You might think that an old game (even though it’s considered an all-time great RPG) such as Morrowind doesn’t really get much love and attention these days, but you’d be absolutely mistaken. A game like this that’s considered a massive classic like this still has a massive mod community around it, and still gets active development, even in 2020. Honestly, there are so many mods out there for Morrowind, it’s kinda hard to find the good ones.
Thankfully, that’s why you rely on me (and absolutely no one else, right?) to bring you the best of the best.
#1 MGE XE
So there’s a reason this mod is at the top of this list, and that’s because it’s the must-have mod for Morrowind.
In case you don’t know how to decipher abbreviations, MGE it stands for ‘Morrowind Graphics Extender’ and as you can imagine, it adds a lot of new graphical features into the game. Essentially, it increases draw distance, shadow and render quality, so that’s quite a lot you’re going to get out of it. Sort of makes sense that a game this old and popular gets this kind of upgrade, especially since computers have gotten way more powerful since then.
There’s also a bunch of other features that deal with our modern technology, such as UI scaling (You’ll want the ‘better dialogue fonts’ mod as for that as well), some better antialiasing and global lighting and even a borderless window mode, which is actually super awesome. As you can see, you really do need this mod if you plan to play Morrowind.
#2 Tamriel Rebuilt
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but Tamriel is actually much larger than what’s included in Morrowind, which is the central island Vvardenfell. You see, originally the devs wanted to include a whole lot more, but budgetary and time issues meant that they could only include a small portion of it. Thankfully, a group of really awesome people decided to take on the project of expanding Morrowind to include a lot more of Tamriel, just as was originally intended.
With this mod, they’ve actually managed to add the mainland and along with with it a ton of content, including over 100 miscellaneous and faction quests, making this mod more like an expansion than just a mod. Unfortunately, the mod doesn’t have any main quests as of yet, but it’s certainly on the docket, and development is still ongoing (In fact, they’re looking for devs, so if you’re interested, check it out).
For the most part though, this mod tries to keep the mainland separate from the central island, at least until the mod is officially complete. Now, as you can imagine, installing the mod is pretty complicated, so you should check out their own guide before doing it.
#3 Morrowind Comes Alive
Morrowind was made in the day and age where procedural generation and dynamic worlds were pretty much impossible due to the lack of computing power. Let’s be honest, anybody who’s played Morrowind or any game from that era once or twice can attest to how tiring it is to see the same faces over and over and over and over and over again . . . and over again. Seriously it can get tedious.
Thankfully, a group of smarty-pants modders have come together and added a bit of life to the game. As such, the thousand or so NPCs in the game rotate and change over time, so whether you’re in a bar or in a shop, you aren’t always seeing the same people. It might seem like a very small thing but it honestly makes quite a big difference.
Now, before installing this mod you should probably read up on their notes since it can interfere pretty badly with other mods.
#4 Morrowind Code Patch
Do you know what else didn’t exist back in the day? Digitally distributed bug fixes. What you got on the disc is what you got forever, whether it was a complete mess or not. Well, for the most part, Morrowind was a pretty well-made game without too many issues, and yet over the years, it’s become a bit less tolerable.
That’s where this code patch comes in, saving us pulled hair and dents in the wall where we banged our heads against. It manages to fix a ton of bugs and issues that caused hard crashes and save file corruption, two of the worst things you can get in an RPG (or any game really). It also fixes other issues such as being able to choose different aspect ratios, attributing stats properly, balancing the sound, and really just a ton of different stuff.
You can check out the full list on their page.
#5 Morrowind Enhanced Textures
You might think that this is the same thing as the MGE, but actually, it’s a little bit different . . . and weird. I don’t know if you’ve heard of deepfakes, but essentially they are fakes made with the use of neural networks to recreate the look and feel of a person eerily perfect. Well, Enhanced Textures does essentially the same thing but with graphical neural networks, which they’ve packaged into mod form for you to install.
You see, when you put the vanilla game into HD, things start to become very, very blurry. With these neurally networked graphics, everything becomes much crisper and good looking. In fact, they’ve even managed to bump graphics up to 4k with tons of added detail you would have never seen in the original game. It’s a little mind-blowing if I’m being honest.
#6 Andromedas Fast Travel
One thing they didn’t really care about in the olden days of video game development, was fast traveling, and if you’ve ever played a game from the 90s you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. In fact, the only form of fast traveling that I can think of is maybe Final Fantasy. Well, Morrowind is no exception and there’s no fast travel to be seen for the hundreds of miles you’ll be walking.
Of course, everything can be fixed with a mod, and this one adds fast travel to any named location, which you’ll have to spot before the location opens up. The way this mod came about is actually a bit of a cute story, with the mod’s developer making after his girlfriend made a suggestion to the effect that the game needed fast travel. Her online name is Andromeda, ergo the name of the mod.
#7 Real Signposts
Aaaaannndd since you will be needing those signposts if you install that fast travel mod, then maybe getting clearer signposts might be cool.
The vanilla game actually had stuff written on the signposts, but they were blurred out so you couldn’t read them. Also, these names actually lineup with real locations, so it adds a ton to immersion beyond just being something purely aesthetic. Of course, they did add new and nicer textures, so there is that.
#8 Run Faster
Ok, so maybe you don’t want fast travel for some probably insane reason like keeping the game ‘pure’ (in which case what are you doing here?). Well, Run Faster doesn’t add too much, just makes it so you run a bit faster and get to places a bit sooner. Neat huh?
Conclusion
And there you have folks, as you can see Morrowind may be old but it’s definitely not forgotten. The constant and active development brings new life to an awesome RPG that’s considered a classic of its time. Another awesome thing, stemming from this fact, is that you can enjoy Morrowind mods even if you have an aged gaming PC under $500.
The requirements are that low!
Now, I know that maybe you won’t necessarily download all the mods here and that you might be looking for something different. In that vein, there’s this pretty and handy long list of mods and how to install them called ‘Morrowind 2020: Thastus Edition’. Either way, whichever mods you go for I wish you the best of luck (and fun)! Also, it would be amazing if you knew more about the Elder Scrolls timeline.
If you’re interested, here are our other lists of awesome mods to check out: