Well, it’s been a little while since I posted an update pertaining to Ultima projects, and I see that Petrell and Dino over at Dino’s Ultima Page have uncovered several juicy morsels of news. To wit:

EUO

This Ultima-like project reached its fifth year just recently, and to celebrate the occasion they threw a number of bonuses and extra stuff into the game — experience bonuses, prizes & giveaways, DM-hosted events, special in-game drinks (eggnog, for example), and even a few new bosses.

Also, a “Newbie Island” tutorial map has been added to the game to help new players ease in.

Ultima 6 Project

A new press release from this promising-looking remake of Ultima 6 has been released at RPGWatch. It has some details about new cities and places in the pending fifth milestone release (Nicodemus’ keep, for example), and also informs us that the team is always in need of world builders, 3D modelers, artists, and musicians.

So, O Reader, if you fall into any of those categories, you might want to swing by the Ultima 6 Project website and drop someone a line.

Additionally, project developer Nicodemus has posted another update to his worldbuilding Dev Diary with some cool new screenshots of his work (Jhelom and Skara Brae).

Ultima: Iris

A new build — build 2010 — of this 3D client for Ultima Online has been released. It can be downloaded from the project’s homepage, or via the project entry here at Aiera.

xu4

A new snapshot of the Mac version of this Ultima 4 remake is available for download either through the project website or via the project entry here at Aiera. A new Windows snapshot is also available.

Ultima V for TI Calculators

Ranman has posted additional news about his project that has ported Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator. He lets us know, firstly, about some special item capabilities that he as implemented. Secondly, he talks about killing NPCs, lock picking, and guard behaviour — rather a “law and order” sort of post.

The project is still in beta testing.

I also took a bit of a wander around the Ultima community myself, and noticed a few other odds and ends that the Reader might be interested in.

Savage Empire for Exult

Scythifuge is always looking for people to help out with his ambitious goal of porting the Savage Empire storyline into Exult.

Exult

Speaking of Exult, I notice that the Windows snapshot of Exult 1.4 has been updated recently (April 14th), as have the snapshots for Exult Tools and Exult Studio. These can be downloaded from the project website, and I have added them to the project entry here at Aiera.

Project Britannia

I noticed that the britannia_art.dsres and britannia_logic.dsres resource files for this Ultima world framework were updated at the beginning of April. Changes since the previous revision include the addition of a new lockpick texture, a ferry, and two new light textures, as well as changes to melee attack logic, the lockpick’s shape, and a bunch of other things.

The updated files can be downloaded from the Project Britannia site, or via the project entry here at Aiera.

Also, I’ve made a few minor changes to the site here. For starters, I have added a module to the site sidebar to track the ten most downloaded files in the last 30 days. Initially, I wasn’t going to clear the statistics for the download manager with any sort of frequency, but after a bunch of Ultima 9-related downloads surged ahead (in some cases, to over 3,000 downloads!), it seemed reasonable to give some of the other files a chance to make the top spot.

So it’s there, and I won’t be putting a “top five” list onto news posts anymore.

And of course, there’s the gallery and Ultima art repository. I do encourage any interested users to register a user account there and begin uploading any Ultima-related art they can find so that it can be preserved for posterity. This includes scans of art from the manuals, which won’t be around forever.

Oh, and I’ve added another countdown to the sidebar. Only 190 days (roughly — could change in either direction) until Grace and I welcome our little one into the world!

There’s been a fair bit of news in the Ultima community these last few days, and Petrell over at Dino’s Ultima Page has gotten the scoop on much of it.

Ultima V for TI Calculators

Ranman has announced that his remake of Ultima 5 has reached its last major milestone, with only the end message and the addition of some weapons and special abilities left to be implemented. Beta testing of the project will begin on Palm Sunday — March 16th, 2008.

Update: Beta testing has begun. If you were one of the people that signed up to test this project, the relevant forum topic is here.

Ultima IX: Redemption

Although no new updates have been made to the main website of this Ultima 9 remake, one of the developers — Sage — has posted new entries to his development diary, while project leader Corv has leaked some screenshots of Paws and New Magincia to a members-only area of the project’s discussion forums.

Ultima 6 Project

There has been lots of news from this exciting project (Ultima 6 was always my favourite Ultima). Firstly, project leader Zephyr gave an outline of the next milestone release over at the Project Britannia website:

The U6 team is very much hard at work putting together their next release, which in terms of content will likely dwarf anything you have yet seen. No promises, but the intention is to get the entire overworld more or less completed, with most of it playable and accessible.

They are also looking for world-builders with experience crafting dungeons in Dungeon Siege.

Additionally, world-builder Nicodemus has posted a development diary in which he discusses the work he’s been doing. And just for fun, he’s thrown in five screenshots of Paws and Skara Brae.

Finally, over at the main project website, it has been announced that Alex Gonzales has joined the team as a portrait/concept artist, and he’s released a new wallpaper for your desktop enjoyment.

Now, what other news is out there?

Lost Sosaria

I have overhauled the appearance of the Lost Sosaria website. That’s the beauty of Wordpress — it’s very easy to switch site templates and configure them to meet your needs.

Project Britannia

The britannia_art.dsres file has been updated to include thread as an item, in four different colours for variety, and to include a special “connector” node useful for connecting basements to the main world map without the use of a doorway. The britannia_logic.dsres file has been updated as well to allow for these changes, along with a host of other modifications.

The files can be downloaded either via the Project Britannia development wiki or through the project entry here at Aiera.

Ultima Legacy

This Ultima Online-based project was, at least in part, the inspiration behind Ultima IX: Redemption, at least initially. Darkheart Dragon founded the project in 2000 and set it up as a private Ultima Online freeshard with an eye towards telling a story that simultaneously remained faithful to the Ultima tradition and yet advanced the world of Britannia in a different direction from where Ultima 9 took it.

And now, Ultima Legacy is getting a massive update, as developer Alexandra informed me this morning:

Ultima Legacy has recently decided to switch engines from Sphere to RunUO,
and as such is undergoing a lot of revision, including a new map dedicated
to Serpent Isle.

We also have a new website up devoted solely to the revisions we’re
undertaking at ultimalegacy.net.

They’ve already released some screenshots and art samples, O Reader, and I encourage you to go and check it out. It’s not every day that a project gets a full-scale revamping like this!

That last item reminds me: about a week ago, someone by the pseudonym of Bikki contacted me about a Serpent Isle/UO project he (?) was revisiting. I sent a reply to him with a couple of follow-up questions.

Bikki, if you’re reading this, check your email! Or, alternatively, send me a better email address to contact you at. I’m very curious about your project!

There have been over 8,000 downloads from the site since February 26th, 2008. Just…wow.

Here’s the top 5. I think at least two of these will occupy the top slots for quite a while.

Most Downloaded Files

• Ultima 9 Unofficial Patch 1.19 (1.86 MB) - 3322 downloads
• Ultima 9 Power Tools (646.88 KB) - 3108 downloads
• Ultima 9 Official Patch 1.18 (6.17 MB) - 146 downloads
• Ultima 9 Combined Patch (495.54 KB) - 78 downloads
• Ultima V: Lazarus v1.2 (Windows) (520.95 MB) - 42 downloads

Man, some people out there love them some Ultima 9 patches, don’t they? Of particular interest is the Ultima 9 Power Tools, a useful configuration utility for optimizing the game’s performance and configuration settings.

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.

Dino’s Ultima Page beat me to the scoop on these developments, but the news is big enough to be worth repeating. Ultima 6 was always my favourite Ultima title, and that particular remake is a project that I’ve been watching with anxious anticipation.

And as if that wasn’t good enough, there is yet more news from other projects as well; that’s what I call a good week, Dragons and Dragonesses.

Ultima 6 Project

Frilly Wumpus dropped me a line to let me know that Ultima 6 Project Milestone #4 has been released. This latest update to the Dungeon Siege-based remake of Ultima 6 features:

• New areas to explore ( Buccaneer’s Cave, Wrong, Empath Abbey and Minoc )
• New game intro which draws from the original classic game
• Enhancements to existing areas
• New plot details and other subtle refinements
• Numerous enhancements to the core gameplay such as:
  • A prototype of a customizable journal system so you can take notes on
    your journey
  • The “;” key now gives you extra information, such as reagent counts,
    projectile counts, etc.
  • New “Gameplay Settings” from the Options menu
  • Many more tunings and tweaks to the core Project Britannia systems

Exciting? Definitely. The latest milestone can be downloaded from the Ultima 6 Project Website, or from the project entry here at Aiera.

Forgotten World

Hawkwind wrote me to let me know that this ambitious, in-engine remake of Ultima 9 has released a sample of soundtrack music written and recorded by composer “Sounddreamer”.

“Time Travel”, the new music, can be listened to at the Forgotten Worlds website, or via the music player below:

A few more project updates come to us by way of Petrell at Dino’s:

Ultima IX: Infinity Eternal

Thepal has posted the first news update in about nine months to his project’s website to let us know that things are still alive and kicking (and just to keep us salivating, he’s thrown in a new screenshot).

The reason for the relative silence of the project, incidentally, stems from a couple of major developments in the real lives of the people working on it. Thepal himself got married (as a recent husband myself, Thepal, I offer my heartfelt congratulations!), and team member MartinLoki became a father (congratulations there, as well!).

It’s good to see that this promising-looking project is still being worked on!

Ultima 5 for TI Calculators

Ranman is continuing his breakneck pace of work on his port of Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator — in his latest update, he puts development at over 95% completeness.

Latest improvements include:

• A “new look” for Ultima 5
• Leveling up & down now works.
• Magic points are reduced when casting a spell and are slowly restored over time. Fighters have no magic capabilities.
• Enemies can now cast spells too.
• Frigate sails are now working.
• The final quest of the Shrine of the Codex has been implemented.
• Pit traps are now working. If you step upon a hidden pit trap, you are dead — plain and simple — so be careful.

Apparently, Ranman has been told by his wife that the project will be done in February.

Nazghul

According to this schedule, Gordon McNutt plans to release version 1.0 of his Ultima-like game engine, Nazghul, on the fifth anniversary of its registration at Sourceforge — May 26th.

Also, in wandering through other project websites, I noticed the following updates:

Realms of Ultima

With Jason White joining the team, the RoU project has begun implementing an Ultima-style gameplay system for Neverwinter Nights 2. They are changing the character classes to the 8 core classes commonly seen in Ultima, and associating each class with a city and virtue. They have also begun work on custom critters for the game, and have even implemented a wine press.

Project Britannia

With the release of Ultima 6 Project Milestone #4, numerous updates have also been made to the britannia_art.dsres, britannia_logic.dsres, and pb_laz_comp_layer.dsres project core files. These can be downloaded either from the Project Britannia Wiki or through the project entry here at Aiera.

First off, Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that you were able to ring in 2008 in a way that was both safe and enjoyable for you and your friends or family; I spent it with my wife and her two sisters at the big New Year’s bash in Edmonton’s downtown core.

Here, I’ll share a photo:

Anyhow, I said I wouldn’t be posting again until the new year, and this has happened. In the interim, a few things worth reporting on have taken place in the Ultima community. Dino’s Ultima Page has tracked a number of these, so let’s get down to those updates first:

Forgotten World

The Forgotten World team report that their world editor is progressing ‘fairly’ — rendering is essentially done, and they are almost ready to begin work on UI design. That’s a promising development for this in-engine remake of Ultima 9

To that end, they need someone to join the project to help out with that aspect of development. So, O reader, if you happen to be:

• an experienced user of world building software
• willing to help us design the user interface of our world editor
• interested in the Ultima series and in creating maps for the game
• patient, communicative and team-oriented
• experienced with programming (perhaps even with wxWidgets) as a plus

…then perhaps, just perhaps, you should drop the Forgotten World team a note and let them know you’d be interested.

Forgotten World was also evidently featured in a German game magazine, “PC Action“, recently.

Lost Sosaria

I have added a dozen new screenshots to the Lost Sosaria website, showcasing the mountain areas I’ve been working on recently. Hopefully, these will be the last screenshots released using the current version of the mountain tileset for the project; a new version is slated to be released shortly after the next update to Neverwinter Nights.

Ultima IX: Redemption

Spyder has posted a number of screenshots of Moonglow in the relevant developer’s diary (you have to be a registered user of the Titans of Ether forums to see them), including one of an Observatory and one of what might be a blacksmith’s shop.

Also, Direhaggis left a comment on the Redemption entry here at the site, imparting the following information:

The progress has been quite good. I think our 3D artist and the new writers helped to re-stimulate us all, as well as the main plot coming to a close in the next 3-6 months.

Management decided that a demo would slow down production. Originally, we thought of isolating New Magincia and allowing the Avatar to solve the quest there. As it is, we want to try to get the game out by the end of 2008.

Good to know!

Ultima V: Lazarus

The German version of Ultima V: Lazarus has been released. I have updated the project entry here at Aiera with the new files.

Ultima 5 for TI Calculators

Ranman puts his development progress at 94% now, and notes that several new features have been implemented since last we checked in with him:

• the Lord Blackthorn cut scene
• Stargazing with the telescope
• Quit and Save, with game resumption
• the Shrine of Spirituality
• food consumption and food obtaining, starvation
• Skiff and Frigate navigation, sea combat

Ultima: Iris

Build 1648 of the 3D client for has been released. A copy is available for download from the project entry here at Aiera.

Additionally, I noticed that the following updates had also taken place on other remake project sites.

Pentagram

There’s no news from this Ultima 8 remake, but I did notice that a new version of the Windows snapshot had been uploaded on January 1st. This can now be downloaded from the project entry here at Aiera.

Project Britannia

Three core files for this project — britannia_art.dsres, britannia_logic.dsres, and pb_laz_comp_layer.dsres — have all been updated. Changes are as follows.

britannia_art.dsres

• 2 new lutes have been added
• More journal labels have been added — untested
• Two chest icons were brightened a bit
• A new trail ration texture was added

britannia_logic.dsres

• bookshelf animation reverted to a previous version
• minor bug-fixes to the sleeping system
• updated lute screen names
• updates to the journal UI
• a function was modified to allow NPCs to ignore locked doors
• …and at least 40 other changes

pb_laz_comp_layer.dsres

• minor change, just synching the compatibility layer with the latest updates in other areas of Project Britannia

The latest versions of these files are available for download through the project entry here at Aiera.

Ultima VII Mod

Matt Johnston informs us that he has done a bit more work on his Exult total conversion:

the outdoor areas of the main map are mostly done; I’ve done a bit with usecode, including one NPC who sells some mostly useless things; sewers and theives guild areas under the south-western city demonstrate use of newly implemented support of Z coords in intermap teleports.

While not complete yet by any means, Matt assures us that he continues his work on this project. As he periodically uploads new content to the site (without announcement of this fact, however), I have updated the copy of the project available for download through the project entry here at Aiera.

Serpent Isle for NWN2

Jaesun gives notice that the project is ON HOLD — it appears that the state Jaesun lives in suffered some catastrophic flooding recently. While he lost nothing project-wise, he did lose his vehicle, and was physically unable to enter the building for a few days as well.

In the meantime, he will be assisting with the Realms of Ultima project, a project he feels is “very important” for the Ultima community.

Which brings me to…

Realms of Ultima

What Project Britannia is doing for Ultima using the Dungeon Siege engine, Realms of Ultima is doing for Ultima using the Neverwinter Nights 2 engine. This is an exciting looking project indeed; NWN2 has a gorgeous engine, and Jaesun’s efforts above would seem to demonstrate that it’s possible to build very quickly with the engine.

A screenshot gallery has been posted online, with several amazing visuals. I have also added a project entry here at Aiera. There are even a few downloads for the project (although these primarily appear to be components of the whole, rather than early snapshots of the entire project).

Update: Ultima 7 Wizard

A user reported difficulties getting the Ultima 7 Wizard to run on their system, so I have updated the entry here at Aiera with the latest version (1.9) of the program, as well as a technical document. Source code (Borland Pascal) is included with this version.