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.

There have been a couple of bits of news from the remake community today.

UO to U7

Razimus’ project has been renamed to The Dark Key. No new media releases since the aforementioned artwork, however.

Infinity Eternal

Thepal brings us news that a new writer, Theron, has joined the project team to take some of the workload — at least as concerns writing dialogue — off of him.

(Frothy mug of ale: Dino)

Submitted by: Thepal

Our team has been discussing many issues in relation to Infinity Eternal. Issues from magic systems to where mead will be bought are being discussed. One other thing came up… a demo.

We have decided that we will showcase our new Britannia by creating the Valorian Isles. We will be making it as complete as possible, as close to what it will be in the final game as we can. So it will include quests, several dozen NPCs, companions, music, and the world interactivity you would expect from an Ultima. We plan on releasing it within the next few months, though we will all be trying to get it done as soon as possible (without diminishing the quality).

So stay tuned. And keep your eye on the Media section.

Thepal has posted some music samples on the Infinity Eternal website, just a couple of days after re-launching it.

The music samples, which are labeled as “works in progress” are the work of team member Jeremy LaMantia, and the featured tunes are two Virtue themes (Compassion and Valor), and the town of Vesper’s theme.

WtFD

Ultima IX: Infinity Eternal

Thepal has completely overhauled the appearance of his project’s website, giving it a much lighter feel (although as yet it has not been populated with much in the way of media content). He also gives some details about the project and its conversion to the Oblivion engine:

I decided that the website needed an upgrade, so I threw this one together.

As for the progress, it goes along at a steady pace. The Wiki is taking slightly longer than I anticipated, probably because I’ve just started a new job and therefore am working a lot. Life doesn’t seem to want to let this project progress quickly.

The good news is that two people have contacted me about joining the team. Jeremy LaMantia is a talented composer who has already written eight different themes that I’ve heard.

MartinLoki is a world-builder who is hard at work creating the heightmap for Britannia.

If you’re wondering about the size of this game, picture Britannia in Ultima 7. Then double it. Then double it again. Then multiply it by around 100. Ok… that might be a slight exaggeration. But it is huge. Those of you that have played Oblivion, we’re aiming for around four times the size of Cyrodiil. For some real world figures, we’re talking 8 miles by 8 miles (13km x 13km). Which is 64 square miles (165 square kilometres). And that’s not including the other worlds you can visit as well. This will be Britannia like it has never been seen before.

Here’s a renewed wish of good luck to this project team — that sounds awesome. The technical details of creating a massive world like that can be daunting, and I hope that the UIX:IE team can stay the course.

Also, when you have a moment, swing by the project forum.

* * *

The Ultima 6 Project

Zephyr posted a bit of news to the Project Britannia website yesterday concerning the Ultima 6 Project:

Just a quick update to let everyone know we’re still alive. Sorry that we have not kept the news up to date. The U6 Project has primarily been working on their content, and they are finishing up what they’re calling M3 Part 1 as we speak. No timeframe has been announced, but most of the content is in place and is being tested.

Frilly Wumpus has been busy working with WyrdWeb on revamping the Project Britannia conversation system to use what’s known as Usecode. This is a more complex and extremely flexible way of editing NPC conversations. This will allow a whole host of new quest concepts to be implemented, plus a bunch of new, fun features.

The U6 Project still looking for people conversant with the Siege Editor to help us finish up their content. That is their main blocking item. All the technology is in place; they just need people to help finish building the world. They also still need portrait artists.Stay tuned! We
are very much still alive and kicking.

It’s good to see that this project is still being worked on. Like Lazarus before it, it’s a promising-looking remake indeed. Ultima 6 has always been my personal favourite Ultima, and the opportunity to play it in a gorgeous 3D world is exciting, to say the least.

Relatedly, Frilly Wumpus makes note here of the fact that Gileathane Dragon, who worked on writing and QA for Lazarus, has joined the Ultima 6 Project team.

* * *

Ultima: Iris

Iris is the 3D client for Ultima Online (works with most freeshards and with the Origin servers as well). The team has stopped working on their first version of the game — Aiera should have Iris 0.8.7, the final release, up at
some point later this week — and have devoted all their efforts to a second version built around the Ogre 3D engine. No releases of “Iris-Ogre” have yet been made, but if you’re an Ultima Online player, this might just be the
project to watch!

* * *

Seven Towers Exult Mods

There’s a new mod for Exult over at Seven
Towers which I will have to add to Aiera. The “Avatar Pack” makes a number of modifications to the Avatar portraits for both The Black Gate and Serpent Isle, as well as making any relevant changes to paperdolls and/or gumps. Marzo Jr. has also updated his Black Gate Keyring mod with some of this data.

(Hat tip: Petrell at Dino’s Ultima Page)

WtFD