potion making issues

[Lord Quinton]

I'm having some trouble making potions, in the past i've made potions with no problem whatsoever, now whenever i click the create potion button, it tells me i need to enter my potion name, except i already did that. Also whenever i hit the create button, it resets the potion name to whatever the default name is, if i spam the button repeatedly the game will, on occasion pull its head out of its rear end and actually try to make a potion. What am i doing wrong, or is this some sort of bug?

[Lord Quinton]

oh hey, while we're on the topic of potions, are there any plants you can harvest to make magicka restoration potions? I picked the sign of the atronach thinking i'd make restore potions or buy them to bolster my magicka during the early part of the game, only i have yet to see any plants that provide that benefit, and i've found a total of 3 potions for sale that give you magicka.

[feralgal]

i think i had that problem. it is a pain. i think it's because the game is designed to be run on one core and not a multicore processor. i think you can fix the problem by running morrowind in xp compatibility mode but i haven't tried that. or you could try the Morrowind Code patch (i haven't tried that either)
http://morrowind.nexusmods.com/mods/19510/?

you can either add some characters to the name of your potion (e.g., restore magicka0000) or just keep hitting enter. sometimes i had to do both. sometimes changing the characters (e.g., "restoremagicka0000" or "restore Magicka010101" instead of "restore magicka 0000") worked. sometimes i could make another potion first, then make the potion i wanted. sometimes i just needed to start over (i.e, close the screen for making potions and start again). some ppl can leave the potion window open and open a second window, then close the second window.

for your second question:
here is a list of potion effects and which ingredients have that effect (listed by effect):

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Alchemy_Effects

here is a list of all the ingredients and their effects (listed by ingredient):

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Ingredients

http://morrowind.melian.cc/potion.php

(note that some of these at the last site seem wrong. e.g., when clicking fortify magicka, it listed Grahl Eyeball which drains magicka, not fortifies it. and it didn't list Wolfsbane Petals. when clicking restore magicka, it listed Heart of the Udyrfrykte but that doesn't restore magicka. but it is a fast way to narrow down the potential ingredients.)


re: restore magicka ingredients

there aren't many ingredients that restore magicka. comberry is the most common and cheap one. Adamantium Ore, Daedra's Heart, Frost Salts, Heartwood, Ripened Belladonna Berries, Unripened Belladonna Berries, and Void Salts also have the restore magicka property.

i haven't played Morrowind in a while but i think you can also restore magicka by drinking a fortify magicka potion. here are the ingredients that fortify magicka:
Emerald, Ripened Belladonna Berries, Saltrice, Stoneflower Petals, Unripened Belladonna Berries, Wolfsbane Petals

saltrice and stoneflower petals are really common and cheap. however, belladonna berries (found in Solstheim or can be bought from alchemist merchants) both restore and fortify magicka so by, e.g., adding two other ingredients, you could create potions that both restored and fortified magicka (if fortifying magicka doesn't also restore magicka).

also, IMO this is an exploit but you can make a spell to drain your intelligence to 0 for one second. when the spell expires, your magicka should be restored. you can also use some of the shrines if there are any nearby. but if the shrine increases your magicka, you probably won't get the other beneficial effects of the shrine. if you didn't get the beneficial effect of the shrine bc you absorbed the spell, you can try again. likewise, you can try again if you got the beneficial effect instead of absorbing the spell when you wanted to restore your magicka. however, i've found that some types of the shrines are much better at restoring magicka than other shrines. sorry i don't remember which ones.

another way to regain magicka (and the one i often use bc it's easy) is to summon an ancestral ghost, then attack it a few times. (after the early levels, i use a low level weapon or one i'm really bad in so that i don't kill the ghost before it attacks me.) some of its attacks will restore your magicka. this will be even faster if you use a spell (or drink a potion) of spell absorption. but usually it's pretty fast anyway so i rarely bother increasing my spell absorption before summoning an ancestral ghost.

[Lord Quinton]

nice post there, some good ideas, i'll keep em in mind, thanks.

[Jgood4281]

If I remember correctly the best way to do it create a spell that drains intellegence 100 point for 1 second and fortifies magicka 100 points for 1 second . It costs something like 20 magicka but restores 50 or so. By casting it multiple times you can always refill your magicka and even exceed your maximum limit ! I believe you can also drain intellegence to 0 and that will restore your magicka (use skooma).

[feralgal]

jgood, i'd forgotten about the drinks/drugs. good suggestions.

Sujamma, Shein, and Mazte also drain intelligence and are cheap. (skooma, shein, and mazte drain intelligence by 20 points for 60 seconds. shein drains intelligence by 50 points for 20 seconds.) sujamma costs 30 and weighs 3. shein costs 10 and weighs 3. mazte costs 10 and weighs 5. (note that mazte also drains willpower which governs your success in casting spells but its effects only last 60 seconds.) they weigh a lot, but they're cheap and easily available. they're supposed to be local brews so it can add to roleplaying if you like that aspect. (shein is comberry wine, mazte is just labeled "local brew", and sujamma is just labeled "local liquor".)

you can also make fortify intelligence potion to increase the amount of magicka you have. make sure your magicka is completely restored first though bc e.g., if you start with 100/300 magicka and double your intelligence, you'll now have 200/600 magicka. however, if you started with 300/300 magicka and doubled your intelligence, you'd have 600/600 magicka. (i think fortify magicka may work the same way.)

also, iirc some of the vendors sell infinite amounts of (exclusive??) restore magicka potions. after you buy all their restore magicka potions and close the trade window, their inventory of restore magicka potions is immediately restocked. so you can buy however many you want.

here's a list of restocking alchemy merchants and the ingredients they restock
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Restocking_Alchemy_Merchants

Nalcarya in Balmora restocks many restore magicka ingredients and Ajirra (at the Balmora mage's guild) restocks comberry.