OpenMW installation guide

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motaboy
Posts: 6
Joined: 14 Aug 2017, 09:58

OpenMW installation guide

Post by motaboy »

Hi there, I had a little trouble installing OpenMW 0.42.0 because I couldn't find a proper guide for installing this great project. With the help in the forum and 1 youtube video (there aren't much) I could finally manage it and would like to share my experience with you.
Maybe we can work together out an installation guide that can be pinned somewhere. I personally think the wiki is somehow too detailed while the FAQ isn't answering the simple questions when using this project and installing some mods - what I think most of the persons want to do :) Anyway, here's my guide, feel free to extend or use it.

Getting started:
1. Get a Clean (Re-)Installation of Morrowind (in my case the Gold Edition on Steam)
2. Download OpenMW for your system (for example OS X / Windows). Install it and choose the path of your original Morrowind.esm (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Morrowind\Data Files)
3. Start launcher and test the game
4. If Error "Tribunal.esm needs Morrowind.esm" occures: Open openmw.cfg (in documents/Mygames/OpenMW) and put the existing entry "content=Morrowind.esm" at first place of the contents part.
5. Start the game - it should work

Adjust Graphics:
1. Adjust ingame your resolution and put all water effects to „on“
2. Open "Settings-default.cfg" in the OpenMW install directory and copy the complete text into the "Settings.cfg" (found in Documents/Mygames/OpenMW) . Don't overwrite anything, just put the copied text under the existing.
3. Search for [Input] and delete the second! one (otherwise an error will appear at start)
4. Adjust your graphics: (Feel free to edit the numbers - these are mine for example. And my PC sucks)
- distant terrain = true (always needed!)
- small feature culling pixel size = 5.0 (at which size smaller objects won't appear in distance)
- viewing distance = 12000.0 (it's the distance till the fog appears - just increase it until you see no terrain)
- exterior cell load distance = 3 (the distance in which terrain will appear - HUGE FPS infuencer)
As you see, the last 2 (viewing distance and exterior cell load distance) work together - no need to have terrain rendered thats not in your viewing distance and no need to have viewing distance "behind the horizon"

Install Mods:
1. Create Folder "Data Files" in the installation folder of OpenMW
2. Create a folder for the Mod you want to install (e.g. "Tamriel Rebuild") in Data files
3. Extract the files of your downloaded Mod into the just created Mod folder. Beware that you already created a "Data Files" folder, so open the "Data Files" folder inside an archive (if there is one) and extract these files (like .esp files, Meshes- or Textures Folder).
Example: The Tamriel Rebuild.esp should be in C:\OpenMW 0.42.0\Data Files\Tamriel Rebuild (And not C:\OpenMW 0.42.0\Data Files\Tamriel Rebuild\Data Files)
3. Open openmw.cfg (found in Documents/Mygames/OpenMW) and scroll to the bottom. Close to the bottom are the lines with data="...". Add now the folder of your Mod to the list. For our example Tamriel Rebuild: data="C:\OpenMW 0.42.0\Data Files\Tamriel Rebuild" (with the ""). This is needed so the launcher knows the files he has to registrate.
4. If there is a .bsa file inside the folder of your mod: Open openmw.cfg, scroll to the top. You have to add your wanted .bsa file to the "fallback-archive" lines, e.g. fallback-archive=TR_Data.bsa (This is the name of the Tamriel Rebuild Data bsa-file). Beware that the morrowind.bsa, tribunal.bsa und bloodmon.bsa always have to be at top of your added mods.
5. Start the launcher and select the .esm and .esp files of the mods you want to play with. Beware that this is also a mod-manager where you have to put the files in the right sequence. Start with the original files tribunal.esm and bloodmon.esm, followd by your added .esm files and then your added .esp files. Always esp after esm files!
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Ravenwing
Posts: 335
Joined: 02 Jan 2016, 02:51

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by Ravenwing »

A basic installation guide should be around (hopefully) in the next few months. But it's much more difficult to write than guides for the rest of the stuff, because the installation process can vary significantly between operating systems. As for the second two sections, this should help out in the future. A note on your adjusting graphics section. It is not necessary to copy the contents of settings-default.cfg, only the specific entries for what you want to modify from default values. If you need descriptions for the different settings, the guide I posted will have more details than the default file.
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lysol
Posts: 1513
Joined: 26 Mar 2013, 01:48
Location: Sweden

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by lysol »

Also:
motaboy wrote: 14 Aug 2017, 16:58 Adjust Graphics:
4. Adjust your graphics: (Feel free to edit the numbers - these are mine for example. And my PC sucks)
- distant terrain = true (always needed!)
- small feature culling pixel size = 5.0 (at which size smaller objects won't appear in distance)
- viewing distance = 12000.0 (it's the distance till the fog appears - just increase it until you see no terrain)
- exterior cell load distance = 3 (the distance in which terrain will appear - HUGE FPS infuencer)
As you see, the last 2 (viewing distance and exterior cell load distance) work together - no need to have terrain rendered thats not in your viewing distance and no need to have viewing distance "behind the horizon"
You seem to have misunderstood this a bit, You don't "always" need distant terrain to be true, only if you actually want distant terrain.

Exterior cell load distance does not specify the distance which terrain will appear, this is what distant terrain is for. What cell load distance defines is the distance the game will load things such as trees, rocks, houses and even npc:s (including AI) and scripts. This is the reason you get such a big FPS hit with this.

If you want high fps but still be able to see far away, then use distant terrain = true and a far away viewing distance but with the exterior cell load distance set to a low number. The con is that trees and houses will pop up from nothing. This is because the feature "distant statics" is not implemented yet.
slartt23
Posts: 10
Joined: 16 Oct 2017, 17:19

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by slartt23 »

would love to see a modding dedicated one for osx. i'm on mavericks and going loopy trying to get openmw to recognise mods and populate them in its list
ExaltedMidget
Posts: 2
Joined: 18 Jan 2018, 00:25

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by ExaltedMidget »

what program do you need to open openmw.cfg
User avatar
lysol
Posts: 1513
Joined: 26 Mar 2013, 01:48
Location: Sweden

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by lysol »

Notepad or equivalent
ExaltedMidget
Posts: 2
Joined: 18 Jan 2018, 00:25

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by ExaltedMidget »

thankyou
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ladyonthemoon
Posts: 34
Joined: 13 May 2018, 13:24

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by ladyonthemoon »

motaboy wrote: 14 Aug 2017, 16:58 Hi there, I had a little trouble installing OpenMW 0.42.0 because I couldn't find a proper guide for installing this great project.
Install Mods:
1. Create Folder "Data Files" in the installation folder of OpenMW
2. Create a folder for the Mod you want to install (e.g. "Tamriel Rebuild") in Data files
3. Extract the files of your downloaded Mod into the just created Mod folder. Beware that you already created a "Data Files" folder, so open the "Data Files" folder inside an archive (if there is one) and extract these files (like .esp files, Meshes- or Textures Folder).
Example: The Tamriel Rebuild.esp should be in C:\OpenMW 0.42.0\Data Files\Tamriel Rebuild (And not C:\OpenMW 0.42.0\Data Files\Tamriel Rebuild\Data Files)
3. Open openmw.cfg (found in Documents/Mygames/OpenMW) and scroll to the bottom. Close to the bottom are the lines with data="...". Add now the folder of your Mod to the list. For our example Tamriel Rebuild: data="C:\OpenMW 0.42.0\Data Files\Tamriel Rebuild" (with the ""). This is needed so the launcher knows the files he has to registrate.
4. If there is a .bsa file inside the folder of your mod: Open openmw.cfg, scroll to the top. You have to add your wanted .bsa file to the "fallback-archive" lines, e.g. fallback-archive=TR_Data.bsa (This is the name of the Tamriel Rebuild Data bsa-file). Beware that the morrowind.bsa, tribunal.bsa und bloodmon.bsa always have to be at top of your added mods.
5. Start the launcher and select the .esm and .esp files of the mods you want to play with. Beware that this is also a mod-manager where you have to put the files in the right sequence. Start with the original files tribunal.esm and bloodmon.esm, followd by your added .esm files and then your added .esp files. Always esp after esm files!
Hi,

I'm surprised by this part of your guide. I didn't create the "Data Files" folder in the OpenMW folder but the mods that are in the Morrowind Data Files directory are actually recognised by the launcher, and they work.

I have another problem though. In the OpenMW folder, I have a "openmw-cs.exe"; I suppose it's the construction set for OpenMW but when I double click on it, a terminal window opens and close, that's it.

I also have a "openmw-essimporter.exe"; it seems to me that it is a tool that could allow me to import the saves I have played in the original Morrowind. If it is, how do I use it? I would really like to import my current games so that I can carry on playing them with OpenMW.

Thank you for helping me. :)
TYPunk715
Posts: 2
Joined: 05 Jul 2019, 02:27

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by TYPunk715 »

I can't get past the install because of the one-drive issue, Is there anyway to set the one-drive folder as the necessary folder?
PeterMartyr
Posts: 1
Joined: 05 Jul 2020, 07:19

Re: OpenMW installation guide

Post by PeterMartyr »

TYPunk715 wrote: 05 Jul 2019, 02:38 I can't get past the install because of the one-drive issue, Is there anyway to set the one-drive folder as the necessary folder?
No. Just No. Forget it. For the same reason my Visual Studio project don't work on OneDrive :roll:
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