Maybe this is too early to speculate, but can this disaster of a UI be salvaged with mods (eventually), or will it always be very similar to how it is in vanilla? If it can't be fixed, then I see no point in playing this game. If I wanted FO3, I would play FO3.

Here's the Oblivion items menu:

http://sidemission.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/oblivion_menu.jpg

Notice how you can, at a glance, see all the particulars for several items simultaneously, similar in some respects to a Windows Explorer interface. You can of course sort the items by name, value, damage, etc. This is a very useful interface that's user friendly.

Now Skyrim:

(I couldn't find an image, so here's a video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz1CHKvjrvQ

Now you can only see names, and they can't be sorted at all. Oh yes, and you can see the stats of one item at a time. Woop. And this is supposed to be user friendly?

But....Its nothing like the pip boy........

Not playing a game this good because of something as trivial as the UI is a bit of an overreaction, don't you think?

Anyway, I definitely think the UI could be improved with mods. My only issue is the lack of mouse friendly controls and how short the visible lists of items are, both of which could probably be fixed. DarN needs to get back here and start working.

Call me crazy but I actually like the UI, it's simple, elegant and easy to handle.. (After a bit of practice..)

I can't play a game that frustrates me every 30 seconds when I try to do something UI related.

The UI is horrible, I agree... but modders are looking into it right now. Hopefully they'll figure something out.

1) why not ask or research a bit in the modding forum?

2) This is one of a several big reasons why I'm holding off on the game. I'm a spreadsheeter; why not have the stats of multiple items available at once? Makes life easier, not prettier?

Add the Morrowind Item Menu.

[img]http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/morrowind_051502_008.jpg[/img]

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/morrowind_051502_008.jpg

The Skyrim UI can be used as an example of what not to do when designing menus.

I just cannot believe they were able to make a menu system that was worse than OB.

Inconceivable!

Sounds like DarN and others are looking in to it. Apparently it uses flash rather than HTML so there is a learning curve, and possibly a cost for flash software. (From my quick glance at a thread in the mod section.)

Well, I also like the Morrowind UI for other reasons. It's certainly easy to navigate and it's very clean. My only complaint is the lack of a 'list view' like Oblivion. Still, I'd take either of them over this Skyrim UI.

I also heard that this interface was done in pain-in-the-ass SWF and not friendly XML. Whyyyyyyyyy?

Apathy. We don't know why, but Todd Howard just stopped giving a damn. It's a stupid move though, he just guaranteed that a lot of PC gamers won't by the next Bethesda developed game on launch. We're talking about potentially tens of thousands of people at least. Bugs are forgivable, not caring anymore isn't.

i just want way to sort my dam items especially in the favorites menu

right now i like 2-3 potions on top, some at bottom, and weapons and spells all over the place

I would of thought the UI being done in flash would make it pretty easy to change?
Flash is rather easy to use...

I've seen a few posts from DarN, and it looks like he's putting in a lot of thought and research. If he fixes this I'm making a PayPal account so I can donate $20.

I was constantly annoyed by FO3 UI, the slow animation when entering and exiting and the lack of a hotkey for map and journal was brutal.

am I the only one not bothered by the ui?

Learning flash, compared to learning XML? Noooooo, not easy. Especially when they bury that flash in .gfx files.

But yes, the UI can and will be redone. However, it is going to be a colossal amount of work so it wont happen anytime soon. Maybe the CK will have a tool for simple UI modification, that would be a blessing, but it seems unlikely.

Being bothered by something you have to use throughout your entire experience of the game is hardly trivial.

I've been playing for 14 hours now, and even after getting used to the UI my thoughts are still that it is cumbersome and very unintuitive.

Can someone point me to the thread where it is being discussed? I hate the ui and I did a lot of flash programming.

edit: nevermind, found it

Woah hold up a second. Skyrim's UI is flash based? If so, that would explain so much.

It uses Scaleform which is a rendering engine for Flash.

It's ironic, because i thought the Oblivion UI was pretty bad, but Skyrim....I don't even know how to react. The game needed a few more months of testing. Its like they just made the console UI, and slapped together the PC UI at the last minute.

.swf files are seemingly the guts of the new menu system. Unlike XMLs, I have no idea how to decipher/edit them. Smaller fonts would be great if someone can figure it out.