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[tetchy]

Morrowind Graphics Extender (MGE)
by Timeslip & LizTail -- additional development by krzymar, peachykeen, phal & d4w

This is a utility to add Oblivion style distant land and HDR to Morrowind, as well as many other graphical and input related tweaks. It is also a required utility for some mods which make use of the additional scripting functions it provides.

Note: MGE is a complex program working in a complex environment. There are lots of things which can prevent it from working, or at least prevent it from working as you want it to. You may need a certain level of computer literacy to solve these problems. Also, be prepared to spend some time experimenting with what options work best (or at all) for you. We tried our best to make the program's UI and documentation helpful, but this won't spare you from having to spend some (or sometimes a lot) of effort on it. Please weigh the improved visuals against the effort needed to get it working (and, obviously, the fps hit), and decide whether you really want to try using it.

*Attention* If you're having any problems, please read MGE's documentation and check the FAQ below before posting here. If you find you need to post about an issue, please include the following information:

• MGE version/revision number you're using
• Which versions of required support files are installed
• Operating System
• Graphics Card
• Crash report (if applicable)
• Please mention if your Morrowind install is the Steam version
• If you're using an svn-revision, copy the contents of the mge3/MGE.ini file to your post

Downloads and important links:

• Latest official version (3.8.0b) - 3.8.0b is the stable version, SVN-revs and others are development versions (see the end of the FAQ below for a list of the most recent versions).
• Official MGE v3.8.0 documentation - explains all MGE functions and settings, offers step-by-step guides for common tasks like enabling distant land, activating shaders, or enabling screenshots, has a troubleshooting section to help you with problems, and more.
  Note: newer SVN beta revisions have a different MGEgui layout and include features not covered by this edition of the documentation. Look to Beta Notes in the FAQ below where info related to beta revision features is mentioned.
• Official Home Page for Morrowind Graphics Extender

Required

• Directx 9.0c redistributable (latest version)
  Note: extract the package to a temporary location, then from that location run DXSETUP.EXE to actually install.
• Visual C++ 2008 SP1 redistributable (latest version)
• .Net 2.0 (some versions of Windows will already have .Net installed - check your system first)

Related Downloads and Links:

• MGE Shader Library -- (forum)
• Harlanrm's Tweaked Water Shader (for use with v3.8.0b - not compatible with latest SVN builds)
• Hrnchamd's High Rock Spring Water Shader (requires specific SVN builds)
• Phal's Improved Water Shader (requires specific SVN builds - this is now incorporated into latest SVN build)
• Phal's Sun Shaft Rays -- (BSF thread) (requires latest SVN build)
  Note: a newer test version is included with phal's d3d8 mge382 rev186 scatter+cloud test/dev patch.
• Knu's latest SSAO & DoF Shaders (requires latest SVN build - Knu's shaders are also included in latest build)
• MGE Mod List - collected by bjam, with links to lots of MGE mods and shaders.

v3.8.0 Screenshots:
(The screenshots here show an unmodded Morrowind with all the distant land settings on very high)

• Vivec
• Vivec
• Vivec
• Ebonheart
• Ascadian Isles
• Balmora
• Bitter Coast
• Bitter Coast
• Molag Amur
• West Gash
• Gnisis
• Grazelands
• Sheogorad
• Sheogorad
• Fort Frostmoth
• Hirstaang Forest
• Solstheim
• Solstheim

New Effects:

• Depth Based Water Effects
• Distant Blur
• Distant Blur
• Water Reflections
• Water Reflections
• Water Reflections

 
F.A.Q.

Q: Where can I find a detailed guide for using MGE?
A: The MGE Wiki can be found here - note that it's currently being worked on and updated so some info may be missing or out of date. Have a look through there first, and if you still need help then ask in this thread here.

Q: When I try to run Morrowind I get a message saying "This application has failed to start because d3dx9_##.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem." Directx is already installed, what's this about?
A: You need to install the latest redistributable version of Directx 9.0c. Each new build of MGE usually requires newer dll libraries that aren't available in runtime versions included with game discs or pre-installed versions. Vista and Windows 7 have Directx 10 & 11 pre-installed respectively, but you can safely keep it and install Directx 9 along side (MGE only makes use of Directx 9 libraries at this time).

Q: MGEgui crashes when I run it - my Directx and .NET are up-to-date, and Visual C++ is 32-bit. Fix?
A: Try running the Morrowind Launcher (running it as administrator if applicable), opening the "Options" menu, selecting a different resolution, and clicking "Ok." If it still doesn't work, disable MGE by removing "d3d8.dll" and "dinput8.dll" from your Morrowind folder, then run Morrowind. Let it start and load, then exit out of the game. Move the MGE files back into your Morrowind directory, and try again. The issue is with registry and INI (configuration) settings that are not created until Morrowind is run the first time (for that install), but MGEgui still tries to read the missing entries and crashes on failure (Beta Note: a fix has been implemented with the newest beta version to popup an error and shut down MGEgui gracefully, instead of crashing).

Q: When I try to run MGEgui a message comes up saying "MGEgui has stopped working." Why's that?
A: MGE needs full administrator rights when running and full rights to the Morrowind installation directory structure. It's also advisable to run MGEgui.exe in XP compatibility mode for Vista / Windows 7. You'll need to first run MorrowindLaucher.exe and set the screen resolution before starting MGEgui (Vista / Windows 7 users can right-click the app and select 'Run this program as an administrator' in order to run with admin privileges for that one session). Since MGE is a 32-bit program, make sure the 32-bit version of Visual C++ 2008 redistributable is installed.

Q: When I try to run MGEgui a message comes up saying "MGEgui has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." What's up?
A: You get that error when MGEgui cannot properly read Morrowind's graphics adapter and screen resolution stored in the registry. This can happen if you're also using FPS Optimizer and use it to change the Morrowind video mode registry settings: FPS Optimizer saves the registry entries in a way that MGEgui can't read, so the error will occur the next time an attempt is made to run MGEgui. Another cause is installing new graphics card hardware and drivers: the Morrowind registry entries will still be for the old graphics card which are no longer compatible. You can correct the problem with the registry by running the Morrowind Launcher (running it as administrator if applicable), opening the "Options" menu, and resetting the graphics adapter and screen resolution. Make sure to click OK so that the registry entries get updated.

Q: MGEgui says it can't read the screen resolution from the registry.
A: If MGE is failing to read the registry, make sure you're running it with an Administrator account and that you've configured the graphics settings for Morrowind via the Morrowind Launcher (running it as administrator if applicable) and run Morrowind at least once without MGE installed (you can temporarily disable MGE by removing "d3d8.dll" and "dinput8.dll" from your Morrowind folder).

Q: I get a water texture not found error / texture not found error.
A: Uninstall MGE completely and install a fully fresh copy and try again.

Q: Why has pixel shaded water been disabled?
A: MGE's distant land is not compatible with Morrowind's pixel shaded water, and so it is automatically disabled. If you have a sm2 graphics card, MGE can replace Morrowind's water with its own. MGE will not automatically re-enable Morrowind's pixel shaded water when distant land is disabled, so make sure you double check. To re-enable it, open up the Morrowind Launcher and click "Options". Then click the check box called "pixel shading" (Beta Note: a feature has been added to the newest beta version to automatically re-enable Morrowind's pixel shaded water when distant land is disabled, you no longer need to manually enable it thru the Morrowind Launcher).

Q: Why do the skies flicker from light to dark?
A: Change fog mode to range vertex.

Q: How do I enable screenshots in MGEgui?
A: Click on the input tab, then click "Launch Macro Editor".
Click the key you want to use (use something other than printscreen) and in the drop down menus select "Function" and "Take Screenshot".
Click save, close and you will be able to take screenshots.
Your screenshots will be saved directly to your Morrowind folder.

Q: How do I get animated grass / trees?
A: For instructions on how to set up animated grass, go here. The animated trees feature is currently being worked into a proper mod, it will be released as soon as it's done.

Q: Why does the distant land generator crash when I try to generate the files?
A: MGEgui's file parser isn't perfect, and if it comes across a NIF or texture it can't read it tends to crash. All default meshes are known to work, so you can sidestep this problem by only generating statics for morrowind.esm and bloodmoon.esm (you only need to include tribunal.esm if you also generate statics for interiors), otherwise you will need to retry repeatedly until you find the problem mod. One known problem which isn't related to NIF's is Ald-Vendras, which contains a corrupt texture file. To fix it, download this and find aldtex.7z in morrowgraphext/files. Extract it to the Morrowind\Data Files\Textures folder before running the distant land generator.

Q: Certain places, such as Raven Rock, the Ghostfence, and the Strongholds, are not created by the distant land generator. Why?
A: The reason they don't show up when you enable Distant Statics is because they're not Statics, they're Activators. MGEgui doesn't generate activators by default. Check out povuholo's "MGE Distant Activators Fix", it will help to display certain major activators such as the Ghostfence. (Note: this is mostly fixed in the latest version - there's an option to include activators for distant static creation, and the generator will check an esp's script to see if the activator should be generated or not.)

Q: Distant Meshes have 'holes' in them / look funny.
A: Either don't use the "old reduction method" or leave static detail at 100% when generating distant land.

Q: My distant land is all black, help?
A: This might happen when you are too high above ground, try going back closer to ground. If this happens on ground level reduce Distant Land draw distance. Distant land can also become blacked out if an incorrect version of InGame.fx is used with a newer d3d8.dll. ENBSeries v0075 can cause the view to darken both within the Morrowind draw distance and MGE distant land. Mesh replacers that include extended texture mapping effects (bump, dark, detail, gloss, and/or glow) that also surround the player-point-of-view camera (like the Raindrop.nif mesh) can also cause overall darkening.

Q: Everything is blacked out / over fogged with distant land enabled. What's the fix?
A: Setting the Distant Land Above Water Fog Start to zero can cause the entire screen to go black; make sure it's set to something other than zero (a minimum of 0.2 is safe). Reducing Morrowind's draw distance too much in interior cells can cause everything to black out / become over fogged except for light points (i.e. torch and candle flames); increase the view distance slider on the "Video" tab thru the in-game "Options" menu. Trying to maintain too high an FPS and setting a minimum draw distance threshold extremely low (e.g. < 1700) with either FPS Optimizer or MGE's "Keep FPS constant" feature, can force Morrowind's draw distance in too close regardless of changing the in-game menu setting - in that case you'll need to either lower the target FPS or increase the minimum draw distance threshold (2500 is Morrowind's default).

Q: Nearby objects and the shadowed side of NPCs are very dark, but distant land looks fine. What's causing that?
A: The 'Enable fog' option in MGEgui is not checked. MGE's animated grass will also look over fogged within Morrowind's draw distance unless fog is enabled, especially during foggy weather. The setting actually enables/disables Morrowind default fogging - MGE always applies it's own fogging to what it renders independently of what Morrowind renders.

Q: How do I enable shaders? (like Bloom, HDR etc)
A: Go to the Tools tab, press "Shader editor".
Use the "Select technique" combobox and Preview to find one you want (e.g. DX9 HLSL HDR*).
Then click "Edit active". Double click the one(s) you want. Click Save.
If you've selected more than one you can use the "Preview active chain" to get a feel for what they look like together. You can remove individual shaders you added to the active chain by double clicking them one-by-one. Use the Up and Down in the "Edit active" window to change the order the shaders are applied until you're happy. Performance will be greatly impacted if more than 6 shaders are in the active chain (many graphics cards are limited to 6 or less).

Recommended shader order (for any combination of these shader types):
HDR, SSAO, Depth of Field, Sun Rays, Bloom

Reason:
* HDR adjusts the color balance and contrast. For the other shaders to apply properly, they need to take this into account.
* SSAO adds shadows to the scene. It needs to be affected by DoF and bloom. It is after HDR only because the HDR value would not take the new shadows into account.
* Depth of Field (DoF) comes next, because it blurs the scene. It needs to have the balanced, shadow-added scene to blur, but otherwise needs a raw scene.
* Sun Rays is here because it needs the balanced and possibly blurred scene to draw the rays over, but it needs to be affected by bloom.
* Bloom comes last because it needs to effect both the DoF blur (lights can look different when bloomed before/after DoF) and the sun rays.

Q: Why don't the shaders work?
A: On the Render state tab, make sure "Hardware Shader" is checked. If HDR isn't working, on the Misc tab check both "Update shader variables" and "Supply HDR info to shaders". Some hi-end shaders like SSOA and Sun Rays require "Supply shaders with depth info" to also be checked (see next question).

Q: When I try to use certain shaders, my entire screen goes white / gets very dark. What's going on?
A: Without "Update shaders variables", Bloom shaders tend to white out the screen. Trying to use depth dependent shaders (e.g. DoF, SSAO, Sun Rays) without also checking "Supply shaders with depth info" can cause odd behavior including darkening of the scene (Beta Note: passing depth info to shaders is only available in the newer builds - use the most recent beta version listed at the end of the FAQ).

Q: I'm getting screen edge bleeding when using some HDR & Bloom shaders, is there a workaround?
A: Open the shader in MGEgui's Shader Editor and look for the following two lines near the top of the shader code:

sampler s0 = sampler_state { texture = <lastshader>; };
sampler s1 = sampler_state { texture = <lastpass>; magfilter=linear; };

change those lines to read:

sampler s0 = sampler_state { texture = <lastshader>; magfilter=linear; AddressU=Clamp; AddressV=Clamp; };
sampler s1 = sampler_state { texture = <lastpass>; magfilter=linear; AddressU=Clamp; AddressV=Clamp; };

(Beta Note: builds starting with MGE v3.8.0 revision 0118 include rewritten versions of the default shaders that replace <thisframe> with <lastshader>. The fix should still work for older versions of shaders that use <thisframe>, but only when used with builds before rev-0118. This also applies to 3rd-party shaders written before rev-0118, i.e. before October 2009).

Q: I have a decent rig, and yet my frame rate is terrible, what gives?
A: Be sure to disable all external anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering in your video card's control panel. Limit the number of MGE shaders in the active shader chain to 6 or less (performance of some graphics cards will be limited to 4, or even 2 or less). Also try things like updating your graphics card drivers, and minimize the amount of background applications. This guide here at TweakGuides gives some good tips for improving your PC's performance. Another thing to try is FPS Optimizer for Morrowind.

Q: What is the version of Morrowind Script Extender included with MGE? What if I also have a standalone version of MWSE installed?
A: The version of MWSE included with MGE is labeled as v0.9.3 - as of MGE v3.5.6 this includes all MWSE v0.9.4 script functions, plus 100's more MGE specific script extensions not available in the standalone versions of MWSE. This version of MWSE is quite stable and can be substituted for any mod requirement for MWSE up to v0.9.4 standalone. If for some reason it is desired to run MWSE standalone (i.e a mod specifically states v0.9.4a as required in its documentation, or a newer version becomes available), then MGE's internal version of MWSE needs to be disabled before running MGE with the external standalone version of MWSE. However, disabling MGE's internal version of MWSE will break any mods that require MGE specific script extensions. Never run both MGE's internal version and an external standalone version of MWSE together at the same time; an external version of MWSE will only load and run by specifically starting its launcher application, so it's safe to leave a standalone version installed without actually launching it if you're only going to be using MGE's internal version. (Beta Note: fixes for a few of MGE's internal MWSE functions were made between revisions 0096 and 0110, so it's best to use one of the newer beta versions available for complete and equivalent MWSE functionality).

Q: I have the Steam version of Morrowind, how do I get MGE to work with it?
A: Disable Steam community in-game: go to your Steam settings window and choose the "In-game" tab, then uncheck the "Steam Community In-Game" box. You should also redate morrowind.bsa, tribunal.bsa, and bloodmoon.bsa to year 2002. In the location where you installed Steam, look for "...Steam\SteamApps\common\morrowind" folder - Morrowind's bsa's will be located under the "Data Files" folder. You'll need a 3rd party utility to redate the files (Attribute Changer v6.20 works well for this).

Explanation for redating:
The stock meshes and textures are contained in the bsa archives, and they inherit the datestamp from the bsas which the Steam version sets to the date and time you downloaded and installed. That results in those assets overriding any other 3rd-party versions unless the bsas are redated to year 2002. Individual versions of meshes and textures with a more recent datestamp placed in the "...\Data Files\Meshes" and "...\Data Files\Textures" folders (respectively) will get priority over the stock archive versions (due to the default setting for "TryArchiveFirst=0" in Morrowind.ini; 0 tells the game engine to use newer assets based on datestamp), but for whatever reason the distantland files do not follow that rule unless the archives have been redated to an earlier date.

Q: Can I use MGE and ENBSeries together?
A: Yes. In fact, to use ENBSeries with Morrowind, you should have MGE. However, at this point, almost all of ENB's features are available using solely MGE. ENBSeries is also another layer of work for your computer, and so, you can usually expect a slowdown when using it (especially if advanced effects are turned on).

Q: Where can I get the Beta source code for MGE?
A: Here - You will need to check out the source code via SVN. Tortoise SVN is a good choice for a program to do so on Windows. The SVN URL to use when checking out the code is here.

Q: What is the latest version of MGE?
A: As of this point (September 22, 2010, 5:43 UTC), the following are the newest versions:
Newest stable version: MGE 3.8.0b
Newest beta version: MGE 3.8.2 revision 178

Newest test/dev patches:
phal: d3d8 mge382 rev186 scatter+cloud v5 (July 27, 2010) - d3d8.dll & shader update (replaces d3d8.dll & InGame.fx from MGE 3.8.2 revision 178 linked above - includes new versions of sunshaft and underwater wobble shaders plus a new HDRbloom shader, all dependent on this patch) * testing needed *

(Note: all paths pointing to older beta versions that were uploaded to SourceForge have changed to - http://sourceforge.n....8 SVN builds/ )


Q: What version of MGE should I use?
A: Always try to use the latest release. In this case, you may want to use the latest stable release (3.8.0b). If you want to try out the enhanced features of the newer versions, beta build MGE 3.8.2 revision 178 is a mostly-stable version usable in most cases. The working (test/dev) versions are not always stable or widely compatible, but do support the latest advancements. If you just want MGE for distant land and other simple effects, try the stable release. Only use test/dev releases if you are willing to risk crashes in exchange for features.

 
Note: If you need help with MGE, please don't PM the creators - instead post your questions or problems here, that's what this thread is for, and be patient in waiting for a reply - don't bump or double post. Also, if you see anyone make a new thread about MGE or asks any MGE related questions, please redirect them to post in this thread instead, as it's best to keep all MGE questions and answers in one place.

Previous Thread

[oldplayer]

Noted and will try this later. This will be a more efficient option than setting the minimum draw to 250. Thanks tetchy.

Search for those in the exported list of statics. You won't find those meshes separately under '...\Data Files\Meshes\f' unless you've installed a mesh replacer for the stock bloodmoon trees. The game normally finds them in the Bloodmoon.bsa - the exported list of statics is a reference list to their relative path.

 
Time for a new thread.

[mendres]

Testers needed

As you all know, MGE is complex software and the developers are working hard on helping you out on problems that might occur. Reaching a certain level of stability is one of the goals. This is a reason, why Distant Land is disabled after changing resolution in game or alt-tabbing out of Morrowind.

It is not as if there was something broken on Distant Land; it’s more a problem of finding out what Morrowind will do next after those two states.

So, what I was working on for the last few weeks was to get Distant Land to work after changing resolution or alt-tabbing. Although this works just fine for me now, that doesn’t mean anything as long as I won’t be able to test the changes on a broader base.

If you would like to test the latest builds with Distant Land reinitialization enabled, please send me a private message. I will then send you a link to the download file, as soon as the build passes some internal tests.


Who should NOT consider using this beta?

If you only want to play Morrowind with awesome graphics, keep the latest stable release or the official beta installed.

Are there any issues to be expected with your beta?

Yes and No. Most of the things should work as they do with the latest official beta, which is 3.8.2 at the moment. Some things might work better than in the beta (see “What did you change for your build?”). But as soon as you change your resolution in game or alt-tab out of Morrowind, it might just work fine for you, but it also might cause problems or even crash the game.

What did you change for your build?

- When running MGE without setting a proper resolution in Morrowind Launcher before, MGE should not crash anymore.
- MGE should show a Message, when it would require administrative rights instead of crashing.
- Distant Land will be reinitialized after changing resolution or alt-tabbing.
- There is a new option available on the “Render” Tab: Disable shaders in menu.

Why don’t you just post a link here?

As I said before, I don’t want you to use the beta build unless you know what you’re doing. Don’t ask questions here on the forums concerning issues with Distant Land reinitialization. If everything would work fine with these builds, you would have seen a stable release including my changes most certainly.

What information do you need?

When reporting back about issues running the beta build, please add some information:

- what Operating System you use (32-Bit / 64-Bit)
- your Graphics Card
- how much RAM does your computer have?
- do you have any mods or texture packs installed?
- what does Morrowind do when changing resolution or alt-tabbing?


Thanks to all the developers that did an amazing job on MGE. It’s really great to see how much the community contributes to Morrowind. I hope that tests run fine now, so that the changes could be enabled in the official svn release soon.

Cheers,
mendres

Edited by mendres, 22 September 2010 - 07:30 AM.

[ArcturusXIV]

Hey, I had to uninstall and reinstall Morrowind due to a pathfinding issue. Now, when I try to run MGE, it simply says:

An error occured.
System.BadImageFormatException: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B)
at MGEgui.Imports.GetDLLVersion(String file)
at MGEgui.DLLSelector.bSelect_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

And no, I don't know how to clear the registry on Windows 7, so please be specific. I've tried every search forum, googled it, nothing. I really want this to work!

[kamilfranke]

Hello,

Today i've installed MGE with latest graphics enhancements, texture pack's etc. I'm using the latest SVN build, through I've didn't expected such FPS hit, when using SSAO + DoF, zHDR, SunShaft Rays and DoF. Even when only rays are on, there a noticeable loss in performance - vanilla game with only mesh and texture packs runs and loads in a split second. Is this possible to some option in MGE is that FPS intensive? Besides shaders? I have a decent rig and I was really supprised with this. Also, i set my ini and Bloom shader setting as show in this thread:

CLICK

And the screen is going white btight when staring ahead, but goes normal when I stare at the sky. Also, the colors are oversaturated, too much yellow everywhere. Is this a MGE issue?

My rig:
Core 2 Duo @ 3 Ghz,
Radeon HD3850x2 1GB
2 GB 1066 RAM in Dual Chanel
2x500GB in RAID0 HDD's.

Any ideas ? And one more question, do anybody know something about Linora's Mystical Underwater Effects? Is this shader dead? I can't find it anymore.

[FiddleSticks96]

I downloaded MGE today. While I was setting up the distant land feature I encountered a problem that has no answer to it on the sourceforge site as far as I can tell.

I have DirectX 9.0c as well as .NET framework 4.0. I have followed all instructions and the problem still persists. During the distant land creation wizard I select all plugins that I want MGE to support, after that I click continue as instructed. When I do so I get this error message:

"A fatal error occured loading land data from your plugins. Distant land setup cannot continue
Failed to load default ground texture (Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.directX.Driect#DX, Version=1.0.2911.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.)"

What is the problem and how do I fix it?

I tried googling it so don't ask me to do that.

P.S.

By the way Tetchy, thanks for your help in resolving the crown of souls scripting error. It works like a charm now.

Edited by FiddleSticks96, 22 September 2010 - 12:03 PM.

[FiddleSticks96]

I've noticed one more problem. Whenever a creature or npc is in my line of sight the game slows down considerably. To counter this I completely removed MGE from morrowind. The problem still persists and the shadows now have some kind of graphical error. I might have to reinstall the game. I hope I don't have to reinstall all my mods as well.

[The Greatness]

Have you enabled high detail shadows? Apparently it's a real fps killer and as it's an ini tweak it would probably continue after disabling MGE.

[vtastek]

Hey, I had to uninstall and reinstall Morrowind due to a pathfinding issue. Now, when I try to run MGE, it simply says:

Reinstall MGE, recreate distant land. It looks like a corrupt file problem.

Hello,

Today i've installed MGE with latest graphics enhancements, texture pack's etc. I'm using the latest SVN build, through I've didn't expected such FPS hit, when using SSAO + DoF, zHDR, SunShaft Rays and DoF. Even when only rays are on, there a noticeable loss in performance - vanilla game with only mesh and texture packs runs and loads in a split second. Is this possible to some option in MGE is that FPS intensive? Besides shaders? I have a decent rig and I was really supprised with this. Also, i set my ini and Bloom shader setting as show in this thread:

CLICK

And the screen is going white btight when staring ahead, but goes normal when I stare at the sky. Also, the colors are oversaturated, too much yellow everywhere. Is this a MGE issue?

My rig:
Core 2 Duo @ 3 Ghz,
Radeon HD3850x2 1GB
2 GB 1066 RAM in Dual Chanel
2x500GB in RAID0 HDD's.

Any ideas ? And one more question, do anybody know something about Linora's Mystical Underwater Effects? Is this shader dead? I can't find it anymore.

I think the performance problem could be related to dual GPU setup.

The yellow part is because Morrowind's sunglare. Set Glare View=0 in all weathers. Sun Glare Fader Max to 0 in Morrowind.ini. Also zHDR is not the best HDR shader. I recommend Trubloom or Gimp.

I downloaded MGE today. While I was setting up the distant land feature I encountered a problem that has no answer to it on the sourceforge site as far as I can tell.

I have DirectX 9.0c as well as .NET framework 4.0. I have followed all instructions and the problem still persists. During the distant land creation wizard I select all plugins that I want MGE to support, after that I click continue as instructed. When I do so I get this error message:

"A fatal error occured loading land data from your plugins. Distant land setup cannot continue
Failed to load default ground texture (Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.directX.Driect#DX, Version=1.0.2911.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.)"

Looks Directx to me.

Install this recent version:
http://www.filehippo...wnload_directx/

Run DXSETUP.EXE after extracting the package.

Edited by vtastek, 22 September 2010 - 08:54 PM.

[kamilfranke]

To be specific, the 3850x2 i have is a single card, it has two GPU's on one PCB, but anyway it's recognized as 2 in Windows and behaving like CrossfireX configuration. So, is any specific option for this kind of GPUs in MGE? Setting for multithread or something?

I've tried the GlareView thing, but it just disables the sun , which i don't want becouse of the sun shaft rays. It looked good tho, even with "flickering" of colors when looking up/down. Maybe theres another, more subtle bloom/HDR shader? Exepct for using ENBseries?

And question about shader version in Distant Land tab in MGE, better to use 2.0 or 3.0?

Thanks in advance for the responses!

[LordHaHa]

Well, I got the r178 running quite nicely and am enjoying the new features. However I am running into a slight non-critical but nontheless annoying problem; the "Chargen boat" is loaded into Distant Land for some reason and thus appears when I leave Seyda Neen and reappears when I return. Obviously I could redo the process by toggling activators and such off but that would cause more immersion-related problems than it would solve.

Any solutions, specifically lines for the exception list? I added "=ignore" to the entries in the Names section but that gave me errors. I then used "=disable" which was error-free but did nothing to rectify the situation. Am I missing a step in the process?

LordHaHa

P.S.: I have no idea if the strongholds are appearing before they are supposed to be built, either, I'm actually testing a mod and thus haven't gotten far past the Bitter Coast yet (and won't until I am done).

Edited by LordHaHa, 22 September 2010 - 07:28 PM.

[vtastek]

To be specific, the 3850x2 i have is a single card, it has two GPU's on one PCB, but anyway it's recognized as 2 in Windows and behaving like CrossfireX configuration. So, is any specific option for this kind of GPUs in MGE? Setting for multithread or something?

I've tried the GlareView thing, but it just disables the sun , which i don't want becouse of the sun shaft rays. It looked good tho, even with "flickering" of colors when looking up/down. Maybe theres another, more subtle bloom/HDR shader? Exepct for using ENBseries?

And question about shader version in Distant Land tab in MGE, better to use 2.0 or 3.0?

Thanks in advance for the responses!

Sorry, I gave you false information. Under weather, set Sun Glare Fader Max to 0. That would get rid of the yellowness. You should check control panel for those kind of settings. Nvidia has 3 modes, I think. I used a SLI laptop which was too slow in one mode but not the other with Morrowind. Plus, Morrowind is slow and SSAO is demanding.

Shaders are tweakable. From Gimp 1.3

// **BLOOM VARIABLES**


//const static float scale = 6.5f;
const static float scale = 6.5f;
//Scale of bloom stretch across the screen
//decrease for smaller bloom that is more accurate
//increase for larger bloom that is less accurate

//const static float BloomBoost = 1.0f;
const static float BloomBoost = 1.0f;
//boost in bloom brightness, increase for brighter bloom

I decreased both numbers significantly. But don't make them 0 or that breaks the shader.

Trubloom also has many tweakables. Morrowind.ini colors are also causing excessively bright fog and sky so I lower them too.

Post screenshots for further visual problems.

[Povuholo]

Thought this comparison might be useful for some people when they are choosing their cell view distance.

Vanilla view distance (looks lower than usual because I'm up high somewhere. Still, maximum vanilla view distance.)

MGE Draw Distance 4 Cells (My favourite to keep the old Morrowind atmosphere in place, while still offering a considerable view distance increase. Good performance too.)

MGE Draw Distance 8 Cells

MGE Draw Distance 15 Cells

MGE Draw Distance 30 Cells

Look at my map. My cursor shows where I am (Tamriel Rebuilt territory). The furthest you can see with a cell distance of 30 is from there until the mountain, which is the dark spot in the middle of the map.That's how far you're seeing, pretty much the whole island.

Edited by povuholo, 23 September 2010 - 03:23 PM.

[The Greatness]

MGE Draw Distance 30 Cells

I wish I had the computer power to run stuff like that. I stick to the default 13 cells, but it doesn't really look that great when you can barely see the mainland from across a tiny sea.

Plus I almost guessed where you were from the pictures. I thought you were by Kemel-Ze. Not quite.

[Povuholo]

I wish I had the computer power to run stuff like that. I stick to the default 13 cells, but it doesn't really look that great when you can barely see the mainland from across a tiny sea.

Well it technically runs, but not very well. Lots of stuttering, and things popping in when turning... Of course, it could be worse/prettier. (70 cells)

Edited by povuholo, 23 September 2010 - 05:40 PM.

[Mollyia]

I tried to run MGE today, Morrowind quits on load with "Failed to load snowflake: Meshes\BM_Snow_01.nif.". I tried to install direct x 9c but Windows tells me I already have a higher version, which I knew, and I have direct x 11. I am using Vista with UAC off. Administrative privileges for the GUI are grayed out.

I renamed the 2 DLLs and it is still broken. Huh, curious.

Edited by Mollyia, 23 September 2010 - 08:20 PM.

[Jac]

The snowflake sounds like you may have to re-install Bloodmoon. As for DirectX, version 11 is NOT backwards compatible with any other version, so you do need to install version 9.0c if you haven't already. Vista should allow you to install it because they're different. I'd try safe mode if it won't.

[vtastek]

I tried to run MGE today, Morrowind quits on load with "Failed to load snowflake: Meshes\BM_Snow_01.nif.". I tried to install direct x 9c but Windows tells me I already have a higher version, which I knew, and I have direct x 11. I am using Vista with UAC off. Administrative privileges for the GUI are grayed out.

I renamed the 2 DLLs and it is still broken. Huh, curious.

1. Your problem is about Morrowind.

2. Directx install checks the files and updates if necessary and ends with a simple finish. It doesn't say "you'have a higher version, no update needed". DX 11 is a different branch, as seen in this directx update, it is dated June 2010. Maybe you have a different install file.

http://filehippo.com/download_directx/

3. It is grayed out because UAC is off and you're running it as administrator already if your account is administrator.

As always, I recommend to install somewhere other than program files.

[Vharlak]

Does Shader 2.0 vs 3.0 in the distant land settings have a performance impact assuming my card supports 3.0? Thank you.

[Mollyia]

1. Your problem is about Morrowind.

2. Directx install checks the files and updates if necessary and ends with a simple finish. It doesn't say "you'have a higher version, no update needed". DX 11 is a different branch, as seen in this directx update, it is dated June 2010. Maybe you have a different install file.

http://filehippo.com/download_directx/

3. It is grayed out because UAC is off and you're running it as administrator already if your account is administrator.

As always, I recommend to install somewhere other than program files.

Gotcha, and thank you for the informative reply

[papill6n]

Does Shader 2.0 vs 3.0 in the distant land settings have a performance impact assuming my card supports 3.0? Thank you.

It's just with a shader 2.0 activated you would not use the Distant land in game.

[vtastek]

It's just with a shader 2.0 activated you would not use the Distant land in game.

This is right and wrong.

Yes, distant land requires Shader model 3.0 video cards, but what Vharlak asks the difference between SM 2.0 and SM 3.0 at the GUI settings, is some extended effects, namely on water and sky. This effects are prettier but costs some performance hit. One should experiment. DL works with both settings.

Edited by vtastek, 24 September 2010 - 08:05 AM.

[The Greatness]

Well it technically runs, but not very well. Lots of stuttering, and things popping in when turning... Of course, it could be worse/prettier. (70 cells)

What sized statics are those?

[LordHaHa]

I have another problem. In addition to the Chargen Boat not disappearing from Distant Land, the MGE 3.8 r178 is also causing a problem with Ren's Oblivion Hair, at least on my end. Sometimes, when I go third person with a PC equipped with hair from said mod, the rendering engine melts down, causing prodigious GPU-end slowdown (music doesn't stutter so it doesn't seem to affect the CPU much) and total-screen corruption (textures disappear and white and red areas appear on the world or cell mesh, depending if you are inside or out; the white and red grade into each other much like the gourad shading style of old). Removing the hair from the PC totally corrects the issue, though the PC is now bald.

Using MGE 3.8 r178. Distant Land, SM3 variant. ColorTemp and TrueBloom_g6_i6 are being used as shaders.

Obviously this is someone else's mod, but its a popular one so I thought I would mention it. If anyone can throw some light on the situation...

LordHaHa

[Povuholo]

What sized statics are those?

I think it was 200 for the full 60 cells.

Now I'm back to my 4 cell draw distance though.

Edited by povuholo, 26 September 2010 - 03:58 AM.

[Hopukka]

Even when only rays are on, there a noticeable loss in performance - vanilla game with only mesh and texture packs runs and loads in a split second. Is this possible to some option in MGE is that FPS intensive? Besides shaders? I have a decent rig and I was really supprised with this.

On my machine, the shaders themselves make little difference in performance, it's the "shaders" tickboxes in the misc tab of MGE that cripple my PC.
Especially "supply shaders with depth info".

The game's own draw distance is another performance killer, though I prefer to keep it maxed as it makes the game a lot prettier.

MGE Draw distance and the min size for drawn statistics obviously affect it as well.

[R.D.]

I tried to re-run Distant Land after adding the Deus Ex Machina mod and am now getting this error:

A fatal error occurred loading land data from your plugins.  Distant land setup
cannot continue
Failed to load default ground texture (The specified module could not be found.
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E))

Not entirely sure what's going on here. Attempting to go through the creation wizard without automatically doing the saved info results in the same error.

[lilbballer021]

Ok sorry if this has been asked before but i am getting the "MGEgui has stopped working" error. I have the GOTY edition installed if that matters. I also have windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit. I have downloaded all the required programs. Visual C++ 2005 and 2008 32 bit, Directx 9.0c, .NET Framework 4.0, MGE 3.8 latest stable version. I have ran it as an administrator and also tried compatibility mode still no luck. I also ran morrowind first and changed the resolution to get that registry saved. I have removed the d3d8.dll and dinput8.dll files and the replaced them after changing the resolution. I have no idea what im doing wrong. I have uninstalled morrowind and the expansions multiple times. They are all in the morrowind folder. Any help would be much appreciated. I really want this to work because i wanna experience morrowind in all its glory!!!

[Vharlak]

Ok sorry if this has been asked before but i am getting the "MGEgui has stopped working" error. I have the GOTY edition installed if that matters. I also have windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit. I have downloaded all the required programs. Visual C++ 2005 and 2008 32 bit, Directx 9.0c, .NET Framework 4.0, MGE 3.8 latest stable version. I have ran it as an administrator and also tried compatibility mode still no luck. I also ran morrowind first and changed the resolution to get that registry saved. I have removed the d3d8.dll and dinput8.dll files and the replaced them after changing the resolution. I have no idea what im doing wrong. I have uninstalled morrowind and the expansions multiple times. They are all in the morrowind folder. Any help would be much appreciated. I really want this to work because i wanna experience morrowind in all its glory!!!

Not sure if this is any different then running Morrowind but try running the Morrowind Launcher as administrator clicking on options and then click ok. Then try to run MGE again.

[tetchy]

Well, I got the r178 running quite nicely and am enjoying the new features. However I am running into a slight non-critical but nontheless annoying problem; the "Chargen boat" is loaded into Distant Land for some reason and thus appears when I leave Seyda Neen and reappears when I return. Obviously I could redo the process by toggling activators and such off but that would cause more immersion-related problems than it would solve.

Any solutions, specifically lines for the exception list? I added "=ignore" to the entries in the Names section but that gave me errors. I then used "=disable" which was error-free but did nothing to rectify the situation. Am I missing a step in the process?

LordHaHa

P.S.: I have no idea if the strongholds are appearing before they are supposed to be built, either, I'm actually testing a mod and thus haven't gotten far past the Bitter Coast yet (and won't until I am done).

@LordHaHa
The chargen boat is already correctly handled by MGE v3.8.2 rev.0178, it could be caused by another boat - the one for Siege at Firemoth is a possibility.

Listing object ids under the [names] section of an exception list will disable those ids by design. There's no need to add =disable after the object id, although it is correct syntax and allowable whereas =ignore is reserved for the .nif references in the main section.

Activators with attached scripts that disable that object until some point during the game, like the stock strongholds, are not included in distant static creation by default - you would need to use an exception list with the activator's object id listed under the [names] section and set to =enable to force it to be included the next time you rerun distantland creation, after it becomes activated during the game.

I have another problem. In addition to the Chargen Boat not disappearing from Distant Land, the MGE 3.8 r178 is also causing a problem with Ren's Oblivion Hair, at least on my end. Sometimes, when I go third person with a PC equipped with hair from said mod, the rendering engine melts down, causing prodigious GPU-end slowdown (music doesn't stutter so it doesn't seem to affect the CPU much) and total-screen corruption (textures disappear and white and red areas appear on the world or cell mesh, depending if you are inside or out; the white and red grade into each other much like the gourad shading style of old). Removing the hair from the PC totally corrects the issue, though the PC is now bald.

Using MGE 3.8 r178. Distant Land, SM3 variant. ColorTemp and TrueBloom_g6_i6 are being used as shaders.

Obviously this is someone else's mod, but its a popular one so I thought I would mention it. If anyone can throw some light on the situation...

LordHaHa

Does that happen with just activating Ren's Oblivion Hair in your mod list? And does it happen with all the hairs for that mod? How about without MGE running? If a mesh is malformed, it could cause stability problems in MW with or without MGE running. In any case, rendering of hair models is handled by MW and not by MGE.

I tried to re-run Distant Land after adding the Deus Ex Machina mod and am now getting this error:

A fatal error occurred loading land data from your plugins.  Distant land setup
cannot continue
Failed to load default ground texture (The specified module could not be found.
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E))

Not entirely sure what's going on here. Attempting to go through the creation wizard without automatically doing the saved info results in the same error.

@R.D.
Make sure that if you have a replacement for the default ground texture, it's no larger than 256x256. You can find it under '...\Data Files\Textures\_land_default.tga'

Should be ok if it's in dds format, but will definitely be fine if it's kept as tga format.

Ok sorry if this has been asked before but i am getting the "MGEgui has stopped working" error. I have the GOTY edition installed if that matters. I also have windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit. I have downloaded all the required programs. Visual C++ 2005 and 2008 32 bit, Directx 9.0c, .NET Framework 4.0, MGE 3.8 latest stable version. I have ran it as an administrator and also tried compatibility mode still no luck. I also ran morrowind first and changed the resolution to get that registry saved. I have removed the d3d8.dll and dinput8.dll files and the replaced them after changing the resolution. I have no idea what im doing wrong. I have uninstalled morrowind and the expansions multiple times. They are all in the morrowind folder. Any help would be much appreciated. I really want this to work because i wanna experience morrowind in all its glory!!!

@lilbballer021
Try removing d3d8.dll and dinput8.dll again, then right-click and run 'Morrowind Launcher.exe' as administrator and reset the display resolution to one of MW's defaults (e.g. 800x600). Restore the dlls and see if that will allow MGEgui to run. You should then set your desired display settings using MGEgui.

Ninja'd by Vharlak!
Running just the launcher doesn't normally require removing the dlls - doing so is just a precautionary step to avoid problems when you also want to run Morrowind while MGEgui is refusing to work.

Edited by tetchy, 27 September 2010 - 01:52 AM.