Bringing an overloaded plugin list under the limit

[Furymgs]

Hey everyone!

 

I'm trying to build my ultimate version of Skyrim, and it has gone pretty good so far. I'm getting close to the finish line, but I'm having trouble bringing the plugins limit under 255. More specifically, TES5Edit and Wrye Bash won't let me do the steps that would presumably allow me to get under the limit.

 

I'm trying to build a Merged Patch and a Bashed Patch to top it all off. I was already toeing the limit at the beginning, and I've noticed when building the Bashed Patch that a fairly large amount of plugins got merged into the Patch. So I was like "Cool, let's add these few mods that I didn't think I could include" and now I'm at 268. There should still be plenty of space if we're taking into account the Bashed Patch I'm about to make, but unfortunately, neither TES5Edit nor Wrye Bash will even let me try to load that many plugins, so I can't do neither a Merged nor a Bashed Patch, and I'm stuck over the limit without really knowing what I could do.

 

Can anyone help me figure it out?

[HadToRegister]

A bashed patch doesn't lower your ESP count, all it doesn't is merge some things like Leveled Lists etc in order to ensure that items among several esps are distributed evenly.

I don't know what Mod manager you're using, but if you're using Vortex just have it convert some of your ESPS to ESPfe, ESPfe don't take Plugin space.

You can also do it with TES5Edit, but I'm not exactly sure how, and I believe it only converts to ESL which also doesn't take up a plugin space, however the difference is this:

ESL - doesn't take up a plugin space, cannot be sorted

ESPfe - Doesn't take up a plugin space, can be sorted just like a regular ESP.

 

I currently have 316 mods because I converted a lot of them to ESPfe

[Furymgs]

A bashed patch doesn't lower your ESP count, all it doesn't is merge some things like Leveled Lists etc in order to ensure that items among several esps are distributed evenly.

I dunno, Wrye Bash told me that it would deactivate a bunch of my plugins to implement them into the Patch, and I've seen others on the internet say that the deactivated plugins didn't count toward the limit. I haven't tried actually taking them out to see if they were still needed even when deactivated, but I tried without reactivating them and sure enough, at least one of the concerned mods still worked. Assuming I didn't get it wrong, it would be great if Wrye Bash actually let me load that many plugins to build my patch and deactivate all I can. Then again, it's true that it would be weird, giving people the option to decrease your plugins count as long as you don't actually need to do it.

 

I'm using MO2. I'll check TES5Edit and that ESL feature, and possibly try merging mods, though I want to keep it as a last resort. I'm not sure I'm good enough at modding not to mess it up. In the meantime, all suggestions are welcome. ^^

 

EDIT: So I've read a bit about ESPfe (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/625). Seems pretty neat, and they apparently work with MO2. In fact they were originally developed for it, if I'm not mistaken. Still, seems to me like it may be more of a SSE thing, seeing how you identify and convert the plugins with SSEEdit. Does anyone know of a way to convert them for Oldrim?

 

EDIT 2: Looked it up some more. Would that work on TES5Edit?: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?showtopic=6893941/&do=findComment&comment=64011866

 

Sorry if I'm being a bit annoying about it, but modding my game has staken way too much time already, I'd rather not destroy everything by mistake. ^^

Edited April 30, 2020 by Furymgs

[HadToRegister]

 

A bashed patch doesn't lower your ESP count, all it doesn't is merge some things like Leveled Lists etc in order to ensure that items among several esps are distributed evenly.

I dunno, Wrye Bash told me that it would deactivate a bunch of my plugins to implement them into the Patch, and I've seen others on the internet say that the deactivated plugins didn't count toward the limit. I haven't tried actually taking them out to see if they were still needed even when deactivated, but I tried without reactivating them and sure enough, at least one of the concerned mods still worked. Assuming I didn't get it wrong, it would be great if Wrye Bash actually let me load that many plugins to build my patch and deactivate all I can. Then again, it's true that it would be weird, giving people the option to decrease your plugins count as long as you don't actually need to do it.

 

I'm using MO2. I'll check TES5Edit and that ESL feature, and possibly try merging mods, though I want to keep it as a last resort. I'm not sure I'm good enough at modding not to mess it up. In the meantime, all suggestions are welcome. ^^

 

EDIT: So I've read a bit about ESPfe (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/articles/625). Seems pretty neat, and they apparently work with MO2. In fact they were originally developed for it, if I'm not mistaken. Still, seems to me like it may be more of a SSE thing, seeing how you identify and convert the plugins with SSEEdit. Does anyone know of a way to convert them for Oldrim?

 

EDIT 2: Looked it up some more. Would that work on TES5Edit?: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?showtopic=6893941/&do=findComment&comment=64011866

 

Sorry if I'm being a bit annoying about it, but modding my game has staken way too much time already, I'd rather not destroy everything by mistake. ^^

 

 

 

No sorry, I thought you were using SKyrim SE.

 

ESL and ESPfe don't work with OldRim

 

Best thing to do to lower your plugin count is to get rid of the mods you really don't need.

 

When modding, people tend to download everything, then they find out that some mods they "needed" ended up being 'not so great' or "not their taste"

[Furymgs]

Don't worry, I know, it's something like the third time I modding Skyrim from the ground up. ^^

 

It's just that usually I focus on gameplay improvements so I never have to worry about the limit. Now I'm doing it all, but with all the graphics and ambiance stuff that come packed with esps, now it's a concern. But yeah, guess I'll either have to drop a few mods or start merging. I was using Sinitar's guide and I think he marked the mods that were safe to merge, so maybe I should look in that direction. Thanks for your help! ^^

Edited April 30, 2020 by Furymgs

[IsharaMeradin]

You can have more than one 'bashed patch'. Lower your mod count so you can create a bashed patch. Open that up in TES5Edit and remove all records that conflict with any other mod. You just want to keep the records that came from the mods that the based patch deactivated. Once that is done, rename the bashed patch to something else and make sure it is active. Leave those plugins that were included deactivated, add in your additional mods without exceeding 253 total (gotta keep room for your new bashed patch and the merged patch). Do your new bashed patch and the merged patch. On the second bashed patch, it will probably want to include the first bashed patch, might as well let it and reduce your count by one.

 

If you still do not have enough room, you will need to look into making merged plugins.

[Furymgs]

You can have more than one 'bashed patch'. Lower your mod count so you can create a bashed patch. Open that up in TES5Edit and remove all records that conflict with any other mod. You just want to keep the records that came from the mods that the based patch deactivated. Once that is done, rename the bashed patch to something else and make sure it is active. Leave those plugins that were included deactivated, add in your additional mods without exceeding 253 total (gotta keep room for your new bashed patch and the merged patch). Do your new bashed patch and the merged patch. On the second bashed patch, it will probably want to include the first bashed patch, might as well let it and reduce your count by one.

 

If you still do not have enough room, you will need to look into making merged plugins.

Oh, that sounds good. I remember my count went from 253 to less than 210, so I'm not too woried about not having enough room. But aren't you supposed to do the Merged Patch first, though? That's the way I heard it everywhere I looked. Does the order really matters? Can you actually make a Merged Patch over a Bashed one?

Edited May 1, 2020 by Furymgs

[IsharaMeradin]

Honestly, I have no idea which is "supposed" to come first. But you can always compare the two in TES5Edit and you can always set the final bashed patch to load last. And you can run the merged patch before the last bashed patch anyway. You're just using the first run to reduce the mod load by making a "bashed plugin" (new term there I think)

[Furymgs]

Honestly, I have no idea which is "supposed" to come first. But you can always compare the two in TES5Edit and you can always set the final bashed patch to load last. And you can run the merged patch before the last bashed patch anyway. You're just using the first run to reduce the mod load by making a "bashed plugin" (new term there I think)

So I make a first BP with a reduced count, then a MP with my reduced plugin list and the BP, and then a second BP over the list plus the first BP plus the MP? Yeah, I'll try that tomorrow and I'll keep you updated. ^^

 

Wait, I'm wondering, do you actually need to activate the plugins in Wrye Bash to put them in a Bashed Patch, or do they just need to be "there", active or not? If you can do that, yeah, I guess I can try.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Furymgs

[IsharaMeradin]

More like first BP with reduced count

Then MP with increased plugin list and the first BP

Then second BP with both MP and first BP active

 

I know they get deactivated when you build the patch because they will be incorporated into the patch. But I think they have to be active when you first tell it to build the patch.

 

Feel free to play around till you get the results that you need. The worst that can happen is that you have to delete the patches and try again.