I have been working on a rather large mod. I created a cell with a doorway that leads into a city. On the outside of the door I had to remove a couple of bushes. While testing the mod as an .esm the bushes are back in their default locations. I open the CK and the render window shows them as being removed.
If I switch the mod to an .esp everything is as I made it except the game will sometimes crash when leaving the cell and entering the city.

You need to use version control and http://www.creationkit.com/Version_control#Trick_to_check_out_Skyrim.esm_forms.

I r
I really apprieciate the reply, but I don't understand a word of what that is about. Perhaps I should focus more on the original problem of trying to expand the cell. It seems I have a limit of refs I can place in it, but as it stands it looks way too bland. I thought by changing the file type from .esp to .esm would do it.

I don't know what the limits on esps are, though I know they exist - but it would certainly be simpler to stick with an esp if you can.

On the other hand I do know, from personal experience, that if you bite the bullet and follow all the steps on that Version control page to the letter, it all suddenly becomes quite easy.

I believe there are problems when you do it this way. Something about the ONAM list not getting generated or something?

Until the unofficial mod tools get released, your only stable option at thd moment ids to make your esm the same way Bethesda do, by (as Ingenue suggested) using Version Control.

I believe it can take some getting used to. Never dabbled in it myself

- Hypno

Yeah, at the moment I'm sitting here looking at my screen wondering just what plan of attack I should use. I took a look at the link posted above and got lost real fast. I just need to add more stuff to this cell so it don't look so bland. As it is right now the mod is clean, and everything and everyone works perfectly. I would just rather not release it looking like this.

TESVGecko can convert between ESP and ESM now.

0_o I just downloaded the newest version last night. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Putting esm-ifying aside for a moment. Regarding your underlying issue, what exactly happens when you try and place another ref in your cell?...Nothing happens?...A warning message?

I think I remember somebody mentioning about there being a ref limit, but it's around the 1000 mark (In fact I think this was brought up recently, was it AJV's thread?). But i doubt you've got more then a thousand refs in one cell and saying it looks bland

- Hypno

Edit: yep it was his thread. But if you look through the discussion some talk about being well over the grand limit with no problems

Now I'm curious how many objects I've been blindly placing in my cells...



http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1412392-how-to-tell-how-many-objects-are-in-my-cell-keeping-below-1000/

I have been reading several postings about refs limit, and how games crash. I have yet to read an easy solution for it. Or a way to track the number of refs you have. As it is now my cell is rather large and has about 996 refs (I'm guessing). You would have to see it in order to understand why it looks "bland".
In my case the game crashes when I leave the cell and attempt to enter the outside world. No warnings, no nothing. If I remove a few items it works fine.

There are three options to running a mod plugin as an ESM that I know of.

• Set up and use Version Control in the Creation Kit. Version Control is intended to allow multiple users on a network to share a plugin file and create a combined master based on their work. In my esperience, it can be difficult to set up and even more difficult to figure out and use. It is pretty clearly not intended or designed for one user to use to convert an esp into an esm. In my experience, it was slow and unpredictable and refused to checkin a number of records. I would only recommend it for a serious group project but opinons may differ. This may be the only way to generate a new land object that works for a new worldspace.
  
• ESMify your esp and create an esp patch for any changes to vanilla objects. I have been using this method for some time with great success. I use the Copy to ESM function in Wrye Bash to create an ESM copy of my working file, which retains the ESP version for continuing work. That is pretty convenient but there are other options. The downside is having two files to keep track of and keeping things coordinated between them. Having the navmesh in the ESP means that it shows your doors as modified which means you have to ignore the reference on the door in order to make any changes or keep your doors in the ESP and make your teleport connections in the ESP, which can get confusing.
  
• Use the latest version of http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/files/file/388-tesvgecko/ to create a true master file from your plugin. This is a relatively slower process for a large mod and you need to exit the CK before the current version of TESVGecko will open the files. The current version of Gecko is still a beta version so there may be bugs that haven't been discovered yet. I have been testing this daily for about a week with no ill effects. The master file generated will retain your modifications of vanilla objects and landscape. I assume that will apply to navmesh as well but I haven't been able test that yet. If you are a single modder looking for a tool to convert your ESP into a master, Gecko is probably the way to go.

If there are any other options, I would love to hear about them. As far as the reference limit, I suspect it is over 1000 as I have a rather large mod on Steam that works fine as an esp that I would guess to have more than 1000 references in it although I am just guessing. I know at one point, I had 500, 100 mannequins and some large number of weapon racks in it and it still worked. On the other hand, I have another piece I am planning to add to the mod I am currently working on that is I know for a fact is well in excess of 1000 references and it will only run as an ESM. It sounds to me that you found that limit for your mod, regardless of how many references that may be.

There's a http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1384861-yet-another-huge-bug-interior-cell-as-a-static-limit/page__st__30__p__21008008__hl__dummy%20cell__fromsearch__1#entry21008008 for that.