Produced by: Team Lazarus & Team Archon
Website: Project Britannia
Releases:
* Milestone 2 Release (169.36 MB)

Updates (may be unstable):
* Britannia Art (92.89 MB)
* Britannia Logic (2.03 MB)
* Britannia Sound (4.73 MB)
* Britannia Map (86.78 MB)

Utilities
* Project Britannia Development Environment (463.75 KB)
* Container Override example (1.48 KB)
* Dungeon Siege Font Builder (618.99 KB)
* Dungeon Siege Skrit API (1.22 MB)
* Skrit/Template Cross-reference (6.09 MB)
* Dungeon Siege Toolkit (22.68 MB)
* Lazarus Lorebook Editor (288.69 KB)
* Rapid Tank Creator (245.99 KB)
* Siege Tools for Eclipse (Full) (56.51 MB)
* Siege Tools for Eclipse 1.0.29 (Plugin) (864.3 KB)
* Siege University Compilation (9.82 MB)
* Tank Viewer (382.1 KB)
* U6 Project UI Designer (1.22 MB)
* Conversation Compiler (227.29 KB)
* Conversation Editor Plugin for Siege Tools (100.41 KB)
* Book Editor Plugin for Siege Tools (37.61 KB)
* NPC/Schedule/Chest Generator (1.02 MB)

Milestone 1 Release:
* Project Britannia (1 of 3) (85.31 MB)
* Project Britannia (2 of 3) (71.81 MB)
* Project Britannia (3 of 3) (5.58 MB)

This ambitious project, a joint venture arising from the copperative developments of Ultima V: Lazarus and the Ultima 6 Project — both Dungeon Siege-based remakes of their respective Ultima titles — aims to create a platform for the easier creation of Ultima remakes (and, one would assume, spinoffs).

It’s “short list” of features is really too long to name here, but includes dynamic weather, ship navigation (a feature lost in many modern RPGs), complete day/night cycle, NPC scheduling, reagent-based spellcasting, moongates, dynamic factions, and a custom-build branching conversation system.

Or, to sum it all up in three words: it looks cool.

Now, the development team for Project Britannia is pretty active, and they are constantly putting out updates. The ones hosted here are current to the best of Aiera’s knowledge, but they may be a few days stale. To that end, the most current versions of the update files can always be found at the Project Britannia Change Log. Please note that these updates are likely unstable at present.

Despite the lack of new news, I’ve been busy.

A discussion unfolded last month about Ultima-related art, with one commentator, Hexxer, noting:

I have had a very hard time trying to find decent resolution Ultima art. It would be nice if someone perhaps made a post requesting this stuff…

Ergonpandilus Dragon dug up a handful of very nice examples thereof, drawing on content from Ultima 9, Ultima V: Lazarus, and other projects as well. One hopes that his findings were but a sampling of content that is available “out there” however. Whether this is the case or not, I cannot say for certain. Regardless, Hexxer had one more observation which is worth repeating here:

I am sure there must be some community members willing to scan some classic stuff at high res, if its not done at some point this stuff is going to fade away!

I think that he’s right. The Ultima games had some great art associated with them — game boxes, manual illustrations, in-game and cut-scene graphics, and promotional material — and have also inspired the creation of a lot of really high-quality art as well in the years since their release. And I think it would be a good idea to have an archive of high-resolution copies of that art, in order to preserve it.

To that end, I’ve made a few changes here at Aiera.

As the Reader should know, images are integrated into many project entries here on the site; these images are stored and called up from a gallery, powered by the Coppermine gallery system, which until now I have kept “out of sight” of the casual visitor. This was due primarily to the fact that I couldn’t find a template for Coppermine which matched the template I am using for the visual layout of Aiera.

That has since changed, in that I have ported Aiera’s template to Coppermine, more or less (a first for me, and quite the learning experience if I do say so myself!). And so the user is now both able and invited to visit the Aiera gallery. What is more, I have opened user registration on the gallery, so that those who wish to submit content for consideration may do so.

Using the gallery is simple, if the Reader but follows the steps below:

1. Register as a user in the gallery
2. Wait for me to confirm the registration
3. Log in to the gallery
4. On the sidebar, click on Create/Order my albums
5. Create an album — this is necessary in order to save uploaded pictures
6. On the sidebar, click on Upload file
7. Upload as many as ten files from a hard drive, or five files from online sources
8. Save the files to the album previously created
9. Wait for me to review and approve the images — those images that meet the criteria outlined below will be ported over to the Ultima Art section of the gallery
10. If I don’t approve the images within three days, let me know and I’ll get my act together
11. Enjoy!

Guidelines for image submissions are as follows:

• Images must be Ultima-related (obviously)
• Images must be of fairly high resolution. Printable resolutions are preferable.
• Images smaller than 800×600 pixels will be rejected unless it can be demonstrated that they are the only extant representation of that particular piece of artwork
• Images must not already be in the gallery

Due to the fact that most of the images we are talking about here likely fall under a copyright of some kind, their being archived here will be assumed to be covered under fair use provisions in copyright law; they will be stored for posterity only, and not out of any intent to use them for profit generation or money-making ventures.

Update: Registration should work now. There was a problem with the Captcha security image plugin, and this has now been corrected. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

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:

• an experienced user of world building software
• willing to help us design the user interface of our world editor
• interested in the Ultima series and in creating maps for the game
• patient, communicative and team-oriented
• experienced with programming (perhaps even with wxWidgets) as a plus

…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:

• the Lord Blackthorn cut scene
• Stargazing with the telescope
• Quit and Save, with game resumption
• the Shrine of Spirituality
• food consumption and food obtaining, starvation
• Skiff and Frigate navigation, sea combat

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

• 2 new lutes have been added
• More journal labels have been added — untested
• Two chest icons were brightened a bit
• A new trail ration texture was added

britannia_logic.dsres

• bookshelf animation reverted to a previous version
• minor bug-fixes to the sleeping system
• updated lute screen names
• updates to the journal UI
• a function was modified to allow NPCs to ignore locked doors
• …and at least 40 other changes

pb_laz_comp_layer.dsres

• minor change, just synching the compatibility layer with the latest updates in other areas of Project Britannia

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.

Produced by: Team Lazarus
Website: Lazarus
Releases:
* Lazarus 1.2 (Windows) (520.95 MB)
* Lazarus 1.2 (Mac) (528.27 MB)
* Lazarus 1.2 French Patch (Windows) (8.21 MB)
* Lazarus German Patch v1.0 (12.57 MB)
* Blink Activation Patch (4.29 KB)
* Difficulty Override (16.08 KB)
* Font Patch (11.5 KB)
* Portrait Patch (615.4 KB)
* Lazarus Editing Environment (Windows) (3.26 MB)
* Chronicle of Lord British's Expedition (1.01 MB)
* Lazarus Game Manual (10.32 MB)
* Map of Britannia (638.58 KB)
* Lazarus Soundtrack (142.19 MB)

Patches and Upgrades
* Enhanced Graphics (11.49 MB) - (pictured) from 3DWorx
* Looking Up Camera Mod (40.82 KB)
* Grail Quest's Mods (622.93 KB) - see this text file (12.74 KB) for details
* Bugfixes and Modifications (599.52 KB) - see the Lazarus forums for details
* Project Britannia Compatibility Mod (22.28 KB)
* Comfortability Mod 1 (3.6 KB) - start with a bedroll
* Comfortability Mod 2 (3.65 KB) - start with a bedroll and the sextant (may break a later quest)
* Comfortability Mod 3 (7.53 KB) - reduced daily food consumption rate
* Comfortability Mod 4 (3.23 KB) - adds hotkey support for the pocketwatch (if the party has it)
* Regeneration Ring Health Loss bugfix (3.18 KB)

Spell-related Mods
* Spell Scroll Icon Mod (51.66 KB) - (pictured) replaces the default icons for spell scrolls with graphics that make it easier to identify which spell is on which scroll. Only works on new scrolls added to inventory, not scrolls already held
* Spell Scroll Icon Mod with Chuckles Scroll Changer (61.65 KB) - adds to the above mod the ability to talk to Chuckles the Jester and have him “exchange” all your current spell scrolls for new ones, thus updating their icons

Weapon Mods
* Magic Weapon Fix (25.72 KB) - fixes an issue with weapon enhancement damage not being applied. See this post on the Lazarus forums
* Magic Axe Redux v1.1 (12.59 KB) - uses spell damage to cause the magic axe’s bonus damage
* Magic Axe Redux v2 (14.5 KB) - addresses balance issues with the previous version of the mod
* Cheerful's weaponfixes (20.18 KB) - fixes some scripting and bug issues with weapon-based spells
* Flint Item Changer (9.84 KB) - talk to Flint to “upgrade” your magic weapons to bug-fixed, modded versions

Cheerful Dragon’s Weapon Addons
* Undead-slaying Silver sword and Stronger glass sword (10.58 KB)
* Ranged throwing axe (4.69 KB)

Lazarus 1.0
* Lazarus (Part 1) (76.29 MB)
* Lazarus (Part 2) (76.29 MB)
* Lazarus (Part 3) (76.29 MB)
* Lazarus (Part 4) (76.29 MB)
* Lazarus (Part 5) (76.29 MB)
* Lazarus (Part 6) (76.29 MB)
* Lazarus (Part 7) (57.8 MB)

Demos:
* Alpha Demo 1.0 (Win/Mac) (22.8 MB)
* Alpha Demo 2.0 (Win) (100 MB)
* Alpha Demo 2.0 (Mac OSX) (87.61 MB)
* French Patch 2.0 (Win) (30.73 KB)
* German Patch 2.0 (Win) (8.16 KB)

One of the most high-profile remakes during its development, Ultima V: Lazarus is a Dungeon Siege-based remake of Ultima 5 led by Tiberius Moongazer. It was completed and released in the early part of 2006.

Lazarus features an enhanced and expanded musical score, additional plot elements, many new and exciting characters and side quests, and fully rendered cut scenes.

The project is available for download in its entirety here, and in addition there are available for download several mods, patches, and bug-fixes; Lazarus has spawned a modding community of its own.

Okay, it’s been a while since the last update, and I trust that those Readers who are likewise recently married, or who were once recently married, can understand the heady intensity of the first few months post-wedding. Especially when there are “thank you” cards and Christmas cards to send out all at once!

Especially because some of my family members are getting a bit impatient over the arrival date of their “thank you”. We’ll leave the discussion about the lack of humility inherent in such a stance for another time, and possibly another place.

At any rate, it’s time for what will likely be Aiera’s last posting prior to Christmas, so enough is enough — let’s get to the news.

Ultima V: Lazarus

Toltec Dragon dropped me a line to let me know that a German translation of this Dungeon Siege-based remake of Ultima 5 is expected to be released very soon. So all you German Ultima fans out there keep watch; this exceptional remake of one of the best Ultima titles is about to arrive in your native language.

Ultima 5 for TI Calculators

Ultima 5 seems to be generating all the good buzz lately. Ranman let us know in a comments thread that development on his port of Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator platform is at 93.7% (probably closer to 94% now) completion.

And he’s managed to shrink the size of the game engine a bit as well, thanks to some compiler optimizations.

Lost Sosaria

My own Ultima project, Lost Sosaria now has a discussion forum. Come on by and drop us a line!

(and yes, O Reader, I’m looking at forum solutions for Aiera as well)

Exult 3D

Sam Matthews has been quiet on the status of his project for a while. However, Gunnar brings news in the Exult forums that this project to create a 3D engine out of the original Ultima 7 engine has progressed somewhat since the last time we saw it here on Aiera.

He includes links to a “slightly more official” patch than is currently available on Aiera. I have updated the project entry here with the new material. Please note that the new releases appear to require Exult 1.4 to run.

Pentagram

The Pentagram team bring news that work is progressing despite the lack of site updates. Specifically, they have implemented correct combat music, improved the Avatar’s attack speed, fixed some issues with rendering, falling and throwing, and improved the main menu to include support for direct loading of savegames.

Quite the busy few months it’s been!

They have also released new Windows and Mac snapshots, both of which can be downloaded through the project entry here at Aiera.

Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands

I spoke with Marzo and Wizardry Dragon, and they both confirmed to me that while development is definitely low-key, work is continuing on The Feudal Lands, a sidequel to Ultima 7 set in the old Sosarian continent called the Lands of the Feudal Lords.

Project Britannia

The britannia_logic.dsres and britannia_art.dsres core files for this Ultima spinoff/remake engine system have been updated. Changes are as follows:

britannia_art.dsres - the Lazarus ‘Mario mesh’ has been added, as well as more graphics for the Journal system. A new Spartan helmet has also been added, as have some textures and icons for various equipment associated with Chuckles the Jester.

britannia_logic.dsres - party banters have been updated to allow for a lone Avatar, and an issue with non-breaking breakable objects has been corrected. Rain moods have been tuned, and some UI changes have also been made, among many other things.

Serpent Isle for NWN2

Although development on this promising-looking project seems to have slowed ever so slightly, developer Jaesun has nevertheless managed to finish the Moonshade Catacombs, and has uploaded some sample music (note: ALPHA version, very rough) for your enjoyment, O Reader.

Adventure Creation Kit

Chris Hopkins dropped me a note to let me know that his top-down 2D game creation tool has just been updated to version 2.3. This neat little utility is an MS-DOS program that can be run both under DOSBox or in Windows proper (although DOSBox is required for sound), and allows for the creation of RPG-type games in the graphical spirit of Ultima 4 or Uitlma 5.

The updated version can be downloaded through the project entry here at Aiera.

Forgotten World

Hawkwind dropped me a note to let me know that the Forgotten World team have released another screenshot of their re-working of the Ultima 9 engine. About a month ago, they switched to using the OGRE engine for graphics, and true to their claim that it would speed development along they are now able to present us with a screenshot of Britain from the air.

Click on over and have a look, O Reader — it is impressive, to say the least. So impressive, in fact, that I decided to use it as the project image for its entry here at Aiera.

Also, the reader may note that I have added Amazon content to the sidebar. This is intended to be a mostly passive way that any users who a) feel they would like to support the effort made here at Aiera, and b) do some of their shopping through Amazon.com, can ‘donate’ to Aiera. Any purchases made through the links here will garner a small revenue percentage for your humble administrator.

Finally, I have overhauled the tagging system on Aiera, so it should be a lot more stable. Instead of creating links directly to Technorati topics, though, they link to a list of all other similarly-tagged articles on the site here. This is mostly a convenience feature for users looking to quickly browse a particular topic.

A ‘tag cloud’ can be found most of the way down the sidebar, with text colour and size of each tag listed there determined by the number of times is has appeared.