# Introduction

{% hint style="warning" %} <mark style="color:yellow;">**DISCLAIMER and design philosophy**</mark>
{% endhint %}

* If you're using OpenMW, you'll find many mods from this list are incompatible. Similarly, instructions that work for one may not be applicable to the other.
* Personally, I prefer gameplay, quests, and content mods over graphical updates. While I appreciate the lore, I'm willing to try out mods that deviate from it if they're enjoyable.
* I have structured this guide to provide flexibility for customizing your Morrowind experience based on your preferences. While the guide may not be fully modular, **it follows an incremental approach**. This means that you can follow the steps up to a certain point to achieve a specific game experience. Unless a mod is marked ✨ you can choose to skip it.

1. <mark style="color:orange;">**Vanilla**</mark>: as Todd intended with bug fixes, distant land and shaders. DONE
2. <mark style="color:orange;">**Vanilla+**</mark>: optimized HD vanilla graphics, grass, must-have bug fixes, increased replayability and a whole new continent. DONE
3. <mark style="color:orange;">**Vanilla++**</mark>: Smaller bug fixes (often for cohesion), a dynamic world and a bunch of (optional) graphic replacers. DONE
4. <mark style="color:orange;">**Balance and Survival**</mark>: mods that change the feel of the game, making it more difficult. No, you won't be a god at level 10 with more septims than you could ever spend. Not a hardcore experience either. Many vanilla quests and factions are improved. DONE
5. <mark style="color:orange;">**More content!**</mark> New quests, Town addons DONE
6. <mark style="color:orange;">**More adventure**</mark>**:** dungeons and landscape mods
7. Loot and gear mods:&#x20;
8. <mark style="color:orange;">**Mods that work for certain character archetypes**</mark> (warrior, stealth, mage, cleric)

{% hint style="info" %}
There are several great modlists available, and you may find some overlap with mine. You may even find that you prefer different modlists, so here are a few that you might want to consider:
{% endhint %}

* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Expanded Vanilla</mark>](https://modding-openmw.com/lists/expanded-vanilla/) (designed for OpenMW)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Total Overhaul</mark>](https://modding-openmw.com/lists/total-overhaul/) (heavier modlist designed for OpenMW)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Sigourn's Morrowind Sharp</mark>](https://github.com/Sigourn/morrowindsharp/tree/main#morrowind-sarp--an-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind-modlist) (purist modlist)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Doublemoulinet's guide</mark>](https://github.com/doublemoulinet/Morrowind-Modular-Mod-Guide/blob/master/VISUALS.md) (similar to Sigourn's, modular and larger)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Necrolesian's Modlist</mark>](https://github.com/Necrolesian/morrowind-mod-list/blob/main/list.md) (focuses on bug fixes and graphic improvements, includes detailed explanations)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">rfuzzo's Modlist</mark>](https://r-fuzzo.gitbook.io/morrowind++/) (a blend of the above with lots of additional content)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Thastus</mark> ](https://github.com/Tyler799/Morrowind-2020/blob/master/Morrowind_2020.md)(older modlist focused primarily on graphics, some information is outdated but included for reference)

For advanced mod users who are comfortable installing mods without detailed instructions, there are some pure modlists available. These include:

* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Lucevar's modlists</mark>](https://github.com/Lucevar/mw-immersion-mods/blob/master/mwse.md) (organised by mod types)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Alice's role-playing ideas</mark>](https://alicemorrowindmods.wordpress.com/category/roleplay-ideas/) (with mod suggestions)
* [<mark style="color:yellow;">Merlord's Immersive Modlist</mark>](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1euy-S5Y8SFHG6lLzgbo2_ck5KvslFL92bHUjaCJz7_c/edit#gid=0) (a whole lot of these are included in this modlist)
* I also have m[<mark style="color:yellow;">y own modlists</mark>](https://danaeplays.thenet.sk/tag/modding/) that are organized by class, themes, or role-play goals.

However, if you're new to modding and Morrowind, I recommend starting with a guide that includes only a handful of mods. I wrote the guide with Skyrim players in mind, as it aims to soften the aspects of Morrowind that might deter those who are used to more modern games. The mod selection is intentionally limited to 22 mods or fewer, and all mods can be easily disabled or configured in-game for simplicity. You can find this guide here: [<mark style="color:yellow;">**Morrowind First Time: 22 Mods or Less in 2022**</mark>](/daim/morrowing-first-time-in-20-mods.md)<mark style="color:yellow;">**.**</mark>&#x20;

### Before we begin, let's make sure you have all the necessary tools and files to follow this guide.

You will need:

> Morrowind GOTY
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">Mod Organizer 2</mark>](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6194)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">Wrye Mash</mark>](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/45439) (Polemos' fork)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">Tes3merge</mark>](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/46870)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">Mlox</mark>](https://github.com/rfuzzo/mlox/releases/download/1.1.5/mlox.exe)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">Morrowind Code Patch</mark>](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/19510) (standard exe version)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">MCP Skunk Works</mark>](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/26348?tab=files) (MCP beta)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">MGE XE</mark>](https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/41102)
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">tes3cmd 0.40</mark>](https://github.com/john-moonsugar/tes3cmd/releases/) Expand **Assets** under "v0.40-pre-release-2 (with trial Windows .exe)" and
>
> download **tes3cmd.exe**.
>
> <mark style="color:yellow;">DXVK</mark>
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">NET 6 Runtime</mark>](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download) (for TES3Merge).
>
> [<mark style="color:yellow;">7-Zip</mark>](https://www.7-zip.org) (or another program to open archives)

Make sure to keep all the downloads in a single folder for easy access. We will move and extract the necessary files as we go along. If you have all of the above tools and files downloaded, we're ready to get started!


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