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Archive-name: games/ultima
Posting-Frequency: Biweekly
Last-modified: September 9, 2000
Version: 2.21
URL: http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/faq/rgcudfaq.html
Copyright: 1998-2000 Edward Franks. Portions copyright 1996, 1997
Andrew Charlton
Maintainer: Edward Franks xyzzy@kc.rr.com
rec.games.computer.ultima.* Frequently Asked Questions List
This FAQ was originally conceived, and
written by Andrew Charlton aka Erratic Dragon, aka Erraticus charlton@ihug.co.nz. The
original FAQ (in its final, posted version) may be found at http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/faq/erratic.html.
This FAQ is currently being maintained by
Fortran Dragon xyzzy@kc.rr.com
and may be found at http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/faq/rgcudfaq.html.
Unless otherwise stated, the use of
"I" and "me" refers to the FAQ maintainer.
The exception to this is the questions which are written by the
archetypical newbie.
0) Legal Administrivia
The maintainer disclaims all responsibility
for inaccurate or misleading information in this FAQ. This
article is provided as-is, without any express or implied
warranties. The author nor any of the contributors to this FAQ
assume any responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages
resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
1) About This FAQ
1.1) Purpose of this FAQ
This FAQ is not intended to replace the many
other sources of Ultima and Ultima Dragons information. Rather,
it is intended to summarise, supplement, and list them, for the
purpose of regularly posting to rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons,
in order to cut down on some unnecessary noise on the group. Most
of the questions in this FAQ are real questions which are asked
in the rec.games.computer.ultima.* groups (and their
predecessors, rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons
and alt.games.ultima.dragons)
reasonably frequently.
1.2) Revision History
Only the most recent revisions are listed
here. The complete history can be found at http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/faq/revision.html.
[September 4, 2000]
I've added The Ultima 3 Upgrade Project to the
Works in Progress section. See Section
5.24.6 for more details.
I've added the Commodore 64 cheat for Ultima
6, courtesy of Tristan Miller. Dracos Dragon confirmed the Amiga
version uses the same cheat codes as the IBM PC version. See Section 5.10.2 for more details.
I've added Telemachos Dragon's Ultima
Underworld Viewer. See Section
5.13.2 for more details.
[August 20, 2000]
The big news this update is the release of
U7Win9x, a patch that allows you to run Ultima 7 in Windows9x
(but not WindowsNT or Windows 2000). See Sections 4.4, 5.14.1,
or 5.16.1 for more details.
I've added the Ultima 7 patch for the floppy
disk version that fixes items disappearing from inventory and
screen turning red. See Section
5.14.1.
I've added the Ultima 8 Adlib sound patch for
those of you that still have a working Adlib sound card. See Section 5.17.1.
I've added the Ultima Underworld 1 patch that
fixes floating and duplicating items, and stops the screen from
turning red. See Section 5.13.1.
I've added the Ultima Underworld 2 patch that
fixes the screen turning red, palette shifting, servant strike,
melting moongate in the yellow Etheral Void, or sleeping with
moonstone as cursor. See Section
5.15.1.
I've updated Section Section 5.25 with more information
on the various works in progress that the FAQ tracks.
1.3) Latest Version
This FAQ can now be found at http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/faq/rgcudfaq.html.
Also, it is posted biweekly to rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons,
rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons,
rec.games.computer.ultima.series,
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,
rec.answers, comp.answers, and news.answers. As a result of
crossposting to news.answers, a
text version of the FAQ is available at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/ultima
and its many mirrors (such as http://www.faqs.org).
The web version is likely to be slightly more
up-to-date than the newsgroup version.
1.4) Abbreviations
The following abbreviations may be found in
this FAQ and also in the newsgroup, IRC etc.
NOTE: It's probably best not to use U0 (zero) for Akalabeth, because it can look the same as UO - Ultima Online.
2) The Dragons
2.1) What are the Dragons?
The Ultima Dragons is a group of people who
simply love Ultima, a long running series of computer role
playing games (CRPGs). You can find more information about the
Dragons, and their long, and sordid history in the Official UDIC
FAQ at http://www.udic.org/faq.html,
maintained by Monomolecular Dragon.
The Dragons' home page and membership roster
is at http://www.udic.org/
maintained by Fallible Dragon, Unicorn Dragon, and the UDIC
greeting team.
The Dragons' FTP site is at ftp://ftp.udic.org/pub/ud/.
2.2) Why are you named the Ultima Dragons?
When the club was first formed on Prodigy,
there was already a club called the Evil Avatars, the new club
was therefore called "Players of Ultima for Fun" or
PUFF. This lead to inevitable references to Puff the Magic
Dragon, and the club was soon renamed the Ultima Dragons.
2.3) What does UDIC stand for?
The original club was on the Prodigy online
service, but the club later moved to the Internet in late 1994
with the creation of the newsgroup alt.games.ultima.dragons
(agud), forming the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter or UDIC.
2.4) Can I join the Dragons?
You certainly can, provided you meet the
entrance requirement - to have played an Ultima. There are
several ways to join:
Whichever method you use, one of the
dedicated team of greeters will process your application and get
back to you.
2.5) How do I change my roster data?
If you remember the password you entered when
you joined, then you can go to http://www.udic.org/members/
and sign on. If you don't remember your password, or you want to
change your Dragon name or email address, then email join@udic.org and one of the
greeting team will handle your request.
2.6) What does Dragon membership qualify me
for?
Like most things in life, you will get out of
the Dragons what you put in. If you make the effort to
participate, the club can be very rewarding, but don't expect to
sit back and watch the benefits accrue.
Once you are a Dragon, you can register your
homepage for the Dragons' Homepage list at:
To register your homepage, go to http://www.biochem.mpg.de/~brenner/udic/homes/homeform.html.
It is strongly recommended that pages
submitted include at least *some* reference to Ultima and the
Ultima Dragons.
3) The Newsgroup
3.1) History of the Newsgroups
The newsgroups rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons
(rgcu.d), rec.games.computer.ultima.online
(rgcuo), and rec.games.computer.ultima.series
(rgcus) supercede the old newsgroups alt.games.ultima.dragons
(agud), alt.games.ultima-online
(aguo), and rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons
(rgcu-d). The new groups were created on July 7, 1997 as a
reorganization of rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons.
rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons
was created on the 19th of March 1996, five days after the vote
for its creation was passed 421:130. It was deleted on September
8th 1997.
Prior to the creation of rgcu-d, the
Ultima Dragons' newsgroup was alt.games.ultima.dragons,
this was deleted 60 days after the new group was created (May
19th 1996). alt.games.ultima-online
was a short-lived group, the creation of which prompted the
reorg. It has been deleted in favour of the rec group. The
details of the creation (and deletion) of these newsgroups are
available at ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons
and ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.computer.ultima-reorg.
NOTE: Usenet doesn't work as automagically as
the above two paragraphs by Erratic Dragon would lead you to
believe. Even though only one person (Tale) can send out a
create-group or remove-group message, it is in the power of each
newsadmin to accept or ignore the messages sent by Tale. This is
why alt.games.ultima.dragons,
alt.games.ultima-online,
rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons
still continue to exist and be viable newsgroups on a number of
news servers. Many Dragons read agud and rgcu-d (as
they do with csipgr)
and will answer questions there for those folks that can't get
any of the other newsgroups. (This is also why many Dragons,
myself included, crosspost between rcgu.d and rcgu-d.)
3.1.1) What about these old newsgroups?
Some of the old newsgroups still exist on many
servers, which can be confusing when people read the groups only
to find they are empty, or mostly empty. If your local news
server is one of these, you can drop a line to your news
administrator (usually newsmaster@*<yourdomain>*) telling
them about the problem, and directing them to the above URL.
As the note in Section
3.1 states, your newsadmin may choose to ignore (and is in
his rights to ignore if he wants to) the above URLs. If this is a
problem for you, see Section 3.1.2,
below.
3.1.2) I can't get the new newsgroups
If your news administrator is not willing to
add the new groups you might try searching the following websites
for a public/free news server at (original information provided
by F-15 Dragon):
Web-based sites include:
If none of the above work you can email me,
Fortran Dragon, at xyzzy@kc.rr.com
and ask to be put on my digest mailing list. I make a daily
emailing of all the posts made to rgcu.d since the last emailing.
3.2) Ultima Celebrities
A handful of current and former Origin staff
participate from time to time, including:
3.3) What can I discuss? (The Charters)
The topic of a newsgroup is defined by its
charter. Each of the Ultima newsgroups has its own charter, plus
the common charter which applies to all of them.
CHARTER: all groups
Cross-posting or multiple posting among Ultima
groups is not recommended. However, it is likely that
cross-posting of certain articles may become necessary. Authors
should select the most appropriate group, whenever possible, when
posting their articles.
Posting or cross-posting articles which do not
consist mainly of text easily readable by humans (i.e. binary
files or encrypted text) is prohibited. If it is necessary to
transfer binaries, posters should include a pointer to an
appropriate FTP/WWW site, or use an appropriate binaries
newsgroup. Posting commercial solicitations or inquiries which
are not directly related to Ultima is prohibited. Frequent
posting of the same advertisement, even Ultima-specific, is also
prohibited.
END CHARTER.
3.3.1) rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons
Charter
CHARTER: rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons
rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons
an unmoderated forum for discussion of issues of interest to
members of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter and all fans of
the Ultima games. Topics will include discussion of current
games, news and rumors, tips and advice from members of the
Ultima Dragons, talk about organizational matters of the UDIC,
discussions about the UDIC's facilities like the Weyrmount MOO as
well as the WWW and FTP sites, story authoring, and other club
related issues of interest to members of the Ultima Dragons
Internet Chapter and other participants in the newsgroup.
END CHARTER.
Note: This group can be considered a meeting
hall for members of the Ultima Dragons club, and all other
interested parties. Ultima talk is welcomed, but is not
mandatory. The subject matter in the group has ranged between
serious topics like history, religion and cinnabons, to plot
("in character") threads, to outright silliness. Those
looking for a more concentrated dose of Ultima, without all the
extra "chat" are advised to read
rec.games.computer.ultima.series
3.3.2) rec.games.computer.ultima.online
Charter
CHARTER: rec.games.computer.ultima.online
rec.games.computer.ultima.online
is an unmoderated forum for discussion of all aspects of the
online multi-player game Ultima Online, as well as its sequels
and other multi-player versions of Ultima. Topics specific to the
online version of the game are welcome here, including but not
limited to features, events within the game world, guilds within
the game, and real-world issues with the game (e.g. pricing,
latency, etc.).
END CHARTER.
3.3.3) rec.games.computer.ultima.series
Charter
CHARTER: rec.games.computer.ultima.series
rec.games.computer.ultima.series
is an unmoderated forum for discussion of any topic related to
the Ultima series of games which would not be more appropriate in
another group. These topics include, but are not limited to,
questions and answers about the games, hints and tips,
comparisons of the various versions of Ultima or similar games,
news and rumors, etc.
Note: this group is intended to provide a
place in which people can easily find informations about the
Ultima games without having to go through unrelated traffic. As
such, if a discussion drifts away from the original topic, it is
recommended to direct it to a more appropriate group, although
some tolerance is required.
END CHARTER.
3.4) Should I post binaries?
No.
Binaries should only be posted in binaries
groups (alt.binaries.*, plus a few others). There are a few
reasons for this. Probably the most important is so people can
avoid downloading large binaries that they may not want. If you
want to post some Ultima related binaries, post them to an
appropriate alt.binaries.* group, or put it on a web or FTP site,
then post a note in the appropriate newsgroup telling the readers
there where they can find it.
3.5) Can I ask for hints?
Yes, it is one of the groups primary
functions. We only ask that you follow a few guidelines:
3.6) How do I avoid getting flamed?
You're reading this FAQ, which is a good
start. Before asking a question, see if the answer is in here, or
the other resources mentioned here. When you first point your
newsreader at the newsgroups, there will probably be a few days
worth of messages waiting for you. Just read through some of them
to get an idea of the way the groups operate.
For an overview of Usenet etiquette, please
read the newsgroup news.announce.newusers,
which contains a number of documents with useful information in
them.
3.7) Why don't you all stop fighting?
Most of the time, we aren't fighting at all,
simply debating. We manage to discuss some pretty touchy issues
without degenerating into a flamewar. Occasionally, flamewars
will spring up, but usually, there are only a few participating.
Please don't avoid posting for fear of being flamed. Follow the
guidelines in Section 3.6 and you
will be fine. Participating is a lot of fun.
My experience is that flamewars have to run
their course. Calling for people to stop doesn't work, it just
adds fuel to the fire, and spreads the flamewar to new threads.
The best way to deal with flamewars is to
ignore them. Many newsreaders have functions to ignore
("Kill") either people or threads. If you see a
flamewar spring up, you may want to simply ignore it by putting
the threads or participants in your "Killfile". You can
do the same for topics you aren't personally interested in.
Consult the documentation for your newsreader for details.
Two recommended Windows-based newsreaders that
support killfiles are Forte Agent (http://www.forteinc.com/) or
Microplanet Gravity (http://www.microplanet.com/).
Other quality newsreaders may be found at the home of the Good
Net-Keeping Seal of Approval (http://www.xs4all.nl/~js/gnksa/).
4) Technical and Non-Gameplay Issues
4.1) Availability of Ultimas and Ultima Related
Merchandise
Underworld Dragon has written The Collectible
Ultima, available at http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/collectibles/.
This contains information on what Ultima memorabilia exists, and
where you might find it.
Some of the online auction sites, such as eBay
http://www.ebay.com/, Yahoo!
Auctions http://auctions.yahoo.com/,
and Amazon Auctions http://www.amazon.com/
are good places to locate the various Ultimas. While many of the
early and/or very collectible Ultimas can go for high prices, it
is still possible to get a decent buy on various Ultimas if you
are willing to be patient
4.2) Collections of Ultima Games
4.2.1) The Encore Ultima 1-6 CD
4.2.1.1) Where can I find it?
See Section 4.1
The Encore Ultima 1-6 CD isn't seen very much
these days. The Ultima Collection has much better availability
and has decent documentation, to boot.
4.2.1.2) Problems with the Encore Ultima
1-6 CD
There are several problems relating to the CD
which are discussed in a FAQ by Ultra-Mind Dragon at http://www.ece.concordia.ca/~ac_march/Ultima1-6FAQ.html.
4.2.2) The Ultima Collection
4.2.2.1) Where can I find it?
See Section 4.1.
A budget version of the Ultima Collection is
now available in stores. If you can't find it locally you might
try some of the online stores. The price of the UC is currently
$10 to $15 USD (without shipping).
4.2.2.2) Problems with the Ultima
Collection
See Sections 4.4,
4.5, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, and 5.6.3.
The Ultima Collection comes with the
registered version of the PC slowdown program Mo'Slo and the
Ultima 2 speed fix has already been applied.
The Ultima Collection will automatically
install shortcuts for Windows 95/98, but you must install the
Ultima Collection to its default location (c:\uc\) in order for
the shortcuts to work properly.
4.3) Missing Documentation
The Encore CD was mistakenly released with no
documentation. Origin has made the docs available at http://uo.com/archive/ listed
under their respective Ultima. (See also, Section 4.2)
NOTE: As of March 14, 1999, Origin has stated
that the Ultima Archive site will no longer be updated.
Since these are mainly technical docs, they
don't capture the feel of the original manuals, so Micro Dragon
has made the original text available in a variety of formats,
complete with some of the graphics, at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/1769/dindx.html.
Trigon Dragon is embarking on a similar
project, using Adobe PDF files, at http://members.aol.com/trigonman3/ultima.html.
I think there are certain versions of the
Complete Ultima 7 which came without docs. Most had them on the
CD in Adobe PDF format. The full docs are not available online,
but the Trinsic questions are available at Origin's Ultima
Archive http://uo.com/archive/.
An Adobe Acrobat Reader (required to view
Adobe PDF files) may be freely downloaded at Adobe's website at http://www.adobe.com/. There are
many versions of the Reader available for different Operating
Systems.
4.4) Windows 95/98 Issues
Ultimas 1-6 require no special considerations
for Windows 95/98, and will run quite well in a full-screen
MS-DOS prompt (that is, a Windows 95/98 DOS box). (See also Section 4.2.2 and Section 4.7 for other problems
relating to these games). It has come to light
that the IBM PC versions of Ultima 2 and Ultima 3 will not run
under Windows 95/98 on a FAT-32 drive that has been booted
directly to DOS. They will run fine in a Windows 95/98 DOS
box, however. Ultima 2 and Ultima 3 will run just fine (other
than the speed issued) under Windows 95 and Windows 95a if you
boot to DOS. Apparently these two Ultimas, being the oldest IBM
PC versions, get a return value that causes them to crash or
lockup when they either access a FAT-32 drive or the files on a
FAT-32 drive. The work around is to either run the games in a
Windows 95/98 DOS box or to copy the games to a non-FAT-32 disk
(such as a floppy - these games are old enough to fit on a single
3.5 inch floppy) and run them from that disk.
Another work around for Ultima 2 is to use the
Windows Native Ultima 2 written by John Alderson at http://ultima2.voyd.net/.
Gaseous Dragon has also provided an Ultima 7
For Beginners page at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ultima7.html.
You can now run Ultima 7 (both parts) under
Windows9x. Gaseous Dragon is hosting this new patch at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html.
You will need to have a copy of one of the various CD-ROM
versions of Ultima 7 (The Complete Ultima 7, any of the EA
Classics versions, or any of the Ultima Collection versions).
You may want to do a fresh install and if you
want sound and music, make sure your sound card is setup properly
for Ultima 7 to find it. Also, you will need to make sure you
have enough conventional DOS memory for Ultima 7. While this
patch allows you to run Ultima 7 under Windows9x, it does not
make Ultima 7 a Windows program.
Ultima 8 is a little less strict on memory
requirements, probably the above U7 solutions will work fine for
U8. Gaseous Dragon has an Ultima 8 For Beginners page at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ultima8.html.
4.5) Lack of Memory
4.5.1) How do I free up more memory?
For Windows 95/98, see Section 4.4.
For DOS users, you'll probably want to make a
boot disk containing just the bare minimum device drivers.
Whenever you want to play, boot from this
floppy.
NOTE: Some of your directories may be
different, substitute them as appropriate. I have had difficulty
getting Serpent Isle to work, even with this minimal
configuration. Drivespace takes up quite a lot of space, the only
solution I could come up with was to substitute my usual mouse
driver for one which took up slightly less space, either that, or
use a DOS 5 boot disk, so the driver doesn't get loaded. If you
do this, you will only be able to access the uncompressed portion
of the drive, the rest is still there, and will return when you
load with DOS 6 again. Do not include the drivespace line if you
use this method.
4.5.2) I still can't get enough!
Some device drivers will cause U7/SI to
misreport the memory, and refuse to start. If you have followed
the instructions above, the only device driver you should have
loaded is your mouse driver, try replacing that.
Unfortunately, among the drivers which cause
this problem is the Maxtor (OnTrack) Hard Drive Overlay
(Identifiable by a blue banner when you start up.) which allows
older computers to have larger hard drives. If you press the 's'
key as soon as the blue banner appears, you will get a DOS
message about turning off Dynamic Memory Protection. Answer Yes,
and this may help with the problem.
4.6) Ultimas Run Too Fast
Lost Dragon has set up the New PC Slowdown web
page, which contains many utilities to slow down fast computers.
It can be found at http://home.att.net/~pc_slowdown/.
4.7) Ultima Game Problems
4.7.1) How do I get Ultimas to work with my
AWE32/AWE64/SB32 sound card?
Contrapuntal Dragon has a page dealing with
the common problems of getting the AWE32 to work with various
Ultima games. It can be found at http://www.zip.com.au/~mfleming/ultima/ult-awe32.html.
4.7.2) Where can I find a mouse driver that
doesn't take up much DOS memory?
Polychromic Dragon has a page with two
different versions of CTMouse, a DOS mouse driver that uses very
little DOS memory. It can be found at http://www.users.ticnet.com/mcecil/downloads/intro.html.
NOTE: Avoid version 1.4 of CTMouse. It has a
bug that causes the mouse driver to use lots of DOS memory,
making it useless to use with Ultima 7.
5) The Ultima Series
5.1) What is Ultima?
Ultima is a long-running series of computer
role playing games (CRPGs). The settings have varied, but many of
the games take place in the land of Britannia, ruled benevolently
by Lord British (The alter-ego of Richard Garriott, the series
creator).
The hero (at least from Ultima 4 onwards) is
the Avatar, champion of virtue, who comes originally from Earth,
but tends to get transported to Britannia whenever trouble
arises.
5.2) Where can I find hints and walkthroughs?
There is a wonderful selection of Ultima
walkthroughs available at http://uo.com/archive/,
and also at http://www.cyberenet.net/~redjr/.
Kender Dragon has written an Ultima Dragons
Newbie FAQ, which includes a number of frequently requested
hints, at http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/FAQ/udicfaq.html.
Paulon Dragon has written an excellent Ultima
Gameplay FAQ. This FAQ is at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~paulryan/FAQ/ultimafaqs.htm.
I would make this FAQ your first stop if you are having a problem
with a particular Ultima.
5.3) Continuity
5.3.1) Can you explain any plot
inconsistencies?
There are many points of constant speculation
on the newsgroups, most of which are never agreed on, and so
cannot be put into a FAQ. There is an Ultima storyline FAQ, http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/3871/storyfaq.htm
or http://www.ozemail.com.au/~anarchy/Ultima/Ultima_storyline_FAQ.html
which does attempt to explain some of these (written by Chris
Billows, not currently being maintained, I personally would be
interested in someone taking over, for more info, see the end of
the FAQ (his, not this one)), many others remain unanswered. Feel
free to post your own theories, but be prepared for some pretty
heavy scrutiny.
5.3.2) How should I pronounce Ultima names?
Many of these are from Ultima 6.
5.3.3) What order do the Ultimas come in?
Underworld Dragon has written a timeline,
putting all events which have happened in the Ultima world in
perspective. It is available at http://www.scott.net/~rgregg/ultima/history/.
Specifically, the Ultimas come in the order
they are listed in this FAQ. Ultima Online occurs in several
parallel worlds, so is outside the normal Ultima timeline.
5.4) Akalabeth
5.4.1) Where can I find a copy of Akalabeth?
Akalabeth has, as far as I know, been released
as freeware, and Apple II disk image of the game for use with
emulators is available at ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/rpg/akalabeth/aklabeth.dsk.gz
or
ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/rpg/akalabeth/Akalebeth+.dsk.gz.
See also Section
6.2.
You can find the AppleSoft Basic source code
at http://uo.com/archive/ftp/graphics/aklabeth.zip.
There is also a PC port (with QBASIC source)
at http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9127487/ultima/FAQ.html.
There is another PC port at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/4609/akalabeth/Akalabeth.htm
started by Dung Dragon with the assistance of MinerJr. The
project is currently maintained by MinerJr.
5.5) Ultima/Ultima 1
5.5.1) Patches
Arthur DiBianca has a patch for Ultima 1. His
patch fixes a problem where the graphics go black-and-white and
eventually get garbled on some video cards. You can find the
patch at http://www.users.ticnet.com/mcecil/downloads/intro.html.
5.6) Ultima 2: The Revenge of the Enchantress
5.6.1) Patches
Arthuris Dragon has a patch for Ultima 2 as
well. His patch slows the game down and adds a 'Save and Exit'
and a 'Load Saved Game' command. You can find the patch at http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~palenstn/.
The nice thing is that this patch will work with the other Ultima
2 patches and the speed patch included with Ultima 2 in the
Ultima Collection.
While strictly not a patch, John Alderson's
Windows Native Ultima 2 http://ultima2.voyd.net/
program allows you to use more pleasing colors without any need
for a slowdown program.
5.6.2) Ultima 2 gives a Divide By Zero error!
How do I fix it?
This is caused by fast computers (don't ask me
how). The solution is to use a slowdown program, see Section 4.6
This solution will slow down the whole
computer. Not much fun if you're trying to multitask (i.e.
Windows 95/98), so there is another pair of solutions at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/1769/u2fix.zip
(supplied by Micro Dragon) which includes full instructions.
5.6.3) Ultima 2 maps are wrong! How do I fix
it?
"When Ultima II was first released, it
was released on three floppy sides: The Boot Disk, the Player
Disk, and the Galactic Disk. The last two of these disks held the
city and world maps, as well as monster lists and conversation
information for Earth and the other planets."
"The names used on these two disks for
many of the files were identical. When the Ultima I-VI CD was
released, all of the files were merely dumped together into a
single directory which caused some of the files to be
overwritten. Hence, cities, dungeons, and worlds on the Galactic
disk with the same name as a location on Earth are not available
and the Earth Map is used instead.", by The Moonstone Dragon
The solution to this problem was created by
The Moonstone Dragon and the patch may be found at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/1769/u2patch.zip
(again, Micro Dragon) or at http://www.biochem.mpg.de/~brenner/binary/u2fix.zip
(Minstrel Dragon).
5.6.4) The Ultima 2 colors are hideous. How
do I fix them?
Finire Dragon has written a program that
resets the colors used by a VGA graphics card to emulate the
older CGA graphics card to something more pleasing.
CGA graphics adapters only used four colors
(usually cyan, magenta, black and white), but now we can have
blue water, green vegetation and red lava. You can download the
patch from Gildor's World of Ultima at http://perso.club-internet.fr/llogwey/u2/u2.htm.
Just click on the Files option for the menu.
[Source: Paulon Dragon]
5.7) Ultima 3: Exodus
5.7.1) The Ultima 3 colors are hideous. How
do I fix them?
Finire Dragon has written a program that
resets the colors used by a VGA graphics card to emulate the
older CGA graphics card to something more pleasing.
CGA graphics adapters only used four colors
(usually cyan, magenta, black and white), but now we can have
blue water, green vegetation and red lava. You can download the
patch from Gildor's World of Ultima at http://perso.club-internet.fr/llogwey/u2/u2.htm.
Just click on the Files option for the menu.
[Source: Paulon Dragon]
5.8) Ultima 4: The Quest of the Avatar
You may freely download Ultima 4 (PC version)
from
NOTE: This does _not_ mean the game is now
freeware. Origin still retains the copyrights to Ultima 4. They
are just allowing the Dragons (and only the Dragons) the chance
to make the game available to anyone that is interested in it.
5.8.1) Patches
Aradindae Dragon and Wiltshire Dragon have
combined efforts to make a patch that adds "MIDI support,
new hotkeys, and 256 color graphics" to Ultima 4 (PC
version). This replaces the older (separate) graphics patch and
music patch. This patch can be found at http://www.moongates.com/u4/.
5.9) Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny
5.9.1) Cheats
There *is* a kind of a cheat for U5, at least
on the C64. It goes something like this: if you've got between 11
and 15 portions of some reagents, mix a spell containing only
such reagents. Mix 16 portions of this spell. If the spell
existed, you now have 16 spells, plus 96-99 of the reagents.
[Source: Thirith Dragon]
Here is another C64 cheat for Ultima 5.
"When anywhere other than in dungeons,
press and hold the Commodore key (looks like C=, on bottom left
of the keyboard) and then press 1. It will display an 8 digit
number. The first set of 4 digits represents your coordinates in
hex. The next set of 2 digits are the level. The number goes
higher if you go up higher in towns and castles. Also, in the
Underworld you get the equivalent of a negative number in hex
(signed bit, reads FF). The final 2 digits are for the virtue
points. The closer to 99 you are, the more Avatar-worthy you
are."
[Source: Enzo Dragon]
5.10) Ultima 6: The False Prophet
5.10.1) Patches
There is a patch to fix the sound in Ultima 6
for modern computers by Jason Ely, available at http://www.pcgameworld.com/patches/u/UltimaVIAdLiBSBtimingproblemsfix.htm.
5.10.2) Cheats
Here is the cheat for the IBM PC and Amiga
versions.
Speak to Iolo, and type the following:
where <Enter> is pressing the Enter or Return key.
This will bring up a cheat menu.
Here is the cheat for the Commodore 64
version.
Speak to *yourself* (yes, this is possible in
the C64 version) and type the following:
where <Enter> is pressing the Enter or Return key.
[Source: Tristan Miller - C64, Dracos Dragon - Amiga]
5.10.3) Who Killed Quenton?
This is another red herring/plot hole. Using
standard methods (i.e. not cheating) there is no way to find out
who killed Quenton. It is not necessary to win the game.
There is a man with a house on the road from
Britain to Skara Brae who refuses to give his name, his name is
Michael, and this is the man who killed Quenton.
This is verified by the cluebook for U6.
5.11) Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire
There is currently no additional information
about Savage Empire in this FAQ, but see Section 5.2 for walkthroughs, etc..
5.12) Ultima, Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian
Dreams
There is currently no additional information
about Martian Dreams in this FAQ, but see Section 5.2 for walkthroughs, etc..
5.13) Ultima Underworld 1: The Stygian Abyss
5.13.1) Patches
Panzer Dragon has a patch to upgrade Ultima
Underworld 1 to support General MIDI, available on Paulon
Dragon's download page at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~paulryan/Ultima/Downloads.htm.
If you are having problems with floating and
duplicating items, and the screen turns red, you can download a
patch at http://www.ea.com/techsupp/origin/patches.htm.
5.13.2) Utilities
Telemachos Dragon has created an viewer that
allows you to explore the various levels of Ultima Underworld 1.
The program converts the 2D maps into 3D maps suitable for modern
3D hardware accelerated video cards. It also converts the 8-bit
textures of the original game to 24-bit textures and creates
mip-map to reduce flicker. You can also export a level to a VRML
file and then import it into the 3D drawing package of your
choice.
The viewer is available at http://www.peroxide.dk/underworld/.
5.14) Ultima 7: The Black Gate
5.14.1) Patches
Newton Dragon has a patch to upgrade Ultima 7
to support General MIDI, available at http://uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/ult7gm.zip.
If you are playing the floppy disk version of
Ultima 7 and you are having items disappearing from inventory and
the screen is turning red, you can download a patch that fixes
these problems at http://www.ea.com/techsupp/origin/patches.htm.
You can now run The Black Gate under
Windows9x. Gaseous Dragon is hosting this new patch at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html.
You will need to have a copy of one of the various CD-ROM
versions of Ultima 7 (The Complete Ultima 7, any of the EA
Classics versions, or any of the Ultima Collection versions).
You may want to do a fresh install and if you
want sound and music, make sure your sound card is setup properly
for The Black Gate to find it. Also, you will need to make sure
you have enough conventional DOS memory for The Black Gate. While
this patch allows you to run The Black Gate under Windows9x, it
does not make The Black Gate a Windows program.
5.14.2) Cheats
The cheat mode for Ultima 7 part one can be
activated by typing the following on the command line: Ultima7
abcd[Alt 255]<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the
Enter key. [Alt 255] is a single, invisible character typed by
pressing the Alt key, and typing 255 on the numeric keypad, then
releasing the Alt key.
There is no space between abcd, and [Alt 255].
Within the game, the F-keys now have special
functions.
There is also an in-game cheat known as the
"Trinsic Cheat Room". It is possible to climb onto the
roof Christopher's workshop in Trinsic using crates to build a
staircase. Once on the roof, walk behind the chimney, and you
will be transported to a room which contains many of the items
needed to win the game, and some other goodies.
5.14.3) How do I get past the Test of Truth
in the Forge of Virtue?
Very near the beginning of the test is a hood
next to a wall, this is an illusory wall, you can walk through it
to a corridor, and eventually to the TRUE amulet of truth.
5.14.4) How do I get past the Hydra on
Ambrosia?
One of the walls is actually a secret door,
double click on that, and it will open.
5.14.5) Ultima 7 won't work with my Riva
128/Nvidia video board. How do I fix it?
The Riva 128 video boards have a problem
showing the earthquake sequence at the start of Ultima 7: Black
Gate with the Forge of Virtue addon installed or in Ultima 7,
part 2: Serpent Isle whenever the screen shakes up and down.
Basically, the Riva 128 video boards don't support all of the
original VGA modes thus causing the game screen to side off the
bottom of the computer monitor.
Download qfix.zip from Dr. David's Super
Crispy DOS Utilities at http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/utils.html
as a temporary fix until a new (corrected) version of the boards
BIOS is released.
You can install this DOS TSR (Terminate and
Stay Resident) program to convert the up and down earthquake
motion to a side by side motion.
[Source: Xe Dragon]
Recently this same problem has been reported
with other Nvidia video cards.
5.14.6) Weapon and Armor Ratings
Mitch Aigner has provided a supplement to
Ultima 7: Black Gate which provides weapon and armor ratings
(among other things) at http://members.aol.com/UltimaFile/files/u7_sup.txt.
[Source: Xe Dragon]
5.15) Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds
5.15.1) Patches
Panzer Dragon has a patch to upgrade Ultima
Underworld 2 to support General MIDI, available on Paulon
Dragon's download page at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~paulryan/Ultima/Downloads.htm.
[Source: Paulon Dragon]
If you are having problems with floating and
duplicating items, and the screen turns red, you can download a
patch at http://www.ea.com/techsupp/origin/patches.htm.
5.15.2) Cheats
If you blast any kind of potion, for example
when you attack it repeatedly, it will turn into debris; but the
debris, when used, has exactly the same function as the potion --
with infinite charges.
[Source: Thirith Dragon]
5.16) Ultima 7, part 2: Serpent Isle
5.16.1) Patches
Newton Dragon has a patch available to upgrade
Serpent Isle to support General MIDI, it is available at http://uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/ult7p2gm.zip.
You can now run Serpent Isle under Windows9x.
Gaseous Dragon is hosting this new patch at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html.
You will need to have a copy of one of the various CD-ROM
versions of Ultima 7 (The Complete Ultima 7, any of the EA
Classics versions, or any of the Ultima Collection versions).
You may want to do a fresh install and if you
want sound and music, make sure your sound card is setup properly
for Serpent Isle to find it. Also, you will need to make sure you
have enough conventional DOS memory for Serpent Isle. While this
patch allows you to run Serpent Isle under Windows9x, it does not
make Serpent Isle a Windows program.
5.16.2) Cheats
The cheat mode for Serpent Isle is activated
by typing the following on the command line: serpent
pass<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter key.
If you have installed the Silver Seed addon
type the following on the command line: serpent
manimal<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter
key.
Within the game, the F-keys now have special
functions.
5.16.3) Weapon and Armor Ratings
Paulon Dragon has provided a supplement to
Ultima 7, part 2: Serpent Isle which provides weapon and armor
ratings (among other things) at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~paulryan/Downloads/SINotes.txt.
[Source: Paulon Dragon]
5.16.4) Where is the Comb of Beauty?
In the north wall of Columna's house
(Moonshade) there is a secret door which leads into the garden.
The comb is in a chest partially hidden behind some foliage. The
chest can be opened with a key from the basement of the house.
5.16.5) Director's Cut of Serpent Isle
Introduction
Denis Loubet has made the original
introduction for Serpent Isle available at http://www.io.com/~dloubet/serpisle.htm.
The original introduction was cut due to space limitations on the
5.25 inch diskettes Serpent Isle originally shipped on.
5.16.6) How do I save Cantra?
The long and short of it is, you can't. The
Serpent Isle programmers forgot to enable that option in the
game.
5.17) Ultima 8: Pagan
5.17.1) Patches
There was a patch released for Ultima 8 which
makes some changes to the game. Among the changes are an improved
jumping system, and some plot holes have been fixed.
The patch is available at the following
location, please use the patch for the version of Ultima 8 that
you own. I have no idea what applying the wrong one will do,
perhaps I will try it so I can include that information.
If you have an Adlib sound card and would
like to have sound in Ultima 8, you can download a patch at http://www.ea.com/techsupp/origin/patches.htm.
5.17.2) Cheats
The easiest way (AFAIK) is to use the
following program, which modifies your current savegame with the
cheat enabled. I have not personally tried this so if anyone has
some feedback on this please email me at xyzzy@kc.rr.com.
It can be found at ftp://www.udic.net/pub/ultima/u8/hacks/u8cheat2.zip.
Paulon Dragon also has some methods on how to
cheat on his Ultima 8 page at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~paulryan/Ultima/Ultima_VIII.htm.
5.17.3) Where is the Birthplace of Moriens?
Two possibilities. If you have applied the
Ultima 8 patch (See Section 5.17.1),
then the birthplace is behind a door labeled "The Birthplace
of Moriens" in the upper catacombs.
If you have not applied the patch, then the
birthplace does not exist. It is generally considered that the
place to go next is a door labeled "Towards Fate Do You
Travel". This is the same door as mentioned above, it was
just renamed by the patch.
5.17.4) The Lost Vale
The Lost Vale was a proposed addon for Ultima
8: Pagan. Unfortunately Ultima 8 sold so poorly that Origin
chose to cancel the project in the early design stage. Origin
decided to concentrate their resources on Ultima 9 (which was to
become Ultima: Ascension, and then finally became Ultima IX:
Ascension).
You can find some mocked up screen shots for
The Lost Vale at http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/graphics/ultima8/lostvale.zip.
5.18) Console Ultimas
5.18.1) Nintendo (NES) Ultimas
The Ultimas known to have been released for
the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom are:
Ultima: Exodus had a separately purchasable
hintbook.
All of the NES Ultimas are pretty faithful
conversions with only minor differences from the Apple ][
versions.
5.18.2) Super Nintendo (SNES) Ultimas
The Ultimas known to have been released for
the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)/Super Famicom are:
Ultima: The False Prophet started a trend of
decreasing quality of the ports. As the Ultimas got more and more
complex on the PC, the consoles became less and less suitable
platforms.
Ultima: The Black Gate is not a very good
translation of the PC version of the game. At the time U7 was
being ported to the SNES, Nintendo was going through a phase
where all of their games had be suitable for children. For
example, an important murder was changed to a kidnapping by
Nintendo. Also, I understand that there is no party and an excess
of menus in an attempt to overcome the lack of a mouse.
The Savage Empire was only released in Japan,
though an English version was mostly completed.
The Runes of Virtue 2 is a console only game
that is supposed to be very 'Legend of Zelda'-esque. Oh, and I'm
told you are supposed to look for the 'secret' Origin
headquarters under the town of Jhelom. It is supposed to be
strange.
5.18.3) Nintendo Gameboy Ultimas
The Ultimas known to have been released for
the Nintendo Gameboy are:
Both Runes of Virtue games are console only
games that are supposed to be very 'Legend of Zelda'-esque. Aside
from the Ultima Onlines, these are the only two multiplayer
Ultimas released by Origin.
5.18.4) Sega Master System Ultima
The only Ultima known to have been released
for the Sega Master system is Ultima 4. This is considered by
most to be the best port of an Ultima to a console. The game came
with both of the Ultima 4 manuals and a paper map of Britannia.
Ultima 4 will also run on a Sega GameGear with
the Sega Master System convertor for the Sega GameGear.
5.18.5) Sony Playstation Ultima
The only Ultima known to have been released
for the Sony Playstation is Ultima Underworld 1. This seems to be
a pretty faithful port, but it was only released in Japan. There
was a Quicktime movie made of the gameplay, but it no longer
seems available.
5.19) Ultima Online
5.19.1) What is Ultima Online?
Ultima Online is a virtual, graphical
environment, based in the world of Britannia (and other
continents). There was a successful (and by all accounts
extremely fun) pre-alpha test for two weeks beginning the 1st of
April, and another starting the 13th of May 1996. There was a
beta test between June and September of 1997. The game has now
been released.
5.19.2) System requirements
The minimum system requirements for Ultima
Online: Renaissance are: a Pentium 200, 32MB RAM, Windows 95/98,
2 meg PCI video card (DirectX supported, set to 16-bit color),
16-bit sound card (DirectX supported), 383 MB hard drive space,
4x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse, 100% Windows 95/98
compatible, SLIP/PPP or direct connect at 28.8K bps or better
with 32-bit TCP/IP stack.
The recommended system requirements for Ultima
Online: Renaissance are: a Pentium II 233 MHz CPU, 32 MB RAM,
Windows 95/98, 4 meg PCI video card (DirectX supported, set to
16-bit color), 16-bit sound card (DirectX supported), 650 MB
uncompressed hard drive space, 8x CD-ROM drive,
Microsoft-compatible mouse, 100% Windows 95/98 compatible,
SLIP/PPP or direct connect at 28.8K bps or better with 32-bit
TCP/IP stack.
The minimum system requirements for Ultima
Online: The Second Age are the same as Ultima Online:
Renaissance, except you only need a Pentium 166 and 16MB RAM.
The recommended system requirements for Ultima
Online: Renaissance are the same as Ultima Online: The Second
Age, except you only need 589 MB uncompressed hard drive space.
The original Ultima Online minimum
requirements specified a Pentium 133, a 1 meg PCI video card, and
261 MB hard drive space. The rest of the requirements are the
same as the ones for the UO:T2A minimum system.
The original Ultima Online recommended
requirements specified a Pentium 166, a 2 meg PCI video card, and
550 MB uncompressed hard drive space. The rest of the
requirements are the same as the ones for the UO:T2A recommended
system.
5.19.3) Where can I find out more about
Ultima Online?
There are many Ultima Online web pages. The
official Origin UO web site is the Origin Worlds Online web site
at http://www.uo.com/.
Origin has written several FAQs. They are
available at http://support.uo.com/faq.html.
The FAQ for the newsgroup rec.games.computer.ultima.online
is currently maintained by Carol Ou and can be found at http://php.indiana.edu/~rstultz/rgcuo/FAQ.txt.
The rgcuo
FAQ is mirrored at http://members.home.net/windlem/uo/faq.htm.
The rgcuo
FAQ is posted every Wednesday. This is an excellent place to
start when subscribing to the UO newsgroup.
5.20) Ultima 9: Ascension
5.20.1) Patches
The final patch has been released for Ultima
9. The patch fixes many Direct3D problems and other game-killing
bugs.
The patch is available at the following
location:
NOTE: "The saved games created by the
final version (v1.18) don't seem to be entirely compatible with
the unpatched game, unlike for v1.07 and v1.05. Saved games
_will_ load, but the game will start with an error message
(displayed using the same style of dialogue box as the Quit
option), and will crash within a few minutes of play.",
Paulon Dragon
5.20.2) Why doesn't Ultima 9: Ascension work
with my system?
Ultima 9: Ascension was released in a buggy
state. A good place to look for help is DarkSharp's and WindForce
Dragon's Ultima 9 Technical FAQ at http://www.gulbsoft.de/faq.latest.html.
(An excellent mirror is at Bluesnews http://www.bluesnews.com/faqs/u9faq.shtml.)
5.20.3) Where can I find out more about
Ultima 9: Ascension?
There is an Ultima 9: Ascension FAQ maintained
by Terilim Dragon, at http://www.powerup.com.au/~gjdanger/Terilem/
which includes all known screenshots released by Origin.
Origin's official Ultima 9: Ascension website
is at http://www.ultima9.com/.
Origin also maintains a web-based discussion
board at http://boards.owo.com/.
Though the board is now closed some of the technical discussions
are still available for reading and problem searches.
5.21) Ultima Underworld 3
5.21.1) Is an Ultima Underworld 3 planned?
Here is another excerpt from the Richard
Garriott interview mention in Section
5.20.2:
"Interesting that you ask, these days
Warren Spector, the producer of the Underworld series, is putting
a team together at Origin, which is intended to work on that
project. Underworld III is not officially planned, but we're
collecting people."
Yes, loose-lips Garriott has done it again.
Make of this what you will. Since that interview, Warren Spector
has left Origin on good terms, but Underworld 3 may still be in
the works - "That's very high on our to-do list, as a matter
of fact" [...] "There's three projects that will
probably become two. Imagine Underworld III, imagine Ultima X as
you might think of it, and imagine Ultima Online II. Ultima X
might be online, and therefore is really the same thing as Ultima
Online II. Ultima X might be first person point of view, so
Ultima X could really be Underworld III. Two of those titles will
be done, but we'll probably do all three of those things in the
next two titles."
From an interview with Richard Garriott in
October 1996's PC Gamer.
At the current time (July 8, 2000), Richard
Garriott no longer works for Origin and Origin has indicated that
they want to focus on online-only games (UO), so this section is
basically for historical purposes only. Add to that the fact that
Looking Glass (the folks that actually created the Underworlds)
recently went out of business, the possibility of any new
Underworlds is effectively non-existant.
5.22) Ultima 10
5.22.1) What do you know about Ultima 10?
Here's another excerpt from the October PC
gamer interview with Richard Garriott: "Ultima X [is free to
start] from a completely fresh perspective of what I'll call
pseudo-science". "Pseudo-science" as he puts it
will be drawn from the early era of Victorian science (Such as
Leonardo da Vinci's experiments). Although what exactly that will
mean for the Ultima world he's not too sure yet. However, he is
sure that the player will no longer control the Avatar in their
journeys, "But the Avatar will likely show up as a
character."
At the current time (July 8, 2000), Richard
Garriott no longer works for Origin and Origin has indicated that
they want to focus on online-only games (UO), so this section is
basically for historical purposes only. I will add in a future
update what little we know about Richard Garriott most recent
ideas about X, his successor to Ultima IX. X was to be a near
future game and nothing like what was mentioned above.
5.23) Ultima Online 2/Ultima Worlds Online:
Origin
Ultima Online 2 is Origin's next generation
online game. While it has links to UO, it is not a direct
successor. Origin has indicated that it will run UO and UO2 in
parallel. For more information check out the website for UO2 at http://www.uo2.com/.
At this time (July 23, 2000) Electronic Arts
has decided to fold Origin into EA and brand all new games with
the EA logo. Effectively, Origin, as we knew it, is dead. Thus
the UO2 team has tried to keep the Origin name alive by renaming
UO2 as (the rather unwieldy) Ultima Worlds Online: Origin.
5.24) Works in Progress
The following 5.24.x sections all describe
various Ultima related works in progress. While none of these are
complete, all would benenfit from your attention and efforts.
5.24.1) The Ultima 1 remake
The Ultima 1 remake is an effort to recreate
Ultima 1 as a modern 3D game. More information and a number of
screenshots can be found athttp://www.peroxide.dk/ultima/.
5.24.2) Exult
"Exult is a project to create an Ultima 7
game engine that runs on modern operating systems, using the data
and graphics files that come with the game." You can
download Linux and Windows executables of the current version of
the engine at http://exult.sourceforge.net/.
You can also download the source code at the
same location. If you have ever had the urge to contribute to an
Open Source project I would urge you to add your skills to this
one.
5.24.3) The Guardian Engine
The Guardian Engine is another attempt to
build a game engine that will run Ultima 7 in Windows. You can
find more information at http://www.dragongames.com/u7dev/.
5.24.4) The Blackrock Engine
The Blackrock Engine is an effort to build an
engine that will allow Ultima 7 to be run as a multiplayer game
(think Ultima 7 Online :)). You can find a copy of the server
software and the client software at http://www.acm.cise.ufl.edu/u7o/.
5.24.5) Alter U9
Alter U9 is an effort to create a version of
Ultima 9 using the plot created by Bob White and his codesigners
(for more details see The Wayward Avatar at http://rpgplanet.com/ultima9/game/orig_plot.asp).
More information and screenshots can be found at http://alteru9.urpgrealm.com/.
5.24.6) The Ultima 3 Upgrade Project
The Ultima 3 Upgrade Project is an effort to
bring Ultima 3 up to newer standards. The first phase is to bring
the graphics up to EGA standards. The second phase is to add MIDI
music to the game (similar to the Ultima 4 upgrade mentioned in Section 5.8.1). More information
and screenshots can be found at http://ultima3.voyd.net/.
6) Ultima, the Dragons and The World Wide Web
6.1) The Ring of Dragons
This FAQ can barely scratch the surface of
resources available, and can only list one or two sources of
information for each topic. The Ring of Dragons links together
many Ultima- and Ultima Dragons-related websites and information
in an easy to navigate manner. For more about the Ring of
Dragons, check out http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=dragon&home.
6.2) Ultima Under Emulators
Some Ultimas for different platforms can still
be played on a PC. Check out the Ultima emulator FAQ (By
Caliaber Dragon and Archon Dragon). Available at: http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9127487/ultima/FAQ.html.
Emulation can be a legal grey area. In an
effort to clear up some of the confusion surrounding emulators,
here is what I understand about the situation.
I have to insert the standard disclaimer here:
I am not a lawyer; these comments only apply to the US; contact
an intellectual property rights lawyers in your jurisdiction;
contents may settle during shipment; you get what you pay for;
void where prohibited; no refunds.
Let's start with the basics. To play a game on
an emulator, you need an functional emulator and copy of the game
you want to play in a format that your emulator of choice
supports.
At first glance, this all seems blindingly
obvious, but each part has its legal pitfalls. First, is your
emulator completely legal? Many emulators aren't legal when they
are fully functional because they use the copyrighted ROMs from
the computer being emulated. As far as the law is concerned,
unless you made a copy of the ROMs yourself, from an original
machine you own, you are violating the copyright law. It doesn't
even matter if you own the original machine and download a set of
ROMs off of the Internet. In the eyes of the law that is still
copyright infringement. And without the ROMs your emulator is
useless.
Other emulators, such as Bleem! http://www.bleem.com/, a Sony
Playstation emulator reverse-engineer the original machine in a
completely legal manner. (This how we have all of these IBM PC
clones. The clone makers and support companies reverse-engineered
the original IBM PC.) Bleem! has the added advantage of having
its emulator tested in court for legality by Sony. So far Bleem!
has prevailed.
And to make the picture even more muddy, some
companies, such as Apple, on one hand are very tenacious in the
defense of their intellectual property rights, while on the other
hand on their websites reference emulators for their older
computers. In the case of Apple, they have a link to Catakig, an
Apple II emulator for the Macintosh. In the case of Catakig, the
issue gets further muddied because Catakig doesn't provide the
Apple II ROMs needed for the emulator, but does provide a program
for you to make a copy of your particular Apple II's ROMs
yourself.
The next step, no surprise, is to make a legal
copy of your original game that is usable by your completely
legal, fully functional emulator. (Sometimes you get lucky, in
that your emulator will run the original media, for example,
Bleem! will run the Sony Playstation version of Ultima Underworld
1 in your PC's CD-ROM drive.) This is an area where I can *not*
give any clear guidance except in the situations where you can't
make a copy.
Nintendo games, for example, come with a bit
of verbiage in the license agreements that specifically prohibit
you from backing any sort of copy of the game cartridge, even for
the legally acceptable purpose of making a single backup. Whether
Nintendo's license agreement is legally valid is unknown since no
one has ever tested that part of their license agreement in
court, vis-a-vis copyright law.
And that leads into the question of "Is
an emulator image I created from my originals the single
legitimate backup copy I am allowed by the copyright laws?".
If it is a legitimate backup, then you should be ok for this
part. If not, then you are out of luck if you want to legally use
an emulator.
I hear you saying, "But what about the
game collections that run under emulators, such as _The Roberta
Williams Anthology_ by Sierra?". While the Anthology does
use the AppleWin emulator, we don't know if Sierra licensed the
Apple II ROMs from Apple and this is a special circumstance or if
Apple now lets anyone use the old Apple II ROMs since Apple no
longer makes any significant money from the Apple II line.
So, as you can see, the closest thing you can
get to a completely legal emulator/game situation is a
Bleem!/original media combination. After that, things get very
nebulous, very quickly.
6.3) Ultima Fan Fiction
You can find a list of Ultima fan fiction at
Dragon Press, http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~charlton/andrew/fanfic/.
The Lair of the Evil_Freak has additional
Ultima fan fiction at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dome/6423/.
6.4) How can I put Ultima runes on my web
pages?
Yes. Archon Dragon has a page on how to use a
Java applet to display Ultima Runes. It is available at http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9127487/runes/runes.html.
6.5) Is there an Ultima Windows 95 desktop
theme?
Yes, Micro Dragon has constructed a theme with
a large collection of backgrounds, cursors, etc. It is available
from http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/1769/uindx.html.
6.6) Ultima Levels/Maps for Other Games
6.6.1) Civilization 2
The Silly Dragon has a Civilization 2 map
available if you email him at hundmeister@home.com.
Ophidian Dragon also has a Civilization 2 map
available if you email him at zacwbond@hotmail.com.
Darkling Dragon also has a Civilization 2 map
available if you email him at psz01@gnofn.org.
6.6.2) CivNet
Ophidian Dragon has a CivNet map available if
you email him at zacwbond@hotmail.com.
6.6.3) Warcraft 2
Vulcan Dragon has a Warcraft 2 PUD available
if you email him at mcarmack@columbus.rr.com.
Ophidian Dragon also has a Warcraft 2 PUD
available if you email him at zacwbond@hotmail.com.
Shodan Dragon also has a set of Warcraft 2
PUDs called the Blood of Britannia available at http://www.lehigh.edu/~gns2/uwar2.html,
or you might email him at gns2@lehigh.edu.
As of July 23, 2000, Shodan seems to be working on new version of
his PUDs so email is probably your best bet.
6.6.4) Warlords 2
Ophidian Dragon has a Warlords 2 level
available if you email him at zacwbond@hotmail.com.
6.6.5) Doom 2
Darkling Dragon also has a Doom 2 map of the
Ultima 4 version of the city of Britain available if you email
him at psz01@gnofn.org.
6.6.6) Unreal
Through the Looking Glass (a site
dedicated to the games created by Looking Glass) has to maps for
Unreal. The first is a map for Ultima Underworld 1's first level.
The other is a recreation of the arenas in Ultima Underworld 2's
Pits of Carnage. You can find the levels at the Through the
Looking Glass site at http://www.ttlg.com/mirror/index.htm.
[Source: Paulon Dragon]
6.7) Ultima Maps
Xe Dragon has created HRUMP (High-Resolution
Ultima Map Project) at http://www.dengler.net/xedragon/hrump/.
He has scans of the Ultima 1, Ultima 2, Ultima 3, Ultima 4,
Ultima 5, Savage Empire, Martian Dreams, both Ultima 7s, and
Ultima 8 maps.
Ynnad Dragon has very large Ultima 4 and
Ultima 5 maps at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cavern/5706/.
The maps are available as Corel Draw 8 files and as Windows BMPs.
Paulon Dragon has some scans of Ultima
Underworld 1 and 2, Ultima 7 and Serpent Isle at http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/PaulonDragon/Maps/Maps.htm.
The mapsare available as JPEGs.
7) Real Time Interactions
7.1) The Weyrmount
7.1.1) What is the Weyrmount?
Its a MOO, a virtual environment for Dragons
to interact with each other.
7.1.2) How do I get there?
The 'Official' address is telnet://moo.weyrmount.org:8000/.
Telnet to that address.
Follow the instructions on the screen, and
connect as a guest. If you don't get any instructions, then
either you are forgetting the port number, or your telnet client
software is ignoring it. If it is the latter, then you probably
have to get a new client.
There is also a web page at http://www.weyrmount.org/.
7.1.3) What do I do once I'm there?
A MOO is a lot like a text adventure. To walk
around, type stuff like "Go North". Actually usually
just "N" will suffice. To talk to other players, type
"say <your text here>". There is a shortcut
version, simply typing a double quote instead of say will work
exactly the same way.
The best way to get help is to page someone.
You can type @who to get a list of all the users who are
currently logged on. Then type "page <charactername>
<your message i.e. Please help me, I'm new...>" (page
can be replaced by an apostrophe). The people on the MOO are very
nice, and are almost certain to help you.
There is a lot to learn, but most of it is
very easy to use after a short while. Typing help, or help
<something> can often help.
While on the Weyrmount you can get help by
saying the words (entering the command} "KAL LOR".
The official Weyrmount FAQ is being maintained
by Monomolecular Dragon at http://www.weyrmount.org/weyrfaq.shtml.
[Source: WizTraveller]
7.2) IRC
7.2.1) What is IRC?
IRC stands for "Internet Relay
Chat". It consists of a lot of "Channels", each of
which has its own topic. People can join channels and talk (or
rather, type).
Channels of interest to Ultima players include
#UDIC on Undernet, an Ultima Dragons channel, #UO on Undernet,
and #Ultima on EFNet.
7.2.2) How do I get there?
First, you need an IRC client. A large archive
of IRC clients is available at ftp://ftp.undernet.org/pub/irc/clients/.
Different clients have different ways of
accessing the commands. For example some of the following
commands may be automated, and you will only need to fill in a
dialog box, so please read the documentation of your client.
You will first need to connect to an IRC
server by typing: /server xxx.xxx.xxx
Replacing "xxx.xxx.xxx" with a
server near you from the list of Undernet servers available at http://www.undernet.org/ (for
#UDIC and #UO), or the list of EFNet servers at http://www.efnet.net/ (for
#ultima).
If all goes well, you should get a
message-of-the-day flashing up on your screen. Your client may
have asked you for a nickname to use on IRC, but if not then you
can type: /nick <your nickname>
Choose something unique (9 letters max) -
there are a lot of people on IRC, and only one person can use
each name at a time - your Dragon name is probably a good choice.
Now, to join a channel, type: /join #channel
(replacing "#channel" with the name of the channel you
want to join).
7.2.3) What do I do once I'm there?
Just start typing. Everything you type is sent
to everyone on the channel (when you press <return>),
except for lines beginning with "/". Anything beginning
with a "/" is interpreted as a command. One useful
command is: /me does something.
Everyone else will see "<your
nickname> does something".
7.2.4) What does "re" mean?
It essentially means "Hello again".
It could come from "re-hi" or perhaps it is just a
shortening of "Regards".
7.3) ICQ
7.3.1) What is ICQ?
ICQ (I Seek You) is a instant messaging
program that allows you to chat directly and privately with your
friends (unlike an IRC channel, although you can setup a private
IRC channel if you want to). You can see when your friends are
online, pass files back and forth, exchange URLs, play games,
chat, or send messages for someone to read when they log on to
the Internet.
7.3.2) Where can I find an ICQ client?
You can download the latest version of the
official Windows 9x/NT/2000 client at http://www.icq.com/download/.
This page lists several mirror sites if the main ICQ download
site is slow or unavailable.
7.3.3) Is there a list of ICQ numbers for the
Dragons?
Geomorphic Dragon maintains the UDICq list at http://www.inficad.com/~geo/udic/udicq.htm.
Instructions for having yourself added to the list are on the
page.
8.2) Other Stuff
8.3) Why isn't my page in here?
I welcome submissions, but just be aware that
it is simply not possible to list every Ultima related resource
out there.
9) Acknowledgments
Thanks to the writers of all the other FAQs
and pages, and software that this one references, and all the
contributors of the Ultima newsgroups who have answered some of
these questions numerous times without complaint.
Comments, and suggestions are welcome. Feel
free to email me at xyzzy@kc.rr.com.
Copyright 1998-2000 Edward Franks. All
rights reserved.
Portions Copyright 1996, 1997 Andrew Charlton.
All rights reserved.