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Produced by: The Retelling
Website: The Retelling
Getting Connected:
* Connection Guide: How to join The Retelling

Currently in an “open alpha” release state, Retelling: Exodus is a remake of Ultima 3 using Ultima Online. It features PvP and PvM according to Ultima Online’s Felucca ruleset, and role-playing is (of course) strongly encouraged. The map of Sosaria is entirely custom, and seems to be a very expert re-creation of Ultima 3′s game world. Pirates roam the seas, slimes split into more slimes, swamps poison you…many of the finer trappings of Ultima games are present. Siege warfare and player-created cities are also enabled, and houses (though secure) can be robbed under certain conditions.

I can’t find out much about The Retelling’s creator, but he describes himself in this way:

I grew up playing the original Ultima series, I have a lot of fond memories of time spent in Britannia. I also remember the theme of interactivity, a believable, consistent world (for the most part=) with a touch of humor. I’m looking to recapture the same feeling in an MMO.

To join The Retelling, follow the directions in this forum thread (also linked above).

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: Dungy
Releases:
* Ultima 3 EGA Graphics (4.9 KiB, 183 hits)

A modified SHAPES.EGA file for Ultima 3 which incorporates many of the graphics and tiles from the Ultima 4 EGA graphics patch.

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Produced by: MagerValp
Website: Ultima III Gold
Releases:
* Ultima III Gold (170.8 KiB, 512 hits)

This project is an improved version of Ultima 3 for the Commodore 64. Notably, it features optimized code and fits on a single disk side, and the save system has been revamped. Trainers have been improved, and even little fixes have found their way in — it is possible, for example, to buy more than one dagger at a time.

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Produced by: Render Dragon
Releases:
* U3 Project Test Release (2004) (184.1 KiB, 836 hits)

An ambitious attempt to port Ultima 3 to Windows. Headed by Render Dragon, this port intended to incorporate high-resolution tilesets, variable resolution modes, and possibly mp3 audio.

The project’s initial aim was to create a raw port of Ultima 3. Following that, Render and his team hopep to implement the multiple resolutions, high-res graphics, and in-game documentation. The final project stage was the development of some form of isometric engine, to bring Ultima 3 to us in a never-before-seen way!

Sadly, the project never made it past the demo stage. For now, I’m going to keep it here, in the remakes section, but only because I haven’t yet tested the demo personally and so don’t know how feature-complete it is/isn’t.

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Releases:
* Ultima 1, 3, 4 & 5 Cheat (19.2 KiB, 712 hits)

A cheat program that can be used for Ultima 1 through to Ultima 5 (but not, according to its name, for Ultima 2).

Note: this update may not work with Ultima 3, and may also be missing the strength attribute. This has been found to be the case in DOSBox, at any rate, although at present it is not known whether the error is within the program proper, or whether it is in some way related to DOSbox.

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Produced by: Michael C. Maggio
Website: Mike Maggio’s Digital Portfolio
Releases:
* Ultima 3 Assembly (1.2 MiB, 398 hits)

A dump of the assembly language for Ultima 3‘s main executable file.

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Produced by: Nodling Dragon
Website: Ultima Tech Info and Patches
Release:
* German Keyboard Patch (2.9 KiB, 314 hits)

From Nodling’s site: “If you play Ultima 3 or [Ultima 4] with a German keyboard, the y and z keys won’t work until you remove the German keyboard driver. But that doesn’t really fix the problem, because now the y and z keys are swapped.

With this utility, both keys will work as they should. The program is compatible with DOS, DOS emulators and Windows 9x, but unfortunately not with Windows NT or XP.”

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Produced by: Nodling Dragon
Website: Ultima Tech Info and Patches
Releases:
* Ultima 3 File Description (12.2 KiB, 421 hits)

Nodling Dragon’s as yet incomplete description of the file formats for Ultima 3. Useful for editors.

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Produced by: Michael Trent
Releases:
* Map Editor (Mac) (325.8 KiB, 254 hits)
* Character Editor (Mac) (24.5 KiB, 271 hits)

A pair of utilities – a map editor and character editor for the Macintosh port of Ultima 3. Keep in mind that the only available port of Exodus currently available for Mac is not freeware, and must be purchased from its vendor online.

Also keep in mind that these editors are quite dated now, and may only work under the Classic environment on Mac OS X.

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Produced by: Newton Dragon
Releases:
* Map Editor (393.8 KiB, 295 hits)

A map editor for Ultima 3 on PCs. It supports 256-colour VGA textures.

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Produced by: Xenerkes Dragon
Releases:
* Ultima Savegame Editor v1.3 (204.7 KiB, 1,091 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 3 for Palm @ CNet
Releases:
* Ultima 3 Demo (241.4 KiB, 257 hits)

This novel port of Ultima 3 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 hellspawn Exodus 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, reach Ambrosia, or find Exotic items. 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: Lair Ware
Website: LairWare Ultima III
Releases:
* Ultima 3 Demo v1.3 for 68k Macs (2.8 MiB, 626 hits)
* Ultima 3 Demo v1.4.2 (3.7 MiB, 956 hits)
* Ultima 3 Demo v2.2 for Mac OS X (5.6 MiB, 341 hits)
* Ultima 3 for Mac OS X Cheater (123.0 KiB, 284 hits)

This stunning port of Ultima 3 to the Macintosh features 32-bit graphics, 3D-rendered fountains and shrines, the friendly Macintosh interface, and a wonderful musical score. It is shareware, so you will need to buy the full version from Lair Ware (current price: $5 USD) in order to be able to complete the game.

For those of you who don’t have a Mac but want to give this one a try, the Basilisk Mac Emulator is your best bet.

A beta, OS X-specific version of the port was released in March 2007. During its beta, LairWare asked that no external site host a copy of the beta for download, but since it has now gone to market release I have added a download to Aiera.

The OS X version, as was the case with the older version, cannot be completed without registering (specifically, it prevents you from reaching Ambrosia), which now costs only $5. For a professionally-done, classical graphics remake, that’s a reasonable fee indeed.

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Produced by: Sven Carlberg
Website: Sven on the ‘Net
Releases:
* Ultima 3 for Game Boy (198.7 KiB, 403 hits)
* Ultima 3 for Game Boy (Source) (934.6 KiB, 304 hits)

Proving once again that Ultima 3 is one of the most cross-platform games out there, this is a novel version of the game for the Game Boy Color.

In addition to the complete quest to destroy Exodus, Sven has added a second quest in a custom map of Sosaria that immediately follows the normal game.

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Produced by: Ken Hill
Releases:
* Ultima 3 for Mac Portraits Patch (81.9 KiB, 237 hits)

A patch for the Macintosh version of Ultima 3 that changes the portraits into “fantasy art”.

Exodus Project v3.0

Produced by: Exodus Project
Website: Exodus Project
Website: The Exodus Project @ SourceForge
Releases:
* Upgrade v3.0 (297.1 KiB, 477 hits)
* MIDI Upgrade (15.3 KiB, 432 hits)

Another Exodus Project upgrade package, these additions to Ultima 3 include MIDI music and numerous new graphics modes to the MS-DOS version of the game., including:

• 256-colour VGA
• 16-colour EGA
• 16-colour Composite CGA and…
• 4-colour CGA

Previously, these were benefits enjoyed by Apple & Commodore players only. Also included is a frame-limiter, so that the game doesn’t run like lightning on modern systems. And with version 3.0, the upgrade also replaces the numeric moon phases with actual moon phase graphics!