Debatra

I specifically said I'm not looking for things like minor fixes, UI, and textures. Aside from my one listed example about stealing stuff, all I want is to be sure the game won't be crashing and quests won't bug out and not progress.

I played the heck out of Oblivion and Skyrim back when each was new, but I'm only now setting up for my first time playing Morrowind. For the most part, I'd like to keep this first playthrough as close to "original flavor" as possible, experiencing the game in all (most of) its buggy, exploitable glory. That said; it's an older game, and a Bethesda game to boot. So I'm expecting there to be at least some number of game-breaking bugs as well as some things I need to do just to get it running properly on a (semi-)modern PC. But I'm only looking for fixes for major, game-ending bugs. Crashes, NPCs randomly dying/refusing to interact with you (as opposed to reasons they would intentionally refuse to interact, like vampirism), quests being completely broken and unable to be finished, etc. I also saw something about broken idle animations shifting "stationary" NPCs over time, things like that. What I am very specifically not looking for is anything that attempts to fix all bugs like the Unofficial Patches for Oblivion and Skyrim, minor fixes, anything like QoL or UI mods (for now at least), or anything that adds or removes content. Like I said: I'm a first-time player looking for what someone's original experience would be like. That said, I would also like recommendations for a lightweight mod that does absolutely nothing except changing the fact that stealing a single piece of cheese from a merchant eternally forbids me from ever attempting to sell any cheese to that merchant. My first time playing an RPG like this is inevitably going to be a "do everything and eventually become a god among men and mer" kind of playthrough, so I'm probably going to steal a bunch of s#*! and I'm not that much of a masochist. But that's the only actual gameplay change I want. (For now at least.) Also, I am aware of Expansion Delayer and it is very much on my list despite technically going against what I've just said I want. But I already understand the frustration of being badgered into a game's DLC from the word go as well as I care to. And is there anything specific to Morrowind modding that I need to know?

I know that there are several of these, but frankly, none of them are all that great. What I'm looking for are ones that won't trigger the DLCs until you want them to. Something not based on any stats, so any character can start them at any time. Something that is completely unrelated to other quests, for the same reason. Something not based on fame or infamy, so you don't have to actively avoid playing the game until you're ready to start them. This one in particular keeps being used for Knights of the Nine, which is somewhat egregious given that questline starts with three NPCs being killed. (Not exactly important ones, but still.) Maybe for some of them (not KotN) you can go to the DLC area and just walk in, but don't have that be the only way to start it. Especially if said area is in the middle of nowhere. Shivering Isles is the only one that can get away with this in my opinion, as the island is clearly visible from one of the major cities. And all you really need is something simple to trigger it, like "go to X place and do Y simple thing", like some of them already do anyway (so why not for all of them instead of seemingly-arbitrary triggers and requirements?). For Frostcrag, maybe reading a Black Horse Courier in Olaf's (or the Bruma Mages Guild, or the castle, or wherever else you care t put it) that mentions a recently-dead archmage, leading to a (maybe summoned Dremora?) courier informing you of your inheritence? Chorrol can have fliers laying around saying that Battlehorn is requesting aid. The people of Bravil will no doubt be talking about the strange island that just showed up in the Niben. Maybe you need to interact with Rowley in some way to catch Greywin's attention and have his note delivered to you (the Wawnet isn't far out of the way from the Imperial City, and Weye already has a small vanilla quest associated with it). Some DLC Delay mods I've seen have caught on to putting a book or something in Anvil for Dunbarrow Cove, and the same with a copy of Treatise on Ayleidic Cities being somewhere in civilization for Mehrunes Razor. Horse Armor and the Orrery being notes has also occurred to most modders. So then why on Nirn is KotN usually tied to fame with these mods? ...As for what should trigger KotN in particular, I admit I'm less certain. Maybe the Prophet is hanging around the Temple of the One in IC, and talking to him triggers the attack? Eh, that might be a bit much for what it does. Thoughts?

In response to post #64241181. #64248516, #64248986 are all replies on the same post. I use Vortex, but with NMM for manual ordering. It's actually quite nice.