Major Bugfixes Only? (First-Time Player, No Spoilers)

[Debatra]

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?

[FIMzzZzz]

decide if morrowind.exe or openMW

if morrowind.exe i would consider the fallowing as essential... maybe already to much for you...!?

Graphic Herbalism - MWSE and OpenMW Edition !!!

Morrowind Code Patch

MGE XE

Morrowind Optimization Patch

Patch for Purists

UI Expansion (note that this isn't a skyrim situation, this is just an UI Expansion like the name says)

Animation Blending

Weapon Sheathing

Morrowind Enhanced Textures or Intelligent Textures and after one of those, Vanilla Land

and a grass mod
Aesthesia Groundcover - grass mod, Remiros' Groundcover or Vurt's Groundcover

this would be my absolute minimum. but i would also recommend to add some tree replacers... and some of the various texture replacers that are more focused than MET or IT, linked above.

 

and here some mod lists to check out, there are lots of mods to keep the gameplay vanilla but make it look good.

https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Morrowind_graphics_guide

https://github.com/Tyler799/Morrowind-2020/blob/master/Morrowind_2020.md

https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/54072

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014486063

[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.

Edited Monday at 02:04 AM by Debatra

[Dragon32]

No crashes and no mods? Go with OpenMW. Otherwise Morrowind Code Patch for the original engine.

The stealing thing? I can't think of anything that changes that mechanic like you describe. Use the search or maybe someone else does.

[Edit: Actually, if you're going with the Bethesda engine then get MWSE too (using MGE XE is probably easiest, just disable Distant Land) as MWSE includes a bunch of engine fixes too]

[Pagafyr]

My main problem playing Morrowind was my video card's settings.  The ATI video card I bought to use for Architect software had the Morrowind Demo disk with the Video Card I purchased.  Tuning the Video card for Morrowind was a little bit of a challenge. 

Morrowind is spectacular rough beginning with a new way to play.

An Open world to explore.  You can climb to the highest peak if you're determined to.  You can swim in the waters. Diving and swimming under water too.  Morrowind won the millions of students of Computer Science attentions.

Play it through and try not to get into fights early on with little worms, big mudkrabs, small strange looking dog like creatures.  They can be as tough as one of the guard of the Imperials, Vivec's finest, Wizards, and even newb magicka students who know a spell or two.

When you're on your way from Seyda Neen to Balmora take in the scenery, stopping here and there to see, just how plain and stunning it was for teens who were fond of arena games.  Morrowind took us all to new heights with computer advances.  Make mental notes about what frustrating occurences you suffered, causing the game to crash often too.

Then you might understand what all of us old timers were going through and how modding began to really get under our skin.