The TXT.BSA file found in the GAMEDATA directory contains a ton of useful information. This page contains any useful information or formats gleaned from it. Feel free to contribute any new information or correct any errors found.
Magical Items ListEdit
The start of the TXT.BSA file starts of with a long list of close to 300 magical items along with the spells and effects of each. The general format of each item is as follows:
Name[0x09](string)[0x0D][0x0A] ID#[0x09](#)[0x0D][0x0A] Item[0x09](#)[0x0D][0x0A] Spell[0x09](#),(#),(#),(#),(#)[0x0D][0x0A] App[0x09](#),(#),...,(100)[0x0D][0x0A] Adv[0x09](#),....(100)[0x0D][0x0A] Uses[0x09](#)[0x0D][0x0A] Level[0x09](#)[0x0D][0x0A] [0x0D][0x0A](junk characters...ignore)[0x0D][0x0A]
The [0x09] is the ASCII character 9 which is a TAB. Similarly [0x0D] and [0x0A] are the Carriage Return and Line Feed characters. The (string) and (#) represent a variable text string or a decimal number. More detail on the description of each field follows. The item data starts at offset 4 and the last item begins at offset 0x6A08 (27144) and ends at 0x6A72 (27250). As you can see, item records are not fixed length so you'll have to read and parse line by line to get all the data.
Name FieldEdit
Well, this obvious contains the name of the item. There doesn't appear to be the same notation as in Daggerfall with the '%it' string (for those familiar with it) but the string contained is merely attached to the end of item name. So typical item names are 'of the Something', 'of Something Else'. There are a few items with complete names such as 'Battlespire Cape of Arcane Sight' which may possibly be identified with their ID#. Not sure how long the names can become before causing problems in the game.
ID#Edit
This number is unique for each item (I think) and is most likely used by the program for identifying it.
ItemEdit
This field usually takes on a value of 0-4 and I am unsure what exactly it does.
SpellEdit
This field specifies which spell the item is enchanted with and is divided into five sections:
- [cast when equipped], [cast when used], [cast when strikes], [strength], [type]
The cast sections hold the spell number to be cast when the object is used, etc... A number of -1 means that there no spell contained. All the known items have only one spell effect so multiple spells (ie, casting when used and casting when strikes, etc...) may not be possible. The known spells with their numbers follow.
| Number | Spell Name | Number | Spell Name | Number | Spell Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1 | No Spell | 12 | Vampiric Drain | 21 | Cure Health |
| 1 | Summon Monster | 13 | Delayed Damage | 22 | Jump |
| 2 | Detect Spell | 14 | Unknown | 24 | Running |
| 3 | Cure Health or Detect Enemy? | 15 | Spell Reflection | 25 | Teleport |
| 5 | Invisibility | 16 | Spell Resistance | 26 | Shield |
| 8 | Slowfall | 17 | Spell Absorption | 27 | Resistance to Elements |
| 9 | Continual Damage | 18 | Damage Health Spell | 28 | Unknown |
| 10 | Poison | 19 | Fire Shield | 39 | Resistance to Elements |
| 11 | Confusion | 20 | Cure Poison | 40 | Unknown |
The strength of the spell is a number ranging from 1 to 8, with 1-3 being a minor effect, 4-5 being moderate, 6-7 being major, and 8 being very potent (and rare). There are a number of discrepancies in the spell strength and strength listed in the various books, but one can assume that this is a typographical error (Major and Minor effects are often reversed). The strength has some different effect on different spells. For example, for summon monster the higher the strength the more powerful/smart the monster summoned is. For damage based the more damage it does, for healing the more damage it heals etc...
The type of spell relates to which element it belongs to.
| Number | Type |
|---|---|
| 0 | All/General? |
| 1 | Fire |
| 2 | Frost |
| 3 | Magic |
| 4 | Poison |
| 5 | Shock |
Depending on the spell the type section has slightly different effects. For damage spells the type is never 0 while for resistance spells a type of 0 means resistance to all elements. Of course for some spells (like, Cure Health, etc...) this section has no meaning.
App FieldEdit
This field relates to what skills are effected and by how much. This is a variable length field which is of the form.
- App ([skill], [modifier]), 100
Examples:
- App 100
- App 10, 20, 100
- App 10, 20, 11, 15, 12, 30, 100
In other words, there is a list of skills and modifiers terminated by the number 100. The modifier is the amount by which the skill is increased, or decreased (since negative values are allowed). The skill numbers are as follows:
| Number | Skill | Number | Skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jumping | 12 | Thaumaturgy |
| 3 | Stealth | 13 | Mysticism |
| 4 | Swimming | 14 | Short Blade |
| 5 | Backstabbing | 15 | Long Blade |
| 7 | Running | 16 | Hand to Hand |
| 8 | Destruction | 17 | Axe |
| 9 | Restoration | 18 | Blunt Weapon |
| 10 | Illusion | 19 | Missile |
| 11 | Alteration |
Adv FieldEdit
This is another variable length field of the form.
- Adv ([Ability])
Examples:
- Adv -1
- Adv 10
- Adv 20, 12, 13
If there are no abilities enchanted into the item, a -1 value is found. Otherwise there is a list of one or most ability numbers:
| Number | Ability |
|---|---|
| 10 | Fire Immunity? |
| 24 | Athleticism |
There are many more abilities which are unknown (numbers up to 50 have been observed) and these are all things like resistances, immunities, weaknesses etc... (as found in the character creation process).
UsesEdit
Well, this contains the number of times a magical item can be used. For items without spells it would hold how durable the object is. Typical values here are 10 or 20 uses although a few items have values of 30 or even 50. Several 'special' quest related items have a value of -1 indicating that they cannot be used or destroyed (most likely).
Level FieldEdit
Most items have a level value of 0 although a few have a value of 1 or 2. Perhaps this relates to how powerful the item is, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's not even used at all.