Skyrim's Skywind Update: How Elder Scrolls' Ambitious Mod Is Going
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod called Skywind, an ongoing project to recreate the entirety of the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind within Skyrim: Special Edition's game engine, is slowly but surely taking shape under the patient efforts of its all-volunteer development team. Skywind still has a way to go before it can be released and experienced as a complete open-world computer RPG; even so, Skywind developers have made great strides as of 2022, implementing gameplay mechanics such as throwing knives and levitation spells along with recreations of infamous Morrowind locations such as Vivec City or the Red Mountain.
Released in 2001 by Bethesda, the fan-favorite Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind was an open world computer RPG full of beautifully mad ideas distinct from every Elder Scrolls computer RPG to date. The setting of Morrowind, a land of giant mushroom, large insect lifeforms, and ash deserts ruled over by a trio of living gods with strange philosophies, was alien and surreal in a way that still fires the imagination of modern gamers, even as the original game's graphics engine and gameplay continue to grow more dated. The Dragonborn DLC Expansion of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the Morrowind region of the Elder Scrolls Online both catered to Elder Scrolls fans nostalgic for the ground-breaking, idea-filled Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. One group of fans, however, weren't content with these official homages to Morrowind...
Starting in 2012, a coalition of gameplay modders under the banner of "TESRenewal" started trying to recreate older Elder Scrolls titles using more modern game engines. "Morroblivion" is a mostly complete mod that recreates The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind within the game engine of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, while "Skyblivion" and "Skywind" are total conversations of Oblivion and Morrowind within the Creation Engine Bethesda used for Skyrim, bringing them up to date with graphical and gameplay improvements. A small army of volunteers are working slowly but surely to bring the Elder Scrolls: Skywind total conversion mod to life - not just programmers and 3D animators, but concept artists, voice actors, FX and sound specialists, quest writers, music composers, and QA testers as well. In the 9 or so years since the Skywind project launched, this is what they've brought to life.
In the last developer video from the TESRSkywindOfficial YouTube channel, the video narrator talked about several design goals the Skywind team is working on, along with one prominent milestone recently reached: the completion of their concept art library. The concept art of Skywind, featuring images of bustling cities, scorched ash wastelands, intricate dungeons, weapons, armor sets, and enemies, gives animators, 3D modelers, and level designers a consistent template of visuals to draw from when creating their Skyrim-based update of Morrowind. With the concept art library complete, Skywind's artists can also focus more on creating new textures for the game world, giving 3D assets such as the alien-looking Bonemold armor sets or the covers of certain books a visceral, memorable feel to them.
Many longtime fans of the Elder Scrolls series are excited about how Skywind will re-introduce classic The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind game features stripped out of sequels such as Oblivion and Skyrim. Character Attributes such as Intelligence or Luck have made a comeback, as have weapons such as spears and throwing knives and the Skills associated with each. While these complex features were missing from Skyrim and Oblivion, Morrowind's complex game mechanics make their return in Skywind, including magics such as the "Levitate" and "Mark/Recall" spells, each with unique visual animations, sound effects, and the ability to blend their effects and intensities together into custom spells made using the "Spellmaking" mechanic.
One feature that won't be returning is the probability-based combat system of the original Morrowind. In the original game, the odds of a weapon attack hitting or a spell being successfully cast depended entirely on the player character's skills and attributes. Even the most ardent Morrowind fans don't want to return to the days where a low-level character missed every sword swing and fumbled every attempt to cast a spell.
Vvardenfell, the setting of Morrowind players traveled across, is slowly but surely taking form as Skywind's developers update the original game's set-pieces to be vividly detailed, intriguingly alien, and fun for players to explore. At Creation Con 2021, a convention for Skyrim modders, key members of the Skywind dev team took audience members on a virtual tour of their version of Vivec City, a metropolis of canals and temples founded by and named after Vivec, an enlightened trickster hero and one of the three living Tribunal gods who rule over the Dark Elves of Morrowind. The streets, bridges, and alleyways of this city were filled with interesting little details such as tattered banners, readable posters that guide players towards certain Morrowind quests or characters, and arrangements of cluttered items.
The Ministry of Truth, a meteor frozen in time and turned into a prison for political dissidents, hovers right over the city just like in the original Morrowind. Other Skywind locations such as Dwemer Ruins, Ancestral Tombs, and Telvanni Mushroom towers are also nearing completion. However, places like the Daedric Ruins and certain indoor residences in Vivec City still need some work.
Besthesda and other game studios are staffed with developers who get paid for their work making video games like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, but also frequently have to work long hours, trim out hard-to-implement gameplay features, and even overlook certain gameplay bugs in order to release their works on time. Developers of Skywind aren't paid and contribute to this Skyrim total conversation mod whenever they can take time out from their day-to-day schedules. This slows the production speed of the game down significantly, but also gives the makers of Skywind all the time they need to lavish their project with thousands of small details that improve the game's experience.
Unique sounds for every Elder Scrolls weapon and spell, expanded version of dungeons from the old Morrowind, multiple resolutions to every quest-line, custom dialogue for every NPC, can all be added. It's one of the most ambitious mods Skyrim has ever seen, and the amount of detail is truly staggering. The final version of Skywind is almost certainly years away, but the final result is almost guaranteed not to disappoint fans of both Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.