Skyrim Special Edition and the 255 mod / esp limit - definitive answer

[cdcooley]

I am a really old operating system internist and I think @Arthmoor misspoke earlier. (Mistyped?) He said "they're using an 8bit form ID field". That isn't quite right.

I think you misinterpreted what Arthmoor was saying. If you read back you'll see people had earlier been referring to the formID as 8bit. Arthmoor subtly and tactfully corrected that by referring to the 8bit field of the form ID as opposed to the entire value. I personally like to refer to that 8bit portion as the modID. It does correspond to load order for the ESM, ESP, and ESS files and is the source of the mod limit. Value 0 will always be filled by Skyrim.esm, value 255 will always refer to your current save game file, Update.esm and the DLC take up 4 more slots leaving 250 for player chosen mods.

[PoorlyAged]

 

I am a really old operating system internist and I think @Arthmoor misspoke earlier. (Mistyped?) He said "they're using an 8bit form ID field". That isn't quite right.

I think you misinterpreted what Arthmoor was saying. If you read back you'll see people had earlier been referring to the formID as 8bit. Arthmoor subtly and tactfully corrected that by referring to the 8bit field of the form ID as opposed to the entire value. I personally like to refer to that 8bit portion as the modID. It does correspond to load order for the ESM, ESP, and ESS files and is the source of the mod limit. Value 0 will always be filled by Skyrim.esm, value 255 will always refer to your current save game file, Update.esm and the DLC take up 4 more slots leaving 250 for player chosen mods.

 

 

I did not interpret. I quoted the phrase I took issue with and addressed my comments to support and address that concern.

 

Edit. grammar and spelling.

Edited February 21, 2017 by PoorlyAged

[Arthmoor]

I didn't mistype though. The entire 8 digit number is relevant, even if the internal mod only uses 6 of those 8 for the purpose of identifying its resources. The game itself has to look at all 8 of them.

 

Also SSE CK is definitely a 64 bit app, not sure where you got the idea it's still 32 bit. The one for Classic is, but that's obvious.

[gravityparade]

Jesus christ

 

The limit is still there. It will always be there until they completely change how they handle FormIDs. FormIDs are 8bit strings, the leading two bits are used to indicate the source plugin. Starting at 00 and ending at FF. FF is reserved for items dynamically created in the game.

 

Therefore there is a max of 255 individual plugins. Skyrim SE comes with 5. Skyrim.esm, Update.esm, Dawnguard.esm, Hearthfires.esm and Dragonborn.ESM, leaving 250 available for use by the player.

 

This is not news. This has been known for ages.

 

Please attempt to do a modicum of research. ANYONE who works with mods could have told you this.

I love you for your knowledge of this issue and answering the guy's question; but posting questions about mods on a mod forum is doing "a modicum of research".

[cadotmolin]

This was my article I sent to them. No responses yet...

 

My dear Bethesda,

 

I'm writing to address a MASSIVE impairment implemented on Skyrim SE for Xbox One. In what appears to be the most unpopular decision this company has made, you have forcefully limited the mod download maximum for consoles. To give some insight I've compiled a list of reasons why this is the most unreasonable action for Skyrim SE.

 

· If the game is unstable because of too many mods, it is user error. Simply put, if you give us console players a nexus menu and limit it, you might as well recall all copies. Why?

 

·We have no access to the infinitely useful load order optimizers. Nor do we have compressors or merging tools. So our only option is to research and clean our load order OURSELVES. Why us and not you?

 

·You gave us console players a recycled game for NEW retail price (60 U.S.dollars for yours truly). Your only saving grace is the new built in mod menu. Which opens up a plethora of new life for Northern Tamriel. But now you've just limited it all. "But we've only limited it to 255 or some other number".

 

·Yes Bethesda, 255, or whatever it has changed to recently, is a rather large number BUT when your marketing ace in the hole is the freedom to create your own version of Skyrim, which then is capped, you've spit in the face of all of us who shelled out more money for the same game with minor tweaks.

 

·Additionally us intelligent consumers can load many mods without major instability, why I have, sorry, "HAD" 286 mods running squeeky clean until the Mod Kaiser came about.

 

In summary, ask yourselves what impact this has made. I've literraly heard 0% feedback of any positive sort on your limit decision. Hell, there's many published articles circling around which denounce this very poor choice. So the final question is; "WOULD YOU PAY RETAIL PRICE FOR A 7 YEAR OLD GAME THAT RELIES ON CHEAP FIXES AND FALSE PROMISES?" The answer is abominably clear....

 

From,

A 10 year customer, David

[PoorlyAged]

cadotmolin, Bethesda did not limit the number of mods to 255. The limits of a eight bit byte and thirty two bit addressing did. And the limits on the Xbox and PS are limits placed by the architecture of those platforms.

Edited April 5, 2017 by PoorlyAged

[KainThePheonix]

I have read that for some Merged Plugins mods that are merged, specifically BSA's that it can be helpful to unpack the BSA and repack it according to the merged file name. But this is fairly specific and I'm not entirely sure. I have used MO and Oldrim and found that even merged files with BSA's work well with merges and I have not noticed any other issues. When I was modding SSE 2 weeks ago I barely had 98 plugins so it doesn't seem that merging may become a big thing just yet.

[KainThePheonix]

Actually, I have a question for Arthmoor, you are obviously more experienced than most. Instead of merging mods, for personal use would it not be useful to create a mod from several different mods using the CK to bundle the assets of say several weapons mods (for personal use, not reposting) as a way of pushing the 255 limit by just repackaging mods?

So instead of needing to push the limit of 255 plugins you could instead have several larger mods - essentially adding a DLC sized mod of say weapons packages? Or environmental mods? Like texture based mods but repackaging them so there are no needs for overwrites?

Thanks!

[LeddBate]

Well, to get more room out of the plug-in limit, there's mods like this.

[BIZZnice]

That is my question to kain and arthmoor too, why can we not use the merge utility to group similar esp for instance the JK mods for the cities of Skyrim or different weapon and armor mods like kain was saying?

 

I just feel there are too many similar mods that increase the number of plugins when in reality they should be in one larger all in on mod.

 

Also how could we change the form id to 16bit? Can SKSE 64 be used to make the change. We have so much access to Skyrim SE and Oldrim I am surprised we would not come up with some ini or script to upgrade from 8bit.

Edited January 16, 2018 by BIZZnice