[Mod-announce] Morrowind Public Library v1.5 (final) for Morrowind has been listed on elricm.com

Mon Jun 2 16:51:38 CDT 2008

The download: 'Morrowind Public Library v1.5
(final)'
in category Morrowind/Books
by DrSilent has been listed on elricm.com.

The page link for this individual mod/file is: 

http://www.elricm.com/mods.php?mod=4342 

Mod Descripton: 

1. Description 

This mod adds a library building just north of
Pelagiad, on the south shore of Lake Amaya. 

It contains pretty much every non-unique book in
Morrowind, as well as a few new books specially
aimed at the newcomer explaining the basic
workings of the game (this was actually the
starting point of the mod... these things always
grow out of control). Since v1.5, it also contains
more than 200 new books, all consitent with the
Lore of Morrowind. Books are arranged by their
specific area of interest (History, Magic, Combat,
Religion, etc). The first half of the library is
immediately accessible and contains few skill
books. The second floor is accessible only through
a (short) quest devised to prevent starting
characters from reading all those skill books.
Because, you know, that would be bad. 

The mod introduces 9 new NPCs, all with varying
degrees of involvement in quest dialogue, as well
as a new joinable "Faction" for the Library. It
also introduces nine new re-textured potions as
"tea mugs", with effects ranging from limited to
definitely helpful (but harder to get). The
library is seamlessly integrated into the world by
the addition of a random rumor conversation topic
in Seyda Neen, Pelagiad, Balmora and Vivec. 

Since v1.5 it also introduces a (debatedly)
convoluted literary puzzle quest line (hint: talk
to Tom the scout) eventually leading to a way to
use limited Fast Travel in Morrowind. If you do
notice an inaccuracy in the solution of the
puzzle, I'm aware of it. But I had to do it. 

2. Installation 

The usual. Extract the archive to the data files
folder and everything should work fine. You may
have to set the date of the mod back in time a bit
for full compatibility with magic stat modifying
mods in particular (No-glo, for instance, should
be loaded after this mod). 

The mod can be installed mid-game. If upgrading
from a previous version, there could be problems.
I recommend getting any books you may have given
to the library back from NPC Kenna (first floor)
before overwriting the files. Otherwise, they may
be lost. If you encounter doubling, cleaning your
savegame with Wrye Mash should fix it. 

There is a known (sort-of) rare bug that could
make the puzzle quest not work properly if you've
already completed it with one character and are
now trying with another. This is in great part due
to my inadequacy as a scripter. If this happens,
open the console and type: 
StartScript MWlib_init 
This should fix the issue. 

3. Compatibility 

The library has been designed to only depend on
the original Morrowind. All additional meshes and
textures have been renamed and put into a
dedicated MWlib subfolder for easy uninstallation.
The mod has been cleaned with TESame and Enchanted
Editor and shouldn't cause any conflicts. Unless
somebody put a house right at the same location,
but I couldn't find any evidence for that. If it
does exist, I blame the other guy. 

A few plants have been added to inconspicuous
cells. I do not expect this to cause conflicts
with anything, but just in case, I guess it could
happen. Likewise, a few door markers have been
added to some landmarks, but with a care to stick
to areas which shouldn't be touched by any other
mod. 

The reading glasses are only compatible with
better bodies, and even then only with humanoid
races at that. Trying them on anything else may
cause clipping or possibly crash the game
violently. Sorry. 

I have not included compatibility with "Book
Rotate" at this time. I expect that vanilla
Morrowind books in the library will work fine with
it if you have it installed, the rest probably
not. Given that the books are not meant to be
taken off the shelves, it seems pointless to
include it. If you decide to pillage the library
anyway, well, that's your problem! 

Modders: in case somebody wants to check ingame if
this mod is loaded, I have created a global
variable called MWlib_loaded set to 1 by default. 

4. Recommended mods 

- To get a full enjoyment out of this mod, I
recommend the use of "Better Books", which is
simply a texture replacer for all the books. If
your machine is powerful enough, consider also
"Book Jackets" which individually replaces the
textures for every vanilla book (running this on
an old machine might result in important lag in
the library). The two replacers are not mutually
exclusive so you can run both. 

- If you havent got them already, "Better Bodies",
"Better Heads" and "Nioliv's Robe Replacer" will
make every NPC including those in the library a
lot prettier. 

- Also, even though I already stole the necessary
textures for the purpose of this mod, Cali's
Opticians is well worth checking out. 

- For one of the quest lines, the use of a gem and
soulgem mesh/texture replacer, such as the work of
VagabondAngel, might make things a lot prettier. 

- Lastly, I couldn't very well steal dozens of his
books without recommending The Wanderer's
"Libraries of Vvardenfell" for an in-depth
literary power struggle experience. 

5. Credits 

- I've taken a number of books and the 8 meshes
for the PGE series out of the "Ald Reydania
Expanded" by Princess Stomper, may she live
eternally. 
- She herself actually took a number of the books
I used from one Launcelot (may he also live
forever) and pieces for the PGE series from
Xanathar and Stalker (idem). 
- I've taken large exerpts from the UESP wiki to
write some of the tutorial books. I'm sure they
won't hate me for it. It's just that good, guys! 
- Calishan's wonderful Optician resource, from
which I took meshes, textures and icons for one of
the quests rewards. I really wonder what that
reward is! 
- I've shamelessly taken most of the new books in
v1.4 out of The Wanderer's "Libraries of
Vvardenfell" mod, complete with new meshes and
textures (but sans script). Hopefully he won't
find out. 
- To be fair, some of those he himself had taken
from the following people: 
- "Library of Joseph Curwen", by Zeph (Ars
Alchymia, notably) 
- "Books of Vvardenfell", by Stuporstar (pretty
much all of 'em!) 
- More I am no doubt forgetting. It's getting hard
to keep count. 
- For v1.5, the brunt of the new books came from
"Oblivion and LGNPC Books", a compilation by
Ostar. I have included the relevant part of its
readme in the archive. Of particular attention
should be the work by Xui'al, Albides and Fief, as
well as assorted volumes out of the Imperial
Library. 
- I have made good use of Vality7's extraordinary
3D map resource. I hope you'll agree. 
- I have to credit Squaresoft with the inspiration
for the puzzle, and thank them kindly for
(unwittingly) letting me copy it. I mean, it's an
homage... yeah. (Cookies to whoever actually knows
what I'm talking about.) 
- A huge thanks to "Morrowind scripting for
Dummies" for teaching me about scripts in three
evenings flat. I've included a tiny reference
ingame in their honor.
Change log
2008/05/28 : v1.5 released 
- Added about 80 new books from various sources,
including my own prose 
- Added 8 new book meshes and textures 
- Added one puzzle quest-line 
- Added one new NPC and one creature 
- Added an ingame map (this explains the increased
filesize) 
- Added door markers to a variety of
non-wilderness cells 
- Added 17 scripts and 11 global variables 
- Fixed a few alignment and positioning issues 
- Fixed a handful of dialogue mistakes 

2008/05/03 : v1.4 released 
- Added about 100 unique books from various
sources, including my own prose 
- Added 22 new book meshes and 14 new book
textures 
- Added 49 embedded pictures into 5 new books 
- Added one quest line relative to the library's
teashop 
- Added five new tea flavours as drinkable potions

- Added five new re-textured ingredients and
associated containers to a few outside cells 
- Added quest related items to a few outside cells

- Added an outdoor bar and barkeep NPC on the
Library's deck 
- Changed the landscape layout a tiny bit in one
cell, just below the deck 
- Flipped a few upside-down books 
- Fixed a couple of typos and various mistakes 
- Removed some dirty deleted references and
abusive changes to stock MW content 

2007/11/17 : v1.3 released 
- fixed a few texture references 
- fixed a dialogue topic bug 
- adjusted positioning for some of the books and
shelves 
- added a stove to the tea shop 
- added a ramp to the outside deck area 

2007/11/15 : v1.2 released