Morrowind Overhaul Sounds & Graphics Installation Guide English Version v1.

1.0 Last Update: 02 April - 2011 New Project Blog HERE! Index of this guide:
2 INSTALLING THE GAME + EXPANSIONS AND PATCHES 2.1.1 RETAIL VERSION 2.1.2 STEAM VERSION 2.1.3 BACKUP OF THE INSTALLATION FOLDER 2.2 INSTALLING SYSTEMS COMPONENTS 3 MORROWIND GRAPHICS & SOUNDS OVERHAUL 3.1 DOWNLOAD OF THE PACKAGE 3.2 HOW TO INSTALL MGSO 3.3 MORROWIND GRAPHICS EXTENDER 3.4 ADDITIONAL OPERATIONS FOR STEAM USERS 4 FAQs

A Spanish version of this guide can be found HERE or HERE tanks to the translator!

A Video version (Videotutorial) of this guide is available HERE!! Performances issues? Want to tweak Morrowind Overhaul? Use the Personalization Guide available HERE!
Do you have questions?! Just post them on our forums! http://morrowindoverhaul.net/forum/ index.php/topic,12.0.html

IMPORTANT: IF YOU ARE USING WINDOWS 7 / WINDOWS VISTA DISABLE THE UAC! (7/Vista) 2 INSTALLING THE GAME + EXPANSIONS AND PATCHES
Before you begin, be sure that your software drivers (especially the graphic cards ones) are up-to-date. You can find the latest graphic drivers here: NVIDIA, AMD/ATI.

2.1.1 RETAIL VERSION

The retail version is the one sold in stores or through magazines. Install as follows:
1. Morrowind 2. Tribunal 3. Bloodmoon

If you don't own GOTY edition (Game Of The Year) you should install the last patch too, 1.6.1820, available HERE. NON-STEAM USERS ONLY: Do not to install the game into the Program Files folder on Windows Vista and Windows 7 since it can cause problems! I suggest to disable the UAC, too, because it can cause some problems.

2.1.2 STEAM VERSION If you have the Steam version of Morrowind you wont need to install any patch. You will have to install the game like all the other steam games. Steam will do anything necessary to update your game with the latest patch.

2.1.3 BACKUP OF THE INSTALLATION FOLDER Whatever your version is, it would be expedient to backup the entire installation folder. If something goes wrong you would be able to restore the basic installation quickly. The folder you should backup is: This is applied to all the paths you will see in this guide Retail version: The chose Morrowind folder Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ common\morrowind

2.2 INSTALLING SYSTEMS COMPONENTS You will have to install the up-to-date version of these components: 1. Directx 9.0c Redistributable: download HERE, run DXSETUP.EXE from the folder where you extracted the files.

2. Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable x86: download HERE. 3. .Net Framework 2.0: 32 bit operating system 64 bit operating system .Net Framework 4.0 (x32/x64)

3 MORROWIND GRAPHICS & SOUNDS OVERHAUL

3.1 DOWNLOAD OF THE PACKAGE

First of all you should download the installation package of Morrowind Graphics & Sounds Overhaul: HERE File dimension: 1.13 GB Decompressed file dimension: 3.34 GB Use WinRAR or 7zip to decompress the files.

3.2 HOW TO INSTALL MGSO

1. Decompress the archive 1.1 INSTALLING EXTERNAL PACKAGE COMPONENTS Westlys Master Headpack: This mod is not necessary, but highly recommended. - Download it and install it like a normal Morrowind mod.

2. Open setup MGSO_Install.exe (you can find it in the Installation Data folder) and click Next >. 3. Choose the mod installation folder, which must be the Morrowind one. The default one should be: Retail version: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\

common\morrowind Click Next >. Confirm and click Start and wait until the end of the copying. Do not click End. 4. At the end of the copying this window will appear:

simply click Update. 5. The window Morrowind Code Patch will appear. Check all the boxes under -Graphic Changes-, -Bug Fixes- and - Interface Changessections. The -Game Mechanic- sections include some gameplay-changing options. Choose what options you want in your game and check them. Be careful to not check Main Menu Wider Textures under the International- section. If you dont like the over-the-shoulder camera uncheck the related box in the -Graphics changes - list. Finally click Apply chosen patches and wait until appears the message Patch succeeded on the right part of the window. Now you can close the window. 6.The window MoRRoWiNi will now appear. Specify the installation folder of the game by clicking the icon : Retail version: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\

common\morrowind Now click the icon with the pencil and then the one door-shaped. 7. Click Finish in the main installer. The program Exe optimizer will open. 8. In the Main tab click Find Morrowind manually and select again the installation folder: Retail version: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\morrowind Navigate to the Benchmarker Tab and uncheck Benckmark patches. Click now the button Patch Morrowind under the Main tab. Finally you will see: Finished. Applied X patches, where X is a number. If any error occurs, just ignore it and restart exeOpt.exe after the main installation process, you can find it in the Morrowind installation folder. 9. If many errors occur the procedure may not end, just go on with the installation closing the program Exe optimizer. 10. The MGSOO window will now appear.

You can now personalize your installation according to your tastes. Some screens are also included, you will see them by moving the mouse on the option. Heres a short description: - Crossair: Change the game crossair here! - User Interface: Switch between DarkUI & Vanilla interfaces. - MGE: Switch between the default version of MGE and the older one. NOTE: change this only if you are having problems with MGE! (Chapter 3.3 of this guide) - Magic Items Glow: Changes the glowing effect for enchanted items. - Better Bodies: Switch between the Nude bodies and permanent underwear bodies versions. - Misc - New Voices: Enable/Disable the voices replacement for important NPC (Dagoth Ur, Vivec, Almalexia,...) - Misc - Animated Morrowind: Enable/Disable a mod that adds some animated NPCs in Vvardenfell.

- Misc - Animated Soulgems: Enable/Disable the animation for soulgems. - Grass: Switch between the Bushy and Vanilla Friendly versions for the grass. - Solstheim: Same here, but for Solstheims Grass. - Trees - Simple Trees: Enables the plain trees, some more light and Vanilla Friendly trees for Morrowind. - More Trees: Enable/Disable some plugins that add more trees to some regions. - New * Trees: These are 3 additional tree replacer for some regions. - Trees - Region *: Switch some tree mods for the corresponding regions. Once finished click Apply and go on. NOTE: You can modify these options after the installation, too! Just run this little program from the Morrowind\MGSOO folder! You will have to re-create the distandlands with MGE every time you alter these settings. Major infos can be found under the chapter 3.3.8 of this guide. 11. The Morrowind AnimKit 2.1 window will now open. Click Next>. 12. Choose a folder that you preferfor Morrowind AnimKit 2.1 and click Install. 13. At the end of the installation click Next > and then Finish. 15. The installation in now complete. You may want to backup your Morrowind folder. The folder you should backup is: Retail version: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ common\morrowind 16. Open Morrowind Launcher as administrator, click Data Files and check ALL the mod listed on the left (double click), then click OK. Now click Options and check any given resolution, then click OK and close Morrowind Launcher.

17. Get to Morrowind installation folder: Retail version: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ common\morrowind 19. Open the folder called Mlox and launch mlox.exe: Retail version: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind\ Mlox Steam version: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ common\morrowind\Mlox Click Refresh Load Order and then Quit. 20. IMPORTANT: DO THE FOLLOWING STEP ONLY IF YOU OWN A 64 bit SYSTEM AND IF THE RAM IS > 2GB!!! Launch the program 4 GB PATCH (x64).exe as administrator, which you can find in Morrowind installation folder and check the Morrowind executable (Morrowind.exe). The message Executable successfully patched! will appear. Click OK.

3.3 MORROWIND GRAPHICS EXTENDER

MGE is a program that enhanches the visual appearance of morrowind by adding shader supports and features such as distant land. Hardware requirements: Minimum: CPU: 2.6 Ghz Graphics card: Pixel Shader 2.0 capable (ATI Radeon X800 / GeForce 6800 or newer) RAM: 1 GB (Windows XP), 2 GB (Windows Vista / 7) Suggested: CPU: 3 GHz Graphics card: Pixel Shader 3.0 capable (ATI Radeon 3870 / GeForce 8800 or newer) RAM: 2 GB (Windows XP), 4 GB (Windows Vista / 7) 3.3.2 Morrowind Graphics Extender (MGE) Configuration

1. Locate the installation folder of Morrowind and open MGEgui.exe as administrator: Rretail: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind Steam: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\ common\morrowind 2. It will brings on the MGE application, in the Main section:

Set everything as shown in the screenshot 3. In Global graphics you can:

Change Screen Resolution; tick Windowed Mode on/off; choose a value for the Refresh Rate (or let the application do that for you with the button Find valid refresh rates); set Antialiasing level as you like (heavily affects performance); set V-Sync on(Default) or off(0) with VWait Setting; set default options for in-game screesnshots. 4. In Render State you can find pretty important settings:

You can choose different Texture Filters MGE will apply on game textures. You wont change these options if your PC has only minimum required hardware, except Mipmap LOD bias that must be set on -1 (by decreasing this setting you will get more defined textures but if you exceed -1 you will experience aliasing issues on them). If you have a good graphic card you can set the Scaling Filter to Anisotropic Filter, and choose its level from the Anisotropic Filtering Level menu. In the Screen section you can set some parameters that modifies the visualization. You can rotate the image with Rotation, zoom the image with Initial Zoom and change the field of view with Horz. FOV. I suggest a FOV of 80, 85, 90, or something like that if you use a widescreen monitor. In the Options section be sure to check Enable Fog, Display Messages and Hardware Shader. If you enabled antialiasing is highly suggested to also check AA Colour Fix which resolves an issue that affects the screen while loading a cell. If you wish to see an FPS counter during the game chek FPS counter.

5. the Input tab

In the Options section you will find: Skip opening movie: use this to skip bethesda logo movie. Disable console: checking this the console wont open. Allow alternate combat controls: it makes player attack with mouse gestures (like in Daggerfall, for exemple). Input Lag Fix: if you have input lag issues try using this. if you click Launch macro editor you may see a new window

With this tool you can assign a macro to a key. Heres a guide that will help you setting up a simple macro to take a screenshot: Choose a key by clicking it Be sure to check that the key is unused From the Macro type dropbox chose function From the dropbox below the game function of the key (where you can read unused) chose take screenshot Save and exit 6. the Misc tab

Dont touch the first three options, theyre already ok and you probably dont want to modify them. Under the shader section activate activate everything, you can also set the HDR reaction time, the default value is fine but you might want to test other values. The Keep Fps Constant section doesnt work very well so dont use this feature. With Customiza 3rd person camera you can change the position of the 3rd person view camera by translating it on the three axis. the default position is centered on the palyer. If you like more an over the shoulder camera type (like the Gears of War or Fallout one) I suggest using the relative option in the Morrowind Code Patch. CPU idle is used to dont make Morrowind use the whole CPU all the time so your computer can do other tasks. if you have a multicore CPU you wont need this, but in any case you probably dont want to play Morrowind with this option activated: this game is really CPU heavy. 7. the Morrowind.ini tab

In this tab you can modify some morrowind.ini options without having to do it manually. High detail shadows: this option will activate better looking shadows. You might need to know that this kind of shadow are very CPU and GPU heavy and they dont look as good as you might think. If you think that your PC can handle this just try and see if you like the effect. the shadows are only casted by NPCs and creatures. Show FPS: its the original morrowind fps counter. the MGE one is better, although. Subtitles: this will activate subtitles for all the spoken dialogues. you can activate and deactivate this option also from the Morrowind in-game options menu. Allow multiple CS instances: activating this option will make you able to launch more than one Costruction Set instance at the same time. Allow yes to all: this option will make you able to skip all the error messages that will be displayed while loading data files and save games by simply clicking Yes to all. I suggest you to activate this one. Thread loading: with this option activated Morrowind will use more than one thread to load data during the game. Enable this option.

If you are experiencing high cell loading time during the game try to disable this one. Hit fader: if you uncheck this option you will no more see the red frame when you take damage. 8.the Tool tab

In this tab you will find three buttons, texture hook generator is intended for modding purposes so we wont talk about it. I will instead present you the other two functions: The Shader editor is a tool that permits to write, test and set the shaders.

We just want to set our active chain, so just click the relative button then double-click the shaders that you wanto to enable, then click save. You will see that there are some shaders included in MSGO, to a complete description of them see the 3.3.3 section. The Distant land creation wizard is a really powerful tool that will create the meshes and textures necessary to MGE to render distant land, distantant statics, top-quality water, grass... You have to pass through this wizard every time you change textures or meshes or add/modify/delete something in the exterior cells. If you dont do so you will notice that the distant lands wont match what you will see in a close distance. After the first installation of MGSO you have to do this procedure and here I will explain all the five passages: 1) first you have to choose the plugin that you wish to be used to create distant land. you have to do a two choices here:

Do you want animated grass? If no then click Select all and then Continue and wait for the loading procedure to end then go to the second point. If yes: - Click Plugin Directories... - Click Add and select the Data Files\Grass folder - Click Save and then Select all - Click Continue and wait for the loading procedure to end 2)Now you have to choose the resolution of World texture and the World normalmap.

I suggest you to dont change this settings at first. then, while playing, if you experience poor frame rate you may wish to lower those values while if you dont like the look of the textures on distant lands you may want to increase both of them. So, click Create land texture and wait for the tool to finish his calculations, then go on to point three. 3)Now you will have to choose the detail of the land meshes.

Its the same of the land textures, so just try it out and see what quality level suits you and your PC better. Click Create land meshes and after a brief wait for the math stuff go on to the fourth passage. 4)Were almost there, this is the most complicated part in this wizard.

- Minimum static size is used by the distant static creator to choose which static may have his LOD version (and so be drawn on screen on medium/ large distances) and which one may not. This is done by selecting the minimum size an object must have to be considered during the LOD creation process. This is the same as point 2 and 3: if you are experiencing huge frame rate drop increase this value, hovewer, if you dont want to see those small rocks pop up from nowhere try decreasing it. - Grass density percent self explanatory, this depends only on personal tastes. Lower values improve the performances, too! Try to lower this to take 5-6 FPS. - Mesh detail modifies the detail of the LOD youre about to create. Try decreasing this if Morrowind doesnt run smoothly. - Include activators - Include misc objects - Include interiors behaving like exterior (like Mournhold from the Tribunal expansion pack). - Include interiors with water Just activate this last four options if you want the whole game world to be draw at distance. And, believe me, you want it. - Use old simplification algorithm. As the options says, its old, so dont

check this. - Static overriding. Some mods may need to dont create some distant statics but this is not the case. You will learn when you have to use this option from the readme included in mods. Were done, click Create statics and wait 5)Nothing to do here, you just finished to create your distant land and statics! 9.The Distant land tab

Obviously be sure to check Use distant land. If you have performance problems while running Morrowind try to uncheck this. If the game runs smoothly without distant land then you have to decrease some quality parameters either in this tab or during the distant land creation wizard. Draw distance will tell MGE how many distant cell you want to see far. obviously the more cell you want draw the more the performance hit will be. And this one of the parameters that influence most the FPS.

Shader model. If your graphic card can handle it select 3.0 SM. Be sure that Use distant statics box is checked. Like use distant land you can uncheck this to troubleshoot performance issues. under the Water section you can choose what the water may reflect and may not. Dynamic ripples and Height of waves options can only work if you chose SM 3.0. Dynamic ripples will add ripples on water surface while raining while Height of waves will modify, well, the maximum height of the waves. Caustic instensity modifies the brightness of underwater refracted sunlight. Well, I left only one thing behind: the shader active chain configuration under the tool tab. To choose which shaders you should use and which ones you should not read the following brief description of each one of them. HDRBloom: This shader adds a bloom effect to every light of morrowind. If you had checked Supply HDR info to shader this shader will also simulate the effect of pupil dilatation. Performance impact: Low Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO): This shader simulates the light attenuation caused by ambient occlusion. It adds smooth shadows where light cannot spread due to objects blocking it. Performance impact: High Playable Depth Of Field: This shader simulates the focus effect of the human eye. if you are looking to a nearby object the background will be blurred. Performance impact: Medium Godrays: It adds beautiful-looking godrays. Performance impact: Low Underwater Blur: this shader blurs the screen while swimming underwater. Performance impact: Very low Water Wobble: this one adds distortion while swimming underwater. Performance impact: Very low

3.4 ADDITIONAL OPERATIONS FOR STEAM USERS

The following operations must not be done if you possess a Morrowind version different from the steam one! 1) When you start Morrowind you must disable the in-game functions of steam. To do so: From steam user interface go in the Steam menu and then click Settings Go to the In-game tab and uncheck Enable steam community ingame 2) You must modify the date of creation and last modify of morrowind.bsa, tribunal.bsa and bloodmoon.bsa. to do so: Download this file and decompress it Launche FileDate.exe Check all the three boxes Click Add files and choose morrowind.bsa. you can find it in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\morrowind\Data Files Set the date field to 05/01/2002 and click Change Files Date Repeat the process for tribunal and bloodmoon, set the date as follow: Tribunal.bsa: 11/06/2002 Bloodmoon.bsa: 06/03/2003

4 FAQs
The FAQs section has been moved HERE! Well, thats all for now. We hope that this guide was easy enough to let you enjoy our modpack! - The Morrowind Overhaul Team

The Morrowind Overhaul Installation Guide and the Modpack by The Morrowind Overhaul Team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at morrowindoverhaul.net. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://morrowindoverhaul.net.