Morrowind

[judicial clerk]

So I just picked up the Morrowind game of the year edition with both expansion packs. This is a game that slipped by me when it came out and now it is value-priced, so I thought what the heck.

The graphics are nice and it sounds quite expansive.

One problem I am having is in game, the mouse cursor moves very slowely and is jumpy. It feels like the kind of problem you get when your computer system is being taxed, but I cannot seem to lower the system options enough to make a difference.

Anybody have a comments or advice generally abot this game or my specific mouse problem?

[Godzilla Blitz]

I've been messing with this game over the past couple of weeks a bit now. The mods have completely remade the game. It's great.

Is your problem only indoors? If so, is your music turned off? If it is, turn it back on.

[judicial clerk]

Thanks for the tip GB. I understand that the mods are great. I really enjoyed the Baldurs gate series and I like the idea of open-ended game play. Now I just need to let this game suck me in.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Thanks for the tip GB. I understand that the mods are great. I really enjoyed the Baldurs gate series and I like the idea of open-ended game play. Now I just need to let this game suck me in.

This is a great place to start with mods:
Mod Thread (http://www.elderscrolls.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2648537&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1)

It's a nice list of reliable mods that don't unbalance the game in the player's favor. Look for the latest, updated list, not the one on the first page of the thread.

I spent 4-6 hours just researching, downloading, and installing mods before I started playing. Took forever, but it's actually kind of interesting to see all the amazing things that people have done with the game. There are a couple of dozen mods that I simply wouldn't play the game without, and I must have about 50 or so installed now.

[Desnudo]

So I just picked up the Morrowind game of the year edition with both expansion packs. This is a game that slipped by me when it came out and now it is value-priced, so I thought what the heck.

The graphics are nice and it sounds quite expansive.

One problem I am having is in game, the mouse cursor moves very slowely and is jumpy. It feels like the kind of problem you get when your computer system is being taxed, but I cannot seem to lower the system options enough to make a difference.

Anybody have a comments or advice generally abot this game or my specific mouse problem?

What are your system specs? Morrowind is a pretty resource intensive game. Also, it's one of my favorites of all time. The most immersive universe I've ever seen in a single player game. The level of thought and detail that went into the game is unbelievable.

Advice: spend some time on a site somewhere learning the basic does and don'ts and what all the different skills do.

[judicial clerk]

Arrgh, you are making me want to play so bad! Unfortunately, the lag from my mouse (and keyboard it turns out) was not caused by the music being turned off. I still need to defrag my hard disk drive which I read may help with the lag. I wonder if I can do anything to increase the speed/effeciency of my hard drive. Anyway, the specs of my computer (that I remember while at work) are:
-1.8 gig Intel P4
-512mb ram
-64mb geforce M400 video card (i think this is correct)
-80 gb hard drive partitioned. game is on a 40 gb partition that only has about 5gb used
-I can't remember the sound card, but it was probably state of the art 3 or 4 years ago.
-crapass rollerball mouse
-19 in. sony trinitron monitor.

-one fix I read that worked for another guy was to go to directx 8.1 instead of directx 9. I would rather not attempt to do this, but I will if it is the only solution to my problem (and I can figure out how to do it)

The game looks great and i can't wait to get into it. I have been looking at some of the fan sites and the mods are really impressive. I remember purchasing daggerfall and was blown away by the scope of the game.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Unfortunately, the lag from my mouse (and keyboard it turns out) was not caused by the music being turned off. I still need to defrag my hard disk drive which I read may help with the lag. I wonder if I can do anything to increase the speed/effeciency of my hard drive. Anyway, the specs of my computer (that I remember while at work) are:
-1.8 gig Intel P4
-512mb ram
-64mb geforce M400 video card (i think this is correct)
-80 gb hard drive partitioned. game is on a 40 gb partition that only has about 5gb used
-I can't remember the sound card, but it was probably state of the art 3 or 4 years ago.
-crapass rollerball mouse
-19 in. sony trinitron monitor.

-one fix I read that worked for another guy was to go to directx 8.1 instead of directx 9. I would rather not attempt to do this, but I will if it is the only solution to my problem (and I can figure out how to do it)

Humm. Some random thoughts...

Morrowind puts a lot of demands on your computer, but by your system specs I think you should be able to handle it well enough (I was rurnning the game before on a P3 800mhz and it worked ok). Your mouse and keyboard problem to me sounds more like a bug than a performance issue.

Out of curiousity, do you know what your frame rate is? You can see it by going into your Morrowind.ini file (it'll usually open with notepad by double-clicking on it), and changing "Show FPS=0" to "Show FPS=1". That will bring up the frames per second in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. If you're getting 10 or better anywhere (and you should be well above this indoors) and the problem still exists, then I really don't think performance is causing it.

You've updated to the latest patches, correct? And you've updated your video card drivers, right?

When I was playing on my old computer, I remember having a couple of resolution settings where the game was unresponsive to my mouse clicks and typing. You might try a couple of different resolution settings on your monitor to see if that helps.

When I had my problem with the music causing the mouse to get screwed up indoors, I went to this Morrowind Board (http://www.elderscrolls.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=) and did some searches. I remember reading a few other threads for people that were having mouse problems there. You might try a few searches on that board and see what comes up. Chances are very good a lot of people have had the same problem you have had, and chances are the fix will be simple and available.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Mouse Problems in Morrowind:

Thread One (http://www.elderscrolls.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tech&Number=2429576&Forum=tech&Words=mouse%20slow&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=2418095&Search=true#Post2429576)

Overall speed stuff, with mouse references:

Thread Two (http://www.elderscrolls.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2167637&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1)

Good luck

[judicial clerk]

Thanks you guys. I will update after i try these fixes.

[Desnudo]

I believe your graphics card is the bottleneck.

[hukarez]

I'll second that notion. GeForce MX is all you had to say, really.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I believe your graphics card is the bottleneck.

Orginally I thought it wouldn't be a hardware problem, but some of the stuff I've read recently makes me think that I am wrong and you guys are right.

I do think that changing the monitor resolution is worth a shot, though. It worked for me when I had a crappy computer.

[skrath]

If you're going to play this game, make sure you get mods to improve the graphics, i.e. Better Heads, Rhedd's Heads, Sharpened Weapons, NPC Replacer, G.I.A.N.T.S., etc. You can get them from www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind - they improve the game SO much as Godzilla Blitz said.

I just started last week and I'm already half way through the main quest. I'm playing this like 6+ hours a day, which is the most I've played since Championship Manager 00/01, and before that, Ultima 7.

[hukarez]

I have the original CD to the first iteration of Morrowind...I've been considering picking up the latest boxed set release - as it contains everything and all. I figure it'd run pretty sweet on my system...but in all honesty, I've been a bit lazy to get it installed. Probably because I know I don't have the expansion packs and the like.

Perhaps when I get stabilized financially, I'll drop the $20-30 it costs to pick up the game of the year edition and have some fun with it once again.
BTW, judicial clerk: did you ever get around to upgrading your graphics card? Or are you still running that MX?

[judicial clerk]

Thanks again for your help in trying to get this game running.

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head because i have tried all of the fixes listed here and on the morrowind message board and it has not helped. I only purchased this video card and additional ram within the last year so I could play KOTOR. I guess I need to upgrade again.

So my next question is, what video card would you guys recommend? My system specs are posted above. I cannot spend a lot of money (which of course led me to purchase the MX) so top of the line cards are out of the question.

I have read through the manual and the different websites regarding this cool game. As you can imagine, I am frustrated.

[Desnudo]

How much are you willing to spend? If you can swing it, I'd recommend the following card (I use it myself); which is about as inexpensive as you can go without really starting to sacrifice performance:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=302575&pfp=BROWSE

[judicial clerk]

Would you recommend the above card for $100.00 or the Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb for $180.00? I will get one or the other this weekend.

[hukarez]

I'd seriously get the 9800 Pro 128 meg. I'm running on that one in my machine right now, and at $180, that's not too bad of a deal. It's something that's going to last me for the time being, that's for sure. No real need to grab a 9800XT 256 meg for three times that amount, when it's clear the 128 will suit you fine. Unless, I guess, if you're into Doom 3 or something.

[judicial clerk]

I got the Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb. No problems with Morrowind now.

[judicial clerk]

Well, I've been playing now for a while. I added a number of plug-ins. I am very impressed with the game engine. The landscapes are impressive, the world is so vast, and it is so openended. I am suprised the game has not been modded to represent other worlds. It seems like this engine could be used to create, say Tolkein's middle earth accurately and in appropriate size. or create a accurate representation of some area of the actual earth. say the old west or alaska or something.

[Peregrine]

JC,I know there is a big project to use the game's engine to model the entire continent from Daggerfall (Morrowind, of course, is set on one relatively small island off the coast, so this is a huge project.)

[Peregrine]

Godzilla, that mod thread you listed earlier in the thread is dead. I'm thinking of reinstalling, what mods do you think are critical ones? I was browsing around on Morrowind Summit but there are so many it was difficult to figure out what was a must have. The Marksman mod looked really good though.

[Peregrine]

Just one more question regarding Morrowind, I remember when I played it before that one major problem I had with my fighter character was that his skills seemed to increase very, very fast, even fighting things that weren't very tough. Is this still a problem or can I download a plugin that will help correct it?