Time for another adventure? OpenMW, the free and open source game engine for Morrowind just had a brand new release. Do note, this release does not include the long-awaited Shadows implementation.
There's various AI improvements, shader water is rougher during bad weather, more options in the launcher, 360° screenshot support, you can now deal critical hits to unaware enemies with ranged weapons, performance improvements, multiple issues with spell-casting fixed for scripted events, hit detection improvements and so on. Of course it also includes tons of bug fixes, solving around 200 issues. See more on the OpenMW website.
Their release video:
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Direct Link
Direct Link
Constantly amazed by this, once shadows are in I will be personally giving it a play through. This is why I love the open source community making game engines like this, so many games I didn't get a chance to finish when I was younger that I can now. It's not just that though, some games don't age well so getting them improved in this way is fantastic.
It does need a copy of Morrowind to play, you can find it any time on GOG and Steam. However, right now it's also free to grab from Bethesda using the code "TES25TH-MORROWIND" until March 31st.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Avehicle7887 Mar 28, 2019
I watched the new release video and have been left enchanted by all the hard work that is constantly going into this project.
Thank You!!
Thank You!!
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abelthorne Mar 28, 2019
Quoting: legluondunetSure, but if you don't have it on GOG (or Steam, or CD), it's still a free copy. You need to use the Bethesda launcher with Wine to download the game but when it's done, you can just grab the files and use them with OpenMW.Quoteright now it's also free to grab from Bethesda using the code "TES25TH-MORROWIND" until March 31st.
And you have to install the "Betheeda Launcher"...no thanks, I prefer to use the Gog version, without installer.
Uplay, Origin, Epic...to much games clients that are not Linux compatible.
(Incroyable, un gluon !)
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Always neat to see these projects progressing, and bonus props for an entertaining video :)
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Quoting: abelthorneBut can you copy the installed files and move them to other systems and across OS upgrades or would you need to use the installer every time?Quoting: legluondunetSure, but if you don't have it on GOG (or Steam, or CD), it's still a free copy. You need to use the Bethesda launcher with Wine to download the game but when it's done, you can just grab the files and use them with OpenMW.Quoteright now it's also free to grab from Bethesda using the code "TES25TH-MORROWIND" until March 31st.
And you have to install the "Betheeda Launcher"...no thanks, I prefer to use the Gog version, without installer.
Uplay, Origin, Epic...to much games clients that are not Linux compatible.
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Quoting: SalvatosBut can you copy the installed files and move them to other systems and across OS upgrades or would you need to use the installer every time?
Of course you can. OS upgrades only affect openmw, which you can reinstall/recompile. All it needs from the original game is the data, which should be safe as long as you don't wipe your partitions or make a backup of it.
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Quoting: dvdCool, I wasn't sure whether the Bethesda launcher controlled game launch or was just a frontend for game downloads. Gonna try it out.Quoting: SalvatosBut can you copy the installed files and move them to other systems and across OS upgrades or would you need to use the installer every time?
Of course you can. OS upgrades only affect openmw, which you can reinstall/recompile. All it needs from the original game is the data, which should be safe as long as you don't wipe your partitions or make a backup of it.
Edit: Ugh, need to install DXVK to get the launcher to work. Can't be bothered right now.
Last edited by Salvatos on 29 March 2019 at 1:08 am UTC
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abelthorne Mar 29, 2019
Quoting: SalvatosBut can you copy the installed files and move them to other systems and across OS upgrades or would you need to use the installer every time?I haven't tried (already have the game on GOG): if you mean moving the game's directory to another Windows PC and play it (with the original exe, not OpenMW), probably not, but that's because it likely adds stuff in the register during installation that would be missing; you'd have the same issue with 99% of games and softwares, it's not specific to the Bethesda launcher. And it's still possible that Morrowind doesn't actually need the register and it would work.
Now, if you're asking about moving the files to another computer (Linux, Windows, MacOS, whatever) to play with OpenMW or keep a backup and get rid of the Bethesda launcher, then there shouldn't be any issue, as OpenMW only needs the Data Files directory (the game's assets).
Last edited by abelthorne on 29 March 2019 at 7:50 am UTC
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Does this allows regular MW mods? And btw: I need a mod that changes the progression/leveling system... because my play style would result in very less to none progression very soon because i only use 2 or 3 skills ;) Also i usually always want to level up intelligence only, which would result in a lot of potential attribute points wasted...
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abelthorne Mar 29, 2019
Quoting: oliver-Does this allows regular MW mods? And btw: I need a mod that changes the progression/leveling system... because my play style would result in very less to none progression very soon because i only use 2 or 3 skills ;) Also i usually always want to level up intelligence only, which would result in a lot of potential attribute points wasted...Mods compatibility varies with OpenMW. The ones that just replace assets (better graphics, different sounds/music, modifications of the world...) work fine. The ones that heavily use scripts can have issues. The ones that rely on "hacks" like MWSE (a complete update of the scripting system) don't. Changes to the core gameplay made through tweaks in the editor usually work.
For mods that fix issues in the original game, it depends. I'd recommend Patch for Purists, which works fine with OpenMW and is usually the best mod for this anyway. Others, like the Morrowind Code Patch, rely on the original executable, so don't work with openMW.
You can check the wiki (https://wiki.openmw.org/index.php?title=Mod_status) for a list of mods that have been tested with OpenMW and see if they work or not. It's far from being complete but that's a start.
Also, if you use the suggested way to install mods (i.e. keep them in their own dir that you add to the config file rather than overwriting the original MW files), it's easy to remove a mod, so you can check more easily if they work (of course, if you save in game and remove a mod afterwards, you'll have issue when reloading the save point).
EDIT: to download mods, I'd recommend NexusMods (https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind). If you do a search on "openmw", you'll find some that are specifically made for OpenMW, usually to make other mods compatible.
Last edited by abelthorne on 29 March 2019 at 8:47 am UTC
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If you look for mod compatibility I suggest you this website: https://modding-openmw.com/
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