odd question what esl mods is everyone using?

[howiebabey]

i got alot of esp mods but id like to add more esl mods any suggestions ? 

[BlazeStryker]

Generally, just pick what suits your playstyle; most light mods are either Esl-tagged already or can have the tag applied. If you use Wrye, glance at its list of Fallout 4 plugins. The green ones are ESL-capable while the pink ones are ESL-tagged already (I honestly regard an ESL-tagged ESP plugin to be superior to a straight ESL file for reasons of fine-tuning the load order). Don't forget to test the black ones with the check plugin function, some of them may be ESL-capable as well!

The only exceptions I have found so far are Looksmenu mod plugins, including tattoo, skin, eye, and hair mods. If they aren't created with an ESL-tag already, don't add one as it may well make the mod's items not show up in the actual looks menu.

Now, as you have a lot of esl type files, you might want to start keeping track of your ba2 files. Keep in mind that many mods don't have ba2 files, the contents being added directly to game sections as loose files. If ba2 files are in play, there can be one or two per mod (Main and textures ba2 files are often separated due to disparities in compression capability) It's important not to have too many ba2 files as the game will bork just as badly as it does with too many untagged ESP plugins.

(based on script load the amount of ba2 files before you've got Too Many varies a bit but it looks to be around 512)

Loose files can be a pain to uninstall cleanly, but there's a definite benefit to them if you can get them installed right.

 

Again, find out what works for you. Oh, the maker of the Deep Cleaned / Rebuilt mods does have a tool to merge ba2 files, but it's a complex business and removing the "Extraneous" ba2 files from Creation Club plugins leads to problems because Bethesda.

I know this is a can of worms but you're bound to run into all this anyway. Good Luck.

[363rdChemicalCompany]

On 2/18/2024 at 1:00 PM, howiebabey said:

i got alot of esp mods but id like to add more esl mods any suggestions ? 

More than I cna count.

I generally use Vortex to mark as light ( ie ESLfiy) any mod that are not core scripted mods and have the option to "mark as light" in Vortex.

With my 340 active mods they are about half and half esp and esl.

[howiebabey]

im sitll using nexus mod manager but ty 

[Karna5]

1 hour ago, howiebabey said:

im sitll using nexus mod manager but ty 

I still use Nexus Mod Manager (community edition) as well. It's fantastic and easily handles way over 600 mods and hundreds of plugins at a time without problem. My Fallout 4 game install directory is half a terrabyte, and NMM handles it great.

I use FO4Edit 64 bit to convert non-light ESPs to ESL. Generally I keep the suffix of ESP when I do that because:

a) it makes it easier to control the load order with NMM that way, and

b) if the file is a master for anything else, changing the name of the file can cause issues.

So even though I currently have only 307 active plugins (it used to be far more not long ago), only 187 of them are true ESP, and the rest are either ESL-flagged ESPs or ESL files.

[fraquar]

There are rules to what can and can't be eslified.    Read up on those first before going down this rabbit hole.

Also, take a good look at your mod list and decide what is absolutely critical and what is nice to have.    The nice to have's can go if necessary.