Morrowind is perhaps my favorite game. Over the years, I’ve done countless playthroughs of the original game and OpenMW. Both versions definitely have their ups and downs. With the release of TES3MP, I’ve wanted to go back with some friends and let them experience the wonders of Morrowind with all of its wackiness intact.
One of the main gripes I’ve seen from people throughout the years is that many glitches/exploits are not available in OpenMW due to corrections made to the game’s code. I’ve seen discussion/complaints about this over the last decade.
I’ve decided that I want to create a fork of OpenMW which restores most of the original behavior. I’ve dug through most of the source code and it seems quite possible for a majority of the exploits I’ve researched. (I also see there is now LUA support in OpenMW. I’m not sure if this would be beneficial to restoring glitches and would have to research it a bit. I know for a fact what is possible with the source code).
All that aside, I wanted to create a list of exploits and have members of the community mention other ones which I may have missed. I’ve attached a tentative list of what I would like to “fix” (more like break) and would like input from other likeminded players. I understand that using glitches can be a contentious topic for some people, and I don’t use them all the time. Morrowind is a single player sandbox game, and in the past making use of these glitches has actually helped with RP’ing for some unique characters. Can I use the console/creation kit to accomplish similar things? Yes, but some of these glitches provided a way to accomplish the same end result directly in game (even on the Xbox version). Here is my list with some comments and would like feedback for additions:
Glitches to restore
1. Drain Skill Exploit: Draining a skill lowers its training cost and allows it to be retrained even if your skill is already at level 100. (This one should be very straightforward) Update: Added a game setting "mTrainingSkillBasedOnModifiedSkill" which allows skill cost and training to be based off current modified skill value
2. Fortify Skill Exploit: Fortifying a trainer’s skill will make them teach that respective skill if it exceeds their other skills in level. (Easy) Update: Turns out, there is already an option for this yay
3. Drain Intelligence: Draining intelligence to 0 will restore full magicka once the drain wears off. (Easy) (Note: in the base game, when magicka is restored the ratio was also preserved as per UESP. I’m not sure if this happens in OpenMW, but if it doesn’t I’d restore that functionality as well. It’s been a while since I’ve played either game and wasn’t aware of this one when initially looking at the source code I saw it on the UESP list after and need to investigate more) Update: Added a config value to the game options to handle this for defaulting <=0 magicka to 0 or 1 (1 being a restore, 0 being base OpenMW behavior)
4. Soul Trap / Target infinite spell effects: This is one that many people are familiar with and often disappointed when they are unable to use it in OpenMW. I’m going to need to look at the existing OpenMW code more in-depth and try to find some references for what the original Morrowind was doing that made this error occur. If I can’t find any info about original Morrowind, it should still be possible to modify the OpenMW code to work in this manner. Update: working on this one now, it will be fun
5. Vendor Negative Stock increase: In base Morrowind if a vendor has a negative stock of items, that means that they actually will restock said item. Say a vendor has -5 soul gems, then every time you shop with them you can buy 5 soul gems. In the base game, if you sold the vendor 5 of the same item, their stock would permanently change to -10. You could repeat this process to greatly increase the stock of a vendor for convenience. (Can I open the shop and close it 100 times? Yes, but it’s a lot easier to just up their inventory and then buy what I need) Turns out this works as intended already!
Glitches I’m not sure work in OpenMW that I’d like to restore if they aren’t working:
1. Command to move: in base Morrowind, if you use command on a creature/npc and then make use of an npcs travel option, the creature will travel with you. This can lead to some wacky situations. For example, command a mages guild teleporter to follow you, lead them to red mountain, command the heart of lorkhan, and then teleport using the NPC. You know have the heart of lorkhan at a new location. I’m not sure if this one works, it’s been a while since I’ve played OpenMW and need to check. If anyone can confirm for me that’d likewise be appreciated.
2. Looting summons: I think this works in OpenMW? If not, I’ve used it in the past on multiple runs (ie, playing a conjurer who summons daedra to sell their loot / uses them for alchemy)
List of glitches/exploits I missed which have been mentioned in this topic:
(Blank)
Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read my post. I feel like there are many other players out there who would benefit from this idea, and that’s why I wanted to post about it on the forums. I could just as easily make the changes for myself and not release them, but after googling recently about which exploits still work in OpenMW, I was reminded about how many other people want a similar experience. Please comment below with your thoughts and if I’ve missed any major “quirks” from the original game.
On a final note, thank you so much to the OpenMW dev team! I’ve been able to enjoy my favorite game on a variety of systems thanks to your hard work over the years.