The only thing Morrowind had too much of was Morrowind and now, thanks to CaffeineSnake at NexusMods (opens in new tab), this problem is solved. First spotted (opens in new tab) by Elder Scrolls YouTuber Micky D (opens in new tab), Morrowind Removed gets rid of Vvardenfell Island entirely, leaving only open ocean (and Solstheim Island, if you have Bloodmoon installed). To quote the author of the mod, “Vvardenfell was removed because you all can’t behave.”
But it wasn’t enough to just pack it into this meme mod and call it a day, I had to experience a Morrowind without Morrowind. I had to feel it in my bones. I just dropped the .esp into my Data Files folder like with any other mod and released the retail version from GOG so I could use the character I made at the start of the pandemic.
“Unable to find region ‘DELETED AREA’ in Load for Cell ‘Wilderness’.”
Continue running executable?”
Well yes dummy! I can’t find the DELETED AREA in the load for cell Wilderness is why I’m here. Unfortunately, clicking “Yes” will just bring up the same popup. At first I was hoping I could do it with Cookie Clicker, maybe it was just mixing in a list of all those deleted cells? But no dice.
I couldn’t figure out how to get Morrowind Removed to work with the original game, not with disabling other mods or even with the load orders in the positively ancient Morrowind Mod Manager (opens in new tab)but I was lucky—I also have the much-loved OpenMW (opens in new tab) The source port is installed, and while I wouldn’t be able to see Morrowindless Morrowind with the million-hour Dark Elf Nightblade, I could still take a look with that lowbie Breton I put together a year or so ago.
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I cringed at first—I loaded into the Balmora Mage’s Guild without a problem. What gives! There’s still Morrowind here! But then I thought that inner cells like this would probably be orphaned by the now distant overworld, and I’d have to see what happens when I leave the building.
I walked out the front door and bam, there I was, trapped at the bottom of a vast and unfathomable ocean! I was so deep underwater that my breath meter went off and I started taking damage before I even got to the surface. The over the top effect is appropriate desert and isolatingbut if you swim long enough, you will reach Solstheim.
If you’ve ever wanted to experience the 2002 Bethesda classic without the 2002 Bethesda classic, now’s your chance. Morrowind Removed unfortunately still remains in Bloodmoon and Tribunal content, but luckily you can take care of that with Tribunal (opens in new tab) and Solstheim Erasers (opens in new tab), creating a sort of classic RPG sensory deprivation tank. Now to wait for the true slowness of this mod: forgetting I have it installed, craving some Morrowind a few months or years from now, and being overwhelmed with this suffocating purgatory when I fire it up.
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