Update: It seems that some important aspects of the mod are not working? There's no activator on the butter churn og mead barrels. The apiaries don't respawn.
ESLification: As one topic seems to dominate these posts, I offer the following: I wrote this for another mod page last Spring. This does not mention the use of the newer SSEEdit function: "SetESL". Regardless, it is still current, and should still be helpful, I hope, for those new to Eslification...
Some people sometimes confuse an esl:Elder Scrolls Light master with an espfe:Elder Scrolls Plugin FlaggedESL
People often refer to both of them as "esl". This is incorrect. The difference is easy to see when you look at the actual plugin: an esl has the suffix ".esl". An espfe has the suffix ".esp". To indicate that neither takes up a load order spot, both of them are generally represented in mod managers italicized :".esl" and ".esp".
I am seeing confusion because some people know one "esl" and some people know the other "esl". I have no idea who first started misnaming espfe's as esl, but they really did a doozy on a lot of people. I've seen people on this website arguing in the comments that "ESL" and "esl" were light master and light regular plugins respectively! Arguing! Adamant in these positions about upper and lower case. Yah, it's an interesting fuddle.
Regardless: An esl (or ESL) is a Light Master - a Master Plugin which does not take up a load order spot from the 254 limit. It does, however, behave like a Master in that it remains near the top of the load order, taking priority over mere esp's. This is what is made when you convert to esl using the Creation Kit (SSEEdit can now also convert to esl.)
An espfe is an esp that is flagged as an esl - but it is not a Master. This is what is made when you flag as esl using xEdit. It too does not take up a spot in your load order limit, but it will remain wherever it is placed - not stay on top like a master.
In both cases you must first run a Script to check if it can be converted or flagged, and if you need to Compact Form ID's first. The script is in SSEEdit - it is "Find plugins that could be turned into ESL" -Note: There are 3 such scripts - use that one, that wording, for the best range of results (all three begin with "Find", so are found together in the list when you select "Apply Script" in SSEEdit.)
Hope that helps
A final note: If you have to Compact FormID's, then you absolutely cannot use the resulting plugin to replace its original mid-game. It will break the Save Game! While theoretically you can make a Clean Save to resolve this, in practice more and more folks "in the know" are saying that such things are never completely removed from Saves, and lead to later problems in the game. In other words, if Compacting FormID's to Eslify something already in your Load Order, then the new plugin should be used for a NEW GAME ONLY.
i really respect you lilebonymace and your a great modder but not everyone knows these things and some of us are still on the lower end of the learning curve trying to make it over the hump. Thank you Abbraaxus , while i did know much of this, the extra level of detail helps to better understand the why and what of esl/ esl-flagged and what pitfalls to look out for on the nexus. Honestly i loathe going thru all the articles and tutorials, so while some may not like it, "hijacking" a mods comment section to force-learn useful things is actually much more engaging for someone with my ADHD type brain. Much appreciated.
You are very welcome. And thank you! Vindication is a good feeling. I only put that here because I saw so many comments here that showed confusion on this issue, and I do remember what it was like when I didn't yet have it clear. Your words are appreciated.
I dunno how this happened but i put some honey must into my mead barrels and left it alone for about 2 weeks ingame.Finally remembered I was brewing something and went to gather the result when the barrels disappeared (as in they don't exist and I can walk where they used to be). I've tried a clean save without hearthfire fix and did a reinstall of the mod but that didn't work. I currently have Hearthfire Attacks Disabled, Some fix mods that don't touch the cellar, Unique Display Room, and Hearthfire Home - truly yours installed and I wonder if its no respawn code is what caused the barrels to disappear. Something I noticed when I was disabling mods to see if there was a conflict is that disabling the display room caused the stone table to vanish too. Plus when I went in the cellar for the first time the mead barrel set up was already there (and I still had the option to build it in the workbench menu, which I stupidly did). If anyone can help me I'd appreciate it.
Edit: All right used xedit to remove the no removal part of hearthfire homes for the cellar and the barrels came back after a cell reset. So for those who use a mod to stop items respawning in hearthfire homes make sure to disable that feature for the cellar if you us this mod.
conversion to ESL is only adviced for mods that add things to the game, if the mod in question rewrites an existing record, when you use xEdit to convert it to esl there is a big change the overwriting record gets displaced and becomes a new record instead, and the mod has a big chance to not work as intended.
uuuuuuuuuuh this is quite weird, i never heard of this before, are you sure that you arent mixing up things between ESL compressed and ESL flagged?
ESL flagger is mostly used for things that do not add things to the game and only change some variables of already existing records, it shall not be used on most SKSE plugins ESP plugins because you dont want to have them loaded in the FE space. Additionnally, do not use on plugins that create extra cells/ world spaces / whateva.
wrye bash & xedit are relatively accurate about ESL capability
you can just go and flag your esp as esl and there is a low chance you don't need to do anything further, but then you have the most common occurrence that xEdit will ask you to compress the plugin so you can tag it as an esl.
17 comments
Thanks a lot for making this. I think it's exactly what the title says, and it has been needed.
(It's incredible that Bethesda never fixed it.)
Can you give an update if this is a known issue?
As one topic seems to dominate these posts, I offer the following:
I wrote this for another mod page last Spring. This does not mention the use of the newer SSEEdit function: "SetESL". Regardless, it is still
current, and should still be helpful, I hope, for those new to Eslification...
Some people sometimes confuse an esl: Elder Scrolls Light master
with an espfe: Elder Scrolls Plugin Flagged ESL
People often refer to both of them as "esl".
This is incorrect.
The difference is easy to see when you look at the actual plugin: an esl has the suffix ".esl".
An espfe has the suffix ".esp".
To indicate that neither takes up a load order spot, both of them are generally represented in mod managers italicized :".esl" and ".esp".
I am seeing confusion because some people know one "esl" and some people know the other "esl". I have no idea who first started misnaming espfe's as esl, but they really did a doozy on a lot of people. I've seen people on this website arguing in the comments that "ESL" and "esl" were light master and light regular plugins respectively!
Arguing! Adamant in these positions about upper and lower case. Yah, it's an interesting fuddle.
Regardless:
An esl (or ESL) is a Light Master - a Master Plugin which does not take up a load order spot from the 254 limit.
It does, however, behave like a Master in that it remains near the top of the load order, taking priority over mere esp's.
This is what is made when you convert to esl using the Creation Kit (SSEEdit can now also convert to esl.)
An espfe is an esp that is flagged as an esl - but it is not a Master. This is what is made when you flag as esl using xEdit. It too does not take up a spot in your load order limit, but it will remain wherever it is placed - not stay on top like a master.
In both cases you must first run a Script to check if it can be converted or flagged, and if you need to Compact Form ID's first.
The script is in SSEEdit - it is "Find plugins that could be turned into ESL" -Note: There are 3 such scripts - use that one, that wording, for the best range of results (all three begin with "Find", so are found together in the list when you select "Apply Script" in SSEEdit.)
Hope that helps
A final note: If you have to Compact FormID's, then you absolutely cannot use the resulting plugin to replace its original mid-game. It will break the Save Game!
While theoretically you can make a Clean Save to resolve this, in practice more and more folks "in the know" are saying that such things are never completely removed from Saves, and lead to later problems in the game.
In other words, if Compacting FormID's to Eslify something already in your Load Order, then the new plugin should be used for a NEW GAME ONLY.
I only put that here because I saw so many comments here that showed confusion on this issue, and I do remember what it was like when I didn't yet have it clear. Your words are appreciated.
I currently have Hearthfire Attacks Disabled, Some fix mods that don't touch the cellar, Unique Display Room, and Hearthfire Home - truly yours installed and I wonder if its no respawn code is what caused the barrels to disappear. Something I noticed when I was disabling mods to see if there was a conflict is that disabling the display room caused the stone table to vanish too. Plus when I went in the cellar for the first time the mead barrel set up was already there (and I still had the option to build it in the workbench menu, which I stupidly did). If anyone can help me I'd appreciate it.
Edit: All right used xedit to remove the no removal part of hearthfire homes for the cellar and the barrels came back after a cell reset. So for those who use a mod to stop items respawning in hearthfire homes make sure to disable that feature for the cellar if you us this mod.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: Never mind, I did that myself for personal use.
ESL flagger is mostly used for things that do not add things to the game and only change some variables of already existing records, it shall not be used on most SKSE plugins ESP plugins because you dont want to have them loaded in the FE space. Additionnally, do not use on plugins that create extra cells/ world spaces / whateva.
wrye bash & xedit are relatively accurate about ESL capability
Edit: did it. :)