Minimalist Mod List for Beginners

Updated: 2018/09/03.

The idea of this mod list is to provide a basic set of mods for new players or a starter set for more experienced modders building a new installation. AKA it’s a checklist for me so I don’t have to remember or start from scratch every time I start a new game!

These are listed in roughly the order you should install them.

Essential 3rd Party Utilities

Morrowind Code Patch by Hrnchamd
MGE XE by Hrnchamd & MGE Team
Wrye Mash (Polemos Fork) 2018 by Polemos & Wrye
CAUTION! MWSE 2.1 by NullCascade & MWSE Team
OPTIONAL TES3 Construction Set by Bethesda
The Construction Set for Steam users, since Steam doesn’t include the CS in its download.

Bug Fixes

Patch for Purists by Half11
Morrowind Optimisation Patch by Greatness7 and Remiros
WIP Detailed Correct UV Rocks by Pherim
Steel Dagger Fix by Melchior Dahrk
Sheep-No-More by McChuggernaut
Diseases Restored by Half11
Fix those bastard rope fences by Petethegoat and EJ12
This colourfully named mod fixes player animations and rope meshes so that you get stuck much, much less often. It’s an absolute lifesaver of a mod.

Dialogue Fixes

Better Dialogue Font by Hrnchamd
VGreetings by TheOtherFelix
Dialogue Reputation Fix by Sirrus233

Expansion Integration

There are a lot of options for these, particular to delay the Dark Brotherhood attacks added by the Tribunal expansion. I personally use these:
Trigger Dark Brotherhood Attack by Cyran0
This adds a short quest that creates the pretense for making the player a target for assassination. Since the quest is a condition for the Dark Brotherhood attacks it effectively delays the start of the Tribunal main quest until the player decides it is appropriate. The quest is not available until the player has attained at least level six. Additionally, the weaker assassins have been re-equipped with appropriately less-valuable armor.

Solstheim Delayer by Red Furry Demon
The quest that gets you to Solstheim is quite annoying if you do not plan to go there, but need Bloodmoon active because some mods require it. This mod makes changes to a few dialogue lines, giving them more specific speaker conditions and slightly altering their quest stage results, so that you won’t get any journal entry unless you actually ask about Solstheim.

Alternatives: Delayed DB Attack v2 by Kir
Illy’s Solstheim Rumour Fix by Illy

Graphics Replacers

Better Bodies]() by Psychodog Studios
Westly’s Pluginless Head Replacer]() by Westly