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Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Nov 22, 2013.

  • by booman, Nov 22, 2013 at 12:40 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Back in 2002 a third installment of Elder Scrolls was humbly released and the world was introduced to one of the largest RPG worlds ever created called Vvardenfell. As you played Morrowind you found your character exploring vast environments with unique cultures and settings. From dense forests, to swamps, deserts, ice lands and even basaltic mountain ranges. Attention was given to even the smallest details. Every single object in the game has a price, weight and specification attached to it.

    morrowind98.png

    Your character can be customized in hundreds of ways as you join guilds, level up, experiment with Alchemy and try out armor and weapons.

    Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Morrowind in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

    Note: This guide applies to the Retail version of Morrowind GOTY. This includes Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions. Other versions may require additional steps.

    Tips & Specs:

    To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

    Mint 14 32-bit
    PlayOnLinux: 4.2.1
    Wine: 1.7.6

    Installing Wine

    Click Tools
    Select "Manage Wine Versions"
    wine01.png

    Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.6
    Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

    Select it
    Click the arrow pointing to the right
    wine02.png

    Click Next
    wine03.png

    PlayOnLinux will automatically download it and save it in this directory:
    /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wine/linux-x86
    wine04.png

    Note: username is where you put your login name

    Its a good idea to backup this directory to another computer because you won't have to keep downloading wine versions when you need them.

    Extracting
    wine05.png

    Downloading Gecko
    wine06.png

    Installed
    wine07.png

    Wine 1.7.6 is installed and you can close this window

    Setup PlayOnLinux

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    morrowind01.png

    Click "Install a non-listed program"
    morrowind02.png

    Click Next

    Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
    Click Next
    morrowind04.png

    Note: If you are running a 64-bit system, PlayOnLinux will prompt if you want to use a 64-bit or 32-bit virtual drive. Always select 32-bit virtual drive.

    Name your virtual drive: morrowind
    Click Next
    morrowind05.png

    Select all three options:
    • Use another version of Wine
    • Configure Wine
    • Install some libraries
    Click Next
    morrowind06.png

    Select Wine 1.7.6
    Click Next
    morrowind09.png

    Note: If you are running a 64-bit system, PlayOnLinux will prompt if you want to use a 64-bit or 32-bit virtual drive.
    Always select 32-bit virtual drive.

    Wine Configuration

    Applications Tab
    Windows Version: Windows XP
    Click Apply
    morrowind10.png

    Graphics Tab
    Check Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
    Check Emulate a virtual desktop
    Desktop Size: 1024x768
    Click OK
    morrowind11.png

    Installing Packages (Windows components/libraries)

    Check the following libraries:
    • POL_Install_corefonts
    • POL_Install_dxfullsetup
    • POL_Install_tahoma
    Click Next
    All libraries should automatially download and install
    morrowind12.png

    Installing Morrowind

    Select CD-ROM : Morrowind
    Note: Steam versions or downloaded versions click "Select another file"
    Click Next
    morrowind13.png

    Click Yes

    Click Yes

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Installing

    Construction Set...

    Click Yes

    Click Next

    Installing

    Click Finish

    Click No for registration

    Click Finish

    DirectX 8.1
    Click Ok

    PlayOnLinux shortcut

    Select Morrowind.exe
    Click Next
    morrowind30.png

    Name your shortcut: Morrowind Launcher
    Click Next
    morrowind31.png

    Select "I don't want ot make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    morrowind32.png

    PlayOnLinux Configure

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Click Configure
    morrowind33.png

    Display Tab
    Direct Draw Renderer: opengl
    Video Memory size: The amount of memory on your video card
    Offscreen rendering mode: fbo

    Installing Tribunal

    Eject the Morrowind CD
    Insert Tribunal CD
    Go To Miscellaneous Tab
    Click "Run a .exe file in this virtual drive"
    Navigate to the Tribunal CD
    Select "Setup.exe"
    Click Open
    morrowind37.png

    Click Yes

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Registration
    Click No

    Click Finish

    Installing Bloodmoon

    Eject the Tribunal CD
    Insert Bloodmoon CD
    Go To Miscellaneous Tab
    Click "Run a .exe file in this virtual drive"
    Navigate to the Bloodmoon CD
    Select "Setup.exe"
    Click Open
    morrowind43.png

    Click Yes

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Registration
    Click No

    Click Finish

    Installing Bloodmoon patch 1.6

    Download the Bloodmoon patch 1.6
    http://support.bethsoft.com/patches.php
    Save to your desktop

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Go To Miscellaneous Tab
    Click "Run a .exe file in this virtual drive"
    Navigate to your desktop
    Select Bloodmoon_v1.6.1820.exe
    Click Open
    morrowind59.png

    Click Yes

    Click OK

    The Elder Scrolls II: Morrowind Game Of The Year is installed

    You should be able to run the Morrowind Launcher, configure graphics and resolution, then play the Vanilla game.
    But I know you probably won't be satisfied with the old configuration.

    I was unable to get Morrowind Graphics Extender to work in Linux.
    But I did find the Morrowind FPS Optimizer and it works beautifully.

    Download Morrowind FPS Optimizer

    Save to your desktop
    Right-Click and Select Archive Manager
    morrowind62.png

    Select mw_fps_opt.exe
    Click Extract
    morrowind63.png

    Extract to your Morrowind game folder
    Path: /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/morrowind/drive_c/program files/bethseda softworks/morrowind

    Note: username is where you put your login name
    morrowind64.png

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Click Configure
    General Tab
    Click "Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive"
    morrowind34.png

    Select
    mw_fps_opt.exe
    Click Next
    morrowind65.png

    Name the shortcut: Morrowind FPS Optimizer
    Click Next
    morrowind66.png

    Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    morrowind67.png

    Configuring FPS Optimizer

    Note: Make sure you have launched Morrowind at least one time before using the FPS Optimizer

    Select Morrowind FPS Optimizer
    Click Run
    morrowind68.png

    Status Tab
    Click "Change Morrowind registry settings here..." to select a high definition resolution
    morrowind69.png

    Video Mode
    Use the drop-down menu or manually type in your desired screen resolution
    Click Ok
    morrowind70.png

    Uncheck Novice Mode
    morrowind72.png

    View Tab
    Take some time experiementing with these settings and your video card.
    I unchecked "use mouse wheel for increase/decrease actions"
    I also increase/decrease speed to 87%
    morrowind73.png

    misc/2 Tab
    FOV
    Horizontal degrees: 100
    Aspect: 16:10
    Note: Aspect ratio depends on the size of your monitor. 4:3 is fullscreen, 16:10 is widescreen, 16:9 is smaller widescreen. Play with the settings and test by launching Morrowind
    morrowind74.png

    System Tab
    Check: minimize program to the system tray
    Check: run Morrowind on program start-up (after testing)
    Check: terminate this program together with MOrrowind

    This allows you to run FPS Optimizer when you launch Morrowind from the PlayOnLinux Shortcut
    Note: Make sure to test all of the FPS Optimizer settings first before checking "run Morrowind on program start-up"

    Conclusion:
    Morrowind vanilla ran perfectly at 1680x1050 and distance set to far. I also was able to install the massive mod Morrowind Rebirth in Linux along with a bunch of texture mods too.
    With the texture mods and Rebirth running Morrowind would slow down at certain areas. If you have this problem too, play with the FPS Optimizer settings to re-gain some frames per second.

    Morrowind Rebirth Mod
    http://www.moddb.com/mods/morrowind-rebirth
    Still actively in development and includes a bunch of other mods too.

    Screenshots:
    morrowind108.png


    morrowind107.png

    morrowind106.png

    morrowind105.png

    morrowind104.png

    morrowind103.png

    morrowind102.png

    morrowind101.png
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2016
    henley150 likes this.

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Nov 22, 2013.

  1. booman
    I guess that is possible. I used FPS Optimizer also to increase view distance and a few other graphical settings. I wish MGE worked.... you might want to try it again as well.
    Unfortunately if MGE doesn't work, I think you have to re-install the entire game.
  2. steve723
    I wish the wine devs would get steamwebhelper.exe working again. I missed out on some free trains in TS because of that. :mad:
  3. booman
    Agree! I know they will in time... must not be a huge priority since Steam works without it. Just no browsing
  4. steve723
    It works for most games unless as in TS you need the Steam store in order for a big part of the game to work.
  5. booman
    Or any free-to-play Steam game that you want to add to your library. Can't add it from the website, so until steamwebhelper.exe is fixed you can't play those at all.
  6. henley150
    hello new to ..well everything linux much less wine and play on linux. Do all mods install the way that FPS optimizer will or are there more steps if so is there a helpful guide? Thank you you for your time and knowledge.
  7. booman
    I'm sorry but no, mods work differently than FPS optimizer. I haven't tested Morrowind in PlayOnLinux/Wine in a long time, but when I did, MGE didn't work, which is why I used FPS Optimizer. MGE (Morrwoind Graphics Extender) does an amazing job providing many graphical additions to the game. I still don't know if it works or not, but as for mods... you can download them and extract them to a folder in the game directory. Then the launcher should allow you to enable/disable mods.
    At least, that is how I got some mods working like texture mods and Morrowind Rebirth.
    You may want to check out Open MW
    You can now play native in Linux, but it is still in development.
  8. henley150
    Thank you sir, for the reply. Is there a comprehensive guide that would be useful for installing mods ie, Morrowind Rebirth and few face and detail mods?
  9. booman
    Not that I know of, but if you have used mods in Windows, its pretty close to the same. Just download the rar, zip or compressed folder, extract to the "Data Files" directory.
    Launch Morrowind and enable/disable mods.
  10. henley150
    Thank you, ..yeah well never really did mods in Windows either. It is only here a little later in life I find the time to do the mods and trying something new. (for me anyway) I must say I do enjoy Linux. Thank you for your time and knowledge.
  11. booman
    No problem, let me know if you have any problems. I can pull out the old Morrowind disk and install it a again.
    Just make sure to post any problems here: PlayOnLinux Forum
  12. steve723
    At least this game runs great on my notebook. Probably Oblivion to when I get around to installing it. I suspect a little wine tweaking might fix Skyrim. I just switched to wine 2.16, but it still needs a bit to fix the FPS. Still to poor FPS in that game.

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