# openmw openmw-0.51.0 — OpenMW 0.51.0 Released!

- Product: openmw (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/openmw)
- Vendor: OpenMW
- Date: 2026-06-19
- Version: openmw-0.51.0
- Original notes: https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/releases/openmw-0.51.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/openmw/releases/openmw-0.51.0

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

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- **added** — Modders can create magic effects through the scripting API
- **added** — Terrain vertex painting support in the content file editor
- **added** — Support for topic marking (MRK) files from Russian Morrowind to override keywords for implicit topic highlighting
- **added** — Game settings iGreetDuration and fGreetDistanceReset are now used in voiced greeting logic
- **added** — Hand to Hand Hit 2 sound is now used
- **added** — More controller buttons can be used for actions
- **added** — BC6H and BC7 compression are now supported for DDS files
- **added** — Sunlight direction is exposed to post-processing
- **added** — Camera projection offset is configurable through Lua
- **fixed** — Should Attack filter now passes for actors that are already in combat
- **fixed** — Implicit topic highlighting supports single-character topics
- **fixed** — Custom word separators required for Polish Morrowind topic highlighting
- **fixed** — Mixed implicit and explicit topic highlighting is properly supported
- **fixed** — Creatures that cannot equip items can use enchanted items
- **fixed** — Restrictions on equipping weapons during an attack were lifted
- **fixed** — Switching between enchanted items while casting a spell is now allowed
- **fixed** — Diseased actors may infect actors other than the player
- **fixed** — Stretched collision box detection is more accurate
- **fixed** — Weapon swish sound has been restored for thrown projectiles
- **fixed** — Moon shadow colour and moon phase transparency are now used in moon rendering
- **removed** — Exclusive fixed-function pipeline rendering mode has been removed
- **removed** — Legacy lighting method has been removed

The OpenMW team is proud to announce the release of version 0.51.0 of our open-source engine\!

This release allows modders to create magic effects through our scripting API and introduces terrain vertex painting to our content file editor. It also fixes many Lua-related crashes and addresses a few minor annoyances with gamepad menu navigation introduced in the previous release.

**Note:** this only lists the changes and common issues to be aware of. Read [the full announcement](https://openmw.org/2026/openmw-0-51-0-released/) on our website.

**Known Issues**

* On macOS, launching OpenMW from OpenMW-CS requires `OpenMW.app` and `OpenMW-CS.app` to be siblings.  
* \[[\#7511](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/7511)\] On Windows, a freeze may be reported if engine startup takes too long; ignoring the message is usually harmless, as it should eventually disappear, but if it doesn't, please share the freeze dump with us  
* \[[\#8233](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8233)\] Hardware antialiasing may cause driver timeouts on AMD GPUs of the RX 6000 and 7000 series; this is a driver bug AMD has yet to address  
* \[[\#8255](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8255)\] On Intel GPUs, the game may freeze visually while still responding to input. This is a driver bug; as a workaround, you may need to install an older version of the driver  
* \[[\#8464](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8464)\] Red tint on macOS. Some of it can be mitigated by enabling per-pixel lighting

###### **Dialogue**

**New Features**

* \[[\#7297](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/7297)\] Support for topic marking (MRK) files from Russian Morrowind; they override the keywords used for implicit topic highlighting  
* \[[\#8956](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8956)\] The `iGreetDuration` and `fGreetDistanceReset` game settings are now used in voiced greeting logic

**Fixes**

* \[[\#7340](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/7340)\] The Should Attack filter now passes for actors that are already in combat; this concerns actors that are not normally hostile, like guards  
* \[[\#8760](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8760)\] Implicit topic highlighting supports single-character topics  
* \[[\#8978](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8978)\] Added support for custom word separators required for Polish Morrowind topic highlighting (brackets and parentheses)  
* Mixed implicit/explicit topic highlighting is properly supported

###### **Gameplay**

**New Features**

* \[[\#8731](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8731)\] `Hand to Hand Hit 2` sound is now used  
* \[[\#8801](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8801)\] More controller buttons can be used for actions

**Fixes**

* \[[\#7605](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/7605)\] Creatures that cannot equip items can use enchanted items  
* \[[\#8123](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8123)\] Various restrictions on equipping weapons during an attack were lifted (e.g., equipping ammunition)  
* \[[\#8692](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8692)\] The above extends to switching between enchanted items while casting a spell  
* \[[\#8765](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8765)\] Diseased actors may infect actors other than the player  
* \[[\#8847](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8847)\] Stretched collision box detection is more accurate  
* \[[\#8926](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8926)\] Weapon swish sound has been restored for thrown projectiles  
* \[[\#8929](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8929)\] Old effects now stick around for a frame when they're re-cast; this makes Weakness to Magicka increase its own magnitude  
* \[[\#8949](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8949)\] Instant effects are no longer applied twice  
* \[[\#8975](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/issues/8975)\] Stat modifiers are reset when werewolf modifiers are applied  
* \[[\#9062](http

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/releases/openmw-0.51.0]_