Skyrim Mod Review: Minimal HUD for Skyrim

    This is a review for a HUD (heads-up-display) mod called Minimal HUD (version 1.3). It's a highly customizable interface mod that allows you to configure nearly every part of your HUD. It comes with all the features of a good interface mod, as well as a couple new crosshairs, and a feature called the Layout Manager, which allows you to save all your layouts for future use. This is my personal choice of HUD mod, and I recommend you try it out.


     The second mod I'll be reviewing is called Minimal HUD. It's an interface mod designed to be fully customizable. The creator, LordConti2, is the author of popular mods like Take Notes - Journal of the Dragonborn. Minimal HUD is less popular than mods like iHUD, by Gopher, or Less Intrusive HUD II, but I prefer it, even after trying those mods. Now, I'm going to explain why.

     Minimal HUD offers similar features to iHUD. You can turn off the status bars, change the size of various elements of the UI, and scale 99.8% of the HUD (each part individually, not the entire HUD). It also features an MCM menu, courtesy of SkyUI, which is required.

     So what separates Minimal HUD from it's competition? It has a few more features as well. It has a greater level of customization than iHUD, allowing you to edit the following categories, most of which are scale-able, and movable (you can also edit opacity):

• Status Bars (Health, Magicka, Stamina)
• Compass
• Sneak Eye - you can move it separately from the crosshair
• Crosshair - includes two new crosshairs, plus an invisible one if you don't want a crosshair at all
• ArrowInfo (the info on the screen that displays your type of arrow, and the amount of arrows)
• Enemy Health Bar
• Charge Meters (for enchantments)
• Messages
• Miscellaneous - you can hide the activate button and [Empty] tag here

    There is one more feature of Minimal HUD, which is helpful, especially if you play through Skyrim a lot. It's called the Layout Manager. It allows you to save the current layout you have, to create your own presets. When you start a new game, you can reload the preset that you saved, so you won't lose any of your hard work. There are also presets you can choose from, and then edit, and then save as a new preset. You can also download an iHUD compatible layout from the mod page on the Nexus.

     I prefer Minimal HUD over iHUD, mostly because some of features work better. In iHUD, if I wanted to get rid of the crosshair when looking at an activate-able item, it would flick briefly before going away. From several days of testing, Minimal HUD has shown no bugs or issues, and I'm playing with 53 other mods right now.

     Of course, every mod has it's cons, and Minimal HUD is no different. Unlike iHUD, or even Less Intrusive HUD II, setting up the layout is a little complicated. There's no preview function, like in Less Intrusive HUD II, so you have to exit the MCM every time you want to check something, and then perform an action that will bring up the HUD element. And the x and y axis seem a little fidgety - from what I could tell, setting the same x and y axis on two elements would put them in slightly different spots. 

     I spent about 10 minutes setting up my layout from scratch, without using any of the templates that came with the mod. It will probably take you a little less, but once it's done, you should have the perfect layout, which you can then save. Once you've saved it, you should never have to edit the HUD again. (You can overwrite the saves for a layout, or create new layouts each time.)

     I highly recommend this mod if you want to configure your own HUD. Of course, this style may not suit you, so you can check out iHUD and Less Intrusive HUD II if you want.