Morrowind - 2011 Graphical Project
 

A number of sites have run stories on Morrowind 2011, a graphical update mod project. We originally saw it at Joystiq via a note from Omega but the official site has links to the files and everything you need. Graphical mods aren't new but, as I understand it, this is a single compilation of existing mods that work well together to produce a complete overhaul. In total, there's 4Gb of stuff so settle in for a lengthy process.
More information.

Tried this yesterday, after having not touched my Morrowind discs for… well a long time. A very impressive project. Walking through Seyda Neen in both vanilla and the modded version makes a world of difference. It will be nice to explore the Bitter Coast once more.

Is there new content - as in major quest-lines etc? I loved Morrowind, but if its just a prettier version than I'm not sure I can slog through it again (so soon after replaying it, I mean).

From what I gather, it's mainly a graphics update. I believe the compiler of the mod wanted to keep the game as close to the original as possible.

I think that it looks too green and overall the colours are too bright

Does it work with non-English versions, too ?

Because I found out that some Mods don't.

So… where can I find some screens ?

I tried Morrowind a few days ago with the MGE and some key texture upgrades. Not sure what I didn't get, but it looked MUCH worse than Oblivion with similar mods. Very bland and lifeless.

Maybe some screens would help, because i'd still be interested in trying it - if it, indeed, could look as good as or better than Oblivion.

Here's a video that the compiler made of the mod collection. He notes that using FRAPS makes the video a bit laggy, but I still think it gives a good impression of the game. Fast forward to around 1:18 in the video to get a good 'day-time' view.

I've already got the exact same setup just from downloading and selecting mods I liked that have existed for years. This 'project' brings nothing new to the table other than a compilation.

The animations still look like an abortion, but the rest is pretty impressive. Much better than the gathering of mods I tried….

The selection of visual mods used is good.
The question is how well they´re mix&matched and how well the additional tweakage (mge, ini) was done.

Judging by this vid,
the answer to the above question is: badly, in my opinion.
Purple in the beginning is rather over-the-top, I don´t like those big bluish stars, trees are mismatched and interiors look just terrible.

This is what I consider a well lit interior, this is how exteriors can look like if not drenched in bloom and this is night sky I consider more appropriate for the game.
Matter of taste, yeah, but that´s exactly why compendiums like this don´t work.

Moreover, this compilation isn´t purely audiovisual, it comes with Living Cities of Vvardenfell which introduces NPC schedules (which may prove a rather tedious addition given its implementation and Morrowind limits), ecology balancing mod (which among other things populates Solstheim with terribly animated deer and goats) and Morrowind Comes Alive which is just all around bad choice when it comes to mods populating the world with more NPCs (it´s buggy, introduces badly balanced enemies and some NPCs come with anime-ish hairdos). Starfire´s NPC Additions is a vastly superior take on this aspect.

That said, most of the visual mods used are good, so maybe with some mge tweaking and few exclusions this may be a solid fast solution after all, but I still think that anyone who wants to indulge in enhancing their Morrowind´s audiovisual quality with relatively little hassle should look into Povuholo´s Morrowind 2010 thread and use that as a guide instead.

Oh dear - looks like the site is about to be taken down. Some people had a hissy fit about their work been placed in a 'compendium' without their say so and started threatening legal action. That's not the kind of behaviour I would expect from a modding community… for shame!

The gamma is off in the video, it always looks terrible when you try to show something from Morrowind on youtube, i bet he recorded it with Fraps, it looks exactly like that for me too.

But the purple sunrise and the interiors did look really terrible. My grass and trees are still looking AMAZING though. J/k ;)

edit: it's been taken down? lol.. yeah some people are really over protective about their work, i really don't see the point in being so incredible anal about something which is meant for other people's enjoyment in the first place. I couldnt care less if someone included my mods in a compilation without asking for permission.

I agree with you. Most of the videos about how great Morrowind looks after a graphics update like this one look pretty horrible to me. As an example, some of the very detailed textures look terribly flat and don't fit the game or other textures used.

The Morrowind modding community has always been like this. People there can talk for pages over pages about what you are allowed to use under which conditions and what not. And never say anything even slightly negative.

I always had "please use anything you like but include me in the credits if it is a significant contribution to you mod" disclaimer in my readmes. But I was mainly a scrpiting monkey. The visual artists have always tended to see things differently, even in the early days.

In my experience it's often not the modders themselves who cares, but other people who are annoyed when someone puts together something they didnt do themselves.. Some people just love bitching about the unwritten laws of modding, while most modders just want thier mods spread so people can enjoy their work.

Constructive criticism is ok and is encouraged, but saying stuff like "your mod sucks" and so forth is not tollerated there (and shouldn't be). I think the TES community is very friendly and encouraging, much unlike for example the GTA modding community which i found very hostile and immature.

I believe that this approach is one that all modders should use, and I'm very grateful for level-headed, non-egotistical modders such as yourself. I can fully understand being upset about not receiving credit for one's work and effort, but the Morrowind modding community is notoriously touchy and overzealous about unnecessary rules. These absurd conditions on how others can use different mods prevent mod compilations that would make the modding process a lot easier for everyone. All mods are non-profit works anyway, so does it really matter if a modder uses another person's mod in their own work, so long as they give credit where it is due?

It's a good thing that Morrowind is generally a great game in its vanilla state, because given how the modding community doesn't really behave like a "community" - as in, working collaboratively to make the game better - there will never be an awesome overhaul mod that enhances the entire game using the contents of many different mods. (Unless such a thing already exists - I gave up on Morrowind mods a few years back and recently re-played it without checking for new mods)

Yes, I know that you never showed the kind of behavior that I mentioned, and I did not want to imply that all people behaved like control freaks. It's just that a few very vocal voices in this regard can manage to spoil the whole environment.