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About this mod
A guide explaining how to install all provinces of TWMP Tamriel. Includes LOD data.
- Permissions and credits
A number of people have been asking me how to install TWMP Tamriel ever since I published my first Skyrim for Oblivion mod - TWMP Skyrim Alive. It is not an easy process, let me warn you straight away. But consider that what you are trying to do is expand Cyrodiil ten fold. An area ten times that of Cyrodiil is being added, with new land, landscapes, locations, cities, towns, caves, ruins, dungeons, quests - what have you. It is not all as densely packed as Cyrodiil of course, but hey, it's ten times larger.
What is TWMP?
The acronym stands for Tamriel World Map Project. It was one of several projects aiming to build the entire Tamriel under the Oblivion engine. As far as I am aware, it is also the only project that is still alive and has content for every province.
On a more technical level, all mods based on the TWMP framework must be mastered on Onra's Tamriel Heightmaps - Tamriel.esp. All TWMP mods can work together without major disasters, although usual patching along the border may be necessary, like with any other mods. TWMP also works with Elsweyr Anequina. The only province not covered by TWMP is Morrowind, may be because there is already Morroblivion, complete with a TWMP version.
Who is this guide for?
This is for people who already know they want to run TWMP. I am not trying to convince you to run it. If you are unsure or simply curious what this thing is, then start by reading through the requirements and cautionary warnings below. Can you handle it? It is not just another mod.
The guides are hosted on my own website - it is easier for me to maintain them there.
Requirements
Stability
Provinces
LOD
Good luck!
What is TWMP?
The acronym stands for Tamriel World Map Project. It was one of several projects aiming to build the entire Tamriel under the Oblivion engine. As far as I am aware, it is also the only project that is still alive and has content for every province.
On a more technical level, all mods based on the TWMP framework must be mastered on Onra's Tamriel Heightmaps - Tamriel.esp. All TWMP mods can work together without major disasters, although usual patching along the border may be necessary, like with any other mods. TWMP also works with Elsweyr Anequina. The only province not covered by TWMP is Morrowind, may be because there is already Morroblivion, complete with a TWMP version.
Who is this guide for?
This is for people who already know they want to run TWMP. I am not trying to convince you to run it. If you are unsure or simply curious what this thing is, then start by reading through the requirements and cautionary warnings below. Can you handle it? It is not just another mod.
The guides are hosted on my own website - it is easier for me to maintain them there.
Installing TWMP Tamriel
Requirements
Spoiler:
Show
Before you begin, please make sure that your computer can handle this massive land. It is not so much the processing speed as the memory that is required, if you have less than 4GB RAM, you might run into troubles, even if you only install the bare landscape mods without the extras. Furthermore, for Elsweyr and Valenwood you also need a better CPU (at least an Intel i5). The game will run on older machines too, but you will notice lag - your FPS will drop very significantly compared to Cyrodiil or Skyrim.
Stability
Spoiler:
Show
Will my game crash a lot? Is it too big? Will it blow up my computer? I get asked this on a regular basis.
It depends on your hardware and what else you have installed - and by that I mean "invisible" mods like OBSE (which version?), Oblivin Reladed, ENB, texture replacers, LOD improvers, engine optimisers, stutter removers, etc. These mods are extremely hardware dependent, so you need to experiment.
TWMP is certainly bigger than the base game! It's huge, in fact. But the game does not load everything at once, so it does not need to be a problem. How many hours do you intend to play? In the hundreds or in the thousands? Your save game will keep growing, and if you spend a thousand hours visiting all corners of Tamriel, it will become so large that it in itself will become a source of instability.
I played a big game where I introduced TWMP with High Rock, Hammerfell and Skyrim at 600 hours in. Played another hundred hours or so and added Elsweyr with Pelletine and TWMP Valenwood Improved. Another two hundred hours later I added Morroblivion, and that killed the game. The moral is: use your common sense. TWMP is as stable as the main game, but don't overdo it on volume.
Another important aspect of stability is LOD - what kind you are using. For large worldspaces such as TWMP we don't have a choice but to use xEdit (TES4Edit, TES4LODgen) to generate LOD. This method includes absolutely all objects it can find - every tiny rock, every flower, every stick and every stone. This is enough to overload any game, and new spaces tend to have more objects lying about than the base game (because it's prettier that way). The way to regulate it is to make sure that only really large objects have _far meshes installed, just as it is done in vanilla. However, LOD improver mods often have _far meshes for all small objects too. Be careful what you install. Only powerful computers can handle detailed LOD with many small objects.
It depends on your hardware and what else you have installed - and by that I mean "invisible" mods like OBSE (which version?), Oblivin Reladed, ENB, texture replacers, LOD improvers, engine optimisers, stutter removers, etc. These mods are extremely hardware dependent, so you need to experiment.
TWMP is certainly bigger than the base game! It's huge, in fact. But the game does not load everything at once, so it does not need to be a problem. How many hours do you intend to play? In the hundreds or in the thousands? Your save game will keep growing, and if you spend a thousand hours visiting all corners of Tamriel, it will become so large that it in itself will become a source of instability.
I played a big game where I introduced TWMP with High Rock, Hammerfell and Skyrim at 600 hours in. Played another hundred hours or so and added Elsweyr with Pelletine and TWMP Valenwood Improved. Another two hundred hours later I added Morroblivion, and that killed the game. The moral is: use your common sense. TWMP is as stable as the main game, but don't overdo it on volume.
Another important aspect of stability is LOD - what kind you are using. For large worldspaces such as TWMP we don't have a choice but to use xEdit (TES4Edit, TES4LODgen) to generate LOD. This method includes absolutely all objects it can find - every tiny rock, every flower, every stick and every stone. This is enough to overload any game, and new spaces tend to have more objects lying about than the base game (because it's prettier that way). The way to regulate it is to make sure that only really large objects have _far meshes installed, just as it is done in vanilla. However, LOD improver mods often have _far meshes for all small objects too. Be careful what you install. Only powerful computers can handle detailed LOD with many small objects.
Provinces
Spoiler:
Show
For the sake of stability I recommend to focus on a few provinces for each playthrough rather than try to install it all at once. Although it is possible! But is it desirable? That's the question (see Stability for more).
Most provinces can be installed independently, but some depend on each other. Moreover, there are two versions of Valenwood available - Onra's TWMP Valenwood jungle and Eldarie's Valenwood Improved. You will have to choose which one you want as they cover the same area. Similarly, there are two versions of Solstheim, one is included in TWMP Skyrim Improved (partial only), and the other is a part of Morroblivion. If you keep Morroblivion in its own worldspace, you can have both Solstheims as they will be independent territories. A bit weird, that.
In brief, you can install the following provinces:
Most provinces can be installed independently, but some depend on each other. Moreover, there are two versions of Valenwood available - Onra's TWMP Valenwood jungle and Eldarie's Valenwood Improved. You will have to choose which one you want as they cover the same area. Similarly, there are two versions of Solstheim, one is included in TWMP Skyrim Improved (partial only), and the other is a part of Morroblivion. If you keep Morroblivion in its own worldspace, you can have both Solstheims as they will be independent territories. A bit weird, that.
In brief, you can install the following provinces:
- Cyrodiil - always present! It's the base game.
- Morrowind - Vvardenfell and Solstheim (Morroblivion). Normally occupies its own worldspace, but there is a (limited) TWMP adaptation.
- Morrowind - Continental part (Tamriel Rebuilt for Morroblivion, not a part of TWMP). There is a little of Morrowind included in TWMP Skyrim Improved - the part East of the Skyrim border.
- Hammerfell - one TWMP mod covering Southern Hammerfell and several non-TWMP mods are available
- High Rock - landscapes only at present
- Skyrim (requires Hammerfell and High Rock)
- Black Marsh
- Summerset Isles
- Elsweyr Anequina and Pelletine
- Valenwood Improved or TWMP Valenwood jungle - choose one
LOD
Spoiler:
Show
I am including my distant LOD data with this mod. It was created on medium resolution, which is the lowest that we can do with TES4LL, but is still higher than vanilla. You must have your Texture Size set to Large in Oblivion options for this to work correctly (otherwise you'll have purple and green speckled distant textures everywhere). Oblivion options are found in-game, under Options - Graphics.
For your object LOD you can install optimised meshes from J3 Atlassed VWD 2 mod. The more meshes you install, the more detail you will see, and the more performance it will guzzle up. Make sure your computer can handle it (see Stability above for more details).
This LOD has all the provinces of TWMP Tamriel with additions outside of Cyrodiil listed under "Recommended Additions" in the guide. Cyrodiil is kept completely vanilla. This covers the following mods:
You can install the LOD from your other mods after you've installed Tamriel, so that the Cyrodiil LOD gets overwritten. The best thing to do is of course to generate your own LOD, see the article on this mod page that explains how to do it.
For your object LOD you can install optimised meshes from J3 Atlassed VWD 2 mod. The more meshes you install, the more detail you will see, and the more performance it will guzzle up. Make sure your computer can handle it (see Stability above for more details).
This LOD has all the provinces of TWMP Tamriel with additions outside of Cyrodiil listed under "Recommended Additions" in the guide. Cyrodiil is kept completely vanilla. This covers the following mods:
- Elsweyr Anequina
- Elsweyr Pelletine
- TWMP Valenwood Improved
- TWMP Southern Alliance v4.1
- TWMP Hammerfell
- TWMP High Rock
- TWMP Skyrim Improved
- TWMP Locations
- TWMP Skyrim Alive v2.10
- TWMP Summerset
- TWMP SI (Summerset Isle Extension)
- TWMP Black Marsh
- TWMP Azure Palace
- TWMP Castle Dunkerlore
- TWMP Rost3 Topal Isle
- TWMP Black Marsh - Dunkerlore - Topal Isle patch
You can install the LOD from your other mods after you've installed Tamriel, so that the Cyrodiil LOD gets overwritten. The best thing to do is of course to generate your own LOD, see the article on this mod page that explains how to do it.
Good luck!