Hidden esp Limit Issue

[Specopsreaper]

After modding for a couple of years I stumbled upon a issue a couple of days ago while merging mods in Oldrim. I believe the issues is that Skyrim won't load any plugins at all if there are more than like 500 something esps in the data folder. Even if under the 255 active plugin limit, I was at 246/255 while having this issue. All I noticed is if I add an esp no plugins whatsoever load in the game if I don't add one everything is fine. An issue someone can easily run into even if they are merging their armor/weapon/patches etc mods as those esps remain in the data folder.

 

I believe the limits are 253 active plugins 255 if counting skyrim and update.esp and up to 506 plugins total in data folder or 508 if you count skyrim and update.esp. If you only have skyrim and it's dlc active but more than 508 plugins in the data folder the issue will occur and it won't load the dlcs.

 

A solution is to remove any unused esps which I did through Wrye Bash's auto ghost feature. However, that is a problem because they are being merged I need them later and vortex uses them as well. Whenever vortex detects a file change it either tries to restore a file or delete the link to that file. So if I try to deploy mods vortex will try to either restore the ghosted files or sever the links. No bueno.

 

So a work around I found is adding whatever mods, deploy in vortex, auto ghost in Wrye Bash, ignore vortex trying to deploy and play. If trying to add something unghost the files in Wrye Bash ignoring vortex, deploy in vortex, and start the cycle again.

 

Just wanted to leave a heads up to anyone scratching their heads to what is happening with their Skyrim and come across this. For the vortex team it would be nice if there was some way to accommodate this issue. Like a auto ghost feature in vortex itself that moves esps to another folder or changes(ghosts) unused esps from the data folder that way it knows not to unlink those esps being removed/changed when deploying. Vortex would be able to add them back or unghost them as well. That way it helps with this hidden plugin limit.

 

Edit: Added some Images

Edited February 15, 2021 by Specopsreaper

[HadToRegister]

Just disable the ESP on the PLUGINS tab.

[Pickysaurus]

In Vortex 1.4.0 and above, you'll be able to ghost/unghost plugins in the plugins tab. The error you're displaying from the game usually occurs when something goes wrong with your plugins.txt or loadorder.txt file.