Morrowind on Steam Deck with mods: Code patch, MGE XE, Purist, Calendar, Audiobooks

[Olza]

I had bit of trouble getting this run on Steam Deck with the mods, since I didn't find any instructions that were directly applicable to SD. Sharing my notes here if they are of any help to others.

Following mods and patches installed:
Morrowind_Code_Patch-19510-2-4.7z
'MGE XE Installer-41102-0-17-0-1702158488.7z'
'Patch for Purists-45096-4-0-2-1593803721.7z'*
'Audiobooks of Morrowind-52458-2-1-1713697822.zip'
Calendar-49786-1-1-1621258837.zip

I was not able to install Wrye Mash. No 100% sure, but it was some issue with paths.

Mods downloaded from https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind

I have done now 8 hours gaming, and no issues faced in game. But:
- Audio is sometimes breaking for short periods
- I have multiple docks and monitors. So have to set resolution depending on the monitor.
Set the resolution only after the game has started (e.g. save loaded), not in the start menu. If I try to set resolution in start menu game sometimes hangs.

Pre-reqs:
A) Start Morrowind at least once before so that folders are created
These instructions apply to clean install. If you have existing saves they might be affected.

Steam ID for the game is 22320. This is used in below commands and it is not available before starting.

Install DIR: /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Morrowind

B) Install Protontrics (This and following steps in Desktop mode)
https://github.com/flathub/com.github.Matoking.protontricks/#installation

flatpak install flathub com.github.Matoking.protontricks
echo "alias protontricks='flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks'" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "alias protontricks-launch='flatpak run --command=protontricks-launch com.github.Matoking.protontricks'" >> ~/.bashrc

Start you shell again.

C) Some pre-read if interested. The content was collected from

https://www.reddit.com/r/tes3mods/comments/v0ao7i/steam_deck_linux_mge_xe_shader_mwse_mods/

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/e78v9a/morrowind_mge_xe_mod_wine_or_proton/

About code patch, MGE XE, Purists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7IHk_W1lpI

I started the game between each step to verify installation. Some instructions said otherwise

1) Extract Code_Patch and copy it under Morrowind install directory

Run
protontricks-launch --appid 22320 /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Morrowind/Morrowind\ Code\ Patch.exe

See linked video for instructions.

2) Set DLLs

For these steps, read linked instructions and set DLLs as described. Instead of winetricks use protontricks:

protontricks 22320 winecfg
protontricks 22320 d3dcompiler_43
protontricks 22320 d3dcompiler_47
protontricks 22320 d3dx9_43

3) Extract MGE XE under Morrowind folder

Link Morrowind under Program Files (without this installer did not work)
Go folder /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/22320/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)'/

Create symlink:
ln -s /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Morrowind/

Run installer:
protontricks-launch --appid 22320 /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Morrowind/MGEXE-0.17.0-installer.exe

Run MGEgui
protontricks-launch --appid 22320 /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Morrowind/MGEXEgui.exe

See linked video for instructions.

4) Install purists

Nothing special here, see linked video.

5) Audiobooks

As in install instructions:

Extract "sound" folder to Morrowind/Data Files
Extract MWSE folder to Morrowind/Data Files for MWSE version

6) Calendar mod

This brings writable calendar entries. Copy as listed:
Copy
─ Data Files
├── MWSE
│   └── mods
│   └── calendar
│   ├── interop.lua
│   └── main.lua
└── textures
└── calendar
├── Calendar_Button_Idle.dds
├── Calendar_Button_Over.dds
└── Calendar_Button_Pressed.dds

Note that package extracts textures to "Textures" with capital "T". It had to be in "textures" folder to work for me.

[bpb21]

Thanks for documenting all of this. I am going to give it a try. This was not installed on SD card, right? Internal storage?

[Olza]

Yes, installation was on internal storage.