SHORT VERSION:

How can I remove / hide the quest journal and disable the quest popups that happen when making progress on an active quest? I want to have no in-game indication of how far I an on a quest besides what npcs say and do. This does not mean removing all quests, it merely means removing the interface side of them, so that the player has that much less 'computer' between them and the world of Skyrim. It's an immersion thing.

LONG VERSION:

Hello everyone! New here, so I apologize if I am posting this in the incorrect place or something like that. Also, sorry if this is a stupid question with an easy answer!

I've had Skyrim for years now, and recently I have not played it at all. I've logged over 500 hours (which is not much to some, but that's a lot for me) and at this point, I don't really feel the motivation to keep playing.

Skyrim is a beautiful game, and can be a lot of fun, both playing and modding. Fact is though, the primary driving factor of gameplay - that is quests - have lost all appeal to me. I feel like I've seen them all, and I have tried plenty of quest mods as well. I want something different. I want to be free of the quest journal. I also doubt I'm the first to feel this way.

So, this might be mod-related, but it might not! I'm looking for a way to remove/ignore quests - to go around doing my own thing. Raiding bandit camps, dungeons, looting corpses and tombs. Stealing goods and selling them. Even leveling. I want to do that all, free of the built-in incentive.

Ideally all this would be was a removal of the journal. I know how to hide questmarkers, but those popups that tell you how far you are in a quest are really what I want gone. Quests might even still be fully functioning, allowing you to complete them normally, without the aid of a journal.

"Well, why don't you just ignore those popups, and never open the journal?" Good question! I try to ask myself it, but as soon as I start up the game I feel like I have to go through the same old steps again. I feel bound by them. Limited. I want to go wherever, whenever, without the concern of the dozen quests I have supposedly 'accepted'. I know, I know, it's all in my head, but I'm just looking for a simple way to hide the journal and those bothersome popups (along with the accompanying sound). I except a .ini edit, or perhaps something in the console. But I've not found anything, and yes, I tried Google.

Thanks for the help!

Welcome!

The best way I know of hiding all these indications popping up on the hud is... disabling the hud, in the options of the game, display. Doing this will remove all indications: health/stamina/magicka bars, crosshair, compass, etc.

I've been playing without the hud for months if not years and it's great.

I hadn't thought of that, even though my intention was certainly to play without the compass. Does disabling the hud also disable those sounds? Though I could perhaps edit the audio file for that, simply make it empty...

How do you keep track of health and stamina? I think I saw a mod once that reddened the screen and makes gasping sounds when either was low, accordingly, but I found it just as bad as have a bar onscreen.

Also, what about the crosshair? Is it still feasible to use a bow? And knowing when taking an item is stealing or not? Can it be made so those messages still show up? (steal: cheese / take: potato)

If you remove the hud, everything disappears, except the sounds of course.

You'll never know if you steal something or not, except through the npcs reactions around you.
You'll have to figure out where the crosshair should be when using the bow; which is perfectly doable with training. As I said before, I've been playing like that for months and I rarely miss with the bow, at least on first person view.
As for the bars, you won't have any way to know how depleted they are; when your health becomes very low you'll hear your heat beat faster and faster (at least if you use a head set).

The other alternative would be tweaking the SkyrimPrefs.ini but the indications you no longer want to see wouldn't disappear.

Edit: I forgot, about the bow, you must imperatively adjust the Skyrim.ini by adding these lines or modifying them if they already exist (even if you keep using the hud):

Skyrim.ini: [Combat]f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7[Actor]fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=14000.0000Alternatively, if Dawnguard is installed.Skyrim.ini:[Combat]f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7f1PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7f3PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7[Actor]fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=14000.0000

I prefer to be able to see the health bars and the magicka so I don't waste time trying to cast spells when it's obviously too low, and so I know when I really need a healing potion aside from heart beats, so.. I just dimmed down the HUD opacity in settings to the point that it is nearly invisible. I can still see the health and magicka bars if I look closely, and I can barely see the notifications that come up, and most of the time they're so dim they're not even readable.

Anyway, that gives the advantage that when you're about to steal something from a store thinking you're going to just talk to the shopkeeper, the red "Steal" item X is usually barely, but noticeably, visible. I don't like finding myself in a melee with guards and shopkeepers because I stole something you couldn't pay me to take...

Anyway, that has the advantage of the option to tweak it to a setting you personally happen to like.