inactive ESPs cause crash on new game?

[byrdworker]

so i've modded for about 13 years and generally know what im doing but this issue has confused me quite a bit

 

to start, the only plugins enabled are the base game plugins. nothing else. i've been doing the ol "remove and add files till the game works" method and noticed something unusual:

i got to the M's of my esps/esms and when i put them in the data folder my game crashed on new game. i figured i had a corrupted esp and removed them. putting another group of esps back in also crashed the same way. i noticed the startup music being a bit later than usual on crash launches

 

i then removed working esps and swapped with "non working" esps and the game booted totally fine, which means they ARENT corrupted.

 

 

so is there a hard limit on the amount of esps allowed in the data folder? and if so, why is it only affecting me now? such a weird issue

[radiusrsatti]

Skyrim SE as well as LE both have a hardset 255 plugin limit, to include the base plugins... the only workaround for this limit is to merge plugins (not recommended) or convert applicable plugins to ESL, or lite format, using CK or SSEEdit (SE only, far as I know, I don't mess with LE)

Skyrim will allow up to 4096 lite plugins... you could be swapping out lites and regulars

both esp and esm can have the ESL flag, this does not change the file extension unless you change it manually

I would personally recommend using Mod Organizer 2 instead of loading directly into the game folder

Edited May 17, 2022 by radiusrsatti

[wfandrews]

What mod organizer are you using? If you are not using a mod organizer you certainly should be.

 

You have not said what version of SSE you are playing. There are three main versions, one 1.5x and two 1.6x.

 

The majority of mod users use one of three mod organizers. They are NMM, MO2, and Vortex. NMM is the only one that puts mod files directly into the Data folder, the other two use a virtual file system, I believe that is what it is called, which is generally acknowledged to be a superior way to handle mod files.

 

I personally would recommend using Vortex, not necessarily because it is a better mod organizer than MO2 but because Vortex was developed and created by Nexus and there is a dedicated Vortex forum on Nexus in which you can get expert advice on all aspects of Vortex. Something I believe that anyone needs when starting to use a new program.