baseitems.2da defines (most) of the base item types in the game and allows new ones to be added.
There is a game engine limit of 256 (0-255) lines in baseitems.2da. It is recommended to reuse "reserved" lines for new ones. One problem with going over 255 lines is that the base item type TLK identifier will not be loaded correctly, such as in this example. In a MP game it might just not even appear properly for players, so do not use lines higher than 255.
The "armor" line is hardcoded. There is no way to add fully functional new armor even if the slot type is defined correctly (ie it fits on the chest). This is because the actual AC value of armor is linked to the appearance.
Some information on 2da columns, will be tabled later:
WeaponType
The type of weapon and the damage it does.:
1 = Piercing
2 = Bludgeoning
3 = Slashing
4 = Slashing and Piercing
5 = Piercing and Bludgeoning
WeaponSize
The size of the weapon. These numbers correspond to the rows in creaturesize.2da.
RangedWeapon
Index to the row in Baseitems.2da specifying the type of ammunition used by a ranged weapon. Projectile weapons point to either row 20, 25, or 27. Thrown weapons point to themselves (i.e. they are their own ammunition).
Note: it does not appear to be possible to create a new ranged weapon, although it is possible to replace an existing one with a new ranged weapon.
PrefAttackDist
The preferred distance for attacking with this item. Only relevant for weapons. Used to determine how far away the character wielding the weapon can be from the target and considered to be in melee range - although really this is controlled by the appearance.2da sizes of each creature.
MinRange
The minimum number of models of this type. The actual value to put in here is the range you want x 10.
For Multi-Part Items (Weapons): A value of 10 here indicates that your model numbering starts at 011, incrementing by one to 019, before indexing by 10 (e.g. 019 >> 021-029 >> 031 etc.
MaxRange
The maximum allowed number of models of this type. The actual value to put in here is the range you want x 10. The maximum possible value is 255.
For Multi-Part Items (e.g. Weapons): The MaxRange should be set no higher than 249, as the hard-limit is 255, capping the range for model 25 below 9. When reading model numbers, the first two digits correspond to the Model field of the drop down menus under "Item Properties>>Appearance" in the Toolset. The last digit of the MDL filename corresponds to the Color field in the drop down menus. The range of colors available for higher Model numbers is solely dependent upon the number of colors available in the lowest range. For example, if you only have models numbered 011-014, higher level Model numbers will only display a range of 4 Colors. Thus, continuing the example, if you added models 015-019, you would enable colors 5-9 in the Color drop down menu.
Note, model numbers ending as "0" (e.g. 010, 020, 030, etc.) appear as Color 0 in the Color drop down menu.
For Single-Part Items: The full range of numbers is available starting at the MinRange value and ending at the MaxRange value.