For those who do not know, a game is limited to having 255 esm and/or esp plugins.
So, with the advent of the Creation Club and the worry that a lot of gamers were already at or near the plugin limit, the ESL was created. An esl is constructed in such a way that it doesn't count towards the totality of added plugins in a load list.
The total of esl plugins that can be added is a whopping 2048. An esl (Elder Scrolls Light) is a light master plugin. Light in the sense that it cannot be used for mods that have tons of items in them (maximum 2048 records); master because as such they are seen as a pinch above an esp but still lower than an esm and thus added above the former but below the latter in the load list.
Something I forgot to mention is to not be alarmed when, after having added more esp files after you converted a ton of esp to esl, NMM shows the amount of active plugins in red when you've exceeded the total of 255. NMM keeps showing this in the bottom notice bar, but to see how many actual plugins you have that count, you need to look at the bottom of the list in NMM's plugins tab. I now have 318 active plugins showing at the bottom of NMM's interface, but the plugins tab shows a total of 248 plugins, which is because I have 70 esl plugins.
The discrepancy between the two is because the amount of plugins that counts towards the limit of 255 is set by the plugins that receive an index number. Esl plugins don't get an index number and as such are not taken into account.
And for those who want to keep track of Nexus Mod Manager updates, you can get the latest versions at GitHUB, where the NMM developers have been working behind the scenes.
hi i'm on 1.6.6 AE, does this and even xdit methods work?
i tried the instructions but at step 2 even, i only have the game files when i hit data. i have 200 esp, esl total but the mods didnt load up when i hit data. did i miss something?
Just some quick questions, since I may be confused from the other guides.
Does this mean that the mods I flag as esl, can no longer be continued in an ongoing savegame? So I would have to disable/uninstall the mod first, and then flag edit and manual install the files after? I use Vortex btw, what does its "Ghost" status do?
So question, might be a dumb one but why did the modders who made these great mods just not covert them here on Nexus and post their DL as esl's...These are great works along with this mod as well.
Not all mods can have an esl and a lot of modders often didn't know about esl plugs at the time of making the mod (because it didn't exist yet: esl plugins have been developed for use with the Creation Club in October 2017). Furthermore, mod makers tend to step away from 'older' games once new games that can be modded are released. There's only a handful of modders that keep modding for the same game years in a row. Most modders never come back to an 'old' game once they lost interest. That's why a lot of mods that have been made for 'Oldrim' have been converted to SSE by different modders than those who made the original mod.
You don't "need" to do this. But it is handy when you have more mods to install than there is plugin space. And when new to modding, you'll have a lot of reading to do. I suggest you start with the second sticky. A sticky is a comment that can't be answered to and stays at the top of the comments, recognisable by the red line around the text box.
Thank you so much for being both clear and painstakingly detailed in your tutorial. Too often tutorials are all-but-unusable for the novice, but you didn't skip any steps or gloss-over anything we "should already know," etc etc. You told us what to do, how to do it, and even why we were doing it making this tutorial not just easy to follow, but also stress-free and enjoyable. Thank you so much. If I could endorse it another dozen times, I would.
Hello, I'm total confused "Step Three: - Hit "File" again in the top toolbar and now select "Compact File Forms IDs" from the pop-up menu" This I don't have /don't find in my CK (it's last version, just downloaded new, v.1.1.51.0) Edit. ok, ignore this. I still had the skyrim ck version which had no esl related options. In between I'm using the new ck and made some esl fine and found a point not disssced here:
Scrips
I took an esp with a bsa in that are scripts only. It did not work, got a warning because wrong path of the scripts and sources then I expanded the bsa, in it the path was /data/scripts/sources I made a new path sources/scripts and moved all to the new path, as loose files. So I had now the loose files according the path as wanted from ck. After that I made a new try to convert the esp to esl It worked. Means, esl together with scripts as loose files in right folders is possible if the scripts exist in right folders when convert the esp.
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That doesn't mean you can't ask questions here, of course
So, with the advent of the Creation Club and the worry that a lot of gamers were already at or near the plugin limit, the ESL was created. An esl is constructed in such a way that it doesn't count towards the totality of added plugins in a load list.
The total of esl plugins that can be added is a whopping 2048. An esl (Elder Scrolls Light) is a light master plugin. Light in the sense that it cannot be used for mods that have tons of items in them (maximum 2048 records); master because as such they are seen as a pinch above an esp but still lower than an esm and thus added above the former but below the latter in the load list.
If you want to know the how, what and why, check Arthmoor's explanations at afkmods.
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Something I forgot to mention is to not be alarmed when, after having added more esp files after you converted a ton of esp to esl, NMM shows the amount of active plugins in red when you've exceeded the total of 255. NMM keeps showing this in the bottom notice bar, but to see how many actual plugins you have that count, you need to look at the bottom of the list in NMM's plugins tab. I now have 318 active plugins showing at the bottom of NMM's interface, but the plugins tab shows a total of 248 plugins, which is because I have 70 esl plugins.
The discrepancy between the two is because the amount of plugins that counts towards the limit of 255 is set by the plugins that receive an index number. Esl plugins don't get an index number and as such are not taken into account.
And for those who want to keep track of Nexus Mod Manager updates, you can get the latest versions at GitHUB, where the NMM developers have been working behind the scenes.
i tried the instructions but at step 2 even, i only have the game files when i hit data. i have 200 esp, esl total but the mods didnt load up when i hit data. did i miss something?
ty for any info/advice
Just some quick questions, since I may be confused from the other guides.
Does this mean that the mods I flag as esl, can no longer be continued in an ongoing savegame?
So I would have to disable/uninstall the mod first, and then flag edit and manual install the files after?
I use Vortex btw, what does its "Ghost" status do?
I'm total confused
"Step Three:
- Hit "File" again in the top toolbar and now select "Compact File Forms IDs" from the pop-up menu"
This I don't have /don't find in my CK (it's last version, just downloaded new, v.1.1.51.0)
Edit.
ok, ignore this. I still had the skyrim ck version which had no esl related options.
In between I'm using the new ck and made some esl fine and found a point not disssced here:
Scrips
I took an esp with a bsa in that are scripts only. It did not work, got a warning because wrong path of the scripts and sources
then I expanded the bsa, in it the path was /data/scripts/sources
I made a new path sources/scripts and moved all to the new path, as loose files.
So I had now the loose files according the path as wanted from ck.
After that I made a new try to convert the esp to esl
It worked.
Means, esl together with scripts as loose files in right folders is possible if the scripts exist in right folders when convert the esp.