Fair warning for everyone: I’m thinking of installing a download manager on the site, so I apologize if, over the course of the next few days, downloads are a bit spotty (or outright unavailable). If during this time you have need of a specific download, let me know in the comment form to this post and I’ll attempt to make it available for you.

What these changes will let me do is keep accurate file-size information associated with each downloadable file, and give me the ability to track which files are most commonly downloaded. I’ve never really researched the download traffic at Aiera fully, and already today there have been 56 files downloaded from the site — impressive, to say the least, and I look forward to seeing where these stats will go in the coming weeks and months.

Download links at project entries should work, although to take advantage of all of the download manager’s features I’ll have to go through and re-tag all the links., so I apologize if I render temporarily unavailable something you’d had your eye on, O Reader. It’s a lot of work, but that’s okay — it gives me an excuse to go through the site and affix tags to all the project entries, something I’ve been meaning to do anyhow.

As with any project of this nature, the possibility of mistakes exists. If you notice, O Reader, that a download link in any of the categories mentioned below has stopped working, let me know in the comments (provide a link to the project, please!) and I will endeavour to make with the fixing in a timely manner.

Progress Log:
February 26th, 2008:

• Akalabeth is done
• Ultima 1 is done
• Ultima 2 is done
• Ultima 3 is done
• Ultima 4 is done
• Lazarus is done (it’s got enough linked files to be its own category!)
• Ultima 5 is done
• Ultima 6 is done

February 27th, 2008:

• Underworld 1 is done
• Savage Empire is done
• Martian Dreams is done

February 29th, 2008:

• Ultima 7 is done

Keep checking back for updates! In the meantime, it may interest you all to know that, for today (Feb. 26, 2008) at least, the most-downloaded file is the Ultima 9 Combined Update fan patch.

Tags: Aiera, download manager, downloads

It’s been another good week for news — things are busy. It seems to be a busy time in general, actually…even I’m embroiled in a project — redesigning the website of the company that I work for (I cannot stress enough the utter need for such a redesign), which has certainly been eating up a goodly chunk of my time.

But let’s see what’s going on in the community. First, some submissions by email.

Ultima 1 Reverse Engineering

Tim Carlsen pointed out (just before Christmas) — sorry, again, for the delay, Tim! — to me that Dino the Dark Dragon has had the files from his reverse-engineering of the Ultima 1 engine online for a while now. While he hasn’t worked on it (or, at least, hasn’t updated it) all that much in the last few months, I’ve decided to give Dino’s project its own entry here at Aiera

Adventure Creation Kit

Joshua Lawrence got in touch with me regarding the release of ACK 3.0, the latest version of one of the original “build your own Ultima-like game” utilities. It features a host of improvements, including:

• experience levels
• bitmap skinning of main play screen and dialogs
• improved day/night cycle with event triggering
• a new Launcher allows for the use of ACK “right out of the box” in Windows and Mac OS X
• a new ‘Ultima Kit’ with tiles, objects, and moongates from Ultima 5

I have updated the project entry with the latest downloads, and have also removed the commands reference (it’s outdated as of this version of the Kit) and the registration code (which is unnecessary). It can also be downloaded from the project website.

Ultima V for TI Calculators

Ranman dropped a comment on this news post to inform us that he has completed implementation of the special abilities associated with each of the Crown Jewels in his remake of Ultima 5. Very cool!

I also noticed a few updates while cruising around the various Ultima-related websites that I check on a regular basis.

Lost Sosaria

A downloads page has been put up at the Lost Sosaria website. I have also added download links to the project entry here at Aiera.

Savage Empire Total Conversion

We haven’t heard from this project in a while, but Scythifuge has recently posted some updates to a discussion thread in the Exult forums detailing his progress on the module. Currently, he’s working on bits and pieces of art to insert into the game, to increase its immersiveness and improve the feel.

He has also started a “sample art” discussion thread.

Ultima 7 (Exult) for Nokia Phones

Arnim Sauerbier released, at some point this month, updated mp3 versions of the Ultima 7 music files for his port of Exult to the Nokia 770, correcting a volume-control issue that had cropped up in the previous version of the files.

I have updated the download at the project entry here at Aiera.

And finally, some additional news courtesy of Dino’s Ultima Page.

Ultima IX: Redemption

Corv has posted a huge update to the website of his remake of Ultima 9. Among other things, the team has released twenty-seven new screenshots (showing off some amazing scenery and architecture) and five new music tracks. Additionally, the project status bars have been updated, and a few changes have been made to the team roster.

EUO

An updated version (0.13) of the beta-stage 3D for EUO, the Ultima-like online RPG, has been released. The look and playability are still rudimentary, but this is certainly an interesting development for this fun little project.

Downloads and installation instructions are available at the EUO forums, and the downloads are mirrored through the project entry here at Aiera.

Seven Towers Exult Mods

In the latest posting at Dino’s Ultima Page, Petrell makes a note that updated versions of the various Exult Mods that can be found at Seven Towers have been released. However, I notice this morning that the project website has been replaced by a subdomain placeholder page — most troubling. Let’s hope this is only temporary.

Tags: ACK, Adventure Creation Kit, Aiera, Dino's Ultima Page, EUO, Exult, Lost Sosaria, Mac, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Nokia, RPG, Texas Instruments, The Elder Scrolls, Ultima, Ultima 1, Ultima 5, Ultima 7, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption, Windows

Produced by: Dino the Dark Dragon
Website: Dino’s Google Group
Releases:
* Sites List (1.1 KiB, 22 hits)
* Files List (1.7 KiB, 25 hits)
* Ultima 1 Engine (67.5 KiB, 26 hits)

Dino the Dark Dragon began reverse-engineering the Ultima 1 engine as a spare-time project. Here is his work in progress.

Tags: Dino the Dark Dragon, Ultima 1

Produced by: Chris Hopkins
Website: Mozomedia
Releases:
* Adventure Creation Kit v3 (Windows)
* Adventure Creation Kit v3 (Mac)

This is a comprehensive top-down 2D game development tool that allows for the creation of tiled RPG-type games, similar to Ultima I through to Ultima V. It is now fully operable under both Windows and Mac OS X without need for emulation of any kind.

The Kit was completed in 1995, and was intended as Mr. Hopkins’ update to the classic Adventure Construction Kit of the 1980s. In about 2000, the Kit was released as freeware, and Joshua Lawrence has taken it upon himself to maintain a web presence for the Kit. The ‘v3′ update was released in early 2008.

Tags:

Produced by: Arnim Sauerbier
Website: Arnim Sauerbier
Releases:
* Aklabeth for Nokia Smartphones (33.6 KiB, 52 hits)

* xu4 for Nokia Smartphones (1.9 MiB, 16 hits)

* Ultima 7 - Exult - Program (0 bytes)
* Ultima 7 - Exult - Data (0 bytes)
* Ultima 7 - Music (low-quality mono) (0 bytes)
* Ultima 7 - Music (higher-quality stereo) (0 bytes)

* Ultima 8 - Pentagram - Program (0 bytes)
* Ultima 8 - Pentagram - libSDL (0 bytes)
* Ultima 8 - Pentagram - INI file (0 bytes)

These are actually just ports of other Ultima projects (linked below), but as I’ve never seen so many in one place at one time (and from one person!), they are classified not only as ports but as their own separate entry on Aiera.

The following projects have been ported to the Nokia 770/N800 internet tablets:

• Akalabeth – a port of Paul Robson’s SDL version of the game
• Ultima 4 – a port of xu4
• Ultima 5 – a port of Nazghul/Haxima
• Ultima 6 – a port of Nuvie
• Ultima 7 – a port of Exult
• Ultima 8 – a port of Pentagram

It serves to note that these ports are ongoing works, and it further serves to note that some of the projects that have been ported (Pentagram, for an easy example) are themselves incomplete. However, O Reader, if you use a Nokia 770/N800 internet tablet, and would like to be able to play some classic Ultima titles whilst on the go, this is likely a project for you!

Tags: Aiera, Akalabeth, Aklabeth, Exult, Haxima, Nazghul, Nokia, Nuvie, Pentagram, SDL, Ultima, Ultima 4, Ultima 5, Ultima 6, Ultima 7, Ultima 8, xu4

Well, isn’t this just a banner week for news posting? Two updates in the span of three days. I should be careful, lest I set some manner of record.

Anyhow, the first two updates come to us courtesy of Petrell, who is guest-posting news at Dino’s Ultima Page.

Ultima IX: Redemption

In addition to the previously mentioned updates, there is also a new development diary to be found at the website of this remake of Ultima 9. This one is by Sage, one of the dialogue writers.

As usual, you must be registered at the Redemption forums to check the diary out.

Ultima V for TI Calculators

Ranman has uploaded new screenshots demonstrating Lord Blackthorn and the results of the entire party dying in his port of Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator. I don’t have a current percentage-completeness for his project, but a later post in the forum indicates that he’s finished the final cutscene with Lord British, which sounds promising!

Update: In the comments below, Ranman lets us know that:

Ultima V for TI calcs is 96% complete.

I was reaching critical mass again — the 64Kb barrier. I had to work in some more size optimizations. I managed to knock off another 2.3Kb.

The light is getting brighter at the end of the tunnel.

Worlds of Ultima: Lost Sosaria

Over at the website for Lost Sosaria, I’ve posted news that within the next week, I hope to have uploaded the work-in-progress module for the project, along with hak files. Pace Project Britannia, it is my hope that updates to the project can be tracked in a very transparent way, giving interested parties a chance to download the “latest and greatest” in the module’s development, and to give feedback and report problems.

Tags: Lord Blackthorn, Lord British, Lost Sosaria, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Texas Instruments, The Elder Scrolls, Ultima 5, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption

It hasn’t been a tremendously busy couple of weeks, but several projects have posted significant updates.

Ultima IX: Redemption

There is a lot of news from this promising, Morrowind-based remake of Ultima 9 this week. Firstly, “de facto” project spokesperson Direhaggis writes in to inform us all of the following:

Our team has stayed consistently productive for the last year, especially making gains in exterior cell worldbuilding (which is nearly done) and 3D models. I myself write the main quest and it’s 80% complete, with a word count of approximately 180,000 (where U7:BG had ~175,000). Overall, production is 75% done. With our current team roster, the game itself will definitely be completed–it’s just a question of time.

On that note, we are right now looking for more worldbuilders for interior cells, as well as dialogue writers. There’s also a position for a 2D artist to help create more cutscenes for the game.

Our director, Corv, is going to update the status page fairly soon. He has recently become a new father, though, so I am acting in his stead to spread the news far and wide.

I would dearly appreciate your sharing this news with your readership. Thank you for your time, thought, and especially your dedication to keeping Ultima alive and well.

And to Direhaggis, I can only say: no problem at all, good Ultima fan and true!

It is indeed the case that the Redemption team are looking for worldbuilders to help with interiors, as well as dialogue writers and (possibly) even a 2D artist. If, O Reader, you feel you could fit into one or any of those categories, pop on over to the Ultima IX: Redemption website and drop Direhaggis a private message in the forums there.

PT-BR Translation for Ultima Underworld

I was informed via the contact form that a Portuguese translation of Ultima Underworld is available for download as well:

We have a small group with a project, its about 90%, but we have a lot of work like font editing and replay the game to check any flaw.
There is alreadly a patch avaliable.

I have created a project entry for this translation here at Aiera, and have uploaded the current version of the patch (v0.2) for download. If, O Reader, you would be interested in helping this small team with font editing and playtesting, you can contact then through their website/forum.

Exult 3D

From his comments at the end of this discussion at the Exult forums, it appears that Sam Matthews has stopped work on his 3D re-interpretation of the Ultima 7 engine. If so, that’s a pity.

For the moment, the project entry here at Aiera won’t be changed, as the project had come a fairly long way and could conceivably be used to play through Ultima 7. It won’t look terribly pretty in places, but that’s an aesthetic concern as opposed to a technical one.

EUO

Speaking of 3D, it appears that a beta-stage 3D engine has become available for EUO, the Ultima-like online RPG. The look and playability are still rudimentary, but this is certainly an interesting development for this fun little project.

Downloads and installation instructions are available at the EUO forums, and the downloads are mirrored through the project entry here at Aiera.

Realms of Ultima

This promising, Neverwinter Nights 2-based set of “prefabs” has just released its latest content — New Magincia. It’s not a completed release just yet, and will soon see the addition of caves, house interiors, and the Gargoyles that live there, but it’s enough to wander around in…and it’s spectacular.

(My wife bought me NWN2 a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve had a bit of a look at the town…it’s top-notch work)

The prefab can be downloaded either from its entry at the Neverwinter Vault, or via the project entry here at Aiera.

Tags: 3D, Aiera, Britannia, EUO, Exult, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights 2, RPG, Serpent Isle, The Black Gate, The Elder Scrolls, translation, Ultima, Ultima 7, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption, Ultima Underworld