This is a progress update for Tamriel Rebuilt, a major two-decades-old mod project for TES III: Morrowind, which aims to finish the development of the Morrowind province by adding the mainland to Bethesda’s island of Vvardenfell. Currently, roughly half of the mainland is complete and released to players, offering hundreds of quests and dozens of hours of gameplay.

For this month’s news post, we will keep things relatively simple and update you on what we have been working on since September. Although the school season has kicked in and slowed our progress compared to summer, Tamriel Rebuilt has not been sitting idle. We will take this tour in reverse order of our development pipeline, from quests to interiors, exteriors, assets and, finally, concept art.

This chap just can't catch a break.

It is tough to show off progress with quests and dialogue; most of the claims are large and intricate and necessarily require dozens of hours of work from individual developers. Still, in the past two months, numerous dialogue claims and miscellaneous quests have been finished or even reviewed (which is where an experienced quest developer will help fix lingering style or technical issues), all for our upcoming Dominions of Dust release:

• Lost in Transit -- a sad story about a lost son and an irresponsible adventurer in Bodrum.
• Continue the adventures of an old friend from Vvardenfell. This quest takes place in Teyn.
• The Statue -- decide the fate of a St. Felms statue in Omaynis.
• Certificate of Credibility -- get yourself welcome in Andothren.
• The Proud Redoran -- solve the problem of an impoverished old warrior in Bodrum.
• Brother Against Brother -- head to Almas Thirr to help (or destroy) a family.
• The Rivaling Alchemists -- a new take on a vanilla quest theme in Andothren.
• General dialogue has been added to the Dominions of Dust lands, while the town of Omaynis has received NPCs and targeted dialogue.
• Though none of these are yet complete, much progress has also been made on longer questlines for the Baluath Vampires, and the Temple, Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild in Andothren. Work has also been done on the Imperial Legion in Firewatch and a very special adventure in Necrom.

Everyone, no matter their skills, can help speed this work along by playtesting the completed or in-progress quests. If you are interested, come chat with us on our Discord.

The interiors department has been buzzing as ever, as more and more claims reach the reviewers or are merged into our in-development section files:

• Previously released areas. Some new interiors have been added as updates to our previous lands. One is Hadrumnibibi -- a daedric ruin north of Almas Thirr -- which now hosts a sprawling underground complex. A new patrolling cutter was also made to give the “Stendarr Tower Haunting” quest in Old Ebonheart more impact.

• Dominions of Dust. Several claims in the Velothi Mountains -- on the western edge of our upcoming release -- have been completed, including a large Dwemer ruin, a Daedric ruin, three caves and an ancestral tomb. In the Roth Roryn region, the long-suffering town of Bodrum has finally received a newly revamped manor for its Redoran lord. An ancestral tomb near the tranquil town of Teyn has been transformed from a labyrinthian hell to a modest dungeon suitable for this low-level microregion. Two new cutter ships, one for the Imperial Navy, one for the coastguard, have been added to the dock of Fort Ancylis. Finally, in the Armun Ashlands, the new Dwemer ruin of Bazak has been realized and a Redoran secret now awaits beneath the town of Arvud.

The ruins of Ald Erfoud underneath Arvud. Made by Vern.

• Embers of Empire. Our upcoming overhaul of Firewatch, Helnim, and other parts of northern Telvannis is where the interior work has been busiest. Firewatch has received twelve new or overhauled interiors, some of which are awe-inspiring. These include the Firewatch College (the heart of Imperial knowledge in the East), the shining Drakelight Beacon, the Grand Chapel of Akatosh, the Dustmoth Legion garrison, a Mages Guild, a Briricca Bank branch, a Census and Excise office, an East Empire Company warehouse, two shops, two taverns, and an Imperial galleon. Helnim has finally seen its Zafirbel Bay Company hall completed, giving the city an entirely new flavor, but now also hosts a new Imperial Cult chapel, a Census and Excise office, a navy ship, and one rework each of a shop, a residential home, and a tavern. Finally, the Navy has allocated a new cutter to the frigid navy fort of Icebreaker Keep, while the Telvanni on the isle of Althoa have gotten hold of a nifty little tower.

The Zafirbel Bay Company hall by Denis481

• Thirr Valley. The lands directly south of Aanthirin, slated for a future release (keep an eye out for more on this next month) have had their interiors in the works for a while; the last remaining ones are steadily being chipped away. Latest completed claims include a plantation, a mine, a cave, a shipwreck, and a Redoran house in the embattled stronghold of Ald Marak.

• Shipal-Shin. A major milestone was the opening and completion of first interior claims in our new Shipal-Shin region, even further south of the Thirr Valley. Among them are a tavern and toll station in the Stormgate Pass, which straddles the trade route from the Hlaalu metropolis of Narsis to the Imperial prison city of Stormhold in Argonia. Other completed ones include four ancestral tombs, a nomad settlement, parts of the rich Adavrin Netch Ranch and two farmers’ homes.

The tower guards the wealthy Adavrin Netch Ranch in the Shipal-Shin region.

The pace in the exteriors department has been slower, mostly due to a lack of open claims (something that 3D asset makers are quickly working to rectify; see below) and due to the reality that exterior claims simply are a lot of work: they consist of dozens of cells with several points of interest that usually take months to make. But the few claims that have been finished in the past months are simply stunning:

• The southernmost part of the Thirr Valley release (SH_07, a taste of the Shipal-Shin region) has been finished, as has a large part of another claim (TV_06). One other new claim (TV_08) has recently been opened here, marking two currently in development.

The work-in-progress transition area between the Thirr Valley and the Shipal-Shin region in southern Morrowind. The exterior claims were done by Nemon, Gnomey, Chef, Joanasc, Mojo187, Phenoix12 and S'wit.

• In the Shipal-Shin release area proper, a major claim (SH_08) has been merged, meaning that only four out of ten Shipal-Shin exteriors still remain in development -- and even these have had substantial progress done.

Shipal-Shin exterior claims -- green images mark completed claims, yellow ones are in-progress.

• Our exterior developers continue to carry on the task of refreshing Roth Roryn exteriors for the Dominions of Dust release. This is extremely valuable, yet tedious work that is hard to document due to its nature. Three of the twelve claims are currently finalized.

Next, we have to reckon with the manic pace of our asset department. At no time during the two decade history of Tamriel Rebuilt has the tempo of 3D asset creation been as rapid as in the past year. We are truly living the golden age of Blender 2.8+! Let’s dive into some of the latest additions to Tamriel_Data.

Wild drumpear vines by S'wit, the master of flora, liven up the Shipal-Shin region.

• Flora. Most of the flora here will be used in the Othreleth Woods region, on which exterior development will soon start:
  • Peddler's Buoy -- a flower for Othreleth Woods.
  • Suj Sprout -- a beautiful model of an Othreleth Woods plant that smells horrible.
  • Red Leaf Tree -- a new, as-of-yet unnamed tree for Othreleth Woods.
  • Varga -- an Othreleth Woods plant with dark leaves.
  • Shroud Cap -- a human sized pale mushroom with veil-like skirting for Othreleth Woods.
  • Rockburst -- redo of a menacing looking red plant for Othreleth Woods.
  • Coral Fungus -- a set of colorful coral fungi for Othreleth Woods.
  • Unnamed glowing mushrooms for Othreleth Woods.
  • Poison Bloom -- a dangerous but pretty plant in Othreleth Woods.
  • Othreleth Woods Cupling -- an improvement for an older plant mesh.
  • Bulbshroom -- glowing underwater mushrooms for Othreleth Woods. 
  • Tumtum Revision -- fixes and improvements for this fountain-shaped plant for the Roth Roryn region.
  • Unnamed jungle plant -- a contribution for the future Argonia province.
  • Wolli's Revised Oak Trees -- fixes and improvements to an old tree model used in several Tamriel Rebuilt regions.
  • Drumpear -- a plant, a tasty meal, an ingredient, a musical instrument, a playing ball and a lucky charm found only in Shipal-Shin.
  • Improvements for small bushes in the Shipal-Shin region.
  • Yam Orb -- a cave plant that looks like a swan and glows. It’s location will be decided later.

Yam Orb by our newest asset developer, VenuSprout.

• Exterior architecture. The building blocks of our settlements:
  • Roa Dyr Architecture Merge -- a merge of architecture pieces to greatly improve FPS in this notoriously resource-hungry settlement.
  • Indoril pathway -- a purpose-made modular mesh set to help replace some of the mesh “cobbling” in TR’s Indoril settlements.
  • More improved and optimized Indoril meshes.
  • Glow in the Dahrk support addon -- even more TR windows now glow when using this mod.
  • Unique meshes for the Andothren Port Authority tower and the Warehouse/Apartment block.
  • Chapel Set Legion Retexure -- 6 new exterior pieces for Imperial structures.
  • Improvements for the old TR gates mesh.
  • Door Gates for Firewatch -- this one has a small door in it.
  • A new building shell for the Firewatch East Empire Company.

Modular Indoril pathway set by the expert mesh architect, Mwgek.

• Other exterior assets. These are needed to give our new regions their own unique flavors:
  • A set of new plateau rocks for Khalaan.
  • Volcano mesh for Armun Ashlands -- a retexture of a Molag Amur asset.
  • A new cobblestone texture for Firewatch.
  • Gallows retexture for Firewatch -- a grim tool of justice that remains in Firewatch since the Simulacrum.
  • Azura Coast Snow Menhirs -- for use on the isle of Althoa in Embers of Empire.
  • Ballista -- for the Empire to maintain its iron hold over the provinces.
  • Hlaalu Brevur statue for Narsis -- a lore-friendly statue of a renowned Hlaalu noble made by R-Zero.
  • Praise Vehk -- a Mephalan wall decal to decorate towns.
  • Clambering Moors moss texture.

“Praise Vehk” wall decal by Gryphoth.

• Interior architecture. These pieces help our interior developers make better-fitting interiors:
  • Edited Redoran interior pieces -- a fix for vanilla interior shell pieces.
  • Imperial Tower Interiors -- three new tower interiors for Imperial architecture.
  • Imperial Single Pillar Strut -- if you have worked with the Imperial set, you'd appreciate the value of this little plank.
  • Small Imperial corner stairs -- helps fit interiors into small tower exteriors. 
  • Firewatch Chapel Legion Set Additions -- new Imperial staircase pieces and a small lectern.
  • Imperial Common Set additions + fixed stackable stairs -- more pieces needed to work with the notorious Common interior set.

Imperial corner stairs by Hemaris. It only took the Morrowind community 20 years to make this indispensable asset.

• Interior clutter. These are needed to diversify the hundreds of interiors seen in Tamriel Rebuilt:
  • A dozen new Imperial rugs and tapestries to decorate your Imperial dwellings.
  • Prerelease Tapestries -- a set of 18 tapestries and banners seen on prerelease screenshots of the game.
  • Thirteen new Dunmer round rugs.
  • An improved version of Remiros' ebony dishes borrowed from the OAAB mod.
  • Spyglass -- a good piece for naval-themed interiors.
  • Cathnoquey Bronze Weapons and Urns -- objects from the island of Cathnoquey to be displayed in the new Firewatch College museum.
  • Common set cabinet -- an unused good-looking vanilla mesh is now restored for use in Imperial buildings.
  • Improved bookends -- now you can actually fit them in the bookshelf.
  • Straw crate filling, damaged urns and modular crane assets by Melchior Dahrk from the OAAB mod.
  • A consistency fix for the Eastern Quarantine book mesh.
  • Very slight technical changes for a balcony and a table.

Urns from the distant island of Cathnoquey, for our new sister project Padomaic Isles and for the Firewatch College museum by the prolific Asylum.

• Weapons and armor. These are tough items to create, but are needed to help make Tamriel Rebuilt as diverse as Vvardenfell:
  • Stones March Armor -- a bulky armour for Redoran Orc hunters.
  • Redoran Watchman Redo -- a glorious redo of a glorious armor set, as a complement to the vanilla Watchman helm.
  • Native Sammas Bonemold Helmet -- a quirky concept-art based helm.
  • Dozens of new generic enchanted items (with vanilla meshes) from TESA: Battlespire.

Redoran Stones March and Watchman armors by the wonderful Lamb Shark.

• Unique artifacts. The ultimate luxury for a modding project. Such items are needed as special quest rewards or are meant to spruce up important locales:
  • The Polyhedrascope -- an intriguing headpiece for an intriguing Mages Guild questline in Andothren.
  • War-Banner of Prince Bashomon -- an artifact from the farthest Padomaic Island, Esroniet, to be seen in Firewatch.
  • Bone-Eater's Helmet -- a gruesome helm for a bandit chief in Roth Roryn.

The War Banner of Prince Bashomon and revamped Breton faces by Rats, our resident polymath.

• Creatures and NPCs. Creature animations are notoriously difficult to get right. Luckily, we have recently been blessed by a couple artists who have mastered the task:
  • Redoran Hunting Hound -- a trusty raptor-like companion to Redoran hunting parties.
  • Devourer Daedra -- a fearsome concept art-inspired companion to the Hunger Daedra.
  • Bad pauldron dremora replacer -- a fix for an old Tamriel Rebuilt dremora.
  • Vanilla-esque Breton faces and hairstyles -- helps unify Project Tamriel face meshes with Tamriel Rebuilt aesthetic standards. 
  • Variant of a noble Dunmer head mesh.
  • Fixed animations for our Nord face meshes.
  • A fix for the swamp troll model needed for OpenMW.
  • Many more unfinished creatures have seen progress in the past month, including three new Daedric enemies, a small friendly fish, two floating creatures, a unique steed for Shipal-Shin nomads and an esspecially tough enemy creature for the highest Velothi mountains.

The Devourer Daedra and Redoran Hunting Hound (placeholder name) by Lamb Shark.

• Literature. Our lore masters have produced several new works to fill out the mod’s bookshelves and libraries:
  • Horoscope for 3E 427 -- these predictions are always right, trust me.
  • Firewatch: A History -- a backstory to the Imperial capital of Telvannis.
  • Lichdom: A Trap, an Escape -- a book on the nuances of becoming a lich.
  • Broken Truths -- a proposition from an esoteric Mystic to his student.
  • Additional generic books -- business ledgers and accountant books for relevant interiors.

• Scripts. These make the world of Morrowind tick:
  • A script fix for the Stranded quest.
  • A number of bugfixes related to vampire scripts for our upcoming questlines.

• Development aids. These help our developers keep track of plans and wrangle different files:
  • Note To Self editormarker -- a special marker for leaving developer notes in the TES Construction Set.
  • "Preview Enabled" Global -- a script to build upon when working/playing with TR_Preview.esp.

Not listed here are many contributions to Tamriel Data by the Project Tamriel team and literally hundreds of other small fixes to the technical issues of older meshes, all of which will help improve the performance and visuals in your next playthrough.

Finally, we will highlight the work of our concept artists. Here are a few of their latest creations:

Port Telvannis buildings (for a far future Telvannis redo) by Feivelyn.

VenuSprout’s concept for Riverstrider eggs. These will be found in Lake Andaram.

Khvostik’s explorations toward a new, more versatile Indoril architecture set.

MammaHyena's concept for new Redoran buildings for the Velothis district.

Steppenwolf's design to replace the Seyda Neen-esque lighthouse in Bal Oyra.

Imperial and Argonian armors by Pickles and Gnomey (bottom right).

Mimic Crab (placeholder name) -- a predator for the Othreleth Woods by Nirvayn.

Whew, that’s it for the past two months. We know that we promised you a roadmap of future development last time, but that will have to wait just a little bit -- hopefully you will be satisfied with seeing all this recent progress instead. A lot more remains to be done in order to realize the vision of a completed Morrowind. If this post has inspired you to find out more about the project or to join our team, come visit us on Discord! Regardless of the current pace, we are always in need of new developers!

Credit: Denis418 for compiling the information and writing the first draft and to Tamriel Rebuilt modders for all the amazing work.