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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Hints
Game Tweaks
This is a list of game tweaks and simple fixes that may be able to help you if you're experiencing technical difficulties with the game (freezes, crashes, etc.). Don't expect any dramatic performance enhancements, though. These apply to the PC version of the game only, of course.
NOTE: Many of these tweaks involve editing the MORROWIND.INI file that comes with the game. Whenever you edit any game file, there's always a risk that you might do something wrong and perhaps make your game unplayable. *Always* make a backup copy of this file before you start editing, in case you need to restore it later.
1) SOUND CARD DIFFICULTIES
Be sure to read through the game's README.TXT file for advice on adjusting the Hardware Acceleration settings if you have a sound card from ESS Technologies or Cirrus Logic (Crystal Audio).
2) FRAME RATE
Load up the file MORROWIND.INI in a text file editor (like Microsoft Notepad) and find the two lines near the top of the file that look like "Show FPS=" and "Max FPS=". If the max FPS value is over 60, then change it to 60. This should cut down on game freezes and crashes. Also, if you want to see the frame rate in the lower right corner of the screen during gameplay, change the show FPS value from 0 to 1.
3) TERRAIN LOADING
Find "DontThreadLoad=0" in the MORROWIND.INI file and change the 0 to a 1 if you want to make the game load a large chunk of terrain every couple of minutes instead of loading little pieces every few seconds as you travel along. The trade-off is fewer loads vs. longer load times.
4) GRAPHICS GLITCHES
If the game ever starts messing up all the texture graphics, making the terrain look screwy, maps and other menu screens are unreadable static, etc., then bring down the console with the ~ key and type PT to purge the textures. After a brief delay, that should clear up the problem (though it may only be a temporary solution, with rebooting the computer a more long-lasting one).
5) LIGHT ATTENUATION
You can change the way the game computes light attenuation by changing the "UseLinear" and "UseQuadratic" sections of MORROWIND.INI to the following values. (This may improve performance a little, and it also makes the lighting effects look a lot neater, at least on my machine.)
Another thing you can try in MORROWIND.INI is increasing the number of exterior cell buffers from 32 to 45. This may slightly improve game performance in outdoor areas (which is where most slowdowns and crashes take place in my experience).
