 |
||
Does anyone have any idea how to contact the developer of this collection of remakes — PalmOS-compatible versions of Ultima 1, Ultima 2, and Ultima 3?
I’ve been trying to figure out how to resolve a support question that a Reader came to me with some months ago, but all I seem to be hitting are brick walls.
Feel free to drop any helpful information into the comments form below.
I was contacted a while back (an inexcusably long while back, as it happens — my apologies!) by Zen, who passed along a bit of an addon module for Dungeon Keeper based on the first level of the Abyss in Ultima Underworld.
As Zen doesn’t have a website to host the project at for himself, he has made it available to the world via Aiera, and I have (finally!!) created a project entry for it. Check thou it out, O Reader, if you’ve still got those Dungeon Keeper discs tucked away in a drawer or closet!
Also, I have added a download for the Ultima 6 Project’s Milestone 5 release to that project’s entry, so if you haven’t grabbed it from somewhere else already, you can now get it here as well.
Also, other news, courtesy of Dino’s Ultima Page:
Ultima V: Lazarus
Cheerful Dragon has released version 1.29 of his various mods and bugfixes for this remake of Ultima 5. These can be downloaded either at the previous forum link, or via the project entry here at Aiera.
Seven Towers Exult Mods
Marzo has released updates to his mods for Exult, for both The Black Gate (Keyring) and Serpent Isle (Fixes). The latest revisions of both can be downloaded through their respective project entries here at Aiera:
Ultima: Iris
Apparently, the project’s developers took home first prize at the Dusmania 10 hobby game development meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. Congrats!
Ultima 5 for TI Calculators
Ranman has released version 1.01 of his port of Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator. The up-to-date download can be found via the project entry here.
Exult
This Ultima 7 remake has been updated recently — or, rather, the unstable 1.4 version has been updated, as has Exult Studio and its accompanying tools. The Exult team’s plugins for GiMP have also been updated this month, and the whole mess of things can be downloaded via the project entry here.
EUO
This Ultima-inspired game has seen the release of version 0.16 of its rudimentary 3D client, which can be downloaded via the project entry here at Aiera.
Ultima Restoration
This comprehensive multi-project has released screenshots of the Kilrathi space station from their remake of Ultima 1. With this completed, they now have all the cities, dungeons, and space stations fully mapped in the game — which, if I do say so myself, is damn good progress!
They’ve also added links to a good couple-dozen Neverwinter Nights modules that I’m going to have to sort through in short order, so…well, it’s nice to know in advance what I’ll be up to for at least part of next week.
Also, the Wing Commander CIC team are attempting to back up what remains of the Origin Systems data library. They are looking for people with experience with this sort of thing, so if you’re one of those people who lives and breathes in backup tapes, you might want to check their project out.
 |
||
Produced by: Saduj
Website: Ultima Restoration
Releases:
Utilities
* Ultima Potions (hak pak) (376.62 KB)
* Ultima Potions (demo module) (37.02 KB)
* Ultima Potions v2 (hak pak) (375.84 KB)
* Ultima Potions v2 (demo module) (41.29 KB)
* Venom Dagger (erf import file) (2.44 KB)
* Venom Dagger (hak pak) (36.27 KB)
* Venom Dagger icons (700 bytes)
* Venom Dagger source (11.91 KB)
* NPC Schedules (erf import file) (64.71 KB)
* NPC Schedules (demo module) (455.61 KB)
* NPC Schedules (readme) (4.1 KB)
* Moongates (erf import file) (23.66 KB)
* Moongates (demo module) (198.47 KB)
* Savage Empire Female Portrait Pack (3.23 MB)
* Savage Empire Male Portrait Pack (1.57 MB)
* Conversation System Demo (65.83 KB)
* Conversation System Files (29.87 KB)
This is actually a comprehensive collection of utilities and in-progress remakes of Ultima titles, all done in the Neverwinter Nights engine. The list of utilities is pretty comprehensive, including functional moongates (with Orb of the Moons!), NPC scheduling, animated potions, a conversation system to replace the default NWN system, and a very good reproduction of the venomous dagger of Ultima 7 fame.
But even more promising is the list of remakes that are being put together by this team and others. Currently in progress are remakes of Ultima 1, Ultima 7 (which provides the screenshot here), Ultima 8, Savage Empire, and Martian Dreams. Most of these seem still to be in the early stages of development, but the Ultima 7 remake — which deals, it seems, only with the events of The Black Gate at present — looks to have progressed somewhat further.
Here is hoping, then, that this collective set of efforts bears much fruit in the future! As the projects progress, I’ll probably break off each remake into its own standalone entry. For now, this one omnibus entry will suffice.
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:
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: Dino the Dark Dragon
Website: Dino’s Google Group
Releases:
* Sites (1.06 KB)
* Files List (1.65 KB)
* Engine (67.48 KB)
Dino the Dark Dragon began reverse-engineering the Ultima 1 engine as a spare-time project. Here is his work in progress.