Morrowind:Linux

Information on how to run Morrowind, the expansions, and common add-ons under POSIX (Unix-like)  es, such as GNU+Linux , (Free|Open|Net)BSD, and compatible.

Engines
As of 2017, Wine is no longer optimal, and players would do well to strongly consider using OpenMW, instead.

OpenMW will very likely be the much easier and quicker option by which to play TES3 on POSIX OSes. Much more information about OpenMW is available on its own page, including differences to Bethesda's engine, new features, FAQs, playthroughs, and pointers for those curious about helping to improve it further.

If, however, you'd still prefer to play TES3 using the original Bethesda engine, then continue reading:

Overview of related technologies

WINE is a free and open source compatibility layer that allows software intended to be run on Microsoft Windows to work on Linux (and also some other operating systems). Wine can almost always be found in distribution's repository and can therefore be easily installed with a package manager that distribution provides.

Proton is a variation of WINE developed by Valve that is used as a compatibility layer in Steam, allowing many of the games to be played despite them lacking native Linux release. Certain games perform better when ran with Proton compared to regular WINE as there are some additional performance-improving technologies integrated into it. Most reports state that Morrowind runs very well with Proton.    

Lutris is a free and open source game manager. It allows easy installation and management of various games and software required to run games. Games can either be installed by the use of community-made installers or by making Lutris run them from their already existing installations. The entry for Morrowind is already in the Lutris library.  

PlayOnLinux is a graphical interface for installing and configuring certain games and other software in WINE. As Lutris offers all the advantages of PoL, there are not many cases where using PoL would be required.

winetricks is a helper script that automates installing and configuring various redistributable runtime libraries and other software needed to run some programs in WINE.

Specific system requirements

Aside of the normal Morrowind system requirements, you need to make sure you have up-to-date OpenGL drivers with GLSL support.

If you have a card allegedly supported by Morrowind and up-to-date, properly installed drivers, you probably shouldn't have any problems.

Possible installation methods

If you own Morrowind on Steam, you can enable Proton and run Morrowind directly from Steam client.

If you own Morrowind on GOG or are in possession of GOG release of Morrowind, then Lutris can be used to get it working easily.

If you have physical release of Morrowind, then you can either set it up to work with Lutris or install and run it directly with WINE.


Running from Steam

This section assumes that you have Morrowind in your games library on Steam.

To enable Proton, open your Steam client and in the top left corner click on "Steam" and then select "Settings". In the newly opened window select the "Steam Play" section in the menu on the left.

Firstly tick the "Enable Steam Play for supported titles" in the "Steam Play Settings" section, and after that also tick the "Enable Steam Play for all other titles". Below that you have an option to select which version of Proton you wish to use. It is recommended that you use the latest versions (indicated by the highest release number), as it includes the most up-to-date release of WINE and most additional technologies that can improve performance.

After pressing "OK" you will be asked to restart Steam. When Steam starts again, it will allow you to download Morrowind and it will start downloading the Proton release that you selected. To install Morrowind, either open its store page and click the "Play Now" button or make your library switch the view from "SteamOS + Linux" to "Games", select Morrowind and click the "Install" button.

After the installation is completed, click "Play" button to start playing.

Running from Lutris

Lutris allows easy installation of Morrowind and provides an interface for very in-depth configuration of various systems that affect the way game is executed and how it performs.

It is also possible to make Lutris use an existing installation of Morrowind and run it under a different configuration.

Getting Lutris

On most Linux distributions it is possible to install Lutris directly from the package manager. More information can be found on the official download page.

While Lutris provides many variations of WINE as possible runners, you are still required to install WINE on your system in order to provide some dependencies that Lutris does not provide. The instructions for installing WINE are located under "Installing WINE" section of this article.

Installing GOG release

The library entry for Morrowind can be found here.

On the list of possible installation options find the one marked with "GOG version" tag and click on its "Install" button. That will start a dialog which will guide you through the installation.

First thing you will see is an already filtered list of installers, showing you just the "GOG" option. Click on the "Install" button to continue.

Next you will be asked to select an installation directory. This is a directory where everything required to run Morrowind will be located after installation is complete. That includes game data and wineprefix configuration. The directory will get created if it does not exist already.

After that you will be asked to provide a location of the game installer. Click "Browse..." and navigate to the installer file and then click "Continue".

Lutris will set up the required environment and the installer will start. Proceed with installation like you would on Windows.

After the process is completed the GOG installer will provide you an option to start the Morrowind launcher. Click "Launch", so that the Morrowind launcher sets up the initial configuration.

Then click on "Exit" in Morrowind launcher, as Lutris still has some things to automatically install and configure, but it can not until Morrowind launcher is still running.

When that is done the installation is fully complete and Lutris will allow you to start the game.

You can now find Morrowind in the main Lutris window. Note that it skips the launcher and starts the Morrowind.exe directly.

If you want to start the Morrowind launcher again, right-click on the Morrowind in Lutris and select "Run EXE inside wine prefix". In the newly opened window navigate to "drive_c/game/MorrowindLauncher.exe" and select it.

Importing game manually

In Lutris it is possible to manually import and configure games.

In order to import already installed instance of Morrowind, click on the + button that is located in the upper left corner of Lutris window and then select "Import Game". Or if you have Lutris account and have Morrowind added to your Lutris library, then finding the discolored Morrowind entry in Lutris window, selecting it and clicking on "Add installed game" will start the dialog with images, name and identifier already filled in.

In either case, first thing you need to do is select WINE as the runner to be used. After that switch to the "Game Options" tab.

For "Executable" provide a path that points to Morrowind.exe or MorrowindLauncher.exe, whichever you prefer.

You can leave Arguments empty. For "Working Directory" it is best if you provide a path to the directory where Morrowind.exe is located.

You can leave "Wine prefix" empty if you wish to have Morrowind started with a WINE configuration that is also used for running other WINE applications on your system.
Otherwise you provide a path to either existing WINE prefix or to a directory that will be created in order to house the new WINE prefix.

"Prefix architecture" can be left on "Auto (default)". 

You can now click "Save" in order to finish importing game or you can go make additional changes to configuration under "Runner Options" and "System Options".

The newly added Morrowind will now show up in main Lutris window and can be started from there.

Running directly with WINE

Installing Wine

Most Linux distributions already provide WINE from their repository and therefore WINE can be easily installed by the use of provided package manager. Additional information about downloading WINE can be found here

Using Wine to run Bethesda's engine

Installing with WINE

Navigate to where your Morrowind installation files are and use WINE to run the setup. Then proceed with installation as you would on Windows.

Running the game

If shortcut to Morrowind was made, use that.

Or you can navigate to Morrowind's installation directory located in your chosen wineprefix and use WINE to run Morrowind.exe from there.

Known issues and Troubleshooting