Modder's Interview: Melchior Dahrk

How long have you been modding and what was your first complete mod?
I originally played Morrowind on Xbox and had no knowledge of the PC community. I didn’t discover the PC version and modding until 2004, when I got the GotY edition on CD and started messing around with the Construction Set (CS). Before that, I had been creating maps in RTS games like Age of Empires 1 & 2 and Warcraft 3. However, I never published anything or got involved with those communities due to our slow dial-up internet.

My first attempt to release anything was back on the Morrowind Summit site. I tried to release a shop in Pelagiad, but it was deemed a "cheat mod" and rejected. I didn’t work up the courage to release another mod until 2007, when I submitted Leijing Hill to PlanetElderScrolls (which had replaced Morrowind Summit in the meantime). I thought it was special because I had built it out of logs and wall screens into a house that didn’t require an interior cell—you could walk right in.

I dug up screenshots from Leijing Hill, more than a decade later. What goes through your mind looking at them?

Headroom was a problem in the house—I’m not sure an Altmer could even get inside. I hadn’t started testing with them in tight spaces back then. But I still think the mod was pretty special for its time. Building brand-new architecture out of various smaller pieces was a peak example of kitbashing.

It also makes me wonder whether I’ve ever seen the view from the top of the hill with distant land active!

How do you approach modding?
I seek inspiration from all kinds of sources: games, books, mods, museums, nature, etc. Inspiration is everywhere! Just yesterday, I started modeling something based on a diagram I found in my unabridged 1942 dictionary.

My modding workflow varies depending on the type of mod I’m working on. For larger, story-focused mods, I like to organize my thoughts in Obsidian.md. Before I discovered that program, I used Google Docs so I could update my notes from anywhere. For my bigger projects like Lyithdonea and OAAB, I’ve started taking planning a step further by publishing my wiki notes online. This makes it easier for me to share topics with interested parties.

Beyond the planning stage, I wouldn’t say I have a very organized workflow. I hop between making assets and working in the CS depending on what I’m in the mood for.

What’s your favorite thing about modding?
Modding is my creative outlet. Growing up, I enjoyed world-building, hopping between things like creating my own Space Marine chapter or developing a new fantasy world. I have notebooks filled with sketches and lore, and I dabbled in writing my own stories. I never got very far with any of it, but it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed doing with my time. Modding Morrowind is a great way for me to exercise that creativity within the framework of the Elder Scrolls universe.

What’s your favorite mod that you’ve made so far?
I’ve made so many mods that I feel like I can cheat on this question and give multiple answers for different reasons. I love OAAB and OAAB_Data because of the positive impact they’ve had on the community. The shared assets have enabled and inspired mods that we might not have otherwise seen. Behind the scenes, OAAB has spearheaded several asset techniques that were impossible before, helping to advance the community’s capabilities as a whole. Obviously, these achievements aren’t mine alone, which is why I love OAAB. It’s a community project.

Lyithdonea has to make the list because it’s my magnum opus—even if it’s incomplete. I’ve been working on it for a decade or more. I work on other mods, but I always come back to it. Lyithdonea has been a journey of discovery for me, and I’ve learned so much over the course of its development.

Lastly, my favorite mods might be Red Wisdom, The Popular Plague, and The Mananaut’s Message. Getting to make mods with one of the original developers of the game has been surreal and thrilling. I never thought I’d have that opportunity, let alone get to do it three times! I’ll never forget it.

Is there a mod you are especially proud of?
I’m incredibly proud of the OAAB Grazelands and OAAB Tel Mora duo because they’re without a doubt the most extensive quest series I’ve managed to release on my own. Between the Galos Mathendis questline and the Tel Mora main story, there’s a lot of content there. I think a lot of people download those mods for the other features, but the quests are what I’m most proud of.

Are you working on a mod these days?
I’m currently splitting my time between OAAB_Data, Lyithdonea, and maintaining my other mods.

You mention learning so much while modding, can you give us an example? How has Melchior Dahrk the modder changed?

Lyithdonea is an interesting chronicle of my growth as a modder. It contains various artifacts left over from different stages of my capabilities. When I started, I couldn't 3D model a single thing—it was full of objects hacked apart and spliced together in Nifskope. As I became more confident with modeling, some assets were replaced with better models, and things have only improved the longer they've been in production.

But there's still a special place in my heart for Nifskope "Frankenstein" models and the kit-bashed CS creations that have now been replaced with bespoke models. People like Greatness7 have really pushed me to advance my skills with 3D modeling, especially with his Blender plugin making it so much easier to translate that skill into usable assets for TES3.

I've also learned how to be more organized with my projects in general, how to write more optimized scripts, and about all the other aspects of modding this game. My preferences for what I like in mods—both those I make and those I play—have also changed a lot over the years. I've settled on a relatively vanilla-focused design philosophy (or "vanilla+" if you want to get technical). I like mods to fit into the universe to an extent, and I don’t like to change the vanilla aesthetic too drastically.

Using Lyithdonea as an example again, you can still see leftovers of my old preferences in the Chimer, who use Robert’s Bodies instead of a vanilla body style. I do plan to replace them with the Tamriel_Data Chimer race when it’s more complete.

In general, every mod I make is a learning opportunity. I figure out what parts of the modding workflow work for me and what doesn’t.

You can do it all, questing, writing, modeling, scripting, level design... Is there an aspect of modding you prefer?

I think I would get bored if I only did one thing all the time, but I'd say that I probably prefer making assets. It’s relatively quick satisfaction—I can whip up a model in an evening and enjoy the finished product right away. I’ve found that when participating in team events for Morrowind, I gravitate toward trying to be the "asset guy" to avoid working in the CS.

Of course, only making assets works great when I’m contributing to OAAB_Data, but I have to get my head out of Blender sometimes to make forward progress on my other projects.

Looking at your mods, but especially Tall Vos and Newer Gnaar Mok, we notice some especially vertical buildings. What's the story?

Those mods have slightly different backgrounds. Tall Vos was a joke reaction to the people complaining about my original Tower of Vos mod -- and by extension OAAB Grazelands -- making Aryon's tower too tall. I was surprised by the people who took that April 1st mod seriously!

As for the second one, I have publicly expressed on many occasions that I'm not happy with the current state of New Gnaar Mok and would like to update it. This became a running joke in several of DarkElfGuy's videos where he'd razz me about my "favorite" mod. I decided to update the mod in a way that would entice DarkElfGuy to showcase it: by adding an absurd amount of verticality to it. Of course, this ultimately backfired because he moved on to commenting on when Lyithdonea would be finished.

What's changed in the Morrowind modding community in the last decades?

I could talk about the development of MWSE and OpenMW being revolutionary for the community in recent years, but I think that’s relatively common knowledge. The CSSE is probably the most amazing tool for modders since the game’s release.

But what I really want to mention—and what makes me happy—is the shift I’ve seen from a parlorism to a cathedralism view. In the past, we had a lot of big-name modders who were relatively or completely restrictive with their permissions, which led to singularly amazing mods, but that was where it ended.

Nowadays, it seems like almost every modder making new assets adopts the cathedral view with their mods—offering open permissions for other modders. I believe projects like OAAB_Data are both products of this shift and contributors to encouraging that mindset in new modders.

I think we have an amazing community that, in general, helps each other out rather than focusing solely on individual achievements.

Has Melchior Dahrk the player changed as well?

As a player—not just of Morrowind but of any game—modding has changed how I view games. Spending so much time digging around the inner workings of Morrowind and its assets has revealed how many things work in games. I find myself noticing details I would never have picked up on before: exposed geometry, UV seams, bad texel density, animation bugs, and so on.

But I don’t just notice the flaws. Understanding how various visual effects and systems work can make it easier to find inspiration when playing other games. Sometimes, I’ll have that “ah-ha!” moment about how I could create a similar asset. For example, the OAAB_Data stream assets were directly inspired by Skyrim. I remember staring at how the water "flowed" for a while (specifically, how the UV was constructed).

I can’t help but notice these things in games now or wonder, “How did they make this?” But I see this as an evolution of myself rather than something detrimental to my enjoyment of gaming.

How much do you play Morrowind, not counting playtesting?
Basically not at all. I’ve been meaning to start a playthrough for a long time but haven’t gotten around to setting it up. Every time I do play the game, though, I inevitably find something that I want to mod or fix, and then I quickly go back to the CS.

How did you discover Morrowind?
I first played Morrowind in 2002 on my friend’s Xbox. I had never heard of it or the Elder Scrolls before. I then saved up with my brothers to buy our own Xbox so we could play Morrowind and Halo: CE. I played the game extensively for a couple of years, using The Morrowind Prophecies guide as my bible, before ultimately moving to PC.

What makes Morrowind special for you?
I think Morrowind came into my life at a special age, hitting that nostalgic factor that stuck with me into adulthood. That’s the emotional part of what makes it special. From a technical perspective, TES3’s style hits a sweet spot where it’s possible to expand the game and tell stories at a relatively low-tech level: minimal voice acting makes quests easy to add, the lack of special maps makes new textures easy to include, low-poly design makes new models easy to create, etc. The list goes on.

Basically, the game has a low point of entry for new modders, and its design is good enough to tickle the imagination.

What are the mods you simply cannot play without?
As I mentioned before, I don’t play the game a lot. In the past, I might have said something like MGE XE or MWSE, but with the advent of OpenMW, I think the most important mod for players and modders to always have installed is probably the Morrowind Optimization Patch (MOP). Regardless of which engine you’re using, MOP is invaluable not only for improving performance but for fixing issues like bad UVs, holes in meshes, and other visual bugs. Everyone should be using it.

Are there any underrated mods that you really enjoy?
Nothing specific comes to mind, but I’d say the "underdogs" of every Madness event. So many mods have been made for the Madness event since its debut. The flashiest mods tend to get the most attention, but there are some real gems released for Madness every year, most of which are definitely worth playing.

Do you play other games?
I do play other games. Nowadays, I gravitate towards games with quick gratification because I have relatively limited time to play for extended periods. The roguelike genre is probably one of my favorites for that reason. I rarely manage to actually complete an RPG anymore.

As I mentioned before, I also look for inspiration when playing games. Many of my models have been directly inspired by things I’ve seen while playing other games.

Do you mod other games?
Nope. Morrowind is all that I need.

And by the way, what’s the story behind your user name? Anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t talked about?
My name comes from one of my original Morrowind Xbox characters, who I "completed" the game with. The other character I did that with was Seamus Damian. In an alternate universe, I might have adopted SD as my username—I actually played SD longer than MD.

I went through every quest in The Morrowind Prophecies guide with both of them (also using the bug where you could join House Redoran even while part of either Hlaalu or Telvanni). After playing through the game with Seamus, I realized that I really liked the Dwemer aesthetic and lore, so that’s where "Dahrk" got the last name. I guess I just thought it sounded cool.

"Melchior" came from me flipping through an old hymnal until I found a songwriter’s name that I liked.