Morrowind - Steam Sale

[Dhruin]

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition is the latest RPG on Steam's sale (http://store.steampowered.com/app/22320/). About 20 hours to go on this one, as I type.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=14117)

[fragonard]

Unfortunately, this version does not come with the Construction set and it's not downloadable from Beth so unless you already have a CD version, it's not as good a deal as it could be. I really can't imagine playing Morrowind with having the ability to tweak it.

[JDR13]

This is still an incredible deal at that price, around 200 hours of gaming for $5.

[fragonard]

You're right; I didn't see that it was only $5. It's a deal (you can still run mods)

[Zloth]

And what tweaks haven't already been done and uploaded somewhere?

I need to store that trailer somewhere. The music is SO good!

[Acleacius]

Anyone know if they ever tweaked the PC animations, even if it was only the walking or running, it makes me cringe?

Even if we consider it was made in 2002 (iirc), so many others had done better PB for example with Gothic 2000, much much much better. :)

[Alistair]

Don't think so. Models were improved, but not animations as far as I know. I think the Elder Scrolls were really first person to start with and Bethesda only started to get the hang of third person with Oblivion. Piranha Bytes still haven't got the hang of first person.

[JDR13]

Even if we consider it was made in 2002 (iirc), so many others had done better PB for example with Gothic 2000, much much much better. :)


Gothic was also about 1/10 the size of Morrowind. :)

I agree though, animation wasn't Morrowind's strong point, but the graphics were incredible for the time, and it was an explorer's dream.

[txa1265]

I grabbed this for ease of access - $5 to re-buy games and not use a CD is an easy choice for me!

[Acleacius]

Thanks Alistair wasn't sure, last time I tried to play it in early 2009, I couldn't find anything. Max Payne solved the 3rd aiming for ranged action run and gun, then Gothic solved 3rd melee both many years ago.It's pretty hard to go back to First Person unless you need to see your feet.

Gothic was also about 1/10 the size of Morrowind. :)
True. :)

Iirc technically Gothic 2 was released by 2002 in Germany and 6 months later if you got the UK version 2003. :)

Damn, now I am having flash backs, even jumping the thud sound that plays, maybe I will hunt that sound down and replace it with a blank sound file, then I will only have to cringe at the animations of my toon. :p

[JDR13]

Iirc technically Gothic 2 was released by 2002 in Germany and 6 months later if you got the UK version 2003. :)


That's correct, although I have to admit you lost me on that one concerning its relevance to Morrowind. ;)

[guenthar]

There have been several animation replacers released for Morrowind and recently a new walking and running animation replacer has been released which you can find pretty easilty on bethsoft's Morrowind mod forums.

I am just going to get back into Morrowind because of all of the graphics enhancing being done with MGE and model and texture replacers. (also one of the German total conversions was fairly recently released in English)

[Acleacius]

JDR13, oh I was just pointing out that PB had done better animations 2 years before, since I was frustrated with the poor animations in Morrowwind. A game I got, like many others the day it came out, had lots of fun, yet going back to it was hard since the animations suck. ;)

Thanks very much guenthar! :party:

[JDR13]

I just didn't think the animations were *that* bad, it's just not Morrowind's strong point. It didn't bother me because there were other areas where it outshined games like Gothic. MW's strength lies in it's visuals, which were head and shoulders above anything else at the time, and it's size and explorability, which were also unmatched in a 3D game. It's background lore, and the amount of in-game reading material, some of which was quite good, was also impressive.

[rune_74]

You may want to try this if you do plan on playing morrowind with a decent new machine...

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5535

[Relayer]

Animations weren't THAT bad - sure, a bit stiff but not really an issue, even today. Facial models were the big problem and they were fixed by mods.

That game is still impressive, even today. Much more than Oblivion which makes a good initial impression and then you realize how generic and characterless everything looks.

And for $5 this is a RIDICULOUS amount of gaming. Hell, for $20 I'd still consider this a steal. Main game is huge enough, but add in both expansion packs and it's truly epic.

[Relayer]

You may want to try this if you do plan on playing morrowind with a decent new machine…

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5535

I would stay away from this. I think the fog and limited view gives the game part of its atmosphere. Not that you want to see fog five feet in front of you but you can use Morrowind FPS Optimizer instead to set the view distance far but not maxed.

I think the fog in the distance AND the actual built-in limit put on the view distance is there for a reason: the slow movement speed in Morrowind make the island seem large but with the Graphics Extender you can actually see all the way across the world and it just makes it seem much, MUCH smaller and all the towns too close together. It's jarring. I took it off immediately.

[JDR13]

Main game is huge enough, but add in both expansion packs and it's truly epic.


That's an understatement. I logged well over 100 hours in Morrowind, and never even set foot in Mournhold or Solstheim before I got burned out!

I made the mistake of having my usual completist attitude when playing MW. I tried to join every guild, do every quest, and explore every inch of the map. It was just too much in the end.

I'm looking forward to replaying it someday, but I'm definitely going to try to be more focused next time.

[JDR13]

The Graphics Extender doesn't include an option to adjust/limit view distance?

[Cthulhufan]

Gothic was also about 1/10 the size of Morrowind. :)

I agree though, animation wasn't Morrowind's strong point, but the graphics were incredible for the time, and it was an explorer's dream.
That it was, to be sure. Long before I progressed the main story, I made a life as a pearl diver/ocean explorer spending many many hours exploring the oceans and waterways. I ended up making a spell that healed slowly over time and boosted some other stat so that I could swim, dive, and treasure hunt for hours on end without issue. Much Dreugh wax was collected :)

I found the main quest to be quite boring but I adore the game for the many hours of unadulterated exploration that it gave me.

[rune_74]

I would stay away from this. I think the fog and limited view gives the game part of its atmosphere. Not that you want to see fog five feet in front of you but you can use Morrowind FPS Optimizer instead to set the view distance far but not maxed.

I think the fog in the distance AND the actual built-in limit put on the view distance is there for a reason: the slow movement speed in Morrowind make the island seem large but with the Graphics Extender you can actually see all the way across the world and it just makes it seem much, MUCH smaller and all the towns too close together. It's jarring. I took it off immediately.

Um, you have an option to use it or not, the best part of that extender is the ability to use any resolution that your card can support...looks much better...

[fragonard]

Yes, the distant land rendering can be too much but you can still increase the view distance about 50% without it; a good compromise IMHO. MGE also gives you additional widescreen resolution options.

[guenthar]

You can adjust the fog distance with distant view on to limit the distant view. The best part about MGE is the different shaders you can use to make the game look better. There are shaders to add Bloom, HDR, DOF, Water shaders, and other effects. Also there are mods that rely on MGE like the "Fade to Black" plugin which uses a shader to simulate tunnel vision as you lose hp and then your vision goes black as you die.

[JDR13]

I'm guessing you need a pretty fast system to use the MGE at its fullest?

[rune_74]

I'm not sure I am running it on a qosimio laptop and it runs fine(the laptop is pretty high end though)

[Relayer]

Guess I'll try MGE again then. I think I tried an early build, maybe they've added more features since or I didn't play around with it enough.

My machine is pretty old though, not sure how well the game will run with extras like shaders, bloom and other effects.

It actually runs Oblivion fine but Morrowind's framerate still dips when I go into Balmora, lol. With the other program I use I can adjust the view distance on the fly with the mouse wheel which really helps.

[JDR13]

It actually runs Oblivion fine but Morrowind's framerate still dips when I go into Balmora, lol. With the other program I use I can adjust the view distance on the fly with the mouse wheel which really helps.

I think I know the program you're talking about. It was called 'Morrowind FPS' something or other….

*Edit* The 'Morrowind FPS Optimizer'?

[Relayer]

I think I know the program you're talking about. It was called 'Morrowind FPS' something or other….

*Edit* The 'Morrowind FPS Optimizer'?

Yeah, that's it.

I preferred it because it was so simple to use and just wanted to expand the view distance a bit more but not render the other side of the island, heh. And being able to change on the fly.

[fragonard]

MGE can be that as well. Distant rendering is only an option. The main idea of MGE is that it allows the Morrowind engine to use DX9 calls for rendering by redirecting it to a custom .dll.