The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Template:Infobox Template:Infobox Template:Infobox The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a 2002 game developed by Bethesda Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It is fully compatible with modern, 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows.

Windows

Availability

Best Version

The most complete version of Morrowind is the Game of The Year edition, released on 31^st October 2003, which includes the base game and its two expansions - Tribunal and Bloodmoon. This edition also includes a more recent patched version of the game.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Upon release, Morrowind shipped with a disk check function, which required the disc to be inserted every time the game was launched. This was later removed in a patch as it negatively affected game loading times.

Patches

Unofficial Morrowind Code Patch

Developed by Morrowind Nexus member "Hrnchamd", the Unofficial Morrowind Code Patch is a collection of over 50 bug fixes and improvements; including an important save game corruption fix, as well as many optional improvements, such as an expanded map.

Quote from author page:

• Morrowind is a game of great depth, a huge world, incredibly extensible and with a thriving community. Unfortunately it's also full of bugs. This is our attempt at defeating the worst bugs in the game, including save corruption; and also adding a few more features people have dreamt of.

The patch is compatible with English, West European, Polish, Russian and Steam editions of the game, but, notably, not the Impulse (Gamestop PC Downloads) version, due to its DRM restrictions. The Morrowind Overhaul 2.0 mod includes this patch as part of its download.

The Unofficial Patch

Developed by community member Thepal, The Unofficial Morrowind Patch (UMP) fixes almost all of the bugs and problems with Morrowind and its expansions. While the official patches by Bethesda only fixed a couple of dozen bugs, this patch fixes several hundred. The goal of this patch is to make the game completely bug-free (within the abilities of the TESCS).

The UMP is available for download here.

Issues and Fixes

Crashing During Install or Launch

Some users have reported issues with crashes whilst installing or launching the game. 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 include Iomega removable hard disk drives and flash drives, as well as some 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

This issue often occurs with users who have a corrupted install of the Morrowind Graphics Extender. If this is the cause, it can be resolved by reinstalling the mod correctly.

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

1. 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.
2. Outdated video card drivers. In this case, the user must update their drivers to the latest version, available from their respective manufacturer's website.

Audio Problems

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. Navigate 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:

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

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.

The latest version of Via's 4-in-1 driver can be obtained here. Follow the instructions on the web site to download and install the drivers. It is important to note that 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

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

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

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.

Installing The Elder Scrolls Construction Set Disc

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. Navigate 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.

Mods and Utilities

Morroblivion

A full port/remake of Morrowind in the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion engine has been released and is available here.

The Elder Scrolls Construction Set

Shipped alongside the game, The Elder Scrolls Construction Set is the tool used by Bethesda to create the Morrowind game world; and whilst it has a steep learning curve, it offers the ability to create plug-ins and mods to be shared over the web. The set makes use of a proprietary file extension, as with the Oblivion set (.esp). The file sizes of fan-made plug-ins can be as small as a few kilobytes if they merely edit basic game settings, or hundreds of megabytes if they add a large amount of new content.

The Morrowind Overhaul 2.0

A mod compilation package that gives the game a visual overhaul; including higher resolution textures, distance rendering, depth of field, real time shadows and global lighting, as well as many bug fixes (as introduced in the Unofficial Morrowind Code Patch). Version 2.0 comes with a fully automated installer and a automatic updater for newer releases.

The mod is compatible with most versions of the game (all except Impulse).

It should be noted that during install, the mod may take control of the user's mouse and keyboard for periods of time as it selects the correct settings needed for its successful installation. The user is given a choice of graphics options that best suits their setup, as, on its highest settings, the mod requires a very powerful setup to run smoothly. Users who have installed the mod and are experiencing low frame rates may wish to disable the "water effects" and "distant lands" settings in Morrowind/MGEgui.

It should be noted that 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:

1. Steam Community Overlay: Steam users will need to disable the community overlay before running the game with the mod installed, as the two conflict and will produce a black screen past the main menu. This can be done by right clicking the Steam icon in the taskbar, clicking settings, then navigating to the "In-game" menu, and deselecting the Steam Community overlay option.
2. MGE XE: The latest version of the mod, using "MGE XE", is often the cause of this issue. Users can select an older, less advanced version by navigating to their Morrowind game folder, then selecting MGSO Options, navigating to the MGE tab. The user will then need to regenerate the Distant Lands by opening the MGEgui.

Morrowind Graphics Extender (MGE)

Included in the Morrowind Overhaul, the Morrowind Graphics Extender is a flexible utility capable of drastically improving the graphics in Morrowind. Some users may prefer to install MGE individually in order to build their own overhaul or retain the original textures of vanilla Morrowind. The most prominent feature offered by MGE is the addition of the "Distant Lands" distant landscape, but it is also capable of adding shaders, better water, and a myriad of other improvements.

Useful Links for Finding Mods

Sites for Download:

Planet Elder Scrolls Morrowind Mod Archive (active)

Morrowind Nexus Mod Archive (active, downloading requires registration)

Elric Melnibone and the Elder Scrolls Morrowind Mods Mod Archive (inactive)

Annotated Collections and Lists of recommended Mods:

Morrowind Mythic Mods

Morrowind Expanded Also includes a step-to-step guide for installing.

Galahaut's Morrowind Mod List

See Also

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall