There is nothing new in the way of project development to report today, but that’s not to say there isn’t something interesting to discuss.

As the reader may know, Ultima V: Lazarus — the Dungeon Siege-based remake of Ultima 5 — was released some time ago. Like any other modern game, it had spawned a fan community of its own, many of whom immediately set about the task of releasing “mods” (mods of a mod?) for it to correct bugs, modify weapon performance, address performance issues, and enhance the graphics. Many of these mods are available for download through Lazarus’ entry at Aiera.

However, there is a caution that I will need now to issue for these various mods: they are not all compatible with each other, and indeed some of them may have serious bugs of their own. As with anything fan-made, the Lazarus mods are “use at your own risk” in nature.

But to help the discerning Lazarus fan select which mods s/he would like to make use of, Sylore has assembled a helpful Mod Guide for Lazarus, which provides information on whether certain mods have known bugs, and whether they conflict with other mods. Downloads of each mod are also provided.

I’ll be using this page to update Aiera’s collection of Lazarus mods, and I will be adding a link to the Lazarus entry at Aiera in short order to assist any would-be users of these mods in selecting a combination of add-ons that will not break the game for them.

WtFD

I was contacted over the weekend by Joshua Lawrence, who informed me that he has been maintaining a website dedicated to the Adventure Creation Kit, a 1995 application by Chris Hopkins that can be used to create a very Ultima-like top-down, tile-based RPG.

I have added an entry to Aiera for the ACK, and it can be downloaded from either there or Josh’s site.

There have also been a couple of lower-key updates from the remake community that I noticed over the weekend.

Project Britannia

The britannia_logic.dsres resource file for Project Britannia was updated on April 19th, and the various updates to it are primarily related to the conversation engine and UI. I have updated Aiera’s copy of the file, and it can be downloaded from the Project Britannia entry as well as from the PB Wiki.

Lost Sosaria

There are 23 new screenshots at Lost Sosaria‘s website, as well as some information about the role that the now-built City of Gauntlet will play in Sosaria.

WtFD

There have been a couple of bits of news from the remake community today.

UO to U7

Razimus’ project has been renamed to The Dark Key. No new media releases since the aforementioned artwork, however.

Infinity Eternal

Thepal brings us news that a new writer, Theron, has joined the project team to take some of the workload — at least as concerns writing dialogue — off of him.

(Frothy mug of ale: Dino)

Produced by: Andrew Taylor
Website: xu4- Ultima IV
Releases:
* xu4 - Windows v1.0b3 (1.1 MiB, 228 hits)
* xu4 - Mac OS X v1.0b3 (3.1 MiB, 155 hits)
* xu4 - Linux v1.0b3 (2.4 MiB, 137 hits)
* xu4 - Source v1.0b3 (410.3 KiB, 154 hits)
* xu4 - Zaurus v0.9 (1.9 MiB, 106 hits)
* xu4 - BeOS v0.5 (88.3 KiB, 127 hits)
* xu4 - Dreamcast (5.1 MiB, 130 hits)

Snapshots – May be unstable
* xu4 - Windows Snapshot (1.4 MiB, 150 hits)
* xu4 - Mac OS X Snapshot (3.3 MiB, 136 hits)

Andrew Taylor’s SDL-based re-creation of Ultima 4 is intended to be a cross-platform version of the game much as Exult is for Ultima 7.

And, since Ultima 4 is freeware, he (like many others) has also made available for download the original version (0 bytes) of the game. As well, there is a graphics update (0 bytes) available. The original game is now included with non-PC versions of xu4, but is required for Windows.

Resle, one of the developers working on Ashes — an RPG inspired by Ultima with a home-made 3D engine powering it — gave a bit of an update on the project’s status in the project forum. Ashes is developing slowly at present:

What’s happening? Well yes, hiatus is a good word to describe what’s going on – but the developement heartbeats are just very slow – not absent. Ashes is in a controlled coma, so to say. There’s a long moment of unbalance between the time at MY disposal and Olly’s disposal. He’s quite free while my personal life/job is a bit of a mess now as I am in the process of moving back to my home city (long story).

…

The next build is going to feature:

• Finished, polished combat
• Finished, polished dialogues
• Reworked GUI (more pratical, but arguably less nice to see – I.E.: no “live” paperdoll npc)
• Particle system
• beta magic
• beta fully scheduled NPCs
• beta menu

And thanks to Olly, lots of new graphics.

It’s good to hear that this promising project is still active. I look forward to the next release!

(Frothy mug of ale: Dino)

A brief wander around the Ultima community yielded some fruit; there have been a few updates made to some of the projects out there. As well, I’ve updated a couple things about Aiera.

Concerning the site here, I’ve updated the links on the side to include a link to Dino’s Ultima Page’s Google Group, which is intended to be a sort of centralized discussion area for the Ultima community. I’m still toying with whether I want to go the route of starting a forum on Aiera again (and thus having to cope with the spam and moderation responsibilities again), so for the time being I encourage any visitors looking to chat to visit the Group page. Feel free to use it as Aiera’s discussion area for the time being, as I check it daily.

The UO to U7 Project

Razimus’ project to implement the complete Ultima 7 saga in the Ultima Online engine has released some preliminary artwork including a boat graphic, a moongate graphic, and the various currencies used in Serpent Isle.

Project Britannia

Project Britannia has released an updated version of one of the resource files needed for the project. This update makes a few minor changes to the Journal UI, fixes an issue with a small quantity of gold, and makes a few API changes as well. I’ve uploaded this to Project Britannia’s entry at Aiera.

Exult

Exult has released a thrice-updated snapshot of Exult 1.4 since last I checked. Among the fixes that have been done are a correction to palettes in Serpent Isle mods with custom mainship.flx files, added support for adding or changing MIDI music files, and the addition of a couple of scalers. I’ve uploaded this to the Exult entry at Aiera.

Ultima Iris

Iris has released Build 981 of Iris2 (Iris-Ogre), their next-generation 3D Ultima Online client. The Iris entry at Aiera has been updated accordingly.

The Complete Ultima 7

This was an old remake that was attempting to do what a couple of other remakes have taken on as their goal: present the entirety of Ultima 7 — The Black Gate and Serpent Isle — as one unified game (using the Dungeon Siege engine). It stopped development around 2000, and so has been added to the Cemetery*.

WtFD

* note the now-corrected spelling. Yes, I am occasionally afflicted with stupidity. If, O Reader, you had permalinked to the Cemetary on your own site, please update your links accordingly, as the old URL won’t work anymore.

Produced by: Azmodean

This project came and went pretty quickly, unfortunately. It was conceived in the days prior to the release of Dungeon Siege, and its goal was to remake the complete Ultima 7 story — both Black Gate and Serpent Isle — into one unified narrative using that game engine. However, by the time Dungeon Siege actually did release, the project had essentially disappeared — all that remains is this banner graphic.

There are a couple of things to report. Firstly, Lost Sosaria has posted another eleven screenshots, showcasing more of the string of areas called the “Great Road”, the north-to-south roadway that connects the cities of Gauntlet and Ponder.

As well, I’ve taken the unusual step of getting addicted to Facebook, and have taken the even more unusual step of setting up an Ultima Remakes group there, since I failed to find one when I looked. So if there are any past or present (or, I guess, future) Ultima remakers or remake team members who are also on Facebook, thou hast a new group to join!

WtFD

Direhaggis moved his forum-based news posting from a few days ago to the Redemption front page. There’s no new information in it, however.

WtFD

There have been a few updates made in the Ultima remake community over the Easter weekend, including a few snapshot releases and some news announcements.

Ultima IX: Infinity Eternal

Thepal dropped a bit of news just to keep his project’s site fresh, and assures us that things are moving along. He has been working on dialogue for the demo — which will apparently feature 90 to 100 NPCs(!!) — and has been continuing with world-building. More music is also being created by other team members.

Seven Towers Exult Mods

The Avatar Pack was updated over the weekend with a minor revision that split the optional resources of the pack into The Black Gate- and Serpent Isle-specific versions; installation instructions have been updated accordingly. I have updated the copy of this mod that is hosted at Aiera.

Exult

New snapshots of Exult 1.4 and Exult Studio were released in the last few days. I have uploaded these to the site, and they can be downloaded from the Exult entry.

Project Britannia

The Project Britannia development team have released new snapshot versions of some of the game’s core files — britannia_logic.dsres and the Lazarus compatibility mod, to be specific. I have updated the Project Britannia and Lazarus downloads accordingly.

Ultima: Iris

Iris’ snapshot version has been updated to build 933, and I will add this to Iris’ entry on the site by this evening (remember: GMT -7 timezone).

Additionally, there is an AVI-format trailer available from the Iris site demonstrating the new engine in action. It can also be viewed on YouTube.

Worlds of Ultima: Lost Sosaria

One of the tilesets that is used on the project has been updated, and will be tested in short order.

WtFD

There are sixteen new screenshots at Lost Sosaria.

I posted the following well-wishings at Lost Sosaria as well, but I will re-post them here because it is fitting and in keeping with who the administrator of this website is, O Reader.

If you are Catholic: Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen! Hopefully this is a season of renewal and grace for you and your family, and if you are not able to attend Vigil Mass this evening may you have a holy and blessed Easter Sunday and find time in the hectic pace of visiting family and preparing large dinners to partake of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

If you are Christian, but not Catholic: Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen! May this weekend be a time of spiritual growth and a season of renewal and grace for you and your family.

If you are religious but not Christian: May this weekend be a time of rest and of spiritual growth for you, and may you continue securely in your journey of faith. If you are spending the long weekend with family, may you have an enjoyable time with them.

If you are agnostic/atheist/secular: Have a safe and happy long weekend, and may your heart and mind remain unclosed to the meaning that so many people around the world attach to this blessed week. If you are spending the long weekend with family, may you have an enjoyable time with them.

WtFD

Lost Sosaria has posted a “Pre-Easter update” regarding project progress and development details. Embedded in the article is a preliminary development map of the continent featured in the game, once known as the Lands of the Dark Unknown (modified a bit to reflect damage that the continent sustained in the aftermath of Mondain’s death).

The call for additional team members to join Lost Sosaria has also been re-iterated.

Finally, they have released some preliminary requirements for running Lost Sosaria.

I noticed a few updates during my wander through the project websites today, some of which are not new and some of which are.

Ultima 5: Lazarus

Firstly, on the Lazarus Forums, I noticed a series of weapons-related mods that I had not previously picked up on. I have added these to Lazarus’ entry on Aiera.

Exult

I also noticed that Exult had released a new Windows snapshot for their 1.4 version, and have uploaded this to replace the current hosted snapshot for Exult’s entry here.

Ultima: Iris

Additionally, Petrell pointed out yesterday that Iris2, the next generation of the Ultima Iris 3D client for Ultima Online has just released its first public build. It is available for download from the Iris main site, and I will have it online here at Iris’ entry at Aiera by the end of the day (allowing for my time zone being GMT-7).

Update: The Iris2 release version has been re-updated to version 911, and this is now available for download through Aiera.

Joke Remakes

I have also added UltimarX10, Ultimah, Untima: Decension, Ultimerr, and Ultima 4: Elijah to the Joke Remakes section of the site.

Ophidian Font

Finally, Paulon Dragon provided a download for the Ophidian runic font, and I have added this to the list of Ultima fonts here.

WtFD

Produced by: Garrett Birkel
Website: Untima 9
Releases:
* Untima IX 0.55v6 (Mac OS X) (294.3 KiB, 63 hits)
* Untima Mac Source (337.6 KiB, 66 hits)
* Untima PC Source (1.0 MiB, 67 hits)

Unlike Ultimuh, this is a rather more competently-made spoof that features a graphic tileset very similar to what one might expect to see in Ultima 3 or Ultima 4.

And wheras Ultimuh was essentially intended as a mockery of the Ultima games, Untima plays out as a genuine game experience, spoofing some of the finer points of the series and drawing on a few other pop-culture sources as well (as when Lord Finnish sends you to dispatch the dreaded monster Bunnicula).

And like many of the earlier Ultima games, Untima was put together by one man.

Produced by: Nuclear Meltdown Productions
Website: Nuclear Meltdown Productions
Releases:
* Ultimuh (153.3 KiB, 69 hits)

A handful of teenaged programmers threw this take on the Ultima series together.

It’s not great satire in that it’s a side-scrolling game (an engine style Ultima never explored, thankfully), but it makes homage to the Old English diction of most of the Ultima series, the occasionally enigmatic plots of the games, and the often repetitive actions one has to undergo to pass an Ultima title.

The graphics are…well, they’re painful, but it’s an intentional kind of painful.

Produced by: DGMacphee
Releases:
* Ultimerr (560.9 KiB, 62 hits)

Another satirical look at the Ultima series, this time featuring a loosely isometric game engine. A short little title, you play the role of Abitar, and are sent on a quest to find the White Gem of Anthrax so that you might defeat the evil Prince Foreskin.

Or some such.

Produced by: Evil_Freak Dragon
Website: Great title, eh?

A whimsical tale of some of the original Ultima remake project teams, the use of the Dungeon Siege engine, and other community in-jokes. Truth be told, it’s just good absurdist humour.

Produced by: UltimarX Team
Website: HELLO AND WELCOME

They believed that no true Ultima fan felt that Ascension (Ultima 9) was a proper ending to the series, so they set out to open up possibilities that players have never even thought of before (or so they claim).

This project hasn’t posted news since 2005, but we eagerly await news of it’s continued development…er…uh…just as soon as the Dungeon Siege 3 engine that they are using to make it gets…er…developed?