SureAI

Just checking....
It's common for MOST of the NPCs in this game to have only "You Have Failed Your Oath Of Silence" displayed for their text, right? It's only some NPCs that you can actually legit talk with?

Are you still in the monastery in Melee (the start of the game)? That's the only place I think you should see that. (but it has been quite a long time since I've been there)

EDIT: I just started a new game to check a bit, and I am not hearing that from anyone in the monastery and Melee, all have normal conversations. Where are you and whom are you hearing it from?

As best as I can remember, all NPCs will answer you, even if it is just one of a few random phrases, like "nice to see you again John" or"I've never seen such a nice outfit."

Melee. The first town.
Im using the english version and the patch for it. I wanted to see what the german version did, but it will not load under any circumstances. Just direct from boot drops me in a wall near some monsters in Morrowind and then crashes. Before I even have a chance to click new game.

It seems quite random who talks and who doesn't. Many of the monastery people spoke to me. The randos in town not so much. The ones that seem like they have something of substance to say talk to me. Like the guy right outside the house who talks to you when you exit. Or the guy looking for his pliers and his son.

I dont get random small talk. Even the shop keeper gives me the oath of silence stuff, but he still buys and sells.

I'm certainly no expert, but I suspect you didn't install the TAO patch:
https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/28293/

Also see:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/arktwend-the-forgotten-realm

No, I haven't used TAO, as I intended to play this mod "Vanilla" so to speak. And I followed those instructions in the second link. And unless I have an older version of the mod... which I don't think I do, I'm all set. I'm going to see what comes of these files from "http://download.fliggerty.com/download-48-671" though. Maybe they are later versions. We shall see.

Would you recommend I install TAO just to fix bugs in the vanilla Arktwend experience?

Just gave the "new" files a try. They appear to be the same versions, and still have all the same "You Have Failed Your Vow Of Silence" thing going on, as shown in the screenshots. However, I do now have voice acting. And I really wish I didn't. LOL

Okay, update! I have now COMPLETELY reinstalled everything. New copy of Morrowind, fresh copy of Arktwend, and everything seems to be working okay now. I don't know what the problem was. The only thing I can guess is some mod or something was interfering, despite the fact that no other mods were installed and it was all looking clear.

Now my only problem is figuring out how to get rid of the voice acting. >_>;;
No offense guys, but Morrowind is NOT supposed to have voice acting. Not the way its dialogue system works. Maybe Ide feel different if I could understand it, but... I can't.

OK, it's great to hear that you got it working. I don't have voice acting in my game, so I haven't a clue about that. In the game you could go to Options/Audio and set the voice slider all the way to the left, that might work for you to not hear it. I did that with the footsteps as those were really getting on my nerves. Enjoy!