Morrowind 2011 Brings New Life to an Old Classic

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Morrowind 2011 Brings New Life to an Old Classic

A massive mod compendium called Morrowind 2011 that brings gorgeous, up-to-date graphics to the classic 2002 Elder Scrolls [http://www.elderscrolls.com/] RPG is now available.

It's hard to believe that Morrowind [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Morrowind-Game-Year-Pc/dp/B0000CNUUP/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1294098313&sr=8-2] came out in 2002. That's right, it's been nine freakin' years, and while the game was sweet eye candy back in the day, time stands still for no game and it looks pretty dated by today's standards. But it's a truly great RPG, set in an exotic land with a unique and compelling mythology, and it deserves some notice from the current crop of gamers who may not have had a chance to sample its pleasures when it was fresh. Fortunately, it's also insanely moddable and that's where the Morrowind 2011 compendium comes in.

Morrowind 2011 is a project that collects many of the mods and updates for Morrowind that have been released over the years by members of the community. Tyler Smith of Alberta, who put the whole thing together, wrote in the project's Wordpress page [http://morrowind2011.wordpress.com/] that he's been playing Morrowind since it came out but found that too many mods and guides changed the game too dramatically or led to various sorts of technical grief. He therefore decided to put together a huge collection of mods and, more importantly, a detailed installation guide that adds a fresh coat of sexy, sexy paint to the venerable RPG without blowing anything up.

And when I say "detailed guide," I do mean detailed, and also huge. Everything is covered, including Steam versions of the game and the Bloodmoon [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Morrowind-Expansion-Pack-Pc/dp/B000070MQM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1294098313&sr=8-8-spell] expansions, and it's intimidating at first glance. But it's all handled in a clear, step-by-step fashion, so while it may take awhile to work through, anyone with a passing familiarity with using mods should have no trouble with it.

The results speak for themselves. The Morrowind 2011 video posted on YouTube shows a world with sharp, bright textures, fantastic water effects, lifelike vegetation and brilliant lighting. The models still look kind of crappy but the world of Vvardenfell is so colorful and bizarre that you probably won't notice anyway.

Smith said the hefty 4GB size of Morrowind 2011 made it difficult to find a host, so he elected to release it exclusively via torrent. A link is available through MediaFire [http://www.mediafire.com/?sr8f87d94f86m3b] but I'd urge anyone giving it a try to do so from the Wordpress page; the instructions there look like the sort that really should be followed.

Skyrim, the next chapter in The Elder Scrolls series, is scheduled to come out on November 11 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.


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Lost In The Void

When in doubt, curl up and cry
Aug 27, 2008
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*Reinstalls Morrowind*

Now to mod the combat and I'm going to have fun with this game again
 

lewism247

New member
Aug 1, 2009
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This comes out a day after I get the game, fate perhaps?

What I want to know is how much it raises the requirements to run the game smoothly.
 

Ruairi iliffe

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Sep 13, 2010
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*looks up at Old Vvardenfell map* heh, those where the days, wasting hours lost to wander in that world.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Jabberwock xeno said:
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Holy shit, how can anyone do this?

Can people do this with any game?!
If those games have mod tools. And now you know why PC gamers love their mods so damn much.

OT: Reminds me of the Morrowind Graphics Extender, only this one is on fire.

Developers, release mod tools for PC games please. It allows the community to make the game far greater then anything you could possibly imagine, and keep it alive long after your done with it. Release mod tools, so your games can still be fresh 10 years later.

Also, one more thing for those of you who bought Morrowind off Steam, or are about to, I strongly recommend against buying it off Steam. To mod the Steam Version, you'll need to go deep into the game's files, and change up the dates of many of the files. Otherwise the mods will not work. Its still possible to mod it, but its a massive pain in the ass to do so. Again, this is for the Steam version only. Any other version should be just fine.
 

HK_01

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Jun 1, 2009
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Wow, I need to reinstall that game immediately.

Also, what exactly is stopping him from hosting it on any of the usual sites, just split up into several parts? I remember that QTP was a couple of GB in size too, and so was ROO...
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Thank god for the part about the Steam version.

That version is a gigantic pain in the ass to mod, usually!
 

Vhite

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Aug 17, 2009
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Looks nice but I think remaking Morrowind as Oblivion mode would be better idea. That would maybe make me like the game.
 

Rathcoole

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Jan 1, 2011
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God I love morrowind. Was my first taste of the elder scolls games. It still has a place in my heart. Never before had I played a game of such scope and choice. Was mind blowing back then. I have never found a game since that sucked me in like it did. Ok now I am getting nostalgic I kind of wish I could go back to those days. Ah time what cruel mistress she is.
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
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Man, too bad I can't play it on my computer. I bought the Xbox version of Morrowind (I know what you're thinking, save your elitism for someone else) recently and just couldn't stick with it.
 

Impluse_101

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Jun 25, 2009
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Oh my god...thats...so pretty....

I'll be honest with you, I really couldnt find a place in Morrowind where I could stick with something, but...I might be able to.

I think I might start with one of the houses....
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Vhite said:
Looks nice but I think remaking Morrowind as Oblivion mode would be better idea. That would maybe make me like the game.
Maraveno said:
I reckon it would be less painstaking too
There were modders working on that actually. They managed to convert the world to the Oblivion Engine, but then Bethesda axed the project.

Seems so long as you make everything from scratch its all good, but if you try to convert anything it'll get axed. You can still convert mods to each game though, so long as their 100% user-made and you get permission from the original creators.
 

omicron1

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Mar 26, 2008
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Then there's the mod that's working on adding the rest of Morrowind to Morrowind (not just the island of Vvardenfell). And the one that's replicating Hammerfell in the TESIV engine. And the one that added Elleswyr to Oblivion.

The sad part is, when Skyrim comes out with its new engine, all the mods that were made for Morrowind and Oblivion will be completely incompatible, and the modders will have to start learning the new system from scratch. No "Cyrodiil in Skyrim" mods this time around. :(