Yet Another Morrowind Thread

[Don Peste]

Anyhow I will be shilling my modding guide here. Sigourn's Mod List.
Key points:

• No Morrowind Rebirth.
• No Tamriel Rebuilt, though it will be compatible with no conflicts, only missing features from recommend mods.
• Separate into a core bugfixing guide and a modded guide.
• Modular.
• Visuals section focused more on adding new things into the game or making things more unique as opposed to replacing existing textures for the sake of it.
• Covers many great gameplay mods that enhance the vanilla experience, including a few major balance overhauls.
  
• Very mininal conflicts detailed here.
• Should be foolproof but some people like to prove me otherwise.
• Up to date!

Sadly there's no abridged list of mods with the ones I consider to be a must have, maybe I'll come up with one in the feature.

What happens with the June 13th update and the dozens of mods removed?

 

[Sigourn]

What happens with the June 13th update and the dozens of mods removed?

They were removed. Fifty or so mods which I felt didn't fit the guide or didn't warrant being in the guide.
There are others of course, but I removed the 50ish most blatant. I'm also not playing Morrowind anymore so I don't really care about the list, but if you encounter any weird issues feel free to ask. I'll probably be able to push you in the right direction.

 

[Boleskine]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...er-replaces-the-games-sexual-abuse-references

Sexual Harassment Remover is a Morrowind mod that replaces the game's sexual abuse references

"I think the mod could actually be useful to a lot of people."

News by Emma Kent, Reporter
Updated on 9 July 2020

Content warning: this article discusses upsetting content. Reader discretion is advised.

In the past few weeks, the problem of sexual harassment in the games industry has entered public conversation once again, provoking serious questions about the underlying culture enabling this sort of behaviour. While vital, the discussions involved in the Me Too movement can often be painful for those who have experienced sexual abuse or harassment by re-surfacing memories of past trauma. And now, someone in the modding community has identified this as a problem within games themselves - and has created a mod to help sexual abuse survivors enjoy Bethesda's 2002 fantasy RPG Morrowind.

Made by US-based modder JaceyS, Sexual Harassment Remover is a Morrowind mod that seeks to "remove and replace several instances of sexual harassment aimed at the player-character". As explained in the description, the mod changes multiple voice lines threatening acts of sexual violence against the player, re-names inappropriate items, and generally tones down some of the language. As an example, the Scroll of Manarape has been renamed to the Scroll of Manaleech, while Crassius Curio no longer asks the player to strip for him in return for sponsorship, instead handing the player a copy of his erotic play and asking for an opinion. The Dremora Anhaedra no longer threatens a sexualised form of violence against the player's corpse, should you decide to taunt him.

Spoiler

"I got the first inkling of this mod from a Discord conversation about how Morrowind would be received if it were released today," JaceyS explained to me. "Some thought that the slavery depicted in the game would not fly, but I consider the game's handling of that subject to be fairly good. What would cause outrage, I thought, was Crassius Curio, a character infamous for his sexual harassment of the player character, regardless of gender."

JaceyS kept the idea on the back burner, until she spotted a "shocking line" from an obscure quest that was posted to the Morrowind subreddit. "Someone else made a mod to remove that line, but it was ham-fisted, and I am not sure it was actually done in good faith. In any case, the usual suspects showed up to complain, and I thought 'I could do this better.'"

Alongside the discussions on Morrowind, JaceyS said the wider Me Too movement had informed her thinking on the mod. The Daedric lettering in the mod's cover art spells "believe women", while the original title had actually been Me Too Nerevarine (the player-character's title in Morrowind). "I decided to go with the more descriptive, and less overtly political title of 'Sexual Harassment Remover', because I think the mod could actually be useful to a lot of people, and not just those who agree with me politically," JaceyS said.

After JaceyS came up with the mod idea, she found that many of the alterations needed to remove sexual harassment were actually rather straightforward. The easiest required a simple tweak to the dialogue triggers so female player-characters would get the same response as males. Changing some of the lines to tone down the language or fully replace the lines was more challenging, however, as JaceyS wanted to maintain "the distinct personality of some of the characters involved". As explained in the mod description, "Anhaedra still gets really angry, Nels Llendo is still charming and polite, and Crassius Curio is still way too horny on main. Curio's behavior probably still constitutes sexual harassment, but at least it is toned down."

Unfortunately (and somewhat predictably), JaceyS has received a lot of online backlash for the mod, to the point where a Nexus Mods moderator was forced to lock comments to prevent further name-calling and clean up "unacceptable comments". JaceyS attributes the backlash to "people who cannot stand the idea that their favoured game might be made more accessible to vulnerable people, especially women". The mod's defenders have countered criticism by highlighting that installing the mod is optional, and there to help those who need it.

More positively, it seems a fair number of people are truly grateful for the mod, and among the trolls there are plenty of appreciative comments. JaceyS said multiple people had told her the mod would be useful to them, or others who had wanted to experience Morrowind but had been put off by the sexual harassment. "I always avoided the quests the mod tries to improve as they made me feel uneasy," said one Nexus Mods user. "If some power is given back to the player to let their character deal with those situations how they like it, I think that's a great thing to do."

Thanks to the positive feedback she received, JaceyS has since added modular options so players can choose how sexual harassment is dealt with "ranging from complete removal, to reduction, to leaving it unchanged but with new options for player response".

"It is kind of silly that this mod, which was much less work than some of my others, has received a lot of votes for Mod of the Month," JaceyS added. "But it's a good thing it's getting visibility, so it can find its way to those who would find it helpful."

The modular options allow players to 'reduce' or completely remove any inappropriate behaviour, including wolf whistles.

As JaceyS previously mentioned, her mod isn't the only one attempting to tackle these problems: Less Triggering Morrowind last year removed the word rape, while another released this month lets players remove Anhaedra from the game or alter his lines. Her work also seems to have coincided with efforts by another modder to remove violence from Morrowind entirely. Yet JaceyS's work on removing sexual harassment seems to be more comprehensive than previous attempts, covering several different instances and keeping the changes in-line with character personalities and Morrowind lore.

Given Morrowind is now 18 years old, perhaps it comes as little surprise that certain sections of the writing now feel dated. JaceyS certainly feels the sexual harassment lines used by Curio and Anhaedra are "played for humour", although she notes that in some cases - such as the use of rape in the 36 lessons of Vivec - they are at least used to deepen the portrayal of a specific character. Now the Sexual Harassment Remover mod is complete, JaceyS is working on a request to add content warnings to the books of Morrowind, which should also be portable to other Elder Scrolls titles. As a Morrowind modder, JaceyS doesn't have any plans to make similar mods for other games, but she "encourages other people to do so". Perhaps JaceyS's work will inspire others to mod older games and give sexual abuse survivors the option to skip sections that remind them of painful memories. And if a mod allows more people to experience a great game for the first time - it's important work in my book.

 

[zapotec]

Now the world is a safer place.

 

[octavius]

If the precious snowflakes can't deal with computer games, how can they deal with real life? Are they surrounded by an Aura of Safe Space?

 

[luj1]

The sexual references in Morrowind were actually well done and enhanced the story. I find it hilarious that the side which cries for tolerance is the most intolerant.

 

[Funposter]

installing it to remove the stuff with Curio because my character AIN'T NO FAGGOT

 

[Wunderbar]

installing it to remove the stuff with Curio because my character AIN'T NO FAGGOT

just play as a woman

 

[Sigourn]

If the precious snowflakes can't deal with computer games, how can they deal with real life? Are they surrounded by an Aura of Safe Space?

Agree, just like those faggot war veterans who get PTSD from 4th July fireworks, that's not even a real medical condition.

 

[Wunderbar]

If the precious snowflakes can't deal with computer games, how can they deal with real life? Are they surrounded by an Aura of Safe Space?

Agree, just like those faggot war veterans who get PTSD from 4th July fireworks, that's not even a real medical condition.

war veterans don't advocate for cancelling fireworks and they don't harass fireworks manufacturers on twitter.

 

[Sigourn]

war veterans don't advocate for cancelling fireworks and they don't harass fireworks manufacturers on twitter.

Neither did JaceyS advocate for anything with her mod. It's a mod, it's optional, you are just looking for an excuse to get triggered.

Also

 

[DraQ]

installing it to remove the stuff with Curio because my character AIN'T NO FAGGOT

Well, *your character* ain't.

If the precious snowflakes can't deal with computer games, how can they deal with real life? Are they surrounded by an Aura of Safe Space?

Agree, just like those faggot war veterans who get PTSD from 4th July fireworks, that's not even a real medical condition.

war veterans don't advocate for cancelling fireworks and they don't harass fireworks manufacturers on twitter.

And unlike fireworks, exposure to a vidyagame is completely voluntary.

 

[octavius]

If the precious snowflakes can't deal with computer games, how can they deal with real life? Are they surrounded by an Aura of Safe Space?

Oh no, Sigourn was triggered. :D

 

[Jugashvili]

installing it to remove the stuff with Curio because my character AIN'T NO FAGGOT

Just reach level 20 and 50 rep brah

 

[Sigourn]

If the precious snowflakes can't deal with computer games, how can they deal with real life? Are they surrounded by an Aura of Safe Space?

Oh no, Sigourn was triggered. :D

"Fucking SJWs ruining my games with optional mods. What?! I'm not triggered!"

Spoiler

That "SJW" is also making some of the best Morrowind mods at the moment, ironically the one user who felt like mocking her mod by making an extremely half-assed "Morrowind Violence Remover" contributed nothing else to the community.

 

[zapotec]

It's a twenty years old game, and nobody gave a fuck about the "triggering psd sexual words" but strangely in this period mods like that springs like flies in the shit.

In the meantime, nobody cares about that poor khajit women being used and dissected for retrieving moonsugar stuffed inside their bowel

 

[prengle]

eheh, id love to know just how many euros jacey had to smuggle under the table to get this article published in the first place

i couldnt care less about the mod existing in the first place - anyone should be able to create/download and install whatever they goddamn please (except for mgso :3) - but i do actually care about this random thot from eurogamer spewing a dozen paragraphs about a tiny ass mod that basically just edits a few dialogue strings, entirely because it Empowers Sexual Abuse Survivors(tm) and made a few meanie nazi bigot chuds online slightly irritated, when the vast majority of the morrowind modding scene has basically operated under the radar for god fucking knows how long. you wont see emma kent from eurogamer covering the latest stable release of openmw or the hundreds of mwse lua mods that have been released in the last few years alone but this random fucking esp file gets an interview on their site because it supports their political narrative. smh!

 

[wwsd]

I miss the days when mods would add cringe sexual content. Decline of modder cancer.

 

[MWaser]

It's a twenty years old game, and nobody gave a fuck about the "triggering psd sexual words" but strangely in this period mods like that springs like flies in the shit.

In the meantime, nobody cares about that poor khajit women being used and dissected for retrieving moonsugar stuffed inside their bowel

back when people actually got raped on the street all day in the lawless early modern period (ie. the beginning of the 21st century) people didn't have time to get traumatized by it in video games.

Nowadays the rape survivors live long enough to reexperience their traumatic memories in video games which aren't considerate enough to include trigger warnings.

 

[trimethylsilyl]

Reinstalled Morrowind with OpenMW this time, and oh boy does it make a difference with regards to stability and performance. I don't even miss the MWSE-lua mods. I'm having a couple of issues I can't remember having in vanilla Morrowind though;

• Alchemy success chance: according to UESP I should have a 100% success rate at full fatigue, 55 Alchemy, 90 Intelligence and 70 Luck. I started making a shitload of potions and recording the success rate. At the mentioned attribute and skill levels, 200 potions gave a 64% success rate. Of course my alchemy, int and luck also rose during this time, which should have increased my success rate even more. Yes, I'm aware of the Gambler's Fallacy, but 100% is 100%. Just now I failed 5 potions in a row, at supposed 106.5% success chance.
  
• I seem to stagger every time and enemy hits me, even though my Agility is as high as 85 (and full fatigue). It doesn't matter whether the enemy is a rat or an orc with a warhammer.

Any input on these? I'm guessing maybe the UESP is wrong with regards to alchemy success rate, and that the stagger issue is OpenMW related...?

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

I miss the days when mods would add cringe sexual content. Decline of modder cancer.

I think the MW Overhaul mod had a nudity filter option. Those Breton titties pointing at ya while in the bars was a nice feature. Whoever did the boob textures did a real fine job.

 

[prengle]

I miss the days when mods would add cringe sexual content. Decline of modder cancer.

I think the MW Overhaul mod had a nudity filter option. Those Breton titties pointing at ya while in the bars was a nice feature. Whoever did the boob textures did a real fine job.

that was the nude version of better bodies (which dates back to 2004), sweetie

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Though I've tried 3 times in the past to play Morrowind and gave up for various reasons, I'm going to give it another go but as close to the vanilla experience without too many rage-quitting lack of QoL features as possible. I'm going to use the GOG GOTY version along with the latest OpenMW. Already noticing some nice perks like Dolby 5.1 surround sound, widescreen high resolution and controller support (yes, I'm a total couchtard these days when it comes to my gaming). So, unless any of you want to talk me out of this and holler something like, "NOOOOO! DON'T USE THE OPENMW VERSION! IT'S NOT THE WAY IT'S DONE, INFIDEL DOG!" I shall commence enjoyment of this classic that I always wanted to play but never did.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Though I've tried 3 times in the past to play Morrowind and gave up for various reasons, I'm going to give it another go but as close to the vanilla experience without too many rage-quitting lack of QoL features as possible. I'm going to use the GOG GOTY version along with the latest OpenMW. Already noticing some nice perks like Dolby 5.1 surround sound, widescreen high resolution and controller support (yes, I'm a total couchtard these days when it comes to my gaming). So, unless any of you want to talk me out of this and holler something like, "NOOOOO! DON'T USE THE OPENMW VERSION! IT'S NOT THE WAY IT'S DONE, INFIDEL DOG!" I shall commence enjoyment of this classic that I always wanted to play but never did.

What're you rolling?

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Though I've tried 3 times in the past to play Morrowind and gave up for various reasons, I'm going to give it another go but as close to the vanilla experience without too many rage-quitting lack of QoL features as possible. I'm going to use the GOG GOTY version along with the latest OpenMW. Already noticing some nice perks like Dolby 5.1 surround sound, widescreen high resolution and controller support (yes, I'm a total couchtard these days when it comes to my gaming). So, unless any of you want to talk me out of this and holler something like, "NOOOOO! DON'T USE THE OPENMW VERSION! IT'S NOT THE WAY IT'S DONE, INFIDEL DOG!" I shall commence enjoyment of this classic that I always wanted to play but never did.

What're you rolling?

Homegrown. Grew it on my own deck.

By the way, I did at first install one of those huge overhauls that made everything 1000 times prettier - too fucking pretty - and I realized I just couldn't bring myself to play it for more than a few minutes. The black guard that greats me below deck at the start, for example, looked like a lavender Snoop Doggy Dog that just returned from the beauty parlor and nail salon. I could practically smell his parfume before he even came below deck. I guess I'm just an old fashioned, vanilla kind of guy so OpenMW it is then, even if the walking animations of the guards still look like they're trying to hide the fact that they just did a dookie in their armor.