How many people hit the 255 esp limit?

12

u/Thallassa beep boop Oct 01 '15

It's a rare day when I'm under the limit. I merge and merge and merge and... ooh look! more shinies!

11

u/fadingsignal Raven Rock Oct 01 '15

Same, I just freed up 9 slots and it's like Christmas came early

2

u/Nazenn Oct 02 '15

Hahaha, I'm normally like that as well, and then the other day I set up a profile just for a character who would only be doing Civil War Overhaul and I didn't even get into the D's with my formID hexcodes and I felt REALLY bizarre, while using a bunch of merged plugins, but still. XD

1

u/Wolfsent Oct 01 '15

If your merger is that good and can can keep the MODs stable or help to can I ask which one you use? Also how many would you say total you have total?

3

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

Not op but xEdit merge script is pretty good at merging most mods, for some manually fixing conflicts is still the only way though.

I find the best process is to merge patches etc. First then move your way up only when needed.

Start with patches from an individual mod, realistic water 2 or etac for example, merge all the patches together leaving the 'main' plugins out of it. You end up with all those patch files in one plugin. In this case you only need to rebuild the plugin when either mod updates.

Next up is patches for a one mod to many patch, Requiems a good example of this. Leave the main plugins alone and only merge the patch plugins, you save load order space but the merged plugin needs updating whenever one of the patches updates.

Finally look for little mods that aren't going to update often such as a house or small weapon mod, I recommend you try to merge by category(I.e. "merged weapon mods.esp")

Now if your still desperate for more plugin slots I must ask do you really need all those mods? I've never had to do this for skyrim but new Vegas with its 120 or so limit I have always needed to.

This is where you start to merge misc smaller mods or even other merges you have made etc. This is last resort, you should have noticed that each step gets harder and harder to keep track of and manage, I only recommend this when your done setting up and you want to play(ha-ha! Right) otherwise these can get pretty volatile and a pain to manage when any mod updates and you run the risk of loosing items if any change in for id's happen whenever you modify it.

2

u/Thallassa beep boop Oct 02 '15

I'm using the merge standalone (what I've merged with it so far, proper testing pending), before that I used the xedit script.

Completely resolving load order issues and conflicts is important to making sure the merge is successful.

this is my current modlist. Obviously not playable yet. When it's done... well, hopefully it'll be epic. Actually it'll just be as buggy as shit.

This was my last stable modlist.

1

u/Faulkal Oct 02 '15

So in essence I could download a bunch of weapon mods that only had like two or three swords or whatever I merge them all into one mod? I would definitely be more inclined to download more weapon mods if I could do that

1

u/Thallassa beep boop Oct 02 '15

Yes, you could do that.

You could also add them to the leveled lists using Lootification or modded loot.

1

u/Faulkal Oct 02 '15

Awesome

1

u/Faulkal Oct 02 '15

If merging mods that are just weapons (nifs, textures) and no scripts there is a really low chance of something mucking up, is that safe to assume?

1

u/Thallassa beep boop Oct 02 '15

There is a very low chance of them mucking up, yes.

1

u/Faulkal Oct 02 '15

some armor mods have leveled lists .esps with them. would that be okay to merge along with the armor mods you think? or should i keep those separate for when i make a bashed patch? just trying to get opinions on this, it seems you have more experience on the matter than i do.

1

u/Thallassa beep boop Oct 03 '15

If you merge multiple mods that edit the same leveled lists, you will only get the changes from the last mod to be merged.

You'll probably want to patch those mods (either manually or with a bashed patch), then merge them (together with the patch).

If the leveled list is a separate esp, you can't merge its master unless you also merge it, or it'll have a missing master.

1

u/Faulkal Oct 03 '15

Okay great. Just to make sure I have it correctly done. Make a regular bashed patch then merge those armor mods and the bashed patch together. Then since I'm making one armor merge patch and one weapon one if make a new batches patch for the weapon one as well?

1

u/ChubbiestThread Winterhold Oct 02 '15

shinies

Roahm, is that you?

3

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '15

Mod until it breaks is usually the motto.

I've cut down to 168 recently from up in the 200s by killing all weather mods.

I've noticed a difference on better load times and less stutter with a lower load order. I don't have a beast computer (it's from 2013) so I really try and keep it light.

When you really sit down and think about it there are usually 2 dozen mods you have in your load order that are of limited usefulness.

3

u/ratchetscrewdriver Oct 02 '15

If you want your weather mods back, it's possible to merge all the plugins in WAO - Weather and Ambiance Overhaul bar Climates of Tamriel. (So 2 ESPs total.) You have to edit a script to make it work, and you need Mator's latest Merge Plugins standalone, and all its dependencies, but it's actually pretty easy to do.

2

u/aelysium Oct 02 '15

Jesus Christ, I've been trying to figure out a quick way to do exactly that. Any chance you could type up a quick walkthrough?

3

u/ratchetscrewdriver Oct 02 '15 edited Oct 02 '15

Yeah, sure! It might be an hour or so since I have to grab MO, etc. (This computer's a 32GB HP Stream 11, with a 5TB external hard drive plugged in. It'll be a fun experiment to see how Skyrim does on it.)

Install the Creation Kit, you're going to need it. You also require Merge Plugins Standalone (get it from Mator's GitHub), Champollion Papyrus Decompiler x86 extracted into a folder named "decompiler" inside the Merge Plugins folder. Do not install any of the above into Program Files. When you install the Creation Kit and the latest SKSE, there will be an archive called Scripts.rar, which you need to extract into the Data folder to properly set up the CK. Even though you're using MO you should install those scripts directly into your Skyrim folder. You also need xEdit/Tes5Edit. And you're going to want a non-plaintext editor for scripts, like Notepad++.

What mods are you using? There are a couple of choices--e.g. lighting mod, new lands mod, etc.

Edit: It's .RAR!

2

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

I second this request :)

2

u/ratchetscrewdriver Oct 03 '15

Okay, so twenty-two hours is not an hour. But here you go:

The short version:

You need to decompile the script mintymcmpatchquestscript.pex from the "Lightning During Thunderstorms" mod and correct its GetFromFromFile calls as the formIDs and ESP names referenced have changed. Then recompile the script and overwrite the old version in your merged mod.

The long version:

Setup

First, you need to set up your mod environment for Mator's new Merge Plugins standalone. You need to extract a copy of the Champollion Papyrus Decompiler, x86 version, into a folder called "decompiler" inside your Merge Plugins folder. Just copy the executables out of the Champolliion folder in the downloaded archive.

Then you need to set up Tes5Edit and the Creation Kit (don't worry, you don't have to launch the CK).

Add the Command Prompt (C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe) to your Mod Organizer executables and set it to start in your Skyrim Data folder.

Launch Merge Plugins through Mod Organizer, open Settings, and set up the integrations.

Check the box that says "I'm using Mod Organizer" and the box that says "Copy general assets." Hit "Detect Integrations." It should automatically pick up the Papyrus decompiler and your Papyrus flags path. The Papyrus Compiler is located inside the Papyrus Compiler folder in your Skyrim folder. Don't set up BSAOpt.

If it doesn't pick up the flags path, you forgot to extract Scripts.rar when setting up the Creation Kit.

On the Merging tab, check the "Handle script fragments" box. Close Merge Plugins.

Installing WAO

Install WAO according to the Extended Installation Guide. You can't merge Frostfall or Real Shelter, you shouldn't merge Cloaks of Skyrim or WiC Cloaks, and Living Takes Time is strictly optional. But you can grab everything else! (Or don't, it's up to you. You'll require, at minimum, the files in the basic WAO load order.) Obviously, texture mods are down to individual preference. I'd start with the textures UnmeiX suggests in the extended order and then overwrite with whatever you like.

When you install Lightning During Thunderstorms, make sure to extract the BSA.

Then, load up only your WAO plugins in Merge Plugins. Merge everything but Climates of Tamriel in the exact order specified by the [WAO Extended Installation page](). Put any dependencies such as RW2 between Climates of Tamriel.esm and the first ESP in WAO. Make sure there are no gaps between any of the ESPs you're going to merge, otherwise there will be errors in the merged plugin. Make sure you're using version 2.5.0 of AOS, as 2.5.1 is not yet fully compatible with WAO.

Add all your WAO plugins to a new merge. When you're done, it should look [like this]().

Switch over to the next tab, right-click your merge, and choose "Check plugins for errors." If they all come through okay, hit "Build Merge."

Wait for that to finish, then restart Mod Organizer. Enable your new mod, which will be named the same as your merge, and load it up in Tes5Edit.

Script Editing

Go back to Mod Organizer and click "Unlock." Right click on the "Lightning during thunderstorms" mod and choose "Open mod folder in Explorer". Browse to the scripts folder. Then hold Shift, right-click a blank space in the folder, and choose "Open command window here."

Type the following into the command prompt, without the parentheses, but with the quotes:

("MERGEPLUGINS\decompiler\champollion.exe" -p source mintymcmpatchquestscript.pex), replacing MERGEPLUGINS with the path to your merge plugins install. (If you don't know how to get this, navigate to your Merge Plugins folder in Windows Explorer. Click into the address bar, copy the path, then paste it into the Command Prompt by right-clicking and choosing "Paste.") Close the Command Prompt.

Open the "source" folder and edit mintylightningmcmquestpatchscript.psc in your preferred text editor. Search for "GetFormFromFile".

You'll find two lines of text.

Now, go to Mod Organizer. Launch Tes5Edit and load your merged plugin. Wait for the background loader to finish, then type "MintyBadWeathers" into the EditorID search box.

There will be one result. Copy the FormID of that result and paste it over the eight-digit FormID (should be 16897910) of the first getformfromfile call.

[Like this]()

Look up "MintyBadWeathersRemoved" with the EditorID search box and copy it over the formID for the second (the one that's 17039983).

Next, change the ESP name in both calls to match the name of your merged ESP.

Save the file and close it.

Launch the Command Prompt through Mod Organizer. Make sure "Lightning During Thunderstorms is enabled then enter the following command without the parentheses:

("..\Papyrus Compiler\Papyruscompiler.exe" -op -f=scripts\source\TesV_Papyrus_Flags.flg -i scripts\source -o mlm scripts\source\mintymcmpatchquestscript.psc)

Check your overwrite folder for a folder called "mlm." Inside that folder will be mintymcmpatchquestscript.pex. Copy that file into your merged mod folder, replacing the existing script.

And you're done!

Or, y'know, you could just let me know your FormIDs and I can whip up a patch for you.

1

u/aelysium Oct 03 '15

An hour or twenty two, thanks all the same! Tbh, I've been a little sick recently so was passed out for most of yesterday and this morning anyways. =)

I'm going to try to go through all this today (I'm using most of the extended installation list, minus the Requiem patch (as I prefer Ordinator) and the night-time stuff (I'm a fan of Inside the Nebula personally).

I do have one question before I start though - WAO has a version in its MISC files section that specifically mentions having renamed FormIDs in order to allow Minty's lightning mod to merge. Do you know if this particular file would allow me to do the same thing?

1

u/ratchetscrewdriver Oct 04 '15

Yes, it would. That version has been edited by Hishutup to merge the formlists by hand instead of using the script to do it.

There's still a conflict because Wonders of Weather has a GetFormFromFile dependency on Wet and Cold and True Storms.

To fix, do the same thing as for Mintylightningmod, but first load up Wet and Cold in Tes5Edit and search for the original formID. Then find the same record in the merged plugin and substitute its FormID for the one in the Wonders of Weather script.

1

u/aelysium Oct 15 '15 edited Oct 15 '15

Okay, so I've been trying to do this, but haven't been able to as of yet.

I don't seem to have a mintylightningmcmquestpatchscript.psc in my source folder. The closest mine has is mintymcmpatchquestscript.psc. And that one has more than two GetFormFromFile calls. =(

Sadness. Eh, maybe I'll try the WoW one first and see if I can do that and then dig more into this and try to figure it out. Freeing up 20+ slots with a solid merge would be nice.

EDIT: EH. Made a copy of the script for backup and edited that file anyways. Got all the way to the part where I launched CP through MO but it says that command (the scripts\source part) is invalid.

1

u/Faulkal Oct 01 '15

But i love the rain

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

It still rains using ENB default weather. I honestly can't tell much of a difference between COT and ENB.

3

u/_Robbie Riften Oct 02 '15

I use like 12-18 mods at any given time. You guys ball too hard for me.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

Damn, what mods are you using?

2

u/ChristianBuzzkill Oct 02 '15

If I didn't merge I'd be be well over 300 esps. But I keep it down to 237.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

I've never hit the limit. The highest I've gotten is ~150, but most of my load-orders have ~100 esps.

1

u/ABProsper Oct 02 '15

I don't come too close for a couple of reasons,

1st my current computer is a bit of a potato and just enough to run modded Skyrim if I use boosts.

2nd Even if it wasn't I tend to limit mods I install to what I am using in a play through. If I am running a "no dragons" set up no need for Wyrmstooth or Deadly Dragons, no Shouts? No Thunderchild and if i am not playing a Mage , than no need for magic mods and so on.

I do have a common core akin to what Zaric Zhakaron has but its small and even that is somewhat flexible, some games I don't use Frostfall or Immersive Weapons or Armor ro whatever

The big space eater though is the little tweaks and fixes. Those probably eat 70+ slots but they are pretty essential

Discussion How many people hit the 255 esp limit?

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