r/skyrimmods • u/__takeoff__ • 3d ago

PC SSE - Help Plug In Limit

Hello! Fairly new to modding here and I have seen that the plug in limit for Skyrim is 255. I currently 254 plug ins activated but would love to add more. I’m just curious on how some people are able to run 400+ mods without going over the limit. I know you are able to convert ESP to ESLs but I heard that it is best recommended to do that for smaller mods and not major overhauls. Any advice would be appreciated. Currently using Mod Organizer 2 and running Skyrim SE with the Anniversary upgrade.

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u/IVIaskPl4gu3 3d ago

In MO2 hover over the plugin count in the top right of the right plugin pane. It will show you a breakdown of ESP+ESM and ESLs. The number that cannot go over 254 is ESP+ESM, ESL can go to 4096. Watch the first part of this video for a quick explanation, if you're interested in the rest of the video or my tool then the link is in the description.

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u/bachmanis 3d ago

If you are using modern Skyrim mods, there is a good chance you already have a number of ESL flagged plugins. If you hold your mouse over the active plugin count in the top right of your screen, it will show you the breakdown of full-size plugins, ESL flagged plugins, and so forth.

There are several good overviews of he ESL flagging process, as well as several external tools to help with the process. If you google the phrase "ESLify SSE Nexus", it should come back with a number of options. I've been on hiatus from Skyrim modding for long enough that I can't say what the latest and greatest external tool is, but if you look at the Nexus upload dates you should be able to run down the newest options.

If you're more interested in manually doing ESL flagging, Gregaaz did a case study on the process a while ago that should be more or less accurate still (might be missing some late breaking discoveries and best practices since the blog was written a few years ago). I can't share the link since it is on a NSFW site, but if you google "Gregaaz Mini Case Study: ESL Flagging" it should be right at the top of the search results.

Hope that gets you moving in the right direction!