How to increase active plugins limit on Nexus Mod

[CDC_98]

So i have 255 active plugins on nexus but if i go anymore than that my game will not work. Is there a way to increase that limit or no? I know i have way too many mods downloaded and i dont really need that much but if your willing to help I'd be much appreciated.

[Ilja]

The limit is not created by mod manager. It is created by the engine. Bethesda's Mod Inxex range only has 2 digits, so it only runs total of 255 plugins.

There are two ways to cut down the number of plugins.
- Merge plugins, in cases where that is possible.
- Flag them as ESL, in cases where that is possible.

Merging plugins is easiest process. You can do that with xEdit script. Making ESL requires that you are a bit more aware of what you are doing, or you will end up introducing new issues to your game. However, once you understand how ESL/.esl works, then you can keep doing that as well.

[Galahad]

Originally posted by Ilja:

The limit is not created by mod manager. It is created by the engine. Bethesda's Mod Inxex range only has 2 digits, so it only runs total of 255 plugins.

There are two ways to cut down the number of plugins.
- Merge plugins, in cases where that is possible.
- Flag them as ESL, in cases where that is possible.

Merging plugins is easiest process. You can do that with xEdit script. Making ESL requires that you are a bit more aware of what you are doing, or you will end up introducing new issues to your game. However, once you understand how ESL/.esl works, then you can keep doing that as well.

I'm way below that limit thanks to those methods, yet when I add any esl or esp mod I get the startup crash. Any idea if there's a limit to .esl files?

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Melonlord:

I'm way below that limit thanks to those methods, yet when I add any esl or esp mod I get the startup crash. Any idea if there's a limit to .esl files?

Yeah, but that number is in thousands.
Missing master or unsorted conflict? Does LOOT tell you anything important?

This post is from 2018. It is very likely that moderator will come and close it. Perhaps you could create a dedicated post about your problem, if you haven't already done so.

[Galahad]

Originally posted by Ilja:

Originally posted by Melonlord:

I'm way below that limit thanks to those methods, yet when I add any esl or esp mod I get the startup crash. Any idea if there's a limit to .esl files?

Yeah, but that number is in thousands.
Missing master or unsorted conflict? Does LOOT tell you anything important?

This post is from 2018. It is very likely that moderator will come and close it. Perhaps you could create a dedicated post about your problem, if you haven't already done so.

LOOT's telling me nothing outside of the ordinary. That's probably the right call, I appreciate the help.

[globefish23]

Originally posted by Melonlord:

I'm way below that limit thanks to those methods, yet when I add any esl or esp mod I get the startup crash. Any idea if there's a limit to .esl files?

There is also a BA2 archive limit.
This one isn't actually a defined cutoff, but varies from player to player and their respective loadouts.
It's usually reported to be as low as 360 and as high as 700 BA2 archives.

For me it's around 430, after which the game will simply CTD as soon as the 'Mods' and 'CC' are being loaded, i.e. the two entries on the main menu light up.

For the time being I solved it by removing a couple of unnecessary and obsolete mods, by switching to the "loose files" version of some mods and by replacing mods with an updated RobCo Patcher version.

If all those methods fail, the only options left are to either merge archives or to manually unpack the BA2 archives into loose files.

[Galahad]

That was it, thanks! What would be the best method of extraction, I heard BAE can cause issues?