Recommended mods Morrowind

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Povuholo's Morrowind 2010

Getting the most out Morrowind with some of the best mods from the last 8 years. Alternate thread: Link


Over the years I've played with a lot of mods and while many came and went, there was always a group of mods that I liked which I kept for future playthroughs. I've been keeping up with the latest mod releases, adding more to my mod collection over time, resulting in an already fantastic game that kept getting better and better.

Obviously this is a very subjective list. These are the mods that I like. Some people might not like them. Some people might like other mods that I didn't mention. This list isn't a complete list of all good mods, it's just a list of mods that I've enjoyed. I'm sure there are tons of cool little mods that I've missed or forgotten about, but I don't intend to make this an endless list.

This list is intended mostly for people returning to Morrowind, who want to know what has been going on in the MW modding community since they last played. It's also for new players, who are most likely overwhelmed by the large number of mods that the modding communities have produced over the last 8 years. This list should help with finding some interesting mods that you might miss otherwise. Well, many of these mods are actually really popular but still!

For people new to this game, I wouldn't recommend fully modding your game (Though you should at the very least get the 'mods' from the bug fix section) until you've at least played the vanilla game a bit. It's a bit strange to change something with a mod isn't it, when you don't know what something was like originally? That's my opinion anyway.

I like my game modded, but also have it stay close to the vanilla game, and with everything balanced. Or at least not less balanced than vanilla. That's why this mod does not contain any large weapon/armor compilations, they're not really my thing.

All mentioned mods on this list are compatible with each other, though some need compatibility patches. These patches are always included in the download of one of the two conflicting mods though, such as the Rise of House Telvanni compatibility patch in the Uvirith's Legacy download.

The list will sometimes mention alternative mods that do something similar. It will also sometimes mention if the mod is designed with a specific character type in mind. For example, if you're playing a Warrior type character you probably won't care about mods that add new quests for Great House Telvanni, the magic orientated Great House.

Note that this is not a modding guide, it assumes that you are capable of installing mods. It also assumes that you have both official expansions, Tribunal and Bloodmoon, installed. Not all mentioned mods require them, but many do.

So there we go.

Povuholo's Morrowind 2010

Useful links

Wrye Mash: An essential utility for a modded, allowing you to change your load order, save them, repair saves, and much more.

Mlox: An automatic mod load order sorter, similar to BOSS for Oblivion. Pretty handy, but don't expect it to fix all faulty load orders. So do keep an eye on what it changes, and what it doesn't change!

Recommendations For New Players

MW Mythic Mods (many many mod lists)

Es Search (Search engine for Morrowind/Oblivion mods)

Bug Fixes

Morrowind Patch Project (At the time of writing the Planet Elder Scrolls download is not available for some reason): This patch is a continuation of the Unofficial Morrowind Patch and fixes tons of bugs.

Morrowind Code Patch: Now this is something else. Unlike the patch above, which fixes things like quest bugs, dialogue typos, floating rocks, etc. through an .esp file, the Morrowind Code Patch fixes engine bugs by patching the Morrowind.exe. This allows for all sorts of fixes that cannot be achieved with an .esp file. Download it and look at the list of fixes. The patch is completely manual, you can choose which fixes and gameplay tweaks you want. I recommend at the very least all 'bug fixes', though I use most of the other features as well.

Gameplay/Balance changes

Galsiah's Character Development: A popular, alternative, more immersive player leveling system. No more artificially raising useless skills to get +5 multipliers for your attributes when you level up. Instead, attributes rise automatically based on skill usage. It also removes the skill/attribute cap: You can continue to raise your skills and attributes above 100, though it will go slower. GCD also features a balanced magicka regeneration feature, allowing you to slowly regenerate magicka without resting. The speed at which this regenerates is based on your magic skills and willpower.

Suitable character types: GCD is suitable for most character builds, though it is better if you choose a 'pure' class, instead of, lets say, a Fighter/Mage mix.

Possible alternatives: Madd Leveler: I have not used this mod myself.

Races Are More Fun: This makes the different races and the abilities they have more interesting. It is well balanced, lore friendly and a refreshing change from vanilla.

Suitable Character types: All.

Birthsigns Are More Fun: Pretty much the same as the above, but for birthsigns. Both mods are compatible and I recommend using them together.

Suitable Character types: All.

Keyring: Keys will no longer clutter your inventory! Highly recommended.

Delayed DB Attack: Delays the assassination attempt of the Dark Brotherhood on the player until certain conditions have been met, instead of allowing them to appear at level 1. This makes a lot more sense.

Antares's Little Mods: Scrolls and Soulgems: This is a collection of small mods, all with separate esp's. I only use Scrolls and Soulgems, which add blank scrolls to the game which can be enchanted, just like all those magic scrolls you find in the game.

Suitable Character types: Mages/Enchanters

Graphic Herbalism: Like other herbalism mods, this allows you to harvest ingredients from plants instantly by activating them, without having to open them like normal containers. What makes this herbalism mod unique is that it removes (part of) the plant you harvest, when you harvest it. That way you can see, visually, when you've already harvested a plant.

Suitable Character types: Anyone who likes to pick up ingredients.

Imperial Legion Badge: Adds a badge (looks like a dwemer coin) to the game that can be picked up when you have joined the Imperial Legion. Normally Legion members will not be happy to talk to you if you're not wearing a legion cuirass, which is annoying when you want to wear other things. With this badge in your inventory, you can wear whatever you want!

Suitable Character types: Whoever plans to join the Imperial Legion. It won't hurt to have it active for other characters though.

NPCs and Creatures

Piratelord's Creatures XI: Most people will agree when I say that this is the best creature adding mod there is, comparable to Mart's Monster/Mutant Mod for Oblivion/Fallout 3. This adds lots of new creatures to the game, all lore friendly and of good quality. I wouldn't play without it.

NX9 Guards Complete: More varied guards, some female, some with quivers. It also adds many more faces for guards, whereas in the original game you'd constantly run into imperial guards with the same face. It all sounds pretty simple but it makes quite a difference!

Starfire's NPC Additions: A mod similar to the popular Morrowind Comes Alive, adding random NPCs, mostly in towns. All NPCs added by Starfire's mod use vanilla clothing and heads, making them fit in perfectly. They can also do interesting things like teleporting into town, or away, as you're walking around.

Alternatives to Starfire's: Morrowind Comes Alive. Very popular, but not to my personal taste. I prefer Starfire's because MCA also adds generic named hostile NPCs (Bandits) in dungeons, as well as pretty frequent attacks in town, and NPCs generally stand out from the rest of the population because of custom clothing. Again, this is a subjective list. MCA is popular for a reason, it is a good mod. MCA can be used together with Starfire's as well if you wish, but having large numbers of NPCs in one place may have an impact on performance. I'd recommend one or the other. Note that my experiences with this mod were with V5.0, and at the time of writing the mod was recently updated to V6.0.

Children of Morrowind: This excellent mod adds children to the cities of Vvardenfell. You can talk to them, buy gifts for them, or watch them as they jump and dance around, making the streets more alive. I'm using it along with Starfire's mod.

Hold It: A simple, but very nice mod. It adds items to NPCs, based on their class, which they'll actually hold in their hands. This mod also comes with several optional add-ons, like one for Starfire's NPC Additions and one for Children of Morrowind.

Quests, Dialogue and Dungeons

Suitable for all character types unless mentioned otherwise.

Immersive Chargen: Improves the intro to the game, where you start off on the prison boat and go through the Census&Excise office. Great mod if you're bored with the normal intro, but don't want an alternative starting point.

Tamriel Rebuilt: A highly ambitious project, aiming to create the entire province of Morrowind, filled with interesting places to see, people to meet, and quests to do, with a great emphasis on quality and lore-friendliness. At the time of writing there have been two releases, map 1 and 2. The link goes to map 2, which includes an updated version of map 1. Though most of the areas are under Telvanni control, there are quests for all character types. You won't regret downloading this.

Less Generic NPCS (LGNPC): This mod series aims to make the people of Vvardenfell less generic, by giving them more unique dialogue. The mods are generally divided per city/settlement. Besides dialogue, they also add new quests. This, along with Tamriel Rebuilt is one of the longest going mod projects in Morrowind Modding and is still going at the time of writing. I recommend using all installments for all characters.

I also recommend the 'unofficial' Less Generic Tribunal, Less Generic Bloodmoon and Less Generic Nerevarine.

Julan Ashlander Companion: Sick of the normal Morrowind main quest? Spice it up with Julan! No matter where you'll go on Vvardenfell, Julan always has something interesting to say. He is also involved in the main quest of Morrowind and has a few quests of his own. It is difficult to describe this mod, read the description on the download page. It is definitely one of the best companion mods out there.

Alternative companions: There are lots of companion mods. Such as Jasmine, who could be compared to Julan feature wise. There are several good companion mods by Emma here, like Thief Companion Constance.

Darknut's Greater Dwemer Ruins: Not so much a quest mod as it is a dungeon mod. This mod expands on 3 dwemer ruins at Red Mountain, where Dagoth Ur and his followers live: 'Odrosal', 'Vemynal', and 'Dagoth Ur'. It is filled with puzzles and traps, and is bound to make the conclusion of the main quest a lot more epic. Warning: It also makes it a whole lot harder, the puzzles and traps are really challenging.

The Neverhalls: A dungeon mod, adding The Neverhalls to Solstheim, a dungeon with a completely new dungeon tileset. It was inspired by Oblivion's Ayleid ruins. Very nice dungeon crawl and there are interesting artifacts to be found.

The Forgotten Halls: An expansion to The Neverhalls.

Illuminated Order: A new faction with all sorts of interesting quests. Read the mod description. Though the mod offers the option to become a Lich at the end, which is for Mage characters, this faction quest mod is suitable for any character type. It is also suitable for both 'good' and 'evil' characters.

Welcome to the Arena!: This mod allows you to fight and bet on fights in the arena of Vivec. I haven't actually used this mod for long time yet but it seems to be good.

Blight Bounties: Not really a quest mod. It adds an NPC to a few towns who will reward you with gold for every blighted creature that you killed. The stronger the creature, the more gold you get.

Museum of Artifacts Improved Expanded: Not really a quest mod by itself either, but it allows you to donate all the artifacts mentioned in the book 'Famed Artifacts of Tamriel' to the museum. In the vanilla game the museum would not accept all of them. Also makes some other changes to the museum.

The White Wolf of Lokken Mountain: A quest/landmass mod by Emma, adding the beautiful landmass of Lokken Island to the north east of Solstheim. The island and the quests are both fantastic. Read the description for more info. This quest mod is most suitable for 'good' characters.

Suran Underworld: A dark quest mod dealing with the criminal organisation The BloodFang Tong. You can join them and do quests for them. Aimed at evil thief/assassin characters. It is also 'vampire friendly'.

Uvirith's Legacy (For Telvanni Mage characters): There have been all sorts of mods that improved on the player's stronghold, Tel Uvirith. Uvirith's Legacy combined some of those, and then greatly expanded on them, making it the ultimate stronghold expansion.

Rise of House Telvanni (For Telvanni Mage Characters): So you've made it to Archmagister. What now? Sure, Uvirith's Legacy will keep you busy with stronghold related business for a while, but surely there's more to be done? Damn right. Rise of House Telvanni features a series of quests with the goal of strengthening the greatest house of them all, Great House Telvanni. Awesome.

Cult of the Clouds (For Mage characters): A small joinable magic orientated faction with an interest in controlling the weather. Join them, and you too will be able to rule the skies.

Miscellaneous mods

The Census & Excise Office: The most unique mod ever? Probably. Read the description. You could say it's 'Facebook for Morrowind'. This mod keeps track of your character's achievements, and these can be uploaded and viewed on Fliggerty's site. Very cool.

More Detailed Places: A highly compatible mod that adds little extra details to several cities/villages/forts, making them more interesting.

Homes To Let: Adds 20 buyable player homes, with monthly taxes, to the game. From cheap shacks to large mansions, from underground ruins to homeboats, this mod should have a suitable house for any character.

Frostmoth Repaired: Repairs Fort Frostmoth after it gets 'damaged' during the Bloodmoon main quest, instead of leaving it as it is forever.

Keening Reforged: Allows you to reforge Keening into a different weapon with the help of Yagram Bagarn, in case short swords aren't your style.

Abot's Guars: Adds buyable guars. They can carry your stuff, but you can also mount them! With that I mean riding on them of course, not mounting their heads on a wall!

At-A-Glance Companion Status Bars: With the simple press of a button, this will display the health, magicka and fatigue bar of your companions. Handy.

Fun Stuff

Persuasion Response Expansion: A huge expansion of the reactions that NPCs give when you persuade/intimidate/taunt/bribe them.

Nudity Greeting Expansion: Adds more (funny) responses from NPCs when confronted with the player walking around nude.

Morrowind Trading Cards: Adds trading cards to the game. They can be found in random containers or bought from certain NPCs. A fun thing to collect.

The Uber Crystal Egg Hunt: My favourite treasure hunt/collector mod. Adds 165 unique coloured eggs to vanilla dungeons in the game. Most of them are hidden quite well, I've played with this mod for a long time and so far I haven't found many eggs. Which is great. They make good house decoration too!

I hope that this list has been useful to you! I intend to continue updating it as new mods are released.