Ok, I am not really sure how to encrypt and decrypt files so would a fair alternative be to give a range of items keys and if the values and keys dont match up then the file will be read corrupt by the game module?
say like this:
if (goldpieces < 50)
{
goldkey = 123476;
};
if ((goldpieces > 50) && (goldpieces < 100)
{
goldkey = 1567830;
};

or something like that?
have all the keys follow the variables that they are supposed to error check for and if they dont match the file is unloadable. I know if they had the source file this would be no good, but if I released just the exe file then I believe it would work. Should I just learn how to encrypt files instead?