Is there a mod for Dwarf Fortress which makes ux better?

I've played Dwarf Fortress for a while and my only problem with it is that the UX is terrible. The controls I have to use are not consistent. Sometimes the same menu behaves in a different way depending on context and so on. So my question is whether there is a mod which fixes (or at least tries to fix) the UX issues with Dwarf Fortress without having to use external tools?

I've tried Dwarf Therapist, Stonesense and Lazy newb pack which are good but I don't like that I always have to Alt+Tab out of the game if I have to switch roles and such.

So the main thing is that I like the ASCII art and I can install a texture pack which makes it even better but the controls are disastrous. Is there a mod to make the UI better without external tools?


No, unfortunately. The UI is hardcoded into Dwarf Fortress. The limited moddability possible via editing data files does not enable changing this part of the game's behaviour.


I'm unsure what exactly you are looking for because you list a few mods that seem pretty different, but the closest I can get to what you want would have to be Masterwork. Recently I have been using the Masterwork mod for Dwarf Fortress. You mention Dwarf Therapist being something you have tried but didn't like the alt tabing aspect. Masterwork includes a labor chart similar to Dwarf Therapist (I believe it uses DfHack). It is no where near as advanced as Dwarf Therapist, but it is significantly easier to use than the current labor system. It adds in tons of new content as well, which is good or bad depending on how you feel about Dwarf Fortress. I love all the new content but you can disable nearly every single change in Masterwork, the only change I can think of that you can't get rid of is the generalization of materials. It doesn't actually affect gameplay, it just gets rid of the added names like kangaroo meat and cat meat into just meat, but only if they are exactly the same statistically. Same goes for wood, leather, etc.

EDIT: There are a couple additions that I forgot to mention. One is the possibility of using the mouse for designation and similar tasks. It by no means removes the necessity for the keyboard, it just adds a new tool (which can be disabled in game). You also have the ability to enable box select for some tasks that didn't use it previously. Most buildings that use UHKM to decide the size of the building (I haven't played vanilla recently so I don't recall if floors and walls used UHKM controls) are now able to be created using box select (the same thing you use to designate mining zones).