Installation help.

[Eridnnir]

So I'm having some trouble with installing Morrowind. Basically, I've been playing Oblivion and Skyrim for quite a while now and always wanted to have a go at Morrowind too as I've seen its good reviews. I thought it wasn't compatible for my computer ( Windows 8 ) but I'd seen people saying that they had played it on Windows 7, 8 and 10. I then thought I should try it out so bought the disk version online. The package came with two installation disks. I installed both and did everything as stated and two components were installed on my computer - the Morrowind construction set and Morrowind launcher. I don't know what the construction set is so I closed it and went ahead to open up the launcher.
The first problem came here but was easily solved. A small, white box appeared saying that I would have to open the game as an administrator to play - so I set it to run as administrator and, surely enough, when I next clicked on it the launcher opened. I clicked 'play game' and the launcher closed; but nothing happened after that. I've been looking through countless forums for about two hours today trying to solve the problems - some people saying that if this problem occurred then the game should be uninstalled and reinstalled, drivers should be updated, another version of the file is available and installed on your computer and you have to click on that instead, etc.
I have uninstalled and then reinstalled the game 3 times, checked for updates on all of my drives - of which there are none to be installed, and clicked on both versions of the game that are on my computer. Nothing.
If anyone has any suggestions of what I can do to get the game working it would be greatly appreciated. I'm not great with computers and all I can really say is that mine is running on windows 8, so I'm not sure if any other information is needed to come up with a solution. Still; any input would be fantastic. Thank you.

[MetaCthulhu]

Are you running in compatibility mode? Is the disc still in the tray? What graphics card are you using? Have you installed the official patch?

If you keep having issues you could try OpenMW. It has support for modern OSs, unlike base Morrowind which only has support for Vista and XP.

[Eridnnir]

Are you running in compatibility mode? Is the disc still in the tray? What graphics card are you using? Have you installed the official patch?

If you keep having issues you could try OpenMW. It has support for modern OSs, unlike base Morrowind which only has support for Vista and XP.

I've run the game in compatibility mode, tried playing it with either of the disks in the tray and tried installing the official patch for the game, but nothing's changed. As for the graphics card - I honestly don't know. I looked on my computer's settings but it doesn't seem to say and I don't know where to look. Only one thing came up and that was 'Intel HD graphics' that's probably it.

In regards to OpenMW, I went to the page and had no idea how to install it as the links to the downloads just kept bringing me back to the original post. Nevertheless, I think I managed to download it, though I have my doubts, but it's made no change to the game whatsoever. Still just opens on the launcher then closes as soon as I hit play.

As you can probably tell, I'm not great with computers. I play all of my games on consoles, so.

[Tingz0r]

Welcome to the wonderful world of The Elder Scrolls on PC.

Frankly, since you're coming from Oblivion and Skyrim on PS3, I'm just gonna tell you straight up that Morrowind almost certainly isn't going to interest you. It took me several years after initially purchasing it to decide I wanted to give it a real shot, and that's only because I had learned a lot about modding, the developer console, and the Morrowind Overhaul all-in-one installer. It's a very different game than what you're used to, and frustratingly difficult.

You should have bought the Game of the Year edition. It comes with all the expansions and patches that would probably even fix your installation problems. Purchasing it from an online retailer like Steam or GOG would also give you updated versions of the game meant to work with newer operating systems.

My only suggestion for getting the game to run as you have it now is to make sure that the Morrowind.exe itself is set to run as an administrator, not just the launcher.

[Eridnnir]

Well, thanks for telling me straight - I appreciate it a lot.

As for setting Morrowind.exe to run as administrator, I've done that and it still won't work. I suppose I'll just leave it be - my computer just isn't meant for computer games, it seems. Sigh. Thanks for the suggestion, anyway.

[MetaCthulhu]

Sorry to hear that. If you ever want to try again, our door's always open .

[Hawthorn]

Where are you installing Morrowind? Windows systems can be really finicky about games installed in the program files.

You might try this: uninstall Morrowind and the Construction Set if you haven't already. Then go in to your C drive on your computer, and create a new folder. You can name this Morrowind or Bethesda, whatever you want. Then try reinstalling MW to this folder. I do this on Windows 7 and it gets rid of the administrator issues. It may work on Windows 8 as well.

Morrowind is a fantastic game, I hope you manage to get it running somehow!

[Tingz0r]

^I forgot about that. It should work.

[Mikkel]

Hi can I revive this old thread; I have the exact same problem. I own a 2 CD PC game package which installs fine on my Windows 10 pc, but doesn't run. I tried all the possible combinations with compatibility settings, runnings as administrator etc. I also installed the patch from Bethesda's page. Game won't start.

This thread left me with 2 new questions.

1. How do you install in a different folder than the standard folder that the game installer chooses by itself? It doesn't provide a chance to assign a different install path. Is it done by letting the game install as it wants and then afterwards move the files from the standard folder to another folder that I created in Windows Explorer myself?

2. Does anyone know exactly how Open Morrowind functions? Will it work like a "patch" changing the game so it will run on Windows 10, but still leave the game as it is? (Not modding the game to different looks/story/quests etc?)

I want to play Morrowind as it is. Or at least be able to. I also want to try a mod namely the "Rebirth" mod. Can I expect that I'll be able to do that when using Open MW?

[ciberzombie]

There SHOULD be button or something to change where to install morrowind so look for it in ALL install steps , also try with admin rights but without compatability for older windows set (compatability mode did serious bugs in few other games). Also when launcher opens go to "Options" and set to your better graphics adapter (video card) and select resolution supported by both your GPU and monitor, if still didn't work then set pixel shading to "off" and if still problems then set "mode" to "window"

[MetaCthulhu]

2. Does anyone know exactly how Open Morrowind functions? Will it work like a "patch" changing the game so it will run on Windows 10, but still leave the game as it is? (Not modding the game to different looks/story/quests etc?)

I want to play Morrowind as it is. Or at least be able to. I also want to try a mod namely the "Rebirth" mod. Can I expect that I'll be able to do that when using Open MW?

OpenMW can be thought of as an engine patch, in that it fixes most of the engine issues of vanilla Morrowind. I don't remember exactly, but it may eliminate some exploits that took advantage of bugs in the original engine. Shadows and distant-land are both nonfunctional right now, and some mods aren't confirmed to work with it, but other than that no major changes from the original. (I use OpenMW myself)

I think Rebirth works, but I've never tried it personally.

[Mikkel]

I actually got it to work. By using OpenMorrowind.

No way the game would run on its own. So I downloaded OpenMW0.41.0 Win64.exe. Installed it and linked it with my CD game which was already installed. Bingo! I started to hear the morrowind theme music and yes it worked! Nice

Yes I see that OpenMW works much like an advanced patch file. It also skips the intro in the game and changes various details. For now I haven't explored much. It does add a new function though. At traders you now have a box where you can type the quantity wanted in normal numbers thus avoiding the slide bar. Nice I guess although I didn't use it yet.