[WIPz] Unofficial Morrowind Patch

[Dragon32]

Unofficial Morrowind Patch

The Unofficial Morrowind Patch aims to fix the bugs in Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon that Bethesda never fixed. We intend to create a single patch that will incorporate the various patches and fixes that have been released in the past so that no additional fixes to vanilla Morrowind are needed - one patch to fix them all. We will continue to develop our patch to fix the bugs that are still outstanding after the other fixes have been merged.

This will be a bug fix patch. It will not include enhancements, tweaks or subjective changes. Our fixes will be based on evidence we can find in the game files and will also fix game-breaking bugs. All those changes will be documented and the documentation will be easily accessible so that any user can see the rationale for the fix.

We're looking at using one of the patch mods as a base and merging the fixes from other patches like the Morrowind Patch Project and ThePal's Unofficial Morrowind Patch. We will set the version of our first release at a higher number than the other major unofficial patches to demonstrate that it is a new update to the old patches.

If you'd like to submit a fix without joining the team, you can upload your patch to our [url=http://www.theassimilationlab.com/forums/files/category/168-file-contributions/]File Contributions[/url] area. You have to be a member of The Assimilation Lab to do that though.

Team:
Leonardo
AndalayBay
Arthmoor
brucoms
Dragon32
Envy123
Jac
Skrawafunda
Amenophis
Fritz
qqqbbb

Project Forums:
This project is hosted at [url=http://www.theassimilationlab.com/forums/forum/804-unofficial-morrowind-patch/]The Assimilation Lab[/url]. We'll post announcements once we're ready for beta testers and bug submissions.

Credits
Thanks to Leonardo for getting this project organized and getting us all going!
More to come!

20th August update:
First, we have gotten permission from quorn to use his patches and fixes, so they will be integrated into our patch. Currently we're working on compiling a list of all the bugs and patches - basically taking stock of the work that has been done. We have also created a couple of small patches to fix some bugs that are still outstanding. Once we're done compiling the list, we'll begin work on our first release.

[arvisrend]

Dragon32, I'm glad you are doing this. Are you also reviewing the changes already in the MCP? Back in 1.6.5 there were some that would spawn other bugs or significantly alter balancing; most are gone in 1.6.6beta, but it wouldn't hurt to check them more systematically.

You are free to use our meshes that fix vanilla ones, but please be aware that they are not placement-equivalent; if a mod places an unfixed crossbow somewhere and you substitute the new mesh, then the crossbow ends up at a different angle, most likely bleeding into whatever it is placed on.

[Dragon32]

Dragon32, I'm glad you are doing this. Are you also reviewing the changes already in the MCP? Back in 1.6.5 there were some that would spawn other bugs or significantly alter balancing; most are gone in 1.6.6beta, but it wouldn't hurt to check them more systematically.
<snip>

Well we're going to be looking at the MPP rather than hrnchamd's Code Patch

Here's the [url=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1505207-wipz-unofficial-morrowind-patch/]WIPz thread[/url] from the Bethsoft forum

The plan is to review all the changes made (we started with Thepal's 1.6.3b as at the time we didn't have a yay or nay from quorn and didn't want to interfere with his work, he's since given us an OK to build on his 1.6.6) to ensure we're fixing bugs and not unbalancing things.

Once we've looked at Thepal's and quorn's work then there're bunch of others (including yours) which will need to be similarly reviewed.

Don't suppose you can remember what the changes were in 1.6.5 which "would spawn other bugs or significantly alter balancing"?

<snip>
You are free to use our meshes that fix vanilla ones, but please be aware that they are not placement-equivalent; if a mod places an unfixed crossbow somewhere and you substitute the new mesh, then the crossbow ends up at a different angle, most likely bleeding into whatever it is placed on.

Ah, now that's a shame. From what I could work out there was only "w_crossbow.nif" which was fixed and was an unused mesh in the vanilla game (although it looks OK in NIFSkope).

These are the meshes arvisrend's taking about:

<snip>
- New weapons to replace broken weapons:
TR_w_wood_crossbow -> TR_w_wood_crossbow_FIXED
TR_w_crossbow_accuracy -> TR_w_crossbow_accuracy_FIXED
TR_w_crossbow_evanescence -> TR_w_crossbow_evanescence_FIXED
dwarven crossbow -> TR_w_dwarven_crossbow_FIXED
At some point the old crap can be deleted, but not now.
And I know this is a Morrowind patch's job, but noone has done it afaik.
<snip>

One of the things we're doing (although it seems to be mainly me at the moment) is assembling all the various mesh fixes that've been made for Morrowind with the intent to include them in the patch (if we're given permission).

I have next to no modelling skillz (I can re-assign a texture in NIFSkope and that's about it ) but if there are fixed up meshes that've been made, keeping the vanilla game's aesthetic, I'd love to add them to my list.

My aim with collating mesh fixes is to get those which're a drop in replacements for Bethesda's models. So, fitting the look of the vanilla game and, as not everyone uses BAIN for installing mods, not going to have a deleterious affect on people's games.

At the moment I'm just collecting meshes to use and haven't got to the point of comparing what different people have fixed in different ways and then working out which to include if there're multiple different takes on the same thing.

I posted [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?p=324333#324333]over here[/url] about some other mesh fixes that seneca37's done, fixing collision boxes.

[Edit: Made some changes to my OP in this thread and this one, so arvisrend's previous post may seem to be a bit out of synch. That's not his fault! I'm editing the posts' time line. Feel my power. ]

[arvisrend]

Oops, I meant the MPP indeed. I think I have already pointed out all the issues I was aware of on the forums a while ago (such as the patch reinstating the skeleton archers with their paralysis arrows, which have been nerfed in a later beta as a consequence of this; and the Bloodmoon quest that got broken as a consequence of a script getting "fixed"), and they were fixed in the last version of the MPP. But I was left with a queasy feeling that it is in need of a more thorough review, and I'm glad that you are giving it some.

[Dragon32]

<snip>

[Dragon32]

Oops, I meant the MPP indeed. I think I have already pointed out all the issues I was aware of on the forums a while ago (such as the patch reinstating the skeleton archers with their paralysis arrows, which have been nerfed in a later beta as a consequence of this; and the Bloodmoon quest that got broken as a consequence of a script getting "fixed"), and they were fixed in the last version of the MPP. But I was left with a queasy feeling that it is in need of a more thorough review, and I'm glad that you are giving it some.

I've created a [url=http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=24690][WIPz] Unofficial Morrowind Patch[/url] thread in Off-Topic Discussion.

Would it be possible for these UMP / MPP-related posts to be moved there by someone?

[Gnomey]

[spoiler]My apologies about the ugly formatting above; I have moved a few posts from [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=17918&start=360]another thread[/url] as requested, but as they were posted earlier than the first post of this thread the post order was messed up. To my knowledge the only real way to fix this is to stitch a few posts together, and I don't feel like engaging in thread-surgery without the patient's express permission.[/spoiler]

As I'm making a post here anyway, I might as well point out a minor model error that bothers me far more than it ought to, and which to my knowledge is not currently fixed by MPP:

[url=http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/Gnomenator/ChuzeiHelm.png~original][img]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/Gnomenator/th_ChuzeiHelm.png[/img][/url]

The lower part of the bonemold_chuzei_helm model is normally sunk into the wearer's body. (The NPC on the left). I placed the helm mesh over the head of the NPC in the middle to show how it should look (roughly) when properly placed. As you can see, the head fits completely into the mesh (though a bit of hair pokes out in the back) and the eye slits are actually at eye level.

[Dragon32]

Thanks for moving posts around, Gnomey. I've edited some of my posts so things flow a bit better.

I'm not aware of any fixes to that particular mesh. I'm still assembling mesh fixes and I'll keep an eye out to see if anyone's fixed up that particular helmet.

As I've said I have no modelling skills myself, I'm just about capable of basic hackery in NIFSkope and that's it. Messing around with that mesh looks beyond me.

[Dragon32]

<snip>
I might as well point out a minor model error that bothers me far more than it ought to, and which to my knowledge is not currently fixed by MPP:

[url=http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/Gnomenator/ChuzeiHelm.png~original][img]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g103/Gnomenator/th_ChuzeiHelm.png[/img][/url]

The lower part of the bonemold_chuzei_helm model is normally sunk into the wearer's body. (The NPC on the left). I placed the helm mesh over the head of the NPC in the middle to show how it should look (roughly) when properly placed. As you can see, the head fits completely into the mesh (though a bit of hair pokes out in the back) and the eye slits are actually at eye level.

Slaanesh The Corruptor over at Bethsoft was [url=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1510559-req-meshes-that-need-updating/]asking[/url] for modelling projects. So I asked him. And whaddayaknow he's actually gone and done it.

Grab it from [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43346/]Morrowind Nexus[/url].

[Gnomey]

Ooh, thanks a lot. I always liked the look of the helm, but found it a little hard to take anyone wearing it seriously due to the squashed head.

Edit: also nice seeing the comments on Nexus and the number of downloads. (ie. more than my one). Apparently I wasn't the only one bothered by it.