Play Morrowind

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an action role-play game developed by Bethesda Game Studios which was released in 2002.

The Open Morrowind client - which is available for Haiku - make it possible to read the assets of the original game, so that you can play the game on your favorite system.

Installation

Before going further, please keep in mind that there's no 3D acceleration under Haiku, so you will need to lower the game's rendering options in order to have the minimum gameplay experience.

You must also own the original game to be able to play, as the game's assets are not free to use.

If not, then you can check for The Elder Scrolls III : Morrowind Game of the Year Edition on the Steam platform (installation for Windows only).

To install Open Morrowind client, type "morrowind" under Haiku Depot in the "All packages" tab :

Proceed with install. Launch the Open Morrowind client.

You should see the below message :

Click on "Run Installation Wizard" button.

Validate with "Next" :

Put the game's assets into the "/boot/home/games/morrowind" folder as per below:

You should have the below files in the "Data files" folder and particularly the "Morrowind.esm" file :

Go back to the installation wizard, and click on "Browse" :

Select "Morrowind.esm" and click on Open.

Validate with "Next" :

Select your language and "Next" :

Click on "Next" again :

Finalize the installation with "Finish" :

We are good to go !

First setup

When you open the Open Morrowind client, the main launcher below will appear :

We will adjust the Graphics options.

Click on the Graphics icon and then the Display tab :

We will use a 1024x768 display.

In the "Legacy" tab, put the "Lighting Method" as legacy :

In the Shadows tab, untick all the options and change the Shadow Distance Limit as below :

Now click on the "Advanced" icon and select "Game Mechanics".

Untick most of the possible options :

Do the same in the "Visuals" tab :

Set the "Camera" options as below :

Untick all the options in the "Interface" tab :

Ok, the game is now ready.

Start the game

Launch the OpenMW client and you will see the animation below :

If you don't want to see the introduction, you can hit the "Esc" key.

In the main screen, select "New" game :

You should see Jiub who will introduce you to the game basics :

If you check at the game's manual available on Bethesda's website, you should see the below default controls :

You can also hit "F3" to display the frame rate in game :

As you can see, it's very slow, but enough to have the game playable without 3D acceleration.

Once you have achieved the introduction with the basics, you should be in the below village.

If you right click, you will see your character's details, but also the world's map and your inventory:

Do right click again to remove these windows. If you hit several times "F3", you will see additional statistic details :

Morrowind's world is huge, and it takes time to explore it :

In the village, you can interact with the non-player character :

Just hit "space" to talk to one of them :

You can now discover the Morrowind's world as you wish !

Additional setup in game

I'm not sure the below setups in game are available before launching the game, that's why you can adjust them also.

In the "Options" menu, select "Prefs" tab and set the values as below :

In the "Video" tab, select "Video" and indicate the settings as below :

In the "Detail" you can put "View Distance" to the minimum :

Regarding the "Water" put all the values to minimum or off :

Finally in the "Lights" put the values as below :

Bonus

Do you know that the game's assets corresponding to the 3D models can be visualize under Haiku ?

As NIFSkope tool is available for Haiku, if you go into the "/boot/home/games/morrowind/Data Files/Meshes" folder, you can open any ".NIF" file you want.

For instance the below 3D model "head.nif" can be displayed under NIFSkope but also the animation can be played :)

I hope you have find this article useful, and maybe you will (re)discover the Morrowind game under Haiku.