NorthernUI

A comprehensive UI overhaul for Oblivion, in the style of Skyrim and SkyUI developed over the course of some seven months. Includes several small engine fixes, and adds native Xbox controller support to the game including its menus. (No more having to set an Xpadder-enabled controller down to manage your inventory!) This mod uses hand-pixeled assets, handwritten XML, and an OBSE-injected DLL to reskin Oblivion's menus and add engine-level functionality.


Installation instructions
Extract the mod into your Data directory (or create an OMOD out of it) to use it.

Mod Organizer 2 requires that you follow special instructions in order to support OBSE plug-ins, including the one that this mod contains. If you're using older versions of Mod Organizer, you will need to manually install the contents of the Data/OBSE/ folder.

Note that in Oblivion, file timestamps actually matter. If the "Date Modified" on your vanilla BSA files is newer than the "Date Modified" on a mod's files, then the mod will not install properly. When you install the game, Steam sets the "Date Modified" on the vanilla files to the install date. You can work around this by changing the timestamps with a mod manager (if yours supports this) or third-party Windows utilities; alternatively, you can try installing SkyBSA, which was developed to fix the game's file handling.


Major features
A sleek, modern look: NorthernUI's handmade graphics capture the look and feel of Skyrim's official menu art.

Native gamepad support: The game's existing (but lackluster) joystick support is replaced with full support for an Xbox controller, and gamepad controls for the menus (e.g. xbuttonrb) are patched back in. A new menu is provided for customizing gamepad controls; multiple control schemes can be defined and edited, and you can switch between them freely. All of this means that gamepad users don't need to rely on Xpadder and AntiMicro, and can play far more comfortably.

A modern Alchemy menu: NorthernUI can optionally replace the vanilla Alchemy menu with one modeled after SkyUI, offering a much smoother workflow when brewing potions and poisons. The new menu lets you sort ingredients by category and helps you tell at a glance which ones are currently usable.

Numerous engine fixes: Menu art is no longer blurry and grainy, the RaceSexMenu no longer lets you put tabs in your character name, save files delete to the Recycle Bin, and pressing the up and down arrow keys doesn't insert weird invisible symbols into whatever you're typing. For a full list, see the Articles section.

A built-in options menu: The mod adds a "NorthernUI" submenu to the Options menu, with settings for the mod itself.


Cool add-ons by other people

Other mod authors have created add-ons for NorthernUI that add in some missing features that I wasn't able to implement myself. Consider giving them a look for a more complete experience.

NorthernUI Hotkeys by Legion adds D-Pad hotkeys, along with configuration options for even more. Legion went the extra mile and also added the ability to define four more hotkeys via button combos that you can enable if you want.

NorthernUI Rumble by doodlez adds controller vibration to Oblivion. Looking at the source code, it's got different vibration strengths and durations for different combat events, and it's programmed to properly stack vibrations when multiple happen at once, which should make for a nice experience.


Compatibility
Display Stats: Compatible out of the box if you select the "Vanilla UI" option and prevent it from actually overwriting NorthernUI's files.

Dynamic Map: Semi-compatible. NorthernUI checks for "Dynamic Map.esp" and if it's detected, NorthernUI's DLL will carry out Dynamic Map's additions to the world map itself. Default zoom options and other ancillary features are not supported.

Enhanced Economy: Unknown. Recent updates to NorthernUI are expected to have improved or established compatibility, but I don't use EE and can't judge for myself.

LootMenu: Compatible.

Map Marker Overhaul: Extended icons (e.g. stables, markets) should show up properly. You can create, edit, and remove custom map markers, and make modifications to default markers. There are some Map Marker Overhaul-side bugs that NorthernUI may make more noticeable (i.e. changes to markers may not appear to take effect, or may appear to take effect inconsistently, until you change the map's zoom level or otherwise force markers to redraw).

MenuQue: Compatible, provided you're running a recognized MenuQue version. You should update to the latest version currently available for download, if you're not using that already. If you run into issues there, that's a bug, probably on my end.

OBME (Oblivion Magic Extender): Partially compatible. Reportedly, NorthernUI's enhanced Alchemy menu can't detect or offer the option to filter ingredients based on which ones have OBME's new magic effects.

Oblivion XP Update: Compatible. ObXP Update offers installation options for NorthernUI.

Toggleable Quantity Prompts: The only way to address incompatibilities was to have NorthernUI offer the same features. If you're using NorthernUI and you're not using NorthernUIAway, then drop TQP and use NorthernUI's options.

WalkBlessed: NorthernUI is not fully compatible with WalkBlessed; however, as of version 1.3.0, NorthernUI offers the same or similar features, making WalkBlessed redundant.


Other links

Source code for the DLL
VirusTotal scan (the Nexus runs their own anyway)