Greetings community,

So I know that the mod limit is 240 but it occured to me that I'm not sure how that is calculated.

I mean at first I thought perhaps how many ESPs (and of course some mods have more than one to them) but then some changes are made without ESPs.

Is it how many files show up if you are to use the regular Obvlivion launcher and look at "data files"?

Since you buggers refuse to stop making great mods I'm concerned about getting to the limit (I "think" I'm only about half way there but still).

Any insight?

Cheers.

As far as I know, it's based on how many ESP files you have. It wouldn't make sense if it was how many files total (and by now I'm sure I've gone WAY over the 240 files if it's based on all files)... now if there was a way to combine all your favorite mods into one giant ESP that'd be awesome.

It is .esp based. Qarls textures alone blow the whole 240 file idea out the door. I think any clothing replacer would also blow the file theory out the door.

Relax.

240 .esp limit.

Thanks you two.

A kudo to each of ya.

*relaxes*

Hey Michlo, the limit is 253/254, not 240. You've got more room to play. Also, if you Google or Blackle 255 limit you can find some explanations of why.

Yup. 255 is the limit. I had 261 at one time

Thanks.

Well, there are some things you can do that can lower some of the mod counts. Using Wrye Bash, you can take a lot of the FCOM Convergence mods and tie them into the bashed patch. It's something like 10 mods in one. I wish the Wrye bash would do this for a lot more mods. Not only that, but I also wish Wrye bash incorporated FCOM loader into it.

I've been wondering myself..there's a lot of small mods that, if grouped into 'alike' categories, could probably be merged into one mod with one esp file. Take spells for instance. There's tons of spell mods out there, simply add them all together, remove the ones that conflict and/or are repeated and try and make one out of it.

There's tons of small sized dungeon mods that could probably be done like this as well, if any of this is possible. This would make one huge esp, probably needing a master. This would not only clean up that file space in the data folder, but also show if any 2 dungeons are in the same place, therefore cancelling each other out and thus prevent you from accidentally running them at the same time individually.

There's currently 6 different mods of the Treasure Maps series in quests. Why not merge them all into one big "treasure maps" file? That's just one example

There's literally almost 10k mods out there it seems, a lot of which are small sized. Perhaps the time has come for those experienced with combining mods to do them all. I just don't know if it's possible.

hold on the data files has a limit?

Col John Sheppard

I'm starting to think the data folder has a limit of files it can contain as to how the game performs. I did a little test earlier. I put all the mods I'm not using into a different folder for later play(something like 300 or more), leaving me with about 225 esps/esms in my data folder to work with(I don't have them all installed but am contemplating it). Yes, the game runs smoother...don't ask me why. I couldn't explain this with a gun to my head. If I absolutely had to, I'd say Oblivion cycles through every file you have looking for those you've activated. I'm probably wrong, I'm new to the whole 'using a ton of mods" experience.

I do know that having a ton of mods in the Wrye bash list makes it hard to search for particular ones you want. I'd like a nicer,easier to find system, but that's just me.

For merging .esp files, you can use either WryeBash or TES4Gecko. My familiarity is with Gecko, and while it takes a little practice to ensure you're getting the right .esp to take dominance, the results are good.

(Example: I took all the DLC Unofficial Patches, and the SM Plugin Refurbish-es (fourteen-or-so .esp files) and squashed them into a single .esp using TES4Gecko... it improved my savegame load time as well.)

Get one of those two utilities; you won't regret it.

Thank you very much for all the responses. This thread was more enlightening than I'd hoped.

I'm also glad I'm already in the habit of not keeping deactivated mods in my data folder. heh

Cheers.