How To Install and Use Mods

The following is a detailed guide on how to install and enable mods in OpenMW using best practices.

Install

  1. Your mod probably comes in some kind of archive, such as .zip, .rar, .7z, or something along those lines. Unpack this archive into its own folder.
  2. Ensure the structure of this folder is correct. #. Locate the plugin files, .esp or .omwaddon. The folder containing the plugin files we will call your data folder #. Check that all resource folders (Meshes, Textures, etc.) containing additional resource files (the actual meshes, textures, etc.) are in the data folder.

Note

There may be multiple levels of folders, but the location of the plugins must be the same as the resource folders.

  1. Open your openmw.cfg file in your preferred plain text editor. It is located as described in https://wiki.openmw.org/index.php?title=Paths and not in your OpenMW root directory.
  2. Find or search for data=. This is located very near the bottom of the file. If you are using Morrowind, this first entry should already point to your Morrowind data directory, Data Files; otherwise it will point to your game file, .omwgame.
  3. Create a new line underneath and type: data="path/to/your/data folder" Remember, the data folder is where your mod’s plugin files are. The double quotes around this path name are required.
  4. Save your openmw.cfg file.

You have now installed your mod. Any simple replacer mods that only contain resource files such as meshes or textures will now automatically be loaded in the order of their data=* entry. This is important to note because replacer mods that replace the same resource will overwrite previous ones as you go down the list.

Enable

Any mods that have plugin files must be enabled to work.