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Really, you think it's going to be impossible to do things like archery or sneaking, but if you just take a few extra seconds to look at your surroundings, things are still doable, and much more enjoyable. I find myself forced to be much more conservative with my power attacks and spells to avoid consuming stamina and magicka. I have to utilize a little more strategy while in hand to hand combat. The best part is not having that damned compass at the top of the screen. No stupid little disease alerts or things of that nature. Really this is a great way to rekindle your interest in Skyrim. I strongly suggest giving it a shot. Just go to the display menu and turn the HUD opacity all the way off.

I tryed to play without it but only managed to mess everything. Taking things off shelves, for example, was a bloody mess

Thinking of looking for a mod that will let me toggle some of the HUD off in certain circumstances on my next playthrough. I'd still like the compass for N/S/E/W directional purposes, but having been all over most of Skyrim at least a half dozen times, it would be nice to feel like I'm actually discovering new stuff again without big hints showing up to tell me there's a tomb over here and a shrine over there. It's not like I remember where *everything* is, but as soon as one of those markers shows it jogs my memory and I can easily figure out what it's referring to based on my general location.

Still would like the meters to come up when I'm in dire straights, though, and I do like the informational text that drops down to alert me about stuff.

I've been playing no HUD since January. I can't honestly imagine playing any other way now. And i play with no music, it's so immersive it's rediculous. It makes you feel more involved.

*and not to brag, but i guarantee i'm a better shot at archery compared to anyone else, HUD or no HUD. Well, maybe.

But seriously, try playing like this for two or three days and you'll be hooked. The only trouble is Health. Just, if you're close to dying, your screen will become MORE red than usual. That's when you know to pop open your favorites and heal yourself.

Once you go no HUD, you never go back.

X086573 wrote:I've been playing no HUD since January. I can't honestly imagine playing any other way now. And i play with no music, it's so immersive it's rediculous. It makes you feel more involved.

*and not to brag, but i guarantee i'm a better shot at archery compared to anyone else, HUD or no HUD. Well, maybe.

But seriously, try playing like this for two or three days and you'll be hooked. The only trouble is Health. Just, if you're close to dying, your screen will become MORE red than usual. That's when you know to pop open your favorites and heal yourself.

Once you go no HUD, you never go back.

This man knows what's up. The best part of no music also is that you don't know when you are about to get sniped by an arrow or something. Playing like this gives you those, "HOOOLY SH!T!!!!" Moments that have been missing for so long.

When you mean screen goes red, like how Call of Duty does it? Also one thing I might say is, without the HUD how do you know where to go exactly? All of the dungeons and ruins are really out of the way, it's not like if you follow the road you'll eventually find it.

Gotta pull up the ole map

Or use the Clairvoyance spell.

I've been HUD-less for a while now also.

Don't think there is anything that can't be done without HUD.

W/O you really get a grasp of your surroundings. You start to leran the little paths and shortcuts. Plus, i don't fast travel, so going from, say, Whiterun to Ivarstead, i know of two shortcuts, a long way around, and also more if i want to go the other way around the mountain.


And yes, the screen turns a darker red and sort of flashes, like COD, but only if you're really close to dying. I counter this by healing myself frequently. Also, if you're not sure where you're health stands, pop open your inventory. I've taken to searching dead bodies during the middle of a fight to check my health.

And playing w/o music makes the dragon fights extremely scary. One minute, you're picking flowers, a next minute there's a loud *swoosh* and a dragon roars and you're like, "What the sh*t!?

No HUD = Best.

Well I'm using the iHud mod now and have it set up so the location markers don't appear on the compass and I can toggle everything off if I want to... experimenting with playing w/o the compass and other stuff. I may see how well the "Reactive" option works, where the HUD only comes on if you need to be aware of your magicka/health/etc. status. I presume that's how it works, anyway.

I don't know if I could do without the music, though. Getting the audio cue that Trouble Is Ahead does get kind of old after a while, but most of the music is so good that I'd hate to never hear it at all.

I don't turn the music off cause i hate it, i absolutely love it. I do it so that when walk up on a location w/o HUD there's no noise indication that you discovered something. Like real life. That makes it more as if i'm actually exploring this world.

And to discover new locations with no HUD, just get out there, go off road, be ADVENTUROUS!

Before we dislocate our shoulders by patting ourselves on the back for being such awesome HUDless gamers, it's only proper that we acknowledge the real reason that the HUD is an optional feature in the game.

It's a measure to help prevent image "burn-in" on LCD and plasma screens, (caused by consistent bright/high contrast static images on the screen, such as the Target Cursor and the Compass Bar outline,) and the inclusion of a de-selectable HUD is a legal move intended by Bethesda to protect itself from litigation, brought on by angry people who might complain "Hey, you SOBs, your game ruined my screen!"

By warning people of burn-in in the game manual, and by giving you the option of turning the HUD off, Bethesda can rightfully say "Hey, we warned you about the possibility of burn-in, and we made it possible for you to turn off the static on-screen images during gameplay. We've done our part, the burn-in is your own fault."

Yes, turning the HUD off allows you to appear to be a more hardcore gamer, but that's a side-benefit of the having the HUD de-selectable. The real reason for its optional status is to cover Bethesda's butt in the real world.

I decided to try this, and it's really cool. Although I'm only going to be doing it with my roleplay characters, I didn't want to change it back. Just playing without music made me feel so lonely and like the world really was extremely cold. Thanks for the recommendation!

Yes, HUDless archery is very cool. It makes you feel that you, as the player are learning a skill.
I only click it back on if I want to browse bookshelves or am worried about stealing an object on accident.
Early in the game you may have an issue with successful sneaking.

All in all, HUDlessness allows the Dovahkin to "know thyself".
Will never go back to HUD...I may have to try that no music angle.

Da_BossMaN69 wrote:When you mean screen goes red, like how Call of Duty does it? Also one thing I might say is, without the HUD how do you know where to go exactly? All of the dungeons and ruins are really out of the way, it's not like if you follow the road you'll eventually find it.

Yes, exactly like Call of Duty.

Im awful with a bow but I still insist on using it with most of my characters so I dunno if it'd be a problem. Ill try it out.

I usually go hudless now, to be sure. Archery is much easier than you'd think.

Yeah. While sneaking, it shoots a little to the left of the arrow head, while standing, it goes a little to the right.


And i don't play no HUD because it "makes me look cool" or for any reason other than It adds a new dynamic to gameplay, it makes you play smarter, take a more careful approach to combat, and on my TV, at night time, the view is simply astounding.

Something about playing no HUD makes the graphics pop alot more. And w/ HUD seems constricting now, HUDless is so... Free.

I don't care what reason they came up with to let you go HUDless, i just thank God they did it. It's Masterful, but i accept it's not for everyone. It's just some people haven't even tried it, and they should. My mom can't play HUDless. I can't play w/ it.

As much as I love playing without the HUD, when you receive something as a reward, especially when it's gold, you have no idea what you were given and/or how much.

I love no HUD archery. I actually have to practice on bullseyes

Frost Mage wrote:As much as I love playing without the HUD, when you receive something as a reward, especially when it's gold, you have no idea what you were given and/or how much.

Very true. However, This just goes to show that you will be more aware of what's in your inventory. When you check it post-reward you will know what you got. That skill gets better with a bit of time.

If you happen to have a tv/monitor with a power switch at the center, lining up archery shots can be a bit easier in HUDless yet.

I also like being able to ID items (flowers/some books/weapons/locations) in the world without the game telling me. (Although I never know what's in the fat lil' orange potion bottles)

After reading this thread last night, I tried playing HUDless and without music. It made the game harder without the HUD! But...I like it. It made the experience more intense and fighting a dragon was actually really damn scary. I now understand why NPC followers freak out when they first fight a dragon. I love the music in Skyrim, but I think I am going to go without it for a bit. I died a lot without the HUD until I figured out how to check my health. That is a bit annoying and I also got caught doing a DB contract because I didn't know if I was sneaking correctly. I am glad I read this thread though because it made the experience much more real!

I decided to try and play without the HUD and music to try and get as immersed as possible and for me it really did the trick. Archery took a little bit of practice, but I feel so much more involved in the game! I tried putting the HUD back on and it just seems to detract from the beauty that is Skyrim.

I'm trying this out now.

I think the hardest thing will be learning to sneak without knowing if anyone is onto me or not

I will never go back.

This game is so much more fun without the HUD. Exhilarating, really.