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Morrobroom
tutorial

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Install Morrobroom, set up TrenchBroom, and compile a first room into OpenMW.

Morrobroom does not replace OpenMW or TrenchBroom. Each program has one job:

Three programs, one job each

TrenchBroom is the editor. Morrobroom is the compiler. OpenMW is where you play the result.

  1. source

    TrenchBroom

    Build rooms from brushes, place lights and objects, and save the .map.

  2. tool

    Morrobroom

    Compile the saved map into NIF meshes, baked lightmaps and a TES3 plugin.

  3. result

    OpenMW

    Load the build folder as data and walk around what you made.

source

Existing NIFs

nif2map reverse-compiles their visual geometry into maps you can edit.

How the pieces relate
  • TrenchBroom Map-to-Engine Morrobroom
  • Morrobroom build/<map>/ OpenMW
  • Existing NIFs nif2map TrenchBroom

You need:

1. Unpack Morrobroom#

Unzip the archive wherever you keep your tools. There is no installer. Inside:

PathWhat it is
morrobroom (morrobroom.exe on Windows)The compiler.
resources/TrenchBroom’s Morrowind game configuration: game definition, entity definitions, editor textures and models, and the compile profile.
README.md, LICENSE, THIRD_PARTY.mdThe usual.
content/The source of this manual.

From a terminal, morrobroom --help should list three commands: compile, nif2map and fgd. If it does, the program works. Everything else in this guide happens inside TrenchBroom.

2. Install the TrenchBroom game files#

Copy the contents of resources/ into TrenchBroom’s custom Morrowind game directory:

PlatformDirectory
Windows%APPDATA%\TrenchBroom\games\Morrowind
macOS~/Library/Application Support/TrenchBroom/games/Morrowind
Linux~/.TrenchBroom/games/Morrowind

The directory should end up holding GameConfig.cfg, CompilationProfiles.cfg, the .fgd files, Textures/ and Meshes/, not a resources/ folder of its own.

Restart TrenchBroom and pick Morrowind from the game list. If it is not there, the files are not in the directory TrenchBroom is reading.

3. Point TrenchBroom at Morrowind#

Open Preferences → Games → Morrowind and set the game directory to the folder that contains Data Files/:

Morrowind/
└── Data Files/

Do not select Data Files/ itself: TrenchBroom looks for textures in Data Files/textures, and it adds the Data Files part on its own.

Then set the three compilation tools:

  • Morrobroom: the program you unpacked;
  • OpenMW: the OpenMW executable;
  • OpenCS: optional, for finishing generated plugins in the construction set.

4. Build a room#

  1. Create a new map for Morrowind.
  2. Build a small room from brushes: a floor, four walls and a ceiling, with no gaps between them.
  3. Apply a Morrowind texture to the faces you will see.
  4. Place a Light_Point1024 entity inside the room.
  5. Save the map. Morrobroom compiles the file on disk, not whatever TrenchBroom is showing.
  6. Open Run → Compile Map, choose the Map-to-Engine profile, and run it.

The profile deletes the map’s previous plugin, compiles the map into build/<map name>/ beside the .map file, and starts OpenMW with that directory as data, straight into the new room.

If OpenMW starts in your room, the pipeline works. Walk around, then go back to TrenchBroom and change something. If OpenMW shows the room as it was, save the map and compile again: the saved file is the source of truth.

If it does not work, Troubleshooting starts with the problems people meet here.

Next#

Mapping explains how brushes, faces and entities turn into Morrowind content, and Entities lists everything you can place. For moving around TrenchBroom and editing brushes, watch DumptruckDS’s TrenchBroom playlist; the official TrenchBroom manual is the reference once you want more than a room.