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I have updated the project entry with the latest downloads, and have also removed the commands reference (it’s outdated as of this version of the Kit) and the registration code (which is unnecessary).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.

Produced by: Arnim Sauerbier
Website: Arnim Sauerbier
Releases:
* Akalabeth (33.59 KB)

* Ultima 4 - xu4 (1.85 MB)

* Ultima 7 - Exult - Program (1.01 MB)
* Ultima 7 - Exult - Data (14.01 MB)
* Ultima 7 - Music (low-quality mono) (12.5 MB)
* Ultima 7 - Music (higher-quality stereo) (28.71 MB)

* Ultima 8 - Pentagram - Program (766.23 KB)
* Ultima 8 - Pentagram - libSDL (16.17 KB)
* Ultima 8 - Pentagram - INI file (998 bytes)

These are actually just ports of other Ultima projects (linked below), but as I’ve never seen so many in one place at one time (and from one person!), they are classified not only as ports but as their own separate entry on Aiera.

The following projects have been ported to the Nokia 770/N800 internet tablets:

• Akalabeth - a port of Paul Robson’s SDL version of the game
• Ultima 4 - a port of xu4
• Ultima 5 - a port of Nazghul/Haxima
• Ultima 6 - a port of Nuvie
• Ultima 7 - a port of Exult
• Ultima 8 - a port of Pentagram

It serves to note that these ports are ongoing works, and it further serves to note that some of the projects that have been ported (Pentagram, for an easy example) are themselves incomplete. However, O Reader, if you use a Nokia 770/N800 internet tablet, and would like to be able to play some classic Ultima titles whilst on the go, this is likely a project for you!

One of the great things about running this site is how the community members often jump in and try to help out by providing bits of news, or by spotlighting new discoveries they’ve made of new projects or ports of existing ones. It’s a valuable contribution they make, and I’m indebted to everyone who drops me an email (whether in person or via the contact form) to let me know what’s happening out there.

That’s been especially true lately; this entire update is populated with news that has landed in one of my inboxes or another. And there’s been a fair bit of news, to be sure!

Forgotten World

Hawkwind dropped me a copy of the second news update for Forgotten World, the remake of tag]Ultima 9[/tag] using the original engine of that game. He writes:

this Hawkwind again, from Team Forgotten World. We have just put up a new entry in our screenshot gallery, which is a render shot this time. It shows a scene that has been assembled using original Ultima 9 textures and models only.

And it has to be seen to be believed — it’s just a simple shot of a mill, with a dragon flying in the background, but it looks spectacular (nothing at all like it would have in Ascension).

Thanks for the update, Hawkwind, and good work!

hack4u

Tim Carlsen wrote me to let me know of the existence of this project, which is a program to “edit the save games of Ultima: Quest of the Avatar for the NES.” Any or all of the three games saved in the SRAM file (I trust that NES users who will be interested in this program know what that means) can be edited.

I have created an entry for hack4u on Aiera, and version 1.2 of the program can be downloaded there for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (or you can get the source code).

Ultima III Gold

Tim Carlsen also informed me of the existence of this project, which is an improved version of Ultima 3 for the Commodore 64.

I have created an entry for U3 Gold on Aiera, and the latest version of it can be downloaded from there.

Infinity Eternal

Thepal dropped me a note as well to let us all know that his remake of Ultima 9 using the Oblivion engine has not perished. Apparently, he’s having some trouble with the domain name, an error in the renewal process that he is in the process of correcting with the registry company.

And in fact, the site is back online.

Ultima Engine Ports for Nokia Internet tablets

I got the most amusing email from Arnim Sauerbier concerning several ports he has made of different [tag]Ultima[t/tag] engines. Specifically, he has ported the following Ultima titles:

• Akalabeth - a port of Paul Robson’s SDL version of the game
• Ultima 4 - a port of xu4
• Ultima 5 - a port of Nazghul/Haxima
• Ultima 6 - a port of Nuvie
• Ultima 7 - a port of Exult
• Ultima 8 - a port of Pentagram

It serves to note that these ports are ongoing works, and it further serves to note that some of the projects that have been ported (Pentagram, for an easy example) are themselves incomplete. However, O Reader, if you use a Nokia 770/N800 internet tablet, and would like to be able to play some classic Ultima titles whilst on the go, this is likely a project for you!

I’ve added a project entry at Aiera for all of the above, and each of the original projects will also feature a download link.

By request, I’ve made the hyperlink colour a bit darker, a minor update to the site face that I hope everyone can appreciate. Minor bits of Aiera are still under development, and will be tweaked and corected periodically as I can find time to do it all in.

And also, the wedding is in all of nine days (October 20th), so forgive me if the next update is a bit late in arriving. Grace and I will be honeymooning in Greece until November 2nd.

Update: Courtesy of Dino, there is news of a couple more updates.

Black Gate Keyring

A minor update has been made to Marzo’s mod for Exult, fixing the death bolt spell’s performance and a bug with resurrection obtained from Lord British.

As usual, you can download the latest version of Keyring from its entry here at Aiera.

Nazghul

Gordon has posted news that he is planning to release version 0.6.0 of his Ultima-like engine very soon.

Also, Dino has found another Ultima blogger, Rotting Dragon, who is currently playing his way through Ultima 6 as he voyages through the Ultima series in view of the world.