Favorite home mod

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun May 16, 2004 7:35 pm

Just curious about this. I've really liked House D'Orthay in the past, when I first played Morrowind. Now that I'm playing again, the main drawback is an alchemy chamber whose jars haven't changed to match the new substances found in Tribunal or Bloodmoon--much less such addons as Sri's Alchemy, Wilderness, and Rune. I'm considering Artuzu 3.0, which is an improved version of A Good Place to Stay, but the place is ridiculously sumptuous. It does, however, have three things I really want:

1) Updated alchemy jars for stocking, through Bloodmoon.
2) A means of teleportation to and from.
3) Bookshelves.

What are your preferences?

blake · Post by **blake** » Sun May 16, 2004 7:39 pm

the cottage by balmora is real nice, and then Eponia Manor is pretty good also. But by far the best "house" mod is the portable mobile base or PMB, its the coolest thing ever

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sun May 16, 2004 8:16 pm

I know you said you had trouble with the installation, but I honestly find Abu's Retreat to be ideal. I am considering using it in combination with House D'Orthay. The mod comes with a teleport ring, it is just the right size, has plenty of storage, is visually attractive, and it has a room dedicated just to alchemy along with jars for all the new ingredients (including Sri's if you have that mod)
It is well worth going the necessary steps in order for it to work. You may even want to try emailing Phoebe, the mod's creator and asking for advice. I've found most mod makers to be really helpful with matters like this.

Winters · Post by **Winters** » Sun May 16, 2004 8:19 pm

I find all the house mods too big, and i wind up losing all my stuff, so I presonally prefer just to use Nerano Manor in Balmora as my house, and once I fill that i'll get another too. I think I may use the Caldera Gorverners Palace, there aren't gaurds inside are there? If so then hmmm I'm not sure, I do have the Rain's Hand Hall mod and it's a huge house, I lost lots of stuff and spent 15 min trying to remember where i put it and find it

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Sun May 16, 2004 8:56 pm

I used to use any which manor in Balmora. I recall using the murder house at one time because of it's storage, but disliking the fact that there was always a dead body in the middle of the room.

I like the Balconyhouse now. I'm not sure how much I care for four levels and a basement, but I'm one of those nitpicky persons who likes to put thier stuff on tables to flaunt, and Balconyhouse's upper level is just a huge show room of tables and ideal lighting. There are also several high-capacity storage chests in the basement. It's also convenient as it's located in Balmora, the council seat of my own house where I can get great prices on anything.

The only real bites I have with it is that the layout of the house is kind of freaky, and the creator put ingrediant jars in the Alchemy room for things like Meteor Slime, but forgot simple things like Gravedust and Green lichen. The fact that the original copy of Saryoni's Sermons is sitting in one of the book cases was also dissapointing as it was one of my goals to steal that myself.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun May 16, 2004 9:37 pm

Originally posted by dragon wench
I know you said you had trouble with the installation, but I honestly find Abu's Retreat to be ideal. I am considering using it in combination with House D'Orthay. The mod comes with a teleport ring, it is just the right size, has plenty of storage, is visually attractive, and it has a room dedicated just to alchemy along with jars for all the new ingredients (including Sri's if you have that mod)

You make it sound pretty good. The two up in Balmora, Artuzu's and A House on the Hill, are really huge, and take far long to walk around in. I've gotten Abu's Retreat installed, now, so I'll check it out. Then perhaps I'll do as you will, mixing House D'Orthay for its strategic teleport mini-game, and using Abu's for its alchemy.

EDIT: I've checked it out, and it is a lot more to my taste than the other two. Really beautifully done, with lots of aesthetic touches, and Sri's Alchemy, too! But did you see that huge collection of potions...! Talk about cheese.

At least they're for the most part not expert potions, but ordinary or bargain. Which is only appropriate, since it seems Abu was a journeyman alchemist, if his equipment is anything to go by.

Looks like a sale. I hope you get a commission.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon May 17, 2004 12:49 am

lol Fable, glad you like the place, I just reinstalled it myself; it should work well with House D'Orthay

I just put all of those potions in one of the chests to make room for my own, if I end up needing the room I'll just stick em in some mage's guild

I really love Phoebe's work on the Retreat so out of curiosity I also installed 'Abu's Manor'. While it is a tad too huge for me, I have to say I was pretty impressed, she managed to make a really large place very aesthetically pleasing. Beyond their sheer size, my problem with most of those castle or mansion-like mods is that they basically seem nothing more than a warehouse, which does not work for me from a roleplaying perspective. But Abu's Manor actually appears lived in, a significant accomplishment IMO.

btw, slightly off-topic, but if you appreciate mods that enhance game aesthetics and you don't enjoy having to slaughter nearly every creature you encounter I highly recommend a visit to: http://ravenfife.tripod.com/... Really gorgeous work!

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:05 am

Very nice stuff! I"ve already added some similar things to the game, so I'll download and take a look at it. And I agree about those other houses. They feel more like huge warehouses, than anything else.

Here are some of the ones I've added:

Wilderness: Many nasties, but also some harmless things, and they only appear at an appropriate level. This means you can check out the water around Seyda Neen from the start and just see beautiful fish. Also, small, heavily wounded critters now run away.

Wilderness Sounds: Same creator. Has tons of sounds, and they differ throughout locations. Very impressive, and not as slowing as some other sound enhancing mods.

Ice and Brady's Robe Replacer
Cloak Collection

Pssorticon: Adds much improved icons for each scroll and potion, none alike.

Byblos' Lights 300. Wonderful effects: green candles with green flames, etc. Some of the alchemy shops have incredibly rich light effects, now. There's also some program out there that adds window light in interiors, but I've heard it's very FPS-intensive, so I didn't bother trying it.

Book Rotate: This allows you to pick up and drop books; and each time you do the latter, it falls in a different position. It can even close books that are already opened. Great for storage.

Better Bodies, Better Heads: Really do a lot to make people look better in Morrowind.

MW Visual Pack: Enhancing textures everywhere.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:37 am

I forgot to add that all the above mods are available through Morrowind Summit. I've found several elsewhere, as well, but they weren't always the latest version.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:51 am

Cheers!

I'll take a gander by there this evening.

This is another good mod resource, the only downside is that you have to give them an email, I think they were having some problems with mass downloads or something. On the positive side though, the site is well-organised and all mods are hosted on location so you don't have to go to File Planet. I just gave them one of my web accounts to get around the email problem.
http://www.gamersroam.com/

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:58 am

Yes! That's my "secondary" source. The only problem is that some of their files aren't updated regularly, so they'll have older versions than Morrowind Summit. But they also have, on occasion, mods that MS doesn't offer. I like their comments section, though that's open to abuse as well as use. They claim to have reviews, too, but what I saw varied from well-written endorsements to truly horrendous trash without minimal logic or even linguistic skills.

Incidentally, I downloaded a journal mod that apparently lets you write and save entries in Morrowind--something that should have been done officially long ago. I suspect it wasn't because of the chance to thoroughly mess up the in-game journal, but it's tempting. I'd like to keep in-game notes; it's pretty damn RPG-like. But I'm leary, especially since my current modded Morrowind still has a very occasional tendency to crash. (TESTool really has worked out very well.)

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue May 18, 2004 8:48 am

I like their comments section, though that's open to abuse as well as use. They claim to have reviews, too, but what I saw varied from well-written endorsements to truly horrendous trash without minimal logic or even linguistic skills.

Indeed...
I would also say that is frequently true for the descriptions provided by some mod creators... Things like 'downlaod my mod it rulz, u will lik it"

I refuse to download anything when the description is full of grammatical and spelling errors. Partly, I figure this is probably a reflection of the mod's quality and partly I have a real problem with people who are too lazy to make any serious attempt at communication...

Incidentally, I downloaded a journal mod that apparently lets you write and save entries in Morrowind--something that should have been done officially long ago.

Hmm... That sounds as though it would be very helpful. I tend to keep a notepad with my game material, but being able to do it in game would be useful. But yes, given that my machine only just meets the recommended specs, and that I already have numerous mods installed I think I'd be a tad wary myself, especially since a mod like that would change a lot of the game coding.. I would think anyway.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue May 18, 2004 9:07 am

Originally posted by dragon wench
I refuse to download anything when the description is full of grammatical and spelling errors. Partly, I figure this is probably a reflection of the mod's quality and partly I have a real problem with people who are too lazy to make any serious attempt at communication...

Couldn't agree more. You have to wonder how careful a job a programmer has done with their mod if the couple of lines they provide to get users are both uninformative and riddled with mistakes. Even better are the ones that say "I dunno thout it intrestin bad deel but 2 rings ov mark/recall!!!!!!!!!" Riiight.

Hmm... That sounds as though it would be very helpful. I tend to keep a notepad with my game material, but being able to do it in game would be useful. But yes, given that my machine only just meets the recommended specs, and that I already have numerous mods installed I think I'd be a tad wary myself, especially since a mod like that would change a lot of the game coding.. I would think anyway. [/QUOTE]

I tried it a couple of times, then removed it. I kept crashing back to the desktop whenever I moved the ink quill over my character, or when I tried to finish a journal entry. Now, that could just be me: the mod author's forum is filled with people raving about it. Notably, no one complains about crashes. So maybe I'll give it another try, this time with a different saved game file.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue May 18, 2004 9:42 pm

@DW, check out Fantasy Morrowind. It's kinda intense, but the beauty of the stuff is amazing. I'm not sure whether to move to that, or not.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue May 18, 2004 11:47 pm

Originally posted by fable
@DW, check out Fantasy Morrowind. It's kinda intense, but the beauty of the stuff is amazing. I'm not sure whether to move to that, or not.

Wow!!! I see what you mean, those images are really stunning. I can't help but wonder, though, if I would eventually find the intensity a bit much. Based on what I've heard about the experience, I'm guessing it would be sort of like playing Morrowind while on acid!

More seriously, they really are lovely, but I'm a bit uncertain my machine could handle it... as it is my load times are already quite lengthy...

I had been thinking about getting an updated computer but we went away for a week instead.. *sigh*

My machine is a P3, 1 G processor, 256 Ram, with A Nvidea TNT Graphics card, I'm vaguely surprised I can even get the game to run... Not to mention that I have a 7-year-old, 15 inch, curved screen monitor

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 19, 2004 12:23 am

I tried Fantasy Morrowind. You're right: very intense.

But actually quite fast on loading. They're very small files. By comparsion, the MW Texture Pack has large files that take a long time.

At the moment, I'm considering doing a combination of Brash's Land Textures and Carnajo's various City Packs. That way, I can get rid of the MW Texture Pack, replace the textures throughout with simpler, smaller, but very nice ones, and have the subtly recolored stuff of Carnajo, who did lovely work. Here's an image from his recolored, retextured Hlaatu city.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Wed May 19, 2004 12:58 am

Well I'll certainly keep it in mind if I manage to pick up a higher end graphics card... and hey hopefully the intenisty of those graphics don't make the game even more addictive

I really like the screen shot you just posted, are the Brash and Carnajo mods available at The Summit? I'd go and do some searching myself, but I already have a bout of insomnia and I'm worried if I end up at a mod site I'll never actually make it to bed

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 19, 2004 12:48 pm

Originally posted by dragon wench
I really like the screen shot you just posted, are the Brash and Carnajo mods available at The Summit? I'd go and do some searching myself, but I already have a bout of insomnia and I'm worried if I end up at a mod site I'll never actually make it to bed

I tihnk Brash's Land Textures is up on Morrowind Summit, but the site itself is down, right now. You can get the textrues on the Morrowind 4 Kids website; wasn't it you who recommended that place to me?

Here's the location. For the Carnajo, just enter his name as author at Euro-RPG. Each one affects a different kind of city. I would also suggest the Hlaatu Darker Door Patch, because those doors look very out of place in Hllaatu-style towns like Balmora.

All of the above run quickly. Have fun!