Skywind Progress

[Brayan Jacobsen]

Skywindis a non-commercial, fan made modification for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that seeks to merge the amazing world of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with the enhanced graphics and capabilities of the Skyrim: Special Edition engine.

While ownership of both games is required to play, the player only actually plays Skywind using the Skyrim game, and not the older Morrowind game. This means that the user interface, combat, and graphics of the Skywind mod are based on those of Skyrim: Special Edition, and not Morrowind.

Currently we have been experiencing a steady level of activity in several key sectors that has benefited the project immensely. When we have a release date in mind we will notify our fans via our various social media pages and Discord.

If you would like to help accelerate the development of Skywind we would love to have any qualified volunteers come on board! Please see our volunteer page if you believe you have the passion and aptitude to learn and help:

Skywind takes advantage of the graphical capabilities of the Creation Engine whilst having its own unique weathers, user interface, and other alterations that will make it somewhat demanding. The recommended system spec for the mod is slightly higher than that of Skyrim: Special Edition. More information about system requirements will be available as we get closer to completion.

Skywind aims to have full functionality upon release equivalent to recent Elder Scrolls titles, as well as to expand by reintroducing critical elements from Morrowind that did not make it into Skyrim. We cannot make any promises at this time about what will and will not make it into the final release but rest assured some are already implemented and others are being worked on.

Because Skywind is being built with a higher level of detail than Morrowind, our team of artists conceptualize and plan all assets from scratch. We revisit the Morrowind concept art and explore the intent of the original designs to create our own interpretations. This means that architecture, creatures, clothing, etc should feel like part of a consistent world steeped in culture and natural history.

The team is putting their heart into making Skywind the best product it can be, and we want to make sure that our fans get to experience our vision as it is meant to be. Due to the alpha stage of the project we have decided to keep our work internal and update you via our various social media channels. We will open Skywind to a beta testing in the future when we have reached a point where feedback will be constructive to polishing up Skywind. Currently, many aspects of the game are still a work in progress and it would be hard for anyone not directly involved in the project to know what is or what is not a bug or simply unfinished at this stage.

Main quest characters and faction quest givers are getting more extensive edits so that dialogue flows more like a conversation. Some faction questgivers in Morrowind tend to repeat themselves constantly and repeat back the what the player said; this is being addressed.

Since then, the nature of the project morphed into a game that will recreate every asset, from texture to mesh to sound. This was a gradual change, not a pivotal decision on a specific date, leading to the total remake project that Skywind is today.

2012 - document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) TESR and Skywind

Trademarks belong to their respective owners. Skywind is not affiliated with The Elder Scrolls.

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Oh Skywind, let me count the ways. For those not in the know, Skywind is a Skyrim mod that aims to transplant the entirety of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (aka, the best Elder Scrolls) into Skyrim's more modern engine while maintaining the former's gorgeously bizarre sense of style. Locations, NPCs, quests, the mudcrab merchant who essentially functioned as my best friend in middle school - everything's going in. It's an absurdly colossal undertaking, and yet unlike just about every other total conversion mod out there, it's actually going places. INCREDIBLY NOSTALGIA-PROVOKING video of Morrowind's re-envisioned first areas below.

The visuals are splendid, but I think it's the music that really got me. I haven't heard that theme in years, and it took me right back to my youth. Countless hours spent surfing around in Silt Striders' sloughing guts, discovering every last secret, and listening to my friends chatter in animated awe about becoming vampires. I don't think I really realized just how formative of a game Morrowind was for me until just now. To the Gaming-Made-Me-O-Copter!

Nostalgic pinings aside, I'm impressed yet skeptical. Most of the video was composed of environments, with only a splash of combat and a brief shot of a guard NPC to defiantly shout, "Hey but also this is a videogame and not just a bizarro world landscape simulator!" I did hear promising things back when early versions were available for download, though. So there's that, at least.

I'm very, very hopeful for Skywind's continued progress, though. I'm basically dying to leap back into Morrowind, to the point where I doubt I'll be able to wait for this mod to come out in any vaguely complete form. For now, all we can do is follow along on the Skywind forums and keep our fingers crossed for the best. Back in the day, mine were those of a downtrodden yet wily Argonian, and I can already feel the scales slipping back over my skin.

Skyrim's map essentially had the entirety of Morrowind's layout tacked on. It looked like it was a prototype for Elder Scrolls Online (theoretically where you merged all the TES game maps into one). That's why Skywind has the most progress, I think. A lot of work was already done in that regard.

They are working with higher res textures and working with modders that have rather successful Skyrim mods, but they are not changing any on the mechanics. That said, they claim that compatibility with other mods should be good.

I'm looking at that chart, and I'd say that a good portion of skills have made it through to Skyrim, at least in concept if not in name. A lot of stuff was condensed into other skills, and most things could be gained by putting points into different perks. Like putting points into Speech can give you perks that are like both Speechcraft and Mercantilism.

Yes and no. Acrobatics, Athletics, Mysticism, Unarmored, Short Blade, Spear, Medium, Hand to Hand at the very least. All melee weapons were merged to two or one handed. Enchant was severely gimped over years. blah blah blah...the game has changed. Anyway, I'll save TES talk mostly to my Skyrim thread that's dead by now lol.

Slighly off topic: Does anyone here think Bethesda will eventually do an HD remake of prior games? It would be nice to play Morrowind again with the hackery of many mods Then again, TES renewal may have some issues if that ever came to light.

Work on Skywind has gone on for years now, but this latest video, below, shows the project is coming along nicely. It shows 20 minutes of new footage, including new world spaces, creatures, environment assets, voice lines, item descriptions, user interface improvements and spells, and revolves around a quest from the original game called Necromancer in Mawia.

In the gameplay, we get a good look at exploration in the Molag Amur region, combat and, in particular, spellcasting as the player makes their way to the top of a tower and a showdown with a naughty necromancer.

"Videos like Necromancer in Mawia take a colossal amount of work and co-ordination to put together, but they also accelerate development as we scramble to get every aspect of the video implemented and polished," the team said.

"Still, some keen viewers might notice gaps - missing dialogue, floating objects, or placeholders from Skyrim. There's space for extra contributors in a number of different roles detailed on our website, and we're always keen to welcome more team members to speed us on our way."

"We're keen to release as soon as we have something stable and playable, but a game this big is a monumental task, and progress from a volunteer team is totally dependent on our contributors' free time.

"This makes it impossible to estimate when we'll be finished, and since a missed release date would be a disappointment for everyone, our mantra is 'it'll be done when it's done'. Progress marches on!"

Morrowind is a game I've often thought would do well from an official remake. Alas, Bethesda seems busy with the upcoming Starfield, The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5. But with The Elder Scrolls 6 seemingly years out, perhaps a remaster of a game from the studio's impressive back catalogue would help with the wait.

Today, on the 22nd birthday of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, the team behind the Skywind total conversion mod has shared the first first behind-the-scenes progress update video in three years (though last year we got a gameplay demo).

The video, titled 'The Road So Far', starts by looking at the very beginning of the mod, shortly after The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released. However, the most important part is the progress showed in each and every department of Skywind.

98% of 2D concept art is complete, and the team is no longer actively seeking 2D artists (there are five already in the team). As for 3D art, progress is at 85%, with over 13K assets ready and 550 left to build. The main backlog in this area is clothing, which accounts for two-third of the remaining non-tileset work. As for tilesets, 27 of 30 are now complete. That said, some of the remaining 3D arts is very complex, so the relatively high completion percentage shouldn't be taken as a hint that the work in this area will be finished shortly. If you have experience with 3D clothing/modeling or texture design, the Skywind team could definitely still use your contribution. The team has been adding facial animations to custom creatures and custom hair styles for character creation.

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