I've neglected Morrowind once again! The neck went wonky and I couldn't sit here wasting my life but...I did get a chance to finish another book!!!

I hope to be back working with Luccar shortly to do some more on our Bitter Coast revamp.

Bitter Coast Update

Been a bit quiet in here lately. Work and more work is the reason.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Lucar and I have been doing our thing in the background, revamping BC with a plethora of new stuff, and a few game tweaks to boot.

New seamless in/ out of Bitter Coast caverns and a whole lot of new trees and foliage to look forward to (unless you're me because I have to make it).

Anyway, here are some screenshots to be going on with;

As the new trees have been designed with FPS in mind it allows us to add a whole lot more.

It also allows us to add extra foliage as well, as almost everything is atlas mapped from the get-go.

Any ideas are allows welcome.

ModJam 2021 Mods

 

Modjam 2021 has now come to a close and it's time to judge the huge amount of mods that were released over Easter weekend. I shall be updating this post as I review each mod.

As there are so many mods to review, I won't be playing them all at any great length, but enough to see if they work properly and complete all the quests and see all of the additions.

Please note: These mods will be tested (and judged) on an absolute clean Morrowind install and I have no idea who made the mods prior to working out their Modjam score.

(Clicking the mod title will open the Nexus download page)

The Blight

This was judged on a two-way basis. Luckily, I didn't have to test it all as Merlord had kindly streamed himself checking it out.

Lovely coding and sexy decals make this a nice feature. Being able to pass on your infection by talking (random) to people makes a lot of sense (Covid anyone?). 

The bandana-wearing during a storm is a great addition on its own.

Sadly, the Blight worsens over time, but the decals stay the same. I can feel an update coming for this though. 

The flora can also pick up Blight which is another nice touch. If people and animals can get it then why not the plants.

I left it on for a little while and after the novelty had worn off (this is the wife by the way, not me) it became annoying. It's not something you want if your build is based on a warrior type with little magic abilities, but it's still a great add-on either way.

Definitely worth the download and installation, and very immersive. As I know who the authors were on this one, I wouldn't have expected anything less. 

SkarFace

This one is super quick to test. It's simply a new model of the Skar and it certainly has the best name in the Modjam. 

When I say, "simply a new model", being a modeller I know how much time and effort went into this which is something most judges will sadly overlook.

Nice changes, well worth adding to your mod list. 

The Other Council Club

This one took me a minute or two to sort out, I stupidly misspelt the TR_Data.BSA when registering it which led to all sorts of yellow triangles of doom! (NOT the mods fault).

I must say, I am very glad that I bothered to take the time to track down my error as the mod itself was worthy of the effort.

It really set the atmosphere as I believe it should be. The lighting, the relaxed cushion sitters and the cosy corners reminded me of a hash den I had visited in Afghanistan, many years ago.

This one is definitely staying on the playlist.

My only bugbear with this mod was that it had utilised meshes from both OAAB and TR Data and required them both to work. I would like to see modders extract the required files from these BSA's and supply them within their own mod instead of the user being forced to download and install such vast quantities of excess files.

 Other than that, cool mod.

Redoran Heat

Well, no idea what to say about this one. The idea behind it, from what I can make out, was ok. 

It runs along with the old Hollywood favourite of; Man kills wife, man misses wife, man learns necromancy to bring wife back.

It wasn't so much the execution as the mod worked. It was the dialogue. It really felt as though this was written in another language and then Google translated it into English. For this, I can not roast the author.

The clues could be less cryptic in nature as it had me (and some other judges) baffled. The end reward was way too much, and the parting of the wizard was way too sudden.

It took a trip around the construction set to figure out what was going on and where to go. I would like to see the dialogue in its native language (I do hope the author isn't a native English speaker after saying this!) to see if it made more sense before Google butchered it.

Rating? Not sure, still baffled. Download at your own risk.

The Beacon of St Rilms

This mod provides a cosy little outpost (pub) on the way to the Ghostgate from Ald-Ruhn. It provides the two most important things there are. Bed, and beer. 

I have been trying to judge and review these mods without knowing the author prior to playing them, but I just had to check the mod page for information. This was one of those mods.

A lot of thought and Construction Set effort has been put into this boozer, and better still you can spot it a mile away with the handy glowing light of Rilm's beacon. "I can see the pub from here" has never been so right.

I especially liked the little bookcase/ alcove shown above in the screenshot. Nicely done.

It is yet another one of the mods that will be staying in the playlist.

Redoran Archmaster's Office

This is another mod that should be implemented across the board. All that work you put yourself through to get to the top and what do you get for it? Not a lot. 

This changes that and gives you a huge room with lots of storage space to do archmastery stuff in.

I must say, it was a pain in the arse doing the quests to get to be Archmaster, in the end, I just cheated my way there and broke into the room!

Nice layout, a good amount of thought and CS effort put into this one. Happy to keep it in my play list (well, the wife's playlist as I don't play anymore).

Archmaster Perks

Another tough one to judge... 

After cheating my way to the top, I can indeed confirm that you can still join another house! Adds so much it's hard to list. I didn't go through this with a fine-toothed comb, but a list of things is on the mod page. 

Free booze! Something I must repeat. 

Teleportation ring back to the council hall? Check. Fast travel is always a handy reward. I especially like the Master level training that becomes available to you as well.

Good mod. Someone should do the same for the other factions.

Marandus Rebuilt

This mod did make Marandus more tolerable and give it more to explore. Some extra tileset parts have been used that don't quite fit and leave an open end of a beam on display when going from rooms to the corridors. The lighting could do with moving a tad here and there as it creates light-seams in some areas.

For some reason, the tower model wasn't there in my version, but I'm sure that is because of my install and not the mod itself. The interior of the tower was there though, and I felt it could have been filled out a little more than it was. I'm not going to nail this mod because of a sparse tower due to the time frame which it had to do as much as the author has done.

What can I say? It's better than vanilla. I would have liked to have seen the meshes etc being separated from OAAB data instead of being forced to install an extra esm.

Old Blue Fin

What can I say about this one? It gives Old Blue Fin a bluefin. Something that Bethesda should have done in the beginning.

Redoran Hortator Armour Chest

Kitbashing at its best from Stripes. A "new" Hortator armour and an enchanted armour can be found in a locked chest within the Redoran practice room. The chest is keyless and can only be opened if you possess the ring of the Hortator (or cheat like I did).

The enchantments are useful and not overpowering as I've found with some of the Modjam rewards thus far. Such a shame that he didn't bother to put a little quest together as well.

Redoran Concept Art

This one was extremely hard for me to judge. It adds little touches to Ald-Ruhn, inspired by the original concept art with subtle additions of banners atop of huts and some other bits and pieces.

Redoran Bard

As you walk down the ramp from the Silt Strider in Ald-Ruhn you will come across an armoured agent that will throw a forced greeting at you, asking for your assistance in rescuing his sister who has been enslaved.

You must speak to him again after closing this greeting and he will give you a little story and offer you several options.

This mod did give me the run-around (in a good way), from Ald-Ruhn to Suran, Vivec, and a trip around a Dwemer stronghold to find what I was looking for.

The highlight of the mod for me was the attention to detail the author has put into the mudcrabs speech impediment that had me rolling.

I didn't play with the eventual companion too much, but she appeared to be useful, and with little to say. Her ability to throw out useful spells could be handy.

Nice little mod and well worth the download.

Redoran Amulet

Another short quest, very similar to the Umbra quest but with no promise of anything good within the dialogue. The warrior is quite tough so I did the decent thing and cheated my hand-to-hand to 100 to kick his arse.

What you get is a full set of armour and what looks like a crappy amulet you would generally ignore. On further inspection in the construction set, the amulet has a very high enchant possibility and has been retextured enough to set it apart.

Not bad. No quest, just a good old fight and a nice reward that's easy to miss.

This mod had obviously been cleaned and supplied a readme. +

The Watchman

This mod does exactly what it says (apart from the directions of course). It places a hut North-West of Maar Gan.

I noticed two things before running this mod that I wasn't fond of, one, an easy fix, the dates were wrong in Wrye Mash. Two, it used OAAB Data as an esm rather than extracting the few minor meshes it used from it. I decided due to my experience with OAAB that I would put up with floating yellow triangles for this one.

The Watchman's hut was well decked out and looked the part (see above screenshot) and the Watchman had a small amount of unique dialogue to greet me with.

Not much more I can say really. If you want to add a Redoran trainer to your game then this is a mod for you.

Anvi the Ash Hound

This is a nice little companion mod that adds a unique Nix hound to the game. It was easy to find and the back story was amusing and tangible. It is connected to the Redoran but could easily have been transferred to any race.

Anvi requires feeding before she will pay attention to you which I thought was a rather nice touch. I would highly recommend grabbing Nulls "Easy Escort" to partner with this (and any other escort mod including those pesky vanilla escort quests).

I can tell you now, Anvi isn't a fan of rat meat! You can find Avni and her owner in Ald Velothi.

Works with Morrowind Rebirth.

Cliff Racer Revenge

Everybody's favourite Morrowind creature is the feature of this particular mod as the name suggests.

It's not a very big quest, but as far as functionality is concerned, it works, and It would fit seamlessly in as a faction (for any race) quest. 

The reward is somewhat higher than I would have expected, and the recolour of the Racer in question has a lot to be desired, but, as an add-on quest, it does do the job.

You can find the quest giver inside the Redoran manor in Ald Ruhn.

Works with Morrowind Rebirth.

Lost Redoran Relics

I quite like the fact that this one had a read me included in the zip file. How often I've installed mods and wondered wtf I was supposed to be doing, or what conditions needed to be met. I suppose that's my own fault for not reading the descriptions properly but I still like to see a read me included in the zips. A practice that has sadly gone out of fashion. (Damn kids!)

This one forced me to remember how to cheat a faction level!

I wasn't expecting what I got when I started this one. I left Ald Ruhn and almost instantly found the cave I was heading for, quite novel as far as Morrowind is concerned, the author really needs to work on more confusing directions to be more lore-friendly!

I really did like this mod. A lot of thought had gone into the level design of the cavern, and a lot of effort had gone into the construction set to build it. Lot's of twists and turns, multiple areas, and a few crawl spaces to boot.

The random finds within the cavern are just about right, some of them useful and make sense.

I would suggest you don't go here until you have "levitate" or you could be sorry. 

Redoran Exile Armour

One word about this annoyed me. West. Please ignore the description and do the complete opposite! 

On finally realising that West means East when playing Morrowind I found the tomb where the body of the exile lay dead and did what any self-respecting adventurer would do. I stripped him down and stole his armour, Bill Cosby would be proud of me.

The armour itself has been nicely done, and the "post-it" notes are an amusing touch.

The note that came with him, his last words, was humourous and jaunty in a dark sort of way and although it could have done with being run through Grammarly before use, the ending was priceless. I agree Dren is a fetcher!

Definitely an interesting concept.

Note: I had to look on Nexus at this one or I would never have found it! 

Morrowind SPRING MODJAM!

Come April 3rd, an exciting Morrowind Modding competition takes place: The first Morrowind Spring Modjam! Over the weekend, you make a mod based on a theme and submit it on the Nexus before Monday.

Here’s how it works:

You suggest one or two themes on this form: https://forms.gle/k1SqoWWbkZZo76dH6
Friday 2nd 23.00 GMT: join the Livestream to vote on themes, win prizes, chat with modders.

Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th: make a mod!

Not a modder yourself? We’ve got you covered:

Play the mods and endorse your favourite to pick the “Players’Choice Award”
Take a screenshot in-game to illustrate the theme
Download and install the mod “Spring Modjam2021” and find the trophy hidden in-game. Take a screenshot of your character with the trophy to win!

Finally, join us for a Livestream April 10th:
Mod showcase Chat with modders

Results of the Best Screenshot and Trophy Hunt.

Modjam Winner announcement

Bitter about BC?

Ah, the Bitter Coast. Thoughts of swampy marshland, frogs singing, no cliff racers, and a great place to get lost....

Or is it? Is it Bethesda? Is it really? No. It's not. It's sparse and repetitive with hardly a reason to go there.

When I say repetitive, I mean repetitive. 4 different fungi, 2 different types of grass, 3 ferns, and 5 trees (with leaves), let's not forget the pond scum that is just a solid plane of various dark greens.

I wasn't particularly looking for a new project but when Luccar asked me if I would make him a new fungus, I couldn't resist. So far we've added 4 or 5 new fungi, 32 unique trees, duckweed instead of a green blob, an ongoing amount of flora and rocks.

All the new assets are atlas mapped of course, and excess clutter in the nifs is nowhere to be seen. This appears to allow us to add more items to each cell so that the barren landscape is no more.

We've removed the dumb idea that Bethesda had where every cave has a door with a scripted sequence and real cave entrances and exits.

[Video Here]

I must admit, we haven't done too much CS work yet to show our progress as we've been organizing assets and flora that would actually grow together in a swamp.  

[Screenshots here]

Not quite Morrowind...

 I recently had the misfortune of having to set up Windows 10 yet again on my PC. I thought it would be a fun idea to document it and create a page on my blog so that it may help others that find Windows 10 frustrating and annoying.

You can find it here; Fixing Windows 10

Common model set

 It's been quite a while since I posted on here as I now live on my new blog at; https://stgbooks.blogspot.com/ 

As I don't have the time to rebuild Caldera any more as I had once wished, I have found the time to remodel the entire common exterior housing set.

Not quite finished yet but after only 3 days I only have 5 or 6 models left to make and paint.

Most of the models are much lower poly than vanilla and also have a higher degree of atlasing. I will be offering several options with this mod (no esp needed) that will depend on your PC, rather than what I decide. 

A fully atlas'd version will eventually be available (with the exception of the windows) at some point but this will lower the quality of the textures.

Melchior has also offered to make the new models compatible with GitD, so I'm looking forward to that.