Field Types Reference

Field Types Reference

This page documents the data types available for use in the fields section of YAML schemas.

Basic Numeric Types

Name	Size	Description
byte, char	1	Unsigned 8-bit integer.
word	2	Unsigned 16-bit integer (little-endian).
dword	4	Unsigned 32-bit integer (little-endian).
sbyte, schar	1	Signed 8-bit integer.
sword	2	Signed 16-bit integer.
sdword	4	Signed 32-bit integer.

Strings and Blobs

char_array

A fixed-length string.

• Attributes: size (int) or size_ref (name of a sibling field containing the size).

bytes

A raw binary blob.

• Attributes: size (int).

Data Structures

bitmask

Maps bits to boolean flags.

• Attributes: flags (Dictionary of hex_mask: flag_name).
• Note: Unmapped bits are preserved in a reserved _unknown field for fidelity.

bitfield

Extracts multiple numeric values from a single integer.

• Attributes: bitfields (Dictionary of name: {shift: X, mask: Y}).

enum

Maps an integer to a string label.

• Attributes: values (List or Dictionary).

Array Types

word_array / byte_array

A collection of scalars.

• Attributes: count (fixed) or size (total bytes to divide).

word_scalar_array

Used for high-performance flat lookup tables (e.g., in WED files).

• Attributes: count_field (resolves count from the parsing context).

Relational & Virtual Types

computed

A virtual field that calculates a value from its siblings using an arithmetic expression. It has size 0 and does not exist in the binary file.

• Usage: expr: "width * height"

pointer_string

Reads a string from a distant offset within the same section entry.

• Attributes: offset_ref, length_ref.

Infinity Engine Specific

resref

An 8-byte, null-padded resource reference. Automatically sanitized for display (strips trailing nulls).

strref

A 4-byte integer pointing to a string in the TLK table. In-editor display resolves this to the actual text.

resref_array / strref_array

Specialized handlers for blocks of references, often used in spell/item slots.

effect_extra_data

A conditional field used in CRE files. It reads 216 bytes of additional data only if the eff_structure_version in the context is non-zero.

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Common Attributes

• lookup: Used for fields that reference external tables (IDS files).
• display_value_map: Overrides the raw integer display in the UI with a string.
• display_empty_values: List of integers (like 0 or 0xFFFFFFFF) that should be treated as null/None in the editor.
• hidden: true: The field is parsed but not shown in the standard inspector.