OpenMW

OpenMW is an open-source open-world RPG game engine that supports playing Morrowind by Bethesda Softworks. You need to own the game for OpenMW to play Morrowind.

OpenMW also comes with OpenMW-CS, a replacement for Bethesda's Construction Set.

• Version: 0.53.0
• License: GPLv3 (see LICENSE for more information)
• Website: https://www.openmw.org
• IRC: #openmw on irc.libera.chat
• Discord: official server
• Matrix #openmw-space:openmw.org
• Note: IRC, Discord, and Matrix are bridged to each other.

Font Licenses:

• DejaVuLGCSansMono.ttf: custom (see files/data/fonts/DejaVuFontLicense.txt for more information)
• DemonicLetters.ttf: SIL Open Font License (see files/data/fonts/DemonicLettersFontLicense.txt for more information)
• MysticCards.ttf: SIL Open Font License (see files/data/fonts/MysticCardsFontLicense.txt for more information)

Current Status

The main quests in Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon are all completable. Some issues with side quests are to be expected (but rare). Check the bug tracker for a list of issues we need to resolve before the "1.0" release. Even before the "1.0" release, however, OpenMW boasts some new features, such as improved graphics and user interfaces.

Pre-existing modifications created for the original Morrowind engine can be hit-and-miss. The OpenMW script compiler performs more thorough error-checking than Morrowind does, meaning that a mod created for Morrowind may not necessarily run in OpenMW. Some mods also rely on quirky behaviour or engine bugs in order to work. We are considering such compatibility issues on a case-by-case basis - in some cases adding a workaround to OpenMW may be feasible, in other cases fixing the mod will be the only option. If you know of any mods that work or don't work, feel free to add them to the Mod status wiki page.

Platform Support

The officially supported platforms at this time are:

• Windows 10 or later
• macOS 14.8 or later
• Linux

We do not support 32-bit platforms.

We welcome efforts to add more supported platforms!

Getting Started

• Installation instructions
• Build from source
• Report a bug - read the guidelines before submitting your first bug!
• Known issues

Contributing

Not sure what to do with all your free time? OpenMW is always looking for new contributions. See here for how to contribute.

The data path

The data path tells OpenMW where to find your Morrowind files. If you run the launcher, OpenMW should be able to pick up the location of these files on its own, if both Morrowind and OpenMW are installed properly (installing Morrowind under WINE is considered a proper install).

Command line options

Syntax: openmw <options>
Allowed options:
  --config arg                          additional config directories
  --replace arg                         settings where the values from the
                                        current source should replace those
                                        from lower-priority sources instead of
                                        being appended
  --user-data arg                       set user data directory (used for
                                        saves, screenshots, etc)
  --resources arg (=resources)          set resources directory
  --help                                print help message
  --version                             print version information and quit
  --data arg (=data)                    set data directories (later directories
                                        have higher priority)
  --data-local arg                      set local data directory (highest
                                        priority)
  --fallback-archive arg (=fallback-archive)
                                        set fallback BSA archives (later
                                        archives have higher priority)
  --start arg                           set initial cell
  --content arg                         content file(s): esm/esp, or
                                        omwgame/omwaddon/omwscripts
  --groundcover arg                     groundcover content file(s): esm/esp,
                                        or omwgame/omwaddon
  --no-sound [=arg(=1)] (=0)            disable all sounds
  --script-all [=arg(=1)] (=0)          compile all scripts (excluding dialogue
                                        scripts) at startup
  --script-all-dialogue [=arg(=1)] (=0) compile all dialogue scripts at startup
  --script-console [=arg(=1)] (=0)      enable console-only script
                                        functionality
  --script-run arg                      select a file containing a list of
                                        console commands that is executed on
                                        startup
  --script-warn [=arg(=1)] (=1)         handling of warnings when compiling
                                        scripts
                                        0 - ignore warnings
                                        1 - show warnings but consider script as
                                        correctly compiled anyway
                                        2 - treat warnings as errors
  --load-savegame arg                   load a save game file on game startup
                                        (specify an absolute filename or a
                                        filename relative to the current
                                        working directory)
  --skip-menu [=arg(=1)] (=0)           skip main menu on game startup
  --new-game [=arg(=1)] (=0)            run new game sequence (ignored if
                                        skip-menu=0)
  --encoding arg (=win1252)             Character encoding used in OpenMW game
                                        messages:

                                        win1250 - Central and Eastern European
                                        such as Polish, Czech, Slovak,
                                        Hungarian, Slovene, Bosnian, Croatian,
                                        Serbian (Latin script), Romanian and
                                        Albanian languages

                                        win1251 - Cyrillic alphabet such as
                                        Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian Cyrillic
                                        and other languages

                                        win1252 - Western European (Latin)
                                        alphabet, used by default
  --fallback arg                        fallback values
  --no-grab [=arg(=1)] (=0)             Don't grab mouse cursor
  --export-fonts [=arg(=1)] (=0)        Export Morrowind .fnt fonts to PNG
                                        image and XML file in current directory
  --activate-dist arg (=-1)             activation distance override
  --random-seed arg (=<impl defined>)   seed value for random number generator