I honestly have no issue with the vanilla UI.

[Jathom95]

Bit of an unpopular opinion, I know. Haha. 'Course this is coming from someone that keeps the vanilla faces as well.

 

While there are some very nice replacers out there, the vanilla UI suits me just fine to where I don't feel the need to change it. The icon art is big enough for me to appreciate it, the bigger fonts don't bother me, and I don't like the bigger map several of these replacers add because I feel like it ultimately makes the world feel smaller.

 

Maybe it's from the years I used to play on the 360 way back when. Some of it could possibly be nostalgia. But I still think it's perfectly usable as is. Best part is I don't even have to sacrifice a plug-in slot to replace it.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Jathom95

[Striker879]

I'm a vanilla UI guy myself, though you'll not have much luck talking me into going back to vanilla NPCs (bodies or faces).

[Jathom95]

I'm a vanilla UI guy myself, though you'll not have much luck talking me into going back to vanilla NPCs (bodies or faces).

Hey Striker! Long time no talk. :)

 

Yeah, I believe we touched on this on my similar "Vanilla" thread somewhat. With OCO, I've played with it on and off for years now. I've come to the conclusion that I prefer vanilla for one reason - variety.

 

OCO is a lovely replacer for the faces. I can wholeheartedly say I understand why people love it. It gives them a nice stylistic look that also makes the faces more shapely and proportionate in general.

 

But while I appreciate the aesthetic quality nuska applied to her models and textures, I feel that some of the uniqueness of the vanilla faces is lost in the process. The biggest thing about OCO is that faces become sort of homogenized in the process. With vanilla, you have a certain range of ages and whatnot displayed through the default faces. OCO often feels like NPCs that are supposed to be ugly are made beautiful simply because of the one-size fits all approach. It makes the faces look so good that it inadvertently makes everyone a little too proportionate in comparison, if that makes sense.

 

This is just my own personal conclusion that I've reached over time. And I'm in no way knocking OCO, it's an extremely well put together mod, and I can see why you can't play without it now. Just personal preference in both of our cases, eh? In any case, I guess that's why I look to projects like "Undeformed Potatoes" with excitement. Fixes the worst faces of vanilla but keeps the character intact, and those that don't need tweaking really are left as is.

 

Though the bodies are another story. Bodies are certainly not Bethesda's strong suit lol.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Jathom95

[Striker879]

I do get your point regarding how OCOv2 'de-uglifies' some NPCs (whether or not that was Nuska's goal).

 

In my Blockheading project I have used overrides on some NPCs to suit my own tastes. I do serve the Godz of Variety after all.

[Crackomint]

No shame in being content with vanilla. I tend to go for something that keeps the vanilla style but sands off the roughest edges--plain Darnified for my UI, and my own kludge of cosmetics mods based around the vanilla and Roberts heads-- I don't use OCO in part because of the "sameface" effect. I don't begrudge anyone who considers it essential, though.

 

 

Maybe it's from the years I used to play on the 360 way back when.

 

When my partner modded Oblivion on the PC, he kept the vanilla UI for exactly this reason. It wasn't so much about particularly liking the vanilla interface, he was just so used to it that anything else simply looked wrong. :P

[mhahn123]

Just lurking here but I tend to go mostly vanilla also using Darnified as well (Dark UI I believe it is). The vanilla faces are what they are. I've lived with them from day one so they are familiar. My real reason for posting though is that word "kludge"...I like that word and intend to use it as often as possible. :laugh:

[CHASE6]

I used vanilla from 07-11, on PS3. It is totally fine. That said, I think darkdarn is the best one out there now, especially with the mod which allows the settings to save.

[Oblivionaddicted]

I have always been OK as well with the vanilla user interface

Edited August 11, 2021 by Oblivionaddicted

[IcelandicPsychotic]

You know you've come full circle with Oblivion when you used to play it with a shitload of mods and then revert to a mostly vanilla setup.

Edited September 22, 2021 by IcelandicPsychotic

[CHASE6]

I have always been OK as well with the vanilla user interface

 

Hahaha, ya.

 

My setup isn't quite vanilla, but over the years I've gradually reduced the volume of mods to get the game functioning as I'd like it with minimal CTD.