Utilities!

Produced by: Jason “Xarton Dragon” Penney
Website: JCZorkmid
Releases:
* Portable Ultima 1-6 Patches (PDAR) (1.8 MiB, 234 hits)
* Portable Ultima 7 Patches (PDAR) (21.7 KiB, 108 hits)
* Portable Serpent Isle Patches (PDAR) (51.2 KiB, 80 hits)
* PDAR for Windows (2.4 MiB, 142 hits)
* PDAR Source Code (ZIP) (24.3 KiB, 69 hits)
* PDAR Source Code (TAR.GZ) (17.1 KiB, 62 hits)

A set of patches for Ultima 1 through Ultima 6, developed by Xarton Dragon, which should theoretically be applicable to most installations of the games, inside or outside of DOSBox. The patches are distributed in the PDAR (Portable Delta ARchive) format, and contain only the differences between the patched files and the unpatched files. This should streamline and speed the process of patch application, and also removes much of the hassle of the actual installation process that other patching utilities utilize.

Most of the major patches for each game are included, and a complete listing (as well as installation instructions) can be found in the main download. Also available for download are a Windows PDAR application and the PDAR source code.

These have been tested against the GOG versions of the games and are confirmed to work thereupon. The newly released the Ultima 7 box set is also supported. Xarton will soon be testing them against the Ultima Collection CD installations, and it is expected that the patches will prove effective for those versions of the games as well.

Note: the Ultima 7 patches are supplied as ZIP files, and each archive contains a pair of files: a General MIDI patch and a “GOG Extra” patch. Here are his instructions for applying these patches:

Ultima7.General_MIDI-1.1.pdar or Ultima7p2.General_MIDI-1.0.pdar

Modifies necessary files in place. No need to run batch installer. After applying simply run INSTALL.EXE to change your music device to MT-32 to activate.

Ultima7.General_MIDI-1.1-GOG_Extra.pdar or Ultima7p2.General_MIDI-1.0-GOG_Extra.pdar

Run the General MIDI patch first. This patch modifies the U7.CFG supplied with the GOG distribution to activate the GM/GS patch without the need to run INSTALL.EXE.

Utilities!

Produced by: Pix
Website: Pix’s Origin Adventures
Releases:
* Pix's Ultima Patcher (5.4 MiB, 676 hits)

With the release of Ultimas 1-3 and Ultima 4 on Good Old Games, Ultima Aiera published an article containing information about patching and updating those Ultima titles that have been re-released for sale thus far. Ultima fan Pix (whose repositories of scans of Ultima documentation are really worth checking out, by the way) took it upon himself to collect all of the various patches and updates discussed in that article into a single, easier-to-use application.

The utility should now cover all Ultima titles available on GOG, including the Underworld games and the Ultima 7 box set.

Pix cautions that while the Patcher should work on clean installations from Good Old Games, installations that have been modified in any way already could cause strange results. It includes DPMI and other necessary files as well, so that the graphical upgrade patches for each game work properly.

Presumably, this utility will continue to be expanded to cover additional Ultima titles should they be released on Good Old Games.

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Produced by: Michael C. Maggio
Website: Mike Maggio’s Digital Portfolio
Releases:
* U2 Assembly (1.2 MiB, 553 hits)

A dump of the assembly language for Ultima 2‘s main executable file.

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Produced by: Ultra-Mind Dragon
Releases:
* Ultima 2 Mapper (11.1 KiB, 316 hits)

A simple utility for Ultima 2, this program may prove valuable to you if you’re trying to economize on the amount of tri-lithium that you use in the game. It shows the maps of the three major towers, as well as the dungeons, in the game.

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Produced by: Xenerkes Dragon
Releases:
* Ultima Savegame Editor v1.3 (204.7 KiB, 1,090 hits)

Another utility from Xenerkes Dragon, this program allows you to edit your savegames from Ultima 1 through to Ultima 5. It allows you to change everything, including character location, and also makes it possible to get horses and boats in Ultima 3 (which is otherwise more than difficult).

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Produced by: SoftwareByPaul
Website: Ultima 2 for Palm @ CNet
Releases:
* Ultima 2 Demo (225.3 KiB, 299 hits)

This novel port of Ultima 2 to the PalmOS offers a number of improvements over the original game, including the addition of a party-system – you can have up to a 4-person party. This version also features top-down dungeon navigation (instead of the forward-facing view of the originals) and battle sequences. Now you can battle monsters and overthrow the enchantress Minax on your PDA, as long as you have PalmOS 5 or better.

This development does come at a price, however, because this port is shareware. There is a demo available for download, but the noteable limitations in it are that you cannot purchase food, find Enlino, or reach Planet X. The full-version can be purchased from the developer.

The developer’s website has since shut down (it was hosted at the now-defunct Geocities), but you may be able to purchase the game via CNet.

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Produced by: Sage, Titans of Ether
Website: Titans of Ether

Much like Ultima 1: A Legend is Reborn (later ERA, now defunct), this project aimed, initially, to re-create an Ultima game using a custom-built 3D engine.

Sage and his team plan to re-tell the tale of Ultima 2 from the Sosarian perspective. While their game will feature Earth in the plot, it is set in the lands of Sosaria in the transitional time between Ultima 1 and Ultima 3, during the reign of Minax.

As of August 2005, Sage has joined with the Titans of Ether to bring Enilno to life with their help, using the Morrowind engine (or, more probably, Oblivion).

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Produced by: John Alderson
Website: Windows Native Ultima 2
Releases:
* Ultima 2 for Windows (152.2 KiB, 484 hits)

A port of Ultima 2 to the Windows environment that requires the original game data files to be installed on your hard drive. While it uses the four-color pallete that Ultima 2 originally used, it includes the option to select other color schemes as well.

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Produced by: Mike Marcelais
Releases:
* Maps Patch (16.7 KiB, 423 hits)

A patch that corrects the maps in Ultima 2 and restores them to their originally intended format and appearence.

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Produced by: Exodus Project
Website: The Exodus Project
Releases:
* Moonstone's Galactic Patch (21.2 KiB, 397 hits)
* Micro's Speed Fix (2.6 KiB, 411 hits)
* Upgrade Package (223.3 KiB, 500 hits)

A team effort to upgrade Ultima 2 by the Exodus Project team, it includes a number of improvements to the original game, including EGA graphics (an improvement over the 4 color original), full-color tiles, lower-case text, better save game support, and hotkey support.

Additional files included here are Moonstone Dragon’s Galactic Patch (which adds maps for some of the inner planets) and Micro Dragon’s Speed Patch (which corrects the all-too-familiar divide-by-zero error).