Morrowind just arrived!

[loinburger]

My initial reactions are very good. It's got a lot of what I liked from Daggerfall and Arena (open-ended character creation), but also seems to have some elements of Thief and Deus Ex thrown in (talking your way out of a situation has more roleplay involved, and you can steal everything). I don't have enough time to really get into the gritty details of the game yet, though--I've got graduation coming up, and after that I've gotta go desert walking.

Definitely looks promising, though. The (supplemental) manual is hefty enough that I won't be lacking for reading material in the desert.

[Grumbold]

I like what I've seen. A lot. BUT my machine is absolutely not up to the job of running it, even at 800x600 with almost all the options dialled down to minimum. I've reluctantly shelved it until I have parted with £700 to get a new monster PC to run it on. Homm IV will have to suffice for a few more days.

My only minor peeve at the moment is that the character face selection was a bit limited and there seemed to be no choice of torso selection (height/weight/musculature etc) whatsoever. I may have missed a trick but there wasn't a single Breton face/hair combo that had me saying 'yes, thats me!' Most were frankly dumb and ugly Perhaps I've been spoiled by my time playing Anarchy Online....

[Scouse Gits]

Two questions guys ...

Does anyone know if the UK release (due May 31 "") will be the same as the US one?

What does it say on the box about system requirements and recommendations?

Ta SG[1] * still drooling *

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
Does anyone know if the UK release (due May 31 "") will be the same as the US one?

Not sure about that one. I'd imagine that they'd pretty much be the same, though--it's not like the UK's censorship laws would force them to take out the blood or something.

What does it say on the box about system requirements and recommendations?

Requirements: 500Mhz, 8x CD/DVD ROM, 1GB HD space, 32MB Direct3D Compatible video card.

Recommended: 800Mhz, 256 MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS, ATI Radeon 7500, or faster video card.

[John-SJ]

Originally posted by Grumbold
I like what I've seen. A lot. BUT my machine is absolutely not up to the job of running it, even at 800x600 with almost all the options dialled down to minimum. I've reluctantly shelved it until I have parted with £700 to get a new monster PC to run it on. Homm IV will have to suffice for a few more days.

Just out of curiosity, what are the specs of your computer that has trouble running Morrowind? I'm trying to find out if I am likely to have trouble with mine as well.

John-SJ

edit: Hmmm, just noticed, my computer is almost a dead ringer for the "recommended' system. *John-SJ looks hopeful* Maybe I can avoid upgrading my system a little longer

[Eli]

Please check my new thread. Thank you.

[Scouse Gits]

Thanks guys - there's hope for my machine too - but for some reason the UK release is often different from the US variant -- in Fallout 2 for example the UK version has no children - Civ2 the MGE is not available here etc...

SG[1]

[tishco]

i have 1ghz and 512 ram so that isnt a prob, and i have a geforce 2 mx 32mb, but "GeForce2 GTS" i dont, so i wont get all the effects. also 1gb of hd is steep

[Eli]

On an Athlon 1.3GHz with Radeon 64MB DDR card and 256MB of DDR memory the game works great will all the effects.
In the first 5-10 seconds after I enter a new place the frame rate is very low, but after that everything goes smoothly.

[Grumbold]

My old system was a P450 with 256b ram, Voodoo 5500 card. Turning down the effects, running in 800x600 and most importantly downloading the no-safedisc .exe I was able to run it in playable form. The safedisc protection seems to make a big hit on the performance.

With a new 2Ghz box and a Geforce 4 Ti 4400 it is simply too beautiful for words. The bigger screen resolution also makes the automap much more useful since it can display far more. In 800x600 anthing on the local automap was within a few paces of me. There are short stutters when it loads a new area but even those may disappear once I get round to downloading the no-safedisc again. Its been so minor a problem I haven't bothered so far.

[Scouse Gits]

"no safedisk"!?
What is this?
What does it do?
Why should one need it?
Where do you get it?

SG[1] - wanting to be prepared

[Grumbold]

Safedisc is one of several anti-piracy methods. Its slapped on top of the game code in an attempt to reduce piracy. The real pirates crack it in a day but it continues to reduce performance for all the genuine customers who don't know any better. Its similar to needing a no-CD crack, but not quite the same. If you get the no-safedisc version of the .exe you still need the CD but it doesnt gobble up CPU cycles better used for the game itself.

I just ran a google search for 'morrowind' and 'safedisc' to find it.

[Scouse Gits]

OK Grumbold
I now have more information thatn I want about safedisc - I ran a copernic search - but cannot find any info about no-safedisc other than there are cracks of other games that circumvent it on the web - but I canna find Morrowind ... (PM me?)

[Scouse Gits]

no fair editing while I reply ...

[Grumbold]

Well I didn't exactly write down the links I followed to get it. The safedisc issue was a hot topic on the fansites last week otherwise I never would have tried it. You should be able to find a site without too much effort unless the Infogrammes lawyers have been throwing their weight around.