Elder Scrolls Forum: Ronin49's Mod Lists and Links 1Aug04

Ronin49's Mod Lists and Links – 1Aug04

Contents

Introductions I recommend novices read the entire post carefully.
Rationale
Recommendations to Novices Check through the links too.
Mod Lists Experienced mod users may wish to scroll down to here.
Useful Links
Feedback

Introductions

First, welcome to the mod forums if you are new here. Everyone starts out as a novice. We are happy to have you join this community but it is fair that you know there are some expectations.

BEFORE you post - "where can I get this . . .?" or "problem with installation!" or "what do these messages mean?" - please look very carefully at the lists, threads, tools and techniques contained in this thread and its many links, starting with these two essentials:

Welcome to the Mod forums - Read this first! - just what it said, FIRST, and yes, this includes you. It contains links to download sites and sound basic directions to get you started.

[ Search ] - at the top left of this page and somewhere on every download site. Do not ask someone to search for something you could look up yourself. Folk are generally pretty courteous to novices and generous with their time. That tends to be quickly eroded by an obvious lack of effort to look for yourself and by a series of similar ‘help/where is?’ posts that spam up the Forum.

Rationale - Why go to all this trouble yourself?

Well, there are lots of very talented, knowledgeable and helpful folk here who will assist a great deal but it is only fair that we all help ourselves out too.

'Enlightened self-interest' is at work here as well, as mod makers will then have more time to get on with more great creations and to help answer the more difficult questions that are harder to solve than simply finding the [Search] button.

The other factor is that if you go searching for yourself, you are even more likely to find more of the some 3,000 plus mods that appeal to your own personal taste and style of play. And that is something that no one else can determine for you. You will also learn much more about mods than you will by being spoon fed titles and links.

Finally, most everybody seems to get a 'freebie' or two, a good thing because it can be pretty daunting at first. But after a couple of days on the Forum - if it becomes obvious that you are asking other people to read, search and make your decisions for you - you will find that the number of helpful responses you get to your posts drops quickly toward zero.

Recommendations to Novices [other views may differ]

1. Start small, "less is more". A lot of mods together can be hard to manage and it is not apparent at first. The most common mistake made by most people is to load up far, far too many mods all at once at the beginning. As well, mods can clutter up the game if you are also new to Morrowind and can make it hard to see what is really relevant to the Main and Faction Quests and what the original Morrowind game experience is really like. Start with three or four, added and tested one-at-a-time. After you have it running smoothly and have played for a few days, then consider adding more, one at a time. What this post could really use is a concrete set of recommendations for 'first mods' - meanwhile, for someone new to mods, TypoPanther's excellent tread on that subject is commended to you as essential reading.

2. You need a couple of tools before you download a single mod. They are:

Extraction or decompression software. You will encounter .zip, .rar, .ace and occasionally some other compressed mod files. WinZip will not open all of them. ZipGenius is recommended by a number of people.
TESTool 1.3 - " A must for compiling levelled lists and cleaning plugins." (Telesphoros) It is one of the only two utilities that I personally would recommend for someone new to mod use. Some of us use it extensively just the way it is. Other expert and knowledgeable users have had some difficulties with it and recommend that:
a. "you might want to stay away from the "Just Fix It" button until you understand mods better", and
b. you do not use the merge dialogue function.
[If you look at the other opinions and the pros and cons and decide you would rather use the TES Advanced Mod Editor (TESAME) by Scarabus, it is hosted at Euro-RPG.]
Load order of your mods can be critical to them working properly. People use many different tools to adjust the load order, including the Construction Set and TESTool. I prefer to use ReorderPlugins available from Morrowind Source [you will need to register]. Although it requires a Java applet be downloaded to run, I have found this little utility to be intuitive and effective and it provides the positive control of load order that I want.

3. You need to be able to install mods cleanly, correctly and efficiently and be in control of the process, knowing what is going on so you can catch and correct any minor problems that come up. It is usually much more difficult (and frustrating) to unscramble bad installs than it is to do it right in the first place. Installing mods correctly is the single most important thing you need to learn. There are four very good Installation Guides or Tutorials in the following list. I suggest you read them all, then print out the one that is most comfortable for you and use it as a step-by-step guide for the installation of your first half-dozen mods:

Grumpy's Mod Installation Tutorial - read these guides carefully before you download a single mod.
My Mod Installation Tutorial - Korana's easy to understand guide with FAQs.
How to Install Mods using Zip Genius - more installation and usage guides and tips by Baphomet, RavynAngel and others.
The Portal Tutorial #1 - How do I Install? - by JCSpencer, another good installation guide.

4. Read and thoroughly understand the Readme - both before you attempt to install and as you test the mod in-game.

5. Backup your game BEFORE you add a new mod, each and every time. It is too late if you save after you have found out you do not want it. Learn how to do 'a clean save' when removing mods - look it up or see threads below. See Cleaning Dirty Saves by DinkumThinkum, Nigedo and Argent - covers three different methods for cleaning a saved game: the 'standard' in-game method, using TESAME and using the Enchanted Editor. If you are new to mods, restrict yourself to the 'standard' in-game method.

6. "All mods are not created equal". Nope, not even close - so do a little research, check out a few recommendations before you install. Research:

Read about mods in this Forum and [Search] the back threads here about mods you are interested in.
Check out the reviews at sites like:

Gamers' Roam - with the Mod Review Team.

Adrien's Chalice - with GhanBuriGhan and company, and

Morrowind Mod Reviews by Zenogias - at HiredGoons.

7. Figure out how you will be able to get back to where you were BEFORE you install ANY texture mods. Some are costly to game performance, some just get old, and some add a great deal of game enjoyment for a lot of players - but people's preferences and opinions vary widely about texture packs. Make sure you can change back.

8. Stay out of the TES Construction Set for awhile. Trust me on this one. If you have a few new error messages or a couple of “big yellow boxes” introduced into your game, it can usually be corrected by re-doing the install properly or getting some expert advice. If you cannot get the install right and then go tinkering in the CS to fix it, you are only going to make things worse and usually much worse.

Mod Lists

Telesphoros' List o' Mods 1Aug04 - the legendary and comprehensive list of many popular mods, developed with suggestions from the entire mod community, play-tested by the author and updated regularly.

Jara's Plugins n'Links - an easy to use and comprehensive list of plugins and links.

Baphomet's and Acid Basik's Favourite Mods Lists - page 1, then scroll down. Several model lists that continue to inspire 'list-keepers.'

Nevena's List of Mods

Korana's List of Recommended Mods

Sabregirl's Ultimate Playable Race List - lots of choices for additional playable races.

Mage Mods 07/2004 - Reffa's fine list for the magickally inclined. Contributions of other good mage mods have been requested.

Ivza's Various Mods by Themes - with mod lists on the following themes - Alchemy, Dunmer, Evil, Female Clothing, Mages, Marksmen, Tombs, Vampires, Wilderness - no longer updated. Many of these thematic mod lists would be even more useful when fully fleshed out and sponsored by someone committed to their upkeep. Any more takers?

New! kw's List of House Mods - kwshipman's excellent and timely new list of house and stronghold mods, currently in development and migrating to a web site when complete. Very useful in its present form.

Favorite Companion Mod ? - a thread that lists and discusses many popular companion mods.

Searching for Assasin/Archer/Ranger Mods - a thread listing many suitable mods for these character types.

Serruriere's The Forum - a site for Better Bodies compatible clothing and accessories with good summaries of the mods and screenshots.

Soulphire's Continuum - another site with links to Better Bodies compatible clothing and accessories, like Slave Collars and the like.

Useful Links

MaGISTraTe 's Morrowind Mod Links Collection - a recent list of more download links.

Freelancer's Mod Sites List - an older and very extensive list of sites.

The Mod Control Panel at the Summit - provides an excellent data base search tool for over three thousand of the mods that are in existence and greatly facilitates searches by theme or expansion. Learn to use it.

How to play 2149 mods!! - an excellent summary by freestonew on how to play all the quest mods, even the ones that conflict, by using a sequential approach.

ieSpell - A Spell Checker for Internet Explorer - a free utility that provides quick and reliable spell checking to Forum dialogue boxes - a boon to effective communication.

Compatible Mods List - by Iamhere at the CON forums, one site dealing specifically with compatibility, regrettably now somewhat dated. And here, in thread format, as Pinned . . . List of Plugins Test .

What the Hell is a GMST? - by Argent at Morrowind Tech - what they are and how to avoid and remove them.

Help With Removing Mods and Anyone Successfully Cleaned a Save? - on making clean saves.

Framerate Killers - one of several threads discussing which mods are most demanding on your system and game speed.

Using TESTool With Multiple Installations - how to do it - for those who need more than one installation to mod, test and play.

Illuminated Order Mod Secrets - Official Post - "a list of the major secrets (mostly artifact/item-related) in the Illuminated Order mod . . . . spoiler material."

Suran Underworld 2.X--Most Common Questions - FAQs and mini-walkthroughs for Suran Underworld. Thelys sponsors mod help forum sections for mod authors hosted on their site - a good place to look first.

Encyclopedia of Plugins - a Work in Progress (WIP) - SiNNeR's proposal to create "a database of mods which will have descriptions, reviews, known incompatibilities, hints/walkthrus, etc along with of course links to official sites for the plugin and recommended places to download it from ." Likely opening in August 2004.

Hope that helps a little. You will almost certainly find that people on the Forum are even more willing to help you if it looks like you are trying to help yourself. Enjoy!

Feedback

List and Thread Authors: If you wish to have a link removed, commented differently or updated, please PM me.

Suggestions for other sites, lists and threads are always welcome. Please simply post them on this thread and I will look at including them in the next revision. In paricular, links to threads or sites with solid material on quest mod walkthroughs or on compatibility issues would be especially appreciated.

Comments and criticisms by new mod users would be especially welcome - how can this thread be improved to ease your introduction to mod usage?

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"And to everyone seeing naked and headless people, READ THE README!!! It's the answer to all your troubles." Neoptolemus

Mythic Mods ----> Starting Out With Mods, Telesphoros' List o'Mods,
Ronin49's Lists & Links, Theme Mod Lists.

Edited by Ronin49 (08/01/04 01:05 PM)

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