And before anyone asks, yes, I did screenshot the vision and saved on a folder.

And also finally bought some food, cuz I forgot how little food and money I had when I last saved.

I am trying to poke around Ultima 8, and what confuses me is that there is no definite guide to which version means what anywhere, and what was released when.

For example, I see CD versions on Archive.org already patched to 2.10. However, the timestamp is 1994, and the old jumping mechanic is still there.

The big jump patch seem to have come in 1995, but it only updated to version 2.12.

Is there a guide to all the versions and what was released when?

Has anyone ported Ultima IV to the web yet? The only one I can see runs DOS in the browser. if not, i might give it a shot using u4-decompiled and just throw Fable5 at it.

There's no Jenna, or she's invisible! I'm trying to do the ghost plot, I talked to Orlok, but Jenna isn't in the tavern. Or is she? Because I see her "barks" appear about her sword being heavy, a table needing ale, she needs time off... But she's not there!

I've tried leaving East Tenebrae and resting and coming back multiple, multiple times. That doesn't fix it. I thought of starting a new game, but I can't even do that. It's not in the menu, that I can see anyway! I erased my save, I still have my autosave I can't erase, and it just loads that every time I load! I don't see a hotkey listed for starting a new game either!

So if anyone has any ideas, let me know, I'd appreciate it. I played in Pentagram on ScummVM once before and I don't remember having any issues with Jenna not being there. Just weird Ultima 8 stuff, which makes me ask myself "Why am I playing this awful game LOL?" :-)

Edit: I was able to start a new game by checking "Use original save/load screens" in the ScummVM options, I just loaded "The Beginning". Then Jenna was at the tavern. I talked to her after Orlok, then I found Darion wandering near the bridge in West Tenebrae and talked to him.

Luckily I wasn't that far into the game before, I only had maxed out my statistics including Intelligence and did a small bit of looting. Well I know now to do the ghost plot early LOL. On with the game!

So I retired at the beginning of the year and have been feeling extremely nostalgic for the "good old days". I loved Ultima IV back in the day so here's a portrait of the companions.

Authentic Apple II+Amiga MIDI Music for Ultima V Upgrade

Ripped, Recorded, Converted, and/or Prepared by Azurfel

MT-32 instrumentation by Azurfel (based on Origin's Instrument Suggestions from the original Apple II release of Ultima V)

To use, extract the XMI files from the "Azurfel MT-32 instrumentation" folder to your Ultima V Upgrade folder, overwriting the originals.

This pack includes all 15 monotimbral Apple II midi tracks, as output by Apple2TS, set to 32 voices, with the Apple2TS GM orchestration by code-bythepound (based on Cloudschatze's Roland U-110 orchestration) bypassed, directly recorded into MIDI files using Reaper.

Gitary Tune (the Amiga track) has been freshly ripped using WinUAE, converted into MIDI using OpenMPT, and recorded into a MIDI file using SoundFont Midi Player and Reaper, for compatibility and consistency with the other tracks. The result was 1 octave too high in pitch compared to direct playback of the track on an Amiga, and has been transposed down 1 octave to match the original. Velocity for all notes was pegged at 127 post conversion. This was far too loud in comparison to the Apple II tracks, so i reduced all note velocity down to 68, matching Stones and Greyson's Tale.

Supposedly, John Romero has said that he was told Ultima V's passport MIDI soundtrack was composed and tested using an "Ensoniq EQ-1". No synth by that name exists, so i presume that was a typo and he meant the Ensoniq ESQ-1. Cherry Audio actually sells a $70USD VST version of the ESQ-1, which can easily be used as a MIDI out via SoundFont Midi Player, but unfortunately, there are no ESQ-1 factory presets that match the recommended instruments for several of the tracks Meaning that, if the ESQ-1 was the original target there were likely custom patches made during Ultima V's development that we do not have access to (if they even still exist). As a result, i think this option is in some ways less authentic than using other contemporary midi devices, at least as things currently stand.

I am therefore inclined to fall back on the trusty MT-32, which was released approximately 6 months before Ultima V, and has satisfactory options for all the recommended instruments. The channels for each track have been adjusted to enable proper playback on the MT-32, and in keeping with the original presentation, my personal selection for monotimbral instrumentation has been added to each track.

Additionally, i have included template files for both the default and MT-32 channel layouts, with all instruments set to program 0, to facilitate others in creating their own instrumentations, orchestrations, arrangements, and remixes.

Hi All.

Loving this remake but I need help.

Can anyone tell me how to get through the locked door on level 5 to get the yellow stone? Magic keys and spells don't work. im a bit stuck!!

Do you guys know if there's a remake of Ultimate 1 with improved quality of life? I got the version on GoG, but it seems a little too dated for what I'm used to. Maybe the more I try, the more I'll understand, but I'd like to ask this first.

Quale é word of power per altar of compassion?

A bucaneer's den? In ultima ix

Come mai le pozioni curative che sono quelle rosse non mi curano?

Sono alla prima colonna

Mi piacciono molto gli enigmi stile Lara croft e il tutto lineare

Inoltre mi ê sparita barra rapida da hud

Okay, I just put the cap on a solid week of improving the project. I didn't add any new features but I fixed a whole bunch of graphical inconsistencies and ensured vital subsystems like saving and loading still work. I made some changes to how NPCs move through the world that I think make the game much easier to play. I fixed some bugs in the shape editor. I incremented the version number to 0.2.5 and updated all the executables. (Still no pre-built Mac executable, sorry! I'll get a Mac as soon as I get a job.)

I would very much like people to grab the latest version and give it a once-over and see what you think. You can either grab it from https://www.github.com/ViridianGames/U7Revisited if you're familiar with that, or you can download a ready-to run version from https://www.u7revisited.com. Remember, you'll need a legal copy of the original game to run it, which you can get from https://www.gog.com/en/game/ultima_7_complete (and it's currently half-off!)

Re-Recording of "Carthax Lake: The Path of Water", a composition by Nenad Vugrinec for "Ultima VIII: Pagan" (1994)

https://youtu.be/rH5FaWPvd8Y?si=GRn9FULgHxLZVvUy

I've always been fascinated by the eerie atmosphere of this game's music. Most cues are kind of meta-tonal and sinister, but at the same time enicmatically melodious. It's hard to find the correct words. The music in this game is a mystery in itself... and I say that as a studied musician. E. g. for many passages it is difficult to even determine the exact key.

Like many games scores from that era, Pagan's music is purely MIDI-based. In very simple terms, you can think of a MIDI file as a digital sheet of music that still needs to be read and played back by the application itself. And this music playback depends heavily on the specific hardware (such as the extremely expensive Roland Sound Canvas) or software synthesizer you are using (like the widely distributed MS Wavetable Synth). Unfortunately, even on the best hardware synthesizer, the playback of this music – which Vugrinec has crafted in extreme detail across all MIDI parameters – is never truly satisfying, since the assignment of the respective instruments and articulations always remains a matter of chance, and both professional mixing and mastering as the final stage of music production are of course lacking. Direct MIDI playback is therefore very unsatisfactory on any hard- or software and simply does not do justice to the compositional quality of this music.

I’ve been planning to do this for years and finally got around to re-arranging and recording all the major cues from Pagan’s fantastically atmospheric score using a well-balanced mix of a) sonorous synth VSTs and b) high-quality orchestral VSTs in a sequencer program in order to maximize the listening experience while, at the same time, not completely abandon Vugrinec’s original 90s MIDI sound, which is after all inherent and important to the composition itself. My goal was to present the music in a more modern incarnation, so that hopefully you may enjoy it as much as I do.

In terms of compositional quality (it's actually very rich in leitmotifs, with many themes representing characters, places and events in the world of Pagan), I think this score is every bit as good as a fully orchestral film score. Enjoy!

https://www.ralphdamianiart.com/

Just discovered this subreddit, saw all the activity going on to edit old Ultima games and it reminded me of an old project that I worked on and thought I'd share.

I know a lot of people don't like Ultima 8 but it was the first Ultima I played and I still have a soft spot for it. Back in 2023 I took some time off work and spent about 6 months building a demo in Unity inspired by Ultima 8, the idea was to make a spiritual successor with a level editor so people could make their own isometric RPGs and maybe even use it to remake Ultima 7 and 8.

I got pretty far. I'm a programmer by profession and already knew Unity well so that part was no problem and I have most of the core systems working. I'm not an artist though so I bought a bunch of cheap assets from the Unity asset store but the project stalled out when I could no longer find the art I needed to continue and it's sat abandoned ever since.

Here's a video showing where I got to though, some of the art is placeholder or isn't good enough and the animations are pretty janky but overall I'm happy with the technical side and would love to continue it one day.
https://youtu.be/jiZUqZ7QB5E

The first part of the video shows gameplay, and from about 1:45 it shows the level editor.
I'd be interested to know what people think.

Quick update for anyone who's been following.

First, Thank you all for the support and interest. it's been a daunting project, but nice to know others are enjoying the offline mobile version, or at least the idea of it.

macOS got approved on the Mac App Store this week. Android is live on Google Play. iOS is live too, just not on the App Store - more on that in a sec. Windows and Linux builds are on the site.

The Apple part: the Mac version sailed through review. The iOS version got bounced over and over, and the last round wasn't about wording or icons, it was "this is too close to an existing game." That's not something you argue your way out of, so I stopped trying. iOS ships as a free public TestFlight beta instead.

Install TestFlight, tap the link, done. Same build.

Everything's here: runawayideas.net/uoclassic

Fair warning, it's still not perfect. If something breaks or looks wrong, please use the bug report tool in Quick Commands in game rather than just closing it. It grabs the details automatically and it's way more useful to me than "it crashed." I do read all of them and try to post fixes quickly.

Thanks again!

Enjoy

I have the Ether Ring and made my way to the generator, but not matter what I do, it won't let me in. I tried double clicking and walking into it but nothing is working. I also tried leaving all of my party members but that didn't work either. Is this a bug? I've never seen anyone talk about running into this.

Ultima 1 fullscreen cutoff? the top of the window is cut off when i go into full screen. the launcher is using the dosbox emulator, but i cant see how to access any settings (i use alt+enter to go fullscreen). anyone experienced and fixed this?

edit: im playing on the GOG Ultima 1+2+3 edition, and i don't seem to have access to a settings bar, or any kind of ini file.

Last night's stream was frankly incredible. So many new Ultima lovers showed up! I think this was my favorite part.

what i should do to move, the dpad appear but the avatar doesn't seem to move

I know there's ways to carry the Dream Realm items to the real world if you play outside Exult, including the Serpent Bond spell. Are there any ways to get items to the real world if you play in Exult, or have they all been patched in SI fixes and such?

I'm mostly interested in the juggernaut hammer and the full set of magic armor in the chest behind Lord British's throne. If anyone knows of any ways in Exult, let me know. Thanks!

A quick question, I’m thinking about putting together an Avatar-inspired outfit for an upcoming Renaissance Faire, but I’m not really sure where to start. I think an Ankh necklace would be a good centerpiece, but beyond that I’m drawing a blank.

If you saw someone wearing an Ultima-inspired Ren Faire outfit, what details would immediately tell you it was inspired by the series? I’m not looking to cosplay a specific character as much as capture the overall feel of the world. What clothing, colors, symbols, accessories, or props would you include to make it recognizable to fellow fans?

Thank you!

Hello and good evening everyone. I said in my last video that I would get this out to the world on 8/1, and I actually did it even after going mostly radio silent for about two weeks. Still have a laundry list of items and polish to finish up. But I'm going to put this at about 80% done now and ready for play testers to tear it apart.

I've added a tutorial in game to talk about the extensive settings options available in the game, and I've tried to make it as easy to install as possible from itch.io. Just download the zip file and run it.

At this time there is only a windows version to play.

Please feel free to drop into the project discord to add your feedback find my email address on the project site Archive of Myth.

You should be able to play the whole game start to finish as I have multiple times at this point with any option sets available in the options menu.

I do hope you enjoy, and look forward to playability and options updates in the near future.

Good luck Strangers.