"Beautifying" Morrowind

Smac1018 · 07-12-2010, 08:32 AM

The following list contains mods and adjustments to Morrowind to increase the overall quality of the game. Most of them are re-textures or replacements along with a few bug fixes and adjustments.
I'm doing my best to keep the following list free from anything that'll drastically change the game or remove the original feel of it. I like to think that most, if not all mods here are within spirit of what Bethesda intended the game to be.
I'm hoping this thread will clear up some questions among the board asking for suggestions for mods and how to "Beautify" the game.
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
Getting Started

Before installing any mods it is highly suggested that you look up tutorials or advice on the proper way to install them via every internet users best friend, Google.
If you have basic computer knowledge you'll know what folder goes where and to merge duplicates, overwrite old files, etc.
If you have any questions regarding the installing of a mod feel free to ask here.

First and foremost since this is the Steam Forum. There is a fix that needs to be applied in order for certain textures to work.

First, disable Steam community in-game: go to your Steam settings window and choose the "In-game" tab, then uncheck the "Steam Community In-Game" box. You should also redate morrowind.bsa, tribunal.bsa, and bloodmoon.bsa to year 2002. In the location where you installed Steam, look for "...Steam\SteamApps\common\morrowind" folder - Morrowind's bsa's will be located under the "Data Files" folder. You'll need a 3rd party utility to redate the files. A quick Google search should yield some results. Personally I used "Set File Date" which can be found here.
[Note:]This link may not always be up or work on all machines.

Explanation for redating:
The stock meshes and textures are contained in the bsa archives, and they inherit the datestamp from the bsas which the Steam version sets to the date and time you downloaded and installed. That results in those assets overriding any other 3rd-party versions unless the bsas are redated to year 2002. Individual versions of meshes and textures with a more recent datestamp placed in the "...\Data Files\Meshes" and "...\Data Files\Textures" folders (respectively) will get priority over the stock archive versions (due to the default setting for "TryArchiveFirst=0" in Morrowind.ini; 0 tells the game engine to use newer assets based on datestamp), but for whatever reason the distantland files do not follow that rule unless the archives have been redated to an earlier date.

Now, onto the mods.__________________________________________________ __________________

Player mods
- Better Bodies
- Better Heads
- Better Beast Bodies
- Better Clothes
- Better Weapons
- Better armor - 512 x 512
- Better armor - 1024 x 1024

This file requires deletion of the "tx_a_imperialchain_f_c.dds" located in the "Misc" folder

- Weapon Sheaths

Area changes & Tweaks
- Visual Pack

This file should be the first installed among graphic changes as it serves as a base for other mods to overwrite

- Mesh improvements
- Hlaalu Buildings Re-texture
- Telvanni Re-texture
- Lighting Enhancement
- -Morrowind Code Patch- -

This file contains numerous optional game changes. Run the installer and apply changes as you see fit.
For the following mods "Bump map/reflect map local lighting" must be enabled.

- - Waterfalls
- - Containers
- - Realistic Armor

This files should be applied after any of the "Better Armors" located above in "Player Mods"

- - Imperial Housing Re-texture
- - Road Marker Re-texture

Wildlife & Plant mods
- Tribunal Creature Re-Texture
- Bloodmoon Creature Re-texture
- Morrowind Creature Re-texture

This file requires the deletion of the "tx_kwama_foragerspit.dds" located in the "Texture" folder

- Silt Strider Re-texture
- Bitter Coast Tree Replacer
- Ascadian Isles Tree Replacer*
- Solstheim Tree & Bush Re-texture*
- Animated Grass**
- Lava & Smoke Re-texture
- Tree Replacer*
- West Gash Tree Re-texture*
* Usable with MGE
** MGE is required

Various Item mods
- Bottle Replacer
- Souly Soulgems
- Shiny Septims
- Journal & Scrolls
- Silverware Enhancer
- Better Skulls
- Better Books

Popular Mod Sites
- The Elder Scroll Nexus
- Planet Elder Scrolls

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
Morrowind Graphics Extender

One major step in increasing your Morrowind playing experience is to install Morrowind Graphics Extender or "MGE".
While I am providing some info about it if you wish to discuss MGE or have questions or comments about it please refer to the official topic found on the Bethesda forums.
The official topic can usually be found among the first few pages of the Forum.
The following info is taken straight from the MGE topic.

Bethesda Forums - http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/forum/12-mods/

What it is: MGE is a utility to add Oblivion style distant land and HDR to Morrowind, as well as many other graphical and input related tweaks such as enabling fog, water reflections, and adjusting the resolution to your liking. It is also a required utility for some mods which make use of the additional scripting functions it provides.MGE is a complex program working in a complex environment. There are lots of things which can prevent it from working, or at least prevent it from working as you want it to. You may need a certain level of computer literacy to solve these problems. Also, be prepared to spend some time experimenting with what options work best (or at all) for you.

Downloads and important links:

Official MGE documentation - explains all MGE functions and settings, offers step-by-step guides for common tasks like enabling distant land, activating shaders, or enabling screenshots, has a troubleshooting section to help you with problems, and more.
Official Home Page for Morrowind Graphics Extender

Required

Directx 9.0c redistributable (latest version)
Note: extract the package to a temporary location, then from that location run DXSETUP.EXE to actually install.
Visual C++ 2008 SP1 redistributable (latest version)
.Net 2.0 (some versions of Windows will already have .Net installed - check your system first)

Related Downloads and Links:

MGE Shader Library -- (forum)
Harlanrm's Tweaked Water Shader (for use with v3.8.0b - not compatible with latest SVN builds)
Hrnchamd's High Rock Spring Water Shader (requires specific SVN builds)
Phal's Improved Water Shader (requires specific SVN builds - this is now incorporated into latest SVN build)
Phal's Sun Shaft Rays -- (BSF thread) (requires latest SVN build)
Note: a newer test version is included with phal's d3d8 scatter+ripple+cloud test/dev patch.
Knu's latest SSAO & DoF Shaders (requires latest SVN build - Knu's shaders are also included in latest build)
MGE Mod List - collected by bjam, with links to lots of MGE mods and shaders.

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Jito463 · 07-12-2010, 01:25 PM

I've already installed most of those, just from browsing TESNexus and PlanetElderScrolls, but it's a good compilation to have in one place. Nice job. The only mod you're missing, that I highly recommend, is Better Eyes for the Better Bodies mod. It's a subtle touch, but it makes a world of difference.

For anyone else considering these mods, I can guarantee that - while it's a fair bit of work to install and configure all of them - it will make Morrowind look massively better.

*EDIT*

Found the link I was looking for.

EYES for Better Heads

trojanrabbit.gg · 12-20-2010, 07:16 PM

Just found this thread. Good stuff. Figured I would bump it back up so people would see it.

MrSmit · 12-21-2010, 06:35 AM

I used a more extensive guide found here

Great list but you forgot about Wrye Mash and Mlox, two tools that I can't live without

Lokwassen · 12-23-2010, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSmit

Great list but you forgot about Wrye Mash and Mlox, two tools that I can't live without

How do you use Wrye Mash to change the dates of the .bsa files? Even on the website, only the .esm files appear.

MrSmit · 12-23-2010, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lokwassen

How do you use Wrye Mash to change the dates of the .bsa files? Even on the website, only the .esm files appear.

I don't know if you can, I just used Attribute Changer for that. Wyre Mash is great for merging leveled lists from mods, cleaning save files when adding/removing mods, and updating master lists.
Mlox is like BOSS for Oblivion except, not only does it sort the load order of hundreds of mods, it tells you conflicts between mods, if you have checked wrong versions, or if you need an updated patch etc.
They are both great tools

01-04-2011, 05:35 AM

http://morrowind2011.wordpress.com/

This is a newly released compilation pack of visual-enhancing mods for morrowind, that includes most of the above and more, but in one single package complete with instructions for every setting.

His preview video is AMAZING, it looks way better than oblivion (apart from character faces, but that's a game limitation.

aaronsobush · 01-10-2011, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerx99

http://morrowind2011.wordpress.com/

This is a newly released compilation pack of visual-enhancing mods for morrowind, that includes most of the above and more, but in one single package complete with instructions for every setting.

His preview video is AMAZING, it looks way better than oblivion (apart from character faces, but that's a game limitation.

The link is no longer available. Any idea where this file could be located at now? I have recently started playing this game for the first time and have installed many enhancement mods but I am intrigued by it looking "way better" then Oblivion.

trojanrabbit.gg · 01-10-2011, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronsobush

The link is no longer available. Any idea where this file could be located at now? I have recently started playing this game for the first time and have installed many enhancement mods but I am intrigued by it looking "way better" then Oblivion.

Check out my recent post here. The 2011 compilation really is nothing special.

rpmfidel · 03-15-2012, 07:54 PM

Bumping this back up

Sam Mizu · 04-27-2012, 06:37 AM

You may find some error messages for TESNexus. They split it into the oblivion.nexusmods and morrowind.nexusmods.com to better help players find the mods they are looking.

P.S. Great list. Need to get my game rig working again before I can download a good number of these.

POOTDISPENSER · 05-01-2012, 06:13 AM

Bookmarked. Thanks for this!

jomplox · 07-21-2012, 11:06 AM

Bumping for all the new comers!

koima57 · 07-21-2012, 11:22 AM

Unnecessary bump (outdated content..) but i'll make it worth with my post.
All a new comer needs can be found here :

http://morrowindoverhaul.rpgitalia.net/

07-12-2010, 08:32 AM	#1
Smac1018 Join Date: Aug 2009 Reputation: 67 Posts: 510	"Beautifying" Morrowind The following list contains mods and adjustments to Morrowind to increase the overall quality of the game. Most of them are re-textures or replacements along with a few bug fixes and adjustments. I'm doing my best to keep the following list free from anything that'll drastically change the game or remove the original feel of it. I like to think that most, if not all mods here are within spirit of what Bethesda intended the game to be. I'm hoping this thread will clear up some questions among the board asking for suggestions for mods and how to "Beautify" the game. __________________________________________________ _____________________________________ Getting Started Before installing any mods it is highly suggested that you look up tutorials or advice on the proper way to install them via every internet users best friend, Google. If you have basic computer knowledge you'll know what folder goes where and to merge duplicates, overwrite old files, etc. If you have any questions regarding the installing of a mod feel free to ask here. First and foremost since this is the Steam Forum. There is a fix that needs to be applied in order for certain textures to work. First, disable Steam community in-game: go to your Steam settings window and choose the "In-game" tab, then uncheck the "Steam Community In-Game" box. You should also redate morrowind.bsa, tribunal.bsa, and bloodmoon.bsa to year 2002. In the location where you installed Steam, look for "...Steam\SteamApps\common\morrowind" folder - Morrowind's bsa's will be located under the "Data Files" folder. You'll need a 3rd party utility to redate the files. A quick Google search should yield some results. Personally I used "Set File Date" which can be found here. [Note:]This link may not always be up or work on all machines. Explanation for redating: The stock meshes and textures are contained in the bsa archives, and they inherit the datestamp from the bsas which the Steam version sets to the date and time you downloaded and installed. That results in those assets overriding any other 3rd-party versions unless the bsas are redated to year 2002. Individual versions of meshes and textures with a more recent datestamp placed in the "...\Data Files\Meshes" and "...\Data Files\Textures" folders (respectively) will get priority over the stock archive versions (due to the default setting for "TryArchiveFirst=0" in Morrowind.ini; 0 tells the game engine to use newer assets based on datestamp), but for whatever reason the distantland files do not follow that rule unless the archives have been redated to an earlier date. Now, onto the mods.__________________________________________________ __________________ Player mods - Better Bodies - Better Heads - Better Beast Bodies - Better Clothes - Better Weapons - Better armor - 512 x 512 - Better armor - 1024 x 1024 This file requires deletion of the "tx_a_imperialchain_f_c.dds" located in the "Misc" folder - Weapon Sheaths Area changes & Tweaks - Visual Pack This file should be the first installed among graphic changes as it serves as a base for other mods to overwrite - Mesh improvements - Hlaalu Buildings Re-texture - Telvanni Re-texture - Lighting Enhancement - -Morrowind Code Patch- - This file contains numerous optional game changes. Run the installer and apply changes as you see fit. For the following mods "Bump map/reflect map local lighting" must be enabled. - - Waterfalls - - Containers - - Realistic Armor This files should be applied after any of the "Better Armors" located above in "Player Mods" - - Imperial Housing Re-texture - - Road Marker Re-texture Wildlife & Plant mods - Tribunal Creature Re-Texture - Bloodmoon Creature Re-texture - Morrowind Creature Re-texture This file requires the deletion of the "tx_kwama_foragerspit.dds" located in the "Texture" folder - Silt Strider Re-texture - Bitter Coast Tree Replacer - Ascadian Isles Tree Replacer* - Solstheim Tree & Bush Re-texture* - Animated Grass** - Lava & Smoke Re-texture - Tree Replacer* - West Gash Tree Re-texture* * Usable with MGE MGE is required Various Item mods - Bottle Replacer - Souly Soulgems - Shiny Septims - Journal & Scrolls - Silverware Enhancer - Better Skulls - Better Books Popular Mod Sites - The Elder Scroll Nexus - Planet Elder Scrolls __________________________________________________ _____________________________________ Morrowind Graphics Extender One major step in increasing your Morrowind playing experience is to install Morrowind Graphics Extender or "MGE". While I am providing some info about it if you wish to discuss MGE or have questions or comments about it please refer to the official topic found on the Bethesda forums. The official topic can usually be found among the first few pages of the Forum. The following info is taken straight from the MGE topic. Bethesda Forums - http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/forum/12-mods/ What it is: MGE is a utility to add Oblivion style distant land and HDR to Morrowind, as well as many other graphical and input related tweaks such as enabling fog, water reflections, and adjusting the resolution to your liking. It is also a required utility for some mods which make use of the additional scripting functions it provides.MGE is a complex program working in a complex environment. There are lots of things which can prevent it from working, or at least prevent it from working as you want it to. You may need a certain level of computer literacy to solve these problems. Also, be prepared to spend some time experimenting with what options work best (or at all) for you. Downloads and important links: Official MGE documentation - explains all MGE functions and settings, offers step-by-step guides for common tasks like enabling distant land, activating shaders, or enabling screenshots, has a troubleshooting section to help you with problems, and more. Official Home Page for Morrowind Graphics Extender Required** Directx 9.0c redistributable (latest version) Note: extract the package to a temporary location, then from that location run DXSETUP.EXE to actually install. Visual C++ 2008 SP1 redistributable (latest version) .Net 2.0 (some versions of Windows will already have .Net installed - check your system first) Related Downloads and Links: MGE Shader Library -- (forum) Harlanrm's Tweaked Water Shader (for use with v3.8.0b - not compatible with latest SVN builds) Hrnchamd's High Rock Spring Water Shader (requires specific SVN builds) Phal's Improved Water Shader (requires specific SVN builds - this is now incorporated into latest SVN build) Phal's Sun Shaft Rays -- (BSF thread) (requires latest SVN build) Note: a newer test version is included with phal's d3d8 scatter+ripple+cloud test/dev patch. Knu's latest SSAO & DoF Shaders (requires latest SVN build - Knu's shaders are also included in latest build) MGE Mod List - collected by bjam, with links to lots of MGE mods and shaders. __________________________________________________ _____________________________________ Last edited by Smac1018: 07-12-2010 at 09:14 AM.

07-12-2010, 01:25 PM	#2
Jito463 Join Date: Feb 2003 Reputation: 174 Posts: 2,206	I've already installed most of those, just from browsing TESNexus and PlanetElderScrolls, but it's a good compilation to have in one place. Nice job. The only mod you're missing, that I highly recommend, is Better Eyes for the Better Bodies mod. It's a subtle touch, but it makes a world of difference. For anyone else considering these mods, I can guarantee that - while it's a fair bit of work to install and configure all of them - it will make Morrowind look massively better. EDIT Found the link I was looking for. EYES for Better Heads Last edited by Jito463: 07-12-2010 at 01:27 PM.

07-21-2012, 11:22 AM	#14
koima57 Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 106	Unnecessary bump (outdated content..) but i'll make it worth with my post. All a new comer needs can be found here : http://morrowindoverhaul.rpgitalia.net/ Last edited by koima57: 07-21-2012 at 11:31 AM.

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12-20-2010, 07:16 PM	#3
trojanrabbit.gg Join Date: Mar 2010 Reputation: 4682 Posts: 1,644	Just found this thread. Good stuff. Figured I would bump it back up so people would see it.

12-21-2010, 06:35 AM	#4
MrSmit Join Date: Mar 2010 Reputation: 116 Posts: 675	I used a more extensive guide found here Great list but you forgot about Wrye Mash and Mlox, two tools that I can't live without

01-04-2011, 05:35 AM	#7
Jerx99 Guest Posts: n/a	http://morrowind2011.wordpress.com/ This is a newly released compilation pack of visual-enhancing mods for morrowind, that includes most of the above and more, but in one single package complete with instructions for every setting. His preview video is AMAZING, it looks way better than oblivion (apart from character faces, but that's a game limitation.

03-15-2012, 07:54 PM	#10
rpmfidel Join Date: Jul 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 5	Bumping this back up

04-27-2012, 06:37 AM	#11
Sam Mizu Join Date: Apr 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 8	You may find some error messages for TESNexus. They split it into the oblivion.nexusmods and morrowind.nexusmods.com to better help players find the mods they are looking. P.S. Great list. Need to get my game rig working again before I can download a good number of these.

05-01-2012, 06:13 AM	#12
POOTDISPENSER Join Date: Mar 2011 Reputation: 42 Posts: 323	Bookmarked. Thanks for this!

07-21-2012, 11:06 AM	#13
jomplox Join Date: Feb 2011 Reputation: 3 Posts: 35	Bumping for all the new comers!