Immersive Interface
From Oblivion Mod Wiki
| Author: | h4rfleur |
| Thread(s): | Gaming Source |
| Version: | v1.03 |
| Last Updated: | May 13th, 2006 |
| Download(s): | TES Nexus, PES |
Contents |
[edit] Description
Immersive Interface changes the appearance of the main heads-up display to make it smaller, simpler, and less intrusive. Unlike many interface mods which add custom graphics or a "new look" to the default Oblivion HUD, Immersive Interface was written with the feeling that for players looking for "maximum immersion", a much subtler and more minimal on-screen interface would make the game more immersive without sacrificing the clarity and availability of important game information. It thus attempts to free up screen space so that more of the world is visible, and to take artificial game information slightly outside the player's main field of visual focus. The hope is that this information will still be easy to find at a glance, but will virtually disappear when the player is not looking for it.
Immersive Interface also recognizes that what makes the ideal HUD is often a matter of individual preference. With the 1.0 release, Immersive Interface introduces a wealth of configuration options through the new Immersive Interface Design Assistant, an extremely simple installation tool that allows you a great deal of freedom to design your own HUD. Select a layout, arrange your HUD elements, even turn any aspect of the HUD off with the knowledge that Immersive Interface will automatically arrange elements to eliminate gaps... Best of all, the Design Assistant will automatically maintain backups of your original configuration and your most recent Immersive Interface configuration, so you're free to experiment without worrying about losing an old setup, and without copying and replacing files.
[edit] Screenshots
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[edit] Details
No matter which configuration possibilities you choose--unless you turn the entire HUD off, which is also an option!--the design philosophy of Immersive Interface includes a number of consistent elements, each intendedto keep the HUD out of the way of the game world.
- A small profile: The weapon and spell icons are reduced to half size. The compass is widened, so more directions are visible at once, but dramatically reduced in height. The status bars are also much smaller, and can be set to auto-hide. The spell effect icons are also half-sized, and include graphical timers that replace their default scale.
- Less intrusive positioning: The entire HUD is moved out of the middle of the screen and arranged along the bottom edge, where it covers up as little of the game world as possible without being hard to read.
- A new crosshair: Immersive Interface resizes the crosshair to make it less overbearing without impeding your accuracy with ranged weapons. (The crosshair has been tested and aims to exactly the same location as the default.) Immersive Interface also gives you a smaller sneak icon and choices about where to put it. As of the 1.0 release, Immersive Interface also gives you new choices with respect to the "activate icons" that appear when the crosshair hovers over a chest, a door, a bed, etc. You can use normal-sized large icons, use new half-sized icons that fit perfectly into the center of the sneak icon, or--most immersively of all--turn the activate icons off completely. If you choose the last option, instead of displaying the "red hand" icon, the crosshair itself will subtly turn red to warn you when an action is illegal.
- Compatibility: Immersive Interface is designed to work with as many other interface mods as possible. Thus it takes steps not to overlap or crowd areas of the screen reserved for other aspects of the interface (such as the status updates and the text for item info and NPC names) and when a configuration option does present a possible conflict, it will be clearly marked in the Design Assistant. Additionally Immersive Interface does not depend on using a particular font: it will look its best with DarN's excellent font pack, but will work fine with the default fonts as well.
[edit] Compatibility
Immersive Interface is completely compatible with all mods except those that change the same things it changes: the main heads-up display and the crosshair/sneak icon. In other words, Immersive Interface is compatible with all mods that add quests, weapons, houses, visual improvements, etc. to the game world. Immersive Interface does not alter the game world at all.
Immersive Interface is compatible with all interface mods that change the map, inventory, and all other menu screens. Immersive Interface only affects the interface you see when you're running around in the world, not what you see when you enter the map/menu screen.
The only mods with which Immersive Interfaceis not compatible are mods that change the main heads-up display (status bars, weapon and spell icons, compass, etc.) or the crosshair/sneak icon. These mods use config files with the same names as those used by Immersive Interface, and will thus overwrite Immersive Interface (if they are installed on top of it) or be overwritten by Immersive Interface (if it is installed on top of them; however, as previously noted, Immersive Interface will create a backup of the other config files in this situation).
If you are using an interface package such as BTMod or DarN's configs, Immersive Interface will simply replace the HUD and crosshair aspects of those configs, and will work perfectly with the rest.
Also note that Immersive Interface does not require any other mods to function correctly. If for some reason you don't want to use BTMod or any other UI customizations, you can still use Immersive Interface.
[edit] Changelog
[edit] 1.03
- Fixed a bug with the shadow of the text counter appearing behind the graphical counter of the spell effect icons.
- Changes to status bars that are turned off will no longer bring the other status bars out of auto-hiding.
- The arrow count display will no longer show up when the weapon icon is turned off.
- Improved the positioning of the arrow count display when large fonts are used.
- Fixed a bug with the location of the sneak icon in some left-oriented configs.
[edit] 1.02
- Fixed the Center template to work properly at all resolutions.
- Considerably improved code that handles hiding of HUD elements.
- Added an option to use either Graphical or Text timers with the spell effect icons.
- Added an option to use Large or Small fonts with the arrow count display.
[edit] 1.01
- Fixed the Center Compass template to work properly at all resolutions.
- Fixed a bug with status bars not autohiding properly in some left-oriented configs.
- Fixed the position of the spell effect icons.
[edit] 1.0
- Introduced the Immersive Interface Design Assistant, a simple wizard-based installer which vastly extends customization options for the HUD.
- Added two new crosshair options: one which uses smaller activate icons, and one which removes the activate icons completely.
- Added an automated backup/restore utility and an uninstaller with the ability to restore old configs.
[edit] 0.79
- Added a new mesh for the spell effect timer to allow a smaller version of the default.
- Replaced the old text timer with this new graphical one.
[edit] 0.75
- Moved the spell effect icons to prevent conflicts with the default information text.
[edit] 0.7
- Fixed the issue with the levelup icon appearing inside the compass in the "faded" versions.
- Added an option to put the sneak icon on the bottom of the screen.
[edit] 0.6
- Initial release.
