World Tables

These are the tables in the World menu category. The contents of the game world can be changed by choosing one of the options in the appropriate menu at the top of the screen.

Objects

This is a library of all the items, triggers, containers, NPCs, etc. in the game. There are several kinds of Record Types. Depending on which type a record is, it will need specific information to function. For example, an NPC needs a value attached to its aggression level. A chest, of course, does not. All Record Types contain at least a 3D model or else the player would not see them. Usually they also have a Name, which is what the players sees when they hover their crosshair over the object during the game.

Please refer to the Object Record Types chapter for an overview of what each object type represents in the game’s world.

Instances

An instance is created every time an object is placed into a cell. While the object defines its own fundamental properties, an instance defines how and where this object appears in the world. When the object is modified, all of its instances will be modified as well.

Cell

Which cell contains this instance. Is assigned automatically based on the edit you make in the 3D view.

Original Cell

If an object has been moved in-game this field keeps a track of the original cell as defined through the editor. Is assigned automatically based on the edit you make in the 3D view.

Object ID

ID of the object from which this instance is created.

Pos X, Y, Z

Position coordinates in 3D space relative to the parent cell.

Rot X, Y, Z

Rotation in 3D space.

Scale

Size factor applied to this instance. It scales the instance uniformly on all axes.

Owner

NPC the instance belongs to. Picking up the instance by the player is regarded as stealing.

Soul

This field takes the object of a Creature type. Option applies only to soul gems which will contain the creature’s soul and allow enchanting.

Faction

Faction the instance belongs to. Picking up the instance without joining this faction is regarded as stealing.

Faction Index

The player’s required rank in a faction to pick up this instance without it seen as stealing. It allows a reward mechanic where the higher the player is in a faction, the more of its items and resources are freely available for use.

Charges

How many times can this item be used. Applies to lockpicks, probes, and repair items. Typically used to add a “used” version of the object to the in-game world.

Enchantment

Doesn’t appear to do anything for instances. An identical field for Objects takes an ID of an enchantment.

Coin Value

This works only for instances created from objects with IDs gold_001, gold_005, gold_010, gold_025, and gold_100. Coin Value tells how much gold is added to player’s inventory when this instance is picked up. The names and corresponding functionality are hardcoded into the engine.

For all other instances this value does nothing and their price when buying or selling is determined by the Coin Value of their Object.

Teleport

When enabled, this instance acts as a teleport to other locations in the world. Teleportation occurs when the player activates the instance.

Teleport Cell

Destination cell where the player will appear.

Teleport Pos X, Y, Z

Location coordinates where the player will appear relative to the destination cell.

Teleport Rot X, Y, Z

Initial orientation of the player after being teleported.

Lock Level

Is there a lock on this instance and how difficult it is to pick.

Key

Which key is needed to unlock the lock on this instance.

Trap

What spell will be cast on the player if the trap is triggered. The spell has an on touch magic effect.

Owner Global

A global variable that lets you override ownership. This is used in original Morrowind to make beds rentable.

Cells

Cells are the basic world-building units that together make up the game’s world. Each of these basic building blocks is a container for other objects to exist in. Dividing an expansive world into smaller units is neccessary to be able to efficiently render and process it. Cells can be one of two types:

Exterior cells

These represent the outside world. They all fit on a grid where cells have unique coordinates and border one another. Each exterior cell contains a part of the terrain and together they form a seamless, continuous landmass. Entering and leaving these cells is as simple as walking beyond their boundary after which we enter its neighbouring cell. It is also possible to move into another interior or exterior cell through door objects.

Interior cells

These represent enclosed spaces such as houses, dungeons, mines, etc. They don’t have a terrain, instead their whole environment is made from objects. Interior cells only load when the player is in them. Entering and leaving these cells is possible through door objects or teleportation abilities.

The Cells table provides you with a list of cells in the game and exposes their various parameters to edit.

Sleep Forbidden

In most cities it is forbidden to sleep outside. Sleeping in the wilderness carries its own risks of attack, though. This entry lets you decide if a player should be allowed to sleep on the floor in this cell or not.

Interior Water

Setting the cell’s Interior Water to true tells the game that there needs to be water at height 0 in this cell. This is useful for dungeons or mines that have water in them.

Setting the cell’s Interior Water to false tells the game that the water at height 0 should not be used. This flag is useless for outside cells.

Interior Sky

Should this interior cell have a sky? This is a rather unique case. The Tribunal expansion took place in a city on the mainland. Normally this would require the city to be composed of exterior cells so it has a sky, weather and the like. But if the player is in an exterior cell and were to look at their in-game map, they would see Vvardenfell with an overview of all exterior cells. The player would have to see the city’s very own map, as if they were walking around in an interior cell.

So the developers decided to create a workaround and take a bit of both: The whole city would technically work exactly like an interior cell, but it would need a sky as if it was an exterior cell. That is what this is. This is why the vast majority of the cells you will find in this screen will have this option set to false: It is only meant for these “fake exteriors”.

Region

To which Region does this cell belong? This has an impact on the way the game handles weather and encounters in this area. It is also possible for a cell not to belong to any region.

Interior

When enabled, it allows to manually set Ambient, Sunlight, Fog, and Fog Density values regardless of the main sky system.

Ambient

Colour of the secondary light, that contributes to an overall shading of the scene.

Sunlight

Colour of the primary light that lights the scene.

Fog

Colour of the distant fog effect.

Fog Density

How quickly do objects start fading into the fog.

Water Level

Height of the water plane. Only applies to interior cells when Interior Water is enabled.

Map Color

This is a property present in Morrowind, but is not actually used. It doesn’t do anything in OpenMW either.

Lands

Lands are records needed by exterior cells to show the terrain. Each exterior cell needs its own land record and they are paired by matching IDs. Land records can be created manually in this table, but a better approach is to simply shape the terrain in the 3D view and the land record of affected cells will be created automatically.

Land Textures

This is a list of textures that are specifically used to paint the terrain of exterior cells. By default, the terrain shows the _land_default.dds texture found in data/textures folder. Land texture entries can be added, edited or removed.

Texture Nickname

Name of this land texture.

Texture Index

Assigned automatically and cannot be edited.

Texture

Texture image file that is used for this land texture.

Pathgrids

Pathgrids allow NPCs to navigate and move along complicated paths in their surroundings. A pathgrid contains a list of points connected by edges. NPCs will find their way from one point to another as long as there is a path of connecting edges between them. One pathgrid is used per cell.

When recast navigation is enabled pathgrids are still used and complement navigation meshes. Pathgrids help where original Morrowind content is not suitable for navigation mesh generation. In addition, the off-mesh connections generated from pathgrids are important for NPC AiWander package.

Regions

Regions describe general areas of the exterior game world and define rules for random enemy encounters, ambient sounds, and weather. Regions can be assigned one per cell and the cells will inherit their rules.

Name

This is how the game will show the player’s location in-game.

MapColour

This is a colour used to identify the region when viewed in World → Region Map.

Sleep Encounter

This field takes an object of the Creature Levelled List type. This object defines what kinds of enemies the player might encounter when sleeping outside in the wilderness.

Weather

A table listing all available weather types and their chance to occur while the player is in this region. Entries cannot be added or removed.

Sounds

A table listing ambient sounds that will randomly play while the player is in this region. Entries can be freely added or removed.

Region Map

The region map shows a grid of exterior cells, their relative positions to one another, and regions they belong to. In summary, it shows the world map. Compared to the cells table which is a list, this view helps vizualize the world. Region map does not show interior cells.