Ironworks Gaming Forum - Decrypting Item.dat

By my count there are 699 items of all types and 158 attacks. A monster attack is listed as an "item". Each item has a maximum of 22 letters for its name, hence some item names may be compressed in the area of punctuation.

Progress to date:
There are 284 columns in each entry.
The first 22 columns list the full, identified name of the item. The next 22 list the unidentified name. That leaves 240 columns, 146 of them are blank, empty. Hence 94 of them are not empty.

Here entries are character or short, in the latter case the notation is little end first, base 256 digit on the left and base 256 power (if any) on the right.

Column 45 is the type of item, there are 16 types:
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<body> <table border="1" > <tr> <td width="60" height="2">#</td> <td width="150" height="2">Type</td> <td width="47" height="2">Total</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">0</td> <td width="150" height="2">Special Item</td> <td width="47" height="2">67</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">1</td> <td width="150" height="2">any weapon</td> <td width="47" height="2">320</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">2</td> <td width="150" height="2">missile weapon</td> <td width="47" height="2">16</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">3</td> <td width="150" height="2">armor, any type</td> <td width="47" height="2">158</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">4</td> <td width="150" height="2">shield</td> <td width="47" height="2">20</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">5</td> <td width="150" height="2">jewellery</td> <td width="47" height="2">54</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">6</td> <td width="150" height="2">scroll, letter</td> <td width="47" height="2">41</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">7</td> <td width="150" height="2">potion&&</td> <td width="47" height="2">19</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">8</td> <td width="150" height="2">powder</td> <td width="47" height="2">4</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">9</td> <td width="150" height="2">key, crystal</td> <td width="47" height="2">20</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">10</td> <td width="150" height="2">book</td> <td width="47" height="2">110</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">11</td> <td width="150" height="2">food</td> <td width="47" height="2">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">12</td> <td width="150" height="2">bag of gold</td> <td width="47" height="2">10</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">13</td> <td width="150" height="2">pouch</td> <td width="47" height="2">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">14</td> <td width="150" height="2">lantern, torch</td> <td width="47" height="2">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="60" height="2">15</td> <td width="150" height="2">musical instrument</td> <td width="47" height="2">14</td> </tr> </table></body>
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47: the sub – type if any.
49: the graphic number for the inventory icon.
51,52: weight, in tenths of pounds
53: Item has an invokable power, type of power, 1 = statistic, 2 = skill, 3 = trait, 4 = spellbook
54: number of stat, skill, trait or spell.
55: item expended by invoking?
89,90,91: Prices, nominal prices, it seems that items can be bought for 71% of these amounts. (Column 92 is empty: 250,000 seems to be the maximum price.)

93: Potions, expendable items which cast spells or invoke special powers, a 4 in the Y column means non – spell powers

101,105 adding the two columns seems to give the number of charges??!!?? Generally, 101, 105 and 106 seem to be connected to grouping of items or the number of charges an item has.

109,110 are about the items that have readable inscriptions. These numbers also occur in the file Textpak.000,

Columns 113 to 116, the notes have been updated in later posts.

113: a 32 result is a large collection of items, while a 223 is simply items 638:650. (Current guess is that race 5 is Omphaaz. Pixies seem able to use most items, which is unlike previous Wizardry games.)
114: Classes: Warrior – Bard, there is also Omphaaz? 638:650 are the only numbers not 0mod4, they are all 3mod4, they are also the only named Omphaaz items. The numbers list which classes and races are forbidden to use the item, they are sums of binary powers. A power is present in the sum: the class is forbidden to use the item, while zero means there is no restriction. Numbering of powers starts at 2^2 = 4 for classes. Apparently, powers 0 and 1, decimal 1 and 2, must both be reserved for Omphaaz items.

115,116: Classes: Samurai – Valkyrie, also gender. Said powers start at zeroth power equals 1 for Samurai and go thru to 2^8 = 256 for Valkyrie. Male gender would be a 9 thus 512 = women only

157, what is the meaning of correction for the vampiric attack?
177, 181, 185 weapon damage formula seems to be: AdB + C

193, 201, 209, 217: special attack forms for weapons
Sleep 1
Stun 2
Knock – out 3
Paralysis 4
Fear 5
Blind 6
Poison 7
Stoning 8
Death 9
Drain 10
Insane 11
Disease 15

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<table border="1" > <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">Column</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Resists</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Items</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">241</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Magic</td> <td width=“90” height="2">19</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">242</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Fire</td> <td width=“90” height="2">24</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">243</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Mind</td> <td width=“90” height="2">22</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">244</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Paralysis</td> <td width=“90” height="2">24</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">245</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Death</td> <td width=“90” height="2">21</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">246</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Petrify</td> <td width=“90” height="2">22</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">247</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Cold</td> <td width=“90” height="2">21</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">248</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Wind</td> <td width=“90” height="2">17</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">249</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Earth</td> <td width=“90” height="2">21</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">250</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Poison</td> <td width=“90” height="2">16</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">251</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Elements</td> <td width=“90” height="2">20</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">252</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Dispel</td> <td width=“90” height="2">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">253</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Silence</td> <td width=“90” height="2">20</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">254</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Light</td> <td width=“90” height="2">13</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">255</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Charm</td> <td width=“90” height="2">10</td> </tr> <tr> <td width=“90” height="2">256</td> <td width=“90” height="2">Mavin</td> <td width=“90” height="2">0</td> </tr> </table></body>
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Items, is the number of items having this resistance, not many do considering that there are 857 items in total.

246, 248, 249, 251 seem connected to the elements or petrification. I think the "Protection v Elements" figure is the average of these four numbers.

261: enchantment
263: to Hit
264: cursed weapons and armor
265: seems to be Parry.
267: to AC, for body armor it may be multiples of 0.4, for leggings 0.3, for boots and gauntlets 0.15
268: cursed armor
269: regeneration
273: toughness
275: the 3D figure graphic
277: the graphic when the item is lying on the ground.
281: skill used

An adjustment to Parry seems never to occur in items description, regardless of whether it is positive or negative.