Skywind Mod Development Video: See Morrowind Recreated With Skyrim Engine

The development team behind Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's ambitious Skywind mod has released their first behind-the-scenes video. The video touches on many aspects of the mod, which remakes Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with Skyrim's Creation Engine.

Skywind's development began in early 2012, just months after the launch of Skyrim. The team began with just 8 members and has since expanded to over 70. Some of Skywind's developers previously built Morroblivion, a recreation of Morrowind with the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion engine.

Simply importing Morrowind's landscape into the Skyrim engine wouldn't work, the developers say. It's too dated and lifeless by today's standards for open-world games. The Skywind team is recreating the world from scratch with updated textures and meshes. Even the rock formations have been remade. The developers are also populating the world with new character and monster models. The trailer shows off new models for Dagoth Ur, a Dreugh, and a Nixhound.

Unlike Morrowind, Skywind will have fully voiced dialogue. Voice actors make up nearly half of the mod's development team. They've recorded about 5,000 lines of dialogue. That's a huge number but there are over 30,000 lines of unique dialogue total in the mod. The developer team needs additional voice actors to finish the project.

Giving a facelift to the aging RPG's quests is also a massive task. They're being enhanced with Skyrim's new conversation menus and player journal. Dozens of quests have been completed but the full Skywind mod will have over 600. All of these quests will need to be tested by volunteers, too.

Skywind is in alpha now. The timing of the final release will depend on how many volunteers they can recruit. If you want to help with the project, head to this forum thread. They need help with many tasks, including scripting and level design.

If you're just interested in playing Skywind, you can download the alpha here. You'll need to have Skyrim, Morrowind and the two Morrowind expansion packs installed on your computer to play the mod. Version 0.9 of Skywind is missing key features of the game but you can still move through the world and interact with "a few things." The mod will go beta once the full campaign is finished. The development team encourages you to report on specific bugs to help them work toward that goal.