The Titans are still looking for interior worldbuilders, by the way.
Outside of that, the team has made some progress on Ultima IX: Redemption, though it sounds as though things were a bit slower last month than had been hoped for.
Direhaggis asserts that he wrote five additional endings during that time…which brings the total to…uh…quite a few (I’ve lost count). Five separate endings are themselves quite a lot!
The team at Forgotten World have made an arrangement with the Titans of Ether to set up a discussion area for their project at the Titans’ forums.
I’m thinking I may need to make a point of adding forum links to project entries.
Tags: Forgotten World, Titans of Ether, Ultima 9
Actually, it sounds like the Titans are doing pretty good; they’re basically just looking for interior worldbuilders at this point.
The updates tell a similar story to past updates, of course: things are being worked on. Still, there’s a few tidbits buried in them that are worth mention:
Can’t wait to play this one, good reader? Yeah, me neither.
Which reminds me: general offer to all dev-teams out there at present…if you would like FTP access to the folder where I store your project’s current releases, or if you would like me to set up a folder and FTP access for you so that you can upload project releases whenever those come about, please let me know. I can’t help but think this will help streamline things greatly in the future.
Tags: FTP, Titans of Ether, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption, Ultima Underworld 2
Direhaggis has posted a much-belated New Year’s greeting at the Titans of Ether website, and notes that there are several openings on the team that need filling:
*Interior worldbuilders wanted. Houses, dungeons, toolsheds, castles, and more. All you need is the MW CS, time, and patience. If I can vaguely learn how to put plates on tables, anyone can.
* Writers wanted. We still need 1 more dungeon writer. We also need a new writer for Jhelom. There may be other opportunities as well.
* 3D Modeler wanted. Spyder is one of our best Titans, but we are looking for additional help with models, textures, and the like.
Several updates from individual team members have also been posted, and Direhaggis himself has a new development diary entry for your reading pleasure on the Titans’ forums.
(hat tip)
It’s been half a year since last we heard from the Titans of Ether, but in his most recent news posting, Corv assures us that things are alive and well with his team’s remake of Ultima 9.
Just want to asure you that we are still working on this baby. Right now work is mostly about quest writing, scripting the whole thing … you can imagine. Everyone who visits the forum regularly knows that anyway.
Of course we also still have to build parts of the world itself, but I hope you understand that we don’t want to spoil it all for you by showing everythig on screenshots. It’s difficult not to brag with our Moonglow for example, but you should have some surprises while actually playing the game.
I am also happy to tell you that we have a new “master” up and running (= new game version).
The longer we need for this project the more I actually think about a demo… to show you what you can expect. But for now it’s just a thought.
As usual, we continue to wait with anticipation for the release of this promising remake/re-invention of the finalé to the Ultima series.
Tags: Morrowing, The Elder Scrolls, Titans of Ether, Ultima, Ultima 9, Ultima IX: Redemption
 |
||
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:
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
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
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:
…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:
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
britannia_logic.dsres
pb_laz_comp_layer.dsres
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.
Tags: Aiera, Dino's Ultima Page, Dungeon Siege, Edmonton, Forgotten World, Lord Blackthorn, Lost Sosaria, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights 2, PC Action, Pentagram, Project Britannia, Realms of Ultima, Serpent Isle, Shrine of Spirituality, The Elder Scrolls, Titans of Ether, Ultima, Ultima 5, Ultima 7, Ultima 7 Wizard, Ultima 8, Ultima 9, Ultima Online, Ultima V: Lazarus, Ultima: Iris
