Li'l bump for the question here.

Go to Documents/My Games/Skyrim/ and find the SkyrimPrefs.ini file. Open it in notepad.

Look for the following

[Interface]
bDialogueSubtitles=0
bGeneralSubtitles=0
bShowCompass=1

and change it to

[Interface]
bDialogueSubtitles=0
bGeneralSubtitles=0
bShowCompass=0

Awesome, thanks!

Well, I'm not sure, after disabling HUD on Adept for a while and dying about twelve times in a row versus various enemies I pretty much gave up.

.. Although I'll probably attribute that to my being a horrid gamer.

Well the quest givers don't really tell you where stuff is they just give you a general direction and send you off that's my excuse for using the hud.

Wow, so simple. Why I never noticed that before, idk. I guess I was too busy changing Shadow settings to fix the terrible shadows I had at first.

Thanks, now my minimalist HUD is golden except for that Object targeting problem.

Not sure if that is a good anology. It is more like "no one needs a GPS navigator complete with back up camera" in their car because a map and a rear view mirror work just fine.

@Elricwulf and Sokjal: The OP is not trying to "force" anything on anyone. He is trying to open people's eyes to the possibility of something they might never tried otherwise.

I am a recent no-HUD convert. I have been playing TES games for years with no crosshair and have been annoyed that I cannot turn off sneak crosshair, compass icons or red dots. Since I am on a PS3, I cannot just mod/ini my way out of these.

I had tried turning off HUD entirely but soon gave up out of frustration with not knowing what my health was, but after reading a thread similar to this one and hearing the strategies folks use for keeping tabs on their health, I decided to give it another go, and now I would never go back to the HUD.

I am glad we have threads like these to get the word out, because I never would have stuck with it myself without these types of threads and I am so glad I did stick with it.

In an ideal world, we would have the option to independantly turn off sneak crosshair, compass icons and the compass itself, but TES is far from an ideal world. For those of us on PS3 or Xbox, the only option for no compass, no sneak crosshair play is to turn off the entire HUD.

This Mod might help you a bit if you want to give it a go: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=11135

- it adds descriptive quest text so you have some idea where to go besides "Haayy, can you pick up my sword from Butmunch Caverns? Thanks. Here's a map marker for your GPS."

Lol if op is serious.

I play with the HUD.

And I don't give a rats ass about your opinion on that matter. I play how I like to play and I could care less about you trying to enforce your preferred style of play on others. Or preach. Which is basically the same thing.

1: Expert isn't hard.
2: Most quests are literally impossible with compass markers, because the quest text gives absolutely no clue as to where you can find your objective
3: While tactics are already weak in this game, not knowing how much life and stamina you have totally removes the tactical element because you're just guessing.
4: I don't like the cross hair, and I have a mod for additional quest text so I can turn off the compass, but health and stamina are an absolute must for me.
5: Expert isn't hard.

#2, you can always use the map to help you find out where to go without needing a actual in game compass, that with the better roads mod its pretty much easy to locate quest locations and figure out how to get there.
#3, that only adds to the tactics. Makes you weary that what you might be fighting might be a boss instead of just a minion. Making you approach each fight with more caution and skill.

As for your other points, I don't disagree. Felt I would point those two out though

Geez, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

No skill involved, you're completely guessing with every fight, and therefore approaching every fight the exact same way.

select the book. the title is normally on the front page i as well play hudless, and i agree it's a great way to play.

One additional point no one has yet made in this thread is that with no HUD you do not know how much health your opponents have. I find that more realistic and immersive than looking at their red health bar.

Also, when approaching an NPC, you need to rely on your intuition and clues from the gameworld to know whether an NPC is friendly or not. Last weekend I was entering a dungeon and there were a bunch of dead drauer about and I was sneaking aroung the corner and found a female NPC. I almost took her out with my bound bow when I had this feeling that maybe she was friendly. I snuck up on her and checked her inventory with a quick pickpocket. Nothing incriminating there, and she was not making any of those incriminating comments that bandits often do, so I came out of sneak and tried talking to her.

I have gotten burned a couple of times this way when the NPC that I thought might be friendly turned out to be hostile, but this one was actually a quest giver. I prefer my NPC's not to have a sign on their back saying "Bandit Chief" or "Quest Giving NPC." Much more immersive not to know for sure.

Not everyone is some uber high master race character. I use a mod that only shows HUD in combat though.

Still going to play with hud on, really couldn't care less what you or anyone else thinks is best for me.

Not true, I fight a pack of wolves different then I do undead or trolls. I find each enemy type has a weakness and tactical disadvantage. Also just because you approach each fight the same way doesn't mean there are not tactics involved. Do you ever use terrain advantage while you fight? I am just curious.

IMO and this is just my opinion, what you are saying is that by preciving everything as a threat it makes it less exciting because you can't just run in and mindlessly hack and slash the minions, but are instead forced to approach every fight as a boss fight...


To each their own, play how ever you want. I just find it hard to bite that there are no tactics in this game when I use quite a few of them while I play.

If by the "same way" you mean approaching every fight with caution, then yeah. But you by no means have to handle every fight the same when playing no HUD. You are still using different tactics for different foes, depending on the terrain, number of foes, etc.

And it is not "completely guessing" because you have a good idea how many times you have been hit and (with the possible exception of Bandits that all look the same) you have a good idea what hit you. with those pieces of information, you can have a good educated guess about how much health you have left. Playing without health bars just forces you to either heal a little more often than you might otherwise heal or check your status in your skills menu.

In no way does playing no HUD reduce or eliminate tactics.

I'd have to try it, but I can't imagine how you gauge health status without the bars. Popping health potions at random is weird. It'd be cooler if the bloodstains we get in combat really accumulated or something.

Does it affect you if other people play with the HUD on?
Stop acting like an elitist, stop trying to dictate how others should play and play the damn game the way you want to.

If I were on a PC, I'd probably play with the health/magicka/stamina bars and nothing else, but being on a PS3, I am forced to choose between HUD and no HUD because those are the only choices Bethesda in its infinite wisdom deigned to give us console players. That said, after playing for a couple of weekends with no HUD and occassionally checking health on the skills menu during combat, I am amazed how good I have become at guessing health over a short period of time just by keeping track of how many times I have been hit and by what.

I agree the bloodstains are not very useful because they appear with really minor damage and do not seem to accumulate. It is more about "feeling" the hits when they happen and remembering them until you heal fully. The heartbeat sound is really useful for knowing when you are close to dying because that does not start up until you are very low on health.

He's not telling you how to play. He's trying to encourage folks (perhaps with a bit of hyperbole) to give no HUD play a serious attempt because he has found it to be a rich and rewarding experience he wants to share with others.

He's saying we have no excuse not to play the same way he does. That's not encouraging us to play the way he does; it's insulting us for not playing the same way he does.