From the early 2000s this address hosted the Tamriel Compendium, a small fan site by DarkMouse that is no longer online. The two sites it pointed readers to are both still running: the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages at uesp.net and The Imperial Library at imperial-library.info. The Compendium planned three things it never finished: a full Daggerfall walkthrough, a library of game knowledge and a set of FAQs. This page covers the same ground for today’s players. You can get The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall free, Daggerfall Unity is the best way to play it, and the main quest still needs a map before you start.
Key takeaways
- Daggerfall is free on Steam and GOG. Both versions run in DOSBox, and the same files are what Daggerfall Unity needs to run.
- Daggerfall Unity 1.1.1, in its 2025 security rebuild, is the current stable release and the recommended way to play.
- You can skip GOG’s bundled “Daggerfall Unity, GOG Cut”. The Daggerfall Unity developers call it outdated and buggy.
- Only 3 of the main quest’s 6 branches are required to finish the game. UESP still recommends playing all six.
- Nexus Mods hosts more than 500 Daggerfall Unity mods. Travel Options by Hazelnut is the one most other travel mods build on.
What the Tamriel Compendium covered, and where that material lives now
The Compendium was a hub, not a lore archive. DarkMouse wanted to gather Daggerfall information that was spread across several sites, and he credited UESP for much of it. He chose not to host lore because The Imperial Library already did that job better. Both sites are still the standard references more than twenty years later.
| Old Compendium section | Where to find it today | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Walkthrough to Daggerfall | UESP wiki, “Daggerfall:Main Quest” and the main quest walkthrough | Quest order, requirements, flowchart, required vs optional branches |
| Library of Knowledge | UESP Daggerfall namespace | Skills, spells, guilds, items, dungeons, bugs |
| FAQs | UESP plus the Daggerfall Unity manual and DFWorkshop forums | Running the game, known bugs, modding |
| Lore (left out on purpose) | The Imperial Library | In-game books, developer texts, timelines |
UESP still has some pages from its pre-wiki days, and a few of them carry a banner saying they were last updated around 2005. When an old page and a wiki page disagree, go with the wiki page.
How to get Daggerfall today
You don’t need to buy anything. Bethesda first gave Daggerfall away on its Elder Scrolls website to mark the series’ 15th anniversary. The game is now a free download on Steam (as The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall) and on GOG (as The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II, Daggerfall).
Both stores sell the original 1996 DOS game packaged with DOSBox, the free DOS emulator. That gives you two ways to play:
| Option | What you get | Who it suits | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam or GOG, launched as-is | Original DOS game in DOSBox | Purists and people who want the original look | Low resolution, original bugs, dated controls |
| Daggerfall Unity (official release) | Fan-made engine that reads your Daggerfall files | Nearly everyone | Needs a short setup step |
| Daggerfall Unity, GOG Cut | Old DFU build with mods already installed | Nobody, according to DFU’s developers | Out of date, slow, changes how the game looks and plays |
Daggerfall Unity is a full re-creation of the engine. It does not include the game’s art, music or data. It reads them from your own copy of DOS Daggerfall, which is why the free Steam or GOG download is the first step either way.
Did you know?
GOG’s “Daggerfall Unity, GOG Cut” came out on 15 June 2022. The Daggerfall Unity team says it did not put that build together and does not recommend it, because it is years behind the official release.
Daggerfall Unity: the version to play
Daggerfall Unity (DFU) is an open-source re-creation of Daggerfall’s engine. Gavin Clayton, known as Interkarma, started the project, and the Daggerfall Workshop community develops it. The official site is dfworkshop.net and releases are published on GitHub.
Release history in brief
DFU spent years in alpha and beta. Version 1.0.0 was released at the very end of December 2023 and was the first build the team called complete. Version 1.1.1 followed with crash fixes, a new tutorial and a portable install option.
In autumn 2025 Unity Technologies disclosed CVE-2025-59489. This security flaw affects games and apps built with Unity 2017.1 or later on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. The DFU team responded with “DFU 1.1.1, Security Update” (tagged v1.1.1-cve-2025). It is otherwise the same as 1.1.1, and the Linux package was not changed because the team judged Linux less exposed. Unity said it had found no evidence that the flaw had been exploited. Even so, any DFU install older than the security rebuild should be replaced.
Did you know?
Unity’s own security advisory says CVE-2025-59489 was found by researcher RyotaK of GMO Flatt Security and first reported on 4 June 2025. It sat in the engine for close to a decade before it was found.
What DFU changes and what it keeps
DFU keeps Daggerfall’s design: the huge procedural Iliac Bay, the skill-based leveling, custom classes, spellmaking and the sprawling dungeons. What it changes is the technical layer. You get modern resolutions, mouselook and rebindable controls, a large number of fixed quest and engine bugs, and a modding system built in from the start. Players coming from Morrowind can think of it as Daggerfall’s version of OpenMW: a rebuilt engine that needs the original game files and runs better than the original executable.
Install steps
- Install The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall free from Steam or GOG.
- Download the latest Daggerfall Unity release (1.1.1 security build) for your OS.
- Unzip DFU into its own new folder, never into the Daggerfall folder.
- Run Daggerfall Unity and point the setup helper at your Daggerfall folder.
- Choose resolution and options, then start a new game.
Setting up Daggerfall Unity step by step
Setup takes a few minutes. Getting the folder right is what makes it work. The steps below follow the official DFU manual and the advice repeated on the DFWorkshop forums.
Step 1: install DOS Daggerfall
Install the free Steam or GOG version normally. Launch it once if you like, but DFU only needs the files. The folder that matters is the game directory that contains ARENA2, the folder holding Daggerfall’s data.
Step 2: unzip DFU into a clean folder
The manual is firm on this: give DFU its own separate folder. Don’t unzip it into the Daggerfall folder, and don’t unzip a new version on top of an old one. Each version goes in a fresh folder. This one rule prevents most upgrade problems.
Step 3: run the setup helper
On first launch, DFU opens a setup helper that asks for your Daggerfall path, resolution and a few other settings. If the path is wrong, it tells you which file it expected to find. Pick the Daggerfall install folder that contains ARENA2, not ARENA2 itself and not the DOSBox folder.
Step 4: know where your saves live
On Windows, DFU keeps settings and saves in its persistent data path: C:\Users\Username\AppData\LocalLow\Daggerfall Workshop\Daggerfall Unity. Back this folder up before you upgrade or add a large mod list. If you clear the saved Daggerfall path from your settings, DFU opens the setup helper again on the next launch.
Modder's note
If the intro and cutscene videos don’t play, your copy probably came from a CD-style install that never copied the videos into ARENA2. The DFU manual’s fix is to copy the 17.VID files from the install source into the ARENA2 folder.
The main quest: a modern walkthrough outline
The main quest is the part of the game that still loses players. In 3E 405, Emperor Uriel Septim VII sends you, his Agent, to the Iliac Bay. You have two jobs: put the ghost of King Lysandus of Daggerfall to rest, and recover a letter the Emperor sent to Queen Mynisera. That letter leads to the Mantella, the power source of the giant golem Numidium, and every power in the region wants it.
How the quest is structured
The quest is built from branches, not a single chain. UESP’s main quest page groups the work around six parties: the royal courts of Daggerfall, Wayrest and Sentinel, Gortwog of Orsinium, the King of Worms and his necromancers, and the Underking. Only three branches are required to finish the game. They start with Prince Lhotun at Castle Sentinel, Princess Morgiah at Castle Wayrest and Cyndassa at Castle Daggerfall. UESP strongly recommends the other three as well, because without them the story makes little sense.
Most quests have level requirements, and some are delivered by letter or courier after a delay. That’s why the classic complaint “the main quest stopped” usually means you haven’t reached the next level yet, or haven’t waited long enough for the next letter.
Key quests in order
| Quest | Branch or role | What happens | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privateer’s Hold | Opening | Escape the starting dungeon after a shipwreck | Begins right after character creation |
| Lady Brisienna (Instructions from the Empire) | Opening | A courier letter sends you to meet the Blades agent Brisienna in a tavern | She points you to Castles Daggerfall, Sentinel and Wayrest |
| Morgiah’s Wedding | Wayrest | Deliver Princess Morgiah’s letter to the King of Worms at Scourg Barrow | Required level 3. Leads into Soul of a Lich |
| The Missing Prince | Lysandus thread | Start of the investigation that runs through the Sentinel court | Part of the group of quests that deal with Lysandus |
| Painting the Truth, Medra’s Freedom | Lysandus thread | Mid-game steps uncovering what happened at Cryngaine Field | Level-gated |
| Dust of Restful Death | Lysandus thread | Work toward putting the king’s ghost to rest | Treated as required |
| The Ancient Watcher, Lysandus’ Revelation, Lysandus’ Revenge | Lysandus thread | The ghost’s story comes to a head | Lysandus’ Revenge is set at Woodborne Hall |
| Mynisera’s Letters, Helseth’s Blackmail, Concern for Nulfaga, Elysana’s Betrayal | Optional court intrigue | The politics of Wayrest, Sentinel and Daggerfall | Optional but strongly recommended |
| The Mantella Revealed | Intermission | The story’s turning point | Opens the final stretch |
| Who Gets the Totem, Journey to Aetherius | Finale | Decide who controls the Numidium and recover the Mantella | Only available after the earlier branches are done |
Use the table for orientation. UESP’s flowchart is the place to go for exact triggers, timers and prerequisites. Fan guides disagree on how strict the order is, and the flowchart is the one source that tracks which quest opens which.
Endings and why they all count
Your final choice decides which power gets the Mantella, so Daggerfall has several endings: an Imperial outcome through the Blades, the Underking, the King of Worms, one of the three Breton kingdoms, or Orsinium. Later games settled the question by making every ending canon at once. In-world histories call this the Warp in the West, or the Miracle of Peace, and The Imperial Library holds the book of that name if you want the in-universe account. Pick whichever faction you like. The lore says it all happened anyway.
Before you install
Keep at least two save slots and rotate them during the main quest. UESP records a critical bug in the classic game that can freeze the main quest, and on any engine an old save is your safety net.
Guilds, temples and factions worth knowing
Daggerfall’s faction system is larger than the main quest, and it ties into many of the questions the old Compendium’s FAQs set out to answer. Reputation with one group often affects others, and many groups only contact you after you’ve earned a reputation.
| Faction type | Examples | How you join | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fighters Guild | Guild halls in larger towns | Ask at a guild hall | Steady combat quests, training |
| Mages Guild | Guild halls in larger towns | Ask at a guild hall | Spellmaker, item maker, teleport services at higher rank |
| Temples | Akatosh Chantry, Benevolence of Mara, House of Dibella, Resolution of Zenithar, Schools of Julianos, Temple of Arkay, Temple of Kynareth, Temple of Stendarr | Join at a temple | Healing, blessings and training tied to each god’s skills |
| Knightly orders | Regional orders | Ask at the order’s hall | Rank brings perks, including a house in some cases |
| Thieves Guild | Secret | You are contacted after breaking the law | Fences and stealth quests |
| Dark Brotherhood | Secret | You are contacted after killing | Assassination contracts and gear |
| Covens and supernatural | Witch covens, vampire bloodlines, lycanthropy | Quests and infection | Major character changes, with their own quest lines |
Joining many factions early is good for a beginner, since it gives you more quest sources while the main quest is still level-gated. Experienced players often stay in fewer groups because Daggerfall’s guild quests have deadlines, and failing them costs reputation.
Mods that help with the walkthrough and the long haul
DFU has its own mod format. Nexus Mods lists more than 500 Daggerfall Unity mods, and the DFWorkshop forums host many more threads. UESP has an “Installing Mods” page under its Daggerfall Unity section that explains the basics: mod files go in the StreamingAssets/Mods folder inside your DFU install, and you turn them on with the Mods button at the bottom left of the launcher menu.
| Mod | What it does | Requires | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel Options | Lets you choose between vanilla fast travel and time-accelerated real travel, with settings for speed, transport and stopping at night | Daggerfall Unity | Hazelnut |
| Distant Terrain | Adds far-off terrain so the open world stops ending a few blocks away | Daggerfall Unity | Nystul |
| Roads | Adds roads to the landscape, shown on the travel map when Travel Options is installed | Travel Options for map display | Hazelnut |
| The Long Road | Expands overland journeys | Travel Options 1.11 or newer (required) | Community author |
| Improved Interior Lighting | Reworks how lights look in interiors and dungeons | Daggerfall Unity | Community author |
Travel Options: the one to understand first
Travel Options is the base layer for a lot of DFU modding. With its default behavior you still use the vanilla map and travel popup. Your settings decide whether a trip is classic instant fast travel or a sped-up real journey that you watch play out and can interrupt. Several other mods are built on it. Roads only show on the travel map with it installed, and The Long Road lists Travel Options 1.11 or newer as a hard requirement. Hazelnut has said the mod does not change ship travel.
For a main quest run, its real value is pacing. Real travel puts wilderness encounters and time pressure back into quests with deadlines. Fast travel is the safer choice if you’re behind on a timed quest.
Collections, and the case against them
Nexus also hosts curated collections, such as Daggerfall Unity Vanilla Enhanced (quality-of-life fixes and better landscapes), Necero’s Daggerfall Enhanced (a 245-mod list) and DaRKerfall Unity (darker and more immersive). They save you building a list yourself. The downside: if this is your first time playing, a 200-plus mod list makes it hard to tell what Daggerfall actually is and what came from a mod, and every mod is one more thing to check after a DFU update. A better start for a first run is plain DFU, or DFU with Travel Options and a lighting mod. Expand once you know what you want changed.
Modder's note
After any DFU update, start the game once with all mods turned off and load a save before you turn the mod list back on. If something breaks, you’ll know whether DFU or a mod caused it.
Common problems and fixes
Most Daggerfall problems reported today fall into a handful of patterns. The fixes below come from the DFU manual, UESP and the DFWorkshop forums.
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| DFU says it cannot find Daggerfall | Setup pointed at the wrong folder | Select the Daggerfall folder that contains ARENA2 |
| Intro and cutscene videos missing | CD-style install never copied the videos | Copy the 17.VID files into ARENA2 |
| DFU broke after an upgrade | New version unzipped over the old one | Install each version into a fresh folder and keep your saves folder |
| Mods do not show in the launcher | Files in the wrong place | Put the mod files in StreamingAssets/Mods, then enable them with the Mods button |
| Game feels strange, slow or buggy | Running the GOG Cut | Install the official DFU release instead |
| Main quest seems stalled | Level gate or courier delay | Gain a level, wait some days in game and check UESP’s flowchart |
| Main quest freeze in the DOS version | Known classic bug recorded by UESP | Reload an earlier save, or move to DFU, which fixes many engine bugs |
| Running a pre-2025 DFU build | Affected by CVE-2025-59489 | Update to the 1.1.1 security build |
Where to go next
Start with the free Steam or GOG copy, add Daggerfall Unity 1.1.1, keep UESP’s main quest flowchart open in another window, and turn to The Imperial Library when a book or a name in the game makes you curious. The resources the old Compendium relied on in 2003 are still there, and the game they cover runs better today than it did then.
FAQ
Is Daggerfall still free?
Yes. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is a free download on Steam and on GOG, where it is listed as The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II, Daggerfall. Both include DOSBox so the original DOS game runs on modern systems.
Do I need to own Daggerfall to use Daggerfall Unity?
You need the game files, but they cost nothing. DFU contains no Daggerfall art or data. It reads them from your installed copy, which is why setup asks for the folder containing ARENA2.
What is the current version of Daggerfall Unity?
The current stable release is 1.1.1. The download to get is the “DFU 1.1.1, Security Update” build, which was rebuilt after Unity disclosed CVE-2025-59489 in 2025. Apart from the security fix it is the same as 1.1.1.
Should I use the Daggerfall Unity GOG Cut?
No. The Daggerfall Unity team says the GOG Cut, released on 15 June 2022, is out of date, buggy and slow, and that it changes how the game looks and plays. Install DOS Daggerfall from GOG or Steam, then add the official DFU release.
Can I use my old DOS save games in Daggerfall Unity?
DFU can import classic saves. For a main quest run, though, a new game in DFU is the cleaner choice, since some classic quest bugs can carry over in an old save’s state.
How long is the main quest?
It depends on your level and pace more than in most RPGs, because quests unlock by level and some arrive by courier after delays. Doing all six branches plus guild work along the way takes much longer than doing only the three required ones.
Which ending is canon?
All of them. Later Elder Scrolls lore calls the event the Warp in the West: each faction’s victory happened at the same time, and the Iliac Bay ended up redrawn as a result.
Where did the Tamriel Compendium’s lore go?
It never had any. DarkMouse sent readers to The Imperial Library for lore, and that is still the best place for it at imperial-library.info. For game mechanics and walkthroughs, use UESP at uesp.net.
Are Daggerfall Unity mods safe to install?
Download them only from the established hubs: Nexus Mods and the DFWorkshop forums, where authors post their release threads. Read each mod’s requirements (for example, The Long Road needs Travel Options 1.11 or newer), and back up your saves folder before adding a large list.
What changed
- Nov 13, 2026 First published.
About the article
- Fact-checked by Hollis Tremaine before publication.
- Published
