I’ve been meaning to post this theory for a while now, but my wife hates spoilers…so I’m posting it here in the hopes that she doesn’t check Aiera all that often. Yeah, I know it’s not really all that Ultima-related, but hey…we can have some fun once in a while, right?
Read the rest of this entry »
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:
February 27th, 2008:
February 29th, 2008:
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 | downloadsIt’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:
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
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Produced by: Dino the Dark Dragon
Website: Dino’s Google Group
Releases:
* Sites (1.06 KB)
* Files List (1.65 KB)
* Engine (67.48 KB)
Dino the Dark Dragon began reverse-engineering the Ultima 1 engine as a spare-time project. Here is his work in progress.
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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.
