Comments on: On the Oblivion PC interface

By: 5 Cheap Games That You Should Buy Today - The Average Gamer

5 Cheap Games That You Should Buy Today - The Average Gamer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:47:26 +0000

[...] mods that have come out in the past 4 years. I had some serious issues with Oblivion, most notably the console-driven interface. I was also disappointed that much of Cyrodiil felt the same. There was none of that awe-inspiring [...]

By: Fixing Oblivion - The Average Gamer

Fixing Oblivion - The Average Gamer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:55:20 +0000

[...] like he looked into my shrivelled, wasting, PC gaming heart and saw that it was [...]

By: Noble Kale

Noble Kale — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:00:40 +0000

Agreed on pretty much all fronts. There are some significant, glaring omisions from the UI for this game, and it’s quite unfortunate.

One thing of note, though I personally still get annoyed by it, is that the Function Keys are mapped to the Invent, maps and journal commands. Sure, this makes vague elements of sense, but I really would have preferred to have I for inventory, since I keep hitting it so damn many times.

By: kieran

kieran — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:05:05 +0000

A sneaky archer with some descent arrows can be just as good as a spellsword

By: Weefz

Weefz — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:55:06 +0000

Well said Compass.

Sorry to tell you, Fallout 3 is, I believe, even worse. It crashes more often, the interface is even more frustrating and the dialgue option font size is huuuuuuge. I'm waiting for the modding community to step up and fix it. Failing that, I might just buy on PS3 next year since it's clearly designed for the controller and TV.

By: Compass

Compass — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:42:16 +0000

I actually just got finished playing some Oblivion. I was so disgusted with the interface that I immediately googled "Oblivion bad interface" to make sure I wasn't alone.

It actually does a LOT more wrong than you go into up there. I could go on for pages. (An example: There are FOUR different ways to exit menus — Space Bar, "Use" Key, Tab Key, Exit Button — and usually only one works for any given menu. Go ahead, try them all! Fun for the whole family!) It's really quite astonishing how terrible it is for such a high-profile game.

Making matters worse, it was just as bad in Morrowind. They've had several years to figure things out, fire their current Interrface Designer, PLAY their own game and see the glariingly obvious, etc. and have evidently turned a blind eye.

I've gotten used to looking past design flaws when there's a compelling game underneath (hell, I'm a fan of the Gothic series), but I think this time it's just too much. I can only pick up and drag my mouse repeatedly just to see the top of the map so many times before my irritation overrides everything.

I have Fallout 3 but I'm afraid to start it.

By: The Lair of the Monkey » The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion User Interface

The Lair of the Monkey » The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion User Interface — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:54:41 +0000

[...] at The Average Gamer there’s a great post on Oblivion and how the UI isn’t up to scratch.Â Check it out, then come back here.Â Here’s some [...]

By: Mr Butterscotch

Mr Butterscotch — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:44:35 +0000

I actually quite liked the Oblivion interface – then again I’ve lived through the gaming hell interface that is Neverwinter Nights 2 UI – now THAT is horrible. Think Oblivion is complicated? Play NWN2 and you’ll know what complicated is. Try managing (in a similar fashion) inventories for a host of different characters.

Oblivion was refreshingly simple. Things were grouped together. There were times I found the game to be somewhat buggy though, especially with regard to the map. I never found myself lost really though, except in the very rare large dungeons.

There was that shift-button (I think it was shift) hot mapping where you could add 8 different things to the wheel, giving you quick access to some spells etc.

The thing I did find odd was, as you mention, lack of keys to access say inventory or map. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember everything being accessed from the tab key? Or maybe that was just my machine.

Ultimately I found Oblivion to be a wonderful, wonderful gaming experience. Perhaps the only thing that marred it for me was, as with all RPGS with a freeform element, the ‘best’ character was always going to be some sort of spellsword. It didn’t benefit you whatsoever to be an amazing fighter and not use magic, and vice versa.

By: Polo26450

Polo26450 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:28:26 +0000

I have to agree about the shortcut keys….Generally having to trawl through a dollhouse of spells and items to find the one needed is a bit of a pain, but that,s why you have the tabs on the underside of your inventory. It quickly categorizes the items into general like lockpicks, gems and such, weapons, armor and potions. It’s not that bad. It takes 3 or 5 seconds more to select, but hey, seeing the rest of the game, (BTW I play Oblivion like 5 hours a day, sometimes more) it is AWESOME. Once you see your foe flying through the air, still spasming from the electric bolt you shot him with and still burning with your Fiery Touch spell you have used just moments before, and then sliding down a embankment, limbs flailing as he rolls over rocks and shit, to hit the water, and wait for it…create ripples on the surface, and actually FLOAT!

The definition of brilliance.

Regards
Polo26450
THe Brotherhood South Africa/SNAFU!

By: nocash

nocash — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:08:24 +0000

I recommend the DarkUI mod by DarN, or something like it. It makes a ton of improvements that make the UI behave more like it should have at shipping. If you don’t like the idea of a dark-colored interface, check out BTMod.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11280

You can view images of the interface in action from that page by clicking on the images tab. Unfortunately, it doesn’t solve the custom key mapping issue (though it does add arrow key usage to many menus).