Just tried Morrowind under Windows Vista

Couple things of note :

1.The game must be run as administrator. The option is under compatibility.
2.With the nVidia drivers, attempting to force any kind of 3D setting such as anti-aliasing doesn't work.
3.To use anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, you must use the Morrowind Graphics Extender. This also works under Windows Vista provided it is run with administrative privileges.

Game performance seems to be near that of Windows XP. Haven't had a chance to do any actual benchmarks.

Have you tried playing Morrowind on a tweaked Vista.. if it can be tweaked like with services and start up items and the eyecandy GUI?

The best tweak is to set up games to disable desktop compositing. That way, aeroglass is turned off when you run a game and back on when you close it. The desktop compositing is the principle reason why Vista had slower benchmarks at first.

This is also true for XP and 2000, so I am not surprised. Have you messed with Oblivion yet?


Thanks - that is very useful information. I will bookmark your thread.

In XP and 2000 most people run as administrator anyways so you don't have to worry about having administrative privileges. With Windows Vista, unless you know your way around MMC and the advanced areas of Windows, you are forced to run as a regular user and then manually elevate to administrator privileges.

As for Oblivion, it's not my cup of tea and I really haven't had much reason to try it on Vista but from what I've read, it works fine.

Finally, here is a screenshot of the desktop compositing option I was talking about so people know where to find it.

http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=m...indvistajw2.jpg

Thanks for the screenshot. If it's not too much trouble, can you provide a walk-through on how to elevate yourself to Administrator access?

The option for doing that is also in that screenshot. On the link properties or the command properties (in the game browser), just check "Run this program as an administrator.". It's on the same page as the disable desktop composition option.

Ok couple more things

1.Exiting the ship for the first time when you begin the game doesn't work at first and gives me a black screen with the NVidia drivers. You have to alt-tab out and back in. This is the only area transition that I've found has this problem, once you have already started the game, there appear to be no problems going from area to area.

2.Other than the issue above, I advise against alt-tabbing out of the game. The Elder Scrolls games are famous for not working with alt-tab and Windows Vista compounds the problems that Morrowind has with alt-tabbing. About half the time I've tried to alt-tab out, the game has crashed. But then again, it does that a lot under XP as well.

Disabling desktop composition does not effect my performance at all, in any games.

Also, you can force both AA and AF. You have to use the global settings rather than craeting an app profile for Morrowind itself. App settings dont save for some reason.

I'm running Morrowind GOTY with a GForce 7900 card on Windows Vista Premium. When I start a new game, I can't get out of the ship that the game starts out in. All the graphics run smoothly, sound is great, but when I open the hatch to get out, it stops. Sound effects move on, I don't. I checked the Task Manager and it says the game is "Running". Help!!!

Same dude. I'm running Vista Ultimate, I start a new game... looks amazing btw, try to open the door, and the whole game is BLACK. I can still hear sounds. I have a 7900 GTX. I don't know whats wrong... its makin' me mad though.


After more searching I found this...
------
Ok couple more things

1.Exiting the ship for the first time when you begin the game doesn't work at first and gives me a black screen with the NVidia drivers. You have to alt-tab out and back in. This is the only area transition that I've found has this problem, once you have already started the game, there appear to be no problems going from area to area.

2.Other than the issue above, I advise against alt-tabbing out of the game. The Elder Scrolls games are famous for not working with alt-tab and Windows Vista compounds the problems that Morrowind has with alt-tabbing. About half the time I've tried to alt-tab out, the game has crashed. But then again, it does that a lot under XP as well.

-----
I'm going to try it... and tell you if it works.

Well that didn't work for me... maybe it will work for you.


Ok I found a fix that worked for me. If you have Morrwind Graphics Extender installed.... uninstall it. It worked for me.

I'm having exactly the same problem. Another post said playing as administrator might work. Anyone know how you do that?

Jeronimo

OK so I finally figured out how to get into compatibility. I set it to administrator, but I still crash at the very beginning when I'm trying to open the hatch to get out of the boat. Alt-Tab didn't work. If someone else with Vista figures out a way to make this game work please share it. This is really pissing me off.

Hey dude I tried the alt-tab trick and it worked! It first looked like it just froze up the game, but I pressed it a few times, then the screen minimized. I clicked back on the screen and it was advanced. Try it out a few times.




Thanks for the fix dude, it worked! Appreciate it, Bro

This is just a tip for my Brother Gamers. I have saved character profiles that I take around like a memory card, and just load them into the root "Saves" file folder. I've done this many times, but good 'ole Vista is giving me crap. For some reason the "Saves" folder is hidden, so use the windows seardh option, select C drive, and enable hidden file searching. Have Fun!

Just a note on your post: I loaded my previous Saved Games into the root "Saves" file folder to continue my progress. After setting the game to run as "Administrator", I kept getting the security prompts to allow the game to run. when I tried loading my profiles, they were no longer there. I replaced the profiles again and removed the "Administrator" setting, and it worked fine. BEWARE FOR POSSIBLE DATA LOSS

Yeah tab-alt worked for me too. I was beginning to think this one was going back in the drawer. Glad I got in. It's a huge world inside here.

Another troubleshooting tip (for the benefit of this thread): Try running in XP compatibility mode. Reference: http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.p...t&p=9169916

EDIT: For the time being, I will be referring all Vista problems (new topics) to this thread. It seems to have the most info and troubleshooting tips.

Hello,

I've been playing Morrowind III, Game Of The Year Edition on a new PC I have with Vista. Everything worked fine until I got to the town of Caldera. Now I find myself getting stuck inside buildings. When I go to leave the building, I get the progress bar that says "Loading Exterior", it reaches 100% and then the game just locks up.

I've tried some of the hints in this forum, but nothing works. Also, when I try to run the games as an Administrator, my saved games are all gone.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

From another thread:

Some mods i noticed to have problems with is Morrowind comes alive and Balmora expanded. Turning off these mods and using wyre mash to clean up the save files helps.

I'm d/ling a alt start mod. I'll let you know if that fixes the ship problem...

no good, still seems to freeze up when exiting initial cell .

trying w/ an xp virtual machine, I'll let ya know how it goes...

encounters a problem and needs to close...

Have you tried the tricks mentioned in posts #5 and #11 about alt tabbing and MGE?

tried alt-tabbing, don't have MGE installed to begin with.

VM only has 8MB of video ram . can't change it from what I can tell.

XP virtual machine? How are you accomplishing that?

I also have a problem with morrowind's launching window. After I had done everything with changing the compatibility and setting it to administer level when it begins to load the game up to the starting page I get this ERROR window. On the window it says:

Music Error: Can not play file. Data File/Music/Special/morrowind title.mp3

I am not much as a computer person and I really don't know what's wrong.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

using VirtualPC 2007. Microsoft is releasing the virtualPC programs for free. Only problem is I can't figure out how to force emulation of a better video card.

Morrowind does work on vista. How ever doesnt work with 1024x768 video crashes When loading. At 800x600 works fine. Can someone tell me if you got working 1024x768.

Dunno, but I do have working 1600 x 1200 here. I'll try 1024 x 768 next time I play.

I got it working. I had to turn off pix shading that was causing it troubles.

I'm running Vista, and I don't have to run Morrowind under the admin account...

this is wierd. All confusing. Now moo cow can run it without being a administrator? Why do some people don't have to do things, but others do?
Also if Morrowind doesn't work good now, will it someday?
when it comes to software, im not the greatest. I know alot about hardware

I downloaded Vista on my computer hoping it would play smoother and faster. it does but now the music does is scratch and chirp. When starting the program music is fine and the movie is fine; but when the Oblivion name comes up there is a loud chirp. Then the game has scratching insted of music. I Belive it has something to do with Vista because it did not have this problem with xp. I ran sound checks and the computer does not find a problem. I have been trying for days now and have run out of Ideas, I do not want to wipe my computer clean and see if starting from scratch will solve the problems. Pleeeeeasssseee help. [color=#33CC00]

@headmistress
What sort of audio hardware do you have? It's possible you have a driver problem.

Hello!
I bought Windows Vista Ultimate too and I installed the 32 Bit version last week.
Unfortunately, I had to be annoyed with the "hatch-lag" too. But later, when I tried to use the Alt+Tab shortcut, when the lag appears, it just worked.

Thank you, for the great idea with the shortcut - It was really exasperating and I thought of reinstalling my old Windows XP system. But now, I have to catch up playing Morrowind.


Best regards and good night,
Rob

anyone know if it works with mods?

Yes, it should work with at least the mods that have .esm/.esp files, plus visual enhancer packs, etc. External utilities such as MWE, MWSE, MGE, etc. may or may not work with Vista.

HI all

Am using windows vista ultimate

Was having the same problem as everyone else (not being able to get of ship at begining) Tryed all listed solutions in forum but none worked.

Have now got morrowwind working fine. I just set game up with administrator rights and changed my windows theme to "classic windows"

And now the game working fine.

Hope this helps anyone else out who having trouble with vista!!!!!!

Thank you much. That's the kind of info we need.

I recently upgraded my computer with Vista and, just like some others, got the "Cannot find/Load Snowflake" issue that appears when Bloodmoon is installed. However though some experimentation I have found out that the answer was right in front of us the whole time!
All you have to do us Left-Click on the Morrowind EXE or Shortcut and click on the "Run as Administrator" icon with the little security shield and BloodMoon loads up fine with mods and everything!

I just read something about that today in the Oblivion forum. So it needs to be done with Morrowind too, eh? Cool and thanks!

I'll be merging this in with the Morrowind vs Vista thread in a day or two so we have all the good stuff in one place when we need it.

I got this comp from dell about 3 weeks ago with Vista. Sat infront of the screen for 6 hours trying to get past the hatch. I didn't even know this forum existed until 2 days ago. By the way start the launcher go to options and turn off pixel shading it will get you past the hatch and you only have to do it once. Although I still have some problems when equiping stuff from mods. Original items seem to work fine. Doesn't do it all the time though. Mods seem to lock the game up too. Not all do this and complexity of the mod doesn't seem to matter, either it will crash or it won't.

Here's another problem I've encountered. Anyone tried to change their MW.ini file yet? I have and can't seem to get any changes Made AND Saved. Unless I turn off the UAC option in user accounts in the control menu. It does create another problem though. With UAC tuned off I can change the .ini file and save it but for some reason with UAC off esps arent recogized with the launcher or the CS, with the exception of the better bodies esp. Anyone else seen this problem?

To edit morrowind.ini with UAC on,just cut and paste the contents of morrowind.ini into a new instance of notepad and do your editing there.Save to desktop your edited file as morrowind.ini,then drop it onto the "real" morrowind.ini file in the Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Morrowind directory.Backup morrowind.ini first goes without saying...

I had no problems with the hatch at all,so not sure what the deal is with that.Didn't need to turn pixel shading off or do anything else.Just made the morrowind launcher compatible with win xp sp2 and disabled desktop compositing.

I have been playing morrowind on vista and everything seems to be going fine. But whenever I try to save, it gives me an error message.

I cannot save no matter what I try.

My game is one from before I got vista, could this have anything to do with this?

Make sure you run Morrowind as Adminstrator - right-click the icon you use to launch it and select Run as Administrator. Or, go into the properties of the icon and select this as the default.

Thanks, it works now.

K... I finally got it up and running (I have to start the game in 800x600, once it's running I can change to 1024x768). Is there any way I can change the resolution to match the widescreen format on this crappy laptop? Intel integrated graphics and everything, and the only resolutions I have are 640, 800, and 1024.

If you go here and download FPS Optimizer, it allows you to change resolutions to those not normally allowed with Morrowind.

Click on the "change registry settings" button on the opening page and you'll have a wide selection to choose from. Then, if you remove the check from the novice mode box and go to the misc/2 tab, you'll be able to change your aspect ratio to match your widescreen. It's in the Field of View controls.

There's a newer version of this program, but stick with the one linked (v1.96).

Hello everyone,


I'm new on this forum, and i have tremendous problems with morrowind running on vista.
I've tried these steps:
1. uninstalling and reinstalling the game
2. update drivers from Nvidia (I have a GeForce 7300 Go 128Ram = standard drivers with vista )
3. Set the game to XP Compatible mode
4. Ran the game as Asministrator
5. Set the theme to windows classic and then ran the game again
6. Set the resolution to 800 x 600, no anti-alliasing

And all this didn't worked

I have a brand-new Laptop with a good configuration which could (normally) easily by far run morrowind (my older machine even could, only 64mb Video-ram)
I really hope there is a solution, because I love to play the game...

Thanks,


Geronnimo

I have been playing on vista for a little while now but am experiencing a problem suddenly. I am in nerano manor in Balmora and whenever I try to leave it says "loading area" at the bottom of the screen. Once it is full loaded the game crashes. I have no way of getting out of nerano manor! Can someone please help me get out?

I have read through all these posts about crashes using Vista. I got the crash trying to get out of the boat then I tried the Alt+Tab trick and after a few trys, it worked. Then when I went to load a saved game it loaded, BUT when I tried to go out the door, CRASH! I tried the Alt+Tab trick and it worked after a few trys. Then I loaded a game that I saved outside and it wouldnt load just froze on "loading exterior". Then when I re-loaded an older save and did the Alt+Tab trick to get out the door and as I was leaving Balmora it froze again. Then it froze another time when I was trying to complete the slave quest by freeing him. I have tried the compatability trick (play as XP) I have tried the admin thing on the shortcut. I have tried turning off the pixal shading. I have tried turning off the Vista rights program. I have a brand new Dell laptop with duo 2 core 2.0 and 2 gigs ram and the geforce 7900 256mb card. I dont have any of the expansions loaded nor do I have the graphics extender loaded. Where theres a will theres a way right?

I was having the same problem today when I installed Morrowind on my new Athlon 64 X2 3800+. It did the same thing in Suran after I entered the House of Delight. I would get the "loading area" at the bottom of the screen and then...nothing. I had already changed the properties to run it in XP compatibility mode, disabled desktop compotition and had the run as administrator checked. Morrowind just did not want the load the new cell though but then I tried something else which made little sense.

I started Morrowind by right clicking it and starting it as an administrator and this time it worked. To me this seems odd since I have the run as administrator box already checked in properties. Since then this is how I have started Morrowind and it is working fine with Vista *knocks on wood*. At least today it is.

I still think Vista is crap though as no operating system should hog as much RAM as Vista does.

Hey guys...

Brand new to the forums. I just bought a new computer a few weeks ago, and unfortunately it came with vista. After numerous attempts, I finally came here to find out how to get Morrowind running by selecting the admin box in the properties. (I was getting the load snowflake error message after installing bloodmoon.) So at any rate, the game is running now, and I was able to get through the hatch. I tried installing a few headpacks...well, because I like my character to be hot, and when I get to the race menu, the mods don't show up at all. They are installed right- as I used them on my previous system, and yes, I have the data file checked. The game acts as if it's not installed at all. Has anyone found a way around this?

Thank you much for your help, I really appreciate it.

When you installed the mods, 1) Did it come as an EXE installer? If so, make sure you run that installer as Administrator, since it writes to a folder that limited users don't have write access to. 2) If ZIP, I would try extracting them to your desktop first, then cut & paste it to the Morrowind folder. I suspect the ZIP extractor can't write the files to the Morrowind folder.

Or, you can dig in the Control Panel for the option to turn off the UAC.

Well none of that worked...anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks...

I just came up with another idea. After you launch the Morrowind Launcher and select the mod, exit the Morrowind Launcher and re-launch it. Does it stay selected? If not, you'll need to launch the Morrowind Launcher As Administrator. Other than that, I'm out of ideas.

They're still selected. Thanks though.

I noticed when it's loading the game, it will say at the bottom "loading morrowind.esp" ect...on my old comptuer it would load mods as well, but it doesn't do that now. There's some sort of breakdown between the game starting and loading I think.

Try using a simple mod like All Boat Ports. It's only an esp (no meshes or textures) and all it does is allow travel between all of the boats in the game.

Didn't load, like the others.

There's got to be something wrong with my compy...

I'll PM damicatz and ask him to take a look. He's had quite a bit of experience with Vista and may have an idea.

There are a few programs that allow VM's. MS makes one.




IIRC, VM2003 is needed for XP, VM2007 for Vista. You can only get VM2003 at non MS sites, and these packages only work on XP Pro, not XP Home. Not sure if Vista has any limitations due to version.

Thanks. People here are so nice

Wow, I feel like an idiot.

I changed the exe to admin in the folder, but not the desktop launcher icon. That fixed it.


Thanks guys!

So the trick to getting help in this board is having boobs? hmmmm...

Sure doesnot hurt.....

If you have GOTY, install the expansions. Even if you do not enable them in Data Files, it updates the game to correct some issues.

If not, install the expansions, and get the 1.6.1820 patch for your version (american, or european) See if that helps.

...wow.

You're assuming I HAVE boobs. And that they're possibly nice too. For all you know, I could look like gollum.

I wasnt assuming anything. All I know is I have posted twice on here and never received any input, then a girl comes on and all these dudes are like "Here I come to save the day!".

Moving on... Thanks to HEY YOU for the suggestion. I will try that.

Yup. Virtual PC 2007 is free, and it only runs on certain OSes. On the Vista side, it runs only on Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, not on either Home editions. On the XP side, Professional, MCE, and Tablet PC editions (the latter two are Professional with a few extra features added to them), not the Home edition.

I now have Virtual PC 2007 running here, and it runs quite nicely, better than some versions of VMWare I've seen. But you can't really play any games on it, though - only 8 MB of video RAM is emulated. And it has other limitations, but since it's free, you can download and try it out anyway. Here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/...pc/default.mspx

That's one of the problems with Vista nicodemus, is that most of us haven't any experience with it. If you've already gone through the fixes in this thread without any improvement, we're pretty much stuck for an answer.

I hope you didn't take offense to my reply I didn't take offense to yours...I was only kidding. It actually took a few days to get some replies. I'm sure there's not really any bias here...after all, you never REALLY know whos a girl or a boy here. I've been wrong before...

I wish I could help you out...Vista is kind of a pain right now. I've only had it for about 3 weeks (it came with my computer, unfortunately) so I guess that makes me one of the few pioneers on it-- but unfortunately I know only basic troubleshooting. Good luck with it.

No no no, I aint got no beef.
I'm gonna try loading the expansions and see if that does anything. If it doesnt, guess its going on the shelf because as we all know, theres nothing worse than your game freezing up 6-7 times and you forget to save something and have to do it over yada yada yada. Im thinking about maybe buying a external hard drive and setting it up with XP and boot off that for my games. Anyone with any experience with that kinda thing? How much do you lose performance wise if the HD is external connected via USB?

I've never run a USB drive, but I suspect you'll take a pretty good performance hit waiting for cells to load.

Do you have enough free space to dual boot with XP? There's what seems to be a pretty good walk through on this page. Make sure you backup any critical stuff first if you go that route.

That VistaBootPro they mention is here.

I've been running morrowind goty for a while now on xp and it works just fine.
When i installed it on to my brothers vista computer I had problems just getting it to run. finally i
did but now all the exterior door & clothes are flickering real bad. Its running as Administrator,
Xp compatible mode. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Flickering is a problem associated with integrated graphics chips. Could you begin a new topic and post the dxdiag report from the affected machine?

Do the following immediately after restarting your system.

Click Start, then Run and type dxdiag into the box and click OK. When the loading bar stops, run the tests on the Display and Sound Pages. Then return to the System Page and click the Save All Information button. Then open file dxdiag.txt which should be on your desktop. Copy and paste the entire thing to another post in this thread.

Don't post it in this topic because the length will make it very unwieldy.

I installed MW on my computer, with Vista, and it works fine. Only "problem" I have is I can't seem to find where the save folder is located. I have all hidden files on, so I can see them, and its just not in the MW folder. I even did a search but couldn't find them. Any ideas?

I recently bought Morrowind for PC (standard, not GOTY, no expansions, no nothin...was all I could find, and didn't feel like ordering it). I run a desktop with Xp, and the game works splendidly. My laptop is satan (see: Vista). It has a geforce 6150 go (did not buy it for gaming, but the card is MORE than capable of handling the game), 2 gigs DDR3, blah blah blah. I have the same problem as everyone else. I alt+tab to get out of the hatch, and that works (sometimes). At random places in the game (usually places that have to load, like when entering a different area), the game freezes, and I have to task manager kill it. To make things worse, the game save that this was will no longer load. I can load the auto saves for the same character, and it works fine and dandy... but when I try to load my save game (that is in the general area where the lock up happens), it simply stays at the laoding exterior screen @ 100%... for evverrrrrrrr (Sandlot ). I have done everything suggested... run as admin, I have XP compatibility service pack 2 checked, desktop composit, run in classic mode, windows mode, shader off, resolution down, full screen mode, tried it all. It worked fine for a while, but all of a sudden, when I was doing the gathering quests for Ajira in the Mage's guild, BOOM! Now all of a sudden, every character locks up when I change zones. Dare I say... help? lol. Thanks.

Any chances of the folks from Bethesda helping us on this one? A patch, a fix, a mod, anything?

my laptop has all of the specs for morrowind (i don't know about video card, i don't know where to find what brand it is) and every time i press 'play' i get an error messege that says:
"Failed to load snowflake: Meshes\BM_Snow_01.nif." what do i do??? I am running Vista, i uninstalled it. twice. i installed morrowind, then tribunal, then bloodmoon, the the bloodmoon patch. Whats up, what do I do...HELP!!!! I've even asked Amy B. @ tech. support and she said post here...WTF is going on??? If anyone can help, email me @ tech_e_boi@yahoo.com Thanks

I had the same problem coming up. You need to run the program as an administrator, meaning right click on the .exe program morrowind (the icon) and click on properties. Somewhere in there it should have a box to check, saying something like "run program as administrator." click that, then try it.

Hey, I finally got it to work, i was trying that on the launcher, not the .exe like you said. plus i had to say 'cancel' to say 'yes to all' and certian scripts or something. But, what's up with the water and certain doors? the flicker and the water looks like crap! Got a fix for it yet?

Everett
Ultimate Ninja Warior

alright i havent read the entire thread but id just like to thank the thread maker cause this thread (from what i have read) has helped a ton...i can play morrowind with both expansions now! on VISTA!

That might be your graphics card, just from what I've been reading in this thread. I've had no problems with flickering or any other graphics issues as of yet.

Anyone experiencing the same issue as I? The game locking up when you change areas? And then when you reload, it stays at the Loading Exterior (100%) and locks up?

Bump...?

Nope...read something about that on the other pages, though...

Don't suppose they had a fix that wasn't listed here? I've done all this stuff =(

Dunno if this was mentioned before, but, about the alt tabing [in XP atleast], if you just do a ctrl+alt+delte...morrowind minimizes just fine. I have never had it crash this way.

Mine will crash if I use ctrl+alt+del but alt+tab works fine for me...I wonder if it has to do with the version of Vista and your system? Mine's never crashed otherwise though...

Since you are all on Vista, I'm guessing Morrowind can be used with DX10?


Thanks in advance,

Stricken

EDIT: Well, as of now, its not even reading the disc, but since I bought it back in 2003, I doubt thats a Vista problem.

Ok, for those of you that are having trouble finding your files I've found out part of the problem. I had view hidden files and all that jazz turned on and was missing files as well. However, when I started playing with "permissions" in the security tab of properties I was able to get things to appear. But, permissions get "inherited" and this can cause problems further down your file structure. At this point I've gotten all of my files to appear except for one folder. Despite this, I think I did so by making a mess of my permissions in the morrowind folder. So, if anyone knows more about this and how to do this easily, efficiently, and maybe clean up mistakes in this area do tell. I'll look into it myself some more at a different time. I'm currently sick of fighting with this "new and improved" Windows.

Well I just got Vista, had some problems, fixed with "play as administrator" and changed the compability. Now everything is hunky dorry except mods. I'm not running MGE or anything. My texture replacer is working to. The two mods I'm worried most about not working (if that makes sence) are Better Heads and Bodies. Both do not work and just show me white bodies and faces.

I don't see Classic Windows under compability like some people are talking about.
I just have Windows...
95
98/Windows Me
NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5)
2000
XP (Service Pack 2)
Server 2003 (Service Pack 1)

XP seems to work best for me but I havn't played around with it to much.
If you can help at all, please do.

IIRC, Better Bodies installs with an executable, so it shouldn't be a problem with misplaced files. I'd suggest you start a topic in the MW Mods forum and see if anyone over there knows of any mod problems with Vista.

Well how about other mods? Do you have advice for mods that aren't executable?

Oh oh oh! Does it matter that I dled the mods with a non-vista comp and transered it to my Vista via travel drive?

Pretty sure I cracked the case, but I have no idea what to do with my results. So as I said I transfered the plugin files with my travel drive. Now on my non-vista comp the plugin files are under the type "Morrowind Plugin Data File". But when I take to the Vista, the files are under this type "Elder Scrolls Construction Set File". Even on the travel drive the files have been...changed. Even the little pocket knife pic isn't coming up beside the plugins, just a sheet of paper.

Now I think this means I need to convert the files on the Vista comp to data files. Or do I just need to put them somewhere else? Or am I completely off track?

I think that’s just what Vista is recognizing the files as, not what they actually are. As long as they have the same extension (.esp) then they should work.

I'm making some headway. (2 words?) Ive got mods to work by going into the properties of the plugins and changing the "open with" to Morrowind. Hope that might help some peeps. All mods that is, that don't require meshes, like light_300 and animal behavior.

So this must mean something is wrong with my meshes folder but I can't see what it is. Its in the same exact place as on my XP and they're all NIF files too. Maybe I need to put my Meshes foler somwhere else or rename it.

Any ideas? Ohhhhhhhh man I'm so close.

I have finally triumphed over my hardships so worry not for me anymore.

The solution to my problem was so simple I'm too embarrased to say. Thank you all for the help.

I have the same problems as you. Every now and then I have to completely shut it down. My comp has yet to crash though. Only the game has crashed for me. I doubt Bethesda can do anything; I think Vista just has [censored] drivers.

Hey. I got Morrowind GOTY for pc and i tried it. A couple Notes

It works Well if you run as administrator with desktop compositing off and bloodmoon and tribunal .esm files deselected. Once you have created your character, reselect the files, run as normal, but leave desktop compositing off. If your wondering how to run as administrator, right-click the icon and click run as administrator. If you are in the administrator profile, it will just ask for your permission. if you are not, it will ask for the administrator password.

i found some places where the game freeze, one was the council cha,bers in sadrith mora and some other areas from tamriel rebuilt, but after installing the new forceware drivers for vista i can play witout a single CTD

Same problem here, I hate this garbage. I mean I pay good money for an OS, new everything, etc... and get poor service. Someone PM me when they release drivers worth a damn so I can finally enjoy this game again. Ugh, Nvidia and Microsoft need to hurry up...

For anyone who doesn't care to alt-tab, alt crtl del works good, then just turn on the program. I was having the same hatch troubles, resoulution troubles, and admin troubles until I read this. Hints for better performance: Run in XP SP 2 mode, visual themes off, and what I mentioned before. Also, it helps if you take your gadget bar off as when you turn around sometimes it blinks through.

EDIT: I'm getting mad. It worked once, then crashed as soon as I tried to A) Load a game or Exit the Hatch no matter what I do or C) Crash as soon as I go out of the Bitter Coast Region or D) The guard in the ship never comes to release me. Any help?

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium on a AMD Turion 64 X2 (1.6 ghz) and NVidia GeForce Go! 6150. My sound is fine, I just bought this laptop, and I want my games!

try the new forceware drivers, it worked for me 8)

I have the newest drivers that Nvidia seems to offer, and alt-tabbing does nothing at all. All I want to do is just get out of the hatch and see Seyda Neen. It's all I'm asking. If I install the new update for Morrowind will it change this? Or will it agitate the problem?

I also have Vista. I have been playing Morrowind just fine, until I loaded Tribunal and Bloodmoon. Now, I can't save the game. I receive this message: Unable to complete operation due to failure renaming temp file. Temp file remains. Continue running executable? Yes No So, I uninstalled Tribunal and Bloodmoon, but I still cannot save. Thanks for any help.

You need to run Morrowind as Administrator. That error indicates that it doesn't have write access to the folder where it's trying to save your game.

Yes, after reading many of the messages, I did change that; however, I got that message again. I wonder if I will have to lose the game and just start over installing it, etc. Thanks for your response.

I hate to lose my game. Do you think because it parses quests, since I began with just Morrowind, that might cause the problem? Initally, I did get the faliure to load the snowflake mesh, but this time it did load everything. I just can't save the game. Thanks for any help.

Here is something people should try who are having trouble running Morrowind on vista. Take the morowind folder out of the C:\program file\Bethesda Softworks\ folder and put it just in the C:.
You'll have to click on the Morrowind launcher in the Morrowind folder to run the game, but you don't have to run the game under administrator. That should help with mods that don't work when morrowind has administrative rights. I did this a couple months ago and haven't had a problem since.

Or you could just assign write privilages to your limited user accounts to that folder, and call it good.

(Granted, most people dont know how to do that, but there are several tutorials for win32 system security tasks, and assigning privs is the fundemental security management task.)

What is this "compatibility" you speak of? Where do I find the option to set this?

Ok, I have gotten around the main crashes and problems by opening up a save file from another computer (Using XP) However, any of my mods will not work, and it makes me sad. Is there any way I can get around this? Will I be able to use mods at all?

ok, well my first problem was i couldnt save anything saying it failed to remove previous file... so i tried some things to fix it, by doing what it says in this topic but then it added another problem.. cant load anywhere... so what can i do that will really work?

I do have one suggestion, but keep in mind I have limited experience with Vista (and no Morrowind experience with Vista): Uninstall it all, then reinstall it, but don't use the Autoplay stuff that comes up when you put the CD in - cancel all that, then manually browse the CD, right-click the setup.exe file and select Run As Administrator. Do this for each CD: Morrowind, then Tribunal, then Bloodmoon. Then, put the Morrowind CD back in, cancel the Autoplay once more, then launch the game (and you should do this every time you launch the game) by right-clicking the desktop Morrowind icon and selecting Run As Administrator.

Hope this helps.

I can't believe how retarded Vista is being for me right now. I fixed the "run as adminstrator" and "desktop compositing" for it, but now I've found a problem I've never had before. I know freezing and such is common with Morrowind, but now it's ridiculous. I'm trying to save a person from Tel Fyr, and after loading my game.. the next cell I try to enter in the next five minutes just stops loading. The sounds continue, but the screen remains still. If I wait long enough, a dumb little Vista "program not responding" message will come up.

How the hell do I fix this? My system meets all the standards for running Morrowind and I don't recall any problems on it before Vista. I'm on a Windows MediaCenter with Home Premium Vista...

just got a new pc. runs with vista, not my choice. seems ok , but still confusing. installed and ran morrowind, no add ons, ran fine. tried installing tribunal add on. ran into problems. everything that involved to new add on caused model loader errors. tried changing compatability to xp service pak 2. still getting errors, but no longer just white blobs with yellow center. now the arrmor is colorless, white, as is all the new stuff from the add on. unwanted but can be ignored except that if i try to equip any of the new items, like the darkbrotherhood armor, the game crashes.... anything i can do to fix this???

any help would be gladly accepted

mine runs in 1024x768 and pixel shading is on

How's it run under 64-bit?

See my post #114, two up from yours.

Maybe the resolution is my problem, I've tried reinstalling everything by running as an adminstrator and that didn't fix it. Everything else is updated, computer specs are even better than required+compatible.

Is there any way to run on that glitchy resolution? It was my favorite... I had grown used to it.. =/

Edit: Well screw that! I tried every resolution and the game still freezes after five minutes.

Ok, when I put morrowind into my disk drive on my laptop, it makes an irritating buzzing noise, help please!

Does anything come up? It sounds like either the drive or the CD is messed up, probably the CD. Look carefully on the CD - if it's warped or has any serious scratches, you'll need to either repair or replace it.

The weird thing is on my desktop (this computer) it runs fine. Oh well, back to office depot.

steel_shot - if you're going to make a new topic (I just now saw it), PLEASE do not add the same comments to another thread! Try to keep it all in one thread. Thanks.

Ok, the buzzing is a disk error but after I boot the game it shows the bethesda logo then turns black, I'm the only user on the computer so I am the admin, but I'll try desktop composition thing. If you want a dxdiag I can get one.
edit: no buzzing now wierd?
edit2: I get the error message morrowind has stopped working after the copyright info. What about xp compatibility mode?

See if the first seven posts in this thread are any help. As I understand it, with Vista you need to take steps to run as administrator even though you're the only user.

Well, under user id it shows me as admin, I turned off desktop composition, and read the first seven posts.
edit: is it bad to turn off my laptop too much? (unrelated) but I have tried the administrator thing and it didn't work. When I install the game a prompt comes up asking me to install dx8.1, but on my intel media accelerator, it shows I have every direct x including ten. If I install dx 8.1 will it mess up my computer?

Yes, you are administrator, but if the UAC (User Access Control, or something like that) is enabled, which it is by default, then nearly every action you or a program you run takes that requires admin rights will pop up a confirmation window asking if you really want that to happen. (That, or it simply denies access without notifying you.) You can turn off the UAC in the Control Panel somewhere.


No - laptops were designed to be turned off or switch into a lower energy usage level to conserve battery power.


No - DirectX will abort installation if it detects the same or newer version installed. Vista comes with DX10, and there's no way to downgrade that - not that you'd want to.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

Thanks guys, you do a great job keeping this topic alive and I can't imagine you wanting to help out noobs like me all the time.

Try removing Morrowind, deleting the program folder, and then reinstalling it. But reinstall it this way:

1. Insert your Morrowind disc.
2. When it prompts you to install, click No or Cancel.
3. Click Start -> Computer.
4. Right-click your CD drive and select Open.
5. Right-click your setup.exe or setup file, click Run As Administrator.
6. Install like normal.

Repeat all of these steps for Tribunal, and then repeat them once again for Bloodmoon.

Once it's all installed, find your desktop icon, right-click it and click Properties. Find the options to disable Desktop Compositing (this is normally only needed if you have Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, where you have the Aero interface) and default to run as administrator. It may also be necessary to put it in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 2. Once all of these options are set, click OK.

From now on, whenever you want to play, insert your Morrowind disc, then click Exit when the launcher comes up. Re-launch the launcher via the desktop icon instead. (The autorun does not run the launcher as administrator; the desktop icon does.) Then click Play.

Sadly, none of those worked, however I didn't install BM or Tribunal because last time I did I got error messages about snowflakes.

Sorry for double post, my mistake

Using the method I posted, try Tribunal and Bloodmoon again and see if the problem goes away. For some systems, plain Morrowind won't work, but it will with one or both expansions installed.

IT WORKED!!!! Thanks nightmare! If you don't mind me asking though, I'm having sound and video problems, I think the video is just from my crappy card but any suggestions for the sound. I don't get any sound.

ok have tried just about everything and i still can't get Morrowind to work when i click on play game it starts to run and then it tells me that Morrowind has stopped working and it closes out can anyone help plz.

steel_shot: Please go back to your most recent thread (here: http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=704817 ) and post your dxdiag report. We'll take a look at what drivers you have now.

DarkMage777: Please start a new topic and post your dxdiag report. Don't post it here - things'll get confusing for some folks if you do.

Dxdiag report instructions:
It's best to do this right after a fresh restart, before you load up any programs.
Click Start, then Run. Type dxdiag and click OK. (Note: If you have Windows Vista, click the big blue button at the bottom-left corner of your screen and simply type in dxdiag and press Enter.)
Wait for the little progress bar at bottom-left to finish, and then click Save All Information.
Give it a name and location (default is DxDiag.txt on the Desktop).
Then open that file (locate it and double-click on it) and copy and paste its entire contents to a message here.
Don't worry about the size, we know it's big.

Just a bump so this doesn't disappear on us.

Something of interest for mod users. My husband just installed Vista, and even with administrative priviledges set, he couldn't get past the hatch part. And alt-tabbing didn't work. But then we installed the masterpiece mod Privateer's Hold (the recent one, not the nasty ancient mod by a different modder). And since you never have to go past the hatch, there were no problems, even after the mod finished and he found his character back in Morrowind.

I'm guessing that any alternate start mod that doesn't require you to go through the hatch will also work. Though if you loved Daggerfall, Privateer's Hold is a must mod to play.

A friend has Vista Home on his computer and is having some problems with Wyre mash. See here!
He only has one account on the computer and is running as administrator. I understand it's in the permissions I just don't understand how to get there and change them. Can somebody give me some sort of walkthrough to get to the right place so I can help him fix this.

It's really funny. I have Xp Home on a 5 year old laptop. He has a brand new Dell with Vista Home and my computer does everything faster than his does. Of course he's going
I keep telling him to turn off all of that stuff in the system tray!

hey ive done that.. i ran it under admin ..
and it still freezez..?.. is there anything else that could help me?.
and wats anti aliasing .. sorry i dunna wat it means?

I might have skipped over it while reading, sorry if I did, but does anyone know how to make Morrowind "see" you're saves while you're running it in admin mode? I got it to load all the bloodmoon meshes (BTW what are meshes) but I can only see the saves if I run Morrowind as a regular user.

Adding to this thread to say that I can't get Morrowind to work AT ALL on Vista Ultimate. I've run it in Administrator mode, XP SP2 Compatibility Mode, with Desktop Composition disabled and all three. It still doesn't work. I get the Startup Box (the one with Play/Data Files etc.), but as soon as I click Play I get "Morrowind has stopped working." No explanation. Morrowind is also patched to the latest version, as are my video drivers.

My specs:

AMD X2 64 5200+ Processor
MSI K9N Motherboard
nVidia 6600GT 128MB GFX Card
Windows Vista Ultimate

I can post DxDiag if needed. I just want to play Morrowind! (Oblivion has the same problem, but someone said that Oblivion doesn't work at all on Vista, so I've given up on that for the time being.)

ETA: The version of Morrowind I have is the "Game of the Year" UK version produced by budget software company Sold Out.

Does anyones Morrowind work on Vista?

sorry im just getting to this but in xp at least you can alt-tab out of morrowind fine aslong as you have a desktop runing program on liek notepad or some thing



and yes morrowind works on vista

Bump, and does anyone have an answer to my save file question above?

heres one....i'm on vista, and the quest from darius that wants you to save a chick from a camp outside ald velothi, and i've tried 3 times and all of them the game has frozen

That doesn't sound OS related, it sounds like it might be a corrupted save or a mod conflict. If you have an earlier save, try with that one. If it still happens, make a new topic and explain your situation. Be aware though that news travels slowly in this forum. You may have to wait a while for a response.

I Have Vista and my Morrowind works perfectley no bugs

could you tell us what you did so it runs like that?

this realy isnt a problem but its just annoying..........
is there any way to make vista stop asking your permission to add files to the morrowind files like mods or any thing its realy getting on my nerves

Here's a screenshot, i dunno if it will help.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h102/Muh...ground_Help.jpg

Yes there is, it's called User Account Control (UAC). Go to the Security bit of Control Panel and find the User Accounts page. If yours is an Administrator account, you can disable UAC and stop all those annoying popups. Windows will tell you it's not secure, but IMHO UAC does nothing except bug the user.

k, thanks. So just what everyone else is saying. I'm getting Vista with my new build, and I want to be prepared lol

Darnit Vista...

Okay, I have the NVidea GeForce Go 7600 video card. I tried the things listed in this thread but they've pretty much failed. I tried uninstalling the graphics extender but that made it unexecutable and I had to uninstall it (which means I'll have to uninstall Tribunal and Bloodmoon too...).

I tried the methods in this thread but it still doesn't work. I haven't reinstalled Bloodmoon yet, but I doubt that will make a difference.

I think Bethesda should work out all the glitches and make a new patch or something. Sure, Oblivion is the new thing, and I have it, but Morrowind is still a wonderful game and I hate Vista for not being able to run it. And I hate my stupid X-Box not being able to play it anymore. -.-;;

However, I think I'll try one of those alternative start things. I was actually going to look for something like that, because I've played Morrowind pretty extensively already on the X-Box. So, I suppose, if anyone has a problem with the hatch, go ahead and try getting an alternate start. Honestly, the beginning of the game isn't that exciting.

EDIT: The stupid site won't let me download Privateer's Hold. Someone mind sending it to me? Just PM me and we'll arrange it.

ok guys i had the same problem couldn't get out of the boat but i turned of pixel shading and it works!!!!!1 thank akatosh!!!

I tried that too and it worked! But I thank Stendarr! Why? I dunno...

Anyway, I still want that mod. It's just that stupid Hotmail isn't letting me get it.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhkayyyyyyyyyyyyy i have been trying to make morrowind goty edition everythings installed, and i have done every fix on this forum, i have vista basic, i get "through" the hatch after alt tabing, the screen goes black and i can move and do everything but i cant see!!!!!!!!!!! help is requested!!!

That's what turning off anti-aliasing fixed for me. Sure you did that?

If that doesn't work, just get an alternate start thingy. Hotmail didn't want me to do that but FilePlanet does.

If you have another computer that isnt vista, install morrowind and get out of the boat then save, open the morrowind folder and copy the "Saves" folder to a jump drive, then open morrowind folder on vista and paste the saves folder from the jump drive to the folder, start morrowind, click load, and the game is there!!!!!!

Ok, yesterday I bought a new laptop, and I tried to install Morrowind. That worked fine, and it all worked fine until I activated the Hatch that takes me to Seyda Neen. When I did that, the game locked, I could still hear sound and such things, but the game was freezed. I waited about 10 minutes, and it didn't help, so I Ctrl-Alt-Deleted me out of the situation. Now I wonder, can someone help me? I don't know what to do.

From post #8 on page 1:

Any help?

Yay that worked, thank you.

I get the whole thing about the game freezing when I try to leave the ship at Seyda Neen too, but if I were to load up a saved game from a different computer and try playing it on my vista, would it work with no hitches, d'you think?

it did for me, thats how i solved it, didnt screw anything up

Really?! Fantastic! I'll try it out and see if that'll work. Cheers!

Failed to load snowflake: Meshes\BM_Snow_01.nif. appears when I load up morrowind with expansions. I heard this problem occurs when you uninstall and reinstall but how do I fix it?

Try and reinstall bloodmoon. See if that works. Make sure you turn off any anti-virus/malware programs.

IF that doesnot work, do a complete uninstall, delete the morrowind folder, empty recycle bin, reboot, turn of anti-malware applications, and reinstall.

Is there any way to run MW other than running it as an Admin?
I get alot of problems with it when i run it as an Admin.

It is my understanding, that the ONLY way to get morrowind to behave even moderatly, is to run as admin.

Has anyone tried installing the game to a different path than the default Program Files? I would be curious to see the results of installing it to the "Shared Documents" folder, and see if that does not resolve some of the more common issues.....

Ive tried unistalling removing files from recycle bin after deleating folder from program files turning off firewall av etc. but still get the same error
I know these things
1. My disc is ok because it works on my xp (this pc has vista the one with the troubles)
2. When running tribunal it works fine but when running togther I get the error (so bloodmoon is the problem)
3. When reinstalling bloodmoon it skips a huge percentage of the installation
4. It says that its missing a mesh but when I go to my data folder and go to meshes the folder is empty (is this normal????)

Still no luck, maybe I should just go onto my xp which the bloodmoon works on and copy the bloodmoon.bsa file from that pc to the vista one using a pendrive and see if that works. Maybe the problem is that vista doesn't like reading the bloodmoon disc.
Do you think that will work?

Has anyone managed to run morrowind and the exp packs with vista?

The problem by the way, is that when i run it as an Admin, ESP files that i make do not appear in the Data File folder in Explorer, or the ESP list in the MW Launcher and it's really annoying because i can't test any mods that i make...

Did that the last time with the admin thingy still no luck trying copying files from xp atm
EDIT: Tried it and still an error I thing it might be a disc read error I may have to manually copy all the files from the disc into the folders) I tried copying all the meshes from the disc into the meshes folder and got a different error? Does that mean its working?

HA HA finally I copied all the files from the bloodmoon disc into the folders in the data files and found that IT WORKED My diagnosis is that vista doesn't like reading the bloodmoon disc, strange hope my dvd drive doesn't have problem's

AH HA!!! Ok, this is a Vista thing as well. Search for *.esp files. When you find them, drag them into the Morrowind\Data files directory. Make sure that when you save your mods, they go in there as well. (run the cs as admin too.)

I FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM!!!
I just had to make the esp while running the CS as an Admin!!!
Thanks man!

Another way is just to click compatibilty files on the top of the screen and you can see all your mods and save games

i've been havign that same problem. i just got a new laptop with vista, and morrowind and tribunal install and work ok, but once i add bloodmoon i get that snowflake crapola. ill try what you did and reply back if it worked.

it works now, i copied all the files from the data folders on the bloodmoon disc (i.e. book art, meshes, textures, and icons.) and put them in the data folder in my main morrowind folder and it works fine now, no erors at all. this is great, now i can play morrowind on my laptop, i can explore vivec while taking a dump!

Well could you tell us how to do this?

Glad it helped you You will also need to do the same for the tribunal disc because it has the same problem as the bloodmoon disc (Not copying files across) but does not halt start up. To show this go to the trader in seyda neen open the door and you should get a missing mesh problem message then go to the bar area at the back. The problem is with the scout woman behind the bar and her curaiss does not appear. So I took down a note of what was missing and scanned through both cds and found it was contained in the tribunal disc. So I copied all the files from tribunal to the folders and it works fine

Stupid vista... my morrowind was working, for a bit but then i realized a lot of the files were missing, liek anyone who should have a neetch leather curaiss was now a giant purple and yellow exclamation mark. so i tried reinstalling... now i get this error on startup "Failed to create shader Shaders\FauxEMBM_Displace.vso" and all the water in tamriel is now seizure inducing. any ideas?

To sort that problem you need to do the same with tribunal as you did with bloodmoon I had the EXACT same problem and found the netch leather curaiss came with tribunal

I only had 15 gb of ram free the other day and proceeded to clean up some of my other game's (well to be precise my older brother who comes here maybe twice a week) as well as my zip files for my mods (doh)

Anyway with 19 gb free ram morrowind has been freezing less on me, that seem's to be atleast part of my problem but...

I am running the game on vista with mod's, for all i know that's equal to asking for a death sentence ^.^

I'm just mentioning this as a possibility, when i was down to 15 gb i could not even travel to vivec (well short of mages guild i suppose) then i had no problem upon freeing up space... :S if there is any kind of connection between people freezing and having less memory free on average than other's it would explain a little bit i figure.

The game never starts for me. I simply get a "Morrowind has stopped working." error, it shuts down, and does nothing. I barely got this game today, all I want is to play the game.


Note, if the name hasn't tipped you off, I love casters.


is there a fix for my problem? I know it's only $20, but Walmart doesn't accept software returns.

Have you read through this thread for someone with the same sort of problem? Are you running it as administrator?

Running as administrator does nothing. I use Vista Home Basic.


EDIT: A thought just occured to me. Microsoft Defender has been known to mess with games from time to time. I wonder if Defender is causing all of these problems?

Do you have mod's installed? Run your program as admin also and disable desktop composition (sorry just rehashing what other's have said)

Now moving on... Well it seem's other's have claimed problem's with 1024x768 resolution so try changing to 800 x 600 res and see if that does not solve it

And just remember to run any related file's as admin (like ME if you decide risking what wrath such program's may or may not bring)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Nightmare2103 also suggested this earlyer -

Try removing Morrowind, deleting the program folder, and then reinstalling it. But reinstall it this way:

1. Insert your Morrowind disc.
2. When it prompts you to install, click No or Cancel.
3. Click Start -> Computer.
4. Right-click your CD drive and select Open.
5. Right-click your setup.exe or setup file, click Run As Administrator.
6. Install like normal.

Repeat all of these steps for Tribunal, and then repeat them once again for Bloodmoon.

Once it's all installed, find your desktop icon, right-click it and click Properties. Find the options to disable Desktop Compositing (this is normally only needed if you have Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, where you have the Aero interface) and default to run as administrator. It may also be necessary to put it in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 2. Once all of these options are set, click OK.

From now on, whenever you want to play, insert your Morrowind disc, then click Exit when the launcher comes up. Re-launch the launcher via the desktop icon instead. (The autorun does not run the launcher as administrator; the desktop icon does.) Then click Play.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway on a side note i seem to have done something that scrapped my hatch bug... what i am not quite sure but i think it's a side effect from either MGE or ME i did do the whole MGE remapping thing or whatever it is and that MIGHT have been what did it but dont quote me

If i can find precisely what fixed this or if someone else can confirm we may just be able to nix that pest for good eh? (without hatch skipper mods) Providing such method does not cause more problems than it fixes -.-

I've tried everything you guys have posted and I'm still stuck inside the Ghorak's manor in Caldera.
Also I looked up cheat codes for teleporting yourself to different cities, but the ~ does not bring up the console. Do the cheats for Morrowind work for GOTY? Someone plaese help me I've already spent too much time on this game to put it down now.

The pixel shading is what worked for me.

Sometimes when the game freezes, I can get it back by CTRL-ALT-DEL, then "Cancel," CTRL-ALT-DEL, then "Cancel," repeat. I admit, this is a longshot for you, but it has worked for me from time to time. Also, ALT-TAB between MW and the Task Manager sometimes works for me.

Are you running with the Classic Windows theme? I makes a big difference for me.

Heya. New to forum, only found it today.

Sooo...anyway. Got Morrowind, woo-hoo. Brill, play it at College I thought. Boy was I wrong, being on Vista I naturally encountered the same problems as you lot. Although, I DID manage to get past the boat, task managered it out, said it wasn't responding, the laptop had a nifty little fit and decided that, actually, it WAS responding..but then it crashed shortly after choosing my class so I gave up and played a good old game of retro Doom II.

Anywhoo....came online when I got home, found this site. VERY helpful btw, thank you guys greatly. Real kind of you to help out so many people.
Point is: you know the whole 'run as administrator' business, I can't select that when in compatibility mode or through properties or anything. Stupid question I know but: Is this because my user account set as the administrator with all privellages setting already? It may seem stupid but I assume that most likely the majority of you are also on administrator account....(as in it doesn't look exactly the same as the screen shot on I thiiink page 1 or 2)

Oh yeh, also Morrowind is a bit jumpy and everyone once in a while the right side flashes so I can see my desktop. Should this be moved to another topic? Sorry if I've gone off track...(sufficiant to say that may laptop should be able to handle Morrowind more than enough and is this just a result of Vista being Vista?)

Anyway, y'know that Morrowind Graphics Extender utility? Does this run on vista at all? Cos for me it just refuses to load at all, and I'm not sure this is entirely normal.

Why couldn't they have given me a choice when ordering this laptop, hey? We should all have a choice It's just that I would have, like the rest of you lumbered with Vista most likely, prefered XP. It's just more pratical.

Anyway....any reply would be greatly appreciated.

Ta

Adious.

Download and run Morrowchecker, and post the results in a new thread.


Welcome! Have a Fishy Stick!


Safer not being an administrator(more secure).


Don't think so, but I'm not positive.


Just another example of The Man trying to hold us down!

i can't install the game, i try and i get a "cyclical error" and one of the cabinet files on the disk is failing to load or something.

That's not a Vista problem. A cyclical redundancy check error usually means the system ran into a problem reading the CD. The first thing to try is clean the disk with a soft, dampened lint free cloth. Clean from the center to the edge, not in a circular motion. Then turn off any malware programs and try the install again. If it still fails and you have a second optical drive, try the install from it. If none of this helps, let us know.

I have tried everything and nothing has worked, thanks for the ideas anyway. However if you are having the same problem as me (stuck in building) you can do this. First you have to have a friend with XP and morrowind on thier computer. Go to the morrowind file under program files and copy your saves file to a flash drive. Take this drive to your friends house and upload your saves file to thier morrowind file (you can put thier saves file on the desktop or you can combine the files) after you do this start the game and get away from sticky spot (go out of the city you got stuck in) then save under the main file and quicksave after this anytime you are outside of a city quicksave so if you get stuck again you can load the quicksave file and not lose to much progress. After you are done put the updated saves file into your flash drive and go back to your computer and play! This worked very well for me.

In other news..... does anyone else have trouble pulling up the console while using Vista?

Thanks.

Dinewiz
I had the flashy, jumpy problem too turn off the sidebar, its a useless ram muncher anyway. If your sidebar is already off um....... good luck.

edit

it installs to 100% but then locks up... I dunno why... And I can't get it installed.

Well my install did not even display %, i just waited for it to finish without messing with it...

Are you sure you did not just close it out before vista finally finished negotiation's to accept a new tenant (probably a closet somewhere now that i mention it...)

Not saying you did anything wrong, just trying to clear up your problem.

yeah, i wait for a bout 20 minutes and then it comes up with a cyclical redundancy check, or some other problem referencing cabinet 2 file.

CERTAINLY.

(This is the proceedure to do this task with winXP, as I dont use, nor will I EVER use windows Vista.)


1) Log in as ADMINISTRATOR

2) Open Windows Explorer

3) Navigate to C:\program files\bethesda softworks\morrowind

4) Right click on the "morrowind" folder, and go to "properties"

5) Navigate to the "Security" tab

6) Click the "add" button

7) Click the "Advanced" button

8) Click the "Find now" button

9) select the "Authenticated Users" group

10) Click OK

11) Click OK again

12) Select the newly added "Authenticated Users" group from the list

13) Put a check into the "allow" side for "Full Control"

14) Click OK

15) Log off as the administrator

16) Log in as your limited user account

17) Play the game and test it out.



(What this does security wise-- You added an entry to the ACL (Access Control List) for the "Authenticated Users" group. All users with login credentials are automatically members of this group. All other users (like anonymous network users) are granted credentials through the "Guests" group. By adding this entry to the ACL, you grant all users with logins full control over that folder.)

I am using vista and when i put in the morrowind disc nothing happens, I go to my computer and it says there is nothingin the drive. Whats going on?

When I try 2 load the game it gets past the bethesda softworks page and it freezes up and says Morrowind has stopped working... please wait while windows vista trys 2 gather details about the problem. I've tryed running the program as an admin but it still dosen't work....I've also tryed running w/o desktop compisition and it still dosen't work. PLEASE can someone tell me why?

Try turning on the compatibility layer, by right clicking on the shortcut, and going to the Compatibility tab. Try setting it to windows XP, or even lower-- and see if it behaves better.

I pm'ed you about this a few days after i posted this but i would like to say thanks again ^.^ It's solved a few problems i had such as not being able to edit my .ini file which in turn allowed me to tweak my setting's to significantly reduce my lockup's (and get the game to a playable level when combined with the travel agency mod)

The problem with internet hackery badness has set up a requirement for people to become more knowledgeable about computer security. Filesystem security (and indeed, Registry security as well) are becoming essential for IT people, and reccomended skills to acquire for power users. Home users would also profit from this knowledge, but are less likely to seek it out on their own.

Benefits of good strong FS security:

Viruses that like to drop stuff into hidden folders in critical filesystem areas cannot without proper filesystem access. By using a limited user account with limited FS access to these critical areas essentially cripple the scripts and programs that try to install this malicious malware. Additionally, for the savvy-- it keeps other users from seeing your stuff. VERY useful for hiding your PR0N collection from your wife/gir 12f1 lfriend, etc. (Simply unallow read and browse from her user account, and BLAMMO-- she cant even SEE the folder your PR0N is in, let alone access it!)

Benefits of strong registry security:
(Use REGEDT32.exe on NT4 and windows2000-- Use regedit.exe on XP and greater to set registry ACLs. Just be VERY careful what you are doing, and DONT set an ACL for the administrator. Always leave the administrator free to fix things if you make a terrible mistake!)

Illicit "Browser Plugins" (Like CoolWebSearch) cannot install without access to certain registry keys. By revoking access to these areas within your limited user account, you suddenly gain a measure of innate immunity to infection from these kinds of things. Sadly, these areas are wide open by default, and require you to go in and manually set the Registry Security ACLs to allow/unallow (NEVER REVOKE! It cannot be overridden!) for the required levels of protection.

After I get a computer fully set up, Registry areas I usually lock down with ACLs include:

Browser plugin registry keys. (Too many to list)

HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN (<-This is where several illicit programs like to put an entry to make windows execute them automatically on bootup, making them difficult to remove. Locking this area down prevents them from creating such entries, and makes it much easier to clean them up should they install anyway, as they wont automagically execute on the next bootup. )

HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES (<- This is where hidden system services have their settings stored. Restricting modification/add access to this area prevents the silent installation of malicious system services.)


Once you have fully immunized your limited user account, you use it for your normal day-to-day computing activities, and use the Administrator Account to install/remove software, or to configure system services and the like. This GREATLY impacts the ability for spyware and malware to 'appropriate' your computer for their own purulent purposes.


*Edit*

Oh yes-- ALWAYS use a STRONG password for the administrator account! If you just leave the password for "Administrator" as a blank, (like OOOH so many people foolishly do) setting the above ACLs is a lesson in futility, because many malware software programs will attempt to run under the administrator's credentials by guess several common passwords, the most common being *null*--- At LEAST 12 characters, containing numbers, letters, and preferably, symbol characters as well.

I got it!

OK, people, at least I think I got that problem with freezing after loading new cell. Well, it was sometimes mentioned in this thread, perhaps everybody knows it already.

But: turning off pixel-shading (from the Morrowind Launcher > Options) helps, at least for the cell in my save game I could`t enter before (River at Balmora). I`ve got the other problem: sometimes after the loading the save game the loading screen doesn`t disappear, but you can fix it with Alt+Tab.

Well, I wonder if the other cells I couldn`t enter are also fixed by turning off pixel shading.

Btw, I suppose, pixel-shading problem has something to do with that beautiful rendering of water, because almost every cells I could`t enter included some lake, river or something. The water doesn`t look nice at all now, but - the game is working, and that`s great!

Closed for post limit

This is the new thread.