Copyright (c) 2026 Alex Cooper and OpenACAI Inc. for CommunityMP-original material authored by or assigned to them.
TES3MP-origin GPL source preserves the upstream notice:
Copyright (c) 2016-2022, David Cernat & Stanislav Zhukov
See UPSTREAM_NOTICES.md for scope and additional notices.
CommunityMP is an unofficial community-maintained multiplayer fork for current OpenMW. It combines code derived from OpenMW and TES3MP 0.8.1, plus new compatibility, networking, deployment, documentation, and test work in this repository.
OpenMW is an open-source open-world RPG game engine that supports playing Morrowind by Bethesda Softworks. TES3MP adds multiplayer functionality on top of OpenMW. You need to own Morrowind to use this project to play Morrowind.
This project is not the official TES3MP project and is not endorsed by the TES3MP, OpenMW, Bethesda Softworks, or ZeniMax teams. The name "TES3MP" is used only to identify upstream compatibility and historical origin; it is not used as this project's name or brand. This repository does not claim any trademark rights in any upstream name, logo, or related mark.
Historical references to this fork may use TES3MP-derived naming, including TES3MP Refresh. The current project-facing name is CommunityMP.
CommunityMP includes work from OpenMW, TES3MP, CommunityMP contributors, and bundled third-party projects.
- OpenMW-origin material is credited to the OpenMW authors and contributors.
- TES3MP-origin multiplayer systems, scripting systems, synchronization, server browser, master server, and related source are credited to David Cernat and Stanislav Zhukov (Koncord).
- TES3MP deployment scripts are credited to Grim Kriegor. The TES3MP logo is credited to Texafornian.
- CommunityMP-original material authored by or assigned to Alex Cooper and OpenACAI Inc. is credited to Alex Cooper and OpenACAI Inc. Other CommunityMP contributors retain credit and copyright in their own copyrightable contributions unless a file-level notice or written assignment says otherwise.
See UPSTREAM_NOTICES.md for preserved copyright, license, attribution, and third-party notices.
- OpenMW base: current OpenMW master lineage
- TES3MP base: official TES3MP 0.8.1 lineage
- CommunityMP code: new compatibility, networking, GameNetworkingSockets transport, serializer, deployment, documentation, and test work in this repository
- License: OpenMW-origin and TES3MP-origin code remains GPLv3-family code under its upstream notices. CommunityMP original code is AGPLv3-or-later, with additional attribution and origin-marking terms. See LICENSE and LICENSES/AGPL-3.0.txt. Preserved upstream copyright and attribution notices are summarized in UPSTREAM_NOTICES.md. Maintainer-facing rationale is summarized in docs/communitymp-licensing-notes.md.
This repository is a combined work. OpenMW-origin material remains copyrighted by the OpenMW authors and contributors and remains under its upstream GPLv3 license notices unless a file-level notice says otherwise. TES3MP-origin material remains copyrighted by the TES3MP authors and contributors and remains GPLv3-covered, with the additional terms published with TES3MP 0.8.1 to the extent those terms apply and are valid under GPLv3 section 7. Preserved TES3MP copyright and contributor notices are listed in UPSTREAM_NOTICES.md.
CommunityMP original material authored by or assigned to Alex Cooper and OpenACAI Inc. is Copyright (c) 2026 Alex Cooper and OpenACAI Inc. and is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 or later. Other CommunityMP contributors retain copyright in their copyrightable contributions unless a file-level notice or written assignment says otherwise. The combined work is documented under GPLv3 section 13, which permits linking or combining GPLv3-covered work with AGPLv3-covered work while keeping the GPLv3 terms on the GPL-covered portions and applying the AGPLv3 network source-code obligation to the AGPL-covered material and combined work to the extent required by those licenses.
The CommunityMP AGPLv3 section 7 terms in LICENSE are intended to be clearer and narrower than the inherited project notices. They preserve legal notices and attribution, require modified versions and hosted network services to identify themselves accurately, prohibit false endorsement or publicity use, clarify that no trademark rights are granted, disclaim warranty and liability, and cover indemnity only when a distributor or service operator separately assumes liability to a recipient or user.
Private server Lua code can stay private when it is independently authored and only uses the normal TES3MP/OpenMW-MP server scripting interfaces. The AGPLv3 network source-code obligation applies to covered CommunityMP code and derivatives of covered code; it is not intended to force disclosure of separate server scripts, configuration, gameplay rules, quests, moderation tools, economy systems, or administration code merely because a server loads them at runtime. If a script copies, modifies, embeds, or is otherwise derived from covered OpenMW, TES3MP, CommunityMP, or third-party source code, the license for that covered source still applies to the derived material.
Although the upstream TES3MP wording says that GPLv3 sections 15 and 16 are replaced for TES3MP source code, that is treated here as a GPLv3 section 7 additional-term notice for TES3MP-origin material, not as a modification of the GNU GPLv3 license document itself. If any part of the upstream notice is not a valid GPLv3 section 7 term, this repository does not assert it beyond what GPLv3 permits.
The project-facing name is CommunityMP. OpenMW and TES3MP names are used only for accurate attribution, compatibility descriptions, and preserved legal notices. CommunityMP must not present itself as the official OpenMW project, the official TES3MP project, or an endorsed Bethesda/ZeniMax project.
Bundled components can carry their own licenses. For example, the bundled
TES3MP server scripts under files/tes3mp/server, extern/Lua-io2, and
extern/lua-cjson include their own license files. A broader summary is kept
in UPSTREAM_NOTICES.md. Font licenses are kept in:
files/data/fonts/DejaVuFontLicense.txtfiles/data/fonts/DemonicLettersFontLicense.txtfiles/data/fonts/MysticCardsFontLicense.txt
The main quests in Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon are all completable. Some issues with side quests are to be expected (but rare). Check the bug tracker for a list of issues we need to resolve before the "1.0" release. Even before the "1.0" release, however, OpenMW boasts some new features, such as improved graphics and user interfaces.
Pre-existing modifications created for the original Morrowind engine can be hit-and-miss. The OpenMW script compiler performs more thorough error-checking than Morrowind does, meaning that a mod created for Morrowind may not necessarily run in OpenMW. Some mods also rely on quirky behaviour or engine bugs in order to work. We are considering such compatibility issues on a case-by-case basis - in some cases adding a workaround to OpenMW may be feasible, in other cases fixing the mod will be the only option. If you know of any mods that work or don't work, feel free to add them to the Mod status wiki page.
- Official forums
- Installation instructions
- Build from source
- Testing the game
- How to contribute
- Report a bug - read the guidelines before submitting your first bug!
- Known issues
The data path tells OpenMW where to find your Morrowind files. If you run the launcher, OpenMW should be able to pick up the location of these files on its own, if both Morrowind and OpenMW are installed properly (installing Morrowind under WINE is considered a proper install).
Syntax: openmw <options>
Allowed options:
--config arg additional config directories
--replace arg settings where the values from the
current source should replace those
from lower-priority sources instead of
being appended
--user-data arg set user data directory (used for
saves, screenshots, etc)
--resources arg (=resources) set resources directory
--help print help message
--version print version information and quit
--data arg (=data) set data directories (later directories
have higher priority)
--data-local arg set local data directory (highest
priority)
--fallback-archive arg (=fallback-archive)
set fallback BSA archives (later
archives have higher priority)
--start arg set initial cell
--content arg content file(s): esm/esp, or
omwgame/omwaddon/omwscripts
--groundcover arg groundcover content file(s): esm/esp,
or omwgame/omwaddon
--no-sound [=arg(=1)] (=0) disable all sounds
--script-all [=arg(=1)] (=0) compile all scripts (excluding dialogue
scripts) at startup
--script-all-dialogue [=arg(=1)] (=0) compile all dialogue scripts at startup
--script-console [=arg(=1)] (=0) enable console-only script
functionality
--script-run arg select a file containing a list of
console commands that is executed on
startup
--script-warn [=arg(=1)] (=1) handling of warnings when compiling
scripts
0 - ignore warnings
1 - show warnings but consider script as
correctly compiled anyway
2 - treat warnings as errors
--load-savegame arg load a save game file on game startup
(specify an absolute filename or a
filename relative to the current
working directory)
--skip-menu [=arg(=1)] (=0) skip main menu on game startup
--new-game [=arg(=1)] (=0) run new game sequence (ignored if
skip-menu=0)
--encoding arg (=win1252) Character encoding used in OpenMW game
messages:
win1250 - Central and Eastern European
such as Polish, Czech, Slovak,
Hungarian, Slovene, Bosnian, Croatian,
Serbian (Latin script), Romanian and
Albanian languages
win1251 - Cyrillic alphabet such as
Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian Cyrillic
and other languages
win1252 - Western European (Latin)
alphabet, used by default
--fallback arg fallback values
--no-grab [=arg(=1)] (=0) Don't grab mouse cursor
--export-fonts [=arg(=1)] (=0) Export Morrowind .fnt fonts to PNG
image and XML file in current directory
--activate-dist arg (=-1) activation distance override
--random-seed arg (=<impl defined>) seed value for random number generator