Guides/06

Load order

Detect installs. Validate plugins, masters and slots.

esx checks your installed plugins and activation list for missing files, invalid headers and load-order errors.

Detect

esx game list
esx game detect

esx finds Steam libraries, Proton prefixes, official DLC and Creation Club content. It also handles ghost plugins and recursive masters. Override a path with --game-path, --data, --steam-root, --proton-prefix, --documents, --local-appdata or --plugins-txt.

Show and check

esx loadorder show
esx loadorder check

check returns exit code 7 for these problems:

  • An active plugin is missing.
  • A plugin header is not valid.
  • Masters form a cycle.
  • There are too many full, light or medium plugins for the available slots.

Update plugins use no slot.

Write plugins.txt

esx loadorder write -o plugins.txt --dry-run
esx loadorder write -o plugins.txt

The output includes the active dependencies. The command does not change file timestamps. Games that order plugins by timestamp need a different tool for that.

Archive limits

esx loadorder check --check-archives --ba2-versions 1 --max-archives 256

With --check-archives, the check also reads each BA2 file that the INI files and the active plugins select. It fails on a missing or damaged archive, on an archive version that is not in --ba2-versions, and on more archives than the limits allow. The numbers in this example are not a rule. The limits depend on the game version, so give the limits of the version that you support. --max-general-archives and --max-texture-archives set a limit for one archive type.

Leveled lists

esx loadorder check-leveled-lists

The command finds circular leveled lists in the winning overrides.

Profiles

Use --game-ini and --custom-ini to read the INI files of a mod manager profile. A key in the custom INI replaces the same key in the main INI. The INI language applies unless you set --language.