Overview
This guide will go though how to setup Oblivion with the least amount of mods and plugins for the most “true to console” experience I have found.
Intro
This is the most straightforward way I have discovered to get the most organic console experience in Steam. It a little ELI5, but like myself, I am sure there are people out there not as familiar with modding and just want a solid Oblivion experience with a controller.
You NEED a controller profiler to map hotkeys to the d-pad. NorthernUI does not support it yet.
You MUST disable ‘XBOX Configuration Support” in Steam>Settings>Controller>General Controller Settings. NorthernUI handles this natively.
You MUST disable the d-pad menu navigation in the configuration (.ini) files.
Shopping List
Head to [link]
Vortex [link]
This is your mod manager. It handles the installation and activation of mods. There are other mod managers available. This is what I am using and it works fine.
Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) [link]
This is a prerequisite for the next NorthernUI. This must be installed manually. There are detailed instructions in the mod page.
NorthernUI [link]
This is a UI overhaul for Oblivion. It make the UI look like Skyrim’s. However there is a ‘Vanilla’ version to keep the original UI and add controller support. This is what I am using. Install using Vortex. Note: NorthernUI currently does not support the d-pad hotkey rotary menu. This we handle next.
NOTE, if ‘Vanilla” is not working out of the box, download both and activate the normal NorthernUI first start the game to verify it’s working and you have the “Gamepad” menu. Then disable “NorthernUI” and enable “NorthernUI(Vanilla)”.
JoyToKey [link]
This is a controller profiler that I use to map the hotkeys (1-8) to the d-pad.
Hotkey Configuration
JoyToKey
In ‘Options’ Tab check the box “Configure 8-Way for POV (Default 4-Way)”.
Set the POV (D-pad) keys to 1-8 starting with ‘UP’
Now, we have to get into the .ini (Config) file for NorthernUI as by default it maps the D-pad to menu navigation, so if we do not disable it we will be randomly scrolling thought the menu while trying to map the hotkeys to the radial wheel menu.
Navigate to;
Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonOblivionDataOBSEPluginsNorthernUI.ini
Open this notepad file and find the line;
bMenuConsumesDPad=TRUE
Change to;
bMenuConsumesDPad=FALSE
In the Journal, highlight the item you want on a hotkey. hold the appropriate direction on the D-pad and press ‘A’. Done.
Outside of the menu you can hold the D-pad and rotate though all 8.
Optional Configuration
There are other options you can change in the NorthernUI config file, but the biggest quality of life improvements in my opintion are;
fMapMenuPanSpeed
This is 4.0000 by default. I have it set to 9.0000 and find this is the most true to console.
iLookSensitivityStepCount
This is 6 by default. I found 2 too slow and 3 too fast, so I changed the step count to 8 and that gives more range of sensitivity to make 3 perfect for me. Your mileage may vary.