Maximum ESP file size. Any limit?

[orangedeal]

I noticed that when a file size reached 2800 Kbytes, time needed to save this file in CK has increased.

What will happen (if this happens) if the file size reaches 10 MB or more? Will I have any problems in the game and in the feature?

 

I'm just making a few changes, nothing serious.

Edited January 31, 2017 by orangedeal

[greekrage]

Most of my location Mod esps are well over 3-4 megs.

 

I dont think there is an actual limit but anything above 1 meg starts to slow down the save process due to all the data contained.

Just make sure to back up the esp every couple of hours like i do in a separate file somewhere because when the file gets too big the saving might crash the CK and leave you with a esp file of ZERO bytes hence corrupt and unusable.

Edited February 3, 2017 by greekrage

[brothalynshhung]

**^ happened to me and was scary as f

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

Yeah, I'm only up just past 18MB on my current mod I think (last time I remember looking), but I've had others in the past at ~214MB's (just the ESP, not the archives), iirc.

So, if there is a limit (and I doubt there is), its high.

 

One thing I always do now, is save in an interior. Saving in my main worldspace or The Commonwealth can take 20min *at best*.

 

Always good to back up...I do at least 3 times during a session (with names like "before adding this-that-theotherthing"). Not just to stave off data loss from corruption, but because I can totally shrew up things from time to time. ;-)

[orangedeal]

 

Just make sure to back up the esp every couple of hours like i do in a separate file somewhere because when the file gets too big the saving might crash the CK and leave you with a esp file of ZERO bytes hence corrupt and unusable.

Was two times :smile: But I think it was because I was trying to save the file when the game was launched :sad:

 

Just wondering, is it possible to repair the corrupted file?

 

 

 

One thing I always do now, is save in an interior. Saving in my main worldspace or The Commonwealth can take 20min *at best*.

You mean save game? Where's the bottleneck?

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

 

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Just make sure to back up the esp every couple of hours like i do in a separate file somewhere because when the file gets too big the saving might crash the CK and leave you with a esp file of ZERO bytes hence corrupt and unusable.

Was two times :smile: But I think it was because I was trying to save the file when the game was launched :sad:

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Just wondering, is it possible to repair the corrupted file?

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One thing I always do now, is save in an interior. Saving in my main worldspace or The Commonwealth can take 20min *at best*.

You mean save game? Where's the bottleneck?

No, sorry, I wasn't clear.

I meant in Creation Kit I load an interior cell before saving. If I save while working within a cell in my worldspace, it's very long time.

[Thuggysmurf]

Apologies for necro-ing this thread, but I can't find a discussion of this anywhere else, and am wondering if, in light of more data, opinions have changed at all since the last post on this topic 18 months ago.

 

Same question as before: is there a practical limit to how large an .esp file can be without adversely affecting the in-game experience?

 

Here's the fact pattern: I released a quest mod 14 months ago. The .esp file (not the entire mod, just the .esp file alone) was 7MB when released. Through updates to the mod, the .esp file has grown to 14MB. There do not appear to be any adverse in-game consequences related to the 14MB size so far. It takes much longer to save this .esp file in Creation Kit (over 10 seconds), but that's it.

 

Issue: If I add another 7MB of content to this .esp file, is there some line that can't be crossed for file size, e.g. 20MB, before it starts hurting the game?

 

I'm asking because Bethesda games do non-intuitive things sometimes, e.g. the 130 or so .esp limit for FNV before things often start going haywire, or the issue in Skryim SE where too many .esp files, even completely blank ones, starts tanking frame rates, or the Fallout 4 feature where more .esp files results in longer time for the game to load.

 

Is there some similar booby trap on an individual FO4 .esp file size that doesn't get talked about because no one's tried it yet?

[payl0ad]

Seeing that Fallout4.esm weighs 322 MB I'd say you'll be OK as long as you don't hit 3 digits. It might be necessary at some point to use version control simply because the CK might crash during save, possibly corrupting the plugin.

 

You can test this easily though. Make a copy of one of the larger ESMs, rename it to Testplugin.esp, remove the ESM flag with xEdit and open-save the file with CK. They differ in size so you might even be able to find something like a practical limit.