Well recently I got back into Oblivion and I went crazy downloading mods and together with the ones I had before it seems I reached around 200+ active esp′s so after my super mod downloading spree
I decide to play Oblivion only thing is it won′t open... -_- I′m going to guess it′s not by mod conflicts seeing as how when I disabled 10 random small stuff mods it started working again.

So what I want to know is if there really is a limit to an amount of mods I can have and if there is is there a way to raise that limit.

Thanks in advance

There is a limit of around 250 mods. Wry Bash's Bashed Patch, IIRC, can circumvent this

I believe you can also use TES4Gecko to hand-combine mods, but i think it takes a fair amount of know-how.

Thanks for the quick replys. Anyone care to help guide me in making this Bashed Patch.

Use BOSS on your load order. When building the patch, follow the bash tag suggestions from Wrye Bash and BOSS. That is, tick off pretty much everything that is suggested when you rebuild your bashed patch. For more esoteric questions, ask in the Wrye Bash thread.

gothemasticator

There is indeed a hard limit of 256 esp/esms.

The reason for this is relatively simple: Each such file is given a 2 digit hexadecimal code. 00 (Oblivion.esm always) to FF. And in decimal FF = 255.
So if you have more files than that, Oblivion has no codes left to work with and it ups and dies!

As for the Bashed Patch.
Download Wrye Bash. Start from http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1095482-relz-wrye-bash-thread-44/ for all the info.

Actually, the limit is 255 esp/esm files. Your explanation is correct, but the engine reserves FF for the savegame, thus having 00-FE for esp/esm files. That is why all dropped items etc. (which is created during play and stored in the savegame) gets formID FFxxxxxx.

What is IIRC :huh:

"If I Recall/Remember Correctly"

Bingo! :disco:

To be fair, your actual mod limit is 254 mods, as 00 will always be Oblivion.esm

The limit for me is 254 actually.

Combining mods to cut down on esp's you have checked off helps. The biggest thing that needs combining are all these armor/clothing mods. Ones that place items in the IC say for example all in the arena district, if you have a lot make an esp(in gecko) for that when you combine all of them. uncheck all the others, and viola more mod space. I THINK you might be able to combine almost all the esp's that wouldn't naturally conflict with each other into one. Saving you probably... 30+ esp slots. I need to do this myself, as I'm one for aesthetic appeal.

Well, Vargr and I wrote about total number of esp/esm files, which is 255. And note that while it is unusual, it is actually possible to not have Oblivion.esm - but instead another base esm file. If I'm not mistaken, the Nehrim mod does exactly that: runs without an active Oblivion.esm.

WOW I don't think I could ever reach the limit for mods.

One of LAME's plugins does not have any masters either, but I guess that is a different case...

That's true. The savegame takes up that last one. Essentially it is a hidden/persistent file. Leaving just 255 to play with. Obviously Oblivion.esm takes up another (there are actually a couple of alternative base files, but they are for testing purposes etc. - but Oblivion.esm for any regular game load order) leaving that total of 254 for the player to fill as they deem fit.

As said already, this means a hard limit of 254 mods. Less for mods with multiple esp/esm files (as the limit is number of files, not mods of course). But also more with merging files into the bashed patch.

Although there is also that upper limit of the number of files (esp, esm, BSA) in your data folder, of 300-400. This doesn't kill your game outright, but instead means that on any given load some simply will not work (missing meshes etc.) "Ghosting" merged files can help there as well (another fine Wrye Bash feature.)

I play at the max all the time.

Ha I would of never of guessed that one I thought it was a mod lmao, cool