Oblivion:Gripes/Controls

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This article provides Controls gripes, as part of the User Interface section of the Gripes article.

Keys for the quick menu (F1-F4) and quick-slots (1-8) are fixed and cannot be changed.

Far too few quick-slot keys (8). In a game as complex as this you could have 80 and still not have enough. Adding Ctrl-, Shift- and Alt- quick keys would help immensely (32 relatively convenient keys). Being able to load/save quick-slot sets is another alternative (ex: use Shift-2 to select your 8 quick-slot keys you saved for combat, or Shift-3 to select another saved 8 keys when thieving). Making the keys multifunction would be useful as well. For example, key '1' could cycle through favored melee weapons, '2' through bows, '3' for utility spells (detect life, nighteye, feather, etc.), '4' for offensive spells/powers, '5' for restorative/fortification spells/powers, '6' for utilities such as repair/alchemy/soul stone, '7' for special purpose spells/powers (soul trap, invisibility, chameleon, charm, etc.), and '8' for armor sets ('cause your dwarven boots can be a little hard on the ears when you're walking through Chorrol).

Issue somewhat resolved by the Expanded Hotkeys and Spell Delete mod (requires OBSE)

Having key combinations will only help to complicate the interface. However, it might be useful if there are more than one quick-slot assignments, and you can switch between them when the game is paused (as in inventory screen).

The 360 and PS3 versions use the D-pad for its eight quick-slots. Unfortunately, selecting items under the diagonals is often difficult, as sensitive controllers will activate the primary directionals accidentally while trying to hit a diagonal (e.g. activating the Right or Up items when attempting to access Up-Right).

Holding the D-pad in any direction brings up the Quick-Slot wheel, meaning you can make sure which you are selecting as it highlights the direction you are pressing.

Would you really be able to remember so many quick-slots? Its true that a few more may be useful, but so many would be cumbersome and hard to remember for "quick" selection -- such as in a heated battle. Also, as you can just go to your inventory and select a new spell/potion/sword/etc. so its not so much a life-or-death thing but a convenience. Most users won't get so in depth as to need an extraordinary amount of quick-slots.

I say again: Write. It. Down.

Quick-slot keys that you have assigned cannot be un-assigned. You MUST replace the defined key with something else as there is no way to delete the assignment. (You can actually, hotkey your repair hammers to your quick-slots, and drop one. The slots will free up.)

Why would anyone ever need this? If you don't want to have anything in the quick-slot, don't use it. Having an ability to free quick-slots will only complicate the interface.

If you drop the item that is assigned to the quickslot, it will clear the quickslot.

You can replace items in a quickslot by assigning something else to it. It's not that much of a problem.

There is no consistent use of keyboard and mouse throughout the interface. Something are mouse only (lockpick and persuasion games), other things are keyboard only (quick menus) and others have both. Ideally, you want as many things to use both forms (at least where it makes sense).

The interface for the lockpicking game can use improvement. The movement of the pick seems 'laggy' and difficult to control and there are no keyboard alternatives (using the current left/right/up and action keys would make sense). The mouse cursor disappears over most of the interface so you end up having to wave the mouse around in order to 'find' it. (The manual alleges that you can use left-click or spacebar to lock in the tumblers, but spacebar doesn't do anything. So clearly, Bethesda thought about keyboard alternatives, but removed or forgot to implement them.) When you run out of lockpicks, the dialog that comes up has the mouse cursor placed just above the OK, and there's no keyboard shortcut to clear that dialog, so you have to move the mouse three pixels and click before you can move on.

The lockpick UI is supposed to be challenging and "realistic". Using the mouse gives you more controll over the pick, allows you to pick locks faster and more efficiently (unless you're rubbish at it). 3 Pixels is hardly a chore, a slight vibration of the mouse will do.

Also, I don't know how you play on the PC, but I usually have my left hand around the 'WASD' keys and my right hand, pretty much always when playing such games, on my mouse. With the lockpicking minigame you only needyour mouse so you already have your hand on the mouse, thus moving it down 3 pixels is no problem at all. Or am I missing the point here?

I understand what you mean about the laggy thing; sometimes the mouse just seems unresponsive and doesn't cooperate. I don't think this is actually a mouse problem or anything to do with input as it seems more like a programming thing. As in, the game waits until the tumbler finishes its action before it allows the mouse action to commence. The problem is that it doesn't always do this, etc.

Lock picking could require you to be in sneak mode so as to prevent accidentally picking a locked door that you thought was unlocked and incurring a bounty when in a hurry.

A locked door is indicated by a lock symbol in both the X command at the bottom of the screen, as well as the difficulty.

Pickpocketing requires the player to be in sneak mode, so why not lockpicking?

Agreed. I can't tell you how often I've gone up to a door thinking it would be open and before processing that it wasn't, hit the space bar to open it, only to have a guard come along and give me a hard time about it. And let's not forget the incorrect symbols in the mornings when a shop opens (for example), where you can open a "locked" door only to go right in.

Pickpocketing always has at least one person who could notice you doing it, so you need to sneak. Lockpicking can be done when there's no-one around, so no need to sneak there. Why sneak to open a locked chest in an otherwise empty dungeon room? Also as both pickpocket and talk use the space bar, sneak mode tells the game which one you want to do.

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