Modder's Interview: Tizzo

How long have you been modding and what was your first complete mod?

I don't have an exact date, since 2006 or so. My first complete mod (that I actually used) was an edit to the "Vivec, St. Delyn North-Two" cell, which I made late that year. My first actual published mod was released in 2008 or so, and was a house mod called "Vivec, St. Delyn Living Quarters". It was actually featured on Morrowind Modding Showcases!

How do you approach modding?

I mostly mod for myself, I'll decide I want something in my game and, if it's not available/I'm not happy with what's available, I'll do my best to create something suitable. if I feel whatever I've made is good enough, I release it. Workflow-wise, I very much am an iterative modder. I'll create a basic mod and then gradually refine it until I'm happy with it.

What’s your favourite thing about modding?

The sheer creative freedom of it, plus I like seeing people enjoy something I've made.

What’s your favourite mod that you’ve made so far?

Probably my Pack Rat companion mod, a version of which I made as far back as 2014. The whole thing was very much a labor of love. It's acted as the base for several of my other mods, as well.

Is there a mod you are especially proud of?

A house mod called "YAPHM (Yet Another Portable House Mod)" which I originally released back in 2015. An earlier version of this mod was also featured on Morrowind Modding Showcases. Since it's released it's been through several updates, one of which essentially remade the whole mod! I put a lot of work into it over the years, and it's a mod that never leaves my load order.

Are you working on a mod these days?

Not really, I've mostly been doing refinement and maintenance on my existing mods. I've got a few ideas I may work on in the future.

You'll love Paxon the Pack rat, Tetra the pack guar, Kolka the Wolf and Henwen the Pack Piglet.

How much do you play Morrowind, not counting play testing?

Actually very little. My current install is an absolute mess! I keep meaning to make a new install using all of the new and amazing mods that the community has put out recently, but life keeps getting in the way.

Tizzo and I spoke at length about his mods in this livestream.

How did you discover Morrowind?

I was watching my nephew and while he was watching cartoons, an advertisement came on for it ( I think this is the correct link ) so I decided to check it out. The rest is history.

What makes Morrowind special for you?

The quality of our community, mostly. Granted, I'm really in love with the tone of the world and the overall story of the game. Graphically, it's very beautiful - even by today's standards if you use mods. There's a virtually inexhaustible amount of gameplay content that's been created for the game over the years, as well. But I feel the community surrounding the game is one of the best extant, and it keeps me inspired and coming back to the game.

What are the mods you simply cannot play without?

CDCooley's SkipTutorial mod basically never leaves my load order. I almost always have a couple of my own mods in my load order as well: My Useful Starting Spells mod, the previously mentioned YAPHM, and the Paxon mod are pretty much always in there somewhere, even when I'm testing.

Are there any underrated mods that you really enjoy?

I'm a big fan of little immersion mods like 'Idle talk' , 'Django's Dialogue' , 'Kirel's Interior Weather', and the like. Interior Weather especially I feel is practically a must-have.

Do you play other games?

A few: A shooter called Team Fortress (which I've been playing in some form or another since the mid '90s), A "Survival Builder" called Conan Exiles, and a space exploration game called "Elite Dangerous". There are a few others, but on the rare occasions, I have time for a game that's not Morrowind it's one of those three.

Do you mod other games?

I've made mods in the past for other games, but currently I only mod for Morrowind.

And by the way, what's the story behind your user name?

I played an MMORPG called 'Everquest' for many, many years. My main Race/Class was a Gnome Warrior called "Tizzo" who was very much the epitome of the 'Lethal Joke Character' archetype since he was a little 2-foot tall gadgeteer type that could somehow tank and battle various ten-story tall eldrich monsters, dragons, gods, etc. while being the size of their big toe.

I always got a chuckle, playing that little guy.

He was my raider, and the character everyone always asked me to play. To my shame, I spent nearly a year of real-time playing that Gnome while I played Everquest... So when I finally quit playing it after almost a decade, I figured I may as well stick with the name since I already had a bunch of accounts in other places using it.

The name itself is taken from a historical adventure novel by George Challis called "The Firebrand", where it is used as the name of the protagonist. I still re-read that novel from time to time. The Tizzo from that novel and myself sadly share little in common; That Tizzo is a Happy-Go-Lucky swordsman whereas I am a Happy-Go-Lucky computer nerd. It just happened to be the name I picked since I had read the book again recently and I needed a name for (what I thought would be) a throw-away character.

Funny how that sort of thing works, isn't it?

Anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t talked about?

I'd like to extend my thanks and well wishes to everyone else in the community for being such absolute champions, you guys are great. Keep it up!