Morrowind talk:Hints

Archives
Archive 1: February 2005 - February 2007

Major Renovation

Alright, for the past week or so, I've been working on this page. I finished up today, now this is obviously a major rework, but it could still use a large amount of improvement. Basically, I cut the bad and wikified the good. I didn't add all that much, and I know there is plenty of stuff to still add. So don't be afraid to add onto the page. In any case, there were a few 'Hints' that didn't really fit on this page, but other pages may or may not need them. I put them on a page Morrowind:Hints/Unused. I also archived this talk page, as the major changes make most of the comments on the old page irrelevant. --Ratwar 01:11, 2 March 2007 (EST)

Alchemy

I think you should at least mention the intelligence part of the alchemy trick. --— Unsigned comment by Duncans pumpkin (talk • contribs)

I think that tip belongs on an alchemy page. I mean, I see this page as a general hints page. Of course, thinking about it, there are several hints that already exist on the page about specific skills, but those are all about 'training' skills. Perhaps the best way to handle it is to have a specific section about the merits of high intelligence, as it is capable of interesting effects in both alchemy and enchanting. I'll sleep on it.--Ratwar 18:45, 4 March 2007 (EST)

Sneak section comment

There is a comment about the Xbox shutting down automatically. This never happened to me. Perhaps there is a setting to automatically shut down the original Xbox (there is on the 360), but I've not seen it. --Edwin Herdman 06:20, 17 March 2007 (EDT)

I've played it on the original x-box, and I've never had the problem either, but since I was totally sure, I left it in there. I never tried it either. --Ratwar 15:59, 25 March 2007 (EDT)

Conjuration for Fun and Profit

From my experience, if you can kill a summoned weapon-wielding critter in [2-4, not sure exactly] hits, you can grab its weapon and shield before it disappears. I'm fairly sure that as long as it hasn't drawn a weapon, you can do this, but if it HAS, it seems to crash the game. (Note: Hit count includes spells) -Abramul

Grabbing summoned creature's items is very risky, and I've experimented with a spare save before, but it can corrupt a file easily. When a critter dies, it tries to erase the item in the inventory, and when it's not there it will lead to errors. Timing this so the game doesn't crash has to do with the speed of your computer and carefully watching the death animation. I wouldn't recommend doing it since all of the items can be found legitimately from other sources.

As far as getting weapons from an opponent, they must be dead (or passed-out in some versions), I don't believe the game prevents you from looting the weapon because it's being wielded at that moment. Lukish_ Tlk Cnt 22:17, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

balmora soul gems

game winning weaponary?

early on in the game steal the loaded soul gems from balmora mages guild (you get the perfect skill-free opportunity to do this during first few mages quests here). Go to the imperial shrine at Wolverine Hall and buy the "absorb health" spell. Find a weapon that can take a bit of enchantment and go to caldera, sell a few of the soul gems to Creeping to pay for enchantment and go to an enchanter- have him put absorb health when stikes on the weapon. This helps you take on characters way above your level, as each time you strike your health gets topped up directly from their health. As a lower level player you may not be able to access weapons that take much of a charge, but a lower charge weapon will help you get a slightly higher charge one and so on. The highest charge weapon that I have found to take the spell is a daedric dai katana and that absorbs a few dozen points of health in addition to its own damage, this means that things like ascended sleepers take 2-4 blows to kill, and any damage they do to you is automatically replaced with each strike. KL Does any one else use this? is there a weapon that will take a bigger charge than the dai Katana? peace and love, KL 03-08-07 the ebony staff has 90 charges (me)12-13-07

Getting Drunk to Recover Magicka

If you are having trouble getting restore magicka potions, and you dislike resting for days... drink a few bottles of Sujamma. This drink increases your strength by 50 but drains your intelligence by 50 as well. Just reduce your intelligence to 0 and wait for the drink to wear off. After the minute duration, your intelligence will be completely restored and you'll have full magicka again. -Kilana

It does not work anymore on patched GotY version. When effect wears off, magicka stay at zero. Oxyk 12:58, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I beg to differ. It still works on my patched goty edition, but I use a spell that drains intelligence 100 points for 0 seconds on self. It seems unlikely that sujamma would be patched, but other drain intelligence methods wouldn't.--Playerjjjj 00:47, 20 July 2012 (UTC)Playerjjjj

Would it have made a difference how you drank Sujamma? Like, at the same time (via inventory) or not (via HotKeys, for example)? Salamangkero 01:31, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Use Spears to Improve Your Mage's Endurance

Since Heavy armor is too heavy and Medium armor is useless in later levels, Spears are the best way to increase your mage's Endurance. Also, it might be a good idea to make endurance one of your favored attributes to max out your endurance as quickly as possible. BretonRock 23:13, 10 February 2008 (EST)

Security training added

I noticed that this quick way of boosting security wasn't there so I added it. Quick summary of it: 10 pt. lock spell + multiple lockpicks = easy security, due to all lock levels giving the same exp and a 10 pt lock spell is 1 magicka. Stouf 11:30, 22 August 2008 (CST)

Wouldn't a 1 pt. lock spell be better?--Playerjjjj 00:48, 20 July 2012 (UTC)Playerjjjj

Ultimate Weapon

To make a weapon that can beat almost every enemy, enchant a weapon with chameleon 100% on self on strike. With this enchantment, every time you hit them they will lose sight of you and never be able to hit you--CB 12:21, 8 March 2009 (EDT)

Conjuration for Training

I edited out the previous short paragraph that was here (see history) and if someone would like to blend what I said with the pre-existing Conjuration section, it would be appreciated and I think it would make more sense, as I feel I am repeating some stuff that was already said, while also including a few new ideas related to cheap/free training under the proper section. Ahov 10:38, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

The new paragraph looks like a definite improvement. The methods may be combined, but at least this method is better documented now. --Timenn-<talk> 12:19, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Athletics

Is it really necessary to suggest hitting the autorun key and then leaving your computer? You may as well edit your skill level, because it's just about as much cheating. Ahov 23:36, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Most players consider using the console as cheating. It was intended as debugging/modding tool, using it to enhance your character is considered to be cheating. Stretching a game mechanic is different, and is something that can be done on the XBox. In the end it is up to the player itself what to use and what not, since Morrowind is very lenient with its game mechanics and overpowering your character. On this wiki we reached consensus to treat stretching game mechanics, abusing glitches and using the console as different methods. The first is used throughout the site, the second is only covered at specific "abusing glitches" sections and the third method is only mentioned when it can help the player fix or circumvent a bug. --Timenn-<talk> 08:52, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Super Human Strength

The article says it may or may not be a bug, but how can it be one when restoring your stats only affects what *you* earned when you leveled. Corprus is considered an anomaly and doesn't factor into where your true Strength is, so the fact that your strength won't go back to 300 could hardly be considered a bug. Ahov 00:26, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Some edits in the Simple Training Tricks section

After looking at the Morrowind Pages needing clean up, I decided to work on this one. A lot of the work seemed unclear, so I tried to make it easier to understand. All of my edits have been in the "Simple Training Tricks" section. I removed parts of 5.2 Armor Training because it didn't make any sense, and I couldn't find any references to what is was talking about elsewhere on the wiki. I think it was talking about not using armor types because the armor that you were best at using would take the most hits, but I haven't experienced that while playing.

I created an account to tell you about this. CrystalClear 04:21, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for doing the cleanups, those section look better now. I tweaked some of it, basically I removed all the "Note" introductions as they detract somewhat of the text flow. Welcome to the wiki, by the way! --Timenn-<talk> 09:58, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Another Cleanup

Well, I've done it again; I've made a (hopefully cleaner) version of the article on my sandbox. Changes I've made include alphabetizing, some links, errors and rewords, and a bullet intro instead of a list. I still have some work to do, mainly reading over it again, some more rewording, and maybe a little more reformating, so I won't be changing this Hints page until I'm done. I posted this to ask for any comments and/or feedback before I add the page. If you have an idea or any suggestions you can add it here or at my sandbox's talk page -- Jplatinum16 02:06, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Fighting ghosts with non-magical weapons should be added to the Weapons Training section. This is one of the major differences between Morrowind and Oblivion, and I could have sworn it was on this page previously. Anarchangel 18:57, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I stopped using that technique after a while, cannot remember why, I think it was because skill gains are much easier to get in Morrowind than in Oblivion. But if it was because it is impossible and I am remembering wrong, then of course ignore this. I cannot think for the life of me where that idea could have come from though, unless it were possible. Anarchangel 19:00, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that's possible, though I know you can hit with silver weapons. Maybe you mean fighting ghosts with Hand to Hand? -- Jplatinum16 19:13, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, thanks, 'cause your reply got me psyched to go check it, and sure enough, two GameFaqs guides both say the same thing: ghosts cannot be damaged with regular weapons, but such attacks still give skillups. This one says, "For weapons, use a rapid fire 3rd party controller and attack a ghost with a weapon that cannot kill them. Back them into a corner so they can't escape. Wait until desired level obatined. If it breaks, get another one or have it repaired." and this one confirms the fact (too long and rambling to quote, search for "Peakstar"), and contains a recommendation to try the four, I think it is, rats in the Arena undercellar, which is what I switched to; the rats do considerably less damage than ghosts, you can take them on one at a time, one after the other, and because they respawn as soon as you re-enter, it is almost continuous combat anyway, and there is a bed right there in the cellar to train up. Plus there is the three Mudcrabs to the west of Vivec, the biggest group of those I could find, that do even less damage for maxing armor, so that combination made me give up ghosts. I do not have Morrowind installed on my current computer, or I would do one last confirmation and add it to the article, so if anyone wants to run that test I would be obliged, otherwise I will get around to it eventually. Anarchangel 02:00, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

I'd have to do it in the morning, but otherwise I could check. Of course, two people checking is better than one; at least the info would be consistant :) I'm on the xbox though, so it would take me a while to create a character, and I won't have any useful console commands. I thought I remebered seeing this info before; I'd have to look around the site. Thanks for taking the time to help the Hints article. -- Jplatinum16 02:29, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Atronach Birthsign, Greed an Necro Amulet

Could someone explain why the chance for spell absorption with those three effects are (quote)only about 70% (unquote), and not the 95% that those three should add up to (as it says on the page)? If it "should" be 95%, which part of the game code lowers the chance to 70%? Just to clarify: the re-edit of this page said (quote)1 - 0.5 * 0.8 * 0.75 = 0.7)(unquote). But shouldn't it be 1 - 0.5 * 0.2 * 0.25 = 0.975 ? (I realize that I suck at math) -Meisterdieb 18:11, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

For each active source of this effect, a check is made to see if an incoming spell is absorbed. The check is done on a scale of 100, meaning 1 point equals 1 percent. If you are effected by two spells of 50 point Spell Absorption, the total chance to absorb spells is not 100%. After the initial check of 50%, another check of 50% makes the total chance 75% to absorb. This was taken from the spell page here wicth expains everything you would want to know on subjects like this.--Corevette789 18:54, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, but I already read that page. And to be honest, the example listed there (with the 2 50% effects) isn't really the best example, anyway. -Meisterdieb 15:14, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Well, I think you're getting your addition and multiplication mixed up. When you try to measure the probability of two mutually exclusive events happening then you have to multiply their individual probabilities.

In other words, when you flip a coin, the chances of it being heads is 50%. When you toss two coins, one after the other, each coin will have a chance of being heads of 50%. But the chances of one of two being heads is not 50% or 100%.

There are three possibilities: both heads, both tails, or one heads one tails. But the last possibility can happen twice, since the first coin can be heads or tails and other coin just has to be the opposite. This means there are four possible outcomes, and each of them has a 25% chance of happening.

The way that Morrowind checks whether something is absorbed is that it does one check at a time. If you have two 50 strength Spell Absorption effects active, it will check each of them independently. First it will basically flip a coin for the first effect. If you lose on that try, the game then flips another coin for the second try.

The chances of you losing both of those coin flips is 25% because it is one of the four outcomes of flipping two coins. The shortcut to getting this number is multiplying the two probabilities, which were each 50%. .50 multiplied by .50 = .25. So you can do all the spell absorption probabilities quickly if you just multiply all their strengths.

Use a calculator and multiply .5, .25, and .2 and you should get .70. CrystalClear 02:35, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Are they checked independently, or are they checked until one succeeds? Is there a chance of more than one effect absorbing a single spell?76.119.147.254 17:27, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Spell effects are checked independently, Almsivi Restoration is often partially absorbed by The Atronach players, so using the shrine over and over to get a full blessing is needed. Each spell effect is checked by each absorption effect in sequence until it is absorbed, so if a 50pt absorb misses, the next effect of 20pts might check, then the 25pt effect, thus giving a total probability of 70% in the example. Lukish_ Tlk Cnt 21:43, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Orcish Armor Hint

Does anybody think it worth mentioning that the orcs in Ghorak manor have zero alarm and so won't report any crime committed, i.e. stealing the armor?~~L0rd H3nRz 04:01, 13 July 2010 (UTC)L0rd H3nRz

Just added it; and thanks for noticing it. -- Jplatinum16 04:13, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Magic Increase Formula

I have been trying to decipher how the game determines which of your magicka schools it will advance. I have created spells, several of them, all with "cast on self". The first is Resist Magicka, Damage Fatigue, Reflect, Sound, Feather, Bound boots. Each is cast on self with a 1 second duration. My character for this is a high elf/male/apprentice who has 40 points in all magic skills, and uses the default MW class you get when you make a custom class.

When I cast this spell, it increases my Conjuration. a Similar spell on another instance (on my breton) increased Restoration. Does anyone know how it determines priority when you have a multitype spell? I cant figure it out. Eidolon 15:16, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Morrowind:Spellmaker#Notes Lukish_ Tlk Cnt 21:57, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Prices and Merchant Disposition, disposition really counts

Statement about selling things to merchant is not very accurate. Disposition plays huge role when you sell items, in case when you rise the price. if merchant disposition 50 or lower, he will reject any big increase in price, but if it's about 80-100, he will be more willing to buy. For example, with disp 50 and mercantile skill 30, you try to sell item worth 600 gold. merchant will offer something like 350 gold, and you can sell it for 380-400. if merchant disposition is high, you can sell the same for 500-600 gold. Oxyk 18:07, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

• On a related note, I modified the Mercantile Training section to add the hint about Fortify Skill, and I cleaned up some of the grammar in the existing entry. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 14:17, 25 December 2012 (GMT)

Armor Training

In the armor training hint bit it says to "simply omit the shield" when one wishes not to level block. However, the shield slot counts if there is no shield (it works as an unamored slot). Shouldn't we add a way to get a round it (equip shield of desired armor class, equip two-handed weapon, then get pummeled)? Also, this is unrelated, but I can't level short blade with my ancestral ghost using an iron shortsword/steel dagger. Is anyone else having this problem? --Sapien (talk) 21:58, 7 November 2012 (GMT)

• Regarding the weapons training with the Ancestral Ghost, the issue is likely a weapon skill that is too low to land a blow. (I ran into the same problem with the Long Blade skill.) The game gives a misleading message, that your weapon has no effect, even if you miss. There's no real way to distinguish between a hit and a miss unless you repeatedly check your skills to see if it went up a certain percentage. So your best bet is to fortify strength and agility and try again. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 10:16, 12 December 2012 (GMT)

Enchant Training?

It should be noted that for those using the Enchanted Item Fix in the MCP, the recommended method is no longer practical, due to the 4 second cooldown time. Also, both with and without the patch, each use of an enchanted item seems to only raise one's Enchant skill by a fraction of 1%, even at low levels and with Magic specialization.

To that end, I've found a workaround. Enchant levels a lot faster if you use soul gems to recharge items. Stock up on Common Soul Gems and fill them up with summoned Ancestral Ghosts. Pick an item with a large charge capacity that burns its charge very quickly, like the Staff of Magnus. Put the filled soul gems in a quick item slot and use them repeatedly to recharge the item. This process will, of course, also level up Conjuration and Mysticism. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 00:44, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

Rapid Armor Training

I'm not putting this in the Hints section since I already mentioned it on the Siege at Firemoth page, but this is perhaps the fastest method for training armor skills. Stock up on as many Restore Health potions as you can carry, some armorer's tools, and a means of curing disease. Now go to the Dungeon area of Fort Firemoth and let the swarm of rats attack you. You'll need to heal rather quickly to keep up with the damage, but this is less of a problem if you stand on the edge of the swarm. Your current armor skill will gain one level every few seconds. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 03:00, 16 December 2012 (GMT)

Selling expensive items

I have a question about this part: "sleep for a while (6 hours are enough) and sell the other stock back" How are 6 hours enough? It takes a merchant in vanilla MW 24 hours to have his money supply refilled. -Meisterdieb (talk) 00:11, 11 March 2013 (GMT)

Free pets!

Here's one I thought I'd share, and wonder if it's noteworthy enough for the article: You know those Scribs that show up and interrupt your sleep when you're outdoors, only to start aimlessly wandering around? They don't respawn, meaning they won't go back to their original spawning point after a certain amount of time has passed, so you can use Command Creature to take them anywhere you want, and they'll never disappear (unless they're killed, obviously).Bauglir100 (talk) 03:45, 7 March 2015 (GMT)

That's more of a novelty or a roleplaying idea that a gameplay tip in my opinion. The uses of Command Creature is already explained on the related article. If the note is to stay, I'd like to see it rewritten with a more encyclopaedic tone, and the removal of the random line about Staada. —Legoless (talk) 21:04, 13 March 2015 (GMT)

Well to be fair, Staada is the one Daedra in Azura's Quest that absolutely needs to be killed, and she's considered the toughest Daedra on that island, so it would be recommended for someone that doesn't want to worry about being double-teamed yet isn't strong enough to pick off the others in one go ought to move Staada to another area so that she can be dispatched without interference. That's why I used her as an example. I could've just as easily cited one of the named Ash Creatures, etc. And I would've certainly posted it in an encyclopedia-like manner, but frankly I wanted to stick to the style of the other Hints for the sake of consistency. And sure, the pet/bodyguard thing might seem like a novelty, but one could also have them follow the player to assist them if they consider Summon spells to be too unreliable/costly, especially for players with low Conjuration. So bringing them to their house is pretty much a convenient way of keeping track on those particular creatures.

Also, I think we should' have a Roleplaying article, anyway. Seeing as we have one for Oblivion and all. Bauglir100 (talk) 23:35, 13 March 2015 (GMT)

The precedent for hosting roleplaying articles on the site has been categorically opposed ever since the related deletion reviews opted to delete the vast majority of pages. Regardless, that's a discussion for another time. I still think the note can be cut short and simplified without giving so many examples, or even integrated into the original Command Humanoid hint since it's the exact same principle. —Legoless (talk) 00:08, 14 March 2015 (GMT)

I was thinking the same: Just put the information of both sections together under "Use Command Spells", though make the ideas more "generic" where you think necessary, and I think it will be just fine. Bauglir100 (talk) 03:12, 14 March 2015 (GMT)

How's this? I kept the Creeper and Mudcrab tip as well. —Legoless (talk) 15:37, 14 March 2015 (GMT)

Barrel in Black Shalk Cornerclub

I removed a hint about training Acrobatics by jumping on the top of the barrel in the Black Shalk Cornerclub. I tried it myself, and it does not work very well. I was only gaining like 1/10 of a point each click. By the time my click-finger was sore I only gained like 3% toward the acrobatics point. Staircases work much-much better. Brf (talk) 16:50, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Cleanup proposed

Much of this page is redundant, or is just off-topic, being exploit/cheat material, not hints for how to legitimately play the game as intended. All stuff of that nature should be merged to Morrowind:Cheats or Morrowind:Glitches, as appropriate. All three of these pages plus Morrowind:Starting Out and Morrowind:Making Money need to be examined for inappropriate and redundant content. I've already got it on my to-do list to merge all the noob material into Starting Out, and merge out the not-really-noob material in it to other pages, but in the end we probably do not need all five of these articles, unless their scopes are more clearly defined and "enforced". — Darklocq ^☎ ¢ 09:52, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

PS: It may be helpful to see what the other TES games' namespaces are doing with regard to such articles (and which ones they even have). — Darklocq ^☎ ¢ 09:52, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

I agree, for example "Useful Items in the beginning" and "Easily obtainable items" are redundant, I think this topic will be most useful under "Starting out". I will try to merge them. CyD (talk) 09:07, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

I've moved some redundant content from the "Hints" page to this one and merged some topics: in my opinion if a hint is suitable for early game it belongs to "Starting Out", general hints stay on the other page. There is still at least one redundant topic: the list quest to do early could be replaced by the link at the end of it.

Skill Books and Menu Transparency

I've tested this, and I can definitely pick up books while my inventory menu is open, by clicking on the book and dragging it into my inventory. And this does bypass reading the book, so I definitely can save it for later. But it also says "This even works remotely through Telekinesis." For some reason, this is not working for me. If I'm close to the book, I can pick it up, but with telekinesis, I can't pick up books at a distance. I made sure I was still in range, I've placed other items near the book, and can pick them up while my inventory is open using telekinesis. But not books.

Also, it mentions "pick up any inventory item and hold it over the intervening window (other than the inventory one itself), and that menu will go transparent." I can't get this to happen either. If, say, my stats window is on top of my inventory menu, and I click an item and hold it over the stats window, the stats window never goes transparent, and I can't place the item through it. I have to move the windows so I can click on my inventory. I've seen this mentioned on a couple other articles, I think, though I can't recall off the top of my head which ones.

I think the transparent menu thing happens in OpenMW, but in my experience, I can't get it to happen in the vanilla game on the original engine. This makes me think, maybe the telekinesis-book-thing is OpenMW-specific too. If anyone here uses OpenMW regularly, and also has a normal Morrowind installation, would you be willing to test these things? Picking up a book from far away using telekinesis, and, making windows transparent. --Croup shrunk (talk) 19:07, 2 March 2019 (UTC)