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 / Mac OSX:
 * Retail Morrowind (CD): use the installer included in OpenMW's launcher.
 * Morrowind on Steam: Use SteamCMD or Steam-Appmanifest to download the game data without having to use the Windows Steam client.

The (easier) Binary Way

 * Simply get the right archive for your OS here : https://openmw.org/downloads/
 * Extract it
 * Launch "openmw-launcher.exe" if you are under Windows, or "openmw-launcher" if you are under Linux/Mac
 * Play!

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

After building the engine:


 * Launch "openmw-launcher"
 * Play!

The Debian Way
OpenMW is available from the unstable (sid) repository of Debian contrib and can be easily installed if you are using testing or unstable. However, it depends on several packages which are not in stable, so it is not possible to install OpenMW in Wheezy without creating a FrankenDebian. This is not recommended or supported.

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!