Installation Instructions

Install Original Game
To use OpenMW you need a base ESM file. Currently Morrowind.esm is the only one available; see http://openmw.org/faq/, section "Do I need Morrowind?"

Note: you do not have to use Wine to install Morrowind data files on Linux. See this article for details.

The (easier) Binary Way

 * Simply get the right archive for your OS here : http://code.google.com/p/openmw/downloads/list
 * Extract it
 * Launch "omwlauncher.exe" if your are under Windows, or "omwlauncher" if you are under Linux/Mac
 * Play!

The (bleeding edge) Source Way
See Development Environment Setup for detailed instructions.

After building the engine:


 * Launch "omwlauncher"
 * Play!

The Debian Way
OpenMW is in the experimental repository of Debian contrib. It depends on several packages that are not in stable. Therefore, it is necessary to add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

Optionally replace ftp.us.debian.org with whichever mirror is closest to you.

Then, add a policy to your /etc/apt/preferences (create it if it does not already exist):

Details about apt-pinning:

https://wiki.debian.org/AptPreferences

http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

OpenMW can now be installed:

The Ubuntu Way
A Launchpad PPA is available. Add it and install OpenMW:

The Arch Linux Way
The binary package is available in the official [community] Repositories.

To install simply run the following as root (or in sudo):

Running OpenMW
After the installation is complete, run " ". You will get an error message stating "Error detecting Morrowind installation". Do not be alarmed, this is perfectly normal. Press the "Browse..." button and navigate to the directory containing the file "Morrowind.esm" and select it. For example, if you have Morrowind installed in Wine via Steam, this file will be located in.

You will be asked if you wish to import settings from Morrowind.ini. Select "Import", otherwise OpenMW will not work. You do not need to check the box "Include selected masters and plugins". The OpenMW launcher window should now open. Switch to the "Data Files" tab and check the box to the left of "Morrowind.esm". You are now ready to play!