When I go to equip armor, I can't see any model of my character. I can either check off whether I want to equip something or not, and that's it. I feel like the menu space has been wasted on two featureless lists and a giant window for viewing the item itself. There's a lot of dead space in the inventory screen, and I think it could have been done much more effectively.


It has nothing to do with a lack of understanding. It's an expression of frustration with an interface that could be better. When equipping arms and armor, why dedicate 40% of the screen to looking at the item and 60% to looking at two unorganized lists of objects? Manage the screen space and get some features in there. Proper software interfaces allow large percentages of screen space for working, with information, data, and organizational tools spread out around it.

When equipping items, the "work" space should include a visual representation of my character and a visual of the object I'm equipping. Why wouldn't it? Looks matter. We've come a long way since text based games my friend, it's not just about picking the object with the highest stat and discarding the rest.

This has got to be the most ineffective equipment screen I have ever seen in a game. How in the world can you not look at your character when equipping armor? I must be doing something wrong because that's just blatantly awkward for an interface. Morrowind's interface was somewhat annoying, and Oblivion's improved on that but was also pretty limited... but this? This is just a list of stuff!

Go in 3rd person view. Turn the camera so you see yourself from the front. Inventory button. Fixed. now you can see yourself equipping armor.

Nope, thats just how the UI is in the game. Go to 3rd person if you want to see your armour.

Yupp, this works.

Thanks guys ... Except that the menu covers what you are trying to look at? I thought of this already, and the best view angle I can get has the character just slightly visible between the two panels. This is uh... well it's terrible really.

Potentially, there may be a mod to force 3rd person when entering inventory menus...

your a disciple but yet you act like yo know nothing about this game....

That's better.
Oh wait, what was your point anyway?

Visual appearance? Get used to closing the menu between each inventory change.

Your lack of understanding when he comes to a map or a menu is pathetic.

I was stunned myself. What is with the Menu system? I can view the item in 3D but I can not see them on my character while still in the menu. Setting up the 3rd person view to show my char on screen is not a proper solution.

I also notice that the "buy/sell" menu is a bit clumsy as it does not give you a direct comparison of you equipped weapons. From what I can tell details of the items is not very clear either. Things such as stats and weapon type, like one handed vs. 2 handed. Everything just seems a bit too streamlined or simplified. Yet it just makes things unclear and forces me to go from the sellers items then back to my items and scroll through items to find the one I wish to compare and then remember the stat then go back to the other one. There is a comparison at the bottom of the screen but for armor it gives an overall rating and not piece for piece, while weapon I am not sure if it compares to whatever is equipped or a like item I have in my inventory.

It has nothing to do with a lack of understanding. It's an expression of frustration with an interface that could be better. When equipping arms and armor, why dedicate 40% of the screen to looking at the item and 60% to looking at two unorganized lists of objects? Manage the screen space and get some features in there. Proper software interfaces allow large percentages of screen space for working, with information, data, and organizational tools spread out around it.

When equipping items, the "work" space should include a visual representation of my character and a visual of the object I'm equipping. Why wouldn't it? Looks matter. We've come a long way since text based games my friend, it's not just about picking the object with the highest stat and discarding the rest.

This is one of the things I miss most from Oblivion. Without that vanity view in the menu, I find myself faffing with equipment less and less. I like looking at my character and choosing what they are wearing. Looking at the 3D model of an item in 60% of the space available just seems silly. Espeically when I have to keep closing and opening it everytime I fancy trying a new items is very tedious.

I had discovered the "position your character in such a way as to see them while in-menu" but it is hardly an elegant solution.

I would be very happy if they replaced the item picture with my character model, but I doubt that will happen, alas.


Forum rank has nothing to do with how much a poster knows about a given subject.

I also felt some of the things you're describing but I didn't care about them that much at the time. I learned to enjoy the interface for how quick to use and clean it is. Still, I'm sure some of those things will be fixed with patches/mods eventually, for those that care.

It is very clean and sleek. It looks almost Call of Dutyesque. I like the sleekness of it. However, I'm accustomed to using programs that have lots and lots of features like photoshop or premiere pro. The amount of workspace that you can get in those programs is huge, but they still have a nearly unlimited amount of tools and customization.

When I look at Skyrim's menus I just see giant windows with lists of things that aren't in any particular order, nor can the order even be changed. There's so much more to an interface than a simple list. Most game companies and software developers figured that out years ago. I'm not sure why Skyrim is so minimalist.

It looks sleek, but it also means that you can't do anything.