OpenMW 0.52.0 enters release candidate testing, lifting Morrowind's per-object light limit

The open-source Morrowind engine's first 0.52.0 test builds add clustered lighting, let Lua mods create custom skills, attributes and weather, and change the save format, so keep a backup before yo...

AI-drafted from 2 sources. This story was written with AI from the outside reporting listed under Sources, and checked by automated tools before it went up. The originals have the full detail.

OpenMW, the open-source engine that runs The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, has started release candidate testing for version 0.52.0. The announcement went up on 2 November, and the first round of builds is on the project's GitHub for anyone willing to try them before the stable release. You still need your own copy of Morrowind, since OpenMW uses the original game's data.

More lights, more modding

The headline change is clustered lighting, which the team says removes the usual per-object light limit without tanking performance. Modders get a wider Load context in Lua, so they can now add custom skills, attributes and weather. The existing skills, attributes and weathers are no longer hardcoded, though Morrowind's own rules still need them.

According to GamingOnLinux's round-up of the changelog, there is also:

• fixes for water, terrain and transparency rendering, plus water ripples from spell projectiles
• better combat AI, including enemy targeting, melee movement and how spell projectiles are aimed
• shadow settings you can change in game, and a configurable third-person camera distance
• an indicator for controller mouse emulation, a more zoomed-out minimap and launcher improvements

And, in the team's words, it "also fixes gravity being 0.01% off".

Before you install it

The save format has changed. Saves from 0.51.0 will load in 0.52.0, but anything you save in 0.52.0 will not load in 0.51.0, so the team suggests keeping a save from before the test. Some mods need attention too. Forward-pass shader replacements must be updated, though post-processing shaders should be fine. HUD mods need updating for the new gamepad mouse-emulation cursor, and the scripting API has some minor breaking changes, so check your Lua mods are current.

The new generic Linux builds should work on older systems such as Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian 12, the team says, but may not like some older CPUs. There is a list of known issues in the RC notes, including a driver bug that can cause timeouts with hardware antialiasing on AMD's RX 6000 and 7000 series cards. Problems go to the project's issue tracker. The current stable release, 0.51.0, is still on the downloads page for anyone who would rather wait.

Sources

• OpenMW 0.52.0 is now in RC-phase! (OpenMW)
• OpenMW 0.52.0 for Morrowind gets a fresh release candidate to test new features (GamingOnLinux)

Image: Image: GamingOnLinux