Although Skyrim has seen plenty of rereleases and even visual remasters by now, older Elder Scrolls games haven't quite received the same treatment from Bethesda. In particular, fan-favorite RPG Morrowind has been left sorely underrepresented in subsequent Elder Scrolls content despite many longtime players of the series wishing for the game to receive an upgrade. Fortunately, Morrowind's online community has a few solutions in the meantime, namely in the form of mods that help bring its graphics more up to speed with current technology. With the right visual upgrades and tweaks (and enough of them working together), Morrowind can look even better than out-of-the-box Skyrim despite releasing almost ten years earlier.
Since its initial release in 2011, Skyrim has actually seen fifteen rereleases across ten different platforms, the most recent being 2012's Skyrim Anniversary Edition. Most of these releases have also added additional content to the base game, ranging from the Legend of Zelda crossover items introduced in the Switch version of Skyrim to the multitude of Bethesda Creation Club elements added into Skyrim Anniversary Edition. Although many fans have enjoyed the multiple versions of the game, especially given how much longevity is added to the game thanks to all of the new content, others feel that Bethesda is failing to prioritize the development of The Elder Scrolls 6 and the chance to refresh many of the older games in the series.
Despite these missed opportunities, though, the Elder Scrolls fan community is active and dedicated to keeping many of the franchise's most iconic games alive even almost twenty years after their initial release. Morrowind alone has thousands of mods available to download on the game's Nexus page, ranging everywhere from new animations to improved armor textures and character models, making it worth exploring for those who want to tweak their game in small ways or completely overhaul everything from characters to landscapes. Perhaps the most notable and well-known visual mod for Morrowind is the fan project TESR Skywind, which aims to entirely remake Morrowind in the more modern game engine from Skyrim: Special Edition. However, there's not currently a concrete release date for the total conversion mod, and the creators have been careful not to release much information about the mod's progress. As such, Morrowind fans still have to look to the original game's modding community for visual improvements in the meantime. Here are some of the best mods to look into for players who want to re-experience traveling through the island of Vvardenfell in a brand new way.
Morrowind's Best Visual Mods For Overall Improvements
Those looking for an all-in-one improvement to Morrowind's graphics should look no further than MGE XE (pictured above), an improved-upon version of the original Morrowind Graphics Extender and a complete add-on to the base game's visuals. It allows for longer viewing distances, upgraded lighting, shaders, new water rendering, and countless other tweaks to subtly but effectively make the game look more up-to-date with current Bethesda releases like Skyrim. Arguably, the mod's main selling point is its render distance. One of Skyrim's most iconic aspects was the ability for players to stand atop a mountain and see an entire region spread out before them, and being able to see the same level of detail in Morrowind's vast landscape is impressive for even the most long-time players of the game - even if it does drive home that the world is smaller than the games that came after it. Similarly, Morrowind Enhanced Overhaul combines weather, lighting, and even loading screen mods to create an all-in-one update for the game's visuals.
Another way to significantly improve Morrowind's graphics without putting too much strain on a system is by improving the actual meshes of various items throughout the world. Morrowind's meshes are relatively low-quality, likely to save space and to work within the constraints of early graphics cards. Such restrictions aren't really necessary anymore and the Elder Scrolls series has branched into new technologies, meaning that modders have been able to remake Morrowind's 3D models in much greater detail than those originally featured in the game. Better Meshes Plus Optimization on Morrowind's Nexus page does just that, seamlessly replacing the original meshes with low-poly but higher-quality versions that will look impressive without requiring too much processing power.
Best Morrowind Upscaled Textures For Landscapes
Morrowind players looking for a less-intensive mod than Morrowind Enhanced Overhaul can instead turn to Morrowind Enhanced Textures (pictured above), which leaves out many of the lighting improvements and other large-scale changes to instead simply upsize all of the game's textures with the help of machine learning. It helps make Morrowind's textures less blurry on modern screen resolutions, making for a crisper visual experience. Likewise, the Landscape Retexture mod redoes the textures of every single region in the game and comes in both 1K and 2K versions. Everything from the bark on trees to dirt and brick paths looks cleaner and more detailed as a result.
Best Morrowind Foliage Mods For Amazing Grass, Trees & Plants
A Morrowind modder on Nexus by the username of Vurt has created several mods that improve Morrowind's landscapes, the greenery scattered throughout the region in particular. Vurt's Groundcover creates animated groundcover in most regions of the game, including flowers and patches of grass. There are also separate mods for the trees of each different Morrowind region, from Solstheim to the Bitter Coast, effectively allowing players to replace every tree in the game with entirely new models.
Morrowind's Best Visual Upgrade Mods For Clothing & Armor
The clothing textures in Morrowind are similarly low quality given the time the game was released. Luckily, their appearance can also be improved with the use of mods. Better Clothes Official Version replaces all of the segmented clothing models featured in Morrowind with higher-quality versions, altering the way clothing looks in stores, on NPCs, and in the inventory. Likewise, Better Morrowind Armor replaces the meshes of the game's armor sets with improved versions, the exceptions being shields, gauntlets, and helms. Both mods are compatible with the popular mod Better Bodies, which changes the character models of Morrowind's NPCs as well as the player character.
Best Morrowind Mods To Upgrade NPC And Player Faces & Animations
Compared to the character models featured in Skyrim, those seen in older games like Oblivion and Morrowind are relatively low quality and outdated by current standards. There are quite a few mods that aim to improve that by replacing the facial textures seen in the game with improved meshes, textures, and even new animations replacing the notoriously stiff ones in the vanilla game. The Animation Compilation includes new running, walking, and attack animations, as well as different casting animations for magic spells of different varieties. It helps the game appear much more fluid, more on par with Skyrim's characters.
For those Morrowind players looking for better facial textures instead, THE Facepack Compilation compiles the work of over 50 Morrowind modders into one overall mod that adds a variety of new faces and hairs to the game, building significantly upon the relative few that are offered in the base game. It's worth noting that it also replaces the stock hair and faces of all NPC characters, as well, so players should keep that in mind before installing. For those looking to make the entire population of Vvardenfell look closer to the characters featured in Skyrim, though, it's a great way to uplift some of the more lackluster visuals in one of the Elder Scrolls series' best games.