That’s right: both Ultima: Iris/Iris2 and the old data files for Ultima Legacy are once again available for download. Although, in the case of Iris2, the download links are actually to their hosted files on their servers, so…yeah.
Anyhow, that means that the Ultima Online category is restored to working order. Go me!
That’s right: the open source 3D client for Ultima Online freeshards posted an updated build.
Which I will get uploaded to Aiera shortly.
Update: Downloads now available via the project entry…which I also finally got around to renaming.
(hat tip)
Despite suffering a server error and site crash over the summer, the team at Iris2 (also known as Ultima: Iris) have kept up development on their 3D client for Ultima Online freeshards, and have just released build 3154 to the general public!
You can find downloads at the project website, or at the project entry here at Aiera. Note that I have only restored the downloads for Iris2; downloads of the original Iris (before the transition to OGRE) have not yet been restored.
Ultima: Iris (or Iris2 as it is also known), the 3D frontend for Ultima Online, has been updated to build 2890.
Featured in this update are new graphics in the program’s 2D and 3D modes, an updated version of the OGRE engine, and numerous bug-fixes.
Also, the licensing has been updated to GPL version 3.
Iris2 (Iris-Ogre)
* Iris2 Installer (Windows)
* Iris2 Binary (Windows)
* Iris2 (SUSE) (RPM)
* Iris2 Latest Source Code
Also required (for Windows)
* Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redist. (x86)
* DirectX9 End-User Runtimes
Ultima: Iris is a 3D game client for Ultima Online, which gives the game a more modern feel in keeping with the evolution of 3D MMORPGs while still retaining the Ultima “feel” of UO (such as it is). Iris is only compatible with a number of different “freeshard” server types. See the project website (actually a wiki) for full details.
Iris requires a legal copy of Ultima Online, preferably one of the later-edition versions of the game, but it serves to note that trial versions of UO can be used for play on freeshards without suffering limitations. Trial versions of the game can be obtained from the links given on the Iris2 forums.
I see that Dino’s Ultima Page has posted some news concerning a couple of new file releases from different projects. Notably, Ranman’s Ultima V for TI Calculators has released a beta version of that port for the TI-92 and V200 calculators. This download has already been added to the project entry here at Aiera.
Also, the full version of a patch translating Ultima 7 to Spanish has been released. Following up on this lead led me to translation patches for Serpent Isle, Ultima 9, and Ultima Underworld about which I had previously been unaware, and these have all been added to Aiera.
Additionally, the Ultima 6 Project Development Tools Package has been released, which enables the user to edit and compile conversations, edit game objects, edit game logic, and provides a host of other functions as well. It can be downloaded from the Project Britannia website, or from the Ultima 6 Project entry here at Aiera.
Other Ultima-related news I found whilst wandering through the Internet today includes:
Aklabeth
The web home of this remake of Akalabeth seems to be offline. I hope it’s just a temporary thing.
Ultima Underworld for Pocket PC
Conversely, this port of Ultima Underworld to the PocketPC seems to be back online again. Nice to see. That means that I get to move this project out of the cemetery!
Exult
This port of The Black Gate and Serpent Isle to…well…pretty much every operating system one could dare to think of…doesn’t look as though it’s been updated, by its website. But I noticed that the Windows and PocketPC snapshots were updated earlier this month, as was the snapshot for Exult Studio. All of these can be downloaded through the project entry here. The chief modification seems to concern a bug with multiracial Avatars.
Ultima: Iris
This 3D frontend for Ultima Online has been updated recently, to build version 2365. Linux and Windows source, and the Windows installer, can all be downloaded via the project entry here, or at the project website.
Finally, I was contacted by Yannick “Alcibiade” Kirschhoffer regarding a new piece of Ultima-related material he has produced. I’ll let him explain it in his own words:
I’ve been huge fan of the second Ultima trilogy. In 2003, I began work on writing guitar arrangements of most of this era’s music. I did the Ultima 6 score almost entirely, and some of U4 and U5 too. Then I compiled these in a songbook that I illustrated with artwork and quotes from the games.
It is available for download in PDF format at www.alcibiade.org
This is a handy little creation, beautifully arranged and attractively compiled into one volume. I’ve added a project entry for it under the category of “General Utility”, and it can be downloaded from there as well.
Well done, Yannick!
Well, it’s been a little while since I posted an update pertaining to Ultima projects, and I see that Petrell and Dino over at Dino’s Ultima Page have uncovered several juicy morsels of news. To wit:
EUO
This Ultima-like project reached its fifth year just recently, and to celebrate the occasion they threw a number of bonuses and extra stuff into the game — experience bonuses, prizes & giveaways, DM-hosted events, special in-game drinks (eggnog, for example), and even a few new bosses.
Also, a “Newbie Island” tutorial map has been added to the game to help new players ease in.
Ultima 6 Project
A new press release from this promising-looking remake of Ultima 6 has been released at RPGWatch. It has some details about new cities and places in the pending fifth milestone release (Nicodemus’ keep, for example), and also informs us that the team is always in need of world builders, 3D modelers, artists, and musicians.
So, O Reader, if you fall into any of those categories, you might want to swing by the Ultima 6 Project website and drop someone a line.
Additionally, project developer Nicodemus has posted another update to his worldbuilding Dev Diary with some cool new screenshots of his work (Jhelom and Skara Brae).
Ultima: Iris
A new build — build 2010 — of this 3D client for Ultima Online has been released. It can be downloaded from the project’s homepage, or via the project entry here at Aiera.
xu4
A new snapshot of the Mac version of this Ultima 4 remake is available for download either through the project website or via the project entry here at Aiera. A new Windows snapshot is also available.
Ultima V for TI Calculators
Ranman has posted additional news about his project that has ported Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator. He lets us know, firstly, about some special item capabilities that he as implemented. Secondly, he talks about killing NPCs, lock picking, and guard behaviour — rather a “law and order” sort of post.
The project is still in beta testing.
I also took a bit of a wander around the Ultima community myself, and noticed a few other odds and ends that the Reader might be interested in.
Savage Empire for Exult
Scythifuge is always looking for people to help out with his ambitious goal of porting the Savage Empire storyline into Exult.
Exult
Speaking of Exult, I notice that the Windows snapshot of Exult 1.4 has been updated recently (April 14th), as have the snapshots for Exult Tools and Exult Studio. These can be downloaded from the project website, and I have added them to the project entry here at Aiera.
Project Britannia
I noticed that the britannia_art.dsres and britannia_logic.dsres resource files for this Ultima world framework were updated at the beginning of April. Changes since the previous revision include the addition of a new lockpick texture, a ferry, and two new light textures, as well as changes to melee attack logic, the lockpick’s shape, and a bunch of other things.
The updated files can be downloaded from the Project Britannia site, or via the project entry here at Aiera.
Also, I’ve made a few minor changes to the site here. For starters, I have added a module to the site sidebar to track the ten most downloaded files in the last 30 days. Initially, I wasn’t going to clear the statistics for the download manager with any sort of frequency, but after a bunch of Ultima 9-related downloads surged ahead (in some cases, to over 3,000 downloads!), it seemed reasonable to give some of the other files a chance to make the top spot.
So it’s there, and I won’t be putting a “top five” list onto news posts anymore.
And of course, there’s the gallery and Ultima art repository. I do encourage any interested users to register a user account there and begin uploading any Ultima-related art they can find so that it can be preserved for posterity. This includes scans of art from the manuals, which won’t be around forever.
Oh, and I’ve added another countdown to the sidebar. Only 190 days (roughly — could change in either direction) until Grace and I welcome our little one into the world!
