Haru

There were reasons why signed was chosen instead of unsigned. Most operations we do with tick are tick differences, and that kind of operation with unsigned variables requires extra care that's not required with signed ones. There really isn't any benefit in using unsigned in most cases (especially if it's just to say that the variable should never be negative), and I strongly believe the only place where one should use unsigned is where the value isn't used as a plain number, but a bit field or similar. If the point about using unsigned is to allow larger values, well, the int64 overflow will happen about 292 million years from now. I believe that, whichever intelligent life forms will be alive by then, if any, will be able to use a different 'zero', or a larger variable.
 
This article on the topic is an interesting read: http://www.soundsoftware.ac.uk/c-pitfall-unsigned

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

There were reasons why signed was chosen instead of unsigned. Most operations we do with tick are tick differences, and that kind of operation with unsigned variables requires extra care that's not required with signed ones. There really isn't any benefit in using unsigned in most cases (especially if it's just to say that the variable should never be negative), and I strongly believe the only place where one should use unsigned is where the value isn't used as a plain number, but a bit field or similar. If the point about using unsigned is to allow larger values, well, the int64 overflow will happen about 292 million years from now. I believe that, whichever intelligent life forms will be alive by then, if any, will be able to use a different 'zero', or a larger variable.
 
This article on the topic is an interesting read: http://www.soundsoftware.ac.uk/c-pitfall-unsigned

Hi,
 
Kindly check this quest.h
 
and increase your 
#define MAX_QUEST_DB (60355+1) // Highest quest ID + 1 that is because of this commit Questlog Fix

Added:
[*]Added support for automatic concatenation of adjacent string literals (09dd209)
[*]Improved scripting operators precedence rules (ac6ae8c)
[*]Added support for ++x / --x operators and changed the x++ / x-- operators to post-increment (9a802b9)

(they were authored in September, but actually pushed in November, so they were accidentally skipped in the digest)

Added:
[*]Added support for automatic concatenation of adjacent string literals (09dd209)
[*]Improved scripting operators precedence rules (ac6ae8c)
[*]Added support for ++x / --x operators and changed the x++ / x-- operators to post-increment (9a802b9)

(they were authored in September, but actually pushed in November, so they were accidentally skipped in the digest)

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

This means your client is not using any obfuscation, because you (or someone for you, if you're not the one who hexed it), disabled it. This means you'll probably be able to connect to the server even if you have packet_obfuscation set to 0.
 
Hercules doesn't currently have the encryption keys for that client version though (unless they're the same as the 20130703 client, but I doubt so), so even if you enable the obfuscation clientside, you might not be able to connect to the server unless you also add the correct keys.

This means your client is not using any obfuscation, because you (or someone for you, if you're not the one who hexed it), disabled it. This means you'll probably be able to connect to the server even if you have packet_obfuscation set to 0.
 
Hercules doesn't currently have the encryption keys for that client version though (unless they're the same as the 20130703 client, but I doubt so), so even if you enable the obfuscation clientside, you might not be able to connect to the server unless you also add the correct keys.

The crash should be solved in https://github.com/HerculesWS/Hercules/commit/d9a89c56ea63e369999ca13f1584eef9e511490f (it was an oversight on my part caused by a last minute change before committing)

something wrong with your custom script,
 
Missing type of item

The issue was because of the extra spaces you had in your lines. I added support for that situation, since the server used to load those correctly even if the spaces weren't supposed to be there.
 
 
Thanks for the report. It's fixed in https://github.com/HerculesWS/Hercules/commit/d1a635a06f5152b51d0879176f011b5c6e45431c (and if you use the online version, it was updated as well)

The provided converter is to transition from the old to the new format. It's already there.If you need to use the file for any other purpose I'd recommend you to look at the db2sql plugin code, and modify that to suit your needs. All the item db info is available there (including the default values for the missing fields), and you can change the fprintf format strings to suit your needs.
 
I am aware of that. But that's not an excuse for being stuck in the past with unreadable file formats. Tools can be easily edited and/or rewritten. Regular expressions are much harder to use (if not impossible), but that doesn't prevent you from writing a tool to convert the file to whatever format you find more suitable, and back to the libconfig format. The file in the repository is fine as it is, at least when it's updated, diffs are easier to read, and nobody can sneak in nasty, subtle changes that would pass unnoticed.Actually, it's been discussed since May 2013. 
Feel free to release one. I personally won't, as there's no need for it to be in the repository (other than making the Hercules database usable with other server emulators, which is outside our scope.) 
On a side note, the format has now new (optional) fields (see BindOnEquip). Those can't be converted to the "old" format, unless you add another field to it (but then it won't be the same old format anymore - that was one of its biggest weaknesses, it was impossible to add fields in a sane way without rewriting the entire file)
Yep. Hated the comma separated version (for anything other than machine parsing) since I saw it the first time. And as fields got added to it, it became harder and harder. 
 
There's a reason not to do that. We'd be back to a hard to read file format (the import scripts). I personally find it pointless to have the item db in SQL (other than for control panels and such), because, well, it's an info that gets read once on server startup, and cached in any case. SQL is useful if you only need to look up parts of it (like a control panel does), but quite pointless (and an annoyance to keep up to date) if all you need is to SELECT * on server startup.If one of the two formats were to go away, to me it'd be SQL. But it's gonna stay, mostly for Control Panel purposes.
You misunderstood the 'Inherit' point. Please re-read how it works.Inherit can only be used in the item_db2 to inherit the values defined in item_db for *the same item*. You can't have inheritance chains, as it's only a boolean. If your custom Knife[3] has 'Inherit: true' set, and you only define a script (i.e. because you want it to have 100 Atk instead of its standard value), it means it'll be exactly a Knife[3], with all other standard parameters from the item_db, and only the Atk you have overridden will be changed. This means that, if for some reason the official item is updated to have a different weight, you wouldn't need to edit yours, as the change will be propagated (unless you override it.)

The provided converter is to transition from the old to the new format. It's already there.If you need to use the file for any other purpose I'd recommend you to look at the db2sql plugin code, and modify that to suit your needs. All the item db info is available there (including the default values for the missing fields), and you can change the fprintf format strings to suit your needs.
 
I am aware of that. But that's not an excuse for being stuck in the past with unreadable file formats. Tools can be easily edited and/or rewritten. Regular expressions are much harder to use (if not impossible), but that doesn't prevent you from writing a tool to convert the file to whatever format you find more suitable, and back to the libconfig format. The file in the repository is fine as it is, at least when it's updated, diffs are easier to read, and nobody can sneak in nasty, subtle changes that would pass unnoticed.Actually, it's been discussed since May 2013. 
Feel free to release one. I personally won't, as there's no need for it to be in the repository (other than making the Hercules database usable with other server emulators, which is outside our scope.) 
On a side note, the format has now new (optional) fields (see BindOnEquip). Those can't be converted to the "old" format, unless you add another field to it (but then it won't be the same old format anymore - that was one of its biggest weaknesses, it was impossible to add fields in a sane way without rewriting the entire file)
Yep. Hated the comma separated version (for anything other than machine parsing) since I saw it the first time. And as fields got added to it, it became harder and harder. 
 
There's a reason not to do that. We'd be back to a hard to read file format (the import scripts). I personally find it pointless to have the item db in SQL (other than for control panels and such), because, well, it's an info that gets read once on server startup, and cached in any case. SQL is useful if you only need to look up parts of it (like a control panel does), but quite pointless (and an annoyance to keep up to date) if all you need is to SELECT * on server startup.If one of the two formats were to go away, to me it'd be SQL. But it's gonna stay, mostly for Control Panel purposes.
You misunderstood the 'Inherit' point. Please re-read how it works.Inherit can only be used in the item_db2 to inherit the values defined in item_db for *the same item*. You can't have inheritance chains, as it's only a boolean. If your custom Knife[3] has 'Inherit: true' set, and you only define a script (i.e. because you want it to have 100 Atk instead of its standard value), it means it'll be exactly a Knife[3], with all other standard parameters from the item_db, and only the Atk you have overridden will be changed. This means that, if for some reason the official item is updated to have a different weight, you wouldn't need to edit yours, as the change will be propagated (unless you override it.)

The provided converter is to transition from the old to the new format. It's already there.If you need to use the file for any other purpose I'd recommend you to look at the db2sql plugin code, and modify that to suit your needs. All the item db info is available there (including the default values for the missing fields), and you can change the fprintf format strings to suit your needs.
 
I am aware of that. But that's not an excuse for being stuck in the past with unreadable file formats. Tools can be easily edited and/or rewritten. Regular expressions are much harder to use (if not impossible), but that doesn't prevent you from writing a tool to convert the file to whatever format you find more suitable, and back to the libconfig format. The file in the repository is fine as it is, at least when it's updated, diffs are easier to read, and nobody can sneak in nasty, subtle changes that would pass unnoticed.Actually, it's been discussed since May 2013. 
Feel free to release one. I personally won't, as there's no need for it to be in the repository (other than making the Hercules database usable with other server emulators, which is outside our scope.) 
On a side note, the format has now new (optional) fields (see BindOnEquip). Those can't be converted to the "old" format, unless you add another field to it (but then it won't be the same old format anymore - that was one of its biggest weaknesses, it was impossible to add fields in a sane way without rewriting the entire file)
Yep. Hated the comma separated version (for anything other than machine parsing) since I saw it the first time. And as fields got added to it, it became harder and harder. 
 
There's a reason not to do that. We'd be back to a hard to read file format (the import scripts). I personally find it pointless to have the item db in SQL (other than for control panels and such), because, well, it's an info that gets read once on server startup, and cached in any case. SQL is useful if you only need to look up parts of it (like a control panel does), but quite pointless (and an annoyance to keep up to date) if all you need is to SELECT * on server startup.If one of the two formats were to go away, to me it'd be SQL. But it's gonna stay, mostly for Control Panel purposes.
You misunderstood the 'Inherit' point. Please re-read how it works.Inherit can only be used in the item_db2 to inherit the values defined in item_db for *the same item*. You can't have inheritance chains, as it's only a boolean. If your custom Knife[3] has 'Inherit: true' set, and you only define a script (i.e. because you want it to have 100 Atk instead of its standard value), it means it'll be exactly a Knife[3], with all other standard parameters from the item_db, and only the Atk you have overridden will be changed. This means that, if for some reason the official item is updated to have a different weight, you wouldn't need to edit yours, as the change will be propagated (unless you override it.)

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Item DB file structure overhaul
 
Hello~! Uguu~?!
We noticed that the Item Database file format, unchanged for years, is less than optimal (read: terrible)
The file is really hard to read (is it the fifteenth or the sixteenth zero? No wait, that line has an extra comma!!) Whenever you merge an update, if you had a customized entry, you're sure to encounter large conflicts that won't be trivial to solve How do we fix it?
We're switching to a brand new, modern, file format, making use of the libconfig library we're already using for other configuration files.
It uses libconfig. This means the parser is more solid and, perhaps not faster, but surely easier to maintain, with simpler code. And the file format is something you're already used to, since it's the same as many other configuration files we use! Empty fields and the long sequences of those hard to count commas are gone! You just specify the fields you need, and the others can be completely skipped. The item_db2 entries can be left incomplete and set to inherit the original item_db entry. If you have a custom script for your Knife[3], you can just write the script in your item_db, and let it read the other values from the item_db, so that if we update them, you get the update automatically Item scripts can be split into several lines, so they can made easier to read, especially the long ones. We can finally add more fields (to support new features) to the file at any time, easily and without having to edit all the lines (or force you to edit all the lines of your custom item_db2)! Pre-Renewal and Renewal Item databases now use the same format. This also means that you can make use of the min/max level feature in both renewal and pre-renewal (of course, pre-renewal servers will ignore the Matk field, if you specify it, since it's meaningless there) What does it look like?
 
Each entry follows this structure:
{     // =================== Mandatory fields ===============================     Id: ID                        (int)     AegisName: "Aegis_Name"       (string, optional if Inherit: true)     Name: "Item Name"             (string, optional if Inherit: true)     // =================== Optional fields ================================     Type: Item Type               (int, defaults to 3 = etc item)     Buy: Buy Price                (int, defaults to Sell * 2)     Sell: Sell Price              (int, defaults to Buy / 2)     Weight: Item Weight           (int, defaults to 0)     Atk: Attack                   (int, defaults to 0)     Matk: Magical Attack          (int, defaults to 0, ignored in pre-re)     Def: Defense                  (int, defaults to 0)     Range: Attack Range           (int, defaults to 0)     Slots: Slots                  (int, defaults to 0)     Job: Job mask                 (int, defaults to all jobs = 0xFFFFFFFF)     Upper: Upper mask             (int, defaults to any = 0x3f)     Gender: Gender                (int, defaults to both = 2)     Loc: Equip location           (int, required value for equipment)     WeaponLv: Weapon Level        (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: Equip required level (int, defaults to 0)     EquipLv: [min, max]           (alternative syntax with min / max level)     Refine: Refineable            (boolean, defaults to true)     View: View ID                 (int, defaults to 0)     Script: <"         Script         (it can be multi-line)     ">     OnEquipScript: <" OnEquip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     OnUnequipScript: <" OnUnequip Script (can also be multi-line) ">     // =================== Optional fields (item_db2 only) ================     Inherit: true/false           (boolean, if true, inherit the values                                   that weren't specified, from item_db.conf,                                   else override it and use default values) }, Here's a Red Potion in the old format:
501,Red_Potion,Red Potion,0,50,,70,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ itemheal rand(45,65),0; },{},{} And here's the same Red Potion in the new format:
{     Id: 501     AegisName: "Red_Potion"     Name: "Red Potion"     Type: 0     Buy: 50     Weight: 70     Script: <" itemheal rand(45,65),0; "> }, Not convinced yet it's easier to read? Okay, let's try a Poison Bottle:
678,Poison_Bottle,Poison Bottle,2,5000,,100,,,,,0xFFFFFFFF,7,2,,,,,,{ if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) { sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0; sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0; } else percentheal -100,-100; },{},{} changes to:
{     Id: 678     AegisName: "Poison_Bottle"     Name: "Poison Bottle"     Type: 2     Buy: 5000     Weight: 100     Script: <"         if(Class==Job_Assassin_Cross) {             sc_start SC_DPOISON,60000,0;             sc_start SC_ATTHASTE_INFINITY,60000,0;         }         else percentheal -100,-100;     "> }, Better, isn't it!? Let's now try a Jellopy:
909,Jellopy,Jellopy,3,6,,10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,{},{},{} Count the commas! Did I miss any? An extra comma you say? No, I don't want to count them, thanks...
{     Id: 909     AegisName: "Jellopy"     Name: "Jellopy"     Buy: 6     Weight: 10 }, Not even a comma!
Now, help me read what this item does?
13307,Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1,Glorious Shuriken,4,20,,0,55,,1,0,0x02000000,7,2,34,4,80,1,22,{ bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95; bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20; bonus bMatkRate,15; autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000; bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0; if(getrefine()>5) { bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3); bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5; } if(getrefine()>8) { bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1; bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200; } },{},{} {     Id: 13307     AegisName: "Krieger_Huuma_Shuriken1"     Name: "Glorious Shuriken"     Type: 4     Buy: 20     Atk: 55     Range: 1     Job: 0x02000000     Loc: 34     WeaponLv: 4     EquipLv: 80     View: 22     Script: <"         bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,95;         bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,20;         bonus bMatkRate,15;         autobonus "{ bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_HUUMA,100; bonus2 bSkillAtk,NJ_ISSEN,100; }",50,10000;         bonus bUnbreakableWeapon,0;         if(getrefine()>5) {             bonus2 bAddRace,RC_DemiHuman,(getrefine()-3)*(getrefine()-3);             bonus2 bIgnoreDefRate,RC_DemiHuman,5;         }         if(getrefine()>8) {             bonus5 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_ISSEN,AL_HEAL,10,1000,1;             bonus4 bAutoSpellOnSkill,NJ_HUUMA,NPC_CRITICALWOUND,2,200;         }     "> }, Which one did you find easier to read? Old or new format?
 
Want to see an example that specifies both min and max levels? Here you go:
{     Id: 2819     AegisName: "Swordman_Manual"     Name: "Swordman Manual"     Type: 5     Buy: 0     Weight: 100     Job: 0x00000001     Upper: 47     Loc: 136     EquipLv: [1, 12]     Refine: false     Script: <"         bonus bMaxSP,100;         skill SM_BASH,1;         skill SM_PROVOKE,1;         skill SM_MAGNUM,1;     "> }, Okay, one last example. Let's try to make an item_db2 entry for a Pupa Card that gives a bonus of 1000 HP rather than just 700.
{     Id: 4003     Inherit: true     Script: <" bonus bMaxHP,1000; "> }, Done. No need to rewrite the name, location, prices... those are already in the item_db!
 
But... I have several custom items, do I have to manually convert all of them...?
 
Of course you do! No, I'm kidding, don't hate me
 
It's true that you need to convert your item database to the new format, but we can do it for you!
Go to http://haru.ws/hercules/itemdbconverter/ and paste (or upload) your item_db2.txt (or even your item_db.txt if you have custom entries there), press the Convert button, wait a few seconds and you're done! It's already converted for you. Easy, isn't it? Don't trust us? No, no, we don't need your custom items, you can sleep safe... But if you still don't want to paste anything on a website... well, we have provided the source code of the converter script! It's in the 'tools' folder of the Hercules repository. All you need is a Perl interpreter (and if you're running Linux or Mac OS, on either your server or your own computer, it's almost certain that you already have that). All you have to do is run it (example: perl tools/itemdbconverter.pl < db/item_db2.txt > db/item_db2.conf), and your item database will be converted in a split second! What if I was using SQL item databases?
 
Well... Then you won't have to worry about the txt databases, unless you were creating the items in txt, then converting them to sql (if you're not doing this, maybe you should consider it, you know? It's easier to create and manage them in txt even if you use the sql version!)
 
If you were converting your custom item databases from the txt version to sql through the db2sql plugin, there are good news for you! We just updated the plugin, and now it's able to create a .sql script rather than just inserting the entries into your database. This means that you can create the SQL entries in your own computer, without even needing a database (just a copy of Hercules), without risking to slow down your server, and then upload them whenever you want.
 
And if you're relying on the .sql scripts we provide... well, there are still good news for you! Outdated item_db.sql files are a thing of the past now: those scripts will get updated automatically after every commit by our HerculesWS API bot, exactly like the HPM Hooks!
 
As a final note, now the pre-re and re databases share the same structure in SQL as well! no more column mismatch if you're trying to import into your Renewal server an item that was meant for pre-renewal.
 
If you have data already imported to your item_db2 SQL table, it'll be updated to the new table format through the regular upgrade sql mechanism (just run the provided script in the sql-files/upgrades folder). Please note that the script requires MySQL 5.0 or newer -- if you're still on MySQL 4.0, please open it in a text editor, read the comments and run the provided queries manually.
 
I have this event item entry that came with an old script I downloaded...
 
No worries, you can get it converted. Use the same script (or the provided web page) you'd use to convert an entire item database, it'll work just fine even for an item or two!
 
Special thanks
To Ind, for bringing up the idea and pushing it forward until it was implemented. And for his awesome work on the HerculesWS API and database converter plugin. To Yommy, for the original idea, and for some invaluable help finalizing the actual database format. Links~u!
Main commit. Removed redundant item_db2_re.sql (now both have the same structure). db2sql plugin update. item_db2 inheritance. item_db2 SQL upgrade script.

Hercules Plugin Manager: Hooking
 
Hello~! What?!
In March 1st we started the Hercules Renewal Phase One, in order to prepare Hercules for this update, and now 7 months later it's fully complete, we've gone all over the map-server's code, taken hundreds of notes, modified thousands of lines, and have greatly improved our knowledge, making it very much worth the effort. HPM Hooking
Zero Processing OverheadNormally programs that avail hooking end up paying a price for it, processing-time-wise, HPM Design frees Hercules from that toll -- absolutely no processing overhead to functions not being hooked to. Smart, Flexible Design Hooks receive all function params as pointers, whereas the original is int pc_dropitem(struct map_session_data *sd,int n,int amount)the one for the hook shall be (struct map_session_data *sd,int *n,int *amount)which allows for hooks to modify any and all data as it pleases.
postHooks receive one additional param, which accounts for the result of the original function, int <name>(int retVal, struct map_session_data *sd,int *n,int *amount)In this case it'd allow for the postHook to react properly to what the original returned, in this case (for pc_dropitem) 0 (failure) or 1 (success) Hooking is a simple operation, it is possible to hook an infinite number of times to the over 2k hookable functions (all the interfaced ones, accounting for over 99% of map server) HPExport void plugin_init (void) {     addHookPre("pc->dropitem",my_pc_dropitem_preHook);  /* int my_pc_dropitem_preHook(struct map_session_data *sd,int *n,int *amount) */     addHookPost("pc->dropitem",my_pc_dropitem_postHook);/* int my_pc_dropitem_postHook(int retVal, struct map_session_data *sd,int *n,int *amount) */ } DocumentationThe sample plugin has already been updated to demonstrate hooking, the documentation present in the wiki will be updated shortly. Hercules-Hooks Updates This covers how we'll maintain the hookable points up to date with the game server's code The cache that boosts the hooks -- Made Possible Thanks to Haruna! -- is maintained by an application, for a couple days it will remain like that so we can keep an eye on it and debug as we go, once we're confident with it we'll enable its standalone mode, which will make the process automatic (without the need for developers to proofread and approve) and able to follow up on any new commits within seconds of it landing on the repository. Also in
Haruna has redesigned the Makefile for plugins, so those of you not using windows will need to re-enter your plugins in it (its much easier now, Haruna provided a very straight-forward documentation in the file) Pre-existing plugins will need to be recompiled, given the chances in the Hercules Plugin Manager, attempting to load any not-recompiled plugin will lead to it not being loaded (and a warning in console will be displayed) Design by
Haruna, Xgear, Gepard and Ind Special Thanks to
Hercules Team, Contributors, for all have contributed to us getting here, Thank you all very much! Takkun for the MSVC-2012 project files Haruna for the MSVC-2010 project files Link~u!
Commit And - On the Horizon
Script Engine UpdatesThose of you who lurk our page on github probably have already noticed some stuff from it, we'll soon be resuming, for those of you not familiar with it: Many syntax additions and improvements (Thanks to Haruna!) Limitless array support, improvements to array storage and processing Support for Char and Account variable arrays (and no more limit on amount of char/acc vars), improvements to processing and storage of char/acc variables. Catching UpWe hear you, we're lagging on staying up to date with the releases of other projects, we'll be prioritising towards catching up with them. Hercules Stress Test ServerI'll be delaying the release of our Stress Test Server, while it is now viable thanks to hooking, I'd like to prioritise catching up with other releases

How would a full rewrite help preventing these attacks? I feel that ditching an old (but maintained) and well tested codebase to rewrite it from scratch, would have the opposite effect and risk creating more security vulnerabilities, other than breaking compatibility with any old addons and themes. As someone once said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.