Fun little visual patches and quirk mods for Morrowind

Miscellaneous non-TR related discussion.

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Glisp
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Fun little visual patches and quirk mods for Morrowind

Post by Glisp »

so I've looked around the web and found a few Morrowind graphical fixes and update mods that don't hurt the experience as much and no, there's aren't anything big like better bodies or better heads. Most of them are either fixes with animations and/or textures, or something that adds a bit more atmosphere.

Patches
The following patches aim to fix texture and animation problems with vanilla models as well as make some of them Lore accurate (such as Fix Hound). These are all issues that MCP and MPP probably don't fix.

Hunger keyframe fix
http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42686/?
As the description says, there's a slight problem with the hunger's death animation. The last frame skips for a few seconds which tends to result in a repeated "thud" noise and a jittery movement of the last frame repeating for a couple of seconds. This patch fixes that. It's a pluginless replacer iirc, so just drop the file in the appropriate directory and you're good to go.

Mesh Fix
http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42134/?
Fixes various texture and mesh problems with the game. There is a version of Daedric face of inspiration with its horns attached. The creator said he didn't realize that and so you can just ignore that version if you want (the actual concept art for the face of inspiration has the horns detached from the helmet and floating, just like they are ingame normally.)

The other fixes though, I recommend putting in as they fix some model and texture problems. You can see them in the gallery and read about them in the description. (like for example, textures tiling is a common problem)

Hackle Lo UV map fix

http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42784/?
The Hackle Lo has some UV mapping problems. This mod fixes that as well as applies higher res versions of the old textures. Read the fix's page for more info.

Mudcrab UV map fix

http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42130/?
The mudcrab's UV maps are off in the vanilla game. This mod deems to correct it.

Fix Hound
http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43282/?
This patch makes the Nix Hound more lore accurate by giving it purple tusks. Ingame text describes it as having purple tusks and the Splash screens show it as such as well. This patch will work with any Nix Hound texture replacer just about as well as the vanilla textures. It also includes animation fixes for the Nix hound to keep it from looking around while in battle and it includes Archimaestro Antares' Nix Hound knock out animation fix.

TR Silt Strider fix
http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43297/?
I know what you're thinking: "but Glisp, this isn't from the vanilla game" you're right, it's not but it does count as a graphical patch.
It fixes the TR silt strider model to remove the "plug" in the shell to make it look like its shell was never opened. It does this by using the dead silt strider model found in ashlander camps with the living Silt strider's textures intact. Not anything special really, but it sort of counts as a patch.

Atmospheric Visual updates

The following is a collection of mods that enhance the game visually without breaking the vanilla feel too much.

Darknut's hi res textures
http://www.mikeniccum.com/tr.htm#at
Just as it suggests, it replaces vanilla textures with higher res versions. I recommend the creature and Dwemer ruins retextures. I wouldn't touch the weapons and armor though. For some reason he completely changed a few of the models. As for the clothes I'm not sure. I'm also not sure if the clothing and armor textures are compatible with better bodies versions. If anyone wants to try them and see, go for it. As for me, I'm avoiding his weapons fix completely because he completely redid the adamantium weapons and other models. I'll stick to high res textures only from him.

If you want an example of what his textures look like on the vanilla models, here you go:
http://i.imgur.com/m330NsZ.png?1
and that's only the 512 pixel version

Abot's Thunder and lightning mod

http://abitoftaste.altervista.org/morrowind/index.php?option=content&Itemid=10&task=viewpost&id=24&-Thunders-Lightnings
Abot talks about it a bit more on the page but essentially, now the thunderstorms are more realistic and you and NPC's can get hit by lightning. Don't worry though, he made the lighting cause as little damage as possible. so most NPC's and probably even you will survive getting struck.

Abot's Windows Glow
http://abitoftaste.altervista.org/morrowind/index.php?option=content&Itemid=10&task=viewpost&id=20&-Windows-Glow
There's other mods like this out there, but I think Abot's is probably the best, plus it's compatible with TR.

Apel's Rain Replacer

http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42555/?
Much thicker rain than came with the vanilla game. Goes pretty well with abot's thunder and lightning mod above. Also just looks overall better IMO.
Last edited by Glisp on Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
RyanS
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Re: Fun little visual patches and quirk mods for Morrowind

Post by RyanS »

Glisp wrote:TR Silt Strider fix
http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43297/?
I know what you're thinking: "but Glisp, this isn't from the vanilla game" you're right, it's not but it does count as a graphical patch.
It fixes the TR silt strider model to remove the "plug" in the shell to make it look like its shell was never opened. It does this by using the dead silt strider model found in ashlander camps with the living Silt strider's textures intact. Not anything special really, but it sort of counts as a patch.
If we're planning to keep the TR silt strider, I'd love to see this plugin used. The model looks 10x better than our current one. To my understanding, though, chances of keeping the TR silt strider are rather slim.
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Glisp
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Post by Glisp »

Well I'm pretty sure it's gonna be axed due to collision issues. That doesn't mean it will be removed from the files though. It may still be in the game's files for a while. The creature version of the Eyestar is still in the files for whatever reason, even though the container version is the one actually used. To be fair, the model itself isn't the issue. It's the places it's put in. Large models need a lot of moving space in Morrowind. So if the Silt strider farm was redone to add more space for them to move around and fewer things to stop them, it could work. that's just my opinion though.
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Gnomey
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Post by Gnomey »

The issue with the silstrider's collision is more general, to my limited understanding. In Morrowind creature collisions are all rectangular prisms. This means you can shoot between a creature's legs or over its shoulder and your shots will still hit. For most creatures that isn't very noticeable, but when you reach the siltstrider's scale, especially considering the creatures really thin and really long legs, it becomes rather silly.
It is also true, however, that such a large creature does tend to get stuck on collision. Another common problem -- that large creatures look silly when moving on uneven ground -- is also present, though not as extreme with siltrstriders as it could be, as the creature's legs are rather close together. The plainstrider is more of a concern on that end, though, to be fair, it was meant to be placed in plains.

I agree that we should use that fix if we end up using siltstriders anywhere, author permitting, naturally. I consider the possibility of using siltstriders to still be on the table, though how precisely they should be implemented if we include them remains very much a question.
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Yeti
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Post by Yeti »

The siltsrider's size makes it completely unsuitable as a creature, and I can't imagine any circumstance in which we continue using it the mod long term.
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Glisp
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Post by Glisp »

Well, it could work if put in the proper place. Another thing that could be improved is animation. The current silt strider animations are a bit.... messy. they would need to be redone appropriately. My main concern about the Silt strider right now though are the animations for attacking and the death animation. The death animation is rather jittery and the attacking animation could really use some improvements.

I think a proper solution would be to use the stationary movement setting. There's no indication that silt Striders were meant to be agressive. And it would still be able to move somewhat, just not out of one spot. Alternatively, we could put a huge burden spell on it to overencumber it. that way it can still fight but it maintains being stationary.
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Rats
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Post by Rats »

I think there should be no wild Silt Striders.

The Mudcrab UV fix is nice! Will make much more easier to retexture the bloody critter if we want to (for, say, the Grey Meadows).
Glisp
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Post by Glisp »

I'll keep my eyes out for more visual fixes and post them here. You'd also be very surprised how many people outside of the project like the Silt striders.... Really the main issue right now is its animations and giving it plenty of room to roam around. It needs a lot of flat terrain to move. Anyway, this thread isn't about the Silt strider lol. So we should probably get off the subject. Perhaps a discussion thread should be made for it instead. There's a bit that could be argued about why to keep it.
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Crucifigo
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Post by Crucifigo »

Popping in to recommend [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43311/?]Skies IV[/url] and [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42125/?]Mountainous Red Mountain[/url]. The latter isn't compatible with Sixth House but the meshes are, and they are gorgeous. I don't use the .esp because I have Sixth House active on one of my characters, but the rocks really look good.
Glisp
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Post by Glisp »

Mountainous red mountain has compatibility issues with TR iirc.
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