Includes other popular gameplay tweeks.
Compatible with Tamriel Rebuilt and Morrowind Rebirth.

Replacements for MGSO/Morrowind Overhaul

MGSO/MO is ancient and will likely have issues with any modern install
Thastus is a pretty solid guide, though it has many small mods.
Morrowind Graphics Guide is a bit simpler. Compare and contrast.

Many users have experienced issues with the game merely displaying a black screen past the main menu. There are two causes of this issue - their solutions are outlined below:

Disable Steam Overlay[citation needed]
Morrowind Graphics Extender (MGE XE)[citation needed]
The latest version of the mod, using MGE XE, is often the cause of this issue.[19]
  1. Users can select an older, less advanced version by navigating to <path-to-game>
  2. Select MGSO Options
  3. Go to the MGE tab.
  4. The user will then need to regenerate the Distant Lands using MGEgui.exe.

Utilities

Wrye Mash

3rd Party mod manager and conflict resolution tool.

mlox

Sorts mod load order to reduce conflicts and provides messages regarding known issues with mods.

Mod Organizer

Powerful and easy to use mod manager with mod virtualization, in order to keep the installation folder clean.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 3 and Intel Celeron 500 MHz
AMD Athlon
System memory (RAM) 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1 GB
Video card (GPU) 32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible
Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 4, NVIDIA GeForce 3, NVIDIA GeForce 2, NVIDIA GeForce 256, NVIDIA GeForce TNT2, ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon 7500, ATI Radeon 7200, ATI Radeon.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. Applications writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.
  3. 3.0 3.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/22320/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (22320) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. The Elder Scrolls - Ubi Soft signs major publishing contract with Bethesda Softworks to distribute multiple titles in Europe - last accessed on 2020-09-09
    "Paris, France, January 3, 2002 – Ubi Soft® Entertainment today announced the signing of an exclusive European publishing contract with Bethesda Softworks® Inc., a ZeniMax Media company. The agreement covers nine games, including several yet-to-be-announced titles and the highly anticipated The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind™ for PC and Xbox™ video game system from Microsoft, as well as the award-winning Sea Dogs™ for PC."
  2. RPG Vault: Morrowind Developer Q&A #8
  3. NDL news
  4. 4.0 4.1 Overclockers Australia Forums - View Single Post - Morrowind Patch Released
  5. 5.0 5.1 Release: The Elder Scrolls, page 4 - Forum - GOG.com
  6. 6.0 6.1 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® Game of the Year Edition on Steam
  7. The Complete Elder Scrolls Collection comes to PC this September (Updated) | Bethesda Blog
  8. [Gamestop] Quakecon 2013 Sale: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim LE 40% off ($35.99), Skyrim 50% off ($14.99), Oblivion GOTY 75% off ($4.99), Morrowmind GOTY 75% off ($4.99) : GameDeals: - Reddit
  9. Morrowind Guide for New Players | Bethesda's Giving TES3 Away Free | Engine, Mods, Multiplayer - YouTube
  10. Morrowind Code Patch - Morrowind Modding Wiki
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Verified by User:Blackbird on 2019-05-19
    Extremely easy to use and worth it for the number of useful options you get.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 26 March 2019
  13. Known Issues and Resolutions - The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind Forums
  14. Morrowind talk:Alchemy - UESPWiki
  15. [[missing url] New port installer: OpenMW (Morrowind)] - last accessed on 2021-05-08
  16. Missing Textures Raspberry Pi 4 B Model, 4GB RAM - last accessed on 2021-05-08
  17. OpenMW FAQ
  18. https://openmw.org/faq/#do_i_need_morrowind
  19. Black Screen Unrelated to Steam (Problem starting new game) - RPG Italia Forums