General Morrowind Mod Discussion Thread, a place for open discussions, idea and resource sharing etc Options

[Uleni Athram]

As the title and description says, I made this here thread so we happy few that are playing and modding TES3 can have a singular place where we can have discussions about mods, share our ideas and resources regarding mods, post our WIP mods and maybe even help/contribute to each other's mods!

So to start off, here are the resources I am currently referring to for guidance when I'm working on my projects. Note, however, that since I've only started playing with the Construction Set (and Morrowind in general) this week, a majority of the following will be meant for newbies like me. So if y'all are veterans (which I know you guys are lmao), they might not offer what you already don't know:
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1. Morrowind Modding Showcases' Lets Mod Morrowing YouTube Playlist

2. DanaePlays' Morrowind Modding Tutorial YouTube Playlist

3. Morrowind Mod Subreddit Community
3A. Morrowind Mod Subreddit Resources (their exhaustive list of resources are absolutely top-notch; No.1 and No.2 are actually listed there)
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With that out of the way, the mod I'm currently working on is quite a simple one but should get my feet wet with all the basics. Its not anything fancy, really; I want to implement a bunch of mercenaries that you can hire anytime you want, with a simple questline that would unlock their services. I've already created the appropriate NPCs and I'm about to tackle the probably easy task of designing their base of operations. Once I'm done with the latter I'll probably do their unique dialogues next and from there, maaaaaaybe try my hand at their custom scripts? /shrugs/

So how about you guys? What are you guys working on?

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

As the title and description says, I made this here thread so we happy few that are playing and modding TES3 can have a singular place where we can have discussions about mods, share our ideas and resources regarding mods, post our WIP mods and maybe even help/contribute to each other's mods!

So to start off, here are the resources I am currently referring to for guidance when I'm working on my projects. Note, however, that since I've only started playing with the Construction Set (and Morrowind in general) this week, a majority of the following will be meant for newbies like me. So if y'all are veterans (which I know you guys are lmao), they might not offer what you already don't know:
---

1. Morrowind Modding Showcases' Lets Mod Morrowing YouTube Playlist

2. DanaePlays' Morrowind Modding Tutorial YouTube Playlist

3. Morrowind Mod Subreddit Community
3A. Morrowind Mod Subreddit Resources (their exhaustive list of resources are absolutely top-notch; No.1 and No.2 are actually listed there)
---

With that out of the way, the mod I'm currently working on is quite a simple one but should get my feet wet with all the basics. Its not anything fancy, really; I want to implement a bunch of mercenaries that you can hire anytime you want, with a simple questline that would unlock their services. I've already created the appropriate NPCs and I'm about to tackle the probably easy task of designing their base of operations. Once I'm done with the latter I'll probably do their unique dialogues next and from there, maaaaaaybe try my hand at their custom scripts? /shrugs/

So how about you guys? What are you guys working on?

I’ve never done anything as elaborate as that, but there are mercenaries you can hire in Mournhold, so perhaps you can use those as a template. I know nothing about scripting. I do have a wee bit of experience with setting up new buildings and such.

[ghastley]

If you're trying to any kind of companion, the book was written by Grumpy, and you can find the download on Emma's site. It where I started for D&D.

[Renee]

I know nothing about scripting.

I know nothing about scripting for Morrowind either, however I once heard that some really advanced modder years ago got an NPC to travel from Pelagiad to Balmora (something like that). In later games, making Travel packages is easy. Takes a couple minutes to write up. But in Morrowind, the NPC could only travel if scripts were written. From what I hear, the page full of scripts to make this travel happen looked like a small novel when all was said and done!

[macole]

For reference, I prefer printed documentation over videos. This has been my manual of preference. It's a fair sized book. Also Tamriel Rebuilt has good information at this site.

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to be an expert at creating mods of any kind. My skills are limited. I do not publish mainly because I use a lot of resources created by others.

What I have done; 1) create my own race complete with special power and spells that conforms to my long term character, 2) created two companions using Grump's framework, 3) created and placed unique weapons in what I considered to be appropriate locations.

What I'd like to do is create a quest that ties all my little creations together. What a dreamer I am.

[Renee]

Wow sweet macole!!!! The first link won't open but the second one will be scripting heaven!

Chorrol doesn't have a LIKE button, so I'm pretending to press one for ya.

[ghastley]

I believe modhistory.com has closed down and gone to farcebook, which I refuse to use. Great House Fliggerty died during a server transition, and hasn't been seen for a couple of years.

[macole]

Try this one or look for Morrowind Scripting for Dummies on the Nexus

[macole]

mw.modhistory.com appears to be active again.

[Renee]

Hello! Anybody here? I just got my Morrowind set up perfectly, including the Xbox controller. Finally I'm ready to game!

I will have questions about playing MW on PC, oh yes I will. First one: is there a way to make menus bigger? I sit about 7 or 8 feet away from my TV as I'm gaming, I need larger fonts, I think.

And also, I'll want a mod manager. I know about Wrye Mash. What other managers are there? I think I might want to start off with something simple first.

This post has been edited by Renee: Apr 8 2021, 01:40 AM

[SubRosa]

I never used a mod manager for Morrowind. I have never had enough mods for it to matter. I just use the game's built in mod management.

I am not sure about the hud. I never tried to do anything with it. I do recall that DARN was a popular hud mod.

[Renee]

Cool thanks. Initially I think I won't have too many mods in MW either, but that's also what I said years ago about Oblivion and Fallout 3. One by one they pile up.

I have a feeling I'll be on my own with the HUD thing. I'm still a console player at heart, and Darn makes text really small. I've tried to Darnifiy Oblivion in the past, to get all those lovely medieval fonts into my game. But Darnifying it made all the text really tiny and hard to read from halfway across my room!

How about face / clothing textures? Now that I've got MW on PC, everything is super silky smooth with the framerates and so on. I'm really noticing clothes and faces now.

[SubRosa]

Morrowind Code Patch is a good starter. Like the UESP, it fixes a lot of bugs.

Morrowind Graphics Extender is another must have.

Better Bodies improves the bodies.

Corean Hair has been made for Morrowind.

Emma has a ton of headpacks. Just search for her name.

[macole]

How about face / clothing textures? Now that I've got MW on PC, everything is super silky smooth with the framerates and so on. I'm really noticing clothes and faces now.

Half the fun is in building your own world.

Nix changing the HUD. I never saw the need to do that in Morrowind.

You should also consider the Unofficial Patch for Purist.

In my current set-up I’m using Better Bodies, and Westly’s Head Pack (using plugin-less versions of both).
Robert’s Bodies is a good alternative but I find the improvements to be too small to overcome Better Bodies’ more extensive clothing options. I’m still looking for a body replacer that relaxes the arms and hands or at least unlocks the elbows.

Faces: At one time I tore face packs apart and by using GIMP searched through all the textures to find which one I prefered.
My current install uses Westly’s Head Pack mainly because MCA v7 requires it. Newest version of MCA has no face requirement.
Telesphoros' Vvardenfell Visages another plugin-less head replacer is an excellent alternative choice.
The Facepack Compilation by Tarnsman; If you don’t mind messing with a somewhat complicated install take a look at this one. I am considering this one for my next install. It can be made to run with Vvardenfell Visages.
The newest head replacer is MacKom’s. It has gotten very good reviews, I don’t care for it though.

For clothing, most anything that compliments Better Bodies. Here are some that I use;

1. IceNioLivRobeReplacerPLUS (BTB Edit).esp
2. MetalQueenBoutique.esm
3. BetterClothesForTB.esp
4. Better Clothes Complete (BTB Edit).esp
5. Bob's Armory 2.esp
6. Bob's Armory.esp
7. aleanne_clothing_v1&2.esp
8. KS_Katisha's_Fancy_Threads_1.0.esp

[Renee]

Awesome, wow look at this. Seriously, you two have saved me a lot of blundering, probably months worth of it. And of course, there's ghastley somewhere, wherever he is...

Nix changing the HUD. I never saw the need to do that in Morrowind.

Not the HUD, the menus. The journal also. I can't read them because the fonts are too small.

This post has been edited by Renee: Apr 9 2021, 12:48 AM

[macole]

Not the HUD, the menus. The journal also. I can't read them because the fonts are too small.

Sorry my mistake. Since I used an early version of the MGSO install overhaul I had to dig a bit deeper into what I installed. I found I do change the UI. That's the problem with overhauls, you don't know what you're doing when you do it.

You may be interested in Hrnchamd's Better Dialogue Fonts. Doesn’t necessarily make the book and UI fonts bigger but they are darker, sharper, and much easier to read. So Better Dialogue Fonts may help.

Further checking on Morrowind fonts on the Nexus leads me to a 2021 mod Better Readable Beauty Font by Hrnchamd and Baszermaszer. It is Hrnchamd’s Better Dialog Fonts with a much more readable and larger type added by Baszermaszer. I haven’t tried it myself but it sure looks clean on the mod website. This may be exactly what you are looking for.

[Renee]

Yes, Better Readable Beauty Font is probably the one, thanks so much. Time to fall into yet another gaming addiction! *knock knock* "Renee, are you home? Hello?" "Anybody in there?"

[ghastley]

I should probably throw in one observation on replacement heads. There's a MacKom's replacer that has a significant compatibility problem with other systems, in that it treats ears as part of the head, and not the hair. Or maybe vice-versa, I can't remember. Both it and Westly's provide a new head mesh, so the face texture replacers don't always fit both heads, although there was an attempt made to keep them in line.

The problem is that mixing hair and heads from opposite systems results in characters with four ears, or none. I've had no major issues, as I've just adapted parts from one to the other, but I've rather lost track of where anything came from. I believe the oddity of ears being separate from heads was to allow helmets to replace ears, instead of having them clip through.

Most hair styles are weighted only to the head, and act like a rigid helmet. There are a few longer styles where that just doesn't cut it, as it makes the hair clip with everything when the character moves. That means weighting the hair to the spine, and neck, and there are problems with the char-gen process showing you just a head when you pick the hairstyle. Again, I've worked my way around those by adapting other folks' work, to combine features of more than one mod at the same time. I was putting together a mod pack of longer hairstyles, but never finished it, because of all that conflicts.

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Most of my characters wear custom outfits that I've made myself. I extracted a few basic shapes from the Better Clothes mod, and painted my own textures. The way Morrowind layers clothing lets you do a lot with transparency, if you get the settings right.

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I don't have a console-like setup, so the regular fonts were fine for me. No UI changes of any significance in my game.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Apr 9 2021, 03:14 PM

[Renee]

Just an update. I have added Morrowind Code Patch, MGE, a Basic Needs type mod, and also a mod which allows us to poison weapons. That's going to be fun, to finally use poisons in MW! :evil: Next for sure will be Better Bodies, I think.

I also added my first addition: a bedroll up in lighthouse. This is something I've wanted in the base game a long time-- somewhere else to sleep in Seyda Neen, other than the bedroll in the tutorial building. So.. yah.

I will avoid that replacer mod, ghastley. Thanks.

[macole]

Just an update. I have added Morrowind Code Patch, MGE, a Basic Needs type mod, and also a mod which allows us to poison weapons. That's going to be fun, to finally use poisons in MW! :evil: Next for sure will be Better Bodies, I think.

I also added my first addition: a bedroll up in lighthouse. This is something I've wanted in the base game a long time-- somewhere else to sleep in Seyda Neen, other than the bedroll in the tutorial building. So.. yah.

Which basic needs type mod did you choose? I’ve used Necessities of Morrowind before but I’m thinking on trying Ashfall with Taddeus' Foods of Tamriel on a new install sometime this year.

Had you given any thought on a leveling mod? I’m thinking of using a new leveling system Mort's Ultimate Leveling Experience (MULE) instead of GCD.

In Seyda Neen there is a shack you can acquire for free relatively early after completing a certain early quest.