Morrowind Modding basics

For people new to modding, the main logic of Morrowind mods is:

1. Morrowind has two types of files (simplification) :

   1. Plug-ins (.esm, .esp files, located in / Morrowind / Data files)

   2. Data Files (Meshes, Textures, Sounds, etc)

2. Mods are files/folders that either overwrite and/or add to these:

   1. some mods are ESP only (added as plug-ins)

   2. some mods are ESP + Data files (most)

   3. MWSE mods are often just MWSE script files (have their own MWSE folder, safest to disable)

3. All mods are included at Morrowind runtime as:

   1. Plugins (.esp files, can be disabled/enabled) based on Launcher Load order

   2. Data Files/Folders (if copy-pasted manually they are a pain to remove/restore)

   3. MWSE scripts (separate from load order/data files which make them versatile)

4. Mod Load Order logic:

• Items at top of load order (Master files .esm, .esp files) are loaded first, then followed by the ones below

• If two mods alter the same thing (e.g an NPC or item) the one below overwrites the one above (below = later in load order during Morrowind.exe runtime)

  • Tools such as Tes3Merge check mod dependencies and merge mods that affect similar or related items, avoiding conflicts

This is why I recommend using Mod Organizer 2 to manage and install Mods. MO 2 is a one-stop Tool that allows to :

• Download mods from Nexus and install automatically

• Manage mods (remove, reinstall to reapply patches, etc)

• Manage Load Order

• Generate Merge Patch which avoids conflicts

• Clean saves

We will explain the process in Mod Install loop. But first let's proceed to the First Install steps for Tools