Out of all of The Elder Scrolls RPGs, the one I’ve racked up the most playtime in is Skyrim — largely thanks to hours and hours spent overhauling the game with custom mod setups or extensive modpacks. However, the one that truly owns my heart is Morrowind, Bethesda’s third entry in the series that came out for Xbox and Windows PC in 2002.
Named after the bizarre, almost extra-terrestrial region of Tamriel it takes place in, Morrowind is beloved by many for its alien-esque atmosphere, extremely rich lore, and gameplay mechanics that promote plenty of buildcrafting experimentation. In many ways, I’d argue it’s a far more interesting, far braver type of game than Oblivion and Skyrim, especially with its lack of hand-holding that ultimately makes it incredibly rewarding to learn, engage with, and progress through.
Morrowind is beloved by many for its alien-esque atmosphere, extremely rich lore, and gameplay mechanics … I’d argue it’s a far more interesting, far braver type of game than Oblivion and Skyrim.
One big problem with Morrowind, though, is that it really shows its age — and not just visually, either. The long-outdated 2002 graphics and stiff, janky character and enemy animations are one thing, but the game also uses a dice roll-based system for its real-time combat that feels awful. Infuriatingly, you can whiff your attacks and spells over and over with unlucky rolls, even if you’re aiming directly at a foe.
Mods for Morrowind itself can be used to mitigate how dated the RPG feels (on PC, anyway), but now there’s one for it in the works that’s directly porting the entire experience into an entirely different game. That game is Elden Ring; yes, you read that right. Morrowind is coming to Elden Ring thanks to the efforts of the prolific modder InfernoPlus, best known for Cursed Halo.
His recent “I ported Morrowind to Elden Ring” video goes over the project in-depth, but essentially, that’s precisely what this ambitious project entails — transforming the third Elder Scrolls title into a Soulslike built on the engine of Elden Ring, complete with the world spaces, quests, and dialogue exchanges from the original game.
Surprisingly, InfernoPlus says roughly half of the project is already complete or close to it, including the whole of Morrowind’s map and its interiors, lighting, weather, and atmosphere, and most NPC placements and dialogues. In his own words, “the world is there, but it’s completely devoid of actual gameplay.”
Provided there’s enough interest in this Morrowind-to-Elden Ring conversion from the community, InfernoPlus plans to continue toiling away building this mod (you can support him on his Patreon, if desired). However, he’s noted that there are three big things he needs help with in order to see it through to completion.
The first is a solution to the “c0 limit,” which is effectively a restriction in Elden Ring’s engine that limits how many characters there can be with a Tarnished-style model (the player, NPCs) at once. Due to how large Morrowind cities like Vivec City and Balmora are, this limit is hit, preventing many NPCs from spawning correctly.
One big problem with Morrowind, though, is that it really shows its age — and not just visually, either.
There’s also the lack of options to generate navmeshes right now, which are invisible meshes on the ground that AI entities use to determine pathing as they move around. It sounds like both of these issues will require assistance from a wizard with lots of experience messing around in FromSoftware’s “Dantelion” game engine.
Lastly, InfernoPlus is also looking to 3D artists for help, as he wants to create higher-quality versions of Morrowind’s weapons and armor to include in the project. Additionally, he’s also hoping to “Morrowindify” Elden Ring’s enemies with reskins and use them for the game’s encounters, bringing up the idea of reskinning the endgame Hoarah Loux boss as Dagoth Ur. He is a god, after all — how can you kill a god? Shame on you, sweet Nerevar.
An “Elden Scrolls Dev” Discord server has been set up that you can join if you think you can help with this mod; InfernoPlus is confident that the aforementioned problems can be fixed as long as he gets some outside assistance.
That’s reassuring, especially since many people are extremely passionate about both Morrowind and Elden Ring. I have no doubt the people with the skills he needs are out there and will catch wind of this project sooner or later.
As far as the mod’s legality goes, InfernoPlus asserts it doesn’t violate any copyright since it will require owning and installing legitimate copies of both Morrowind and Elden Ring to work. It’s the same requirement that keeps the popular Tale of Two Wastelands mod that lets you play Fallout 3 within Fallout: New Vegas legal.
I’m incredibly interested in seeing how this mod develops, and the second it (hopefully) releases, I’ll be installing it ASAP.
As I said before, I’m a colossal fan of Morrowind, and Elden Ring also happens to be one of my favorite games of all time, too. Because of that, I’m incredibly interested in seeing how this mod develops, and the second it (hopefully) releases, I’ll be installing it ASAP. The wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 is a long one, but having a well-made Soulsy remake of Morrowind to play while it’s in the oven would be awesome.
You can get the $59.99 Elden Ring on PC for as little as $35.09 at Loaded (formerly CDKeys) right now. Morrowind, meanwhile, is typically $14.99, though it’s just $7.49 at GOG; note that it’s unclear if you’ll be able to own the games on different platforms and get the mod to work when it comes out, so you may want to wait for Morrowind to go on sale on Steam (or Loaded).
