ITEM LIST HACKING NOTES

In the Static folder under Ultima IX is a file called books-en.flx.  Open it in a hex editor and find a shop.  Replace items that are already there. The important thing is not to change the overall record length. For example:

You can pad out the description with spaces if necessary. The new economy patch provides more slots to change.  Minimum price you can set is $1. Items priced at $0 can't be bought!

Some items are 'special' i.e. they bring up a discovery message like 'You have been given the Shorts of the Guardian'. You only get these messages one time per special item - the first time you get the item.

The discovery message displays in a modal window.  Trader's buy/sell dialogs also display in a modal window.  BUT: You can only have one modal window open at any time - that's the definition of a modal window.  Therefore if you 'buy' special items that you haven't already found legitimately the game tries to open two modal windows at once and it hangs.

You can only use this cheat to replace special items you have either lost or given away (like the Mage Shield or Gringolet).

Some unique items like Magic armor don't generate discovery messages and you can buy these at any time in any quantity.

Books and keys are another problem. There are only four generic keys - iron, copper, silver and gold (plus a few 'special' keys). When the game starts up, 'legitimate' keys are initialized with a code that links them to specific lock(s). Books are initialized with links to specific text.  Any generic books or keys that you 'buy' will not go through this initialization process and will not be useful. The item codes are in the list merely for completeness.