I have MW on discs. I know you can have multiple installations of the game on one computer. So I'm wondering if I could back up a fully modded install with third party programs (Yacoby's Wrye Mash with a fully utilized and organized BAIN, the standard exe patches like MCP, and MWSE, etc) onto a separate storage drive, in case my computer fails or is stolen, and then simply copy the backup to a new computer if needed and just start the game. Or would I have to reinstall the game first from disk and then copy the backed up game from my storage drive onto the new computer? Or would this work at all?

Yes, you can. A Morrowind installation folder (retail version, not Steam) is completely self-sustained and does not rely on the game being installed in a specific location - or even at all! If the game is not installed, you can still start it from a backup installation folder and it will create the necessary registry entries if they are not present. So you can install the game once, backup the installation folder and use this backup to "spawn" as many different copies of the game which will all work independently, and you will never have to install the game from disc again (but of course, unless you have the gog version, you will still need the disc to play the game).

This is what I have done, and I currently have three different Morrowind "Installations" (it used to be five until a few days ago) in two languages which all work just fine, but the game is not actually installed (i.e. it does not show up in the programs and features list) on my pc.

Thanks for the reply. I have some extra free time over the next few months so am thinking about perfecting a new mod build and taking my time; the thing is, I might be getting a new computer in the next 6 months, so good to know I can just transfer my build over without wasting all that time and not have to mess with the 3rd party programs either. My last game got lost in a computer failure so I'm extra cautious. Come to think of it, the new computer will have Win 10 and my current one has 7 but I assume that wouldn't be an issue?


You mentioned gog, which poses a new question -- can I transfer a disc installation of mw, mods and all, to a gog installation as well or is the gog version tinkered with too much, similar to steam? Obviously having a gog copy of the game gives me the advantage of putting my disc away but I'm not sure I want to spend the money atm...may pick it up if it goes on sale somewhere down the line.

As I don't have the gog version myself I cannot answer that for sure, but you should definitely be able to transfer the "Data Files" folder. I'd imagine that the only difference is in the Morrowind.exe, but I really don't know for sure.

Gog or retail, it's definitely possible, even if it would require re-installation, perhaps due to different exe files, copying the data files will still work like usual. In that case only stuff like MGE and the Code Patch would require re-installation.