Skyrim VR & zEdit Idiots Guide V2

You can free up 50-60 .esp plugin slots by merging the existing plugins using zEdit. It is possible to trick zEdit into working with Skyrim VR by creating a dummy SkyrimSE.exe file and copying the Skyrim VR plugin.txt file to the SkyrimSE location before merging.  But there is a much simpler method if you own a copy of Skyrim SE already.

You just need to install all of mods you want to merge into a Skyrim SE Vortex profile, install zEdit, merge the plugins, zip up the .esp files, then drag them into your Skyrim VR Vortex profile. You will then have to disable the mods and/or individual plugins you have merged yourself manually. zEdit will automatically disable plugins in the Skyrim SE profile, but it won't install any of the new plugins for you.

There are a few simple rules to doing this simply and safely. Firstly do not try to merge any .esp plugins for mods that contain .dll (skse), .pex (scripts), .bsa (archives), MCM menus or any other assets such as meshes, textures or sounds etc. So you should only merge mods that provide single .esp files, provide several .esp files or in special cases (fomod) provide some .esp files that have no associated assets or excluded file types.

Type A: These are simple mods that only provide a single .esp plugin file and nothing else. As long as they only depend on the core game master plugins you can merge as many as you like and it doesn't matter where you place them in the load order. There are about 50 of these included in my collection. I would recommend splitting them into 4 or 5 merged .esp files to make the process easier to manage if you need to troubleshoot or update anything. You can then disable the original mods completely. If you are merging patches for other mods (hence multiple masters in addition to the core files) mark the new .esp as a Late Loader in Vortex load order - this way they will load after the plugins they are designed to patch.

Type B: These are mods which provide multiple .esp plugins either as a group or chosen from a list using a FOMOD menu. Again you can merge as many as you like and place them anywhere in the load order as long as they only need the core master files. With Khajiit Speak plugins you would need to mark the merged plugin as Khajiit Speak in the load order. You can then disable the original mods completely. There are about 20 of these in my collection. The same advice above applies to merged patches.

Type C: These are mods that provide multiple .esp plugins, some of which have assets or excluded file types included in the mod. Here we can merge any .esp plugins that are standalone (that don't have any other assets attached to them), then once merged we can disable those specific plugins whilst leaving the original mod enabled and the original plugins we didn't merge enabled. This is slightly more complicated to keep track of - I use a spreadsheet to record all of the merges and there are about another 50 of these in my collection. These can generally be marked as default loaders, or on the case of A Clear Map of Skyrim as Worldspace Settings.

Type D: There is one last category in which simple mods with assets can be merged together. In order to do this you have to enable the include assets on the final tab of zMerge. However this makes the process a lot more complicated because then zMerge will include all of the original .esp files - which you have to delete before zipping. Also it often puts in two versions of the assets - some inside a new folder with the name of the merged mod, and some in the original folders. Generally you should keep the ones in new folders and delete the original assets before zipping, but this seems to be the other way around for sound file assets. Ultimately with this sort of merge you will have to try and see what works as it may well depend on how the original mod author names and structured the assets etc. It is also possible to include mods that use BSA files as long as you extract the contents before merging using BAE. Consequently I would only recommend doing this if you really need the space as it takes a lot more effort and may take several tries to get right.

Here is a list of all the plugins I successfully merged:

1. My Way Merged - Default.esp

Abominations My Way
Bandits My Way
Companions My Way
Dark Brotherhood My Way
Dawnguard My Way
Dwemer My Way
Falmer My Way
Forsworn My Way
Hagravens My Way
House Carls My Way
Nature My Way
Soldiers My Way
Thalmor My Way
Vigilants My Way
Warlocks My Way

2. Comedy Merged - Default.esp

Death Potion
Mush Follower
Oh God Why
Ring of Smacking
Rings of Rapidity
Sheo Dawnguard
Sheo Dragonborn
Sheo Hearthfire
Sheo Loadscreens
Silly Death Physics

3. Misc Merged A - Default.esp

Additional Dwemer Clutter
Baranziah Quest Droppable
Better Potions & Poisons
Black Book Rename Plugin
Faster Spiders
Flawless Gem Crafting
Gems in All Mines
Gold and Lockpicks
Hobbington Hole (M)
Hobbington Hole Upgrade(S)
Immersive Patrols Lite
Lighter Picks and Axes
Longer Respawning Cells

4. Misc Merged B - Default.esp

More Familiars
No Follow while talking
No Healing or Flames
Packed Shack
Ring of Waterwalking
Simple Better Shrine Blessing
Simple Race Tweaks
Simply Better Jesters
Simply Faster Horses
Soul Fragments to Gems
Trivial Smelters
Wild Horses of Grasslands

5.Arrows & Bolts Merged - Default.esp

ABT SE - Faster Arrows Improved
ABT SE - Faster Bolts Improved
ABT SE - Increased Bolts Damage
ABT SE - Increased Progressive Damage
ABT SE - Loot Ammo
ABT SE - Merchants Arrows
ABT SE - Recover Ammo

6.Khajiit Speak Merged - Khajiit Speak.esp

Main
Sunhelm*
Bruma
Campfire
Wyrmstooth-LOTD
Falskaar
LOTD
Ordinator
The Choice is Yours
Forgotten
Wyrmstooth
AHO*

7.Patches A Mods Disabled - Default.esp

Sunhelm Compatibility - Disable Mod
	Falskaar
	AHO
	Forgotten City
	Wyrmstooth
USMP Patches - Disable Mod
	AI Overhaul
	Timing is Everything
	LOTD
	Left Hand Rings
eFPS Patches - Disable Mod
	LOTD
	Tree Replacers
Immersive Weapons - Disable Mod
	USSEP
	AI-Overhaul
	SRCEO

8.Patches B Mods Disabled - Default.esp

Bruma - Disable All Mods
	Timing is Everything - DSB
	Silence Serana - DSB
	Ordinator - DSB
Misc - Disable All Mods
	Chanterelle patch - DSB
	Hunters Arsenal - DSB
	Landscape for grass - military - DSB
	Generic Grass Limiter - DSB
	LLFGM - Carriages - DSB
	SIC - SRCEO - DSB
	SIC - ICS - DSB
	ISC - I.Armour - DSB
	ISC - Enhanced Blood - DSB
	Midwood - Wyrmstooth -DSB
	Sunhelm Buckets -DSB

9. Patches C  Mods Enabled - Default.esp

LOTD Patches - Mod Enabled
	DBM Immersive Sounds -PLG
	BCS TCIY -PLG
	DBM SRCEO -PLG
	DBM AHO -PLG
	DBM 3D Trees -PLG
	DBM Immersive Armors -PLG
Midwood - Mod Enabled
	DBM Midwood Isle -PLG
	Grass -PLG
Falskaar Addons - Mod Enabled
	Bruma -PLG
	Boat -PLG
Sunhelm Survival - Mod Enabled
	Soups & Stews -PLG
	NPC Potions -PLG
	Wyrmstooth -PLG

10. Realistic Water Mod Enabled - Default.esp

	Volcanic -PLG
	Bruma -PLG
	Falskaar -PLG
	Waves Falskaar -PLG
	Waves Wyrmstooth -PLG
	Underwater Visibility Fix -DSB*

11. Clear Map Merged Mod Enabled - Worldspace Settings.esp

	Bruma -PLG
	Falskaar -PLG
	Midwood -PLG
	Vominheim -PLG
	Wyrmstooth -PLG

12. Comedy Merged 2 - Default.esp (Load After Sunhelm)

	Sweets - esp + resources
	Sweets Levelled Lists - esp only
	Sweets Sunhelm Patch - esp only *** Sunhelm
	Scarecrow - esp + resources
	Wizard Hats - esp + resources
	Cursed Dolls - esp + resources
	Mimics - esp + resources
	Monkey and Gorilla - esp + resources
	Brave Sir Robin - esp + resources
	Equippable Misc Items - esp + resources
	Dooty - esp + resources

13. Misc Merged C - Default.esp (Load After USSEP)

	Giant Younglings - esp _ resources + seq?
	House Cats - esp + resources
	Penguins - esp + resources
	Boots of Speed - esp only
	Boots of Water Walking - esp only
	Khajiits Steal Too - esp only
	Khajiit Prowess - esp only
	Wandering Merchants - esp + resources
	Tavern Followers - esp + resources
	Standing Stone Beacons - esp + resources
	Hanguns of Skyrim - esp + resources
	More Kats - esp + resources
	More Quest Markers - esp only ? *** USSEP
	Underwater Breathing - esp only