A “continuation” to Ultima 4, this is Chris Hopkins’ take on an Ultima spoof. As there is some plot to the game, it proposes to answer several key questions that arose in the interim period of Britannian history between Ultima 4 and Ultima 5, such as why the various dungeons were sealed, why Lake Generosity dried up, how Blackthorn was able to take over, why the Shadowlords were drawn to Britannia, and exactly how the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom was raised out of the Stygian Abyss.

Along the way, it pokes fun at a number of Ultima conventions and bits of Ultima history, such as the true fates of Mondain, Minax, and Exodus, the sudden cessation of space travel, the origin of the Guardian, the connection between Lord British’s Castle and Hythloth, and a bunch of other stuff.

Be thou forewarned: to play this game requires version 3.2 of Hopkins’ Adventure Creation Kit. DOSBox may also be of use.

Tags: Britannia, Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, Hythloth, Lord British, Stygian Abyss, Ultima, Ultima 4, Ultima 5, Ultima IV Part 2

I’ve been horribly lax in posting this, but the Forgotten World project — an ambitious, in-engine remake/modification of Ultima 9 — has seen several major updates in recent months.

Their first bit of news is that the project’s founder, Michael “Firstknight” Menapace, has returned to the team; his return has, in turn, stimulated a kind of “return to the roots” for the project, which has now split into two projects: Beautiful Britannia and Forgotten World. Notable distinctions between the projects include:

What is Beautiful Britannia?

FORGOTTEN WORLD in its original form – that means only enriching the landscape with animals and vegetation and adding the Old Cove Map as “Great Wilderness” to the game.

More simply in comparsion to FORGOTTEN WORLD, but with the possiblity to make a faster release.

…

The creation of FORGOTTEN WORLD is based on the self-developed, FANTASTIC world editor (mainly developed by Hawkwind, with support of all the other team members). The editor (when it’s done) will support fully 3D worldbuilding for terrain and all available objects, also story changes and the adding of more NPCs.

BEAUTIFUL BRITANNIA will be created using Firstknights self-developed ingame-creation methodics, combined with hex editor coding and the usage of an self-written tool for automated code changes. This all allows limited changes to the landscape and adding of some of the unused maps.

Personally, I’m still looking forward to Forgotten World more than Beautiful Britannia, although the thought of exploring an even more lush Britannia (for all its faults, Ultima 9 did feature a beautiful world) does have a certain appeal.

Tags: Beautiful Britannia, Britannia, Forgotten World, Ultima 9

Produced by: Withstand the Fury Dragon
Website: Worlds of Ultima: Lost Sosaria
Downloads:
* [drain file 509 url Lost Sosaria (module)] ([drain file 509 size])
* [drain file 503 url Castle Expanded v4 (hak pak)] ([drain file 503 size])
* [drain file 504 url CEP2 No Tilesets (hak pak)] ([drain file 504 size])
* [drain file 505 url No Cobble CRF (hak pak)] ([drain file 505 size])
* [drain file 506 url Rocky Mountains v11.1 (hak pak)] ([drain file 506 size])
* [drain file 507 url Seasonal Forest v9 (hak pak)] ([drain file 507 size])
* [drain file 508 url Ultima Music (hak pak, music)] ([drain file 508 size])
* [drain file 502 url ERF files (erf)] ([drain file 502 size])
* [drain file 510 url CEP2 TLK file (tlk)] ([drain file 510 size])

Worlds of Ultima: Lost Sosaria is a Neverwinter Nights module that tells the story of those companions of the Avatar who were missing without explanation after Ultima 7, as well as several other key characters from The Black Gate.

Pursuing Fellowship agents deep into the bowels of Britannia and the ruins of the Great Stygian Abyss, the companion Sentri leads his party of former friends and companions of the Avatar into an unknown part of the world: Lost Sosaria, one of the continents of Old Sosaria left missing after the death of the Wizard Mondain.

This project suspended development for a goodly while between 2005 and the present, and in fact Withstand the Fury Dragon has had to restart the module from scratch. However, he has revised his development plan, and feels confident that he can still deliver a good game with a large game world, this time using much more elegant tilesets.

Tags: Britannia, Fellowship, Great Stygian Abyss, Lost Sosaria, Mondain, Neverwinter Nights, Sentri, Sosaria, The Black Gate, Ultima 7, Worlds of Ultima

Produced by: Darkheart Dragon, Avatus Kingsman (formerly), and many others
Website: Ultima Legacy
Releases:
* Custom Data Files

Ultima Legacy is a modified version of Ultima Online (which can be played for free) set in a post-Ultima 8 Britannia. Its premise includes the assumption that Ultima 9: Ascension did not happen, and out of that it has spawned a complex and involved storyline that included the Atarkan invasion of Britannia. Legacy doesn’t exactly form the backstory for the Titans of Ether project entitled Ultima IX: Redemption, although there is a relation there as both projects were founded, in part, by Avatus Kingsman (although where he has gone to, none now know).

To join Legacy is a bit of an involved process — the modified data files that are necessary for game play are provided here for download, but there’s more to it than just that. For starters, you need to own a copy of Ultima Online: The Second Age, and if possible it is recommended that you have Ultima Online: Renaisance instead. may also work.

The rest of the joining process is explained at the Legacy website, and so I direct the interested reader to “journey onward” there.

As of 2008, Legacy is being revised to tell a Serpent Isle-based tale. They are also switching from the Sphere freeshard system to RunUO. Follow all the latest developments at the project website.

Tags: Atarka, Britannia, RunUO, Serpent Isle, Sphere, Titans of Ether, Ultima 8, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption, Ultima Legacy, Ultima Online, Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, Ultima Online: Renaisance, Ultima Online: The Second Age

It has been another busy week for Ultima-related news, O Reader, and on the site as well. Full implementation of the download manager is progressing apace, and I think I’m going to add a new feature to the news postings — the top five most downloaded files. But we’ll get to that in a bit. In the meantime…here’s what’s news. And a couple of shout-outs go to Petrell at Dino’s Ultima Page for spotting some things that I missed in assembling the list below.

Project Britannia

I see that the folks over at Project Britannia have switched servers due to speed problems with their old hosting company. The site has been configured at the new host, so there shouldn’t be any interruptions in accessing it.

EUO

I see that EUO 3D has been updated to version 0.14, fixing a bug with window minimization. Updated versions of the download are available through the project entry here at Aiera.

Realms of Ultima

Development proceeds apace on this promising Ultima-themed prefab for Neverwinter Nights 2, although news posting to the project website has been a little bit light of late owing to the fact that team leader MokahTGS is presently moving to California to take on a new job.

Savage Empire for Exult

Scythifuge has started a new discussion thread at the Exult forums to keep us all up to date on the latest developments he is making in his adaptation of Savage Empire using Exult and the Ultima 7 engine. At present, he seems to be working very heavily on graphics and tiles for in-game use. He has even posted a few screenshots for us to feast our eyes on.

Seven Towers Exult Mods

Marzo Junior has put his Seven Towers website back online at a new host, and has released updates of all three of his Exult mods — Black Gate Keyring, SI Fixes, and the Avatar Pak. All of the latest versions can be downloaded from the respective project entries here at Aiera.

Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands

Wizardry Dragon has put his project’s website back online at a new host.

Ultima for the Civilization Series

Frilly Wumpus alerted me to these. General Maximus has produced an Ultima-derived scenario (in two forms) for Civilization III. Both are set in Britannia after the events of Ultima 9. The forms of the scenario are as follows (one appearing to be a more difficult version of the scenario than the other):

Ultima X Conquest:

In the kingdom of Britannia, Lord British lost hold of his kingdom with breakway of the other seven city states now ruled by deviant warlords. Play as British under civilization group Bards. Forces and castles still loyal to you are now isolated in hostile teritory and may not hold for long. With news of the arrival of the hero of Britannia, the Avatar; the rebelion states begin marching towards Britain, the capital of Britannia for an pre-emptive strike. With the help of the mighty Avatar and his heroic companions, reclaim your entire kingdom!

Ultima X: Medieval Deity Challenge

In the kingdom of Britannia, Lord British(LB) lost hold of his kingdom with breakway of the other seven city states now ruled by independent warlords who were once friends of Lord British(LB) himself. Play as LB under civilisation group Bards. Forces or cities still loyal to you are now isolated in hostile teritory and may not hold for long. With news of the arrival of the hero of Britannia, the Avatar, the rebelions states has begin marching towards Britain, the capital of Britannia for an pre-emptive strike. With the help of the mighty Avatar and his companion Iolo, reclaim your entire kingdom!

The second form of the scenario seems to be more combat-oriented, and provides fewer allies/companions for the player. Either way, this seems like a neat idea, and I have created a project entry complete with downloads here at Aiera for it.

General Maximus also has an Ultima-inspired scenario for Civilization IV in the works, although as yet he has not released any downloads for it.

Ultima V for TI Calculators

Ranman informs us that his project — porting Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator — is nearing completion. He pegs the current project status at 98%, and his latest revisions to it include:

• “Acknowledgments” menu option is now working
• “Introduction” menu option is now working
• “Create New Character” menu option is partially working

He’s getting close, O Reader! Very close!

Ultima IX: Redemption

Sage has added a couple of new entries to his development diary. As usual, the would-be reader must be registered at the Titans of Ether forums.

Most Downloaded Files

1. [drain file 200 url Ultima 9 Official Patch 1.18] ([drain file 200 size])
2. [drain file 202 url Ultima 9 Unofficial Patch 1.19] ([drain file 202 size])
3. [drain file 199 url Ultima 9 Combined Patch] ([drain file 199 size])
4. [drain file 389 url Ultima V: Lazarus v1.2 (Windows)] ([drain file 389 size])
5. [drain file 8 url Alter U9 (RPG-Maker 2000 version)] ([drain file 8 size])

Let’s see if any of the above changes in the coming weeks!

Tags: 3D, Aiera, Avatar, Britannia, Civilization III, Civilization IV, download manager, Dungeon Siege, EUO, Exult, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights 2, Project Britannia, Realms of Ultima, Savage Empire, Serpent Isle, Texas Instruments, The Black Gate, The Elder Scrolls, Titans of Ether, Ultima, Ultima 5, Ultima 7, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption, Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands

Produced by: General Maximus
Website: Ultima for Civ IV
Releases:
* [drain file 500 url Ultima X Conquest for Civ III] ([drain file 500 size])
* [drain file 501 url Ultima X Conquest: Medieval Deity Version for Civ III] ([drain file 501 size])

General Maximus has produced an Ultima-derived scenario (in two forms) for Civilization III. Both are set in Britannia after the events of Ultima 9. The forms of the scenario are as follows (one appearing to be a more difficult version of the scenario than the other):

Ultima X Conquest:

In the kingdom of Britannia, Lord British lost hold of his kingdom with breakway of the other seven city states now ruled by deviant warlords. Play as British under civilization group Bards. Forces and castles still loyal to you are now isolated in hostile teritory and may not hold for long. With news of the arrival of the hero of Britannia, the Avatar; the rebelion states begin marching towards Britain, the capital of Britannia for an pre-emptive strike. With the help of the mighty Avatar and his heroic companions, reclaim your entire kingdom!

Ultima X: Medieval Deity Challenge

In the kingdom of Britannia, Lord British(LB) lost hold of his kingdom with breakway of the other seven city states now ruled by independent warlords who were once friends of Lord British(LB) himself. Play as LB under civilisation group Bards. Forces or cities still loyal to you are now isolated in hostile teritory and may not hold for long. With news of the arrival of the hero of Britannia, the Avatar, the rebelions states has begin marching towards Britain, the capital of Britannia for an pre-emptive strike. With the help of the mighty Avatar and his companion Iolo, reclaim your entire kingdom!

The second form of the scenario seems to be more combat-oriented, and provides fewer allies/companions for the player.

 

Tags: Britannia, Civilization III, Ultima 9

Produced by: MokahTGS
Website: Realms of Ultima Blog
Releases:
* Moongates Prefab
* Moongates Demo
* Starter Module
* Realms of Ultima 2DA Pack v1.11
* Realms of Ultima Icon Pack v1.11
* Realms of Ultima Extras Fixes
* Realms of Ultima Prefab – New Magincia

This project also requires the Neverwinter Nights 2 Community Content Compilation and the Armor in Progress Compilation.

Doing for Neverwinter Nights 2 what Project Britannia did for Dungeon Siege, this project aims to create a complete “prefab” of Britannia — with a fully-implemented world map, all the historical Ultima quest objects, and pre-implemented scripts — for NWN2 builders to use as the base for Ultima-themed modules.

Tags: Britannia, Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights 2, Project Britannia, Ultima