GameBanshee Forums

Please, someone, tell me how to download mods. I tried reading a tutorial, but it was so complicated. Could someone give me a watered down version?

Do you really mean trouble with downloading mods? Because downloading a mod (or most other files) is mostly a matter of a few mouseclicks.
If there's a problem with that you might want to explain a bit more. Do you get error messages? Did you set Windows so that it won't allow you to download anything?
Or do you mean you have trouble with installing mods? If so, I'll be happy to explain that. Dont worry, it's not as complicated as it may seem.

Well...

It's not that I can't download the mod, it's just that I don't know where to download it to and what to do after that point. That's my main problem.

Periodically this comes up, and it always defaults to the same thing: the tutorials for installing mods are your best way of insuring they work. If you want to explain what your problem is, we'll try to help, but please be specific.

Specifically, the problem is that after I download and extract the files, it still won't run on my computer. I get error message after error message for different files. Tell me if this is specific enough. If not, I'll re-download the mod (I deleted it) and get the specific error messages. By the way, I'm trying to get the Ravenloft mod.

P.S. I did try to use a tutorial, but it still wouldn't work.

Where are you extracting the files to?

c:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Morrowind/Data Files

It does not sound as though you are necessarily extracting all the files into their appropriate subfolders. Take another look at one of those tutorials. You should find instructions for what file extensions go where.

You may want to check out Morrowind Mod User Tool List . The page has several tutorials, information on mod conflicts, and (briefly) mentions mod managers. Or you could check out the Morrowind Plugin Manager at Planet Elder Scrolls Morrowind Plugin Manager - Planet Elder Scrolls .

One thing to make sure is that the mod you're installing works with your game (patch) version. Also note that Morriwind often thinks that a mod is a problem (such as if the mod is newer than Morrowind's ESM), but it will still run. There is a way to suppress the error messages through the INI, though I can't recall it off-hand.

Hope this helps.

Also, when I extract my icon, texture, and mesh folders get moved from the data files area into I believe the C: file. Is there possibly a program I could use that would sort my files correctly?

P.S. How do I tell whether .TGA and .DDS files are icons or textures?

File placement really should be taking care of itself, and there is no need for you to know what type any given file is, unless you're modifying things. Every mod I've ever seen stores the mod's recommended directory structure inside the archive, so the only way you could be getting stuff in the wrong place is if you're unpacking to the wrong place, or without maintaining the archive's directory.

1) Make sure that whatever software you're using to unpack the archive (WinZIP, PowerDest, StuffIt, etc.) has not been told to ignore directories (check in Tools, Options, or Preferences as appropriate).

2) Make sure that your copy of Morrowind is in the right place, and that you're unpacking to the right directory (eg. if the mod includes the directory "Data Files", then you need to unpack to "Morrowind", otherwise you'd end up with "c:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Morrowind/Data Files/Data Files".

3) Do you have all requirements for the mod ? I've checked the Ravenloft mod on Planet Elder Scrolls, and both version list Bloodmoon & Tribunal as necessary. Do you have them, or is this some other version of Ravenloft ?

4) If all else fails, unpack the mod to a temporary directory, confirm that the directory structure is intact, then copy the directories over to "Data Files".

5) Finally, how are you checking to make sure that the mod isn't installed ? Is the game crashing outright, or is it loading without apparently applying the mod ? If the latter, have you read the readme file for details (the mod desription states that the house has no exterior, you have to use the console to get in). Is your console accessible ? If not, you may need to edit the game's INI.

If it's still not working, we're going to need a lot more information about what's going on and what's not going on. Ravenloft is a highly rated mod from a reputable site, you shouldn't be having too much trouble installing it unless you're doing something wrong (or really messed things up in a past attempt).

Worst case scenario, you may have to copy your save games, uninstall everything, reinstall a clean copy of the game with both expansions and and all patches, and then work on installing mods. It's a lot of work, I know, which is why, if you have the hard drive space, I would recommend making a copy of the entire Morrowind directory at that point so that you can easily reverse if things get messed up. I generally keep 3 copies of my Morrowind install on a spare HD, the first is a clean patched install, the second has texture patches applied, and the third had my most commonly used mods (Goblin Labs, Moonspawn, etc.). Then when I want to start over with a different set-up, I have multiple checked points from which to do it.

File placement really should be taking care of itself, and there is no need for you to know what type any given file is, unless you're modifying things. Every mod I've ever seen stores the mod's recommended directory structure inside the archive, so the only way you could be getting stuff in the wrong place is if you're unpacking to the wrong place, or without maintaining the archive's directory.

If you point a mod to dearchive on data files, it will 1) dearchive alongside data files, 2) under data files, correctly, 3) or two levels under data files, creating a new data files subdirectory. My only point is not to rely upon the archive's directory structure for placement. Too many mod developers are divided on where to start the dearchiving process, without telling the user. Having added 200+ mods to two different Morrowind iterations over time, I can only suggest doing the job manually. It takes longer, but you know where everything ends up.

I've decided to uninstall and reinstall Morrowind. I'll start over with Ravenloft in a few days. I'm notorious for my temper and I don't want to do something that is irreversible in my frustration. For now, I'm going to focus on Bloodmoon and Tribunal. Well, if I can get them to work that is. I always get an "Unable to download snowflakes/ blah blah blah". Does anybody have a cure for that? I remember reading about it once, but it was before I got the actual error message and I can't find the post again. Thank you everyone for your help and please leave this thread open for my future questions, Fable. Again, thank you for the help.