spelllist.mes and tweaking effects

I have been playing with spelllist.mes and the effect.mes files.
As some may know, these two files are responsable for telling spells, and some magic / tech items how to behave.

I am currently finding that there must be a third (or more) mes file(s) out there that control item functions. Does anyone know what they/it might be? ( ie. I cannot find refernces to the abilities of several unique items , ring of virility,gem of malachi,etc , neither can I find many common magic/tech items - even those that obviously have an effect in effect.mes.

To be exact, this is what I currently can't do:

Add a effect to the unlock cantrip that slightly damages a portal or container WITHOUT making my entire party attack or making any nearby ( not tied via script to it) npc's attack me afterwards.

To make magnus' gauntlets have their attribute mod affect me as well as him - I have its effect.mes number, but cant relate it to anything else.( scipted to just him maybe????)

To alter the stats of the tech manuals so that they give a small boost to intelligence as well as expertise in their given field. The effect.mes line seems to be tied to a scaled multiplier that I cant find(Not in spellist.mes- tied directly to in I believe, as a in boost multiplies itself to maximum in with one degree of change).

To add/modify a spell that will give an art affect of a person to dog and give it a person attribute for a short period of time - long enought to board a train ( though it might be funny to see happen anyways). I have figured out how to give it an art effect, but not the attribute so that other npc's think hes a person.

Does anyone know if the main arcanum module scripts can be altered without crashing the game? Say, add a couple of extra lines to some new dlg or effects? I have only barely begun to play with them, but a little info would be appreciated.

 

Ok answering my own questions.. I have found that the ones I cannot change are directly tied into a protoype. YEAH!!! we all know how much we love trying to alter prototypes....
Personally, I'd rather stick an epilady up my nose than break open a hex editor. ;(

Oh well, damn you magnus and your gauntlets !!!! I want them sooo, bad...
BTW, could someone maybve explain to me why the programmers used a system like this? Really, I want to know what benefits using hard coded prototypes has over sticking with .mes files and scripts? It sure makes modding a bitch.

 

where is it that the spelllist.mes is located? And when you have founds it where do you put it for it to have an effect on the gaem? is it data\rules or data\mes?

is it possible to add new spells? or do you have to just replace the old ones that are already there? And is this true for schematics?