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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
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
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack, Subscription gaming service
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person, Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres ARPG, Open world
Art styles Realistic
Themes Fantasy
Series The Elder Scrolls
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

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a singleplayer first-person and third-person ARPG and open world game in the The Elder Scrolls series.

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
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Includes both expansions, all official Bethesda plugins, 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
Bethesda.net (unavailable)
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
The in-game soundtrack can be found at <path-to-game>\Data Files\Music in 128kbit/s 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.

Monetization

Type Notes
Expansion pack The expansion packs include missions and items.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

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. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Bitter Coast Sounds Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Area Effect Arrows Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Helm of Tohan Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Master Index Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
LeFemm Armor Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Adamantium Armor Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Siege at Firemoth Free download from The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. Included in the GOG.com release.
Windows
Official downloads for addons no longer hosted on The Elder Scrolls Official Site. Alternative downloads are available.

Essential improvements

Patches

The Game of the Year Edition and the digital distribution versions are already fully patched.
Latest patch versions:

Unofficial patches

For Windows 8 and later, apply the fullscreen border fix.
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, and has non-vanilla enhancements in PikachunoTM's Misc Mods
Morrowind Code Patch - fixes bugs in the Morrowind executable that could not be covered by the Morrowind Patch Project. It includes several optional gameplay enhancements, such as a sneak toggle and smoother magic casting. Use Morrowind.Original.exe to revert to the unmodified executable.[10]
Morrowind Graphics Extender XE (MGE XE) - a graphics improvement add-on to Morrowind. Allows the selection of any resolution, custom FOV, variety of shaders and many other options. It is an updated fork of MGE with expanded features, bug fixes and performance enhancements over standard MGE. Vanilla Pixel Shader effects (such as reflective water) are not compatible with it (see this mod to replicate them).
Large Address Aware - allows the application to use more than 2 GB RAM. Particularly useful when using large numbers of mods or heavily scripted mods. Included with the Morrowind Code Patch.

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.
Method for MGE XE
  1. Install MGE XE.
  2. Open MGEXEgui.exe.
  3. Go to In-Game tab.
  4. Check Skip opening movie.

Localization-specific fixes

General Fixes Mod for Russian version by Akella - fixes several hundred bugs and inconsistencies not covered by the official patches, including fixes to the localization. Requires both the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions. The official plugins are included in the patch.
PL Patch - complete update of Polish texts in the form of dictionaries and converter for the latest version of the game, and a correction of as many errors in the translation of the Polish version of the game as possible. It allows the usage of English mods without errors on the Polish version. It is compatible with Patch for Purists and Official Plugins (possibly also with Unofficial Morrowind Plugins Patched).

Engine reimplementations

OpenMW - open-source re-implementation of the game's engine. Allows Morrowind to be played natively on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Fixes technical drawbacks and corrects design flaws that plagued the original engine.[11] Requires a legal copy of the game in order to play Morrowind.[12] Not all mods are compatible with OpenMW, the official wiki maintains a compatibility guide. Mod installation guides are available on the wiki or in the documentation
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.

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.
High-fidelity upscaling
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
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).

Notes

Getting stuck on angled geometry becomes easier the higher your framerate is (30+ FPS).
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)

Widescreen resolution

Use MGE XE[13]
Edit registry[14]
  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[13]
Enable MSAA[14]
  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[13]
Enable Vsync[14]
  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
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Fan translation by «Morrowind Italian Translation Project», download.
Polish
1) Official localization by CD projekt. Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
2) Fan dubbing by «Polskie Khajiity», download.
Russian
1) Official localization by Akella. Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
2) Fan translations for the official plugins, download.
Spanish
Fan translation, download here for the game and expansions and here for the videos for the base game and here for the ones for Bloodmoon.

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

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D, DirectVR
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Headsets
SteamVR
Use OpenMW-VR.
Oculus VR (LibOVR)
Use OpenMW-VR.
Windows Mixed Reality
Use OpenMW-VR.
OSVR
Devices
Tracked motion controllers
See Input for details.
Traditional controller
See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse
Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale

Issues fixed

Retail version does not work

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

Render Creation Failure

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.
  • Outdated graphics card drivers. In this case, the user must update their drivers to the latest version, available from their respective manufacturer's website.

Installing Construction Set disc

Installation procedure[citation needed]
  1. Place Disc 1 in the CD-ROM drive
  2. Right-click on the CD-ROM drive and click on Explore
  3. Go to CSInstall, then double click on setup.exe

Crash after a few minutes of play

Users with the Nvidia GeForce 2MX video card and a Via-based motherboard often report this issue.
Download the latest drivers[citation needed]

Load failure

Caused by the expansions being installed in the wrong order.
Install Bloodmoon over the existing installation, without the need to uninstall.[citation needed]

Black screen past main menu

Disable Steam Overlay[citation needed]
Fixing Morrowind Graphics Extender (MGE XE)[citation needed]
The latest version of the mod, using MGE XE, is often the cause of this issue.[15]
  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.

Audio problems (Windows XP)

Some users have reported issues with in-game audio, which may often lead to crashing.
Reduce sound quality to Low in the game options[citation needed]
Reduce audio hardware acceleration[citation needed]
  1. Open the Start menu, select Run, type dxdiag and then Enter.
  2. In the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, go to the "Sound" tab, and reduce the audio hardware acceleration down two notches to Basic Acceleration.

Grey haze

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:
Grey Haze[citation needed]
  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

Mouse lag

Turning down the music slider to its minimum often results in severe mouse lag, particularly indoors.
Move the music slider one notch up.[citation needed]

Black sun

Users with ATI Radeon graphics cards often see a black sun during gameplay.
Use MGE XE
Download the ATI Card Sun Fix mod (obsolete)[citation needed]

Unable to construct potions, due to a wrong message it does not have a name (alchemy name bug)

Use Morrowind Code Patch[16]

Window border visible in fullscreen mode

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

Settings do not save

Run Morrowind Launcher.exe as administrator[citation needed]

Crash on minimizing the game (Alt-Tab)

Edit configuration file[17]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Morrowind.ini.
  3. Change Background Keyboard=0 to 1
  4. Save the file.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8.1 MGE XE implements DirectX 9.0c and OpenMW implements OpenGL
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
For an 64-bit executable, 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;[18] ARM64 is widely available. Raspberry Pi is not officially supported.[19]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Bink Video 1.5.1.0

Modifications

See Essential improvements for modifications that fix bugs and improve performance.
Morrowind Sharp is a comprehensive, up-to-date modding guide by Sigourn that focuses on setting up a vanilla-friendly modded game that is also stable.

Mod managers

  • Wrye Mash - a utility for installing and managing mods and savegames.
  • Mod Organizer - powerful and easy to use mod manager with mod virtualization, in order to keep the installation folder clean.
  • mlox - sorts mod load order to reduce conflicts and provides messages regarding known issues with mods.

Fixes

Graphics

  • Intelligent Textures - AI upscale of vanilla textures with fewer upscaling and compression artifacts than Morrowind Enhanced Textures (see below)[20]
  • Morrowind Enhanced Textures - AI upscale of vanilla textures which provides significantly more detailed and natural-looking textures than Intelligent Textures.
  • Normal Maps for Morrowind - normal maps adding depth to original flat textures. Compatible with Intelligent Textures and Morrowind Enhanced Textures.
  • Better Dialogue Font & Better Daedric Font - 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 a special version for Polish fonts compatibility.

Gameplay

  • Expansion Delay - delays Tribunal's Dark Brotherhood hit on the player significantly and adds sanity check.
  • 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 tweaks. Compatible with Tamriel Rebuilt and Morrowind Rebirth.

Console commands

A complete list of console commands can be found here

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
256 MB (Steam)
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 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  3. NDL news - last accessed on May 2023
  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 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  9. Morrowind Guide for New Players | Bethesda's Giving TES3 Away Free | Engine, Mods, Multiplayer - YouTube
  10. Morrowind Code Patch - Morrowind Modding Wiki
  11. OpenMW FAQ - last accessed on May 2023
  12. https://openmw.org/faq/#do_i_need_morrowind
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Verified by User:Blackbird on 2019-05-19
    Extremely easy to use and worth it for the number of useful options you get.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 26 March 2019
  15. Black Screen Unrelated to Steam (Problem starting new game) - RPG Italia Forums - last accessed on May 2023
  16. Morrowind talk:Alchemy - UESPWiki - last accessed on May 2023
  17. Reddit - last accessed on May 2023
  18. [[missing url] New port installer: OpenMW (Morrowind)] - last accessed on 2021-05-08
  19. Missing Textures Raspberry Pi 4 B Model, 4GB RAM - last accessed on 2021-05-08
  20. Morrowind Enhanced Textures 4.1 vs Intelligent Textures 2.0 - last accessed on 2021-06-22