It is a double-headed problem here :
- those fields are most probably unused by the Emu, so during normal server operation they take up space for nothing
- those fields are supposedly accurate, meaning their value is Live-like and could be used in the (near or not so near) future, if someone cared to develop the functionality
If we remove the fields, then there is close to zero chance for them to be used someday, as the information will not be there to begin with. There is a related trap : custom DBs. The sane way to create a new item is to pick a similar one and apply your changes, that way you ensure most of the fields are consistent. Say I need to create a bag, best is to start from a similar bag and tweak a few fields. If the currently-useless fields are removed and some are reintroduced someday, they will have to be put back in (with their proper value, ie you must remember what item you started from) one by one. This can lead to long and difficult upgrades for custom worlds. I am not too worried about this problem as I keep my item definitions (as deltas to the original item) so I know I will be able to re-apply the initial definition, but not everybody works this way. I know this trap can probably be avoided with sane default values and such, but everyone should be aware of this impact.
On a related topic, could anyone clarify how the DB dump (in PEQ) is generated, how new Live-like items are introduced (manually or automatically from another source), and what the 13TH-FLOOR is ?
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