Zephyr posted a short note at the Ultima 6 Project website to let us know that a pre-release version of their version 1.01 patch is available for early testers to request and try out. You can pick it up from the Project Britannia wiki here, or immediately below.
Ultima 6 Project v1.01 Pre-Release Patch (587.2 KiB, 17 hits)I haven’t added this to the actual Ultima 6 Project entry just yet, because it’s not the official release of the patch. Even so, grab it if you like.
I’ve finally gotten around to restoring the downloads for the engine — I’m calling it that — that served as the basis for two other well-known Ultima remakes: Project Britannia.
I’ve also updated the downloads to be what are, to the best of my ability to determine it, the latest versions of each file. (Principally, this means that the art, logic, and sound resource files are newer and larger.)
The full release-version download of the Ultima 6 Project is over 1 GB in size, which is fairly substantial. Heck, I can remember a time (not too long ago, either) when such a massive release would have bordered on the unthinkable. These days? Not so much…my digital download of Mass Effect 2 topped out at 12.5 GB, for example.
That said, not everyone enjoys the benefits of a) stable and/or b) high-speed Internet connectivity. As such, the Ultima 6 Project team have released a 10-part segmented ZIP version of their finished product for download, which you can now find at the project entry.
First, let me just remark that all the Online Remakes are once again available for download, and in fact have been so available since last Friday. The reason for the delay was the fact that I had mis-categorized Dransik as a remake, which it is not (though it is an online game).
From here, there are three main categories to restore: Spin Offs, General Utilities, and Joke Remakes. There’s also the Orphanage and Cemetery…but I’m (understandably, I hope) not in as much of a rush to get those categories up and running again.
Broadly, my plan is that the General Utilities section will be pared back, somewhat, because some of the downloads in there (DOSBox, for example) are hopelessly out of date and not particularly Ultima-specific anyhow. I’ll replace the actual downloads with links to the project’s downloads page, where appropriate. The Joke Remakes section will remain much the same as it is, though I believe there is one addition I need to make to it. And come to think of it, neither the Orphanage or the Cemetery will change all that much, if at all.
However, the Spin Offs section will be completely overhauled.
For example, I think the Inspired Works section needs to be expanded and given a little more of its own visibility. I also need to start tracking those projects better.
Moreover, I want to start looking for other projects that, if they aren’t directly inspired by Ultima, are at least inheritors of Ultima traditions in some way. These won’t be categorized as Inspired Works, but will fall under a new and somewhat related category. I’ve already begun looking at a handful of iPhone games, some of which will probably be featured. Sergorn Dragon has put me on to a couple of mainline PC titles that will probably also qualify. The Exult Total Conversions category will probably disappear, since two of its three entrants are remakes, and the third is basically an Inspired Work.
And to be fair, the Spin Offs category will not disappear entirely; there are a few projects which fit that label and will keep it as a result.
The area of the site that will see a lot of change, however, is the Engines section. For starters, it will be expanded to include discussion about 2D and 3D engines which are not tied to any specific game (e.g. Unity, Torque) and are available for free. It will also expand to include discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of using each platform, the pros and cons of each.
More than that, however, I want to expand Aiera into something akin to a “developer connection”, which exists as a place where past project developers can share created media content — 2D art, 3D models, music, and suchlike — with the Ultima community, so that other developers can make use of these things in their projects. Because really, it’s daunting at the best of times to take on the task of creating an Ultima-like game, and the sheer volume of stuff that a development team needs to create for its project can be overwhelming…and thus the death of an otherwise promising effort.
I’d like to position Aiera in such a way as to help aspiring devs get past those pitfalls.
Fundamentally, I think there’s more stories that could be told by the fan community. In part, that’s why I signed on to work on Return to the Serpent Isle…because it isn’t a remake, but is in fact a new story set in the Ultima universe, and which will strive to remain faithful to the universe that Origin built for our minds to play in. And I think there’s an argument to be made that indie devs can turn out amazing work given time and enthusiastic support from an engaged community.
And I don’t believe that Ultima is dead. My site traffic logs would seem to support that belief, as would the overwhelming response to the release of the Ultima 6 Project just recently, and to Lazarus before it.
So in the weeks to come, expect to see this all getting built. And hopefully, once it’s built, we can get a little Field of Dreams action going on here.
May I also offer an extra-special huge-frigging-big “thank you” to Aletys from the Ultima 6 Project for her supportive donation to the site. I will be adding a Sponsorship page to Aiera once I finalize the new design; expect that she will be right at the top of it.
Aletys, you might have made my wife cry, just a little bit. It was that stunning, and I am duly humbled by it.
The good folks at Team Archon have posted a notice concerning a plot-stopping bug in version 1.0 of the Ultima 6 Project:
Team Archon is currently working on a patch (1.0.1) to address some problems with the 1.0 release, one of which will prevent you from winning the game. This patch will be compatible with your saved games from 1.0, and therefore all players should download and apply it immediately once it is released. We need your help to make sure that all players get this patch, as they will eventually get blocked and be unable to proceed without it. The patch is nearing completion and should be available before too long.
If you are already blocked, we may be able to distribute an early, “experimental” build of the patch to those who would like to try it (at their own risk). Make sure you save your game before applying the patch. If you have questions about this, we recommend that you post them in our forum. We will be making an announcement here and on Project Britannia when the patch is publicly available.
Aiera will be hosting the patch when it releases; if you need/want it before then, follow the link above to the Project Britannia forum and let then know.
The site has been getting a ton of traffic from RPGWatch over the weekend, so let me just shout out a big “HELLO AND WELCOME!” to everyone who’s coming from there that has never been to the site before. If the Ultima series occupies a special place in your heart, be sure to check back here from time to time…the community is still very much alive, and there are always bits of news to report.
If you’re looking for the Ultima 6 Project, you can find it here.
If you’re looking for Ultima 6 Online, you can find it here.
And may I just add that since the release of the Ultima 6 project, Aiera has served up nearly 1.5 binary terabytes of downloads. That’s within the span of a few days. Fortunately, my host has not yet served me with notice that I’m over my allotted monthly bandwidth…and to be fair, the billing/tracking cycle will reset in another three days.
But if you feel like dropping a few dollars into the tip jar to help pay for the hosting, you’ll certainly have my gratitude.
That’s right…it’s been nearly a decade in the making, and it comes out today!
On this, the 20th anniversary year of the release of Origin Systems Ultima 6, it is with much pleasure that we announce the 1.0 release of Team Archon‘s Ultima 6 Project, for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). Players will find a huge and exciting world waiting to be discovered:
- Travel throughout the lands of Britannia, exploring dark forests with bandits lying in wait, deserts and swamps teeming with monsters, and peaceful towns and villages filled with shops, old friends, and interesting people just waiting to give the player numerous and exciting quests to solve.
- Explore deep and dangerous caves and caverns full of treasure and hidden surprises. Bring your breadcrumbs to mark your trail, or be prepared to be thoroughly and completely lost, with your remains left to be found by future explorers.
- Sail the savage seas to explore remote islands, but be vigilant for there are sea monsters lying in wait for the careless traveler.
- Discover a hidden new world, far from Britannia.
- Encounter strange and exotic races, including the mysterious Gargoyles.
- Fight fearsome monsters, find pirate loot, solve a murder, and discover the truth behind the numerous attacks on Britannia’s towns.
- Learn the commerce of the land for fun and profit.
- Learn magical spells, search for magic reagents, and join guilds to gain special benefits.
- Those players with proclivities to the dark side can follow an “evil path”.
- And, last, but not least, ferret out the hidden Easter eggs.
Click on through to continue reading the press release. If you just can’t wait and have to start downloading the project package, click here for the project entry at Aiera, or visit the project website for additional download links.
Milestones:
* Milestone 1 (147.9 MiB, 105 hits)
* Milestone 2 (225.6 MiB, 100 hits)
* Milestone 3 (270.9 MiB, 109 hits)
* Milestone 4 (356.8 MiB, 107 hits)
* Milestone 5 (442.5 MiB, 96 hits)
* Milestone 6 (140.0 MiB, 107 hits)
* Milestone 6 Patch (3.2 MiB, 94 hits)
* Milestone 7 (713.7 MiB, 113 hits)
* Milestone 8 (Beta Release) (808.9 MiB, 112 hits)
* Ultima 6 Project Beta 2 (834.0 MiB, 313 hits)
* Ultima 6 Project Beta 3 (994.9 MiB, 192 hits)
Tools:
* Font Builder (619.0 KiB, 114 hits)
* Interface Designer (1.2 MiB, 117 hits)
Tech Demo:
* Tech Demo (36.8 MiB, 108 hits)
Another Dungeon Siege-based remake, this high-profile (and high-tech) project aims to re-create Ultima 6, adding many of the same features to the game that Lazarus added into Ultima 5: enhanced music, expanded storyline, new characters and additional side quests.
The project has been in the works for a number of years, but their development pace has seemed to surge ahead in the last year or so; they’ve achieved several milestone releases since first being posted to Aiera, each one adding vast amounts of additional functionality to the game.
Archon team member Niko hints, in his latest dev diary, that the 1.0 release of the Ultima 6 Project is nearly upon us, and teases in a video a handful of examples of his excellent 3D modeling work, which the project will of course feature:
The guy has talent!
Niko also discusses his work in this post on his personal blog, so be sure to give that a look as well.
Well, today is an exciting Monday, isn’t it? That’s right…the newest Beta release of the Ultima 6 Project is available for download:
It is with much pleasure that we announce the release of the Beta 3 Release of Team Archon’s Ultima 6 Project, for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). Some things to look forward to in this release:
- Many bug fixes have been implemented since the Beta 2 release.
- All NPC’s are in place, and all the quests have been implemented.
- Those players with proclivities to the dark side can now follow an “evil path”.
- Additional enhancements have been made to the map and journal systems, and the Compendium is now complete.
- Performance improvements have been implemented
It should be noted that anyone using a previous version will have to uninstall it prior to installing the Beta 3 Release, and start a new game,
While this is not the final release of the game, we feel that it is reasonably polished, enough for public consumption (read: scrutiny). We still expect that there will be some bugs, and are soliciting your help in finding them.
If you find problems with the release, want to exchange play hints with other players, want to give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, join us at our forums.We have set up a special forum for the Beta 3 Release on the Project Britannia forums.
To download the Beta 3 Release, go to the Ultima 6 Project web site.
You’re still here, good reader? Get thee to the project website and download that Beta! Or, if you like, you can get it from the project entry here; Aiera is pleased to serve as a download mirror for the U6P team.
Doesn’t look like the team has that much to report this time around, and no positions are presently open. Which is probably a good sign; it means (I can only assume) that they got the people they needed previously, and have put them to work.
Some interesting tidbits that can be teased out of the short notes from various team members include:
It’s always nice to see development teams pooling and sharing their efforts.
That’s right: hot on the heels of their Milestone 8 (Beta 1) release, the U6 Project team have released their second beta, which features:
It is with much pleasure that we announce the release of the Beta 2 Release of Team Archon’s Ultima 6 Project, for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). Some things to look forward to in this release:
- Many bug fixes have been implemented since the Milestone 8 (Beta 1) release.
- Weapon and armor restrictions have now been applied, by class.
- The entire world is complete, and ready for players to explore.
- All NPC’s are in place, and all the quests have been implemented.
- Those players with proclivities to the dark side can now follow an “evil path”.
- Hydras are now in game, and should pose a nasty surprise to unwary travelers.
- Additional enhancements have been made to the map and journal systems, and the Compendium is now nearly complete.
- Minor performance improvements have been implemented
- It should be noted that anyone using a previous version will have to uninstall it prior to installing the Beta 2 Release, and start a new game.
While this is not the final release of the game, we feel that it is reasonably polished, enough for public consumption (read: scrutiny). We still expect that there will be some bugs, and are soliciting your help in finding them.
If you find problems with the release, want to exchange play hints with other players, want to give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, join us at our forums. We have set up a special forum for the Beta 2 Release on the Project Britannia forums (http://www.projectbritannia.com/index.php).
To download the Beta 2 Release, go to the Ultima 6 Project web site at: http://www.u6project.com/ where you can also check out profiles of the Project team members.
If you like what you see, and would like to contribute to this great game (and help us get it out faster), the team is looking for additional 2D artists to help with completing the portraits. And, of course, we’re always looking for play-testers to help us find and eliminate any remaining bugs. Contact any of the team members on the forums if you’d like to join the team.
You’re still here, good reader? Get thee to the Ultima 6 Project website and grab that download.
Or, you can grab it from the project entry here at Aiera.
Bumped again for my own purposes: there’s a few things left undone here.
This is mostly for my benefit, O Reader, as my memory is not what it once was (not that it was ever amounted to much to begin with) and a list of bases to cover will be highly beneficial at this stage of Aiera‘s re-development. A lot of the projects have advanced in their development arcs since the last update to the site, and I need to update the site files to reflect that.
So, at a glance, here’s what needs to get done:
That ought to keep my busy until the end of the week.
As I said, this is mostly for my benefit. However, O Reader, you are certainly welcome to look over the above list and take notice of anything in it which strikes you as being “news”; perhaps you, like myself, haven’t got the latest version of something yet. You can still make use of the old version of the site to find links to projects if they haven’t yet been ported to this new version of the site…go and do a little exploring!
Update: I thought of more to do:
These are somewhat longer-term goals, and the immediate goals of getting Aiera back up to the level of its previous iteration remains the priority. But I think it would be neat to expand the site a bit, and these seem good avenues to approach to do that with.
Upper-date:
Beginning with Beautiful Britannia, I’ve begin granting FTP access to the site to project developers. This access is limited to the file repository for a single project, but it offers debs a means to get their downloads onto Aiera faster (and perhaps more reliably) than by “the normal means” (which entails me downloading, and then uploading, the file in question).
As noted, I’ve set this up for Beautiful Britannia, and will shortly be setting it up for Forgotten World. I’ll also be setting it up for the Ultima 6 Project for any of their future milestone/beta releases.
If any other project devs would like a username and password, do let me know! Drop a comment or hit up the contact form.
Apologies again for the delay! Please do check out the project entry for the download link.
From the U6P team:
It is with much pleasure that we announce the release of Team Archon’s next milestone of the Ultima 6 Project, Milestone 8 (M8) for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). This is the beta release for the project, which will be followed shortly by the 1.0 release. Some things to look forward to in this release:
- The entire world is now complete, and ready for players to explore.
- All NPC’s are in place, and all the quests have been implemented.
- New weapons are available for the player to discover.
- Tangle Vines are now in game, and should pose a nasty surprise to unwary travelers.
- Enhancements have been made to the map and journal systems, and the Compendium is now available as part of the Journal.
This is not the final release of the game, but we feel that they are reasonably polished enough for public consumption (read: scrutiny). If you find problems with the release, want to exchange play hints with other players, want to give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, join us at our forums. We have set up a special forum for the Milestone 8 Release on the Project Britannia forums.
To download the M8 release, go to the Ultima 6 Project web site at: http://www.u6project.com/ where you can also check out profiles of the Project team members.
If you like what you see, and would like to contribute to this great game (and help us get it out faster), the team is looking for additional 2D artists to help with completing the portraits. And, of course, we’re always looking for play-testers to help us find and eliminate any bugs. Contact any of the team members on the forums if you’d like to join the team.
About The U6 Project
The Ultima 6 Project was formed in 2001 by Sliding Dragon to develop a remake of Origin’s Ultima VI: The False Prophet with newer graphics and a more immersive engine. Soon assembled under the banner Archon, the team members, who hail from all over the globe, have set about recreating the world of Britannia, adding an enhanced storyline to bolster intraseries continuity and building on the Ultima legacy in a way that will please fans new and old.
I haven’t added the download to the project entry yet (that will happen tonight), but Team Archon were gracious enough to release the Milestone 8 download to me a bit early.
Sadly, something seems to have gone wrong with my upload of the project file. I’m working on getting a new download in place right now!
Apologies!
Update: Okay, I think the file DOWNLOADED successfully this time, which is good. But as I am currently in a hotel in Rock Springs, Wyoming, sharing an internet connection with God knows how many other people, the process of getting it UPLOADED has crossed from being a mere annoyance to a full-on pain in the ass. By which I mean: 5:35:22 remaining on the counter, with 1:55:29 elapsed already.
Painfully slow!
Anyhow, with nothing better to do on the site at the moment, I think I might take a stab at cleaning up the timeline. Which, I remind myself, still needs to have all the various remake projects included in it. Or at least the ones that make it to final release!
From Aletys:
It is with much pleasure that we announce the release of Team Archon’s next milestone of the Ultima 6 Project, Milestone 7 (M7) for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). This is the alpha release for the project, which will be followed shortly by the beta and 1.0 releases. Some things to look forward to in this release:
- The entire world is now available for players to explore, and players will be able to complete the game, though some elements will be further enhanced in the beta and 1.0 releases.
- New NPCs have been added, including a certain Cyclops family and a two-headed llama.
- Additional enhancements have been made to existing areas.
- More quests have been implemented, including the entire main quest.
- The Journal system has been greatly enhanced, and players will be able to track their progress with it.
This is not a final release of these sections of the game, but we feel that they are reasonably polished enough for public consumption (read: scrutiny). If you find problems with the release, want to exchange play hints with other players, want to give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, join us at our forums. We have set up a special forum for the Milestone 7 Release on the Project Britannia forums.
To download the M7 release, go to the Ultima 6 Project web site, where you can also check out profiles of the Project team members.
You’re still here, good reader? Get thee to the project website!
Update: A download is now available via the project entry here.
And they even include the Milestone 6 release!
I’m just tackling another issue I’ve left unaddressed for too darn long; if there is time after it is resolved to get yet more Ultima 6 uploads working, I will get them working.
Update: with literally a minute left before I run to catch the bus, I’ve gotten the last of the Ultima 6 downloads working again. Enjoy!
Point of Interest: since April 15th, when the first downloads were restored, the site has logged the following download stats:
Over 50 binary gigabytes of data served since mid-April…and this with less than half the download links functional!
