One thing I didn't like very much about Oblivion was the UI and how everything was made for / optimized for consoles, then ported without much changes for PC. You eventually learnt how to use it, but it was much, much slower and user-friendly than it could (and should) have been. Tons of mods partially helped this though.

How do you think this will be in Skyrim? Will Bethesda create this game with consoles in mind and then port to PC like last time? Or will they create different UI this time?

I play console, so It doesn't matter much to me

Some people are saying they would like to see different UI all together for PC and one for console.

They most likely are doing the "made for consoles, then just ported to PC" routine . But with 11 months they can take the time to make a better UI.

I would like that a small team dedicated to make some changes to suit PC gameplay. But honestly, I wouldn't care as long as I can have fun with the game.

Just like Oblivion: designed for console, PC users who want real PC-style interface have to wait for the modders to finish the game for them.

While I'd like to think they're catering to all platforms equally, I have to be realistic and say they're probably focusing on the console side more. It really doesn't matter that much though. Within a month there will be plenty of UI mods.

I would like them to have the PC in mind at first, then the console, but I doubt that'll happen. <_<

We do not allow 'console bashing' - Milt

I would just like to say that it is better to design for console and port to PC than to design the UI for the PC and then port to console. The PC can at least mod that UI and while I(and everyone else) would rather see Beth optimize a separate UI for each, if they don't I hope they put the consoles before the PC because of its inability to change on the console.

I imagine this thread going downhill very fast.

But they should really just either have seperate User Interfaces for console and PC, or have one that works for both.

The UI for Oblivion on PC was ugly and clunky. Even the UI mods didn't really fix the core problem which was the UI itself, they just made it more tolerable by making it at least aesthetically pleasing (making the font smaller for higher resolutions alone is an important step).

If all they do is add hotkeys, it would be a huge improvement over Oblivion's UI. On PC in order to get to the map screen you have to 1) Press Tab, 2) Switch to the Quest/Map screen with the mouse (or use F1-F4) 3)Select the world map screen on the quest/map screen with the mouse. Imagine if all you had to do was press 'M' and go about your day (or in Morrowind, just 'Right Click' and bam, all your info is right there and easy to access with one click)...

They didn't do it with Fallout 3 which even though it's more aesthetically pleasing than Oblivion's UI is just as clunky. I honestly have no idea if they'll fix it or not...but if they don't, it says a lot about what they're doing with Skyrim.

From what they detailed in the article, the menus seem to be built more around something that fits well with a console interface - there's four separate sections, each mapped to a different direction (something that suits a D-pad especially well). Not that that's necessarily a bad design for the PC, and the skills menu at the very least looks like it's going to work fine on anything. I'm pretty sure that the major factor in terms of whether or not it works well with the PC is going to be how things like the inventory scale to higher resolutions more than anything, and right now there's no way of knowing how they're handling that.


Why is it that most of the people who constantly talk about how inferior console players are and constantly imply that console players are intellectually inferior and incapable of handling more complex plots and features have such poor grammar? Not that I'm a grammar/spelling nazi, it's just something that's started to bother me - if you're going to take shots at the ability of other people to enjoy or comprehend something complicated, you should at least be able to do so with a basic understanding of the language you're doing it in.

All it needs is a choice under the game settings menu - Small user interface (optimised for monitor) or Large user interface (optimised for television). How hard can it be to just shrink the fonts and icons and give the player a choice?

I see this thread becoming something like "HERP PC BETTAR" followed by "DERP NO I LIEK CONSUL."

You know, speaking as a console gamer, I think the question of whether Bethesda will put in the effort to create a good UI for PC gamers is a legitimate one.

Can this thread please talk about that instead of descending into childish insults? Just for once?

I'd really like to see them put forth some effort to make the PC version have a more PC-friendly UI. Dragon Age had a much different UI on the PC than it did on the consoles, and rightly so; a UI that is good for a controller does not necessarily translate well into a UI that is good for the keyboard and mouse. Yeah, there will be mods if the UI is once again terribly optimized for PCs, but why should we have to wait until weeks after release to get a decent UI?

I agree...-.- Are there only like 5 people on this thread who believe in the saying "to each his own"?

The OP is talking about the UI. The UI for Oblivion was clearly made for consoles. Doesn't mean it's a bad UI. Just a bad UI for PC users. It's clunky, a pain to navigate with a mouse, makes sorting through inventory a pain, and it takes too long to find what you're looking for. In addition the HUD took up a lot of space on the PC interface. A lot of the problems are resolution related, namely the OB UI doesn't scale to higher resolutions which is what most mods fixed by changing the HUD and the fonts etc.

Apparently not.


The issue people have is that "to each his own" isn't something that really happens here - if Bethesda doesn't make at least a few basic tweaks to ensure that the UI is usable on PC, console users are getting a UI designed to the specifications and strengths of the platform they're playing on while PC users are stuck using one that's designed for controllers and televisions rather than mice and monitors.

The kind of ridiculous console/PC arguing and insults are pointless, but this is still a serious issue for the game that's worth consideration because it's one of the few areas that actually can lead to the consoles having a serious impact on the usability of the PC version.

Simply put, I don't want to take anything from the console version. I also don't want the console version to take anything away from my PC experience.

Even simpler, 2 options, one for each.

No bashing, and everyone wins.

Provided the UI in Skyrim still utilizes xml it'll be Darnified within a week of release so I'm not concerned.

Yes. The OP had a good point.

It's a shame others in the thread used it as an excuse to whine about their opinion being better than everyone else's.

For the record, I'm on the side that Bethesda should take the time to make a dedicated UI for both versions. There's no reason not to, really.

in 5 years noone will be playing games on pc so they wouldn't spend any money on pc

Actually designing a full, separate UI for two different platforms means a great deal more effort needs to be put into laying out, programming, creating art and assets for, and testing each UI, so that's a pretty good reason not to. It'd be far more sensible for them to just make a UI that scales and sorts well on both platforms rather than create a unique one on each.

Yup, NES and Sega Megadrive sure killed PC gaming good :rolleyes:

And the best way to predict future behaviour is past behaviour, it'll have UI designed for consoles. Hopefully Darn will be there to save us.