Morrowind Mod:Modding

This article is about creating mods. For information about using mods, see Modification.

Basic Info

• Acronyms — Common mod and mod tool acronyms
• BSA File Format — The media archive file (bsa) format used for Morrowind
• Cleaning Mods — Explanation of the different levels of 'clean'
• Mod File Format — The record-based format used in Morrowind data (esp, esm) files. Currently incomplete. See links on the page below for other sources.
• Resolving Mod Conflicts — Types of mod conflicts and how to avoid, repair, and reconcile them
• Runtime — What happens when Morrowind starts up, saves, and loads files
• Tool Features — Commonly used tool features
• World Map — The world (zoomed out) map. Problems with it and some solutions to them.

Modder Info

• Form Change — Change the player into an animal or another person
• Formatted MessageBoxes — Arrange the text put into a MessageBox
• GMST Contamination — What it is and how to avoid and/or repair it
• Id Standards — Standards for picking ids for globals, objects, factions, journal topics, etc.
• Licensing — How to license your mod
• Math Functions — Modulo, trig functions, etc.
• References — How references are defined and what can go wrong with them
• Text Defines — Text variables used in dialogue and message boxes
• ToggleMenus and HUD workarounds — Dealing with HUD problems after using ToggleMenus

Tools

Official Toolset

	Focus	Description
TES Construction Set	Modders	This is still the primary utility for creating TES mods. However, other tools supersede and/or augment it for some functions.

Quickstart Tools

Looking for a quick-fix tool that won't require hours of reading to ensure you don't break everything and have to do a re-install?

• This table contains a list of tools meant to help the player without having to acquire a modder's understanding to use them.

Tools for Players	Focus	Description
Exe Patches	Players	These patches improve the in-game experience by fixing different aspects of the Morrowind.exe file.
Co-Executables	Players	Utilities that enhance gameplay by interacting with Morrowind.exe as it runs. FPS Optimizer, MWE, MGE, MGE XE, MWSE.
INI Switcher	Players	Manage profiles on the same computer by switching between different versions of the Morrowind.ini file.
Savegame Editor	Players	Edit various properties of the savegame file (.ess).
Load Order Management	Players	Mlox Utilizes a community-maintained database of mod conflicts to recommend optimum load order. Can then rearrange all mods accordingly at the click of a button. Note: this will redate all mods active in the load order. Reorder Mods Allows the user to easily rearrange mods in the load order via a GUI. An alternative version not requiring .Net 2.0 is available here
Wrye Mash FAQ	Players	Wrye Mash has an extensive suite of features associated with mod and savegame management, editing and repair.
Ordenador	Players	Its main feature is the ability to scan a directory for bookart, icons, and textures to recompress utilizing NVCompress (links available at download site).

Modding

To combine mods in order to make Morrowind as graphically appealing as Oblivion requires a lot of time, effort and research. This is a list of tools used by modders and advanced players.

• Most TES3 modders and players use multiple tools with overlapping functions. There is no one 'Quick-Fix' tool.
• For help interpreting the plugin data, see Mod File Format.

Tools for Modders	Focus	Description
BSA Managers	Modders, Advanced Players	Browse, pack and unpack Morrowind archive files (.bsa).
Mod Cleaning and Reconciliation	Modders, Advanced Players	ESCog Viewer/remover of GMSTs. ESP Cleaner Removes duplicate references. GMST Cleaner Remove 'evil' GMSTs. TESPCD Detects and helps repair conflicts between mods and delete unclean entries. Quickly search mods for strings, conflicts, warnings and global changes. TESTool A mod management, repair, and cleaning utility. Tes3cmd A powerful command-line mod-cleaning and editing utility. SmartMerger Primarily designed to merge whole mods, it also offers an objects merging function.
Mod Editing Utilities that edit mods in various ways.	Modders, Advanced Players	Enchanted Editor Mod and savegame editing and repair. General purpose low level editor. MWEdit Mod editor alternative to the Official CS. Tes3lint A powerful command-line tool for investigating the information within a plugin. Requires perl. TESAME Browse and delete plugin records, import/export data (.esd). Tutorial. TES Faith Move and copy exterior cells, resolving landscape conflicts. A graphical version is available here
Mod Integration Utilities that integrate esps with their dependent files, or modify that integration in some global way.	Modders, Advanced Players	Overunity Scan selected plugins for missing resources. TESFiles Allows user to scan for missing resources and remove all resources associated with a plugin. TESRename Rename/move textures and update mesh paths. TESRespec Rename/move textures and update mesh paths.

Resources

Tools used by modders for the creation and editing of resources for the game--everything except for the plugin file itself.

Modeling	Focus	Description
NIBLE FAQ	Modelers	Allows adding and editing of certain blocks to NIF-Files.
NifSkope	Modelers	Lets you view and edit .nif files (3D meshes), assign new textures, etc.
NifTexture	Modelers, Modders	Reassign mesh paths for Morrowind .nif files.
NIF Texture Stripper	Modelers, Modders	Command line tool to shorten mesh paths.
Morrowind Blender Plugin	Modelers, Modders	Plugin for Blender 2.82
Other	Focus	Description
ESParser	Modders	Automate some common dialogue-related tasks, such as spellchecking and NPC lists making.
BookGen	Modders	Simplifies the task of introducing new text into in-game documents.

Outdated

• This is a list of tools whose utility is surpassed by others.

Obsolete	Focus	Solution
TES Dependency Toolkit Master list editing for mods. TES Mod Utility Installer package management. Leveled List Resequencer Fixes leveled lists generated by TESTool. Morrowind Mod-File Remover Deletes all mod-files in the game directory.	Players	Use Wrye Mash instead.