This can't be for real - Skyrim's GUI

[EnglishSetter]

I am not one for childish rants, BUT the GUI of Skyrim is one for the ages. How could such a great game series, a first rate game (overall) with such a great following, merit so little thought and effort toward the game's GUI.

I have been trying every mod, tweak, experiment to improve the gameplay (using a PC mind you) for WEEKS, to no avail. Just navigating the mouse to look around me, without jumping around, it is an adventure. On Map mode I am afraid to barely move the mouse, approaching it like it was a very hot potato laying on my table, because barely touching sends me to some strange places.

I have tried SkyUI, and everything else you can imagine. After playing DA Origins, I ask myself what was Bioware even thinking. This is like going back at least 15 years. I struggled through Morrowind and Oblivion because of the GUI, but was hoping for something much better this time. I got back 17 years in gaming, so its not like I am new to this.

I give up. The day a real enjoyable GUI is available for this game, I will be glued to it, till then I will play anything else that is not THIS frustrating.

Thanks for your time, but after paying $59.95, I felt I was allowed ONE rant. Glad so many of you are enjoying the game.

ES

 

[Necromis]

sounds like your mouse not the GUI, try lowering the sensetvity of it.

 

[enfiniti]

Dunno about others, but i use the WASD keys to navigate the map. If you are jumping around in skyrim, adjust the mouse sensitivity. Simple fix. Surprised after weeks of trying to figure it out you failed.

 

[EnglishSetter]

I have played with the mouse sensitivity a million times, actually is everything in general with the GUI. The need to center view just to 'use' zeroing in on things, 3rd person view being an adventure as a direct result, and on and on. Surely this GUI can't be seen as a technological match to the game itself. I am sure it has been a deal breaker for many now silent players who gave up long ago, I am probably a late comer, and departure.

But thanks for your trying to help.

 

[Necromis]

I guess it is just your PC then, because it is smooth on my PC and most others. Typically if it is *flying* round on you when you slightly move the mouse it has to do with the mouse, or if you are using a touch pad that is even worse.

 

[Carlos3lance]

Like it's been said, check your mouse, or the software that came with it(if that's the case). it seem whatever is happening is a fluke, on your end.

 

[EnglishSetter]

Thanks for the new idea. I am trying a controller now, much, MUCH better. I don't give up easy.

 

[enfiniti]

Well if the controller is working for you, it obviously is a problem with your mouse settings. What kind of mouse were you using? Laser, trackball, optical, or old school mouse with a ball? This is the mouse that I use: Newegg.com - Logitech G400 Black 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical 3600 dpi Gaming Mouse. It has its own dpi settings that you can change on the fly allowing you to go from lightening fast turns, to smooth fine movements in a second.

 

[Skullrattla]

Yes, it is for real, and you're looking at it. This is Bethesda counting the money, as they didn’t need to pay for extra time to make a proper PC GUI. They just made one game for PC and console and let the modders do the work for nothing. It's a pretty clever system , really, or sly, depending on your ethics.

I am making a post now in the Help section showing the settings you can add/change in the .ini files to fix the mouse.

For the GUI, I recommend Categorized Favourites mod. I just use a customized version of that and haven't needed SkyUI.

Also, another good one is Boom Remover or something like that, removes the "boom" sound when your mouse pointer hovers over markers on the map.

 

[Kruise]

I play on XBOX, so I never had anything against it. I do have it for PC(HORRIBLE PC) and I never felt anything like this.. Well.... I did have it on lowest graphics and it lagged so bad, I had to restart my computer just to leave.... But, I got 1 kill

 

[enfiniti]

What exactly is wrong with the GUI? Maybe I'm just easy to please, but it tells me everything I need to know at a glance and is not difficult to navigate. One time I got annoyed because the mouse wheel stopped scrolling through the menus, but then I figured out that your directional keys (WASD) do and I've been happy ever since.

 

[Kruise]

I think he means, it may be a bit too jumpy. Like, it is hard to make precise movements. I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Skullrattla]

Any GUI that replaces the OS mouse pointer and adds some jerky "mouse acceleration" is made by idiots who couldn't care less about gaming or user experience.

SKyrim's GUI was designed to be used with a gamepad only... need we say more ? I fluffing hate it, passionately. The amout of times I've selected the wrong dialgue option.... because the mouse pointer happened to be at the wrong place, even though I was using the keyboard to select.
The way options magnify when the mouse hovers over, and others get highlighted when you move with the keyboard.... absolute sh!te...
I think it's made with Flash, NEED WE SAY MORE?

They got a Game of the Year for the graphics and the sheer amount of content. Quantity won over quality in many aspects of the game.

 

[enfiniti]

Yes, that was the main part of his original post, but i was referring to the statements about how horrible the GUI is in general. If it is just precision mouse control, then someone can get a precision mouse. If someone is playing with a $5 mouse, they shouldn't be surprised that the movement is not smooth. Especially with optical mice.

 

[EnglishSetter]

I got a Logitech Laser, so not the lowest 'el cheapo'. Great suggestions Skullrattla on other GUI options. I will try them.

He captured the essence of my feelings precisely: the game is fabulous, as was Morrowind and Oblivion, I also played the first 2, but goodness how could such a great PC game series merit so basic an GUI to this day? To me it is at the level of the first GUI done for text MUDs between 1992 and 1996, before games went so 'graphical', especially their GUI. And then came the great series of online games (1997 Ultima, etc).

The 'pointer' replacement is a doozy, and then where one can't even point on the screen where one pleases but move the whole screen just to highlight something via centering. 3rd person is trickier as a direct result. Or am I totally mistaken that there is another option?

Really appreciate the input and help.

You all are having some fun here and I want IN!

ES

 

[Dagmar]

The GUI is awful for the computers. Skullrattla hit the nail on the head when he observed that it's obviously designed with console gaming in mind. It was actually one of the most immediate and consistent criticisms for the game by PC users.

Aside from the poor mouse interface and keyboard binding system these screen captures point out some of the more obvious problems of the GUI screen design:

Basically the whole game was geared towards game consoles at the expense of PC players (thus the dumbing down of the texture qualities as well). Thankfully we have a dedicated modding community to create features like SkyUI and Skyrim HD textures to make up for it which is probably what Bethesda was counting on.

 

[Dirtcopter77-]

I'd like to have a "release mouse" key like in Garry's Mod, allowing me to click on items and levers to interact with them, rather than having to zero in. Everything about Skyrim, from the keyboard focus to the inventory system, says that it really is just a console game ported to the PC.

 

[EnglishSetter]

Well, Categorized Favorites certainly improves matters. Thank you Skallrattla.It will keep me hanging in there till the modders come my and certainly other PC gamer's rescue.

Perhaps that is why I am so surprised at Bethesda, because Skyrim's GUI is worse than their previous games, which didn't get on the way of enjoying the first 4 Elder Scrolls, which ended up buying many, many copies of for one reason or another over the years.

Dagma you made two brilliantly illustrated conceptual points : 1- use an icon in place of text whenever plausible (~graphical~ game making logic 101 since 1992, that's 20 years ago) and never force scrolling when unnecessary, meaning when screen space is available, the latter to keep as much as possible 'in front of the player~ for quicker and easier decisions. Above all it should be intuitive, not illogical! This GUI is like a book that it is constantly asking the reader to cross-reference and look at other pages, for something that could have been easily included in the same page.

Games should be fun (even hard, hopefully, so they last at the hands of us serious gamers) to play or beat, but NEVER, EVER ~hard to play~ in the first place. This GUI is the result of either outright laziness, cunning as suggested above (let someone else do the work for you) or not worrying too much (arrogance?) about PC gamers, which if I am not mistaken is where the Elder Scrolls started in the first place.

Thanks for the help all and confirming my suspicions that logically this (PC) GUI just doesn't make any sense.

Happy gaming to all and again a sincere thanks.