Morrowind talk:Alchemy

Recipes Listed

This is something that's been on my mind for a while, mostly because my brain just can't handle a great load of little information tidbits and combine them into practical applications. At least, it hasn't been able to do that in alchemy. Should it really be ok to have pre-made recipes allowed in this page? I just edited an info dump that, in so many words, was basically a recipe for Fortify Intelligence with a little knowledge thrown in for why it's relevant. Personally, I know I would find stuff like that quite useful, because without it, I'd have to go hunting through every ingredient looking at just what's shared with what. I know the game itself offers some recipes, such as what you see in the early quests from Ajira (Balmora Mages Guild), but those wouldn't be as useful as those made by real people. Organous 10:45, 4 November 2006 (EST)

I too was wondering the same thing, as to why there isn't a Favorite Potions page on the wikia itself. I was able to find a thread on the forums though. [1]FrozenWolf150 (talk) 21:34, 3 September 2012 (EDT)

Overboost

What do I do when I overboosted my character? By now, if I make a fortify speed potion, my character would become too fast for very much anything. Fortify strength again makes his weapon brake right after its first strike. How do I reverse this? — Unsigned comment by 80.221.155.29 (talk)

Err... don't drink a fortify speed or fortify strength potion? I'm not sure what you're asking here... –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 08:59, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

Is it because you've boosted your Intelligence that your potions are overpowered? Simply make a Drain Intelligence potion, or have a Drain/Damage Intelligence on Self spell made. With the lower Intelligence, your potions won't be as powerful.– KJR1012 ^{Talk Email Contribs} 09:01, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

It is because I boosted my Intelligence, yes, to something like 50000000. I was hoping there would be some way to rest longer then 24 hours at once, like in Daggerfall. Still, Damage Intelligence it is then. Thanks for your help.

Any time. By the way, if you're playing on a PC, you can reset your Intelligence using the console. The command is setintelligence 100.– KJR1012 ^{Talk Email Contribs} 13:05, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

Yes, I play the PC version, and it was of great help to know how to set in fact any attribute or skill using the console.

There is one other matter. This is well out of topic here, but I wish for some advice on using the graphic extender macro editor. I have in mind to make a macro that continuously casts some weak training spell, that is beats the left mouse button for me. Any ideas on this?

If you have put yourself under a seemingly permanent potion effect, and you don't want to wait months of game time for it to wear off, you'll have to use the console command "RemoveEffects." A list of effects can be found at http://uesp.net/wiki/Tes3Mod:RemoveEffects

So to get rid of undesired Fortify Attribute effects, you'd enter: Player->RemoveEffects, 79 FrozenWolf150 (talk) 21:36, 3 September 2012 (EDT)

If you're going to use SetAttribute, why not just do the same with your skills? What's the point of having your computer run for couple days to level your skills anyways?

Can't create multi-state boost potions

I've been trying to create a potion with multiple Fortify Attribute qualities (Int and Luk), and I simply can't.

Here are the recipes:

(Ash Yam, Bloat, Corkbulb Root, Corprus weepings) (Ash Yam, Bloat, Corkbulb Root, Guar Hide) (Ash Yam, Corkbulb Root, Corprus weepings, Netch Leather) (Ash Yam, Corkbulb Root, Guar Hide, Netch Leather) (Bloat, Corkbulb Root, Corprus weepings, Netch Leather) (Bloat, Corkbulb Root, Guar Hide, Netch Leather)

I guess I can just create two potions instead of one, but why is there this weird limitation? It's not like I can't drink two potions instead of one. This is just annoying. ZirePhoenix 01:59, 18 July 2008 (EDT)

I've noticed that. I guess it's because 'Fortify Attribute' is a single effect, and you can't create a potion with the same effect listed twice. --Gaebrial 05:20, 18 July 2008 (EDT)

Ultra-low weight potions

I've recently managed to create some potions that have less than 0.1 weight. They display 0.0, and a stack of 400 weights only 13. I haven't been able to determine what causes this. Does anyone know what else affects the weight of the potions besides the ingredients? ZirePhoenix 11:55, 18 July 2008 (EDT)

I believe your Alchemy skill, Intellegence, and Tool quality would have bearing. --Brf 12:48, 18 July 2008 (EDT)

Unfortunately I tested all 3. Alchemy is at 900 (8x Alchemy 100 Fortify and 100 Alchemy natural), over 5k Int and Luk. Still made the 0.1 potions with 3 0.1 weight components. 100 of them weighted 10.— Unsigned comment by ZirePhoenix (talk • contribs)

What about tool quality?--Brf 23:58, 18 July 2008 (EDT)

Like Brf said, those three play a role, but the biggest factor is the weight of the raw ingredients. With 2000 Int,, Grandmaster Alchemy Apparatus and just 60 skill, I could make 0.0 weight Restore Magicka potions out of Frost Salts 0.1 + Comberry 0.1 weight. If you tried the same thing with a Daedra's Heart in the mix (1.0), you'd be hard pressed to get under 0.5. Just stating (perhaps not so) obvious here. --Benould^•T•C 03:58, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

Yup. I was making potions with 15000 Int, 90 Alchemy, Grandmaster Mortar and Master others. My Restore Healths were weight 0.0 with two 0.1 ingredients, but the Fortify Int potions with 1-weight Ash Yam were coming out to 0.6. --Brf 11:31, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

Super potion tips

Is this the place for tips on using super potions? For example, with a strength of 5000 your weapon tends to break quickly, but you can always successfully repair it (no matter how bad your Armorer skill is) since the attribute for Armorer is Strength. Or, if you once manage to start making super potions, keep some Fortify Intelligence left over in case you want to do it again without making zillions.

The problem with adding stuff like this is that this page is already kind of bloated. It's the longest page for any of the skills with the exception of Enchant, which I'm starting to think could do with a split as well. I'm thinking maybe we ought to move the whole Super Potions section to a new page and just mention it briefly here with a link. I consider it to really be more of a cheat than anything else, albeit a cheat that is possible within the default game mechanics without using the console or the Construction Set. It's clearly an example of unintended consequences by the devs (as easily evidenced by the many measures put in place to prevent similar exploits in Oblivion). So as such, it would normally belong on the Cheats page, but then, there's enough to say about this particular cheat that it might deserve its own page, again with a link from Cheats as well. Maybe we could work out something like that. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 02:18, 26 July 2008 (EDT)

I've been trying out the Fortify Intelligence chaining trick, but the potion strength and duration both appear to grow linearly with each step. This suggests quadratic growth, not exponential growth as the article currently states. 71.233.149.127 03:45, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Bug

I have a strange bug in my game.It prevents me from creating potions,but fortunately it occurs rarely.When I try to create a potion,the game says that I need to type in my name.Does anyone know what's causing this bug? Neekerisanni123 14:37, 26 October 2008 (EDT)

you need to type in a name for the potion, like, "healthy juice" Lukish_ Tlk Cnt 08:45, 27 October 2008 (EDT)

I've had a similar problem where even though there's a valid name, it says I need to enter one. It often happens if I'm creating a lot of potions at once to grind Alchemy skill. Try closing the potion maker and starting over. –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 09:03, 27 October 2008 (EDT)

Yeah,I try to do it but it still does not allow me to make potions.If I load an another save,then it allows me to make,but if I reload that earlier save,it still doesn't allow me to make any.--Neekerisanni123 09:59, 10 December 2008 (EST)

Doesn't always work. Riverdaleswhiteflash

Took me a while to find a solution for this. Just enter some random characters after the normal name so it ends up as "Restore Fatigue0000000" or something like that. It's a workaround, not a fix, mind you. Something to do with Vista, I presume. Unfortunately you'll need to type in those extra characters each time in most cases. I find it works about nine out of ten times. If anyone finds a better fix, well... Yeah. 121.98.207.151 04:57, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

I've found that clicking the create potion button as fast as you can makes the error show up faster so slowing down will atleast keep this from happening and when it does it won't ruin alchemy in your game

(←) Happens to me too, all the time. Im on Vista, of course. I can leave the menu, put the same ingerdiants back, etc,etc, and they'll all keep saying I need to name it. What seems to work for me is changing the order the ingrediants are in. I have NO idea whats up with this bug. 74.128.56.194 21:41, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

I have tried all kinds of things too, on Vista. My latest game, I just got into a rhythm of clicking maybe 3/second, and usually, about every 2nd click would work. --Brf 21:55, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Edit! While the cause remains unknown and confusing, ive found that all it takes to make it sort of work again is opening ANY other window..Cloes and reopen alchemy window, or even just clicking one of the squares has the same chance of alleviating this bug. Its a shame no one knows whats going on with it! 74.128.56.194 02:15, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Tried it. [i]Worked once.[/i] Riverdaleswhiteflash

Good News Everyone! The latest version of Morrowind Code Patch address this problem! Look for the entry at the bottom of the new version's list.

I'll report back with success or failure! :) — Unsigned comment by Eidolon (talk • contribs) on 25 January 2011

I too had this problem. After some searches I found a suggestion that it might be due to timing for running certain scripts with a multi-core processor. I tested by setting affinity via the task manager and reloading my save, and it seemed to clear up. Replace your shortcut with:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 1 C:\games\Morrowind\Morrowind.exe

(replace c:\games with your game path) *Only works in windows 7 as far as I know*

This will cause the game to launch using only one CPU core. I have not seen the alchemy bug since. Hope this helps! --174.97.237.94 15:37, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

An easier way to do this, is to run Morrowind.exe in XP compatibility mode. Left-click Morrowind,exe, choose Properties, and select Compatibility Tab. Check the box and choose Win XP SP3 as OS. (84.210.73.48 10:18, 30 May 2012 (UTC))

poisons

Alembic and retort equipped For some reason when these are equipped the potion always fails. They are 1 ability attribute poisons skill 24 apprentice mortar journey everything else want 1300 or so for a master mortar with 100 dispo a master goes from 2400 to 1300

Ive seen about the same failure rate for all four peices and for just the Mortar and Pestle by itself. I think the bug may lie in the alchemy window itself. It is very odd for a game to act so differently. 74.128.56.194 02:18, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

failure rates

How do I get the failure rates down. Is it attribute or skill or both or quality of the item like if you have journey pick but a security skill of 6 how hard a lock can be picked Usually it fails alot on alchemy, magic, armorer, and melee Also can magicka cost be lowered or is it fixed like in Oblivion

The failure rate is based on your alchemy skill.If your alchemy is about 60 to 70 you will stop failing.Your alchemy equipment reduce the strength and duration of any negative effects produced by a given combination of ingredients,increase the initial quality of the potion producedincrease the strength and duration of all positive effects in the potion,and increase the strength and duration of all effects,positive or negative.While Intelligence makes more powerful negative and positive potion effects and durations.

Fortify Health Expiration Death

Has anyone else become "addicted" to fortify health potions? When the effect ends my character dies instantly. I have something similar going on with luck and personality. I had very high personality and needed to start a fight with someone. I created some drain personality potions and was able to taunt the person into a fight. However, when the effects of potions now wears off my personality is a red 0.

i dunno about the fortify health problem but for the attribute being a red zero wait for the effect to wear off and pray at a imperial cult altar for restore attributes, that should work though you may have to use it a couple of times (Eddie the head 15:11, 20 April 2011 (UTC))

There's no such thing as addiction in this game. I have tested this in-game and this is what I found out.

Scenario 1: My character's default health is 525. I fortified character's health to 6000. I let the potion wear out. It returned to 525.

Scenario 2: My character's default health is 525. I fortified character's health to 6000. I get into some fights and lost 667 health. Once the potion wears out, my character dies.

From this, we can conclude that once a fortify potion (or spell) wears out, it reduces the health by the amount it fortifies. So, if your character loses more health than he/she has originally, your character dies.
Ongoingwhy^Talk 18:18, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

potion appearence

does anyone know what determines what the potion looks like? (Eddie the head 15:50, 27 April 2011 (UTC))

I don't really have any personal experience with Alchemy in Morrowind, but I would assume that its appearance would be based on the potion's main effect. Similar to in Oblivion, where the effects determine whether the brew is a potion or poison, although Morrowind has more generic bottles, without mods anyway. Sounds like a good question to test in-game. --DKong27 ^{Talk Cont} 20:08, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

It is not based on the main effect. I have potions with the same effect with different bottles. My guess would be the ingredients used and the strength of the effects. I remembering making hundreds of bottles with the same ingredient and levelling up at the same time. Every time my character levels in alchemy, the effects of the potion got stronger. And with each level, the bottle changes too. Just now, I've also tested making a potion with the same effect but with different ingredients. The weight of the two potions are the same. The only difference is in the bottle.
Ongoingwhy^Talk 18:45, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

I believe bottle appearance is random, and not related to effects or weight of ingredients/potion. Oxyk 21:53, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm almost certain that bottle appearance is random the first time you create any given potion, but all subsequent potions of the same type and quality and ingredients will have the same bottle. When your skill increases, you get a new bottle because you've now got a new potion type, slightly stronger than before. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 07:15, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Weird alchemy output

So I was doing some experimenting with different tools/effects/stats to try to find a way to predict potion outcomes (and my head hurts...), and I came across something really odd -

Alchemy, Luck, and Intelligence = 100 each All Grandmaster Equipment Diamonds and Bittergreen

If I used the M&P with the Calcinator and Retort, I got 12sec

• BUT, if I took away either the Calcinator or the Retort from the equation, I got 18sec

Tried again with Journeyman - using both got me 8sec, while either/or got me 9

Does anyone have any idea why this would happen? This one is totally stumping me...DextroWombat 13:40, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, there's always been a bit of a glitch in Morrowind caused by the fact that all magical effects that affect your skills or attributes are considered one effect. So Diamonds have a Drain Agility effect while Bittergreen has Drain Endurance, but as far as certain parts of the engine are concerned, these are both considered to be the more generic "Drain Attribute". Since by this definition, Diamonds and Bittergreen now have in common a negative effect (even if it doesn't show in the final potion), it may be somehow affecting the final outcome of the potion. You'd have to test this on ingredients which don't have any common negative effects. Try replacing one of them with Lloramor Spines and see if that makes a difference. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 14:32, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Lurlock, will give it a try - I'll keep you posted (I'm *so* close to a master alchemy formula, I can taste it! mebbe you'd be willing to help out there? http://forums.uesp.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24937)DextroWombat 17:13, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Master Alchemy Formula!

This has been marked as a question that needs to be answered.

The Master Alchemy Formula has finally been posted! But, I'm not very good with the appearance stuff on here yet - could someone with a little more experience in making things pretty have a look at the new section and maybe help it fit the proper style? Thanks!DextroWombat 17:27, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

To tell you truth, I've read what you wrote, and I can't made heads or tails of your formulas. Care to explain in a bit more detail? -- kertaw48 18:04, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Absolutely, but I'm not sure where the confusion is?

These are the formulas used to calculate the strength of the potions you're making based off of your Intelligence and Luck, your Alchemy Skill, the quality of your tools and the base cost of the effect, and how they apply if the effect is positive or negative. And also prices.

The base potion strength (BPS) is based off of five things: alchemy (A), intelligence (I), luck (L), mortar & pestle quality (MQ), and spell effect base cost (BC): BPS = MQ * (A/BC + I/10BC + L/10BC) / 3 - This is the Base Potion Strength, and everything else is dependent on it.

• The price is easy, it's exactly what the BPS is, it doesn't change if there are more effects or less effects or positive effects or negative effects. Price is simply MQ * (A/BC + I/10BC + L/10BC), period. Nothing else has any influence on the price.
• The base duration (BPD) of the potion is 3 times the base strength.

Now, all that is without taking into account the Alembic, the Calcinator, and the Retort. And there's also the question of whether it's a positive or negative effect.

For positive effects, the Calcinator and Retort have an impact on the BPS and BPD. If one or the other is used, the tool's quality is rounded to the nearest whole number, with a minimum of 1, and added in points of magnitude to the potion's base strength, and in seconds to the potion's duration. If both the Calcinator and the Retort are used, the qualities are again rounded and added as before, except that the bonus from the Retort is added twice.

With negative effects, the Alembic and Calcinator have an impact on the BPS and BPD. A Calcinator by itself will increase the potion strength and duration in the exact same way as with a positive effect, but if used in combination with an Alembic it will instead reduce the strength and duration even further. If just an Alembic is used, the BPS is divided the AQ + 1, but I was unable to determine what formula was used for *both* the Alembic and Calcinator, so I provided a table using the values from the game (all the other formulas are based off of the numerical quality of the tool in question, as opposed to the named version) - this number is then multiplied by the BPS and BPD to determine exact potion effects.

And the note at the end, well, that's some weird anomaly that I can't yet explain, and would love some help brainstorming on (I've been asking for weeks, really!)

Hope that clears it up! Really, I worked pretty hard on this stuff - saw a thread where someone was asking about the alchemy formulas, and then discovered that there were no alchemy formulas posted, and decided to go find them. It's been a good 2 week project, and I'm pretty excited to finally be posting it! Just wish I could figure out that last formula for the Alembic and Calcinator! I don't know how to tag that to say like "this question needs answering" or whatever, but maybe someone more experienced with the appearance end of things will? I just wanted it to look great - I thought it was a topic that should have already been there, and I would love for it to look like it's always been there! DextroWombat 20:28, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

You use the {{Template:Good Question}}. And I'll get around to reading that in full at a latter time, and will give you a full response. -- kertaw48 21:12, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, I finally got the time to read through whole of that. First of all, you did an excellent job at finding this formulas. It couldn't have been easy.

To get this out of the way right of the bat, I too am confused at how the formula works for when the Alembic and Calcinator are used. This really needs to be answered. I added the template to your previous response.

Secondly, I'd like to ask you what is the connection between the BPS and the Base Cost of the Spell Effects?

Lastly, you mentioned the tool's quality is rounded to the nearest integer (with the minimum of 1). Since the first three levels of tools have their quality values set at 0.5, 1 and 1.2 respectively, doesn't this make them all give the same results (since rounded they all have their quality value set at 1?

P.S. with your formulas, I'm thinking of expanding my Enchant Simulator to do Alchemy calculating as well. :P -- kertaw48 21:57, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

To answer your questions - For the BPS and the Base Cost of the Effect, the Base Cost is the BC in the above formula - divide Alchemy, 1/10 Intelligence, and 1/10 Luck by Base Cost, add together, multiply by Mortar Quality, and divide by 3. For the Calcinator/Retort, that is correct - an apprentice, a journeyman, and a master will all add 1 magnitude and 1 duration. If both are used, the Retort bonus is doubled before rounding.

As for the alembic and calcinator, I have lists of results from using many different qualities of both, and can't find any logical connection between the values without a calcinator and the values with - there's gotta be some kind of formula, but I'm not sure if it's applied *after* the alembic bonus is calculated (i.e. multiply the alembic bonus by a certain number) or if it's part of the same formula. It's something in the order of 1/(mCQ + b), just like the alembic, I believe, (the graphs look similar) but there are some strange anomalies that I can't quite explain. Until I learn how to do an integral with two independent variables (which I'm not sure is even possible), anything else is just guesswork. DextroWombat 23:24, 2 March 2012 (UTC)