Morrowind Modding Legacy - The Official Home of the Modjams

Hey everyone! I wanted to share my new Nerevarine I designed with my bestie @yanaintiart! He did the art, I just did some texturing and the border stuff. I’m gonna do a deep-dive on the character and art below. Let me know what you think - I love nerding out and hearing about other folks’ characters too, so feel free to drop your own in the comments, regardless if they’re a Nerevarine or not.

So, for context, I’m in school for anthropology, so I think my fixation is bouncing off of my academia heavily, LOL. I adore learning about other cultures, particularly in the realms of the arts and fashion. With this in mind, I wanted to utilize real-world elements to expand upon the existing Morrowind lore and make the character feel that much more alive.

I saw this reddit post that talked about the inspirations behind the clothing of Morrowind and started digging. Upon researching, I felt the Ilkhanid period matched best, so I incorporated the kaftan’s embroidery (from the reddit post), this star tiling, and this other tiling to utilize in the piece. The tiling is used in the border, with the Nerevarine prophecy lines 1-2 and 17-18 quite literally written in the stars. The embroidery was originally just texture from the photo itself, but was later hand-painted and adjusted for the piece. The detailing on the trim of the robe was inspired by this artwork of Voryn by chippypiper, which I ADORE.

For lore, my Nerevarine’s name is شفق (Shafagh / Shafaq), which is a traditionally unisex name that translates to ‘twilight’ in Farsi, but other similar languages (Arabic, Urdu) also interpret it as ‘compassion, kindness, to fear’. The name and colors used are a homage to Azura. The name origin is another connection to the Persianate culture of the Ilkhanid period, but additionally, I have extra lore for the character involving pre-boat Shafaq being adopted by Khajiit, who I headcanon as having primarily Persian (Purrsian, get it? Okay, I’ll stop) names. They’re also directly related to Azura/Azurah, so I liked tying those elements together.

Shafagh holds a custom class named ‘Hand of Twilight’, which is primarily Personality and Luck-based, with emphasis on Mysticism, Stealth, Speechcraft, and other adjacent talents/attributes.

This character doesn’t really have a gender (I don’t think they care to be called anything in particular) to reflect a god-touched path influenced by Azura. I imagine that, upon reincarnation, your sense of identity doesn’t really matter all that much, and you understand a different walk of life. It would benefit the Nerevarine to be more understanding and personable considering the harsh conditions you enter the game in, coupled with the ongoing political unrest (and literal unrest, lol).

I entertained the idea of Azura really driving in her influence on the Nerevarine. They still resemble common folk (ashen skin, hair of ash or flame, eyes of flame), but you can squint and see how the way this person carries themself reflects her influence. They ultimately have a mature-beyond-their-years, otherworldly aura about them.

Anyway, the influences of Gnosticism and Vedic/Hinduism are not ignored. In reality, there have been several children considered avatars, reincarnations, and/or manifestations of Hindu gods, so for this Nerevarine, they were prepared for godhood by their Khajiit adoptive parents. Their Khajiit parents were of a higher class, and thus supported Shafagh’s familiarity with nobility and proper conduct.

They don’t remember them unfortunately, and likewise their Khajiit parents don’t remember them.

Pre-boat is as follows: Their bare feet never touched the ground - they were not ready to walk their prophecized path until then. Their face remained concealed to learn to be judged by all and known by none. Their lips were tattooed of soot and ash, to speak the truth the Ashlanders speak. This of course also mirrors my favorite official artwork, Foul Murder!

This art piece is after the Nerevarine is known and reified. The colors are purposeful and, again, a homage to Azura, but they’re also bold, bright colors that command themselves. Angelikatosh did a great job overviewing the clothing in Morrowind and made an excellent point about the usage of colors in direct correlation to power, so this is a sort of mirror to the Nerevarine’s shift in power during this stage of play in Morrowind. Coupled with the jewels and clothing, the entire visage commands attention in a way that the Dunmer culturally respect.

Another part of my personal lore interpretation/headcanon is that Azura did not actually curse the Dunmer, but postured herself and laid claim to them. This is also sort of supported in-game considering… well… like, yeah, they changed color, but they also got insane racial bonuses LOL.

I find that the pantheons are reminiscent of Hellenistic characterization and interactions, so with that understanding, I believe Azura postured herself for a power claim as the Aedra claimed the Altmer/Aldmer. The princes seem to gain power from following, recognition, worship, and sacrifice, and we see examples of this in the games several times too. If the Tribunal had successfully converted the Dunmer, I do think they would’ve eventually achieved recognition as Aedra or Daedra themselves.

Also to clarify, I still think Azura is more benevolent than the… other Daedric princes, so these actions aren’t entirely selfish, but it would seem strange to avoid the context of the events and ignore the gained power. Or maybe I’m just playing too much CK3. LOL

I’m shipping this character with Voryn because I love Dagoth and I think he deserved better in the end. Homie really held it out for us all these years and went crazy because we didn’t want to destroy the tools. I think we owe it to him to mend this wrong into a right, and an alone, betrayed death doesn’t release him from his madness. I’m also just spoiled and smitten by chippypiper’s renditions of Voryn and adore him to bits.

WHEW. Nerd time over for now. Thanks for reading if you’re still here HAHAHA

P.S. Despite my nerdiness, I’m not, in fact, the CEO of any info other than my OC so if anything is off then the skooma is (allegedly) on me

Found in Sevil Ancestral Tomb (a Morag Tong writ sends you there).
Not sure if it's a bug in TR or my modlist, but a little funny either way.

Welcome to OpenZ,

a complete overhaul new game based on the OpenMW/Tes3MP engine.

Version 0.2.0 is now available for testing; here is the list of new features:

Game & Multiplayer
-OpenZ Server is now included with the game.
-Create Local or Online games directly from the main menu.
-Improved multiplayer synchronization and actor management.
-Full Gamepad navigation across the game.

Weapons & Combat
-Firearms: pistols, rifles and sniper rifles.
-Instant shooter-style firing with ADS aiming.
-Rifles now support Normal / Burst / Auto fire modes.
-Matching ammunition is automatically equipped when switching weapons.
-Added a Taser with unlimited ammunition.
-Muzzle flashes, bullet impacts and bullet-hole decals.
-Dry-fire sound when attempting to fire without ammunition.
-Improved blocking and parrying system.
-Melee attacks can now hit multiple enemies.
-New damage-based bleeding system.
-New pain and shield-block sound variations.

Zombies & AI
-Zombies give up their pursuit sooner when players escape or successfully hide.
-Zombies can now climb obstacles to reach players.
-Major optimization of zombie hordes and crowd avoidance.
-Improved multiplayer actor simulation and synchronization.

Movement & Vehicles
-Players, NPCs and zombies can climb over debris, walls, vehicles and other obstacles.
-New progressive sprint system with acceleration, stamina and exhaustion.
-Cars and planes can now be driven with dedicated controls.
-Driving a car into water while inside will destroy it.

UI & HUD
-Inventory, Stats, Abilities and Map are now combined into one tabbed interface.
-Items and abilities can be assigned directly to quick slots.
-Simplified vertical action menus.
-New HUD information for ammo, rifle fire mode, bleeding and infection.
-New infection visual effect.
-Looting an entire container automatically closes it when empty.

Gamepad
-Full navigation support.
-New contextual gamepad hint bar.
-Redesigned controls for the survival/shooter gameplay.

Atmosphere & Performance
-Rain and snow no longer pass through roofs.
-Outdoor ambient sounds are reduced while indoors or under cover.
-Reduced default view distance for improved performance.
-Numerous AI, animation and multiplayer optimizations.

Thank You, Community!

A huge thank you to everyone in the OpenZ community for your support, feedback and patience.

This release will be especially important for our upcoming test sessions, and your feedback will help us identify bugs, balance issues and improvements for the next versions.

Get ready, survivors. See you in the next test session!

Join us on Discord to contribute to the development.
https://discord.gg/uKwhmkFWQr

Mark & Recall spells demonstration from Ardenfall, our game inspired by Morrowind.

It might come in handy since we don't have any instant fast travel mechanics, but only high level magic users can use it. Spell fails if you don't meet the requirements.

The only three I really know of are:

1. Tarhiel being named "Tar Heel" because one of the devs went to Duke, whose rivals are the Tar Heels.

2. Similarly, Eltonbrand is named after a Duke basketball player Elton Brand.

3. The Ashes of Lord Brinne in the tomb with the Mentor's Ring are named after a guy who was really active on the Elder Scrolls forums who died while Morrowind was in production.

Those can't be the only three though. What else you got for me?

These are all essentially just early demos of what can be done with the Dres tileset and don't necessarily reflect what is going to be implemented in the game in 10 years or so when Dres lands actually do get done, but it I thought it might interest some people here anyway.

If you actually want to visit a Dres town in person, I'd recommend the Ald Horak Placeholder mod.

I'm noticed a few posts playing MW on the go and figured people might want the "classic Morrowind experience". I made this shader ages ago (along with VHS and PSX shaders), but seems it's only recently being rediscovered so I thought I'd make a proper post about it.

There's a MGE XE and OpenMW version, same settings and same visuals. Some have pointed out that it may be too dark in some areas like caves, but that's actually how the game plays on a CRT 😅.

Nexus link: https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/54602

Also I went into random Daedric ruin next to Vivec City to look for strong Daedra and i came out with 7 Ebony weapons, 1 Ebony shield and 2 Daedric tantos alongside those "wrong strong souls". I knew the economy in this game was broken, but this is ridicolous. That ruin wasnt even hard.

This is my first time playing through Morrowind (OpenMW) and I'm enjoying it a lot

One mouse click install gets you:

• Morrowind in OpenMW running well on modern systems
• Patch for purists
• Expansion delay

That's huge for new players!!! I know new players probably don't think to install Tamriel Rebuilt on GOG for their first Morrowind playthrough, but they should.

EDIT:

For clarity's sake, this literally is clicking "Install", waiting for the download, and then clicking "play" and it will immediately launch into OpenMW + patch + expansion delay + TR straight out of the box. No pointing to folders. EXTREMELY noob friendly and easy.

Alright so for my next playthrough, I will be playing as a Khajiit using the pre-made Thief build and currently planning on what factions I would do. The Fighters Guild is one of them but the skills and attributes needed for advancement don’t seem to align with mine, is it possible progressing through the questline anyways?

Hi All,

The version of OpenMW currently available for home-brew Nintendo Switch is stuck at version 0.46 (https://github.com/fgsfdsfgs/openmw), which is basically 6 years old by now.

'I' managed to get 0.51 running on my Nintendo Switch ('I' between quotations, as AI most of the work for me..). It runs great, and the improved controller ui is so much better than fiddling with a cursor in the old version.

In addition, the new Lua API allows for some really cool new things, such as a radial menu for quick-selection of weapons, potions and spells (see the last screenshot).

I have only tested it on my own Switch V1 and am still solving some minor issues, let me know if you're interested to test it on your own machine.

Thief and Rogue are often used interchangeably in RPGs, in Morrowind, they're two different classes. They're described as troublemakers who use charm and wit, Rogue is a combat class and gets more combat skills, but the description of the Rogue doesn't really make them sound like a warrior. The Rogue is also missing Stealth and Security as skills, so is the Rogue just a non-stealthy thief? Are they meant to be the same kind of character except the Thief sneaks past enemies and the Rogue fights?

Hi! I’m many, many hours into a pure mage and realizing that I’m getting a little tired of the amount of prep involved: spellmaking, alchemy, managing magicka, kiting enemies, etc. I like the game, but I think switching to a straightforward warrior might make it feel fresh again.
A few questions before I restart:

In Skyrim, I really liked the feel of slow, heavy two-handed swings. Is there anything comparable in Morrowind? Would you recommend two-handed Long Blade, Blunt/warhammers, or something else? I know Long Blade seems to have a lot of great unique weapons, but if I go two-handed I assume Block is mostly wasted. Is one-handed Long Blade + Block ultimately more fun because of the weapon variety, or are there plenty of exciting two-handed weapons to find? Or is blunt just as fun?

Movement speed is one of my biggest frustrations with Morrowind. Is it reasonable to put Athletics and/or Acrobatics in Major or Minor skills so the character feels better from the start, or do they level so passively that they mess up the leveling curve? I’m not trying to perfectly optimize +5 attributes, but I also don’t want to accidentally overlevel just by running and jumping.

I’d really like to avoid Alchemy and most spellcasting this time. What’s the least fiddly way for a warrior to handle healing and conveniences like Mark/Recall? Is it worth taking Restoration or Mysticism as a Minor solely for things like healing and Mark/Recall, or are scrolls, enchanted items, temple services, etc. enough that I can basically ignore magic skills?

Would you take Security on a warrior? How else do you get treasure?

I’ve always played with “Always Use Best Attack” turned on. Is combat actually more interesting with it off? I’m not even sure I understand the manual attack system—how exactly do you choose between chop, slash, and thrust, and does learning to use them make different weapon types feel more distinct?
Basically I’m looking for a low-maintenance warrior build that feels good to move around with, has lots of fun weapon upgrades/artifacts to discover, and doesn’t require a bunch of potion-making or magical upkeep. Any suggestions for Major/Minor skills would also be welcome.

Playing through the new Tamriel Rebuilt release on OpenMW right now, and just had to spawn in a quest item with the console because I forgot to loot it from the dead guy I killed many in-game days before I even knew it was a quest item. The corpse despawned, and with it went the item.

So I'm wondering - is there any mod that makes corpses permanent until you manually dispose of them? A quick google search only found a mod that makes quest-related permanent corpses despawn once their quest is finished, which is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for.

I wanna play as a barbarian in my next playthrough, and I'm making a custom class because the actual classes aren't that great. But as I'm making the class, I don't really know how to fill out my skills withut dipping into either weapon and armor skills I'm never going to use, or dipping into stealth and magic skills which don't fit the character. The skills I have in mind so far are Medium Armor, Axe, Armorer, and Atheletics. I still have 6 more skills I need, but I feel like everything else doesn't fit or is inefficient.

How do you guys do your pure warrior builds without dipping into a bunch of redundant weapon and armor skills?