![[S]](s.gif "Dino's Ultima Page News")
![[W]](w.gif "Web News")
Ultima 9 Review at The Digital AntiquarianLast month, Jimmy Maher wrote up a review of Ultima IX: Ascension, covering its turbulent development history and disappointing output. I've added a link to it in the Ultima 9 Opinions page for future reference; you can also write your own review of the game there.
U7BG and UW2 Info UpdatesIn the UW2 Info page, I've added links to a six-part review of the game by Kenneth Dunlop. I also moved the link to the Ultima Underworld Viewer to the Projects section, and removed the Downloads section in which it used to be.
On the main page of the Guide to Ultima VII: The Black Gate, I've done some minor cleanup of links and HTML, and also organised the Remakes and Engines section into subsections.
Ultima 4 Links CleanupA minor note around maintenance: I've just gone through the Ultima 4 Info page to find dead links. Several have been replaced, and one that I couldn't save has been removed. There have also been some other minor improvements to the text, and one of the links has been moved from the Downloads section to the Music section.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate Info UpdatesUltima VII: The Black Gate is still one of the most loved games in the Ultima series, and yet the U7BG Guide here at Dino's Ultima Page hadn't been updated in a while.
This changes today, as I've added a number of new links to walkthroughs, as well as information about items, magic, and people.
And if you still enjoy this game, why not post a review at the U7BG Opinions page?
![[R]](r.gif "Remake News")
U5 Redux Migrating from Unity to EbitengineAfter more than 2 years since the last update at the Ultima 5 Redux Development Blog, Brad Hannah has announced that he's rebooting the project. After some annoying difficulties with Unity, and concerns about its long-term support, he decided to switch to Ebitengine (a game engine using the Go programming language) and has since been gradually migrating his work to the new game engine. In his post, he explains what he's done so far, what remains to be done, and why he made the difficult decision to start over.
Ultima Underworld PodcastThe CRPG Addict last week announced that he and Richard from Pix's Origin Adventures were among the guests on a recently published Ultima Underworld podcast (over 3 hours long) at DOS Game Club.
I've added a link to this podcast to the UW1 Info page.
VIC 20 Ultima IIA month after the recent port of Ultima 3 for the VIC 20, the same author, Aleksi Eeben, released a similar VIC 20 Ultima II port. At the project page you can read about Ultima 2 as well as the new VIC20 port, watch videos and see screenshots, and also download both the VIC 20 port itself and a C64 build dubbed Ultima II Grand.
I've now listed VIC 20 Ultima II under a new Projects section in the Ultima 2 Info page here at Dino's Ultima Page. Thanks goes to MagerValp for spotting this project!
VIC 20 Ultima IIII'm about a month late with this, but MagerValp alerted me to the presence of a new Ultima 3 port for the VIC 20. VIC 20 Ultima III was made by by Aleksi Eeben and released on 20 March 2025. It's based on earlier work by MagerValp.
I've added a subsection for this project in the Ultima 3 info page.
The Lost Vale Usecode FoundThis is slightly old news at this point, but back in February this year, The Ultima Codex reported that a snapshot of The Lost Vale's usecode had been found. The same article has the zip file containing the usecode available for download, and also quotes Discord discussions that summarise its contents and the plot.
For future reference, I've added a link to this article to my Ultima 8 Guide's The Lost Vale page, under the "Clues to the Plot" section.
Savage Empire Speedrun in 7:32Crystal Phoenix Hobbies, who I've mentioned a few times in recent news for his Savage Empire speedrun records, has continued to optimise his path through the game. Last month, he set a new record, beating The Savage Empire in 7 minutes and 32 seconds. I've added a link to this new video to the Speedruns section of the Savage Empire Walkthrough page.
Ultima 6 Soundtrack in LOTROSamson Dragon, who you might remember from the Ultima Emulation Archive, has recently finished recording a new rendition of the Ultima 6 soundtrack. It's played in-game in Lord of the Rings Online along with his in-game band, who act out scenes portraying the Avatar and companions.
I've added a link to this video to the Ultima 6 Guide's main page.
New Savage Empire Speedrun World RecordsSince September 2020, I've held the world record for the fastest speedrun of The Savage Empire. But earlier this month, as I predicted would happen, Crystal Phoenix Hobbies managed to take over that title. A series of record speedruns culimated in one at under 10 minutes, breezing through the Myrmidex Caverns while turning the Myrmidex against themselves with the Charm spell. As if that weren't enough, a separate record of 36 minutes and 47 seconds was also set with the prerequisite of following the game's plot by uniting all the tribes.
As a result, the Speedruns section of the Savage Empire Walkthrough page has been updated with all the new speedruns, which you'll find under "Third Generation Speedruns". The earlier speedruns have been categorised under first and second generation.
On a separate note, the Trivia section of the Ultima 9 Fun page has also been updated because someone has found a fifth way to trigger the Armageddon cutscene.
Savage Empire Speedrun in 1 In-Game DayAs I wrote in the last entry here, a speedrun of The Savage Empire was completed last year in just two in-game days.
Crystal Phoenix Hobbies, the author of that speedrun, improved their record a few days ago, publishing a new speedrun showing the game being completed in just one in-game day.
Both of these speedruns use a shorter route than that which I took when I set the current record for speedrunning The Savage Empire in about 15 minutes, and so it's not hard to imagine a new record being set one day.
I've added the new speedrun to the Speedruns section of the Savage Empire Walkthrough.
Savage Empire Speedrun in 2 In-Game DaysA relatively recent Savage Empire speedrun by Crystal Phoenix Hobbies, published in July last year, has just been brought to my attention. While it doesn't set any new records in terms real-world time, it's remarkable in that it completes the game in just 2 in-game days, and also for its novel route that bypasses the Kotl city entirely.
I've added a link to this speedrun in the Speedruns section of the Savage Empire Walkthrough page.
UW2 Cheats and Exult 1.10 ReleasedKarl Clinckspoor has recently published a webpage that can apply a number Ultima Underworld 2 Cheats to the game's executable (based on the GOG distribution of the game). There's also a GOG forum thread that summarises what cheats are available, and a write-up on how they work.
And just yesterday, Exult version 1.10 has been released, bringing with it a list of bugfixes and improvements.
Martian Dreams Info OverhaulI'm currently working on figuring out as much as I can about the Martian Dreams Save Crash Bug. To assist with this effort, I've overhauled the Martian Dreams Info page, which means adding, updating and removing links, as well as reorganising sections. If you play Martian Dreams in the future, you will likely find some useful reference material via this updated page.
MS-DOS Project Martian Dreams reviewThe MS-DOS Project just yesterday posted a new Martian Dreams review on YouTube. It's over an hour long and covers the game pretty well. Among many other aspects of the game, it also discusses the notorious save crash bug that occurs early on in the game.
I've added a link to this video to the Martian Dreams info page, under the Reviews section and also the Save Crash Bug subsection.
I've also added a link to gibberishh's Ultima 8 cheat tables (usable with Cheat Engine) to the Ultima 8 Cheating page.
Ultima V: Lazarus Mod CompilationWoolly Dragon, who recently invested time and effort in locating the Ultima V: Lazarus Enhanced Graphics Mod, did not quite stop there. Since then, he has also compiled:
For future reference, I've added these links to the Ultima 5 Projects page.
22nd AnniversaryDino's Ultima Page is 22 years old today. Thank you for your support through all these years... it has been a pleasure to serve and be a part of the Ultima community!
Ultima V: Lazarus Enhanced Graphics Mod RecoveredSomeone who was recently trying to locate the Enhanced Graphics Mod by XiDragon for Ultima V: Lazarus was able to locate it thanks to help from the Ultima Dragons Facebook Chapter. This is not the first time such help was offered by the Ultima community; indeed some of you might remember that Dino's Ultima Page started with a similar story.
As a result, I've added a(n Ultima V: Lazarus) Mods subsection to the Ultima 5 Projects page, with info on this mod and others for Ultima V: Lazarus. I'm also hosting a copy of the Enhanced Graphics Mod since it has all but disappeared from the web.
Ultima 9 Info Spreads OutThree of the longer sections in the U9 Info page have been moved into their own dedicated pages. These are the new Ultima 9 Geography, Ultima 9 Fun, and Ultima 9 Development pages. At this point, there are enough Ultima 9 info pages to warrant them getting their own navigation, which is likely to happen sometime soon.
Ultima 9 GOG Link AdditionsJust a minor update: I've added a couple of new links to the U9 Info page, including where to buy the game on GOG, and how to change the keyboard controls.
That's all for now, and it will probably remain quiet here for a bit as we approach the Christmas season. Happy holidays!
Lands of Britannia Map - Version 2Earlier this year, Reddit user u/rwgosse posted a number of lovely Ultima maps (see news from 30th May and 18th June). There is now a new map called "Lands of Britannia - Version 2 - Full DM map (non-canon)". It seems to have based on Ultimas 4-7.
Check out rwgosse's DeviantArt gallery for all their Ultima maps.
Moonring Released; CRPG Addict Finishes Serpent Isle;Last month, a retro, Ultima-inspired game called Moonring was released for free on Steam. I haven't tried it yet, but reviews have been very positive, and I hope to play it soon when time allows.
Meanwhile, after an eight-month slog, The CRPG Addict has finally beaten Serpent Isle. As can be expected from anyone who has been following his progress, his summary and rating of the game hasn't been too kind.
You can find the full list of The CRPG Addict's Serpent Isle posts (all 25 of them) at the end of my Serpent Isle Info page.
Origin vs SSI & Other UpdatesI've been quite busy over the past few weeks writing my new Menzoberranzan walkthrough, which was published yesterday. However, there have been some updates here in the meantime that I'd like to share:
CRPG Book Expanded Edition Available to OrderFelipe Pepe from The CRPG Book has announced today that the hardcover physical version of The CRPG Book is now available to order from Bitmap Books:
This Expanded Edition brings 156 pages extra pages [sic], 65 new game reviews, several new articles, a lot of revised content and a glorious cover art gallery! And it goes beyond the usual CRPG canon, exploring more French, Korean & Chinese-only, RPG Maker, Flash and online RPGs!
Thanks to Bitmap Books, this release was fully proofread by a professional, as typos were one of the biggest issues in the 1st edition.
Of course, the CRPG Book is a non-profit project, so once again 100% of the author’s revenue will be donated to Vocação, a Brazilian NGO that helps kids and teenagers from poor areas to get a better education and find employment. The 1st edition raised £22,845, hopefully this one does even better!
You can also get the PDF version of The CRPG Book: The Expanded Edition for free from The CRPG Book, although Felipe notes that it's not yet up to date with the print version.
Ultima VII: Revisited Website LaunchedFresh from the Ultima Dragons Facebook group is the news that Anthony Salter's "Ultima VII: Revisited" now has a website. You can read about the project there, download the compiled project, or check out its source code at its GitHub repo. I've also added a WebDB2 entry for this project.
21st AnniversaryToday is the 21st anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page! I just want to say that I'm happy this little site has been around for so long. It makes me sad that many other great Ultima sites are not around any more.
The CRPG Addict is still playing Serpent Isle. In his latest Serpent Isle post, he's been playing for almost 90 hours, and is praying for the game to end. I've added this post to the list at the end of the Serpent Isle Info page.
The Ultima Codex brings news of an Ultima 9 model importer for Blender. As I understand it, it allows 3D models to be exported from Ultima 9 and imported into Blender, making it easy to reuse them in other game engines for Ultima remakes or other projects.
New Ultima Underworld ReviewThe MS-DOS Project has been gradually reviewing all the games in the Ultima series. It has just published a very good Ultima Underworld review that is almost an hour in length.
The CRPG Addict has continued playing Serpent Isle, with the latest post continuing his journey through the Silver Seed expansion.
And here are a few updates to Dino's Ultima Page:
New Savage Empire Bug DiscoveredThe Myrmidex are not the only bugs in The Savage Empire. In fact, while playing the game, Vulcan Dragon has come across a previously unknown bug while having a conversation with a Disquiqui tribeswoman. Look for the new subsection called "Pulque Logical Error" in the Savage Empire Fun page to learn more about this new discovery.
The CRPG Addict keeps playing Serpent Isle, and I keep updating my list of his posts at the Serpent Isle Info page.
I've added a new subsection about the Underworld Exporter project to the Ultima Underworld 1 Info page, and also added a new Projects section to the Ultima Underworld 2 Info page referring back to the UW1 page.
Finally, in the Ultima 8 Items page, I've added a new section on Keys.
More Serpent Isle Info UpdatesThe CRPG Addict is 60 hours into Serpent Isle at this point, and clearly feeling the fatigue, according to his latest post as of yesterday: "Serpent Isle: Venomous Mood".
The latest of u/rwgosse's Ultima maps has been released a few hours ago on Reddit. "Ruins of Britannia", as it is called, seems to be based on Ultima 9.
I've made a number of updates to the Serpent Isle Info page, including:
SI Mushrooms and u6ishThere's some news over at The Ultima Codex about a very carefully crafted Easter egg in Serpent Isle. It seems that, under very specific conditions, eating mushrooms makes you fly. Apparently, this is not a new discovery: in the UDIC Facebook Group, someone noted that this was actually discovered 20 years ago and shared in the Exult forum at the time.
And speaking of new things, a new project called u6ish has just been released a couple of days ago in a post on Reddit. It consists of a small-scope remake of part of Ultima 6, consisting of "Lord British's castle from U6, using mostly-original U6 sprites and music, in Godot 4 and C#". Check out the SourceForge project page for screenshots and downloads; its GitLab repo for source code, wiki for documentation, and also a page full of screenshots.
U8 Items Corrections and MoreThe CRPG Addict keeps making progress through Serpent Isle, as he reports in a fresh post called "Serpent Isle: Shedding Our Skins". I've updated the Serpent Isle info page to list all posts in this series, including the latest.
The Ultima 8 Items page has been updated with a lot of corrections, courtesy of the keen eye of gibberishh.
A link to Kikoskia's video playthrough of Ultima 8 has been added to the Ultima 8 Walkthrough page.
An entry for the Ultima 6 Remake for Exult has been added to the WebDB2, and a link to the same project has also been added to the Ultima 6 Guide.
U8 Map, U5 Costume, SI ProgressThe beautiful Ultima maps that I mentioned in the last news entry have been augmented with a new Ultima 8 map (spotted by Edbgon).
Meanwhile, it seems like someone has patched Ultima 5 to make the Avatar appear in a red outfit (posted on The Ultima Codex).
Finally, don't miss The CRPG Addict's latest Serpent Isle post: "Serpent Isle: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms".
New Ultima Maps on RedditAs The Ultima Codex recently reported, Reddit user u/rwgosse has been posting a series of beautiful maps based on the Ultima universe, the latest being Serpent Isle. The following is a list of the ones available so far:
Ultima 8 Walkthrough by gibberishhAlthough opinions differ about how good a game Ultima 8 is, I think it's safe to say that it's not one of the most loved games in the Ultima series. With so few people that really enjoyed it, and even less that have gone to great lengths to gather information and make interesting discoveries about it, it's somewhat surprising that the game still gets attention to this day.
And yet, here we are. gibberishh, who earlier this year contributed the fantastic Ultima 8 Annotated Maps, has just finished a brand new Ultima 8 walkthrough [PDF], which is now hosted here at Dino's Ultima Page. Aside from its considerable level of detail, this walkthrough also brings to light a couple of interesting discoveries, including the fact that (contrary to popular belief) you can cast Withstand Death multiple times, and the solution to the Skull of Quakes lever puzzle.
As a result, there have been several updates to the Ultima 8 Guide here at Dino's Ultima Page - some related to the walkthrough by gibberishh, and others that aren't:
That's not all. Here are a couple more updates not related to Ultima 8 at all:
U6 Remake Complete; Savage Empire RetrospectiveThere are a couple of interesting pieces of Ultima news courtesy of The Ultima Codex:
Other than that, restoration work on Dino's Ultima Page has been ongoing, and I'll have further updates to share in a few days when I'm a little less busy.
Fanfictions MigratedDino's Ultima Page hosts three fanfictions. The two which I wrote, The Return as well as the unfinished Tale of the Mystics, have just been migrated to use the seventh design of Dino's Ultima Page. They were the last parts of the site still on the fifth design, which is the old grey theme.
This migration not only makes them look a lot better as well as consistent with the rest of the site, but provides other benefits that I've gradually been rolling out across the site since I started working on the seventh design three years ago. These include mobile-friendly navigation, metadata that helps search engine visibility as well as social media sharing, and better image galleries. As part of this migration, I had to sacrifice both fanfictions' original title graphics, as well as The Return's navigation (which was never necessary, given that it's a single page).
As for the third fanfiction - The Lost Vale, which was written by Amazing Dragon, and whose recovery was the basis for the original launch of Dino's Ultima Page - I've upgraded its main page from XHTML 1.0 Strict to HTML 5, and fixed HTML validation errors in the process. I still have to do the same for the other pages in this fanfiction, which use a combination of HTML 4.01 Transitional and XHTML 1.0 Strict, so you can tell how ancient they are.
Easter UpdateHappy Easter!
The CRPG Addict is still progressing through Serpent Isle, albeit a little more slowly lately. I've added his latest Serpent Isle post, "Serpent Isle: Scorch'd, not Killed", to the Serpent Isle info page together with all the previous ones.
I've been working on making Dino's Ultima Page more friendly to social media by adding preview images for when pages are shared on social media. I've replaced the social media image that was used for the home and news pages, and this is now used in all pages using the new layout (i.e. everywhere except the U1 and U8 Guides, and the fanfictions) that don't have their own social media image. The individual info pages and guides now have their own social media images too, meaning only the fanfictions are left without.
The Pictures section has been removed from the U9 info page, since its contents were already available in the U9 Gallery. This gallery also benefits from larger thumbnails, as I've enlarged the remaining ones that were still tiny.
Other small updates have been made to the Credits page, several WebDB2 entries, and the 20th anniversary banner which is now also displayed in guides (except for U1 and U8, which have their own layout).
Another Round of UpdatesLast week, Michael Brian Norris of the MS-DOS Project released a new video review of Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire, the latest in his Ultima Retrospective series. I've added a link to this in the Savage Empire Opinions page, and also to the Savage Empire Fun page, given that the Gold Falls bug seemed to have been triggered at one point.
Other than that, I've made a lot of updates and additions throughout Dino's Ultima Page, so here's a list:
Ultima 1 Map Viewer UpdatedI wrote the Ultima 1 Map Viewer in my Ultima 1 Guide back in 2015. It's a fun way to roam Sosasia as it is in Ultima 1, but I admittedly did a poor job with it at the time. So now I've rewritten it to reflect some of the work I did later on Ultima 1 Revenge. You can now enjoy a much better map viewer with the following updates:
I also made some updates to other parts of Dino's Ultima Page, including:
Serpent Isle Walkthroughs and PlaythroughsThe CRPG Addict has continued playing Serpent Isle. His latest post, "Serpent Isle: Love and Lightning", is already the fourth for this game. You can find the updated list of posts in this playthrough at the end of my Serpent Isle Info page, in case you missed any of the earlier entries.
I've also made several updates to the Walkthroughs section of the Serpent Isle Info page, organising the walkthroughs by whether they cover Serpent Isle, The Silver Seed, or both; and also added links to several others.
U5 Redux Milestone: Specific Behaviours and Graphics OverhaulThere's a big update at the Ultima 5 Redux website today. The project has progressed well, having recently added (among other things):
Check out the video that's part of the post for a taste of all the new goodness.
U8 Walkthrough Link UpdatesThe recently added Ultima 8 Walkthrough page is home to more than just my own incomplete walkthrough. It has several links to other people's walkthroughs and playthroughs of Ultima 8. I've added links to Sergorn Dragon's Ultima 8 playthrough to the Playthroughs section. I also added several links to the Other Walkthroughs section, and reorganised several existing ones.
Serpent Isle Info UpdatesI've made a few updates to the Serpent Isle Info page:
The CRPG Addict Started Serpent IsleThe CRPG Addict has played through many CRPGs, offering entertaining and insightful commentary along each journey. He has already covered most of the Ultima games, and recently started playing Ultima VII Part Two - Serpent Isle.
Mobile Friendly Ultima 8 GuideTomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the first move of Dino's Ultima Page. The Ultima 8 Guide was launched as part of this move and shares the same anniversary.
On this special occasion, I'm happy to share some of the recent work I've done to improve the Ultima 8 Guide:
Part of these changes continue the work described in "The Evolution of Web Design at Dino's Ultima Page", an effort ongoing since 2020 to modernise Dino's Ultima Page (without losing its distinct look and feel), making it more friendly to mobile devices and search engines. Indeed, when I wrote that article almost two years ago, I had upgraded the entire site except for the Ultima 1 and 8 Guides. The current changes make this the third design of the Ultima 8 Guide (see the aforelinked article for screenshots of the previous two designs, launched in 2003 and 2015, respectively).
I have made a few modernisation changes to the Ultima 1 Guide as well. All pages have had their HTML improved the same way I described for the Ultima 8 Guide, and the "Dino's Ultima Page" navigation section has moved from the bottom to the top of the left side.
Ultima 8 Cheat Tablesgibberishh - the same who provided the lovely annotated maps of Ultima 8 just a few days ago - has just released cheat tables for Ultima 8. These cheat tables work with the Cheat Engine and apply to Ultima 8 running in DOSBox. The forum post where the cheat tables were released contains the cheat tables themselves, instructions on how to use them, and a summary of what cheats can be achieved with them.
Ultima 8 Annotated MapsI've added some new annotated maps to the Ultima 8 Guide, contributed by one going by the alias gibberishh. They were annotated while following Dan Fabulich's walkthrough, and mark important locations and interesting encounters.
As the 20th anniversary of my Ultima 8 Guide is in just a few days, it's great to see information and resources about the game surfacing to this day.
U4 Info AdditionsHappy New Year! 🎉
The U4 Info page has a new "About Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar" section, which contains a description of the game as well as a few external links also providing overviews. Among these links is the "Unplayable" article from 2010.
I've also made other additions to the U4 Info page, including a relatively recent review of the game (from about half a year ago) and the Ultima IV walkthrough at The Codex of Ultima Wisdom.
Paul Neurath Reflects on Ultima UnderworldIn the article "Madden '93 and immersive sim origins: the secret history of Ultima Underworld", published earlier this month, Paul Neurath reflects on the development of Ultima Underworld 30 years after its release.
I've added a link to this article at the Ultima Underworld info page, under the Development section.
Some Link AdditionsSince the last update, I added a few new links in different places, including:
Let's Break Ultima 9 - Part 5Just today, DOUG the Eagle Dragon published "Let's Break: Ultima 9 - Ascension (Part 5)", the final part in a video series that brings to life his Ultima 9 anti-walkthrough. For future reference, the Ultima IX Walkthrough page here at Dino's Ultima Page has been updated with a link to this latest video, and now has links to all videos in the series.
Let's Break Ultima 9 - Part 4DOUG the Eagle Dragon yesterday published "Let's Break: Ultima 9 - Ascension (Part 4)", the latest episode of his video adaptation of his Ultima 9 anti-walkthrough. As always, I've added a link to this video to the Ultima IX Walkthrough page.
All About VideosToday, DOUG the Eagle Dragon published his third "Let's Break Ultima 9" video. As with its predecessors, I've added a link to this video in the Ultima IX Walkthrough page.
In the Ultima 6 Guide's main page, I've organised the Remakes and Engines section into subsections. Under The Ultima 6 Project, I added a link to some videos of the remake by Captain XJ, and another to the old press releases that still exist at my Old News page.
Finally, RetroIslandGaming continued playing Martian Dreams a few days ago, and you can watch the video on demand.
Maps, Twitch and WebDB2Bryan C. alerted me on Twitter to some text files he's hosting that contain some maps of Ultima 1 and 4. There's also some technical information about the Ultima 1 savegame file format. As a result, I've added new links to Bryan's resources to the U1 Geography, U1 File Formats, and U4 info pages.
I've also added an entry for The Ultima Digital Music Archive to the WebDB2.
RetroIslandGaming, who recently played through The Savage Empire on Twitch (and ran into the Gold Falls Bug, no less), started playing Martian Dreams just yesterday.
Lazarus Info, DOUGing U9, and MoreI've added a lot of detail to the Ultima V: Lazarus entry at the recently added U5 Projects page. Check it out if you plan to play the remake.
Just yesterday, DOUG the Eagle Dragon added Part 2 of his "Let's Break Ultima 9 - Ascension" video series. I've added a link to this video to the Ultima IX Walkthrough page for future reference.
Yulo Tomorrow published a new Ultima parody game called Bread Miner, in which Iolo needs to mine pieces of bread from the Stygian Abyss.
As reported at The Ultima Codex, Iceblade (of the Forgotten World project) has been posting commentaries about Ultima 9, including one on Ultima IX's Economy and another on The Dungeon of Despise.
Ultima 5 Redux: Combat and PolishBrad from Ultima 5 Redux posted an update at the project's blog yesterday. The news, accompanied by a short video, describes the recently achieved milestone, "Combat and Polish". This includes lots of changes including audio, combat, UI, saving/loading and more. The saving/loading is particularly nice in that it supports multiple save slots.
In other news, my Savage Empire speedrun in 15 minutes and 27 seconds was published a year ago today, and is still the fastest run for this game.
DOUG the Eagle vs Ultima 9DOUG the Eagle Dragon, who you no doubt know from his mischief at IT-HE Software, is currently recording an anti-walkthrough of Ultima 9. The first part, "Let's Break: Ultima 9 - Ascension (Part 1)", was released on YouTube a couple of days ago and consists of 28 minutes packed with fun.
I've added a link to this video to the Ultima IX Walkthrough page, and I also added a link to the MS-DOS Project's Ultima 6 review (which I mentioned in the previous newspost here) to the Ultima 6 Reviews page.
The MS-DOS Project Reviews Ultima 6After playing it for about a year, The MS-DOS Project published a 45-minute video review of Ultima 6 on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. The review discusses just about every aspect of the game including the plot, controls, dialogue, combat, sound, and more.
The CRPG Addict: Some Musings about CRPG NarrativesIn a recent post titled "Some Musings about CRPG Narratives", The CRPG Addict answers questions from a student about CRPG narratives, ethics, evolution and composition. Ultima got a couple of mentions, with Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar cited as the first (and perhaps the only) CRPG with a complex ethics system, and Ultima Underworld lauded for having "pioneered the realistic, continuous movement, 3D dungeon crawler".
Various Info UpdatesI've made a lot of changes to Dino's Ultima Page over the past few days. Here's a summary of the more interesting updates:
The 20th AnniversaryToday, Dino's Ultima Page celebrates its 20th anniversary! I've published the article "20 Years of Dino's Ultima Page: A Historical Perspective" to mark the occasion, and also added the red ribbon you can now see beneath the website's title. The article talks about the circumstances of the period in which Dino's Ultima Page started, and how they changed over the years.
Additionally, since the last update here, I've done a lot of little site-wide updates and fixes. Perhaps the most interesting of these are the updates to the Savage Empire Fun page, where you'll find a new screenshot of Denys (the Easter Egg for Denis Loubet), more recorded occurrences of the Gold Falls bug, and two new entries in the Bugs section. The first of these is a subtle bug with the Savage Empire portraits that I noticed two years ago, and I've also uploaded a video to YouTube to show it. The second is the Disappearing Items bug that got carried over from Ultima 6.
Ultima IV Rebirth: Final UpdateI saw an update on the UDIC Facebook group a few days ago that seemed to be about a final update to Ultima IV Rebirth, a Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition mod by Melavir Sauin Dragon (see my Ultima 4 Remakes section for more info).
While the post seems to have disappeared, a quick look at the mod's entry on Neverwinter Vault shows a version 2.3.0f that was last updated on 7th July.
Further down, there is highlighted text that confirms that this is indeed "the final version" of this mod, and also a list of changes it brings with it.
Savage Empire: Gold Falls Bug and Eohippus Mystery SolvedThis morning, I finally managed to understand what causes the Gold Falls Bug in The Savage Empire. I have published a video showing how to reproduce it from a brand new game, as well as the details of the week-long investigation.
In the process, I learned about the role of the mysterious "special Eohippus hiding in the unused gargoyle map from Ultima 6", the horse companion bug that Sergorn Dragon wrote about in 2010, and DOUG the Eagle Dragon's Swift the Vehicle bug in Ultima 6.
All these things were in fact connected, and led to the conclusion that the using the raft is what causes the bug to occur when you drop the boulder on the T-Rex from certain angles.
You can reach The Gold Falls Bug Investigation via new links in the Savage Empire Main and Fun pages, as well as the Articles section of the Old News page.
In the Savage Empire Fun page, I've also add a link to another report (2017) of the Gold Falls Bug that I found in another forum.
Various UpdatesHere are a few new things to enjoy:
Revisiting the Gold Falls BugIn The Savage Empire, there's a crippling bug that keeps appearing from time to time. When you drop a boulder on a T-Rex named Thunderer, sometimes the text "Gold falls!" appears in the message log, and bad things happen to the party, usually resulting in the permanent loss of a party member.
About a week ago, user Sean38FL reported what seemed to a bug involving inventory in a thread in the GOG forum. Upon closer inspection, I realised that this was actually just another instance of the same Gold Falls bug.
While I was checking that out, I happened to revisit Sergorn's post about a bug where one of his companions turned into what seemed to be a horse. In one of his screenshots, once again, I noticed the all-too-familiar text: "Gold falls!"
With so much new material about this bug, I couldn't resist spending some time investigating it yesterday. This led to this long Twitter thread where I reproduced the bug and learned a bit more about its trigger and effects. But what kept eluding me was the exact conditions needed to cause it (e.g. from a fresh game). A second Twitter thread shows work in progress with hex editing.
While I'm hoping to add a lot more detail about this bug when I finish investigating it, in the meantime I've made some updates to the Savage Empire Guide to organise things a little better. In the Bugs section of the Savage Empire Fun page, I removed what used to be the "Horsey Transformation" (i.e. Sergorn's post) subsection and reorganised the "Gold Falls" subsection with new links and metadata. I also reorganised the Item Creation section of the MDHack page, adding new links and updating existing ones.
More Fun in Ultima 6Ultima 6 is a game that provides a lot of freedom. As a result, following the recent additions to the Ultima 6 Fun collection at Dino's Ultima Page - see recent news Ultima 6 Zeta Bug Reproduced (26th June 2022) and Ultima 6 Fun Expands (29th June 2022) - it should come as no surprise that there's more to come.
In fact, today I can already announce a few more additions:
The CRPG Addict Talks Runes of VirtueYesterday, The CRPG Addict posted BRIEF: Ultima: Runes of Virtue (1991) and Ultima: Runes of Virtue II (1993), in which he discusses the two Runes of Virtue Ultima games for Game Boy. Although they are considered neither canon Ultima games nor RPGs, they are technically part of the Ultima franchise. And therefore, The CRPG Addict thought (well) that it might be interesting to check them out even though he has no intention to play through them fully.
Ultima 6 Fun ExpandsThe Ultima 6 Fun page has grown to the extent that I thought it made sense to split it into multiple pages. As a result, this old page now lives in a new "U6 Fun" navigation section in the Ultima 6 Guide alongside two new pages:
In the Ultima 6 Guide's main page, I've also added dates next to each of The CRPG Addict's listed posts.
CRPG Addict's UW2 RatingThe CRPG Addict concluded his treatment of Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds yesterday with his summary and rating of the game. His ranking of the game is stellar, placing it among the top 5 games he's played (and he's played a lot).
I've updated the list of posts from The CRPG Addict's playthrough in my UW2 info page to include this new post.
Ultima 6 Zeta Bug ReproducedBetween yesterday and today, I spent a lot of time experimenting with Ultima 6. My primary goal was to determine whether The Codex of Ultima Wisdom's listed ways to kill Lord British in Ultima 6 (plus a fourth method at the earlier fandom version of the same page) actually work. I've always thought that a glass sword was the only way to do this, and was surprised when reading about these other methods.
However, this led to a lot of other interesting discoveries, many of which I shared on Twitter as they happened. These include:
These investigations led to me publishing three videos today:
I've made some updates throughout the U6 Fun page to reflect these discoveries, including:
When I have more time, I'd like to add detailed writeups on each of these.
The CRPG Addict Finishes Ultima Underworld 2The CRPG Addict has finally finished his tough journey through Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds that he started back in April. Another post with his rating of the game should be coming soon.
I've taken this opportunity to add the list of posts from his playthrough conveniently to the Ultima Underworld 2 info page here at Dino's Ultima Page. I hope to update this again when the rating post becomes available.
Finally, in the Ultima 3 info page, I've updated my copy of Rikkles' Ultima 3 maps, which have recently been corrected.
A Little RestructuringYou might have noticed a few changes to the navigation on the left. That's because... I have indeed made a few changes.
First, I've added an "About" page, giving a little background about Dino's Ultima Page, Ultima, the Ultima Dragons, and myself for newcomers who might be wondering what this is all about. Curiously, Dino's Ultima Page used to have two different "About" pages (one about the site and another about me) in its infancy, as you can see at this archived version as at January 2003.
Secondly, since nobody uses the Google Group any more, I've removed the "Discussion" link from the navigation and instead added a "Forums" section to the Contact page which also lists my earlier forums.
This left the "Feedback" navigation section with just the Contact page, so I removed the "Feedback" section and moved the Contact link up to the "Main" navigation section.
Finally, I've fixed the "Older News" section that you can see at the bottom of the homepage so that it doesn't appear when you're seeing all news.
More on Alleged Collectible Fraud (And Other News)Information about the counterfeit collectibles scandal that I wrote about last week has continued to emerge and circulate around the internet. Here are a few more places where you can read more about it:
The CRPG Addict seems to be nearing the end of Ultima Underworld II. His latest post covers a whacky trip through the Ethereal Void.
The MS-DOS Project's Ultima Retrospective, a series of reviews of the Ultima games, has reached Ultima 5. While this is old news, I've only just caught up, and added links to the Ultima 4 and 5 video reviews to the respective info pages here.
I've added an entry for The Stones Archive to the WebDB2.
Finally, yesterday was my 20th anniversary as a member of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter. Dino's Ultima Page will also be celebrating its 20th anniversary in July.
Rikkles' Ultima mapsIn my last news post, I mentioned that Rikkles created some Ultima 2 maps. Since then, he's done the same for Ultimas 1 and 3, and uploaded his maps for the whole first trilogy to his GridCartographer-Mapping GitHub repository.
With his permission, I've added links to and copies of his maps to the Ultima 1 Geography and Ultima 3 info page. I had already added the Ultima 2 maps to the Ultima 2 info page, but I've now also added a link there to the aforementioned GitHub repository.
Alleged Ultima Collectible FraudThis springtime hasn't been very rosy for the Ultima community. The news of Rustic Dragon breaking ties with the Ultima community, as well as Richard Garriott's controversial plans to enter the NFT space are now overshadowed by some new, nefarious developments.
Enrico Ricciardi, who has for years been a prominent figure in the Ultima community and the Big Box PC Game Collectors group, is now being accused of having sold around $100k in counterfeit collectibles. This news, along with the evidence collected, has made it to a number of popular gaming news sites such as Kotaku, Gamebyte and Cracked. You can also find this evidence in a couple of tweets (first, second) by Dominus, one of the victims of the alleged scam.
In other news, The CRPG Addict has visited the Tomb of Praecor Loth.
And finally, Rikkles has created a great set of Ultima 2 maps and shared them recently in a Tweet. I've added an entry for these maps in the Ultima 2 info page here at Dino's Ultima Page, from where you can reach the maps either at their original location or as a copy here at Dino's Ultima Page, hosted with permission.
CRPG Addict Covers UW2 MagicThe CRPG Addict visits the Pits of Carnage in his newest post, "Ultima Underworld II: Enchantment!". More interesting, however, is his description of the spells up to Level 6, and his concluding criticism of the magic system in Ultima Underworld 2. I've added a link to this post to the Ultima Underworld 2 info page (in the Magic section) for future reference.
CRPG Addict Continues UW2The CRPG Addict is still playing through Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds. His newest posts are Ultima Underworld II: Sex and Murder and Ultima Underworld II: Test Anxiety, which have seen him trek across further worlds in order to try and counter the Guardian's threat. At the same time, he is also wrapping up his playthrough of Lands of Lore.
Projects on ItchSlashing Dragon recently migrated his Low Resolution Ultima Maps Project (LRUMP) to itch.io. LRUMP is a collection of tiled maps based on Ultima games and beyond, that can be used with the Tiled level editor, and adopted for third party games. I've added a link to this in the General Info page.
I also came across Yulo Tomorrow's game, The First Age of Duckness, which is a parody of Ultima 1. After finishing this game, I added an entry for it in the Ultima 1 Projects page.
U7BG Info UpdatesOver the past year, Ian Eborn has been live streaming his playthrough of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, and finally finished the game a couple of days ago. The 39 videos of this playthrough are on his YouTube channel. I've added a link to this at my U7BG Walkthroughs page.
During a live stream about a week ago, Ian also came across what seemed at the time to be a mountaneering expedition gone wrong. I've added a paragraph about this to the U7BG Fun page, as this seems to have been a bug.
Finally, in the U7BG Remakes and Engines section, I've added a bit more info on Exult 3D, mainly because Dominus restored the latest download for that project.
CRPG Addict and BookThe CRPG Addict continued his journey through Ultima Underworld II, and today published his latest post, "Ultima Underworld II: A Song of Ice and Fire".
Also worth mentioning is that although The CRPG Book Project doesn't have any news since the release of the expanded edition in February, the downloadable PDF seems to have gone through a few minor versions. It is now at version 3.2b, compared to the 3.1c version I downloaded in February. Although there is no information about what has changed, you might want to grab the latest version of the book.
Yulo's Exult Studio TutorialsI have a list of updates to share but not that much time, so I'm going to write about the first three, and cover the rest another time:
The CRPG Addict Reaches the Blackrock GemThe CRPG Addict has continued playing Ultima Underworld 2. In his latest post, "Ultima Underworld II: Don't Fear the Reaper", he fought his way down to the bottom of the sewers beneath Castle British, and there, he found a blackrock gem leading to another world.
U7BG 30th Anniversary and Related NewsAs it happened, a week ago (16th April 2022) was the 30th anniversary of the release of Ultima VII: The Black Gate.
As a result, a handful of U7BG-related things happened:
The CRPG Addict Plays Ultima Underworld 2 and Lands of LoreThe CRPG Addict has this month started playing Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, as well as Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos, which can be considered as a cousin of the Eye of the Beholder trilogy.
You can already read the first two posts about each game:
Easter UpdateHappy Easter! With a little more free time than usual, I've made a few tiny improvements to Dino's Ultima Page:
Ultima 4 and 5 Map ToolsIn a Tweet, Brad from Ultima 5 Redux shared a link to Andrew Schultz's RPG Mapping Tools, which include Dungeon Surfers for Ultimas 4 and 5.
The Ultima Codex also recently posted about an Ultima IV map viewer that seems to have been recently created by vectorpoem.
As a result, I've added a Tools section to the Ultima 4 and Ultima 5 info pages with links to these handy map tools.
EldironSpotted by Stirring Dragon on Twitter, Eldiron is an open source and cross-platform RPG maker. Written in Rust and released under the permissive MIT licence, the fact that it is inspired by Ultima (4 and 5, mainly) is evident in both the description and the tilesets provided. Check out the project's homepage, GitHub repository, Discord or Patreon.
Ultima VII - The Black Gate Spell CostsYesterday, Fermix shared on Twitter a spreadsheet listing spell costs in Ultima 7: The Black Gate at different locations, and also highlighting the cheapest location to buy each spell. I have added a link to this spreadsheet to the U7BG info page here at Dino's Ultima Page.
Ultima Dragons 30th AnniversaryHappy anniversary, Ultima Dragons! Today is the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Ultima Dragons club, which came a couple of years before the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter (UDIC).
It also marks 5 years since the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Bash, which many of us attended in 2017 in California. During that event, our liege Lord British was initiated into our fold, and today he celebrates 5 years of Dragonhood.
Another anniversary will come later this year, exactly 5 months from today (in July), when Dino's Ultima Page celebrates its 20th year running.
Ynnad Dragon's MapsIf you've been around the UDIC long enough, you might remember Ynnad Dragon's Ultima Homepage, a small website hosting detailed maps and a couple of fonts. Like many other Ultima websites hosted on Geocities, Ynnad's website disappeared many years ago.
As part of my archiving efforts, I had recovered some of his Ultima 5 maps via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine and hosted them on Dino's Ultima Page. However, the Ultima 5 map in BMP format was not saved by the Wayback Machine and was lost.
As luck would have it, Ynnad reached out a couple of days ago, providing not only the missing Ultima 5 map, but also a map of Britannia in Ultima 4. You can find these huge maps as zipped JPG images in the respective Ultima 4 and Ultima 5 information pages.
DND1.JS on itch.ioContinuing his trend of uploading one game a week from slashie.net to itch.io, Slashing Dragon has uploaded DND1.JS to itch.io earlier this month. You can play four different versions of the game right there.
In the Twitter thread where he announced this, he explained more about DND1.JS. One of Richard Garriott's first games and one of the earliest computer RPGs, DND1 was written for the PDP-11 minicomputer. In 2014, Richard Garriott shared a scan of the code online, as part of a challenge in which developers could recreate the game in a way that did not need a teletype and could be played using modern hardware. Slashing Dragon then created his web-accessible version and documented the process.
The CRPG Book Project: Expanded Edition ReleasedSome pretty big news from The CRPG Book Project: the expanded edition of the book was released last week, and you can download it for free.
"The CRPG Book Expanded Edition brings 152 pages extra pages [sic], 56 new game reviews, several new articles, a lot of revised content and a glorious cover art gallery! The total: 680 pages!"
Aside from the new content, this new edition fixes a lot of issues with the original release, and also attempts to lessen the bias towards mainsteam western RPGs.
A printed version of this new edition is in the works, once again via the excellent publisher Bitmap Books. It will be available sometime in 2023, with proceeds going to charity. The post about the release also includes details on how you can donate to charity now, even before the physical book ships.
Ultimore: A World Divided ported to PCUltimore: A World Divided, originally an unofficial mod for Ultima 3 (Apple II version) dating back to 1985, was recently ported to PC. This was announced on 8th Decemeber 2021 in a Twitter thread by Daemon Master, who did the porting.
The PC version of Ultimaore: A World Divided can now be obtained from itch.io. This same page explains some of the mod's background:
"Originally released for the Apple II in early 1985 'Ultimore: A World Divided' was an unofficial expansion to Ultima III: Exodus created by Joel Fenton.
"Joel placed adverts in various computer magazines and sold expansions for both Ultima III and the original Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.
"Over time these scenarios were lost. In recent years 'Ultimore: A World Divided' and 'Ultimore: Egypt' have been re-discovered, they are however in the Apple II format.
"Now Daemon Master and Lord Ponsonby bring 'Ultimore: A World Divided' to the IBM PC for the very first time! No longer must you tackle Apple II emulators (or hardware), instead you can enjoy this classic scenario simply using the GOG version of Ultima III, with or without enhanced visuals and sound."
This release has also been covered by The Ultima Codex, where you'll find some more info about Ultimamore as well as a mirror of the download.
DrashRL on itch.ioA couple of days ago, Slashing Dragon announced on a Twitter thread that he would "be uploading one game a week from slashie.net to itch.io. This week, DrashRL, the traditional #roguelike themed in the world of #Ultima".
The Mount Drash Roguelike page at itch.io provides more information, screenshots, a video, and a download of the game:
"Mt. Drash: The Roguelike, takes some ideas from the setting of the ancient VIC-20 game "Escape from Mt. Drash", trying to make it more compatible with the rest of the Ultima series while at the same time providing hardcore traditional roguelike fun.
"In the game, you must decide carefully how you want to shape your character based on the limited options that you are given; there are no experience points or levels, all advancement is made by transversing the levels of the arena. There are combat tactics and magic spells for a great variety of interaction types."
In the aforementioned Twitter thread, Slashie also points out that DrashRL actually has six different visual modes you can use to play the game.
New U5 Redux Pre Alpha ReleaseThere's fresh news at the Ultima 5 Redux Development Blog, where new pre-alpha builds for Windows, Mac and Linux have just been released.
The blog post explains what you need to get started, and the release page lists known issues and features added over the past year or so.
UW Adventures and U5 Redux ScreenshotsIn the U5 info page, I've added a handful of screenshots of U5 Redux, and moved the project into its own subsection.
I've also done the same with Underworld Adventures in the Ultima Underworld 1 info page.
Underworld Adventures New ReleaseMerry Christmas, everyone!
A new version of Underworld Adventures (0.10.0-pina-colada) has just been released. Here are the details:
This release is the first one in 17 years. It was mainly released to restore, refactor and improve the old code base that I stopped developing at around 2007. My main goal was to show what the project was like in the 0.9 release, and what the team accomplished at the time. So keep in mind that most gameplay elements are still not implemented yet. See the Features matrix for infos on what works and what doesn't.
This release contains several improvements and bug fixes:
- Refactored the whole code base to compile again and to use modern C++ language constructs
- Implemented displaying the current map when looking at the map object
- Reactivated displaying 3D models provided by Sam Matthews (servus)
- Objects and critters now use the hqx 4x scaler to improve image quality
- Binaries include the digital music pack, provided by Martin Shetty (QQtis)
- Improved decompiling conversation code
- No need to lowercase game files anymore
- Extended `uwdump` tool to recognize more file types
- Improved Underworld Debugger, including debugging Lua and conversation scripts
- Updated all external libraries, like SDL2, Lua, zlib, etc.
- New CMake based build system to help porting the project to other platforms
- Fixed rendering the 3D models, especially the shrine ankh
- Fixed picking up items and containers
- Many more small bugfixes
Ultima C64 Documentary and U5 Redux StreamThere are a couple of really good videos released recently on YouTube that you probably shouldn't miss.
The first is a recording of the Twitch stream of Ultima 5 Redux that happened on 16th October, in which Brad shows the current state of development and shows off a lot of cool features.
The second is a documentary about Ultima and the Commodore 64, by Bastich B. This video of just over half an hour covers the first six Ultimas on the C64 in a lot of detail.
Minor UpdatesHere are a few updates I made to Dino's Ultima Page recently:
SE and U6 Link AdditionsI've sprinkled a few new links in different places. The most interesting of these is probably the one I added to the end of the U6 Fun page. According to an old thread I came across, you can break the game by having a secondary party member cast Armageddon.
I've added a few other links to the Savage Empire Guide, including to Ultima Journeys (Main and Walkthrough pages) and StrategyWiki's Savage Empire wiki (which has some very detailed item lists). In the section about the Myrmidex caverns, I replaced the mention of five entrances with a list of sources that list or show them, and the section on Remnants of Ultima 6 has been elaborated based on information from the Codex of Ultima Wisdom.
Yet Another Savage Empire SpeedrunThe record I set for speedrunning The Savage Empire a couple of weeks ago didn't last very long. In fact, a couple of days ago, I set a new record at just 15 minutes and 27 seconds. This speedrun was verified and listed on speedrun.com today.
During this speedrun, I notably sacrificed my companion Rafkin to a T-Rex. Don't worry though... he was absolutely fine in the endgame.
Savage Empire Info UpdatesDue to my recent efforts around speedrunning The Savage Empire (which are still ongoing, by the way), I've collected a bunch of information that I gradually added to the Savage Empire Guide:
Savage Empire Speedrun: New RecordIn September last year, I set the first record for playing The Savage Empire as fast as possible, with a speedrun in 1 hour, 22 minutes and 11 seconds.
Following a suggestion from Mao Lim on the UDIC Facebook group, I have finally managed to finish the game early by brute forcing my way through the Myrmidex Caves without uniting the tribes. The result was that yesterday I made a new speedrun in 20 minutes and 15 seconds, setting a new record for The Savage Empire. This has today been listed on speedrun.com as the fastest run to date for this game.
The Kotl Fruit MachineEarlier, I was taking a stroll through the Underground City of the Kotl (The Savage Empire), and I came across a vending machine where you could buy fruit with emeralds. This inspired me to make a few small updates to The Savage Empire Guide:
Dino's Ultima Page Turns 19Another year has gone by, and today, Dino's Ultima Page is 19 years old!
This past year has seen a revival of activity on this site, particularly with the migration to the 7th design (see "The Evolution of Web Design at Dino's Ultima Page") which was completed a few months ago. Except for the U1 and U8 Guides which each have their own individual design, the entire site has been consolidated into a consistent layout that is technically sound, mobile-friendly and more accessible to search engines. At the same time, the look and feel of the site itself have remained mostly the same, retaining its character. There were also a lot of changes to the content, the most notable being the responsive image galleries which you can find throughout the site (e.g. U6 Geography).
During the past year I have also restored two of the best Ultima sites (the Ultima Web Archive and UltimaInfo) to the web.
Thanks for continuing to follow Dino's Ultima Page for all these years! I'll do my best to continue making it well worth your time to visit.
Ultima 6 PlaythroughsThe Walkthroughs section of the Ultima 6 Guide now has a Playthroughs section, into which I've moved the playthroughs by The CRPG Addict (enhanced into a list of posts) and Nakar (updated the link and the description), and also added the one by Ophidian Dragon.
CRPG Book Three-Year UpdateI have recently been reading through the hardcover edition of The CRPG Book, so it's quite exciting to see a recent update three years after the book's PDF launch.
In this update, Felipe Pepe shares some information about the success the book had in terms of downloads, sales and money raised for charity. He also mentions the goals for an updated version of the book that is currently in progress - it will feature games up to 2019, add a few new sections, and fix some issues with the original release.
Finally, Felipe has also shared in the update some other content he has created or been involved with, including an article on MUDs and MMORPGs, another on Chinese RPGs, and a podcast interview in which he talked about The CRPG Book.
Technical ImprovementsOver the past month, I've made several technical improvements to Dino's Ultima Page. Some of these include changes in the underlying structure of the Ultima 1 Guide, upgrades to third party JavaScript scripts, and a change in the way JavaScript is loaded in each page. You shouldn't notice any visual differences, although you might notice that pages based on the new layout (7th design, which excludes the U1 and U8 Guides as well as the fanfictions) load much faster now.
If, however, you notice that anything looks odd or has stopped working, please notify me and I'll look into it.
U1 Guide Mobile Improvements (and more)The Ultima 1 Guide just got a few usability improvements:
Other than that, here are a few other recent updates to Dino's Ultima Page:
Worlds of Ultima UpdatesThe Worlds of Ultima info pages have received some light updates over the past week, including:
Savage Empire Guide Migrated to New LayoutToday, I finished migrating the Savage Empire Guide to the new layout, which I have recently started calling the 7th design of Dino's Ultima Page. The content of the Guide has remained mostly untouched, except for some images (e.g. in the Walkthrough) which are now using the new responsive gallery. Overall, the main benefit of this migration is that the Savage Empire Guide, like the rest of the site, should be usable on mobile devices.
As I wrote in my recent article "The Evolution of Web Design at Dino's Ultima Page", the Savage Empire Guide was the last part of the site to use the 6th design. It's also quite the coincidence that this migration has been finished exactly one year to the day since I started working on the new layout.
Having finished this migration, I can now focus more on doing various much-needed maintenance around the site and also adding more information.
Ultima Web Archive Links UpdatedFollowing the recent restoration of the Ultima Web Archive, I've gone through all links to the Ultima Web Archive on Dino's Ultima Page and updated them to point to the new location (which I'm hosting). This fixes the vast majority of these links; however there are still a handful that are a little more complicated to get working, and I've taken note to deal with them sometime soon.
U5 Redux Combat UpdateBrad from Ultima 5 Redux has been working mostly on implementing combat over the past few months. His latest update documents his progress in terms of both supporting the original combat functionality as well as adding new features that improve the experience. He has also made a host of other enhancements to Ultima 5 Redux in general, including the implementation of line-of-sight among other things. The combat functionality is still a work in progress, and Brad is planning to keep working on it over the next few months.
Project Info UpdatesThe latest updates to Dino's Ultima Page mostly reflect recently discovered projects:
Ultima Dragons 29th AnniversaryToday, the Ultima Dragons club (which is the precursor to the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter) celebrates its 29th anniversary. As a result, this also marks 4 years since the 25th Anniversary Bash. Time flies when you're having fun!
Happy anniversary, Ultima Dragons!
Ultima IV RebirthAnother recent(ish) project worth taking a look at is Ultima IV Rebirth. Melavir Sauin Dragon has been working on this mod for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition for a roughly a year, since COVID19 appeared. It's a reworking of the earlier "Ultima IV Reborn AeT" Neverwinter Nights mod.
This is an alternate reality of Britannia, set during the events chronicled in Ultima IV Quest of the Avatar in the prime universe, as canonized by Origin Systems, Inc.
Revisions include a new introduction, endgame, integrated townes into landscaped areas, loadscreens, potions, spells, music...
New is camping gear, enchanted rings, magic gems, side quests...
Melavir Sauin Dragon posted a video last week showing how to take the first steps in the game, and explains a lot about the game mechanics.
The Bread GateAbout a week ago, Yulo Tomorrow released The Bread Gate, a parody of the bread-baking job in Ultima 7: The Black Gate. In this game, made with Unity 3D, you have to frantically bake loaves of bread to both prevent Iolo from starving and make enough extra money to buy a candelabra. You can play the game online or download it.
It's also worth mentioning that Yulo Tomorrow's Itch page has art that's very reminiscent of the intro scene from Ultima 6, and she's also active on Twitter, where she shares both Ultima-related fan art, and her progress playing through Ultima 7: The Black Gate.
The Digital Antiquarian on Ultima 8A couple of days ago, The Digital Antiquarian published "Ultima VIII (or, How to Destroy a Gaming Franchise in One Easy Step)", his lengthy treatise on the historical context in which Ultima 8 was developed, and its resulting disastrous critical reception.
UltimaInfo restoredFollowing the restoration of the Ultima Web Archive a week ago, I am delighted to have also returned UltimaInfo to the web today.
Probably one of the best and most comprehensive Ultima information sites on the web, and best known for its encyclopaedic The Other Codex, UltimaInfo was created and run by Paulon Dragon until it disappeared from the web a few years ago.
It is now being hosted alongside Dino's Ultima Page with Paulon Dragon's blessing. Its WebDB2 entry has been updated accordingly, and you can also get to it via the Hosted Sites page. In time, I will update all links to UltimaInfo on Dino's Ultima Page to point to the new address.
Evolution of DesignDino's Ultima Page has been around for a long time, and it has changed a lot over the years. The recent migration to the new layout has given it new vigour, but at the same time is erasing the last vestiges of its earlier designs. In this spirit, I've just published an article providing a historical overview of all the different designs it has used over the years.
"With less than a year and a half to go to its 20th anniversary, Dino's Ultima Page has changed a lot over the years. As it is currently in advanced stages of a technical migration that is consolidating a new layout across the entire site, and thus replacing the last remnants of its earlier incarnations, I felt it would be interesting to offer a historical perspective on its design."
The timing for this is intentional, because the Savage Empire Guide will soon be migrated to the new layout, which I am now calling the seventh design. Read more at "The Evolution of Web Design at Dino's Ultima Page".
Ultima Web Archive restoredThe Ultima Web Archive was certainly one of the best early Ultima sites. Unfortunately, it has long since disappeared, and even after it was restored by The Ultima Codex for a time, it seems to be gone from there as well.
Fortunately, I'm pleased to announce that I've just restored the Ultima Web Archive to the web, based on a backup I had from around 2008. I will gradually be updating all dead links on Dino's Ultima Page to resources on the Ultima Web Archive. For now, you can get to it via the Hosted Sites page or its WebDB2 entry. I've also added three screenshots of the Ultima Web Archive to the latter.
More Small UpdatesI made a handful of other improvements to Dino's Ultima Page over the last couple of days. These include:
Various Minor UpdatesIn anticipation of a big update coming soon, this weekend I've only performed a number of minor changes including:
Ultima Legacy RebornHouston Dragon has recently relaunched Ultima Legacy:
After many years, Ultima Legacy returns to bring new life to the Ultima Dragons roleplaying community.
Those wishing to join, please review the rules prior to signing up on the server, and be respectful to your fellow Dragons.
Please contact Houston Dragon to sign up and request a new account.
Please download and install the Ultima Online Gold Client zip file, and edit your Login.cfg file to include LoginServer=76.97.222.251,2593. You will also need the UO Razor utility for the client encryption. (I defintely recommend the 3D client for the higher resolution and screen size, and have also reconfigured for less bugs. Please submit as needed.)
May you walk in Virtue in these lands! :)
The new Ultima Legacy is accompanied by the New Horizons Tavern (forums for Ultima Legacy and also wider Ultima-related discussion) as well as the Ultima Legacy Discord.
I've updated the Ultima Legacy WebDB2 entry as a result.
Serpent Isle Info UpdatesThis weekend, it was the Serpent Isle info page's turn to get some attention:
Ultima 7 Guide Migrated to New LayoutToday, the Ultima 7 Guide became the latest part of Dino's Ultima Page to migrate to the new layout. This means it gets a new logo, fancy navigation images, and mobile responsiveness. I've also reorganised the content of the Guide since there were a lot of empty pages and sections.
The Ultima Underworld 1 Lizardman Language page has also been migrated to the new layout.
Finally, the Ultima 5 Guide got a new logo.
With all the recent changes, hopefully Dino's Ultima Page is looking pretty fresh by now. The site is now in advanced stages of a long-term modernisation project with the goals of having a consistent look and feel, looking decent on mobile, ranking better in search engines, and making it easier to add new information.
U9 Galleries from Silva's WorldSilva's World is one of many websites that were around in the early 2000s and that have since disappeared. Like many of its kind, this website was a treasure trove of Ultima information and pictures.
In fact, digging through my archives, I have managed to recover two galleries from Silva's World, with gorgeous screenshots of Ultima 9 by Silva Dragon and Xenerkes Dragon. I've added these to the Ultima 9 Gallery (with proper attribution) for everyone to enjoy!
Ultima 6 in German: Umlauts and Updated Sir John shared on Twitter that he's working on a new German translation patch for Ultima 6. The upcoming version 1.5 has umlauts not only in the game itself, but also in the introduction, character creation and the endgame.
In fact, Sir John also shared a video on YouTube of the Ultima 6 endgame in German, sporting letters bearing the aforementioned pair of dots throughout. Additionally, the video shows another modification: The final "Report thy feat" message has been updated, asking successful players to reach Richard Garriott on Twitter.
First Update of 2021Happy New Year everyone! I've got a few updates for you.
First, I've migrated my Complete Guide to Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash to the new layout. That means it's using the same kind of theme as the rest of the site (rather than the old dark theme), has a new logo, has better image positioning, and should also look good on mobile.
Speaking of mobile, I've made some changes to most parts of the site that should make it look better on mobile. This doesn't yet apply to sections with their own layout (such as the U1 and U8 Guides), but I'll address those as well at a later stage.
Finally, I've recovered a couple of maps of U5-era Britannia from the Ultima Web Archive, and added them to the U5 info page for everyone to enjoy.
That's all for today. Stay tuned, as I'll have more updates soon!
U9 Info Migration and U5 Civ2 ScenarioSince the last update here, I've migrated all of the Ultima 9 info pages to the new layout.
Also, I was contacted by the author of the Ultima 5 Civilization 2 scenario, who is now hosting the screenshots and download himself after the download link in the original forum thread stopped working. I've added the new link to the U5 info page, and added a WebDB2 entry for this project.
Major Ultima 6 Guide UpdateThe Ultima 6 Guide has just undergone a major overhaul, and I'd like to share what has changed.
For starters, I've migrated the Ultima 6 Guide from the old dark theme to the newer layout that the rest of the site has recently adopted. This obviously changes the visual appearance, but also includes other benefits such as responsive (mobile-friendly) layout/navigation and social media images and descriptions. You will also notice a new logo for the Ultima 6 Guide, as well as new images in the navigation (if browsing from desktop). I have also changed the style of the title of each page - this change is global so you'll notice the difference throughout Dino's Ultima Page, not just in the Ultima 6 Guide.
In the Ultima 6 Items page, I've updated the information on several magical items, and provided additional locations where you can find them.
The Ultima 6 Fun page is now using the new responsive gallery and bigger thumbnails. I added a couple of screenshots of the game's introduction. And in the Easter Eggs section you'll find some info from Through the Moongate (Part 1) about Sherry and Penumbra, accompanied with screenshots from the game, as well as a mention of people from the Amtgard group.
There is a new Ultima 6 Reviews page, where you can post your opinion about the game or read what other people have written. The Reviews section that used to be in the main U6 page has been moved to this new page.
The Maps section that used to be in the main U6 page has been moved to a new Ultima 6 Geography page, and the info here has been developed further as follows:
If you check any of the books in the Ultima 6 Writings page, the book content is now centred in the page.
Finally, I've added a section on Belief Systems to the Ultima 6 Guide's main page, and in the Walkthrough section, I added a link to The CRPG Addict's posts from his 2014 playthrough of Ultima 6.
Christmas 2020 UpdateHi everyone! I made a few updates to Dino's Ultima Page just in time for Christmas:
Finally, as Christmas approaches, and COVID19 is still with us, remember to stay safe and keep away from people outside your household, especially the Guardian!
U8: Programmer's Playland and Brimstone Cliffs foundAn Ultima fan going by the name "Daedalus" has solved two long-standing mysteries about Ultima 8 last month. The Usecode files contain, among many other things, a list of locations that the Divination focus reports. Two of these, Programmer's Playland and Brimstone Cliffs, never appear in the game.
Using Pentagram, Daedalus was able to teleport to different maps, and by using the Divination focus, he confirmed that Programmer's Playland and Brimstone Cliffs are actually maps number 1 and 13 respectively. The former contains an arrangement of NPCs, probably for testing. The latter is completely empty, but its placement between the maps of Daemon's Crag and the Obsidian Fortress supports my original theory (based on the name Brimstone Cliffs) that this location was meant to have some relation to Daemon's Crag before it got cut.
Check out the relevant sections of the Ultima 8 Omissions page for more information about these elusive locations!
Ultima 5 Redux Update: Shoppe Keepers and VehiclesA fresh update from Ultima 5 Redux talks about the recently implemented shoppe keepers and vehicles, which actually took a lot of work. The post also mentions that pre-alpha demo builds will be released in the next few days. Next items on the agenda will be UI improvements, line of sight, and either monsters or dungeons.
U8 Writings and U4 ArticleI've recently finished adding to, reviewing and correcting the Ultima 8 Writings based on my recent Docks and Tenebrae replay.
Also, I've added a link to "The Computer Game that Led to Enlightenment" (an article about Ultima 4 and its virtue system at The New Yorker) to the Ultima 4 info page.
Finally, stay tuned, because there have been a lot of interesting discoveries about Ultima 8 this month, and I will be adding them to Dino's Ultima Page soon.
Savage Empire Speedrun Listed; C64 TilesetsThe Savage Empire speedrun I did a couple of weeks ago has since been approved and listed on speedrun.com. It is the only listed speedrun of The Savage Empire to date, and thus currently holds 1st place. I have added a Speedruns section to the Savage Empire walkthrough page with links to this speedrun.
In another small update to the Savage Empire Guide, I removed an acknowledgement about the Cheatbook database, in connection with a mistake I made years ago and recently corrected.
Finally, Minstrel Dragon has extracted C64 tilesets of some of the earlier Ultima games, and kindly contributed them to Dino's Ultima Page. You'll find them in the Ultima 2, Ultima 3 and Ultima 4 info pages under the respective File Format Information sections.
The Savage Empire SpeedrunToday, after a fair amount of preparation over recent weeks and months, I've created and published a speedrun of Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire. As far as I'm aware, this is the first speedrun of this game. The recording shows the game played from beginning to end in less than an hour and a half, with room for improvement.
U8 Docks and Tenebrae Walkthrough RevampedI have continued replaying Ultima 8 with the intention of updating and completing the walkthrough. Having explored Tenebrae, I have made the following updates to the Ultima 8 Guide:
The CRPG Addict Reviews Ultima VII: The Black GateThe CRPG Addict's playthrough of Ultima VII: The Black Gate has been a long and interesting one. After finishing the game twice in different ways, he has today cast his judgement in terms of a long summary of the game and a GIMLET score of 51. While this might be disappointing for those among us who hail this game as one of the best CRPGs ever, the CRPG Addict (and Jimmy Maher of The Digital Antiquarian before him) notes that there seems to be something really special about this game, despite a number of flaws.
The CRPG Addict Finishes U7BG... DifferentlyAs it turns out, although The CRPG Addict finished Ultima VII: The Black Gate last week in a very unexpected manner, that was not to be his last post concerning this game. In fact, he has now gone back and finished the game again, this time following the main storyline as the game's developers intended. I'm sure that this, too, is not the last he's written about the game. After all, we're all still waiting for a post-mortem review.
Ultima Fandom Article on Wired; U8 Walkthrough IntroKenneth Kully, our Withstand the Fury Dragon who runs The Ultima Codex, has been featured on an article at Wired about how Ultima Fandom Is Still Going Strong. Based on a recent podcast, it talks about the longevity of our fan community, and other related topics of interest.
After finding a way to automate image resizing, I've started to go through the Ultima 8 Guide's walkthrough and improve a few things. I'll gradually be replaying the sections covered in the walkthrough, enlarging the images and adding more. I've started this journey by revamping the Ultima 8 walkthrough's introduction page. My hope is that I will eventually get to continue and even finish writing the walkthrough.
I've added a link to music from Ultima 4: The Dawn of Virtue to the relevant WebDB2 entry, since this old remake is currently being discussed at the Ultima Dragons Facebook Page.
The CRPG Addict Finishes Ultima VII: The Black GateThe CRPG Addict has just posted the last entry in his playthrough of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, in which he solves the quest in Skara Brae, and proceeds to finish the game. His playthrough has been... unorthodox... all the way, and this post certainly does not disappoint.
Dino's Ultima Page Turns 18Greetings everyone! I cordially invite you to join me in celebrating the 18th anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page. Started back in 2002 with very humble origins, this site grew considerably over the years and is still (somewhat) active. Whereas a human being reaching this age is considered an adult in many parts of the world, it is even more remarkable for a website, especially given that many others in our community have long since disappeared.
In other news, The CRPG Addict's most recent post about Ultima VII: The Black Gate has seen him visit the areas in and around Serpent's Hold, Trinsic and Empath Abbey. There have been some issues relating to bugs and sequences of events, but he continues to play his way, and is not far from wrapping up the game. He'll be visiting Skara Brae next.
CRPG Addict in Minoc; Corven Kickstarter endsThe CRPG Addict has once again posted about his progress in Ultima VII: The Black Gate, mainly focusing on the Minoc area. Aside from the town itself, he has explored all of the nearby dungeons, investigated the Britannia Mining Company's antics, and taken side trips to other places including Ambrosia.
In a minor update to the Ultima 8 Hidden Things page, I've added a link to a video in which Fernando Akin breaks outside the boundaries of Tenebrae and spends almost 20 minutes messing around. I've also removed the link to the original forum topic where I explained the discoveries about the area boundaries in Ultima 8, since this has been broken for a long time and is no longer accessible even via the Wayback Machine.
The second Kickstarter of Corven: Path of Redemption has by now concluded, having raised over $40,000 -- a few thousand short of the goal of the first Kickstarter, but double the amount required by this second one.
CRPG Addict: Buccaneer's Den and New MaginciaAs The CRPG Addict continues making progress in Ultima VII: The Black Gate, his latest post involved the exploration of Buccaneer's Den and New Magincia. He also paid a visit to the Isle of the Avatar, although he ended up reloading to avoid messing up the plot.
CRPG Addict around Yew; Corven Hits Stretch GoalThe CRPG Addict's quest through Ultima VII: The Black Gate has most recently taken him through the northwestern regions, covering Yew, Empath Abbey and Dungeon Wrong.
Corven's relaunched Kickstarter, which met its funding goal almost immediately, has to date crossed the $33k mark with 9 days left to go. This means that the campaign has met its $30k stretch goal which unlocks a bigger mainland with more quests. However, it's still quite far from the next one at $45 that would provide Linux support and a French translation.
CRPG Addict in JhelomAnother update from The CRPG Addict's Ultima VII: The Black Gate playthrough today: he has visited Jhelom, settling a local dispute and picking up Dupre. Further exploration led him to visit nearby caves and the Dungeon Destard, before finally meeting a unicorn. He will be going to Yew next.
Dino's Ultima Page has also seen a few small updates today, namely:
Ultima 6 Speedrun ScriptAlmost 30 years ago, Strong Axe Dragon wrote a script for speedrunning Ultima 6. Recently, he played through it again, optimising and polishing it for publication. With his permission, the updated version can now be found in the Walkthroughs section of the Ultima 6 Guide, here at Dino's Ultima Page.
Just a few days ago, The CRPG Addict played through The Forge of Virtua, effectively ending up with superpowers.
Corven Relaunches Kickstarter, Is FundedFollowing the recent cancellation, a new Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund Corven: Path of Redemption, at a more modest goal of $20,000... which has already been reached after just over a day! Aside from the Kickstarter page itself, more details about the relaunch and the funding goal being reached can be read at The Ultima Codex. Sir Cabirus, who is in the game as an NPC, has also posted some interesting details about the new campaign, including the updated demo and an interview with Florian Kasper (aka Corv, who leads the development effort) on RPGWatch.
Corven Kickstarter Cancelled (and other news)The recent Kickstarter for Corven: Path of Redemption has been cancelled, according to this update in the aforementioned Kickstarter, also echoed by The Ultima Codex. Although there is still time left, Lycantic figured that the odds of funding are too low, and proactively ended the campaign. It's not over though; things are being rescaled and a new Kickstarter will be launched next week.
Yesterday, a new update was posted by Ultima 5 Redux. It's a short one that masks a lot (around 3 months) of work under the hood, since it involved a significant engine rewrite that boosted performance, and introduced shoppe keepers (specifically the blacksmith).
In the meantime, The CRPG Addict has resumed playing Ultima VII: The Black Gate. The last time he wrote about the game, he found himself in the middle of a showstopping bug, and had to revert to a much earlier savegame. After repeating his progress since then, he has ventured further into the game, visiting places like Terfin, Spektran, and the Dungeon Deceit.
Anniversaries and moreTwo days ago, I celebrated my 18th anniversary as an Ultima Dragon. Several other Dragons had their anniversaries, and Gallara Dragon (who diligently keeps track of them) posted a list of anniversaries for the week at the Ultima Dragons Facebook Chapter.
Another important anniversary took place yesterday, when SwiftHeart Dragon's Martian Dreams walkthrough celebrated its 25th. SwiftHeart Dragon's website has actually survived and is still around.
Corven: Path of Redemption, which currently has an active Kickstarter running, has published a walkthrough of the demo that was released alongside said Kickstarter.
Finally, I've continued to make enhancements to Dino's Ultima Page. This past week, this mainly involved the migration of the Ultima 5 Guide to the new website layout (HTML5, responsive design and all that), and a few other minor fixes in different places.
Corven: Path of Redemption KickstarterThe Kickstarter for Corven: Path of Redemtpion is now live, together with a trailer, demo, screenshots, portraits, and more. While you can check out the full details at the Kickstarter page, if you're short on time, you can also read a summary at The Ultima Codex.
Savage Empire versions and moreSome more Ultima info updates today:
Info and WebDB2 UpdatesThere have been a few small updates to Dino's Ultima Page over the past few days:
Also, I've added some metadata to the homepage so that it should now look decent when shared via social media.
Sir Cabirus' Coins and Corven TrailerToday, I'm delighted to bring you a few news items fresh from the Ultima community.
First, Sir Cabirus Dragon, best known for his incredibly detailed Ultima Underworld walkthroughs, has added a new gallery of Ultima coins and medallions:
After a long time finally an update. There is a new section about Ultima coins and medallions, as well as coins related to the Ultima series. Among them are some coins created by Frank Baxley, who even wrote an article for my homepage.
This section is in English. I plan to publish more in English in the future to reach more readers. Please forgive me if my English is a little bumpy in the process ;-)
Secondly, Corv from Lycantic (whom you might recognise from what used to be the Titans of Ether) has released a new trailer of Corven: Path of Redemption. The game's Kickstarter campaign has moved to 9th June, and a demo will be released on the same day.
Finally, don't miss the MS DOS Project's video review of Ultima 3.
Ultima 1 Guide updatesI made a number of Ultima 1-related updates to Dino's Ultima Page today:
200 Ultima Sites at the WebDB2I've added a number of websites to the Ultima Web Database 2, bringing the total number of Ultima-related sites in the database to 200. Newest additions include U6Edit, The Ultima Collectors Guide, Aubrey's Adobe, The Dark Unknown, Tales from Sosaria, Hansonian Institute, and an Ultima info section by Stéphane Romand.
Furthermore, as of today, all website links in the WebDB2 are now accompanied by direct Wayback Machine links, making it much easier to check out old Ultima sites that have long since disappeared.
Pix's Savage Empire PatchSome news surfaced earlier this month at Pix's Origin Adventures: Ultima Patcher 1.67 has been released with a new Savage Empire patch and a few other minor fixes. (The relevant news item at The Ultima Codex brought this to my attention.) Here's how Pix described the changes in his news post:
Pix wrote: "I was approached by “Death Strike†about adding a patch for Savage Empire to the Ultima Patcher. Apparently, the GOG version of the game contains a bug which disables the alternate ending but a later fixed version was released on the compilation CD with 7 Cities Of Gold (anyone who has ever spent time hunting for Ultimas on Ebay should be familiar with this particular CD). They created a patch to update the GOG version which I’ve added to the Ultima Patcher."
The readme included with the patch gives a little more detail:
README.txt says: "There appears to be two versions of Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire available.
"The first and most widely available is version 1.6. This is the version available from GOG.
"The second is version 2.1 and appears to be from a later release from Electronic Arts, possibly from a compilation of their games.
"You can check your version in game by selecting "About The Savage Empire" from the main menu.
"This patch upgrades Savage Empire from version 1.6 to version 2.1.
[...]
"Tristia's dialogue no longer loops until she is rebuffed. This allows the player to reach the alternative ending.
"Other than the above, the differences between the two versions are currently unknown."
Now, this is particularly interesting due to recent events. In October 2019, a visitor to Dino's Ultima Page noticed that the Savage Empire Credits in Dino's Guide to The Savage Empire list a different version (2.1) to the game distributed by GOG (1.6). The version of Savage Empire I had always played was indeed the one from the EA compilation CD, as mentioned by Pix.
A few months later, I dug deeper, identifying which files had changed. Thanks to help from Eric Fry of Nuvie, we found that four dialogues had some differences, including Tristia's. I briefly mentioned the two different versions on 25th January 2020 and updated the Savage Empire Guide accordingly.
Pix's news sheds some more light on the differences between the two versions. Looking back at Tristia's dialogue, I see that in the 1.6 version there is a missing keyword, and I wonder whether that causes the bug that Pix describes. The 2.1 version fills this hole, and adds a couple of keywords for the same dialogue option.
The existence, let alone details, of these two different versions is still very much unknown, and we have yet to figure out the full extent of their differences. If you noticed anything in the games that you'd like to add, please get in touch!
Ultima Web Directory retiredAlthough the old Ultima Web Directory was migrated to the current Ultima Web Database 2 (WebDB2) in 2014, a few info pages still remained. The last of these include my old Exult review from 2003, a list of Exult mods, a page about Ultima 5 for TI Calculators, a page about Ultima V: Lazarus (featuring "talking points" and old download links), and a page about the Ultima V: Lazarus v. 1.1 patch. Although these pages are obsolete, I've salvaged them for their historical value, and made some minor fixes. What remained of the old Ultima Web Directory itself has been retired.
Other than that, I've added links to the MS-DOS Project's recent Mt. Drash review and soundtrack to Dino's Complete Guide to Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash, and the Ultima VII: The Black Gate Opinions page has a new link to a video review of the game by Matt Barton. In the WebDB2, you'll also find a new entry for the Ultima Dragons Facebook Chapter.
U1-3 Info UpdatesOver the past few days, I've updated the info pages for some of the oldest games in the Ultima series:
Corven Kickstarter Date and ScreenshotsCorv of Lycantic (and formerly of The Titans of Ether), who is hard at work on his game Corven - Path of Redemption, has announced on Facebook that the game's Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to launch on 2nd June.
His post was accompanied by two screenshots, showing Lord British as well as Sir Cabirus Dragon. These screenshots together with a third one are shown above.
In other news, The CRPG Addict continued exploring Dungeon Despise, but his progress was ruined by a showstopper bug. It seems like he's going to have to fall back to a much earlier savegame and repeat a lot of his recent gameplay.
Revisiting Mt. Drash and U7BGThe MS-DOS Project continued its trek through the early Ultima games, this time with a video review of Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash. The soundtrack for the game has also been put up on YouTube.
Likewise, The CRPG Addict has proceeded with his playthrough of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, with the last post being mostly an exploration of the Moonglow area.
MS-DOS Project's Ultima 2 ReviewMS-DOS Project has just released a video review of Ultima 2. He talks about the game's history, its mechanics, and how to beat it. Check it out!
Mobile-Friendly Ultima 1 GuideDino's Complete Guide to Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness is the next thing to get some of my attention. Since its launch in 2014, this Guide was designed to be mobile-friendly. However, it has not aged well as technology progressed and devices evolved. Today, I have fixed how the Ultima 1 Guide looks in mobile devices, and I have also added directional buttons to the Ultima 1 Map Viewer so that you can stroll around Sosaria even from a device that doesn't have a keyboard.
In yesterday's post, The CRPG Addict continued his eploration of Britannia in Ultima 7: The Black Gate. This included cleaning up part of Lock Lake, fighting cyclopes in a cave, and dealing with racism in Vesper.
Various UpdatesThe following have been spotted on the web in recent days:
Meanwhile, I've made a number of updates to the Ultima information at Dino's Ultima Page. Here is a summary of what's new:
Ultima Online: Serpent IsleThere's a recent project around that's bringing the world of Serpent Isle to Ultima Online. It's called Ultima Online: Serpent Isle, and according to its author:
higHChloride writes: "Ultima Online: Serpent Isle is a shard in active development featuring an ongoing recreation of the Serpent Isle map. The cities of Monitor, Fawn, and Moonshade are already completed, as is the Inn of the Sleeping Bull, and players are invited to log on now and begin their adventures. Alongside tile-by-tile recreations of the original locations, there are new areas which take advantage of unused or previously inaccessible parts of the map. The shard is running on modified Stygian Abyss era rules and PvP is enabled. A customized client is offered which includes both artwork and music featured in the original game. You can find more by visiting https://uoserpentisle.com."
I've added entries for this project in the Serpent Isle info page and in the WebDB2.
WebDB2 entries, Credits, and U4 layoutI have continued to work on improving Dino's Ultima Page, and the following is a summary of recent progress:
RG Interview and CRPG Addict Playing U7BGRichard Garriott recently appeared in an interview in which he talked about the history of the Ultima series, Lord British, Origin, Ultima Online, and Shroud of the Avatar. A link to this interview has been added to the General Information page at Dino's Ultima Page.
Meanwhile, The CRPG Addict has continued playing Ultima VII: The Black Gate. His latest post, "The Black Gate Bonus: The Books of Britannia", is filled with trivia about where many of the in-game books came from. As a result, I've added a link to this post, as well as another link to The Notable Ultima's U7BG book transcripts, to the U7BG Writings page here at Dino's Ultima Page. I've also added a link to The CRPG Addict's earlier post, "The Black Gate: Wee Britain", to the U7BG Fun page since it has some notes on interactivity in the game.
Modernising Dino's Ultima PageAs part of my ongoing effort to bring Dino's Ultima Page in line with the latest web standards, I have over the past week or so done the following:
These improvements have not yet been applied to the Guides, fanfictions, and other large sections of Dino's Ultima Page. Since there are many pages to go through, the upgrades will happen gradually.
Other improvements I've made include:
HTTPS, CSS and WebDB2Over the past few days, I've made a number of important updates to Dino's Ultima Page.
The first of these is that I've switched to using HTTPS, and if you reach Dino's Ultima Page via unencrypted HTTP, it will automatically take you to the secure HTTPS endpoint.
The second is that I've made minor improvements to the site's visuals, so you'll notice a few rounded corners on the homepage and the font should be a little better if you're visiting from a Linux machine.
Finally, I've gone through the Ultima sites listed in the WebDB2 (all 173 of them) and updated the information (mainly status, last updated date, and a few minor fixes) therein. Interestingly, while performing this maintenance, I noticed a few things:
Ultimapper 5 Release 3Ultimapper 5 is a recent project that adds a HUD and automapper to Ultima 5. Its third release, freshly published today, now includes the following:
- Spell list. Can be used to mix spells. The window can be left open if you have enough screen estate, as a reference, the spell / reagent amounts get updated.
- Inventory list. This is just a list. All in one screen. Uses the same window as the spell list, you can use TAB to switch between spells / inventory.
- Using a gem or a peer spell / scroll sets the current area (or part of the world map) explored.
- HUD shows the amount of gems.
On the project's homepage, you'll also find a couple of screenshots illustrating the new spell and inventory lists.
Minor Info UpdateI've added a few links to the Ultima info at Dino's Ultima Page:
Exult 1.6 ReleasedThe Exult project, seemingly inactive, has today surprised the Ultima community with a new release!
Exult 1.6 has been released to celebrate Ultima VII's 28th birthday!
Almost ten years after the version 1.4.9rc1, 16 years after the last stable version (v1.2) and 28 years after the official release of Ultima VII - The Black Gate (16 April 1992), we are finally ready to release a new version. With many developers busy with their real life and most having moved on, it took us this long. We have been busy squashing more of the inexplicable crashes but these changes will force us to stop supporting some ancient operating systems.
That's why we decided to release one last version of Exult, Exult Studio and Exult's tools for the old OS' before moving on with development. For really old Windows operating systems (95/98/ME/NT/2000) we prepared a legacy download.
There is a whole list of new features, and another one of known issues, that you can check in the news post. Probably one of the most significant is that Exult is now using SDL2. And that there is paperdoll support for wearing diapers... I guess. :)
Ultima 5 Redux First Dev VlogHot on the heels of yesterday's April 2020 Update, Ultima 5 Redux has today also released its first dev vlog, in which Brad talks about the various tools he uses while reverse engineering Ultima 5 and building Ultima 5 Redux. It's intended for a more technical audience, but it is quite fascinating.
Ultima 5 Redux April UpdateThe Ultima 5 Redux Development Blog has just published an April 2020 Update covering recent progress. This covers a variety of things including day/night cycles, moon cycles (including an on-screen widget), moongates and moonstones, 'P'ush, complete Z-Stats descriptions, and other smaller enhancements. The video included in the post shows these new features in action.
The CRPG Book Project ReturnsThe CRPG Book Project has not seen much activity since the book was published by Bitmap Books. However, in a more recent update (almost a month old by now), Felipe Pepe shared news (and receipts) about the book's royalties being donated to charity.
Also, Felipe will be updating the book with more games released between 2016-2019 (and even some older ones, judging by the list of games). This only just started, and there is no release date, nor any visibility on whether the updated version will be published in hardcover version like the old one (which, by the way, is still available for sale). If you've played any of the games in the list and want to write a review, contact Felipe!
The CRPG Addict Begins Ultima VII: The Black GateJust yesterday, The CRPG Addict has written his first post about Ultima VII: The Black Gate as he prepares to pick up the game again after over a decade. Judging from the comments, many people have been waiting to see The CRPG Addict play through this particular game, which is a favourite of many Ultima Dragons.
With many Ultima fans being fans of computer games in general, GOG.com's recent post about how Roberta Williams changed history -- while not Ultima-related -- is probably also of interest to many of us. As it turns out, she received a Pioneer Award during the 20th Game Developers Choice Awards, and many will recognise her as co-founder of Sierra and the mind behind many cherished games like the King's Quest series (among several others).
U5Redux Pre-Alpha DemoU5 Redux's most recent update is almost a month old, and I missed reporting on it since I was travelling at the time. However, it's an exciting update, because a pre-alpha demo is now available for Windows and Mac. The post also includes a report on recent progress (lots of improvements in there) and possible plans for next things to work on.
In other news, as I am gradually making various improvements to Dino's Ultima Page, I have removed the Accessibility page. This page contained links to alternate formats in which the news here was available (i.e. RSS, WML and XML), as well as instructions on how to change stylesheets. While the RSS feed is still available via the icon in the left menu, the rest have been removed, as I understand they were not being used.
U5 Redux Pathfinding UpdateYesterday's update at Ultima 5 Redux covers a number of areas including NPC schedules, code refactoring, the A* algorithm, voxel caching, and a debug console.
Savage Empire info updatesI made the following updates to the Savage Empire Guide today:
WebDB2 and Info UpdatesI've been doing some maintenance to the underlying code of Dino's Ultima Page. Most of the work has revolved around the Ultima Web Database 2. You probably won't notice much difference, except that it loads much faster now. Let me know if you experience any problems.
I also added a few links here and there to the info pages. For example:
Ultima 7 Info UpdatesI've made a couple of small additions to the Ultima 7: The Black Gate Guide:
I also made a couple of updates to the Ultima Web Database 2, namely:
Obviously, this is the last post for 2019. Happy new year!
Ultima 5 Redux Holiday UpdateA Holiday Update has been posted at the Ultima 5 Redux blog. Newly implemented features include the intro screen with fire animation, Use interface, Ready equipment interface, changing party order, character stats, and item descriptions.
From the video, one can also notice the ability to load one of a list of saved games (as opposed to just one). Here, as well as in other recently implemented features, we can see user interfaces that differ significantly from the original game, and hopefully add quite a bit of value.
There are a number of things that will be worked on next, ranging from pathfinding to saving the game.
Ultima 5 Project UpdatesIt seems there is quite a bit of renewed interest in Ultima 5 lately.
A new tool for Ultima 5, called Ultimapper 5, was released a few days ago. This adds a HUD and automapper to Ultima 5, along with other optional features, and is similar to other automappers that the author has built for other games such as the Gold Box series and the Eye of the Beholder trilogy.
Requires Windows. Meant to be used with the GOG version of the game. Should work with the music patched version as well.
Features:
Shows the map of the current location (world, underworld, town, dungeon). You can play as these areas were already explored or set them as unexplored and to be revealed as you move.
HUD which shows HP, MP, status, experience, class and level, attributes and equipment.
Optional auto level up. When you have enough experience points, your character automatically gains a level and a random attribute point.
Optional (and very experimental) autofight. Knows how to switch weapons if needed but does not use spells. Implemented by sending keypresses to the game window. Read the info in the manual before using.
Debug functions: teleporting, dialogue script viewing, time forwarding.
In other Ultima-5-related news, Brad from Ultima 5 Redux has posted an update on his progress decoding the graphics of the intro screen. It's a messy process but quite fascinating for those into reverse engineering.
At Dino's Ultima Page, I've added entries for Ultimapper 5 in the Ultima 5 info page and the Ultima Web Database 2. I've also added a link to Contrapuntal Dragon's Forge of Virtue Walkthrough to the Ultima 7: The Black Gate walkthroughs page.
Ultima 5 Redux November 2019 UpdateHead on over to the Ultima 5 Redux website, where this month's update comes with a pretty video. In Brad Hannah's own words:
November's video includes some great updates. The project has really begun take shape and is actually starting to look like a game.
In fact, a lot of work has recently gone into the visuals, HUD, NPC chat, signs, inventory system, and other basic functions. The video gives a stunning new perspective to this now-ancient game, and things really seem to be coming together.
Ultima 5 Redux SignsAt Ultima 5 Redux, development has proceeded with the implementation of signs. This means that basic support for things like signposts, grave inscriptions and plaques has been added; albeit with great effort due to the way this data is scattered across the game's original data files.
Some Ultima Info UpdatesOver the past few days, I continued adding links to some Ultima info pages:
I have also continued working towards modernising the code base of this site.
Ultima 5 Redux Mind MapBrad Hannah of Ultima 5 Redux posted a brief update about how he's using mind maps to analyse the original game's functionality and plan what he wants to implement in his project:
"I often use Mind Maps at my day job to help organize my otherwise chaotic brain! I have begun to map out the entirety of what Ultima 5 boils down to in terms of function – then I overlay my personal plans for how I want to improve it. For example I have defined a number of custom UIs for functions such as buying/selling and a conversation log that you can actually refer to well after you had the conversation!
"More than anything, it makes me realize how far I really have to go! But, it will serve as a de-facto project plan and feature list."
Ultima 4 DownloadsNowadays, Ultima 4 can be downloaded for free on GOG.com, but that was not always the case. Long before this came to pass, the game was offered for free on several of the older Ultima Dragon websites. This is considered legal because of permission that Origin gave to UDIC in the 90s.
I used to have a list of these downloads (about 12 of them, at the time) in my Ultima 4 info page, but I took this down when Ultima Forever was announced in 2011, and EA started offering Ultima 4 downloads itself. Since Ultima Forever is now long gone, I've added a new Obtaining Ultima 4 section in there with links to GOG.com and UDIC downloads of Ultima 4. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, only a couple of the original Dragon-hosted downloads of Ultima 4 still survive today.
High-DPI Exult-Generated Map of Britain
This high-DPI map of Britain in Ultima 7: The Black Gate appeared on the UDIC Facebook Chapter today. It was generated by Dominus Dragon using Exult, and with his permission, I am hosting this image on Dino's Ultima Page as part of the U7BG Maps & Places section.
Ultima 5 Redux October UpdateUltima 5 Redux has today posted a new development update, accompanied with a video. Progress has mostly focused on improved visuals, but also includes basic work on getting a dialogue GUI implemented:
Updates include:
- more 3D voxels replacing legacy sprites
- ambient lighting
- twilight lighting
- new daytime lighting
- basic NPC dialog
For the Unity nerds out there – I have switched from built-in renderer, to light weight render pipeline (LWRP) and finally to high definition render pipeline (HDRP). This has been a really neat experience and continues to strengthen the visual quality.
Next up I expect to:
- Complete all “standard†NPC schedules and textures
- Actually open a door!
- Start creating a permanent UI
Shroud of the Avatar Changes Hands; Rewards Being Not FulfilledThe development of Richard Garriott's latest baby, Shroud of the Avatar, has not been without controversy. After a long development cycle, sub-standard initial release, delayed or lost boxes, layoffs, and an office closure (among other things), Portalarium announced a couple of new surprises over the last few days.
First, a game studio called Catnip Games has taken over Shroud of the Avatar from Portalarium. Catnip Games is owned by Chris Spears, who served as CTO and then President of Portalarium for a number of years. It is not to be confused with Catnip Studios, in which Dr. Cat is a partner.
Given Spears' prior connection with Portalarium, this led to mixed speculation from the community, in which some people said that this would probably make no difference whatsoever. However, they were in for a treat just the next day, as it was announced in the Shroud of the Avatar forum that the physical copies of The Sword of Midras novel, being rewards promised to the Kickstarter backers, would not be fulfilled, and would instead be replaced by a digital in-game reward.
This has in turn garnered a mixed response on the forum, with at least a couple of people pointing out that fulfilling the promise of physical novels is a legal requirement as a result of the Kickstarter campaign, and cannot simply be replaced with something digital.
Among these was Umbrae Dragon, who sought to raise awareness that this was a violation of the Kickstarter terms of service, as shown in the forum thread and also this tweet. Umbrae Dragon was banned the next day, allegedly for "threats of legal action".
This and Starr "DarkStarr" Long's response says a lot about the Shroud of the Avatar culture of community censorship that many of us have heard about or even experienced in the past:
Starr "DarkStarr" Long wrote: "Reminder that on advice of counsel any threats of legal action are against policy. Those posts will be removed and the posters banned. Any invocation of legal recourse must be made through proper legal channels and cannot be made in this forum."
The forum thread in question serves as a chilling account of the Shroud of the Avatar community: a company that abuses the people who financially backed it, a faction that will follow regardless of how many times they are kicked in the face, and dissenters who are silenced without so much as a warning, despite all the time and money that they poured into the game.
Further reading:
Through the Moongate and Ultima 5 Redux UpdatesThere have been some new updates on the Kickstarter for Through the Moongate Part II. These include new tiers with untracked shipping, a note about copy editing that caused a little uproar on the UDIC Facebook group, and a number of new stretch goals.
Ultima 5 Redux has posted a development update today with some good-looking screenshots of its isometric 3D Ultima 5 engine. Some updates mentioned in the post include:
UW1 Info AdditionsOver the past week or so, I've continued to add more links and information to the site. Aside from having added a link to Ultima 5 Redux to the Ultima 5 info page, and some general fixes, the rest of the additions were all to the Ultima Underworld 1 info page:
Through the Moongate Part II Stretch Goals ReachedThe funds raised by the Through the Moongate Part II Kickstarter campaign have by now significantly exceeded the original goal required to fund the project.
Although the Kickstarter hasn't yet been updated to reflect the second stretch goal being unlocked, the funds raised have in fact gone beyond the amount required for both stretch goals.
This means that tiers Compassion and above will get a limited edition Fortune Teller print by Enrico Ricciardi, and the hard cover edition will have 32 colour pages instead of 16.
Announcing Ultima 5 ReduxA new Ultima-related project appeared about a week ago. It's called Ultima 5 Redux, and it's an engine being built around the original Ultima 5 files in Unity3D, gradually adopting an isometric 3D perspective.
To learn more about this project:
I've added a WebDB2 entry for this project.
Ultima info updatesOver the past few days, I've made a lot of updates to the Ultima information pages here at Dino's Ultima Page:
Through the Moongate Part II Kickstarter FundedAbout a day later, and just as I write this, the Kickstarter for Through the Moongate Part II has been funded. We can all look forward to reading the second part of Origin's history!
Through the Moongate Part II Kickstarter is LiveLast year, the first volume of Andrea Contato's Through the Moongate: the story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc. and Ultima shipped after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Today, the Kickstarter for Through the Moongate Part II is live, and already a third of the way to being funded at the time of writing this. This book continues where Part 1 left off, going from Wing Commander and Ultima 7 to Portalarium. That's got to be an interesting period to say the least, because it covers the creation of some of the best games in the Ultima series, as well as some of the worst; it includes EA's acquisition of Origin and the latter's eventual demise.
Among the rewards are 20 copies of Akalabeth for Vectrex, so if you're interested in this limited edition, act fast since around half of them are already gone.
Through the Moongate Part II TrailerTomorrow, a Kickstarter will be launched for Through the Moongate Part II. This second book by Andrea Contato continues where the first one left off, and goes from Wing Commander and Ultima 7 all the way to Portalarium.
In anticipation of this, Jarrod Kailef and Enrico Ricciardi have put together a trailer which you can watch on YouTube.
General Info and Ultima Underworld info updatesI've added some links to the info pages and done some maintenance.
In the General Info page I:
In the Ultima Underworld 1 info page I:
News in the CommunityHere's a quick update of things going on in the Ultima community:
For other Ultima news, be sure to follow The Ultima Codex!
Site UpdatesSome small updates from Dino's Ultima Page:
It's also worth mentioning that Ultima Return was recently declared officially dead.
Anteform ReleasedFeneric, who is behind the recent Ultima-inspired game Minima, has released a new game called Anteform while several of us were away at VirtueCon 2019 in Germany last weekend.
Anteform is a weird detective RPG with the feel of a retro 8-bit Ultima game and a story that’d fit in more closely with the Ultima: Worlds of Adventure series. It’s fully playable and winnable, and through a combination of talking with the right people and searching the right places it’s possible to figure out what’s going on in Anteform Valley, and by building up experience and getting the right equipment, it’s possible to put a stop to it.
As with the traditional Ultima games, a players guide containing tips on getting started is included.
- Free download for Linux, macOS, MS-Windows, and even Raspberry Pi at: https://feneric.itch.io/anteform
- Play for free online at: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=35093
- The source code can be found at: https://github.com/Feneric/Anteform
Anteform was written using the Minima Engine for PICO-8, so if you’re familiar with the keyboard commands for Minima you’ll feel right at home with Anteform.
Dino's Ultima Page 17th AnniversaryToday marks the 17th anniversary of this website. It's been a great 17 years, and here's to many more!
I'd also like to call out that the UDIC 27½th Anniversary Bash, aka VirtueCon 2019, is happening in just 3 weeks' time in Germany. I hope to see as many of you there as possible!
Minima 1.1.2 ReleasedLast October, the Ultima-inspired game Minima was released. Last week, its creator Feneric let me know that a new version (1.1.2) was released, fixing a couple of minor issues and adding dedicated support for the Raspberry Pi. You can get the game at its GitHub page.
Some More LinksI've added a few links to the info pages. In particular:
Ultima 1 Tile Mystery Solved; UW1 Japanese CommercialA mystery that I asked about 12 years ago has just been solved. In the tilesets of the 1986 PC remake of Ultima 1 is a a strange tile that never appears in-game (see my U1 Fun page). Dr. Cat has now confirmed that it is in fact "Spuds McKenzie, from the popular Bud Light ads of the 1980s". I am also trying to reach the developer who likely created this tile, hoping to learn more about its story, but I'm glad this outstanding question has finally been answered. I've updated the U1 Fun page as a result.
In other news, I made some small updates to the Ultima Underworld 1 info pages:
Article Links AddedAs time goes by and the Ultima series keeps getting older, it's still nice to read recently published articles that show the games some love. As I'm currently catching up with a backlog of reading material, I've added links to the following articles in the relevant info pages:
Labelled U5 Underworld MapFollowing news of 3dh's labelled Ultima 4 and 5 maps, it turns out he's also got a labelled map of the underworld in Ultima 5, in the same style as the other two. I've added this link to my Ultima 5 info page as well.
Labelled U4 and U5 MapsI'm a couple of months late posting this, but I'd like to share this fine work by 3dh, who created labelled, computer-generated maps of Ultima 4 and Ultima 5:
Since the locations are labelled with text overlaid on the map, you can use Ctrl+F to search. If you hover over a location, you'll get some brief information, and if you click, you'll go to the corresponding page at The Codex of Ultima Wisdom. You'll also see handy coordinates at the bottom-right indicating the tile that your cursor is on.
I've added links to these maps to the Ultima 4 and 5 info pages here at Dino's Ultima Page.
Minima: New Ultima-Inspired Fan ProjectFeneric has recently released a new game called Minima. It's inspired by Ultima and is intended to recreate the feel of playing RPGs on 8-bit Commodore computers, but it's a completely new game and is fully playable. Some people have reportedly already been able to beat it.
From the Minima GitHub page: "Minima is an adventure RPG in the style of the older Ultima games as played on the Commodore 8-bit computers. Just like the original Ultima games, it includes a world view, enterable towns, and 3D dungeon displays. It also features graphics, sound effects, and music that should help one recollect those classics. More importantly, it is a fully playable (and winnable) game with its own backstory, plot, setting, and characters."
If you'd like to learn more, or play it, check out the following links:
U9R Soundtrack, CRPG Book Hardcover and moreOn the Ultima Dragons Facebook Chapter, Matti Paalanen shared links to the soundtrack [Spotify | YouTube] he composed for Ultima 9: Redemption in 2006-2008 under the Titans of Ether.
As a result, I've updated the WebDB2 entries for Ultima 9: Redemption and The Titans of Ether. I have also updated the U9 info page where it mentions Redemption.
Speaking of the Titans of Ether, I had missed the update where they rebranded a few months ago. They are the Titans no more, and are now called Lycantic instead.
As promised, I have updated links to Houston Dragon's Ultima Page to point to its new location.
Finally, the CRPG Book Project has entered into an agreement involving publication of a hardcover print version of the book, and has removed the download for the time being until the printed book is finished:
Felipe Pepe wrote: "[...] I now signed a deal for a limited print of the book – fully proofread and in hardcover! Of course, since this is a non-profit project, we’ll use it as a charity fundraiser! More info on this soon!
"However, as part of the hardcover book deal I agreed not to release any more files while the book is being produced & sold. So 1.0.4 will be the last version for a while and I’ll be removing the files in this blog – starting tomorrow! Grab them while you can!
"Once the contract ends, things return to normal and I’ll be able to freely share this new & improved version with all of you. I think that’s a fair trade. :)"
CRPG Book Released; Houston Dragon's Ultima Page ReturnsAs promised, the first complete (online) publication of the CRPG Book came out last week, on 5th February 2018. Since then, Felipe Pepe, the man behind the project, has released a slightly updated version 1.0.2 of the book, the project files he used to create it, and an ePub version. He also answers a few common questions about a possible print version, proofreading, and plans for the future.
Those Dragons who have been around for a while will probably remember Houston Dragon's Ultima Page, a fantastic resource best known for its Who's Whos of Ultima 7: The Black Gate and Ultima 7: Serpent Isle. This site had disappeared from the web many years ago, but just yesterday, Houston Dragon restored it at a new location. It's great to see it back online! I've updated its entry in the WebDB2, and will update any links from Dino's Ultima Page in due course.
CRPG Book Release Date AnnouncedThe CRPG Book Project has some very exciting news: after four years in the making, it is finally ready! It is due for release on 5th February.
The Ultima series has a strong presence in the book, and I and several other Dragons have authored reviews for it. Look out for it in just over a week from now!
Dino's Ultima Page Turns 15This year is a year of anniversaries! The most important was probably the 25th anniversary of the Ultima Dragons, which many of us celebrated together at Disneyland California last February.
Today, we have another reason to rejoice, for it marks the 15th anniversary since Dino's Ultima Page was launched to host The Lost Vale fanfiction. A warm and heartfelt thank-you goes out to all those who have followed and contributed to this site for all these years!
Blogging Avatar Concludes U7BGGreat Siberian Dragon has recently finished playing through Ultima 7: The Black Gate, as you can read at Blogging Avatar.
Great Siberian Dragon commented on Facebook: "Days 9 and 10 are up and I finish the game! I also posted some post-game silliness. I build a house on New Magincia (no cheating, no hacking, all 100% authentic found Britannian materials), and do something for an environmental cause.
"Very excited to start on the Serpent Isle soon. I bet it will take me longer than 10 days though."
So on Day 9, she visited the Meditation Retreat, and after a brief detour to Ambrosia, defeated the Cube Generator. After that, armed with a powerful tool necessary to foil The Fellowship's plans, she landed on Buccaneer's Den.
On Day 10, Great Siberian Dragon continued through Buccaneer's Den, obtaining the key to the Shrine of the Codex among other things. She used it soon after at the Isle of the Avatar, where she battled her way through the dungeons, defeated The Fellowship's inner circle, and destroyed the Black Gate.
Finishing the game wasn't enough, so there is another post with post-game fun, in which she built a house on New Magincia, and became an environmental activist.
Blog UpdatesAt Blogging Avatar, Great Siberian Dragon proceeded to visit Serpent's Hold, Terfin, Spektran and Dungeon Deceit (Day 7), followed by the Isle of Fire and Vesper (Day 8).
Ultima Dad has also seen a couple of updates, with some reckless charging into a swamp in Ultima 6, and a couple of screenshots of the Ultima/Minecraft project's world.
Blogging Avatar Touring BritanniaAs she wrote at her Blogging Avatar, Great Siberian Dragon continued her quest through Ultima 7. In the recently published Day 5 and Day 6, she has been around New Magincia, Skara Brae, Despise and Moonglow, along with a brief stop in the Deep Forest. She is currently gathering what she needs to defeat the magical generators.
Guardian Theory at Ultima Dad BlogMany Ultima fans never accepted Ultima 9's silly explanation about the origins of the Guardian, i.e. that he is essentially the Avatar's evil twin. In his latest post at the Ultima Dad blog, Save vs Dragon discusses his own theory about where the Guardian came from.
U1Revenge resumes developmentOver the past few days, I have resumed working on Ultima 1 Revenge, having taken a bit of a break around the UDIC 25th Anniversary Bash. The most recent additions include the first sound effect in the game, rendering optimisations, and the ability to save screenshots as well as the entire world map to disk.
While there are many areas of the game that need work, I will probably be dedicating some time to implementing overlay tiles as well as basic animations. These features will be fundamental to important subsystems such as combat. I also believe collision detection is due to be implemented very soon.
RG Interviews addedJust a small update: I've added links to three interviews with Richard Garriott to the General Info page.
Matt Chat on Dr. CatDr. Cat was among the ex-Origin folk that I had the pleasure of meeting at the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Bash. A few months ago, Dr. Cat told the story of his career in a series of interviews on the Matt Chat show. I have added a list of these six interviews to the General Info page, so if you'd like to learn more about Dr. Cat, check them out!
New World Map for U7BG GuideLast year, I stumbled across Ian Albert's Ultima 7 maps. His Ultima 7: The Black Gate world map, generated using Exult, is huge and extremely detailed. Since he has been kind enough to grant me permission to use it in my U7BG Guide, I have now replaced the old world map with a scaled-down version of his, which is much sharper. In fact, the Locator (which marks specific locations on the map, such as the Trinsic Starter Chest) looks much better now.
I have also added links to Ian Albert's Ultima 7 map from the Guide, and am hosting a mirror of the full-scale map.
Great Siberian Dragon Blogs OnGreat Siberian Dragon has continued her journey through Ultima 7: The Black Gate, chronicled at Blogging Avatar. Day 3 and Day 4 of her journey took her to Minoc, Yew, Empath Abbey and Destard, with occasional trips back to Britain and Cove. With a full party, a partner for life, and a desire to annoy The Fellowship to death, we can only look forward to the mischief to come!
Various Updates at Dino's Ultima PageI am occasionally finding time to perform maintenance and updates on Dino's Ultima Page, so here's a list of things I've changed recently:
New Ultima blogsIf, like me, other people's adventures in Britannia bring feelings of nostalgia and excitement from playing Ultima many years ago, you're in for a treat. Great Siberian Dragon has recently launched Blogging Avatar, with the aim of chronicling her playthrough of Ultima 7 and 8. She has only just begun Ultima 7. Meanwhile, Save vs Dragon is running the Ultima Dad blog, in which he tells about his adventures with his son in Ultima 6 while introducing him to the game. There is also mention of an Ultima/Minecraft project that he is working on.
CRPG Book Final PreviewAfter two and a half years in the making, The CRPG Book Project has released its fifth and final 450-page preview [PDF] yesterday:
Felipe Pepe wrote: "This will be the last "alpha preview", as the book is very close to be completed. The big updates here are the computer history timeline, which is finally completed, and the addition of hyperlinks and .pdf bookmarks - perhaps our most requested feature.
"I've also added new articles on the history of JRPGs, difference between ports, cancelled RPGs and a FAQ to beginners. Plus dozens of new reviews - Dwarf Fortress, Mass Effect 3, Pillars of Eternity, Ultima VII, Wizardry VII, Planescape: Torment and many more..."
He also mentions that the CRPG Book Flickr account which he created last December has doubled in size since then and now holds over 18,000 game screenshots.
If you spend some time reading this book preview, don't miss my own review of Ravenloft: Stone Prophet.
uUltima videoFollowing the very recent announcement of uUltima (the Ultima 1 remake using Unity) on Facebook, Neocron Dragon has shared a short video on Facebook showing various game mechanics in action.
Neocron Dragon wrote: "Hot on the heels of the announcement post, I am pleased to present this small video which I just recorded about 15 minutes ago showing the current build of uUltima. As you'll see when you watch it, I have the finalized Character Creation screen up and working and have a good working prototype of the Event Log up. The town I am loading into is the town of Yew, which I walk around for a bit to showcase the collision system before heading outside to the Lands of Lord British. I have animated water tiles and the collision system works outside as well as inside."
Bash-Related PodcastsFor those who attended or are otherwise interested in the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Bash, Spam Spam Spam Humbug has run a couple of podcasts discussing the event. Check out Episode 76 and Episode 77.
Fun fact: In the first podcast, it is mentioned that someone actually stole Lord British's fork (a reference to Ultima 6) during the Bash, but nobody could remember who did it. As it turns out, I was right there at the time, and know who it was! The thief has survived the encounter and lived to tell the tale, having suffered no more than a scolding from Lord British. Perhaps the king's abilities are waning with age.
Announcing uUltimaNeocron Dragon has just announced his new Ultima remake, uUltima, on the Ultima Dragons Facebook group. With this project, he aims to recreate Ultima 1 using the Unity game engine, keeping gameplay mechanics as close to the original as possible, but using a different set of assets:
- Utilization of the XU4 tileset designed by Josh Steele for all overworld and town maps, which will replace the classic 16-color EGA tileset used in the original game.
- Simplified user-interface utilizing icons instead of keyboard keys to interact with the game world.
- Planned releases for both PC and Android with platform-specific control schemes (keyboard+mouse for PC and touchscreen for Android).
- Utilization of modern Ultima music tracks where appropriate and available. I have been listening to the U5: Lazerus soundtrack while working on this and feel some of it's tracks match the mood of the game so I plan on reaching out to the composer at some point in the hopes of securing permission to use the soundtrack.
- Implementation of a quest log/journal which should ease the initial learning curve/difficulty of the game and make it more accessible to new players.
Join me in wishing Neocron Dragon luck with this project!
UDIC 25th Anniversary Bash: One Month LaterA month has passed since the UDIC 25th Anniversary Bash. Many Dragons (including myself) had the pleasure to attend, along with several ex-Origin people including Richard Garriott, Starr Long, Dr. Cat, Denis Loubet, Mike Nystul, and JC Shakespeare (the voice of the Avatar in Ultima 9).
Over the past month, various media related to the Bash have surfaced, mainly on social media. The Ultima Codex has kept track of some of these:
Ultima 8 Music via a Tesla CoilEdbgon (a former team mate of mine on the cancelled Ultima VIII: Exile project) has been having fun with Tesla coils, and he has uploaded a video of Ultima 8 music being played through a Tesla coil. Ultima 8 music never felt so electric!
Ultima Underworld Lost WalkthroughA fellow Ultima fan has broken the silence that dominated the Dino's Ultima Page Google Group since 2014, to ask about a lost walkthrough of Ultima Underworld. This person had copied the first page and a map (both provided in the thread) into MS Word, and has not been able to locate the walkthrough anywhere. If anyone knows anything about this walkthrough, please get in touch!
U1Revenge demo releasedA few weeks ago, I rebooted my old engine port of Ultima 1, which I call Ultima 1 Revenge. It's got a home on BitBucket where you can get info, the source code, and some downloads.
Today, I have released the first demo since the reboot. You can grab it from the downloads page. Just configure the path to your original Ultima 1 folder (instructions are on the homepage) and you're good to go. You can roam around Sosaria, use Inform and Search ('I' key) to identify locations, toggle full screen (F10), and cycle through different means of transport (square bracket keys).
This project has always been a casual one and will inevitably experience periods of rapid or slow progress. In fact, very soon, this project will go on hiatus for a few weeks - you can blame that on the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Bash. :)
CRPG Book Screenshot GalleryThe CRPG Book Project has just released a massive, several-thousand-strong screenshot gallery for the games in the book. I spotted a bunch of my screenshots of Menzoberranzan, Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession, and Ravenloft: Stone Prophet, which I had provided with my Ravenloft: Stone Prophet review for the book. A new book preview is also due soon, hopefully (but not guaranteed) after Christmas.
Redemption fallsA few days ago, the Titans of Ether announced the cancellation of their Ultima 9: Redemption remake, citing limitations in the Morrowind modding engine (after 12 years of development, by the way). The announcement has been taken down, but I have uploaded a cached copy of it. It is preserved along with many outraged comments. Among the familiar names is that of Avatus, who was once the leader of the original Redemption project before he cancelled it. On 18th September 2004, Corv, who was running a project called "Ultima - The New King", had formed the Titans of Ether and picked up Redemption.
The Titans of Ether claim to have made significant progress over the past 8 months with their new game, "Corven - Path of Redemption", as a result of the switch to Unreal Engine 4, and released a trailer. This game will not carry any Ultima intellectual property, but Corv still hopes to create the perfect Ultima-like game with his team of three (!) by December 2018.
UW1 Additions, Other Codex Link CleanupFollowing a recent playthrough of Ultima Underworld, the Ultima Underworld 1 Info page is getting a lot of new additions. As if the recently released Magic page wasn't enough, there is now a Lizardman Language reference and translator, and a new Fun section. A subsection on combining items has been added, and a correction has been made to indicate that there are actually 2 resilient spheres in the game. More information has been collected during the playthrough, and will be added gradually to the site.
I've also gone over all the links to the recently departed UltimaInfo.net, and changed them to point to an archived version instead.
Ultima Underworld 1 Magic; CRPG Book Alpha 3If you're planning to journey through the Stygian Abyss anytime soon, I think you'll like the new Ultima Underworld 1 Magic page I've just added. It's not just a list of spells. You can pick what runes you have available from the rune bag on the right, and the spells you can cast with those runes will be highlighted.
In other news, don't miss the third (300-page) alpha release of the CRPG Player's Handbook. There's a review of my own in there (look for Ravenloft: Stone Prophet), and another one is in the pipeline.
New Info Added; Sir Cabirus' UW2 Walkthrough; The Other Codex's DemiseI've made a bunch of info additions to this site:
In addition to this, Sir Cabirus has recently launched his new Ultima Underworld 2 walkthrough. And Paulon Dragon's fantastic Ultima Info site (home to The Other Codex among other things) seems to have recently disappeared from the web.
Cleanup Project CompleteOver the past few days, I've made the following fixes to Dino's Ultima Page:
This concludes the project of cleaning up dead links throughout Dino's Ultima Page, which has been ongoing for the past few months. This means that people looking for Ultima information can find what they need in one place without the frustration of having half the links that no longer work.
I have a bunch of other improvements I'm planning for Dino's Ultima Page, but for the time being I'm going to take a well-deserved break as my attention shifts to other priorities.
Mt. Drash Guide cleaned upThe Mt. Drash Guide has now been cleaned up of dead links as well.
Savage Empire Guide cleaned upMy Savage Empire Guide is the latest part of Dino's Ultima Page to receive some attention. I've cleaned up dead links, fixed layout-related glitches in the HTML, and am now hosting maps that used to be on the u6like website before it disappeared from the web.
I have also fixed links in navigation used by the Ultima 9 Info section and a couple of other pages.
My ongoing effort to clean up dead links from Dino's Ultima Page is thus well underway, with the Ultima 8 (in progress) and Ultima 7: The Black Gate guides remaining.
LandfallA few days ago, someone going by the handle Kartman reached out about his project, Landfall. It's a fan-made project to create custom art for Ultima Online. It looks pretty cool; check out the project description and preview video.
Classic Ultima Online UpdateBack in September, Classic Ultima Online (formerly Ultima 4 Multiplayer) was re-released for the 30th anniversary of Ultima 4. The website was updated today with some new info and a downloader for the game client. From the website's latest news:
Classic Ultima Online is once again available to play, thanks to server hosting by David Baity of www.megawars.net. Please visit the download page for the RUM Portal utility used to download, update, and launch the game. The CUO client requires an official installation of Ultima IV Quest of the Avatar, so be sure to get your free copy from gog.com.
I've added an entry for Classic Ultima Online in the U4 info page (under Remakes).
In other news, I've cleaned up dead links in the Ultima 9 Gallery.
Ultima 9 Gets Some LoveI've spent the past 2 weeks playing through Ultima 9: Ascension, and finished it just yesterday. As a result, the U9 info section has received some love. In particular:
That's not all, however. Minor improvements have also been made to other info sections:
U6 Centaur poster, and other newsI've added a section about the Ultima 6 game intro to the U6 Fun page, reflecting some of what was said in the recent discussion on the UDIC Facebook Group about the poster on the wall and other details. You'll find a lot of the poster info here at The Ultima Codex.
And it looks like the CRPG Book is celebrating its first anniversary. Felipe Pepe, the editor, has also posted the first couple of videos from his CRPG History Abridged video series - featuring Lands of Lore and Albion.
Finally, check out this yoghurt I was handed on the plane when returning from my recent trip to Canada:
New Links and Minor ImprovementsOver the past few weeks I've made some minor improvements throughout the info pages of Dino's Ultima Page. These include:
As Withstand the Fury Dragon has correctly guessed, this is a bit of a busy period for me, and I can say from now that there won't be any more updates here for a few weeks. But restoring Dino's Ultima Page is an ongoing project of mine, and I'll get back to it, don't worry. :)
U8 Guide overhaulI've been working heavily on bringing the Ultima 8 Guide out of its legacy state and into the modern world. As such, here are the improvements I've implemented over the past week or so:
U6 Info Cleaned UpI've cleaned up and updated links in the Ultima 6 Info section, particularly in the Main and Fun pages. As part of this exercise I've also added some long-lost resources from other websites, including a couple of walkthroughs and several maps.
This concludes cleanup for the smaller info sections in Dino's Ultima Page. The next step is to cover the U7BG, SE and U8 Guides. I'm not planning to clean up the more recent (and dead) game info sections (Ultima X and Lord of Ultima) as those remain purely for historical purposes.
Ultima Info Restoration and AssimilationI've continued cleaning up the dead links in the various info pages of Dino's Ultima Page. The ones restored this weekend include: Ultima 4, Ultima 5, Ultima Underworld 2, Ultima 8 Maps and Places, and Ultima 9. I have also restored my old (2003) Exult Review among other minor improvements to the Ultima 7: The Black Gate section.
While doing this cleanup, I realised how much Ultima information and how many resources have been lost over the years as sites continued to disappear. For instance, most mirrors of the latest Ultima 5: Lazarus release are down, and no mirrors survive that used to host their first two demos. The policy at Dino's Ultima Page has always been to host original content (or content by other people where permission is given), and link to information on other websites (rather than copying it, as many websites did at the time). Today, this policy changes. In order to preserve Ultima resources as much as possible, I will begin hosting maps, walkthroughs, etc from third-party websites where it makes sense to do so. I have already begun doing this in the Ultima 5 info page, where a lot of resources still survive only thanks to the Internet Archive.
Ultima 1 Map ViewerI've added an online Ultima 1 Map Viewer to my Complete Guide to Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness. This allows you to roam around the Ultima 1 world map in your browser. Enjoy!
Ultima Underworld info updatedCheck out the updated Ultima Underworld I info page. I've cleaned up dead links and expanded the information in the page.
Dino's Ultima Page is a TeenagerToday is a day of celebration, because Dino's Ultima Page, once the leading Ultima news and information website, today celebrates its 13th birthday.
In this spirit, I have resumed maintaining the information component of the site. There is still a long way to go, but a lot has been done last weekend:
Take some time to browse through the treasures buried in the depths of this website, from the treatise on the Guardian's teeth to the interactive Ultima 4 dialogues.
And of course, take the time to write what you think about the Ultima series in the newly restored Ultima Opinions page.
Savage Empire Opinions restored; change in web hostMany of the Ultima info pages at Dino's Ultima Page have a page for Opinions, where people could once post what they thought about the game. Alas, these have been disabled for several years due to relentless spam attacks.
I am now in the process of restoring them to their former glory. A functional Ultima 1 Opinions page was added last year. Today, I have re-enabled the Savage Empire Opinions page. We all know this game has received lots of love. So please, visit the Savage Empire Opinions and write about it!
On another note, over the past couple of weeks Dino's Ultima Page (together with the rest of my sites) has transitioned to a different web host. This should be transparent to the rest of you, but it means I avoid getting ripped off by my former web host. A consequence of this is that the server is now hosted in Europe, but I'm pretty sure you won't notice any difference in page loading times.
Altar of Focus discoveredJust a little update - Aka Manah has informed me that there exists yet another Altar of Focus in Ultima 8, and it is located just before the first necromancer. I've updated the Altars of Focus section of the Ultima 8 Guide to reflect this discovery.
Ultima VIII - Exile media recoveredWith permission from Corvwyn, leader of the Ultima VIII - Exile remake that has been defunct since 2006, I have added a page to the Ultima 8 Guide containing various media that I have managed to recover from the remake. Included in this page are screenshots, character portraits, and a bunch of musical tracks that would have been played in-game once the mod was released.
Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary BashIn a recent post to the UDIC Facebook group, you might have noticed a new event - Cranberry aka-Gallara is proposing a meetup of Ultima Dragons to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Ultima Dragons, to be held in Disneyland California.
If, like me, you live somewhere far away and think it's a bit of a hassle to plan and execute such a trip, worry not, for the event is currently scheduled between the 3rd and 5th of February 2017, which means we have almost 3 years of notice. :)
So if spending a weekend with fellow Ultima Dragons sounds interesting, check out the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Bash event on Facebook.
Pagan-NWN: Another Ultima 8 remake for NWNA couple of days ago, I got an email from koden-km, who informed me of an Ultima 8 remake that he had started in 2010, and whose files he had just uploaded to Github:
koden-km writes: Sometime around 2010 i had started my own remake with Neverwinter Nights engine. I had most of the area's mapped using the standard NWN tile sets. Just recently I decided to upload my old project module to my GitHub account along with some screenshots of the maps in case someone wants to look it over or even continue with that project.
Check out the Github project for screenshots and the actual mod.
I've taken the occasion to move my old U8 remakes section (formerly in the U8 Guide's main page) into a new U8 Remakes page, beef it up with additional information and screenshots, and add an entry for this newly discovered project.
Unfortunately there does not seem to be much left of The Red Mage's old "Ultima 8 for NWN" remake. If anyone has screenshots or files from that project, please let me know!
U4 Interactive Dialogue and TranscriptsI have recently turned my reverse engineering attention to games other than Ultima 1. Thanks to the file format documentation at xu4 and at the Codex of Ultima Wisdom, I managed to extract all the dialogues for Ultima 4 (except for Lord British and Hawkwind, who I believe are special characters). I have added these to a new Ultima 4 Dialogue page, where you can either interactively converse with the NPCs as if you were in the game (e.g. talk to Iolo) or else view their individual transcripts.
These are some known issues:
You also need to have JavaScript enabled for the interactive conversations to work. Otherwise, enjoy! :)
Update: The first two issues have been addressed. You can now ask NPCs to join you, and a font almost identical to that used in-game is now being used.
U1 OpinionsI have just added a new Opinions page to the Ultima 1 Guide, where people can write reviews or opinions about the game. So if you've played Ultima 1 before, don't be shy; go there and write what you thought about the game.
Ultima Web Directory migrated to WebDB2The old Ultima Web Directory, which has been a part of Dino's Ultima Page for close to ten years, is no more. I have migrated the last of its contents to the Ultima Web Database 2 today.
The old Web Directory sought to be a comprehensive list of Ultima sites on the web. Over the years it became horribly out of date. But worse than that, there were many large Ultima sites that spanned various categories, and this made it very problematic to keep the Ultima Web Directory organised.
The Ultima Web Database 2 is the third incarnation of the Ultima Web Directory, and has been online for almost three years. It solves the categorisation problem by using a tagging system. Although it contains a fairly large database of Ultima sites like its predecessors, one of its primary goals is to maintain a record of old links, even of websites that have moved or died. This allows us, where it is needed, to go back in time using the Internet Archive and see these sites as they were in the days of their glory. In other words, the Ultima Web Database 2 is a crystal ball showing the history of the Ultima community.
Although the Ultima Web Database 2 has been expanded and updated over the past few days, the Ultima community is quite vast in itself and there are certainly many Ultima sites that have yet to be added. If you would like to add or update any information in the Ultima Web Database 2, please get in touch.
U1 Guide and File Formats UpdateOver the past few days I've managed to decipher another two of the Ultima 1 file formats. I've added this new information to the U1 Guide along with other additions and improvements:
Lord of Ultima is coming to a closeToday, EA hit Lord of Ultima subscribers with the the following mailshot:
It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you, that on May 12, 2014 we will be closing the gates of Lord of Ultima for good and stopping the service in its entirety.
We hope you have enjoyed playing Lord of Ultima as much as we enjoyed making it and we thank all of you for supporting Lord of Ultima over the years.
Additionally, from now until the closing date we will also be disabling the functionality to purchase Play4Free Funds in Lord of Ultima, as well as the ability to register new accounts.
Further details are available at the "Lord of Ultima is being retired" news article at the Lord of Ultima website:
Lord and Ladies,
Today we bring sad news. It pains us to inform you that the final days of Caledonia are drawing near. While glory has flickered in the heart of this new world, the shadows of the old one have risen to take it back from us forever.
It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you, that on Monday 12th May @ 07:00 UTC we will be closing the gates of Lord of Ultima for good and stopping the service in its entirety.
It is always hard when we are met with such choices and the decision to retire older games is never an easy one. We cannot thank those who have supported us enough, and throughout the years of Lord of Ultima's existence it has been the pleasure of both past and present developers to have been on this journey with you.
Those of you who still have a balance of in-game currency are encouraged to spend it before the game is shut down on Monday 12th May @ 07:00 UTC and is no longer available for play. Additionally, from now until the closing date will also be disabling the functionality to purchase Play4Free Funds, as well as the ability to register new accounts.
The race to be the final Lords will continue however until the closing date so if you're already on your way to the end game, you still have your chance to become one of Caledonia's final victors. Will you end your time in Caledonia as a proud Lord or an honourable warrior fighting until the end?
To discuss this further and for more information please visit this forum thread!
Well, Lord of Ultima certainly didn't last very long - it has been live for less than 4 years at this point. See the dedicated Lord of Ultima page here at Dino's Ultima Page for some of the original facts, news, and general reception.
Dino's Guide to Ultima 1 RelaunchedHi everyone!
I've been away from Dino's Ultima Page for over two years, although the information pages here have been neglected for far longer than that.
In an effort to try to improve things a little bit, I am pleased to announce the release of Dino's Complete Guide to Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness, which replaces the old Ultima 1 Guide, and includes a host of improvements:
I hope you like it, and do not hesitate to send me feedback about it if you want to. :)
Happy New Era, As Dino Steps AsideI've evidently been busy lately. I've reached the point where the effort needed to maintain Dino's Ultima Page on a regular basis is more than I can afford. And since nobody has answered the three recent calls for assistance in posting news, I have no option but to let it go.
Although this is a sad decision for me, it is one that I take without regret. The two main aspects of this site - news and information - are covered by Ultima: Aiera and The Codex of Ultima Wisdom (respectively) in ways better than I ever could.
It is in these good hands that I leave you as I move on. It was a pleasure to serve the Ultima community for almost ten years, and I also feel that the Ultima community has been an important part of my life.
Dino's Ultima Page will remain online for as long as I draw strength, and although I will not update it regularly any more, I am not ruling out the possibility of returning to it occasionally.
Ultima Dragons: Thank you, happy holidays, and good luck!
U7 map, GOG newsInfinitron Dragon shared a link (at the UDIC Facebook Group) to an "Ultima 7 Google Map (beta)": an interactive map of the world of Ultima 7 (including dungeons) with placemarks at the interesting locations.
As Withstand the Fury Dragon wrote at Aiera, Good Old Games have launched their Holiday Sale. Almost all of their games (over 350 of them) are at half price, which includes all the Ultimas. Empire Earth (Gold Edition) was also completely free for a 24-hour period a few days ago.
At Forgotten World, Firstknight released Beautiful Britannia R3. Before that, though, Aiera already had some screenshots showing rock and cave textures from Beautiful Britannia.
There's a lot more news at Aiera, quite a bit of which revolves around Richard Garriott's latest adventures in the gaming industry. I don't have time to catch up with it as yet, so go there to read more!
The Complete Ultima 7 Re-releasedThere's been lots of news lately and I haven't really had time to cover it. I could use a hand with news in these busy times, if anyone's willing to lend one. Anyway, here is a summary of what's new:
There's also a lot more news at Aiera, but I'll catch up with that another time.
VariousStephen Emond, who recently released the Ultimate Collector's Guide (2012 edition), has been interviewed by RocketHub about it.
Sergorn Dragon shared a photo of his Ultima map collection at the UDIC Facebook Group.
An appeal for donations was posted at the Ultima 6 Online website. However, by now, all the required funds have been collected.
In recent news from the Ultima 6 Remake for Exult, it seems that Moonglow is ready, except for some minor fixes and the NPCs. Books from Ultima 6 and Ultima 7, as well as fan contributions, will be used in the Lycaeum.
The Titans of Ether have posted an update for September and October 2011.
Two screenshots of a "Britain house", from Beautiful Britannia 2012 R1, have been posted at the Forgotten World website.
Aiera pointed out a handful of interviews and other material about Richard Garriott. This includes: a Business Insider interview, a Motherboard video interview (this is an old one), a big essay by the man himself about what makes a Lord British "Ultimate" RPG, and an interview with IndustryGamers.
Other news from Aiera:
Ultima - The Ultimate Collector's Guide 2012Stephen Emond, perhaps known better within the Ultima community as CmdrFalcon, has been working on his Collector's Guide for... well, for at least as long as I've been part of the Ultima community, and that's not quite a short period of time any more. The Ultimate Collector's Guide is the most comprehensive guide to Ultima collectibles (whether they are game releases, books, or trinkets) you will ever find. CmdrFalcon has just announced the availability of the 2012 edition on the UDIC Facebook Group, and more details are to be found at Rockethub.
In other news, Team Return has written their second dev diary, dealing with various aspects of world simulation including food, sleep, injuries and death.
RG game for iOS coming soonWithstand the Fury at Aiera shared an interesting tweet from Richard Garriott, in which the self-styled monarch of Britannia announces that an "iOS Ultima type game [is] coming soon". I would venture a guess that the Ultima community is pretty curious, if nothing else, to see what the Father of Ultima is going to come up with.
On the UDIC Facebook Group, Michael Gacillos O'Hair shared a link to Hardcore Gaming 101's Ultima retrospective, a work-in-progress series that is currently at Ultima 6 and has lots of screenshots for the sake of comparison.
The Lost Vale plot docs revealed; and moreThe UDIC Facebook Group's latest activity has some interesting news concerning Richard Garriott. Adam Burr shared news of his legal victory over NCSoft; Manuel Masias pointed out an article about Britannia Manor II which is for sale; and Andrew Owen posted a link to an article about Richard Garriott's robot which he leaves in charge of his office. Other interesting shares from the group include part of Enrico Ricciardi's collection, and an image comparing the EU and US cloth maps of U7 (by Sergorn).
A particularly interesting bit of news from Aiera last week is the release of The Lost Vale plot documents - something that many of us have been wishing in vain to discover for many years.
A newspost at the Ultima 6 Remake for Exult describes AgentOrangeGuy's latest progress.
The people at Forgotten World have managed to provide U9BB.EXE as a patch to U9.EXE 1.19f, meaning that it will work with "any savegame of every version of Ultima IX or Beautiful Britannia".
More news from Aiera:
Haxima 2, Fake Akalabeths, and moreThe latest newspost from the Ultima 6 Remake for Exult shares a couple of ideas that would probably make a good addition to the remake. One is the need to cook meat before eating it, and another is to have soldiers assist you in the war against the gargoyles.
After almost two years of no news, a brief note on the Nazghul website announces that "Haxima 2 is in development".
The more interesting recent posts at the UDIC Facebook group include: someone selling fake Akalabeth copies on eBay, people sharing pictures of their artwork and Origin collections, and more. Check it out if you're interested in what's going on lately among Ultima dragons!
More Ultima-related news from Aiera:
More from Aiera that is not quite Ultima-related:
U4: The best RPG everI've made a tiny update to the U6 Items page, thanks to Jee who provided some new information. Ultima information submissions are always welcome, and now that Ultima is available through GOG, many people might find that information useful.
Ultima Return (i.e. the Serpent Isle remake, with its new name) has released its own rendition of Stones.
The Ultima 6 Remake for Exult reports progress, mainly related to Serpent's Hold. Other news includes the completion of Yew portraits (screenshots should be available soon) and the recruitment of Crowley.
The Escapist has an article about GOG's recent free release of Ultima 4, which calls the game the "best RPG ever".
Recent activity at the UDIC Facebook Group shows a couple of fake copies of Ultima 2 on eBay, and a reminder about Adam Burr's offer to give away some Ultima games and books.
More from Aiera:
Galleries at AieraWithstand the Fury Dragon released the following galleries at Aiera:
Also, at the UDIC Facebook Page, Stefan Eriksson shared a picture of his progress in building Moonglow for a project I'm not yet familiar with.
U6 Remake - Loose EndsThe Ultima 6 Remake for Exult reports the following progress with regards to world building and plans to address what happened between Ultima V and VI:
AgentOrangeGuy has been doing some map building here and there, concentrating on Serpents' hold, currently working on the keep. He will be doing some usecode and adding a few things here and there on the map, specifically to tie up loose ends from U5. Such as, have you ever wondered what happened to the Oppression after Blackthorn was banished? What happened to some of the buildings? The walls around towns? Also, you'll find out just why Horance is there in Skara Brae in the first place...To be continued...
Aiera brings further news of Sanctimonia's vegetation trampling and another update to Zeph's Ultima Minecraft Textures.
Codex updates and moreThe Codex of Ultima Wisdom has news of its progress:
Over 900,000 page views!
Blu3vib3 has almost finished rewriting all the Ultima VII character descriptions.
Ultima V: Lazarus maps and NPCs are nearly finished.
Substantial new information about the various Ultima Manga
More work on Sosarian Spells
Locations in Ultima Online
Countless minor improvements
More news from Aiera:
Following up on Aiera's most recent coverage, there appears to be even more recent news at the Ultima 6 remake for Exult. This newspost speaks of the new Quenton side quest as well as a new team member who is improving portraits to the quality of Serpent Isle while keeping them faithful to the original (a couple of samples have been posted).
CPRG Addict completes U5 and U4P2As you already knew if you followed my last news post, The CRPG Addict has finished Ultima V, and now made a post about it. Additionally, he has reviewed and rated Ultima V, and quickly played through the Ultima IV Part 2 parody.
The latest news at Forgotten World describes the team's most recent progress and welcomes a new team member.
At the UDIC Facebook Group, Michael Metzger shared a picture of a coin that bears some similarity with a Codex coin; and Lasse Linno Henriksen shared a link to a video of Richard Garriott talking about "how to get a job in videogames".
Good Old Games released Wing Commander 3. To mark the event, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera shared the following material from WC3: Introductions, Endings, and The Making of Wing Commander 3.
Return to the Serpent Isle, now renamed to Ultima: Return, is back with news after a long period of silence. Many things are mentioned, including a redesign of the website (which is immediately evident), a restructuring of the team, and an upcoming demo release.
More news from Aiera includes: Film Director Duncan Jones is an Ultima fan; some Back to Roots news; CD Projekt's Fall 2011 Conference; and Jeff Skalski who is the "Ultima Franchise Producer".
Finally, a little thing about Dino's Ultima Page. You might have noticed that news is getting a bit faster lately. In all honesty, I am still very busy with life in general, but I've been finding a bit of time to go back to the old RPGs I've been fond of for so long. At present I'm writing a walkthrough for Eye of the Beholder 2 - The Legend of Darkmoon at my other site, so nothing Ultima as yet. But the feeling is that I'll be back to adding new Ultima info to this site in a few months' time.
CRPG Addict returns to Ultima VThe CPRG Addict, whose Ultima V savegame got corrupted a few days ago after having painfully earned a Level 7 Avatar, managed to get back in the game. He had a savegame from 1st September backed up, and hexedited his party to have the experience he had when his savegame got messed up. At that point, he only needed to replay the various quests (e.g. getting Lord British's artifacts). His latest post covers a number of things that he tried out since he had the chance.
In his comments for that post, CPRG Addict later said that he finished the game, and an endgame post is coming tomorrow.
In other news, Michael Metzger shared more of his Ultima fan art on the UDIC Facebook group.
La Legende - reconstruction in progressSergorn Dragon reports progress in the reconstruction of his site, La Legende d' Ultima. He is hard at work at rebuilding the site, and has restored the info pages. Although galleries, downloads, etc are still missing, he will be adding them in the coming weeks. Sergorn might be known among newer Ultima fans for his more recent efforts Return to the Serpent Isle and Ultima Adventures, but others know that his information site La Legende d' Ultima has been one of the main sources of Ultima information since its launch in 1998.
On the UDIC Facebook Group, Michael Metzger shared an Ultima map that he drew.
The CRPG Addict has been killing pretty much anything he could find in order to raise his party's experience levels before trying to brave Dungeon Doom. Unfortunately, by the time he reached level 7, his savegame got corrupted. Unless someone can give him a hand, he may have to start over.
Withstand the Fury Dragon has continued to upload material related to Ultima 4, 5 and 6 to Aiera, following their release on Good old Games a few days ago. Here's what's new:
Withstand the Fury Dragon also made a list of patches relevant to the Good Old Games releases, and Pix's Ultima Patcher has also been updated to cater for the latest releases.
Ultima 4-6 Released on Good Old GamesGood Old Games has released Ultima 4-6 this week, although character importing doesn't work as yet.
The CRPG Addict, while levelling up to prepare for his final descent into the bowels of the very Underworld in Ultima 5, has written about the game's magic system.
More news from the UDIC Facebook Group:
More news from Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera:
Ultima 1-4 Released on Good Old Games (and more)The CRPG Addict has been progressing well with Ultima 5. He has just killed the Shadowlords and is preparing to attempt his final quest.
The Ultima 6 Online website reports that the server IP has changed to the following: 174.110.175.251:22.
The Titans of Ether posted an update for April-August 2011, and also changed server.
Some interesting posts from the UDIC Facebook Group:
At Forgotten World, Beautiful Britannia 2011 R2 has been released. In other news, a new screenshot shows an the amalgamation of the current U9 tools. Hawkwind has returned to the team to work on the world builder, and progress with property and trigger types was also mentioned.
There have been a number of interesting releases at Good Old Games. Those following Aiera knew that more EA titles were coming, and later that Ultima 1-4 would be released. Aiera complemented each Origin release with a shower of related material:
Later, Withstand the Fury Dragon wrote about patches relevant to the Ultimas on Good Old Games, and Pix released Patcher that handles patching them for you.
More from Aiera:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution releasedThose of you who (like me) are fond of Warren Spector's dystopian masterpiece Deus Ex will be pleased to know that the third installment, Human Revolution, has been released today. I don't know whether the man was involved with this one, but the reviews appear to be positive so far.
Aiera has a few new bits of news, which I will go over sometime soon.
Ultima 5-inspired mobile RPGI've just updated the Remakes and Engines and Reviews and Plots sections of my Ultima 5 info page, cleaning out a lot of dead links.
At the UDIC Facebook group, Dee DaeGraffe shared a link to a recent interview with Richard Garriott about MMO economies.
Also, Cody Ellsworth shared news that he is working on a "mobile version of an Ultima V style RPG". In a comment, he also shared a video of a "very early prototype" [MP4 video].
Ultima collectibles and moreThe CRPG Addict, who recently started playing Ultima 5 as part of his long list of DOS-era RPG playthroughs, has set off on his quest. He is currently going around main area of Britannia (Castle British, the nearby villages, etc) and learning useful information that will ultimately help him discover the fate of Lord British.
Interesting posts from the UDIC Facebook group:
More news from Aiera:
Playing every DOS RPGSome interesting posts from the UDIC Facebook Group:
Thepal posted some news about his Serpent Isle for Oblivion remake:
Thepal writes: "Lately I've been playing Fallout New Vegas, and all my Serpent Isle modding has been dark caves and basements. Today I started creating my first outdoor location in a while, and when I went to test it in-game I was just blown away by the sheer prettiness of the Oblivion engine."
Thepal posted a screenshot to show what he means, and I must say I am also very impressed.
Aiera posted some news about the RPG elements of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. For those who haven't been following along lately, the lead designer for this game is Ian Frazier, the man who brought us Lazarus.
Nuvie 0.2, The Digital Lycaeum and other newsFirstknight posted an unfortunate announcement on Forgotten World that the next release of Beautiful Britannia will be delayed by a few months. This is no cause for concern, however, and he reassures us that news will be available when significant progress has been made.
Some interesting content has been posted at the UDIC Facebook group, which Ultima fans might enjoy viewing:
The second official release of Nuvie (i.e. version 0.2) is now available. The biggest feature in this release is magic - all spells have been implemented. Many other pieces of game logic have been added - they are listed on the Nuvie website.
In other news (courtesy of Aiera)...
Forgotten World strides aheadA lot of things have been brewing at Forgotten World, as Iceblade wrote in his most recent news posts:
On an Ultima-unrelated note, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera responded to Rock Paper Shotgun's article about game photographer and posted several screenshots of The Sims 3 and Galaxy on Fire 2 (both for iPhone). Being a 'game photographer' is probably very common among gamers - we all tend to love keeping memoirs of our progress through games, and the many recent Ultima playthrough blogs are testimony to that. I personally have also screenshotted my way through several games, including several Ultimas (see walkthroughs in Dino's Ultima Page) and other games (see Game Info page in my other site).
Still on an Ultima-unrelated note, WtFD wrote a bit about file hosting services, giving his opinion on which service would be better for hosting any (possibly Ultima project related) material.
Aiera has the following news concerning Richard Garriott and Origin:
Other Ultima project-related news from Aiera:
Dr. Garriott marries, and other newsHi everyone... here goes a quick summary of the various news of the past month.
From the UDIC Facebook group there were the following interesting posts:
The Titans of Ether have posted "random screenshots from all over the world", and Direhaggis is complaining about his laptop being pretty much dead.
Forgotten World has been pretty active during July. The Beautiful Britannia 2011 R1 - Hotfix 1 has been released, removing two NPC types to fix occurrences that cause the screen to shake. Also, the team would like to add more books to the Ultima 9 world. Due to this, they are accepting book submissions from fans, and have also been working on a book editor [screenshot].
More news from Aiera, concerning Ultima projects:
Aiera news that is not Ultima-related:
New on Aiera:
News about Richard Garriott courtesy of Aiera:
Other Ultima-related news from Aiera:
Dino's Ultima Page turns 9Tomorrow is the 9th anniversary of the launch of Dino's Ultima Page. It's been great to be of service to the Ultima community for such a long time, and I hope to be around for many years to come.
I've fallen a bit behind with the news, because I have a lot of things going on. I will catch up as soon as I am able; in the meantime you can follow Aiera, which is doing a better job at staying up to date.
If Dino's Ultima Page is 9 years old, then next year it will be 10 (duh). I was toying with the idea of celebrating this 10th anniversary in some way. Perhaps it would be great to organise a meeting between Dragons at some central location (or separate ones for European, American, Australian, etc Dragons). If anyone is interested in something of the sort, please get in touch. I've never met any Dragons in real life myself, and I think it's a shame because there are a handful who have played an important part in my life.
Barnett bio and other newsThe media page of the Titans of Ether is fresh with screenshots of Spiritwood and Minoc. Minor updates to the site have also been made.
Similarly, Thepal has new screenshots of Moonshade, reflecting his latest work on his SI remake for Oblivion.
At the UDIC Facebook page, Shadow of Light Dragon posted a link to an article about daring moves done in online gaming. #3 in the list is the murder of Lord British in Ultima Online.
More news from Aiera:
The Bob White PlotIceblade from Forgotten World has been busy with other things lately, but will be resuming work on the project in the near future. A new poll asks which bug should be patched next.
Corv from the Titans of Ether wrote about Markee Dragon's interview with Richard Garriott. There's also a new screenshot, but you need a forum login for that.
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has written a guide to playing and patching the Ultimas today.
Aiera has posted a video (via Wing Commander CIC and G4TV) about the games GoG currently has and also those it is planning to release in the near future. It has just released a couple of new games (Litil Divil and Heroes Chronicles: All Chapters) and is planning to release many more via their deal with EA. The video also hints at a couple of other big gaming companies that might follow EA's footsteps and sell their games via GoG.
More from Aiera:
Various newsGood Old Games has released Magic Carpet as part of its deal with EA.
The Forgotten World website brings news from the Beautiful Britannia and Forgotten World projects. There are four new screenshots and mention of an upcoming Beautiful Britannia scheduled for September.
More news from Aiera:
RG: The Family ManMarkee Dragon was nice enough to share another interview with Richard Garriott. The father of Ultima, who is getting married pretty soon, says that his plans have changed a little, and his family is his number one priority.
I am now hosting Gallara's MOO log [TXT], which is basically a copy of this in proper text format. Until I set up a proper section dedicated to Ultima Dragon history, it is accessible via the Articles section on the Old News page.
Another interesting find by Gallara is a shop that uses the Ultima font.
Various Ultima goodnessYesterday I celebrated my 9th anniversary of Dragonhood. Well, 9 years is a long time, and I've been very happy to serve the Ultima community for such a long time, in which I've also learned a lot. And the best thing is this: it seems that there are good times ahead in the Ultima scene.
gog.com has released Crusader: No Remorse for sale as part of the agreement with EA. Although I've never played this title, I've heard a lot of good things about it, and the reviews seem to confirm what I've heard. You can also read more about the game at Aiera's relevant news article.
More news from the UDIC Facebook group:
More news from Aiera:
Titans of Ether are recruitingA member of the Titans of Ether has posted at the UDIC Facebook group requesting that anyone with skills which could be useful get in touch with them. Positions are unspecified, but knowing the nature of remakes I'd guess they need just about anything, with a particular emphasis on the art department.
EA brings Ultima back to lifeIt's official... the big news of pretty much the century became known to the Ultima community yesterday. EA is making several of its good old titles available via gog.com, starting with Wing Commander: Privateer, Dungeon Keeper and Ultima Underworld 1+2 in anticipation of "more than 25" other titles. GOG even went down for a bit due to heavy traffic at launch time. In addition to this, an official Ultima Forever website has been launched, offering a free download of Ultima 4. Let's just say that... I never thought I'd live to see this day.
This came after a mysterious "UltimaForever" account appeared on Twitter, teasing with "Art thou humble?" after the Ultima Forever website leaked a couple of days early; and following speculation from BanditLOAF.
Additionally, EA has launched a download service named in honour of the good old Origin Systems Inc, that is so dear to long-time Ultima fans.
More interesting Ultima news from the UDIC Facebook page:
More news from Aiera:
More Ultima news from the web:
Sneak peeks and stuffThepal reports that he is working on Moonshade, in his Serpent Isle for Oblivion remake. He is getting better at modelling, which allows him to work faster. A screenshot of Petra has also been posted.
The Spoony Experiment has released a Serpent Isle video review as part of his Ultima Retrospective.
News from the UDIC Facebook Group:
Markee Dragon wrote: "I met with Richard Garriott yesterday. I have lots of exciting news! The first item is that Lord British will be seen in a new game again. The name of the game is not yet set. That's being worked on right now. The new game will include many of the core principles we have loved so much. These are items such as the virtues. Non combat player role types such as we saw in UO. We will also see some very interesting new developments as to how the game is played. I'm not sure I can describe it well here. But Richard calls is the third era of games. Each era being 10x larger than the previous. That equals a player base number of 100,000,000 players for this game. I know that's a bit insane but that is what he is talking about doing.
"We filmed 4 things with him over the past few days. Two of them are directly related to all of us Dragons. We'll have the film ready sometime soon. I'll post them here as they are made available.
"Oh and lastly. I asked Richard to join UDIC as an official member. He said he would and we should see him in here sometime in the future. :)"
More news from Aiera:
U6O and StealingThe U6O website has an announcement bidding players to be careful about letting people into their online homes. Stealing is not against U6O rules, and lost items are not recoverable.
On another note, Thepal's Serpent Isle remake for Oblivion now sports an Aiera-ish website layout.
More UDIC goodnessThe activity at the UDIC Facebook Group has continued to generate interesting content. In one thread, many dragons shed some light on where they got their dragon names from. In another, a year-old article about DOUG the Eagle Dragon's misadventures was pointed out.
![[F]](f.gif "Fanfiction News")
Back to the origins of UDICThe UDIC Facebook Group, now boasting a 200-strong membership, is bubbling with activity. Here is a summary of the more interesting posts:
A new stable release of Iris2 is available.
More news from Aiera:
UDIC Breathes AgainThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, founded in 1992, is still the heart of the Ultima community on the internet. Many things have changed, almost 20 years down the line. Many of the original Dragons from the 90s basically grew up and moved on, and the UDIC website and many others have become inactive or disappeared completely. At the same time a new generation of Dragons appeared during the new millennium, bringing a new age of remakes and Ultima-inspired projects, as well as websites such as Dino's Ultima Page and Aiera, which today are the main hubs of Ultima news and information.
Last week, there was a big surge in activity from UDIC members, old and recent, in the UDIC Facebook page. This Facebook page, originally created by Dagur Dragon a few years ago, has been upgraded to Facebook's new group layout. In what many are seeing as a load of spam, new posts are now being emailed to members, and in light of this, many dragons have heard the call and manifested themselves on the page.
Now the exciting thing about this is that there are many of the original dragons from the 90s, who previously were known mainly by fame and weren't quite reachable, who are active in this Facebook group. These include the likes of Telavar, Contrapuntal, Goldenflame, and many others. Many of them remember the old days when UDIC members were on Prodigy, Weyrmount, or RGCUD. To me these are little more than legends and one of them should explain to me what they are ;) and also it would be nice to compile a history of the UDIC.
In other news, Beautiful Britannia is showing off progress with flowers and grass in their latest awesome screenshots [1 | 2].
Aiera has posted a gallery of Ultima Reborn - a different interpretation of Ultima 4 for the Nintendo DS. La Legende d' Ultima also has coverage about this, in French.
The Titans of Ether have posted a progress update for March and early April. Also, a web hosting move is planned.
More news from Aiera:
Nuvie 0.1 ReleasedAlthough the Nuvie project has appeared to be inactive in recent years, work has been ongoing despite the website's lack of updates. The fruit of this continuous effort has materialised in the form of the first official release (version 0.1). Check out their website for details.
More Ultima-related news from Aiera:
Galleries added at Aiera recently:
Aiera also has other news that is not Ultima-related:
Codex April update
The Codex of Ultima Wisdom is always accumulating more information. Aside from hitting the half-million mark in page views, and changing its logo (above), the following is a summary of what's new:
Tribun Dragon writes: We have been very busy at the Codex of Ultima Wisdom. So busy, that we have to seperate the news into three areas. We have managed to close many gaps and are now very close to really becoming the ultimate (note the pun) database for the series.
Yet work still is plenty to be done.
Single-Player Ultima:
- We now have a complete overview of the Monster Data of Ultima VI, VII, VII/2, VIII and IX. A number of them with the fitting monster sprites.
- A detailed walkthrough for what to do in the Underworld in Ultima V, complete with maps.
- Numerous new walkthroughs were added.
- An article for the Ginwoo, the propably most useless weapon in the series, was added.
- A massive overhaul of the magic pages. Besides general improvements, this includes:
- Total re-organisation and vast improvement of all Britannian Spells.
- Addition of all unique Serpent Isle Spells.
- Addition of all Pagan Spells.
- Addition of all Ultima IX Spells.
- Revamped Reagents page, which also goes for all the individual reagent articles.
- Started addition of Sosarian Spells.
- Started addition of Ultima Underworld Spells.
Ultima Online:
- We have added the Pet Golem Trick, a cheat for fast combat advancement.
- Completion of the articles for the Skill System .
- We have created a hub page for all the Magic Systems, which also includes all reagents of these systems.
- Detailled articles for the magic systems, complete with spells:
- Magery and its Spells
- Necromancy
- Spellweaving
- Mysticism
- Chivalry
General News:
- We have replaced almost all the illustrations from the manuals, hintbooks, etc. with new hi-res versions, which are nicer to look at.
- Blu3vib3 is still busy with NPC rewrites.
- General housekeeping and improvements.
There has been other Ultima news recently, but I'll catch up with it another time. In the meantime check out Aiera for the latest updates.
Introducing Ultima4EverThe latest addition to Spoony's Ultima video reviews is an Ultima Underworld 2 review. This review seems to focus more on Spoony's frustration at getting ripped apart by basic creatures, and less on the actual gameplay and story. In fact the review has received lots of negative comments, both at the Aiera article and the review itself, prompting Spoony to write a followup note (below the video).
Aiera's article about the freeware-ish nature of Ultima 4 has sparked a lot of comments below the article itself, and also across the web. Slashdot has also featured the article in one of its newsposts, as did many other popular websites. Aiera has since posted a followup addressing many of the misconceptions made by these other websites. In more recent news, an anonymous Aiera visitor provided a glimpse of what appears to be Mythic's secret Ultima 4-based project: Ultima4Ever. This piece of news features a snapshot of a video, showing a Britannia-like map. Another clue suggests that it will be an online RPG.
The Titans of Ether have posted an update for February.
More news from Aiera:
Ultima 4: Freeware or Not?Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has brought up the Ultima 4 issue. Is it freeware or not? His post explores the history of Ultima 4 as freeware and the current and potential impact on derived works. The comments so far have also proved to be an interesting discussion.
In my continued effort to bring Dino's Ultima Page up to date, I have migrated three of the old Ultima Web Directory's pages (i.e. Engines, Written Info Sites, and the Graveyard) to the new web database. I have also fixed an XHTML error in the Ultima 6 Guide.
Spoony reviews Ultima UnderworldI've made more enhancements to Dino's Ultima Page:
An Ultima Underworld video review has been uploaded at The Spoony Experiment.
In Beautiful Britannia, the water and grass textures have been improved. The latest two awesome screenshots [1 | 2] show what it's like.
At Aiera, xu4 and Nuvie updates have been updated. Aiera also brings news of more Ultima Underworld goodness from Dan Schmidt and Richard Garriott being announced as a LOGIN 2011 keynote speaker.
Various minor updatesI have retired the old Ultima Web Database, and performed maintenance on the newer WebDB2 to bring most of the data up to date.
Wizardry Dragon at The Feudal Lands has made minor cosmetic changes to the website.
More news from Aiera:
Also reported by Aiera are three tweets [1 | 2 | 3] from Paul Barnett (of Mythic Entertainment) about their upcoming secret project that everyone is hoping will be some kind of Ultima. Basically he's dropping hints but at the same time not telling us anything.
Ultima WebDB2 is outIt's been a while since I've added anything to Dino's Ultima Page other than news, and a indeed few cobwebs have crept in. I've made some updates today - I've updated a few links, and added a new section on Killing Lithos early (the same that I posted in the news last time) in the U8 Fun page.
But most importantly, I have added the Ultima WebDB2. This is a database of Ultima websites, and is the successor to the old Ultima Web Directory and Ultima Web Database which you can still access through the navigation menu to the left. This is a project I started back in December 2009, but I had stopped working on it due to other priorities. Today I finished the back end that allows easy maintenance of this database.
The reason why I left many broken links to dead sites throughout Dino's Ultima Page was that I wanted to store them in this database. If these links are lost forever, then it will be difficult to find them even in the Internet Archive, as people would have to rely on memory to remember the links. Now that this database is ready for use, general cleanup of this site can begin.
If anyone would like to give a hand with posting news or maintaining this website database, please contact me. I have very little time lately, and it is evident that news here has become infrequent.
For other news from the Ultima community up to today, check out Aiera. I will catch up with the community news another day.
Killing Lithos early (and lots more news)Moe Yasmine wrote to share a fun little trick in Ultima 8 that I haven't heard of before. He has found a way to kill Lithos early in the game:
Moe Yasmine writes: "I got to the necromancy stage and got the key of the caretaker and used open ground to enter the upper catacombs. From there I head immediately to stone cove and the hall of the mountain king after that without going to the necromancers. So I got the heart of the earth obviously using create golem and open ground to get it! Then i went for the mountain king with the purpose of using it on him at this VERY early stage of the game. Obviously when you first walk up to him you can't double click the heart of earth to kill him with it because he starts talking to you."
"So what i did was:
- Drink a purple potion (just to stay alive)
- Opened my items bag
- Walked up to the skeletons and hit one of them so that they all come for me
- I ran away and stood within an inch from where lithos would emerge and quickly double clicked the heart of earth to bring up its cursor
- I let the skeletons hit me from behind pushing me forward!
- now lithos came up and my heart of earth was ready for him.
- i killed lithos before he even called me a worm and told me to kneel
unfortunately lightning then hits you as though you're in the ethereal plane and the game freezes. My items would be open and the recall device doesn't work but unfortunately I'm not taken to the ethereal plane.
The Forgotten World team have released a new awesome screenshot showing off the work of newly recruited texture artist Viriathus. The other awesome screenshot that was released before it shows new textures for rocky mountains.
The Titans of Ether posted their progress report for January 2011.
A short February update for Return to the Serpent Isle has also been posted.
Wizardry Dragon at The Feudal Lands has made some improvements to the project website.
A new client for Ultima 6 Online has been made available to fix disappearing items and bugged swamp boots.
More recent news courtesy of Aiera:
February newsThe Forgotten World website brings news of progress made in Beautiful Britannia, particularly as far as terrain and flowers are concerned.
News at Exult explains what has been going on since the release of version 1.4.9 RC1. The Exult team is experiencing difficulties fixing a bug that is causing random objects to disappear and Exult to crash completely. However, many other bugs have been fixed by their new team member, Malignant Manor. They have also made an all-in-one audio package available for download.
Spoony has reviewed Ultima 7. The review is long (over 20 minutes and is pretty much a playthrough of the game.
More news from Aiera (quick summary):
Pagan overworld maps (and more)In an update to Pagan - The Beautiful, Julio Siqueira has added three videos [1, 2, 3] showing the world of Pagan. There are also some new composite maps of the whole of Pagan - a pretty awesome undertaking.
Sergorn Dragon finished his playthrough of Ultima ("Ultima Adventures") a few months ago. Now he has posted about the future of the blog. Its aim has been fulfilled, but Sergorn may yet visit other Ultima ports or related games.
Wizardry Dragon at The Feudal Lands is still appealing for people to join his project.
Progress at Forgotten World is never slowing lately, and now Firstknight has released U9BB.EXE, an executable which allows playing Ultima 9 without fog. This is shown by the latest awesome screenshot and other Beautiful Britannia screenshots.
In Ultima 6 Online, a boat carrying abominations from Sutek's castle apparently crashed into Britanny Bay, causing terror among the citizens of Britain.
Sergorn and the team at Return to the Serpent Isle have released the Ultima Game System for NWN2, which is a collection of game systems that are essential in the making of any Ultima remake based on NWN2. Team Return also report other news on various fronts, including NPCs and worldbuilding. As always, they would benefit from new team members, especially 3D artists.
More news from Aiera:
Titans, Beautiful Britannia and moreIt seems I was right about the Titans of Ether in my news post last week: sure enough they have posted a progress update for December a few days ago.
Forgotten World also has fresh news: a development history section has been added to the Beautiful Britannia gallery, and the latest awesome screenshot also shows how graphical quality has changed over the years.
More news from Aiera:
Catching up...Tribun Dragon from The Codex of Ultima Wisdom wrote about their latest progress in accumulating Ultima information:
After our move to Aiera, we have returned at the Codex of Ultima Wisdom at trying to close the gaps in our database. We can proudly announce much success and therefore can give all of you the first official update in months.
First our progress in the single-player section.
- We now have a section for Money, where besides currencies, also valuables like gold bars have found their home.
- NPCs of Martian Dreams is now practically complete, only a few NPCs have no description.
- We closed gaps in the armour, weapons and equipment sections.
- Interesting articles about Richard Garriott's first partners, California Pacific and Sierra.
- An interesting article about the looks of the Avatar through the ages.
- A long article about the Generic Guards found in the various games.
- The Shops category is now complete. It hold the shops for each game, or links to the NPCs in question, complete with all price lists.
- The magic shops in Ultima VI, Ultima VII and Ultima VII Part Two were so long, they got their own articles.
- The Evolution of the Paperdoll System.
- Several additions to the Walkthrough category:
- A solution to the Blue Field Maze in Ultima VIII, complete with a map.
- Completion of the Dungeon Solution for Ultima IX.
- An in-depth analysis of the Timegate System in Ultima II.
- A Solution for the Underworld in Ultima V.
- There are also numerous other additions, which are strewn all over the categories.
On the Ultima Online front, we have made lots of progress in filling the gaps:
- Addition of the expansion "High Seas" to the database.
- Background Information, including:
- We have added all of the Worlds of Ultima Online, although the articles for the various locations still have to be added.
- Over half of the Skills already have articles, the rest will be added over time.
- All of the Virtues in Ultima Online together with their effects, have been added.
In more general news:
- We've added lots of new screenshots and illustrations, updated old ones to have better quality.
- Blu3vib3 is still busy with re-writing articles.
- Addition of navigation templates for easier access.
- Of course to usual improvements on articles in general.
A new client for Ultima 6 Online is available. Check out their website for details about what's new.
It appears that The Feudal Lands could use some new team members, including scriptwriters, graphic artists, and usecode programmers. Due to issues with the mail server, anyone interested should contact Wizardry Dragon at his personal email address.
The Titans of Ether have posted a progress report for November 2010. I suppose they'll have one for December soon.
There has been quite a bit of activity at Forgotten World. Here's a summary of what's new:
More Ultima-related news from Aiera:
News from Aiera concerning Richard Garriott:
More news from Aiera that is not Ultima-related:
Serpent Isle: An Oblivion ModHappy New Year everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas season.
I did, too, and so I have a bit of Ultima news to catch up with here (until then, check out Aiera). But for today I'll give you this one little tidbit.
Thepal posted in my Google Group about his new Serpent Isle remake using the Oblivion engine. Some of you may remember Thepal's past work on Ultima remakes, the most recent being Ultima IX: Infinity Eternal. Its fate is explained in the earliest news post at the new site (basically, it's dead).
But meanwhile Thepal has put quite a bit of work into his new remake, and has released a demo and three videos of a breaking glass item.
Various newsIn this week's awesome screenshot, the Forgotten World team show off their mesh viewer:
Iceblade writes: "Now for this week's Awesome screen, I present an screenshot of the current incarnation of our Mesh Viewer. As any interested programmers should note, much of the ground work for our primary editor is completed except for the editing of file information. We have made great strides in the best few months in defining many of the remaining unknowns of the map files, so the task of finishing the editor is largely implementation rather than map file decoding.
"So we still very much need a C++ programmer. Also, we have a need for a texture artist."
Wizardry Dragon from The Feudal Lands has finally recovered from his laptop crash and will be resuming work on the project.
As always, the contributors of The Codex of Ultima Wisdom have been hard at work:
- The hard work continues despite our October 26th move from Wikia.
- Our new user Blu3vib3 had been extensively rewriting articles. Her work is fantastic.
- We've been expanding upon Ultima Online.
- Shops for Ultima III, Ultima V, and Ultima IX, and have been written, and Ultima V: Lazarus Portraits have been added.
- Further navigation and categorization improvements have also been underway.
I got an email from Lord of Ultima announcing the release of their "Forge of Virtue" expansion:
FORGE OF VIRTUE IS HERE!
Our latest Game Update brings you a quest of epic proportions!
This is your last chance to become the Lord of Ultima!
Forge of Virtue introduces a host of amazing new features:LORD OF ULTIMA QUEST
Giving you and your alliance the chance to become the Lord of Ultima
THE TRADE MINISTER
Take advantage of his awesome features. He will be your greatest asset when it comes to managing your resources
BETTER GRAPHICS, MUSIC AND SOUND
Enjoy an entirely new experience with enhanced graphics, an epic soundtrack and great sound effects
So since this is amazing, epic, awesome and whatnot, and you also get to become the Lord of Ultima (yawn), I guess you can't afford to miss out, right? Right?
And now for some more news from Aiera, where Withstand the Fury Dragon has been doing a great job at keeping abreast with all the recent Ultima and general gaming news:
Catching up for ChristmasSo, the Christmas season is around the corner, and it is traditionally good at keeping me busy. So let's catch up on the Ultima news lately...
The Forgotten World website has been quite busy with news lately. Here's a summary:
Spoony's Ultima 6 video review is online. Withstand the Fury Dragon isn't quite happy with the bashing of his (and my) favourite Ultima.
Ultima 6 Online has news of some sort of gargoyle invasion or such:
"Strange lunar forces are driving the Gargoyle horde deep into Britain! Arm thyselves to the teeth should you wish to visit Britain's Major shops! British Commands the town militia to advance! Log in and do such!"
The Titans of Ether have posted their update for October 2010.
More Ultima-related news from Aiera:
Aiera news that is not Ultima-related:
Forgotten World / Beautiful Britannia screenshotsNews at the Forgotten World website reports an increase in graphical quality. This is evident in this week's new screenshot of Yew, as well as in several new Beautiful Britannia screenshots.
At Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon has made a news post about Remembrance Day.
Lord of Ultima presents AscensionToday I got an email from Lord of Ultima saying that:
ASCENSION IS HERE!
The second of three large Game Updates to be introduced this year makes Lord of Ultima even easier and enjoyable to play!
Main features in Ascension include research, better use of natural resources, improved ministers, Alliance forums and improved Combat reports.
Gee, thanks.
...
WtFD's second hatchlingA big and heartfelt congratulations goes to Kenneth Hynek (known in the Ultima scene as Withstand the Fury Dragon, and the man behind Aiera) and his wife Grace on the birth of their second baby. It's a girl!
Also, there is some news from Return to the Serpent Isle. Nytefall, a Lazarus veteran, has joined the team and begun creating portraits.
Forgotten Hallows video, and moreFollowing their release of the Forgotten Hallows Rise 2010 holiday themed map, the Forgotten World website has news of a video about it by Dagur Dragon. Additionally, they have released the first of a series of screenshots that will be released every Friday, and want people to vote in the poll, which will remain open until the end of November.
Ultima-related news from Aiera:
Miscellaneous news from Aiera:
Return to the Serpent Isle: October 2010 updateAn October update has been posted at the Return to the Serpent Isle website. Interesting news from this project includes a new harvesting system that allows natural resources to replenish over time, and development on various areas of the project (including worldbuilding, writing and 2D art) has begun. The news ends with the usual appeal for people to join the project in order to accelerate its progress.
More news from Aiera includes a discussion of the law that bans the sale of violent video games in California, a story about WtFD's daughter and Halloween, Ultima 8 for NWN being restored, and a poll about whether visitors would like an IRC channel.
Forgotten World Ultima IX advancementsFollowing plenty of recent news of Forgotten World, a new update tells us the following:
RG engaged; U9 patch released; Codex moves; etc
Tribun Dragon informed me that The Codex of Editable Wisdom, now renamed to The Codex of Ultima Wisdom, has joined the Aiera family. This move was triggered after Wikia imposed conditions on their hosted Wikis that were not acceptable.
Exult and Pentagram, the two foremost SDL engine projects for Ultima 7 and 8 respectively, and which also share common developers, have both been updated this month. Exult lists a whole variety of new enhancements, while Pentagram mostly mentions bug fixes and the addition of plenty more savegame slots.
Sergorn has finished his playthrough of Ultima last week, and has nonetheless continued his blog by discussing aspects of Ultima 9.
Aside from the Codex, Aiera is now also hosting:
Other Ultima news from Aiera:
Other Game-related but not Ultima-related news from Aiera:
Family-related news from Aiera:
Origin treasures revealedFollowing the efforts by the Origin Museum and Wing Commander CIC at archiving left-over material from Origin donated by Mythic, the fruit of their work has finally come to light. Aiera is now hosting several images provided by the Origin Museum from the Mythic collection. Among the treasures we may now admire are: Bob White plot dungeons, Ultima 8 animations, and high-resolution images of ingame artwork.
Sergorn's most recent Ultima Adventures have taken him to the world of Pagan, more specifically to the Hall of the Mountain King. As Withstand the Fury Dragon has noted, Sergorn's very recent playthrough of Serpent Isle has also been accompanied with information about the game's original design from Bill Armintrout, who was one of the top people on the original project.
The Titans of Ether have posted their September update, which includes a brief summary of what each team member has been up to this past month.
More news from Aiera:
Ultima ray-traced (and more news)While reading material on ray tracing for my Masters, I happened to come upon some sample student projects, one of which was this pretty impressive Ultima-related scene (from the slides here):
Sergorn has apparently been playing a lot of Ultima. In his most recent Ultima Adventures, he not only finished Ultima 7, but finished Ultima Underworld 2 as well, and has been playing through Serpent Isle.
News from Aiera:
Ultima to be re-released with DOSBoxI got an email from Lord of Ultima about three game updates that are scheduled to be released by the end of the year. They are curiously named "Serpent Isle", "Ascension" and "Forge of Virtue". Following the misuse of the Ultima name in EA Phenomic's latest browser-based strategy game, this announcement is like pouring salt on an open wound to many Ultima fans, most especially seeing how the reuse of classic Ultima game names is not even in the right order!
Sergorn's playthrough of the Ultima series ("Ultima Adventures") is doing well, and for the past few days, having finished Ultima Underworld, he has been playing Ultima 7. Admittedly I have not been following his progress so far, but you can expect to see updates about it here from now on.
As for Sergorn's other Ultima pastime, and that is the relatively new yet ambitious Return to the Serpent Isle project, a September update has been posted. In it, Sergorn tells of the team's progress for the past month. Worldbuilding has begun, and the media page contains screenshots of Withstand the Fury Dragon's work. Also, writing of NPC profiles is ready, and dialogue writing will begin soon.
Those of you who have been following The Spoony Experiment's Ultima video reviews may have come across the Grass Battle competition organised by The Spoony Experiment. From what I could understand, this was a competition where amateurs would put together a short video of an epic battle against grass. Now it turns out that the fifth honourable mention, that is a video called "Journey Onward", is intentionally Ultima-themed. While most of the video is devoid of any story whatsoever, the ending is pretty classic to say the least.
Aiera has been updated a lot in recent days, so let's begin by catching up with its Ultima-related news:
And these are other updates from Aiera which are not Ultima-related:
Various newsThe Project Britannia site has reiterated the release of The Ultima 6 Project's 1.0.1 patch update, and is similarly listing download mirrors.
The Titans of Ether have posted a progress update for August 2010.
An Ultima 5 video review is now available at The Spoony Experiment. This time it's more of a (positive) criticism/review than anything going anywhere near being funny.
The following are Aiera's recent Ultima-related newsposts since the last update here:
Also, Aiera has been doubling as a general game-related news site with the following newsposts:
Finally, Aiera news with nothing to do with gaming:
Ultima 6 Project Patch 1.01 ReleasedThe Ultima 6 Project team have just released patch 1.01, making the product fully playable. They are also taking a well-deserved three-week break from development and support. Read the press release:
A trailer of Mass Effect 2 Downloadable Content Lair of the Shadow Broker has been posted at Aiera.
Return to Serpent Isle: character creationSergorn Dragon at Return to the Serpent Isle has posted about their success in emulating typical Ultima character creation in NWN2, together with a conceptual video of it. There is also a new Team Roster page.
Aside from posting the Return news above, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has restored downloads for IRE, and also wrote (and posted a video) about how he got caught up in a hurricane while he was away for a wedding.
SI Return, Spoony U4, and RPG MakerThe Spoony Experiment's Ultima 4 video review is now online.
At a topic at the Exult forum, Fahed Al Daye posted a link to a screenshot of what looks like an Ultima 7-based RPG Maker. There appears to be no more information about it as yet, but it looks like an interesting effort.
Sergorn Dragon has posted the August update for his project, Return to the Serpent Isle. A couple of new team members have been recruited, and game components for injury, resting, and guards and prison have been completed and released on NWN2 Vault.
Spector thinks game devs are still making cartoonsWithstand the Fury Dragon posted a brief discussion of an article in which Warren Spector is quoted saying that most game developers are still making cartoons. This criticism is aimed at the overused idea of the lone tough hero who saves the world. Withstand the Fury Dragon argues that there is nothing wrong with that, because people can relate to this idea and wish that they were that hero. While I share WtFD's opinion on how people relate to heroes, I have to agree with Spector because the lack of originality in most games, films, music and other forms of entertainment makes me sick. Anyone who has seen several apocalyptic movies, for example, can probably understand my frustration. The fact that most games etc are essentially the same is really the reason that I pretty much quit trying out new ones.
Withstand the Fury Dragon also posted on Aiera that he has been busy but will resume posting news next week; and that the Arx Fatalis downloads have been restored.
Codex, Beautiful Britannia and moreTribun Dragon has sent me a progress report on work going on at the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
After much work, the Codex of Editable Wisdom is next to complete now. Besides the report of our progress, however, we also have one huge construction site left, but more about this after the update.
- We now have a Transportation Transportation category, in which we have collected all the various means of transportation (vehicles and magic) in the games.
- An extensive article about the Terrain Terrain has been added.
- We as well now have one about the "Evil Empire" Electronic Arts Electronic_Arts.
- We are still busy with closing the gaps in the ULtima IV NPCs NPCs of Ultima IV.
- An interesting find, the omputer Game Museum Computer_Game_Museum, which has an extensive Ultima collection, well worth the visit.
- An oversight was correct. We forgot the Underwater City Ambrosia in Ultima. Now it is here, together with all its inhabitants.
Now for the construction site mentioned above.
One huge gap we were unable to close concerns Ultima Online. While we now have a seperate section for everything concerning it, we sadly are unable to fill it with content. Most either have no time for it, or never played UO (as I never did). Therefore we hope for interested contributers to help us out of this fix.
Apart from the game and expansions, we were only able to find the following things:
- History of the massive Duping-cheating Duping early in UO's life.
- The Worlds of Ultima Online Worlds of Ultima Online .
- On Overview of the Skills Ultima Online Skills . However, only two skills have pages:
We're unable to add more than that and are dependent on outside help for that section.
I also got an update from Firstknight, who is pursuing his "Beautiful Britannia" project after having broken off from Forgotten World:
Greetings to all, who are interested in "Beautiful Britannia".
Sorry, but I haven't got the time to create a homepage so far, so I want to provide some quick infos on the actual project state here:
Currently (after being offline for about 6 months) I continue working on basic tasks, like categorizing items and upgrading the creation tools.
When this is done, the next step will be adding bigger objects (mainly rocks and trees) onto britannia overworld (means pure hexcoding)
Both of these tasks will take approximately until Summer 2011.After that I will have something new to show (which is not really the case atm), so this will be a good time for providing a homepage then.
Also a new demo is planned in Late 2011 (I hope that I get the .NET Launcher done until then).Further I'm sorry to say that there will be no way to remove the fogging on overworld maps in Windows 7, but it makes not much sense anyway, simply because MiddleClip values higher 6000 gets unstable.
Long time goals for "Beautiful Britannia":
- Providing many more details for Britannia overworld
- Making several unsued maps (overworlds and dungeons) playable
- Shorten the linear parts and add nonlinear ones instead
That's all so far, greetings again
Firstknight
Those interested in what Richard Garriott's been up to might be interested in this article/video: Richard Garriott's Haunted Geocache, noted thanks to a topic in the Exult forum.
More news from Aiera:
Ultima 4 Development ChallengeAiera brings news of an Ultima 4 Development Challenge by Mythic Entertainment. This EA-owned game studio is responsible for a couple of pretty big titles, as well as being the present owner of the rights to Ultima. As it stands, Mythic are encouraging any possible port of Ultima 4 for the iPhone OS, and would support it by publishing it under the EA Mobile label in Apple's App Store.
This is a tremendously interesting opportunity for anyone involved in Ultima fan remakes to actually be part of an official Ultima title. There aren't really many details on Aiera's newspost about this. However, I would personally take this up if I had time and an iPhone available. Still, if anyone's interested, get in touch!
Some more news from Aiera: BritanniaMOD and Realms of Ultima have been restored. Also, Zenimax has purchased Arkane Studios, the company responsible for Arx Fatalis - which was made in the spirit of Ultima Underworld.
More Spoony reviews (and other news)In the news last month I mentioned (thanks to Aiera) the Spoony Experiment Ultima reviews. There are now video reviews for Ultima 2 and Ultima 3.
The Titans of Ether have posted an update for July.
After a couple of years of website inactivity, the Lazarus website is now being run by the Project Britannia team, and a new Lazarus forum has been set up at Project Britannia to replace the old one that went down ages ago.
More news from Aiera:
At a loss as to where to start fromZephyr, from the Ultima 6 Project team, has posted some news about their progress on the 1.0.1 fix:
Zephyr wrote: "Just a quick update on the development of the 1.0.1 Patch. We have gotten it to the point where it is mostly stable; anyone who wishes to download a pre-release copy of it may do so from the Project Britannia wiki. Simply download the u6p_patch.dsres file and copy it to your Resources folder of your U6 installation. Please note that this is still pre-release and may still contain bugs. However, we would appreciate any help you can offer in making sure that the patch is solid; if you download the patch, we ask that you report problems in our forum at the Project Britannia website. Thanks to all of our fans who have been so supportive. We are truly honored by the positive response to date."
The Titans of Ether have two new additions to the media section, namely their latest world map [JPG], and a fan-made version of Stones, by Dustin Naegel.
Due to a heavy load the site is experiencing, Project Britannia has had its Downloads link temporarily removed.
Sergorn Dragon has posted the July update on the progress that has been going on at Return to the Serpent Isle. They have recruited a professional composer, and report progress on several areas, including: spells, skills, inventory, injury, death and resurrection, currencies, guards and prison, overland map, and character creation questions. Death and resurrection, currencies, and spellbook systems have also been released on NWVault. That's a lot of work, so good job, Sergorn and the rest of the team! Any 2D/3D artists who are willing and able to help out in this project are encouraged to apply, as the Return team is in dire need of human resources in the art department.
Recently I came across this Ultima 7 Recreation project which was apparently some kind of school project. This means that work on it probably won't continue, but it looks pretty good from the screenshots.
Aiera has a lot of recent news, as well as a notable change in design. Here's a summary of the latest at Aiera:
Dino's 8th Anniversary
Dino's Ultima Page turned 8 years old today!
U6P developing patch against plot stopperThe Ultima 6 Project has announced that there is a bug in their 1.0 release that can prevent players from finishing the game. They are currently working on a patch to fix this problem, and the patch will be compatible with 1.0 savegames. This news has also been echoed at Project Britannia.
More news from Aiera:
Codex updateTribun Dragon sent me an email with another of his regular progress reports about the Codex of Editable Wisdom. Here's what he had to say about recent activity at what has become the biggest Ultima Wiki on the web:
In the last months, we've been very busy at the Codex to fill all the still existing gaps. We can proudly announce that by now only small gaps remain, mainly with the NPCs of Ultima IV and Martian Dreams. Most of it is now work concerned with improving the formatting the format of the articles and adding additional information.
- The NPC-Section for Ultima V is now complete, all NPCs have an article. Only some vendors are missing, but they don't have any dialogue anyway.
- All the cities and towns of Britannia now have maps for Ultima VI, VII and IX.
- The Weapons and Equipment pages now also have information about generic weapons (like swords) and various tools that can be mis-used as weapons.
- There now is a section about Eodon Magic.
- The Combat Trainers now have a complete listing of what stats they advance.
- The Section about Books is greatly enlarged. Numerous non-Origin cluebooks are added, some other cluebook articles (especially Ultima VII) have more information now.
- The Ultima Online Map is now the original cloth map.
- Various interesting Miscellaneous-articles:
- The Altar Rooms of Ultima IV.
- The Flames of the Principles.
- Various others.
- The Walkthrough-section got new content:
- A Solution to the Serpent Isle Dungeons, complete with maps.
- Feeding values of food in Ultima VII.
- Party members for Savage Empire and Martian Dreams.
- A complete Solution to Ultima Underworld, including maps.
- A complete Solution to Ultima Underworld II, including maps.
- Various other, unsorted articles.
Also, the Titans of Ether have posted a progress report for June. If you're good at writing, then why not join them - they are currently looking for a dungeon writer.
U6P and other DS remake sites back onlineThe websites of the Ultima 6 Project, Project Britannia and Ultima V - Lazarus are back online. This also means the U6P forums are working as well. Check out the release page to download U6P from one of the mirrors.
By the way, I strongly recommend watching the Spoony Experiment Ultima reviews that were mentioned yesterday. Fun stuff.
Ultima DS remake sites downThe Ultima 6 Project has been slashdotted. That means they got press from what is probably the busiest tech news site on the web. While this is great for exposure, it also means that you get gargantuan amounts of bandwidth used in a short period of time, which pretty much kills your site. As a result it appears that the Ultima V: Lazarus, Ultima VI: Project and Project Britannia websites are down. I've heard from one of the members of the U6P team who said they are trying to get it back up and running, and also provided a list of mirrors from where people can download the U6P 1.0 release:
Meanwhile Sergorn Dragon has also announced the release of U6P at La Legende d' Ultima.
Some more news from Aiera:
Ultima 6 Project ReleaseThe full release (1.0) of the Ultima 6 Project was finally made available yesterday. A short snippet of the press release:
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.
You can read the U6P 1.0 Press release or other news about the release:
Other news from Aiera mentions a new Ultima-related project called Sanctimonia, which is being developed by Kevin Fishburne, who has already made software contributions to the Ultima community in the past. He is currently trying to raise funds for the project.
Ultima Paper Towels, and various remake newsDuring his holiday in Finland, Christian Aasman came across a strangely familiar paper towel dispenser:
The Titans of Ether have posted an update about what they've done in May.
Similarly, the folks at Return to the Serpent Isle have posted a June update, in which they announce the release of a fully working Ultima Magic system on the Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault. They have also been working on character creation and classes (removing D&D material in favour of a more Ultima approach) and the introduction sequence.
Aiera has seen lots of updates in this past month (mostly focusing on restoring broken downloads), including:
More Aiera downloads restoredWithstand the Fury Dragon is working hard to get the Aiera downloads working again, and has managed to restore all Ultima Underworld 2 downloads, as well as the Serpent Isle in Spanish download.
U6P nearing completion (and other news)Tribun Dragon has sent me another progress report about work going on at the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
We were very busy at the Codex of Editable Wisdom, and the gaps become smaller with each day. We can celebrate over 2500 articles and here the highlights of our recent activities since the last news:
- The Ultima Underworld I Character Section is now complete. All characters from the game have their own article, complete with portrait.
- The Savage Empire Character Section is now complete. All characters from the game have their own article, complete with portrait.
- The Ultima IX Character Section is mostly complete. Some characters (all not found in the cities) are still missing. One-liner NPCs are ignored.
- Saveral additions in the Walkthrough section:
- A complete solution to the Ultima VI Dungeons, including maps.
- A complete solution to the Ultima VII Dungeons, including maps.
- An article about the Character Advancement in the various games.
- A list of the Exchanged Items in Serpent Isle.
- A Locations Map for Ultima III.
- We started a page about Oddities in Savage Empire.
- We completed the section "Locations on Eodon". All places on Eodon, complete with description, pictures and inhabitant lists, are now online.
- We completed the section "Locations on Mars". All places on Mars, complete with description, pictures and inhabitant lists, are now online.
- Additional Organizations: The Exiles and the Outcasts.
- Various other articles strewn over all categories.
Besides that, we did houskeeping, added new navigation bars and infoboxes, lorequotes and updated pictures in better quality. The biggest work left to be done are the NPCs of Ultima V and Martian Dreams. Someone else is already working on the NPCs of Ultima IV.
Ophidian Dragon has continued blogging his way through the SNES version of Ultima 7, which is proving to be a source of frustration and disappointment.
Good news from the Ultima 6 Project: the 1.0 release is very near, and 3D development has been complete for a month. U6P team member Niko Makela has posted a video on the U6P site showing some nice examples of his 3D models and their animations.
The Titans of Ether have posted a progress report for April.
At Return to the Serpent Isle, a May update has been posted. Food and sleeping systems are complete and have been released on NWVault, and a Serpent Gate system is also working.
Aiera; U7 SNESFollowing the last newspost here about Ophidian Dragon considering revisiting Ultima in his blog, he has indeed resumed Blogging Ultima with a couple of new posts about the SNES version of Ultima 7. He appears to be pretty disappointed, and explains why in his posts.
La Legende d' Ultima appears to be down.
Withstand the Fury Dragon posted the following news at Aiera:
Ultima 4 OnlineA programmer called Blair Leggett has created a Flash version of Ultima 4 called Ultima 4 Online. This is not to be confused with Johnny Wood's Ultima 4 Multiplayer; Ultima 4 Online is the good old single-player game playable online from your normal web browser.
Also, Ophidian Dragon posted in his blog "Blogging Ultima" that he is considering playing through the awful SNES port of Ultima 7.
Lord of Ultima releasedWe've known about it for a while, and some of us have tried the beta. But now, Lord of Ultima is a finished game and has been released to the public to play for free. For more info, follow the links at the Slashdot article or Aiera's newspost.
U6P Beta 3 ReleasedThe big news is that the third beta of the Ultima 6 Project has been released yesterday:
Beta 3 Release
Written by U6P Aletys
Monday, 19 April 2010:
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 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.
News of this release has also been posted:
Apart from having posted the U6P news, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has noted that the site has been upgraded to PHP5.
Also, Sergorn Dragon at Return to the Serpent Isle has posted an April update, which is mainly about world simulation.
More Codex NewsAnother update relating to the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
Tribun Dragon writes: We've recently (meaning yesterday) managed to complete the NPC section for Serpent Isle at the Codex, meaning that all of them now have their own article, complete with portrait.
Additionally we have some more news:
- We have created a most detailled article about the mechanics and history of the Ultima-Character Creation.
- We have complete the section about Weapons , which now holds the magical and non-magical weapons found in all of the games.
- We have complete the section about Armour, which now also includes the various shields and all kind of armour found in all of the games.
- We have added some interesting articles in the Music-section:
- An article about the Music Instruments found in the games, complete with sound files.
- An article about the Dungeon Music of the various games, complete with sound files.
- An article about the Combat Music of the various games, complete with sound files.
- We have created numerous articles in various sections, that can't be all listed here.
We now are in need for help.
While we can manage the NPCs for Ultima V and IX, Ultima Underworld I and especially Savage Empire and Martian Dreams are problematic. For the latter two games we're looking for people who can write articles about the NPCs and get their portraits, since I -the main writer- don't have these games available. We also need help with the items and locations found on Mars and Eodon alike.
A full collection of Ultima information has always been one of the primary aims of Dino's Ultima Page - something I've never been able to finish due to having limited time available. So if you're still active in the Ultima scene, do give Tribun Dragon and the other Dragons a hand in finishing this common objective!
At Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon posted about the demise of his wife's PC, and lists some possible alternatives for a replacement. If you have any advice to give in this regard, pay Aiera a visit and leave a helpful comment.
Speaking of demise, it appears that La Legende d' Ultima is currently down. Let's hope it's nothing serious.
Codex update; U8 hidden stuffTribun Dragon wrote last week about a big update to the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
Tribun Dragon writes: We have worked hard at the Codex of Editable Wisdom to close the existing gaps and fix the various articles which were either flawed or yet incomplete. Our breaking of the 2000 article mark is already known, but here now what we have been up to in the last months:
- The Ultima VI character section is now complete! All characters from the game have their own article, complete with portrait.
- The Ultima VII character section is now complete! All characters from the game have their own article, complete with portrait. This was the biggest task to be done.
- We now do have a category about the various forms of ammunition found in the games.
- A complete section about the various locations in old Sosaria.
- Addition of the various Ultima II timezones of Earth.
- Total revamp of the various planets of the Terran Solar System in Ultima II, the pages are now better and all the settlements now have articles.
- The magic-category now has section about Sosarian Magic and Ultima IX Magic.
- Many new Lore-quotes (f.e. for the various shops)
- Addition of the verios map found in Serpent Isle, the Ultima IX town maps, and the Ultima IX treasure maps.
- As well as a map of the Tokuno Islands from Ultima Online.
- Cheat-POKE lists for the C64-ports of Ultima V and Ultima VI. As well as a cheap way to the Underworld in the C64-port of Ultima V.
- A detailled computer-map of Britannia for Ultima IV, with all important things marked.
- And of course numerous articles that are strewn through all the sections.
Besides the new content, we also did housekeeping.
- Lots of useless pictures are now deleted, and all pictures are now categorized.
- Numerous articles (like locations on Britannia, Serpent Isle and Pagan, the solar system, the classes and many others) now have navigation bars at their bottom to make browsing through the articles easier.
- Next to all the Bestiary pictures were re-uploaded and are now much better.
- Re-structuring of the categories to have a logical system.
Right now our main focus is to fill the ranks of the NPCs for Ultima V, Ultima Underworld I and Serpent Isle, before trying our luck on the Ultima IX NPCs. All help is welcome.
There is also good news for those fans of Ultima 8 who are excited about new discoveries even so many years after its release, when we all think we know all about the game. Jason Chapman wrote about a couple of hidden things that nobody else knew about before: a second ceremonial dagger, and Darion's hidden basement.
Finally, the Titans of Ether have posted an update for March.
Happy EasterOn this Easter Sunday, one can read four updates to Aiera that were posted over the past week:
Lord British after lunar propertyThe world is not enough for Richard Garriott, who believes that his lunar rover will allow him to claim lunar property rights.
Some small updatesIn the latest update at Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon mentions that he will, over the coming few days, have time for some updates (including news and downloads). He's also looking for people to help out with posting news.
Wizardry Dragon at The Feudal Lands has posted some bad news: some project-related work has been lost due to a hard disk crash. Also, he provides a status update and explains why there haven't been any updates lately. Apparently the alpha to be released this year will be available, but later than was originally planned.
A new stable version of Iris2 has been released.
Editable Codex at 2000 articlesJeffrey dropped me a line and wrote the following about the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
Just wanted to let you know that ultima.wikia.com now has over 2000 articles. Everyone has been working hard to make this the best repository of Ultima knowledge on the internet. Despite that, we still need lots of help. We need people to edit existing articles, write new articles, and help categorize and classify.
So if you're Ultima-savvy and have some spare time, head to the Editable Codex and give them a hand!
Garriott's Lunar Rover foundAn article at Wired (noted courtesy of the corresponding Slashdot story) describes how the Lunokhod 2 has been found. The Lunokhod 2 is a Russian lunar rover which was lost somewhere on the moon 37 years ago and was bought by Richard Garriott in 1998 despite the fact that it was nowhere to be found.
Game Development InsightsA March update has been posted to the Return to the Serpent Isle website. The full news article reveals that the game will be released one chapter at a time, in order to allow fans to play the game after a short period of time, and allowing frequent releases of playable material. The article also says that the first chapter will consist of the Isle of Beyond, which includes Moonshade.
The Titans of Ether have also posted an update, though for February. The update summarises what each team member has done last month.
La Legende d' Ultima's latest newspost puts the spotlight on an interview with Richard Garriott at Kotaku, in which the father of Ultima explains the motivation behind Portalarium. To summarise, he is targeting casual gamers through the web platform. Until recently I would have thought this is pretty dumb, but after having attended a conference on digital game development last week, featuring some great international speakers, he is probably right that this is the way forward (hard as it may be to digest). However, he also sees a possible future for bigger (MMO-style) games using Portalarium's platform.
Aiera's latest updates are about Return to the Serpent Isle's March update, Portalarium, and the fact that game development company Turbine, Inc. has several vacancies. This is the company behind several fantasy titles, and currently employs the man working on Classic Ultima Online (formerly Ultima 4 Multiplayer).
Lord of Ultima and Pagan The BeautifulFirst, a few words about my experience playing Lord of Ultima:
As of last weekend I've finally been able to try out the beta of Lord of Ultima. I haven't played it all that much, but so far gameplay has all been a tutorial under the guidance of an automated Lady Lyanna, who tells me to build one building after another in order to unlock new features. This is not to say that a tutorial is not in order... but it's not something I want to spend hours doing. With each step of the tutorial you're given a bundle of wood or some other resource, so you end up pretty much accumulating loads of resources, making them seem worthless.
The main resources in the game are wood, iron and stone. You produce these by building the respective mining facility for the particular resource. Location of buildings as well as how many of them you have are important factors that relate to how much you produce.
Since I'm still stuck in the tutorial stage I can't really tell much about the experience of waging war or forging alliances, which I guess is pretty much the whole point. So far I can conclude a couple of things though. First, as we all expected, there is absolutely nothing Ultima-related, except use of the name. Second, having played a multitude of strategy games, I see this as just another drop in the ocean, with nothing really new to offer to any experienced gamer.
In other news, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera posted about the need to find Dungeon Siege updates that are readily available on the web.
Also, a fellow called Julio Siqueira wrote about a new Ultima 8 website he's made called Pagan - The Beautiful. I particularly like this site because it provides several maps of Ultima 8 constructed from actual in-game graphics (i.e. using Print-Screens). There are also amalgamations of maps into bigger map sets (e.g. all Tenebrae). It is refreshing to see that even 16 years after Ultima 8 came out, the Ultima community still produces original content about it.
Garriott returns to GamingBoth Petrell at Aiera's news comments and Sergorn Dragon at La Legende d' Ultima have noted that Richard Garriott has returned to gaming through a new company called Portalarium, together with old-time colleagues such as Dallas Snell, Fred Schmidt and Stephen Nichols. Read more at the press release on the Portalarium website.
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera posted about a YouTube play-through of Ultima 6 (currently in progress). However, as I noted in the comments, a Let's Play of Ultima 6 already exists, with substantial screenshots and dialogue.
Also, Ophidian Dragon at Blogging Ultima wrote an answer to those who think the blog is dead. The answer was that obviously the play-through is over so the blog's purpose was accomplished a while ago, but Ophidian Dragon may occasionally still find new interesting things to post.
La Legende domainAt La Legende d' Ultima, Sergorn writes that the www.ultimalegend.com domain has been transferred and is now working. You can reach his site from there or just keep using the jexiste address.
Return to the Serpent IsleSergorn Dragon's project, Return to the Serpent Isle, now has a website. It is being developed as a Neverwinter Nights 2 mod, with the freeware and "when it's done" attitude that is typical of Ultima remakes. However it's not a remake, but a totally new game based in the Serpent Isle world. The first dev diary entry gives a lot of information about the intentions and ideas of the project, and anyone who would like to help out should check out the Recruitment page which lists all kinds of imaginable roles that are needed for the project.
The Titans of Ether have posted their monthly progress report for January.
Lord of Ultima; U6P Beta 2 ReleaseAiera and La Legende d' Ultima have been quick to post news about the newly-discovered Lord of Ultima, the latest Ultima title from EA. Developed by EA Phenomic, this game is a complete change in genre, as it is a browser-based online strategy game. One can participate in the closed beta, but the servers are usually always full, and like Withstand the Fury Dragon and Sergorn Dragon, I haven't yet managed to get a chance at playing it. Meanwhile I have set up an info page about Lord of Ultima, and will be adding info to it as it surfaces (as I did back in the day with Ultima X).
Another important announcement, already covered by Aiera, La Legende d' Ultima, Project Britannia, and obviously the Ultima 6 Project website, is the release of U6P's Beta 2, or Milestone 9. One can read the press release:
Dungeons and Dragons; Serpent Isle OnlineAt Crispy Gamer, there is an interesting article about Dungeons and Dragons. It's not really Ultima-related, except for a brief mention of Akalabeth, but it's interesting for those who, like me, have enjoyed several D&D games.
At Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon brings good news - he managed to recover a lot of files from his old server. He also posted about a new(ish) project called Serpent Isle Online, which is a UO-based remake of Serpent Isle.
Sword and Shield, La Legende and Iris2Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has restored the old Sword and Shield forum that used to accompany the site. This forum has better anti-spam protection than its predecessor, and does not require users to register. Be sure to check it out often and participate, as I'm sure it will be a place of interesting Ultima discussion.
A stable release of Iris2 was released yesterday.
La Legende d' Ultima has been having more server trouble, first due to a bug with images, and then because of other server issues. Thus Sergorn is moving off ccweb and La Legende d' Ultima can be reached at http://sergorn.jexiste.fr/ until the ultimalegend.com is properly transferred to the new location.
Another interesting tidbit posted by Sergorn Dragon at La Legende d' Ultima is about a mysterious game for Nintendo DS called Ultima Reborn, which has apparently been cancelled. Sergorn happened upon the CV of one of the developers at RPGWatch, but was not able to learn more about it. Still, he argues, there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel for those who hope for EA to revisit Ultima.
The Legend Returns (and other news)As misleading as the title of this post may be, no, I'm not referring to Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn, but to Sergorn Dragon's La Legende d' Ultima. This great Ultima resource site has returned to life on New Year's Day with a new design, after having experienced server trouble and even being blocked as a malware site last year. The site is currently available only in French, but the English version is being worked on.
At Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon writes that he is offering FTP access to project developers who would like to host their project files there.
The Titans of Ether have posted a progress report for what they did in December.
Firstknight leaves Forgotten WorldFirstknight is leaving Forgotten World for good due to real-life commitments. He will continue working on Beautiful Britannia slowly and eventually release it at Aiera, but the Forgotten World project now remains in the hands of the remaining team members. Read Firstknight's full post at their website for more details.
U9 Preview Chest updateWhen I created the U8 Mysteries page last week, the first section was about the rumours about the Ultima 9 Preview Chest. They also included a paragraph quoted by Stefan Gruber which contained additional information about it. Both he and I were unable to find that paragraph on the internet.
By consulting the Internet Archive, I managed to find a copy of the website of Jeff Abramson, who had written a walkthrough/FAQ for Ultima 8 which is mirrored in several places on the internet. It turned out that Jeff had updated this document with new information about the U9 preview chest, but the update remained on his website only - and went down with Geocities.
I have updated the U8 Mysteries page accordingly.
In other news, Aiera has been updated to correct an error in a previous news post, and to wish us a happy Christmas.
UX page and U5 opinionsI have restored the old Ultima X page as part of the main site. I have also added some Ultima X art [zip] kindly provided by Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum.
I would like to create an Ultima 5 Opinions page. Ultima 5 was one of the most popular Ultima games, and I have seen a lot of praise going its way from many Ultima fans. Please submit your opinion about it, either directly to me by email or using this thread at the Google Group, and I will include your mini-review of Ultima 5 in the upcoming U5 Opinions page.
U5 and U8 Info additionsIn the Ultima 5 Guide, you will find a new Credits page with the in-game credits. I also added Nu5 among the Remakes and Engines.
In the Ultima 8 Guide I added a new Mysteries page. In the Walkthrough page, I also added more links to where one can find Jeff Abramson's walkthrough on the internet.
At The Feudal Lands, Wizardry Dragon writes that the server maintenance that was expected to possibly cause some downtime is complete.
Info updatesFollowing the Sheri Graner Ray blogposts, I took the opportunity to update some of the cobweb-infested info on Dino's Ultima Page, including:
In other news, Wizardry Dragon at The Feudal Lands warns about possible downtime over the next few days.
Sheri Graner Ray on Serpent Isle and The Lost ValeNatreg Dragon recently wrote to alert me to a couple of livejournal posts by Sheri Graner Ray, a former Origin employee who worked on The Lost Vale among other projects:
These posts contain interesting insights on what it was like to work at Origin, as well as some Ultima 7 trivia, info on the original plot of Serpent Isle, and some new tidbits on The Lost Vale. I will be updating the relevant info pages on Dino's Ultima Page with info from these posts.
Sheri Graner Ray has been in the computer gaming industry for 20 years now (and she's blogging about it), and has worked for many big names in the industry. She is currently a senior game designer with Schell Games. Among her achievements are the founding of Women in Games International, and the authoring of the book Gender Inclusive Game Design-Expanding the Market.
New forums abound...New forums have popped up:
Beautiful Britannia demo releasedFirstknight from Forgotten World wrote me last week about the release of the first demo of Beautiful Britannia. Check out the Forgotten World website for details, or head to Aiera to get hold of the demo.
Lots of updates from Aiera and othersWithstand the Fury Dragon has posted lots of updates on Aiera:
Direhaggis at the Titans of Ether has posted a November update with a brief description of what the team has been up to. And while a few people have joined since the call for help two months ago, the Titans still have need for more interior worldbuilders.
Ophidian Dragon has posted in his Blogging Ultima how he resolved his problems with running Ultima Underworld. (Clue: he found his hidden backup.) He also shares some thoughts on the spells available in the game.
And last but hopefully not least, I'm Mentis Dragon and I'll be helping Dino out with posting news to the site. After some years away from Ultima (shame, I know...) I'm back in the fold! You can expect me to pop up on forums as well. (Enough ranting, back to reporting news...)
U6P M8 Full Press ReleaseFurther to my post yesterday about the Ultima 6 Project's release of Milestone 8, note that a full press release is available at RPGWatch with more screenshots.
U6P M8 ReleasedThe Ultima 6 Project have released Milestone 8, which is their beta release. The final 1.0 release will also be available sometime soon. You can read the press release:
Forgotten World demo coming up (and other news)Firstknight at Forgotten World announced that a demo of Beautiful Britannia will be made available sometime this month. To celebrate the fact that today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Ultima 9, Firstknight is committed to releasing a demo of the current build to show everyone the improved areas in Beautiful Britannia.
I am currently working on backing up most of the sites on the Ultima webring. In doing this, I made an interesting discovery: those Geocities website that are on the webring have survived - apparently the webring itself has mirrored them.
I am also looking for people to help me with posting news and maintaining the upcoming Ultima Web Database 2. If you're interested, please contact me.
Several unusual new Ultima projectsAiera has been updated several times this weekend. Some of the updates concern the appearance of unusual Ultima projects which are unlike the usual mods we are used to. Here's a summary of what Withstand the Fury Dragon posted on Aiera:
Ultima Cartography ProjectThis week I was contacted by Mark Mitchell, who is working on an Ultima project that is unique in its kind. Mark is a fan of historical cartography and has embarked on a mapping project to reimagine Britannia as if it were real. His work so far has been posted in a thread at Cartographer's Guild, and he is very interested in receiving feedback from from Ultima fans. People who know a bit about erosion and geology could be particularly useful.
In other news, Ophidian Dragon has posted in his Blogging Ultima about woes when trying to run Ultima Underworld. Can anyone help?
Also, Iris2 is recovering from their recent server crash. The forum is back online; a backup has been restored (though with no file attachments) and they have upgraded to phpbb3.
Update: I forgot to mention that Aiera is temporarily down due to domain problems, which should hopefully be resolved soon enough.
Codex update: nearing completionTribun Dragon sent me an update about the latest progress of the information collecting effort at the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
Tribun Dragon writes: It has been a while now since the last update about what we are up to at the Codex. However, that doesn't mean that we were idle. Beside additions to various topics, we have a number of new, interesting additions.
- There are numerous interesting additions to the Technical and Background page:
- We now have articles that go into detail about the various computer ports of Ultima I, Ultima II, Ultima III, Ultima IV, Ultima V and Ultima VI.
- A section that discusses the various bugs found in the series (still expanding).
- The strange Ultima VIII World Model and its weak points, which can cause interesting effects. (thanks to Dino for the original information)
- The Harpsichord Tile Shifting Effect from Ultima V, which sheds some light on the engine - video included.
- In our section for Music, we now have articles about the two sountrack CDs that were released and about some of the more famous songs.
- Our section for Organisations in the series is now completed.
- In our Walkthrough section, we've managed to cover many of the more perplexing problems in the games:
- A solution to the devilishly complicated Level 6 Room Puzzle of the Abyss.
- A complete Solution to Dungeon Doom.
- A detailled listing of the party members for Ultima V, Ultima VI, Ultima VII and Serpent Isle.
- Solutions to the Dungeons of Ultima IV and Ultima V, including maps.
On other news, we start to run out of topics we can cover, apart from filling up the ranks of the NPCs. So if you are interested, feel free to search the Codex and if you find a topic that we don't have covered, inform us.
The Titans of Ether have also posted a progress report about their project.
Forgotten World and Iris2 updatesFrom the Forgotten World website:
Firstknight writes: I've found some time to exchange most of the existing screens with 20 new ones, where "the fog has been lifted".
Also, a new stable release of Iris2 is available, along with a Linux Install Guide.
Ultima tops Todd Howard's FavouritesAt a topic at the Dino's Ultima Page Google Group, Kobra Kai posted a link to Playing Favorites: Bethesda's Todd Howard. This is a list of the top 10 games (and three at 11th place as an honourable mention) in the opinion of Todd Howard, Game Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios.
The first place is taken by Ultima 7 (possibly shared by Ultima 4 and 6). Below is what Todd Howard wrote about Ultima:
Todd Howard writes: Depending on the year, I flip this choice around between 3 games: Ultima 4, Ultima 6, or Ultima 7. No other gaming series has, over such a long period of time, given me such joy. I get lost in the world of an Ultima; it’s a real place to me. The people were real, their problems real, and travelling a new world, ripe with its own history, all real to me. Nothing else has inspired what I do as much as Richard Garriott’s creation. If gaming is the ultimate escape, then Ultima is its best game.
Various newsAiera posted a link to a YouTube playlist called Let's Play Ultima V Lazarus: Warriors of Destiny, which is a video-documented playthrough of the popular Ultima V remake for the Dungeon Siege engine. If my guess is correct, the author, Stuart Kerrigan, is the author of the Lost Vale fanfiction for which Dino's Ultima Page first appeared on the web.
In his most recent post, Ophidian Dragon resumed Blogging Ultima by undertaking the laborious and daring task of writing an Ultima 9 review.
Ultima: Iris had some server problems recently. The site is back but apparently some problems persist. From the website itself:
6.10.2009: due to a crash in the raid system and as a result a broken filesystem we have a bunch of server-problems, we put up this temporary website until we can restore the original data.
The Nazghul website, after almost a year without news, now reports that Nazghul and Haxima 0.7.0 have been released.
Firstknight at Forgotten World has found a way to disable fog on overworld maps in Ultima IX. In his latest newspost he discusses the method and the implications, and demonstrates the effects with three screenshots.
In this topic at the Exult forum, people have been discussing what became of the Ultima 7 comics created a few years ago by Damien Barban, also known as Galadis. The comics eventually disappeared from the web and although there is a partial copy on the Internet Archive, people have been trying to recover them.
Yesterday I began working on a rewrite for the Ultima Web Database. This is basically a work-in-progress database that should store details about all Ultima websites. The results of the rewrite are not yet visible because I am still working on it. The reasons for rewriting it are that the database design was not good enough and maintainability was also an issue. I have been holding off updating my information pages before setting up this new database simply because some old, defunct Ultima links may be lost in the process, and those links may be important to view old Ultima websites on the Internet Archive.
Old Dino's site uploadedIn my effort to secure the Ultima sites on Geocities, I also downloaded an old version of Dino's Ultima Page dating back to January 2003. You can see this old site at the Hosted Sites page. Eventually, once Geocities dies, I may also add more dead sites to this page.
The Lost Vale DiscussionAt the Google Group of Dino's Ultima Page, Kobra Kai (who runs an extensive guide to Ultima 8 featuring some of the more interesting things one can do in the game) posted a summary of all that is known about The Lost Vale, in the hope of stimulating discussion about it. The post also includes some of his speculation about the add-on.
Discussion about Ultima 8 and The Lost Vale at Dino's Ultima Page (by means of the forum) has led to interesting findings in the past, including the finding of hidden chunks of silver ore, hidden chairs, the discovery of the Lost Vale box, etc. It would be interesting to resume such discussions, so please participate if you wish.
Geocities closing down on 26th OctoberYahoo Geocities will be closing down on 26th October. There are several (at least 20) Ultima sites on Geocities that will be lost if nothing is done about it, as I have already written in the past. If you are the owner of one of them, please make arrangements to have your site moved elsewhere. Both I and Withstand the Fury Dragon (see this thread) have offered to host such Ultima sites. It doesn't matter where they move, as long as they don't follow the decade-old tend of Ultima sites disappearing from the web.
U6P M7 Released; and other updatesThe Ultima 6 Project has released Milestone 7, which is considered an alpha in preparation of the beta and 1.0 release that should follow soon. You can read the full press release:
The Titans of Ether have posted an update about what they have been up to in September.
The Ultima: Iris website appears to be having problems.
On the Forgotten World website has been updated, Firstknight reports that he finished a general upgrade of part of Yew, and added three screenshots to give us a taste of Beautiful Britannia. He also updated the project information for Beautiful Britannia.
Tribun Dragon sent me an update about the myriads of information that is being added to the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
Tribun Dragon writes: We have worked hard at the Codex of Editable Wisdom over the last months to close the gaps and create content. Here are examples of the results of our hard work:
- We have now all of the spells of Ultima VII in our section for Britannian Spells. Work now will concentrate on inserting the remaining spells from Ultima VI and V.
- The Bestiary is now complete with the inclusion of Savage Empire and Martian Dreams monsters. It now includes all creatures ever encountered.
- The list of Ultima VIII Characters is now complete, all the characters have a detailled decription.
- In addition to the single games, we now also have all the Compilations in our database, they can all be easily accessed from the main page.
- We now have a detailled description of the Britannian Calendar and the Pagan Calendar.
- A rather unusual addition is a listing of all the taunts of the Guardian, most of them even with soundfile.
- The Codex now also has a category for Commercial Fiction, where all the commercial fiction books written with the Ultima name are listed.
- There are several interesting additions to the Technical and Background page:
- For several ports that strongly deviate from the original version, we have now articles. These include the C64-port of Ultima VI, The NES-ports of Ultima III and Ultima V, the two ports of Ultima IV and the SNES-ports of Utima VI and Ultima VII.
- The Translation of the Games, and Ultima VII in particular.
- The Ultima VII engine has some interesting and strange effects, collected in Ultima VII Engine Quirks.
- The never released Ultima X had a lot of spoiler information on the net, complete with lots of art. The Codex managed to collect most of it, proving that essentially the game would have been a much worse deviation than Ultima IX. This includes: Planned Monsters, Humans, Gargoyles, Elves and Orcs.
Changes to Dino's Ultima PageYesterday I found time to make a few updates to the site:
Epic MickeyA Twitter post on Aiera mentions Warren Spector's latest project, Epic Mickey. There is some basic info and some links at the Wikipedia entry for Epic Mickey.
Aiera has also lost a couple of Ultima Underworld downloads, and Withstand the Fury Dragon would like to know whether anyone has a copy of the missing files. Apart from these missing files, the rest of the Ultima Underworld downloads have been restored.
Ultima Online: The Stygian AbyssNatreg Dragon sent me a link to an unofficial map of the latest Ultima Online expansion.
Natreg Dragon writes: That's Termur, the Land of the Gargoyles. Check the lower right part of the map. It's just exactly as the underworld of Ultima VI, so in theory this is the official underworld where the gargoyles lived before the collapse. It even makes sense that it is positioned there.
Courtesy of Aiera's use of Twitter Tools are a couple of links to the homepage and an article about the same Ultima Online expansion that Natreg Dragon told me about - The Stygian Abyss.
Also courtesy of Aiera are the following links to recent articles about Richard Garriott and his space enterprise:
And again thanks to Aiera are videos from Warren Spector's game design classes and The Making Of: Deus Ex. Warren Spector was one of the main people behind games like Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, and Deus Ex. Being one of the best games I've ever played, the Deus Ex article is certainly worth a read.
Codex updates; Siege Perilous released; and other newsTribun Dragon sent me an update on what he and the other contributors to the Codex of Editable Wisdom have been up to in recent days:
In the last two weeks, we have done tons of work at the Codex of Editable Wisdom. In this short time we managed to not only create very interesting content but also re-worked partly the functioning of the site. Including other things we have:
- We now have a Map-Section that holds a complete atlas of all the maps ever sold together with the games in very good quality. Also, if there were different versions of a map, we did our best to include this map as well for viewing.
- A completely new category is about Background and Technical Details. A number of really strong articles in it are:
- The Development History of Ultima IX, complete with all the turns and illustrated with pictures.
- Ultima IX Plot Remnants. To add to the Bob White Plot story, there were numourous things from the old plot still in the game.
- Unused Ultima IX Maps. How to access the unused maps in the game and what they contain.
- Plot Cuts in Serpent Isle. A long article on what originally had been planned for Serpent Isle.
- Plot Cuts in Ultima VIII. The same for Ultima VIII. Very interesting how much of the game had been lost because of the deadline set by EA.
- The Original Serpent Isle Intro, complete with video!
- We now have completed the list of Characters in Ultima Underworld II. Every character from the game got a detailled describtion and the fitting character portrait.
- The category for Books is now complete. It includes all the books found in the game boxes and the cluebooks sold by Origin. Almost every article includes a link to a high-quality pdf-version of the book!
- The page about Sorcery is now greatly improved.
- All of the illustrations that had been originally from the Ultima Collection are now replaced with high quality ones from scans and from pdf-files. They all now look a lot nicer and are bigger as well.
More, especially on the technical side, is to come soon.
Direhaggis at the Titans of Ether has posted an August update. The Titans are looking for interior worldbuilders and writers, and the update also has a brief overview of what the team has been up to in the last month.
Aiera has posted several updates, some of which are Twitter posts:
U6P needs help; M7 coming soonThe Ultima 6 Project is aiming to release Milestone 7 on 30th September, and is looking for playtesters, writers and portrait artists to help reach this target.
The Ultima 6 Project is looking for play testers to help us find bugs so we can get rid of them prior to the M7 release, which is scheduled for September 30th. We also need help with writing and with finishing the portraits. There is a huge world with lots of dungeons to explore and monsters to stomp. There is the complete Gargoyle world as well, some of which no one outside the team has seen before.
Read the full press release here at Dino's Ultima Page; it also includes a screenshot of the Avatar battling dragons at the Gargoyle Shrine of Passion.
Issues and Space TravelI forgot to mention with the last update that one of the reasons why it is important to have the Lazarus forum back, as Tribun Dragon told me, is that there has been some talk on said forum that Lazarus has some problems with Windows 7.
Apparently Geocities will be closing completely on 26th October 2009. That's 2 months from now. A decent share of the Ultima presence on the internet is hosted on Geocities (there are at least 20 sites that I know of) and it would be a shame to lose those sites. As I have been suggesting since April, everyone should make a copy of the Ultima sites on Geocities (possibly using tools such as wget) to ensure distribution of these sites so that they don't get lost forever. Any webmaster of these sites who would like some hosting, please get in touch with me (it's free).
Aiera posted a link to a post about a video of Richard Garriott on space travel.
Lots of updatesThe Forgotten World project website has been updated three times this month. A new Projects section has been added, listing the three Forgotten World projects including the new one called Beautiful Britannia Unlimited. The second update includes three screenshots of the park in front of Lord British's castle. In the most recent update, Firstknight reports that the team has managed to correct the position of the Ruins of Empath Abbey, and a screenshot is there to show it.
The Titans of Ether posted their monthly progress report for August to tell us what each team member has been up to.
Tribun Dragon wrote that the Ultima 5: Lazarus forum is down. And to make matters worse, there appears to be no contact information on the website. Is the forum experiencing temporary problems, or has it simply outlived its purpose?
Another loss I noticed is that Sergorn Dragon's La Legende d' Ultima is being blocked by both my browser and my antivirus as being a potentially malicious site.
Although the Codex of Editable Wisdom has not been in Ultima news highlights recently, a lot of work has been going on with the addition of lots of new information.
Tribun Dragon wrote: We added lots of new content and expaned on the older articles. We overhauled the articles in the Bestiary, made the main page far more comfortable to navigate, generally re-formatted lots of articles and tweaked the NPC section. Some of the highlights are character descriptions of the martians in Martian Dreams (you have to admit, they are fairly obscure) and the Bob White Plot enriched with lots of screenshots (many from removed movies that create a feel for the original story).
Aiera has been updated several times this month:
Dino's Ultima Page: 7th AnniversaryDino's Ultima Page turned seven years old yesterday. It certainly isn't going ahead at the same pace of 2002 as far as news and info updates are concerned, but still it remains one of the most active sites in the Ultima community.
The Titans of Ether posted an update for June, and also launched a cooking competition a few days ago to draw inspiration from the creativity of fans in order to come up with interesting and original recipes to include in the game.
Aiera has been updated several times this month:
Forgotten World forksThe Forgotten World project has been updated a couple of times in the past few days. The most important update is that the project has split into two projects, namely Forgotten World and Beautiful Britannia. The FAQ explains the difference between the two, i.e. that Beautiful Britannia is a less ambitious version of Forgotten World with the aim of enriching the landscape and releasing earlier.
Also, there is some new media at Forgotten World.
Various updatesWithstand the Fury Dragon has been hard at work at Aiera and restored the Ultima 3 and 4 downloads.
At a thread at rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons, Polychromic Dragon posted a link to a video about Richard Garriott at VBS.tv. The video deals with three main aspects of Garriott's life: computer games, Britannia Manor, and space travel. It's well worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch it.
Ophidian Dragon at Blogging Ultima posted a review about Ultima 8 and Runes of Virtue.
The Titans of Ether posted a brief update about what they have been up to in May.
Another UW updateAdded an Items section to the Ultima Underworld 1 page among other minor updates.
Underworld updateToday I finished Ultima Underworld 1: The Stygian Abyss for the first time (I know, it's about time) so I gave the Underworld 1 page a little update by updating it to the current design and adding a list of related projects.
In other news, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has posted about some video card problems he's been having (which have now been fixed) and said that downloads should continue to be updated next week (but this is dependent on how busy life will be).
Also, in his latest blog post, Ophidian Dragon wrote a review of Ultima 7 (both parts).
RG Interview at Crispy Gamer, Part 2James Fudge, who posted the first part of an interview with Richard Garriott last week, has made a comeback. There is now part 2 of the interview online, as well as some bonus material.
U6P M6 patchThe Ultima 6 Project has released a patch to fix a bug that breaks the game at a certain point in the plot. You can read the full press release here at Dino's Ultima Page, or at the Ultima 6 Project website.
In other news:
Richard Garriott sues NCSoftmage guru pointed out an article giving details as to "Why Richard Garriott Is Suing NCSoft" for $24 million in damages. According to the article, the lawsuit claims that Garriott actually did not leave NCSoft voluntarily to pursue other interests; his departure was made to appear voluntary by NCSoft so that he would have to sell his stock options during the current recession.
Info updatesYesterday I made a number of updates to the information content at Dino's Ultima Page:
Aiera was updated three times yesterday. The first two updates are about the U6P M6 release and the interview with Richard Garriott at Crispy Gamer. The third says that Ultima 2 downloads at Aiera have been restored, and asks for some feedback about Aiera's site management and downloads.
The Project Britannia site has also mentioned the U6P M6 release.
U6P M6 released (and other news)The Ultima 6 Project has released Milestone 6. A short version of the press release is below. You can read the full press release (contains a couple of screenshots) here at Dino's Ultima Page.
Ultima 6 Project Milestone 6 Release
It is with much pleasure that we announce the release of Team Archon's next milestone of the Ultima 6 Project, Milestone 6 for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). Some things to look forward to in this release:
- Nearly the entire world is now available for players to explore:
- Brand new dungeons have been added and existing dungeons have been expanded or improved. This includes Pirate Cave, Covetous/Wrong, Shame, Crypts, Cyclops Cave, Destard, Heroes’ Hole, Ant Mound, Hythloth, and Stonegate
- Gargoyle lands are in place, including the Gargoyle Shrines and Tomb of Kings
- Many new NPCs have been added, including all the Gargoyle NPCs, a favorite talking horse and an exiled Gargoyle
- More quests have been implemented, and one quest which players were unable to finish in the original game can now be completed. Many more quest related items are now available to the player
- Numerous enhancements to the core game play have been made, including improved animations and textures for the Gargoyles, and many small tweaks and improvements
- Additional enhancements to existing areas
You can find the download links on the Official Website:
http://www.u6project.comYou can post comments, suggestions, and request help on the Milestone 6 board on our forums at the PB Britannia site:
http://www.projectbritannia.com
James Fudge at Crispy Gamer wrote to let me know about a new interview with Richard Garriott.
James Fudge wrote: The interview is a companion piece to an alternate play through of Ultima VII: The Black Gate. There's some interesting stuff in there including an argument during the development of Ultima IV that caused a family feud and put the game's future in jeopardy. Part two will be coming soon.
Chigowiz, who runs a D&D-based RPG blog, wrote about a little Ultima project he's up to. He's making a setting for Ultima 1-3 for Swords & Wizardry Whitebox, called The Siege Perilous. You can read the original post about his effort, or check out the latest news at his blog.
The demise of GeocitiesYahoo! Geocities is the home of some of the oldest Ultima websites. Many other Ultima websites currently not on Geocities had first appeared on Geocities, including Dino's Ultima Page (see The First Anniversary article). Despite having a somewhat bad name, Geocities has always been great compared to other free web hosting solutions because it never took down old and seldom-updated sites, which is why many old Ultima sites are still there.
The news is that Yahoo! has given up on Geocities, and will end it later this year.
With many Ultima websites disappearing from the web, losing all the Ultima sites on Geocities would definitely be a huge blow for the Ultima community. Like a species slowly going into extinction, the remaining Ultima sites must be safeguarded.
If you are the author of an Ultima website on Geocities, send me an email and I will set you up on my webspace. If not, you can still help by saving a copy of the Ultima sites you know are on Geocities... a quick way of doing so is using the wget utility. I will be doing this myself, but if many people have copies of those websites, then they will have a greater chance of surviving.
In other news, Withstand the Fury Dragon, in his effort to bring Aiera up to date, has updated the Ultima 1 downloads.
U6P nearing M6; Aiera redesign; and other newsThe most important (and recent, having been posted yesterday) news this month is that the Ultima 6 Project is looking for playtesters to help find bugs before the release of M6 scheduled for 30th April 2009. There are also a couple of new screenshots on the page.
Another important piece of news is that Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has resumed updating the website, and the website itself has been redesigned and reorganised.
Ophidian Dragon's blog has also been updated with a couple of posts. The first one (posted in March) outlines his remaining plans for the blog, while the second one (posted a few days ago) is a combined review for both Ultima Underworlds.
Finally, the Titans of Ether have posted a progress report (with job postings) for March and a media update (with new screenshots) for April.
U6P to be released in AprilThe Ultima 6 Project has issued a press release in which it announces that Milestone 6 will soon be ready, is due to be released in April. The full press release can be read in an article at RPGWatch with several screenshots, or at a shorter article at Strategy Informer.
Direhaggis at the Titans of Ether posted an update for February, discussing what was achieved during February and also showing some job postings (as always).
I've been working a little bit on the Ultima 5 section of Dino's Ultima Page. The U5 section has been upgraded to the new design of Dino's Ultima Page - several info pages still use the old design, since I haven't had time to work on all of the site. Also, I've added a few new links, and removed several old ones since a number of good info sites (such as Trigon Dragon's Ultima Dox, Blackshadow Dragon's Ultima Warehouse, and the Ultima 1-6 part of Iolo's Lute among others) have died since the last update to the U5 info section. The most notable change is the addition of a lot of (still unstructured) info to the Fun section. If you notice that I missed anything, feel free to let me know via email or the Google Group.
Ultima Keyring for NWNCarcerian created a Keyring mod for NWN, adding support for a keyring (as in Serpent Isle and Ultima 8).
Fresh from the silicon mines, the Neverwinter Ultima Keyring, (not to be confused with the most excellent Keyring Mod for Exult) allowing builders to support the keyring as found on Serpent Isle and the world of Pagan...
On another note, I am back to playing Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny. This means there might be updates to the U5 information section in the near future.
Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands Alpha 0.1 ReleasedUltima VII: The Feudal Lands Alpha 0.1 Released
0.1 Alpha version of the Exult mod Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands has been released.
The Alpha release contains The Feudal Land's namesake fully mapped in the chunk form, the broadest form in Ultima VII mapping, Redesigned Spellcasting System allowing NPC spellcasting, Karma system, the Gypsy intro, Properly Functioning Inns and Lock Lake Cleanup. Both the Quests & Interactions patch by Alun Bestor and the Black Gate Keyring Mod by Marzo Sette Torres, Jr have also been fully integrated into The Feudal Lands mod.
You can discuss and leave comments about the release at Exult Forum.
Wizardry Dragon has also posted about projects current and future plans and about 0.1.1 Alpha version that they plan to release in next few days. They are also looking for writers, artist and coders to join the team.
U6 Project - February Update at RPGWatch
Ultima 6 Project February Update has been posted at RPGWatch. While great progress is being made in most areas and Milestone 6 is sceduled to be released in April, the bad news is that it appears that they may not be able to make all the needed music tracks and npc portraits for final release of the game and may have to leave it up to community to contribute the missing ones post release.
The Ultima 6 Project is nearing completion, and the scope of the project is such that we're going to have to cut back on some non-critical items in order to be able to complete the game with our current resources. The final release will not have all the music or portraits completed. We are therefore asking the community to contribute portraits and music, and will host a site for them to be shared. Instructions on adding them to the game will be provided, along with the list of NPC's needing portraits, and the areas needing music. In the meantime, any musicians or portrait artists who would like to join the team would be most welcome. We are also looking for play testers to help us find bugs so we can get rid of them.
U6P Team is currently looking for 3D modellers, 2D artists (portraits/textures, etc.), writers and music creators to help them with the project. If you are interested and able to contribute post in project forums.
Keyring Mod updated
Black Gate Keyring has been updated fixing bug that prevented meditation at the shrine of spirituality. Updated version is available at Seven Towers
Savage Empire Remake for Exult updates
Scythifuge has posted quite few updates on his progress on Savage Empire Remake for Exult. While there are no new screenshots he does list various items he has completed, is woking on and plans to work on in the future.
Ultima VII Enhanced Sountrack Project releases new tracks
tedreedy working to create Enhanced Sountrack for Ultima VII has released 3 new enhanced music tracks. The new tracks are Stones (enhanced), The Kilrathi and Sir Dupre's Sacrifice and can be downloaded from his site. Comments and suggestion can be posted at Exult Forum
Ultima Restoration Project updates
Ultima Restoration Project has released Ultima VII Moongate System for 169 and CEP v2.2 and posted new screenshots from their Ultima VIII: Pagan remake.
New Iris2 stable release
New stable version (build 2938) of the Iris2 has been released. It indroduces rubimentary character creation and disables Luajit due to memory leaks.
Ultima IV Part 2 (Parody) ReleasedChris Hopkins, author of the Adventure Creation Kit, has just released a game built with the ACK. The game, called Ultima IV Part 2: Dude, Where's My Avatar, is set between Ultima 4 and 5, and is meant to be both a parody and a demo adventure for the ACK.
News from Aiera: Ultima Iris has been updated. Updates include new graphics for the 2D and 3D modes, an updated version of the OGRE engine, use of the GPL3 licence, and several bug fixes.
Titans of Ether 2009 New Year Update and more...Titans of Ether news update
Direhaggis at Titans of Ether has posted posted 2009 New Year update. As usual the update gives general overview whats been going on behind the scenes. Update also contains list of positions open in the team:
*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.
If you are interested in one or some of these positions, e-mail Direhaggis at Daath4242 at yahoo dot com...or PM Zini and Direhaggis on the Titans of Ether forum.
Direhaggis Dev Diary
Direhaggis has also posted new Dev diary entry. In it he reveals how Guardians invansion of Britannia in Redemption has affected the Ether and how these changes have affected people using magic and Britannia as a whole.
Forgotten World looking for bugs in UIX:Ascension
Sir IceBlade of the Forgotten World project has posted a request for help compiling a list of bugs, crashes and incomplete elements in Ultima IX:Ascension.
New Iris2 stable release
New stable version (build 2890) of the Iris2 has been released. The new version brings number of improvements to both 2d and 3d modes, adds new graphics and fixes various bugs. With the new release the licence also chages to GPLv3 and Ogre is upgraded to 1.6x version. Check the Iris2 Dev Blog for full list of the changes.
Six years of U8 GuideToday, Dino's Ultima Page is six and a half years old. And tomorrow it will be six years since the first move from Geocities to shiftedphase, during which the Ultima 8 Guide was first released.
New Ultima 6-inspired ProjectBlake Delaney writes about a new - or rather, previously unannounced - multiplayer game project inspired by Ultima 6:
Ultima 6 Inspired Project seeks Creators
In a dark corner of the Northern Central United States...
for over 256 weeks...
a massive game has been plotting, devouring, and growing.For the first time, we invite outside Game Creators to assist us in building a modern classic.
It's not Ultima 6, and it's not single player, but it sure feels that way.
Interested persons say hi to Blake:
DancingReality ~atsign~ gmail ~dot~ com
This is a good opportunity for people interested in game development to get involved in something that isn't an Ultima remake.
Interview with Richard GarriottSixStringsGeek sent me a link to a video on Youtube of him playing 'Stones' on his guitar. A really nice piece of music, which also brings some nostalgia.
Meanwhile, Ophidian Dragon has posted a new entry in his blog ("Blogging Ultima") in which he answered some comments and also wrote short discussions of The Savage Empire and Martian Dreams.
And finally, here's a nice bit of news courtesy of Aiera: Richard Garriott has been interviewed by GameDaily. In the interview, Garriott talks about what is keeping him busy (mainly space-related stuff) and also discusses the possibility of returning to the gaming scene. In particular he talks about single-player and multi-player games, and expresses his fondness for Ultima.
Updates from December 2008Hi, hope everyone had a great Christmas and has started a brilliant new year. Here are some oldish updates from December 2008.
In the last newspost to Dino's Ultima Page, Petrell wrote about Sergorn Dragon's new fan project. If you can read French, the latest news at La Legende d' Ultima is also about it.
Ophidian Dragon has written about Ultima 6 in his blog.
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has posted a Christmas greeting on Christmas Eve.
New Ultima Fan Project: Ultima: Return to the Serpent IsleNew Ultima Fan Project announced
Sergorn Dragon has announced that he's starting a new Ultima game project entitled "Ultima: Return to the Serpent Isle". It will be made using the Dungeon Siege engine and tools and systems Team Lazarus and Team Archon have been building over the years for their respective games and Project Britannia.
Project description from author:
I am currently planning on the realization of an new Ultima fan-made game entitled "Return to the Serpent Isle", which as you may guess involve the former Lands of Danger and Despair and is very much tied to one of the most beloved episode of the Ultima series: "Ultima VII Part Two - The Serpent Isle", which was released in 1993.
"Following the defeat of the Guardian, Britannia is finally at peace. Yet Shamino feels compelled to start an expedition toward the Serpent Isle, intend on finding out what have happened to his former land. As a member of his expedition you are about to set out on an adventure that will forever change your life..."
It aims to create a totally new adventure in the Ultima universe, with new - and some old - characters, a familiar yet different surrounding... and a philosophy that aims to be faithful to everything Ultima ever stood for, while at the time trying to modernize it - and thus giving the chance to every Ultima and CRPG fans to enjoy a new story in the Ultima universe.
Sergorn Dragon is now looking for other dedicated fans to help him in this task and join his newly formed "Team Serpent". Pretty much all the posts in the team are still open so if you're interested you should apply now. Bear in mind however that finishing this project is going to be a long and hard task and will most likely take several years to accomplish.
Project website at http://sergorn.jexiste.fr/ is still under constrution and should open sometimes in the early 2009.
For further info and discussion visit any of the forums Project was announced in: Ultima V:Lazarus, Ultima 6 Project/Project Britannia, Exult or Titans of Ether.
Alfie's Dev Diary
Alfie, a French worldbuilder in Team Archon, has posted new a dev diary about his work on The Ultima 6 Project dungeons. Diary contains 13 new screenshots from various dungeon he's been working on.
Titans of Ether Monthly updateTitans of Ether has posted another monthly update. Team is looking for interior worldbuilders. Update also gives short overview what everyone in the team has been doing past month.
Arx Fatalis (Wikipedia), the spiritual successor of Ultima Underworld games by Arcane Studios is now available Windows XP and Vista compatible and DRM free at Good Old Games (gog.com) for 9.99$.
Ultima 6 Online goes Open SourceSorry for my prolonged absence. My PC Hard drive started breaking down and needed to be replaced (third time in less than one and half years). Also something went wrong with reinstalation as my IE7 keeps crashing and I may need another reinstallation so I can't guarantee regular updates. But enough about me.
In Ultima news:
Ultima 6 Online client and host source have been released as well as all the tools used in its creation. Number of improvements have already been made by Mose and Lutejin and they've set up both subversion repository and test server. Further details can be found in the Forum.
Aiera is back online but much of the content, including downloads, forum and sub domains, are still unavailable. WtFD is looking for help in verifying that the files are up to date and linked correctly.
Forgotten World project has posted news about return of the project founder, Firstknight and reorganisation of the project development into milestones. They've also posted 11 new screenshots.
Ultima Iris build 2702 has been released. Check the Changelog for more details.
Wizardry Dragon has posted 2 new screenshots and has started documentatation of the source of his project, Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands.
Nicodemus has updated his Ultima 6 Worldbuilding Dev Diary with 4 new screenshots.
In his Blog, Blogging Ultima, Ophidian Dragon has posted additional entry about Ultima V, this time concentrating game's storyline.
Most of the forum problems in Ultima sites hosted by sourceforge have been fixed and forums for Exult, Nuvia and xu4 are fully functional again. Recent technical difficulties with Ultima V: Lazarus forum have been fixed as well.
George Stepan's site for his Ultima IV remake, Ultima IV: Virtue of Humility, has been down for a while now.
Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal project seem have gone offline recently as well.
In wake of the news about Garriott's retirement from NCSoft comes announcement about Tabula Rasa closing down on February 28, 2009.
Aiera temporarily downAiera is offline for a few days until Withstand the Fury Dragon sets up with a new host. Don't worry, the site will be back very soon.
The latest update at The Ultima Legend is about Garriott's retirement from NCSoft.
Nazghul/Haxima 0.6.1 has been released.
A progress update of the last 15 months has been posted on the Exult website. Most of the updates were made by Marzo Sette Torres Junior.
Richard Garriott leaves NCSoftAn article (pointed out by Mageguru) on shacknews reports that Richard Garriott has left NCSoft. The primary source for this information is "an open letter from General British", which was posted on the Tabula Rasa website.
Having gone to space and returned, Garriott speaks of the experience having "sparked some new interests", and he has left NCSoft to pursue them.
Back to decoding Ultima 1... or not?Over the past few days I restarted the project I was working on a year and a half ago - that of building a basic engine for Ultima 1. The original project was written in C, and wasn't very well-structured, so I was reluctant to get back to it. The project had nonetheless reached map viewer stage.
At this point I have a better-structured program written in C++. It's still at the tile viewer stage, but it will take little effort to make a map viewer out of it since it's already work in progress.
I am going to have to take a break from this little trip to the past, because of University. My attitude to this new project is the same as that I had for the old one: I don't promise it will ever get anywhere, and where it's got to is already far better than nothing. It has served to populate the Ultima 1 Guide with technical info anyway.
Anyone who would like to play with the code or extend it is welcome to contact me. Natreg is also giving a little hand with technical info, and I will soon be updating the information in the Ultima 1 Guide to reflect the latest information I have about the file formats.
Now for some news from the web...
After almost two months of silence, Ophidian Dragon posted a review of Ultima 5 in his Blogging Ultima page.
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera posted about the new Feudal Lands website, which I thought had disappeared from the web until today.
Work on Ultima 1 and Savage Empire GuidesThe following are updates to the Savage Empire Guide I did over the past couple of days:
The Ultima 1 Guide has also seen a huge update. Most of the info pages are there, both from the game info and the technical info aspect. Developers might be interested in looking at the technical info, which is the most up-to-date technical information around about Ultima 1. The technical info is not new; it's been around for a year and a half at the Dino's Ultima Page Google Group. However, a lot of things are now explained in a friendlier manner.
The following is a list of what's been added to the Ultima 1 Guide over the past couple of days:
U7 enhancement projectsNatreg Dragon pointed out a couple of projects that have appeared in the Exult forum:
Lots of updatesOver the past week I've worked on the following improvements to Dino's Ultima Page:
Direhaggis, one of the Titans of Ether, posted a progress report saying what everyone on the team has been doing. The Titans are still looking for dungeon writers, for those who are interested.
More news from Aiera:
Misc updatesToday I worked on various parts of Dino's Ultima Page including:
More formats availableYesterday and today I fixed validation errors in the news and also made the news available under the WML format:
All available formats are listed on the Old News page. Due to a suggestion from Kobra Kai, this information is now immediately brought to your attention on the front page.
The Fifth Design is backFor anyone who liked the previous (dark) design of Dino's Ultima Page, or for those who are new and simply want to see what it looked like, I've created an alternate stylesheet you can use to see the site in its old form. Just go to View -> Page Style -> Dino's Ultima Page CSS Version 5 in your favourite browser and the page should change layout.
This is just a CSS file, and no HTML code in the website was changed. The only things I couldn't change with CSS are the news images.
The Savage Empire T-ShirtDaniel Bourbonnais, who was the lead artist for the Worlds of Ultima series, recently sent me some Ultima goodies. Among these was the Savage Empire T-shirt. You can read about it at the new Collectibles page I set up as part of the Savage Empire Guide.
Titans want WritersDirehaggis from the Titans of Ether has issued a call for new writers to populate several dungeons in Ultima IX: Redemption.
We're looking for a new writer or two to help sparsely (or maybe not so sparsely) populate several remaining dungeons in U9R. You have 100% free artistic license over your area and will obviously get credit for your work.
Forgotten World and Web Directory returnHawkwind at Forgotten World wrote to me yesterday to let me know that their website has been updated after several months of inactivity:
After doing a lot of internal work, we decided to move our website to a more flexbile code-base which gave us reason to update our content were necessary. We also have a new feature: The poll. In the first poll, we want to know what people disliked about Ultima IX the most. We hope to have more regular updates from now on.
Although their website has retained the same URL, it now uses the Joomla content management system. Thus the site's appearance and the underlying code structure have both changed.
Yesterday I worked a bit on Dino's Ultima Page:
A big problem with my old Ultima Web Directory was that of how to categorise different Ultima websites, which could fall under several categories. Yesterday I created a database for Ultima websites, which makes the task of categorisation much simpler. However it will be a while before this will be released to the public, since I have yet to build a front end for this database (both for viewing and for updating), and there are many sites I have yet to add.
Ultima blogsNatreg wrote to me last week to tell me about a couple of Ultima blogs I hadn't seen before. The first is his own, called Beyond the Void:
In Natreg's own words: Problem is, it's in spanish. I think there are enough ultima blogs in english, and Ultima is not known that much at Spain, so I decided to show people all about this games.
I'm taking it at a very slow pace (1 post per week), and also not rushing my playthroughs, doing maps (which I post on the blog), and explaining bits of the storyline.
The second blog is Pix's Origin Adventures. This blog is particularly nice because it does not simply walk through the Ultima series textually; it is heavy on images. It is also nice because it deals not only with Ultima but also with other Origin games. In the latest entry, posted today, the author finished Ultima Underworld 2.
News from Aiera: Realms of Ultima, which is the NWN2 equivalent of Project Britannia, has been updated twice recently:
From Aiera: For starters, project lead MokahTGS has posted an article in which he discusses a few of his inspirations, as well as some of the new features of an upcoming NWN2 expansion pack that he is looking forward to making use of.
But additionally, he and fellow developer Jaesun have been working on a contribution to Bouncy Rock Entertainment’s “Community Halloween Project.” Their contribution will evidently be the Grumpy Strumpet tavern, which will in due time become the tavern in [Buccaneer's Den].
Ducks and RSS feedsI've added an RSS feed to the site, since it was requested. You can access it from the RSS icon in the navigation menu, or from the Old News page.
I've also added a Trivia page to the General Information section. Most interesting in this section is the story behind duck references in Ultima, which is an entertaining read. The story was originally posted in the Wayward Avatar forum, which no longer exists. Now it's back on the web thanks to Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum.
The Pentagram website has been updated for the first time this year, with the following news:
In the last few months, interest in Pentagram seems to have picked up again. A number of bugs were fixed since the last update, including camera fixes, key handling, containers (backpack, barrels, etc.), and a fix for a problem in the German versions of the U8. The default key binding for stasis moved from 'S' to 'F10'. The build should now properly support versions of autoconf greater than 2.60.
Mac OS X builds also received a lot of attention. They build system switched from XCode to a makefile-based system that builds Pentagram and dependencies using their traditional configure script and make methods. This allows us a greater amount of control over the builds and should help prevent changes to Pentagram for unix systems that break OS X builds and vice versa.
In response, Withstand the Fury Dragon has updated the Pentagram snapshots at Aiera.
More news from Aiera: a mapset expansion for EUO has been added.
Ophidian Dragon at Blogging Ultima has written a little review of Ultima 4 in his latest post.
New design implementedI have applied the new (sixth) design to the front page of Dino's Ultima Page. Today I added some news listing functionality that is actually better than what there was in the previous version of the site. It provides more options and is more efficient because it is based on the new database design. You can try it out using the Old News link in the navigation menu to the left.
Tiny updateToday I removed some dead links from the Ultima 6 Guide (some of which were found by Peter Haytko). I also added a new favicon for the Ultima 8 Guide.
Note that I haven't received any feedback about the redesign of Dino's Ultima Page, and really would like to hear from visitors of the site before going ahead with it.
Redesign and news migrationYesterday and today, I have been working on a total rewrite of the front page of Dino's Ultima Page.
The current design is over four years old, and in fact the colour scheme is even older (January 2003). Thus I rewrote the CSS layout. Although much of the structure is the same, I eliminated some unnecessary <div>'s in favour of better CSS, and changed the colours entirely.
To give the site an even fresher look, all front page images have been changed. This includes the site logo, the news images, and a couple of new images in the navigation menu. The favicon has also been changed.
The most important change is the migration of the Ultima news from an XML file 700KB big to a MySQL database, which I completed yesterday. This is something you won't really be noticing, except for the fact that the news page may load slightly faster, and that you may be able to use more advanced news search options in the future. However, I have yet to write the posting and search functionalities.
This rewrite is still a work in progress. However, you can take a look at the new design to see if you like it. Please do give me feedback about it, either via email (Contact page) or in the Google Group. Let me know if you like it, or even if you don't. I am open to suggestions.
A small tip on using the new page: you can add ?latest=all to the address bar to view all news, or ?latest=n to view the latest n news items (the default is to show the latest 3 news items, as with the current news system).
Another thing worth discussing is that I only plan to implement this design to the main section of the site (i.e. News, Credits, etc.), at least for now. The idea is that each section or guide should have its own CSS layout, although some may be similar to each other. The Ultima 8 Guide will definitely keep its old design.
Old U6 info restoredToday I worked a little bit on the Ultima 6 Guide:
Old U7 info restoredToday I retrieved the old Ultima 7 information page from an old backup and copied its info to the Ultima 7 Guide. I also created a new favicon for the Ultima 7 Guide. Time permitting, I would like to modify its visual layout and give it its own CSS layout.
Peek at Ultima 6 and 7 GuidesFor the past three years, the links to the Ultima 6 and 7 information pages (on Dino's Ultima Page) were unavailable. This was because I was working on a guide for each game, and the idea was to eventually release these guides instead of the basic information pages. However, due to time constraints, I never continued work on these two guides. Last month I added links in the navigation menu to the left to what little I finished of these two guides. There isn't much information, but at least it's better than nothing at all, and you can see some of the nice features I had implemented into these guides.
Corv at Titans of Ether posted an update to assure us that work on the project is still ongoing.
More news courtesy of Aiera:
Ultima V Beta for TI-92+ and V200 calculators released!Ranman has released beta version of his Ultima V for TI-92+ and V200 Calculators.
Mirir has send Dino an e-mail informing him that full final version of the Ultima 7 Spanish translation patch has been released. The patch is available at Clan Dlan's site and contains translations for Ultima 7: Black Gate and its expansion, Forge Of Virtue. The patch works in DosBox or with Exult.
Development Tools Package for The Ultima 6 Project has been released.
Lazarus bugfix collection 1.29 released! DAT tape experts needed!Cheerful Dragon has released 1.29 version of his Bugfix & Mod Collection For Ultima V: Lazarus. Changelog:
- updated spellsystemfixes by including Flamewindspell, (to see new spell requires new game)
- all incantation graphics now in line with Lazarus game manual.
- added dialogue fixes for Lord Blackthorn, Norcen, Saer'Bhan, Trian, Christopher (Dibbs)
- included Frilly Wumpus healthregeneration fix (in the bugfix collection)
- included Ozzys Quickpocketwatch mod
- added improved (spellcasting) summoned daemon
- updated Telekinesis spell (you can only force cast on container now - changes seen in new game)
- updated Throwing Axe mod - now 3 axes available in starting areas
- updated weaponmods reduced Silversword bonus damage to +1.5 on Undead
Cheerful Dragon has also made some mods made other modders compatible with his bug fixes. They are available separately from same place as his Bugfix & Mod Collection.
Marzo has made some bugfixes to his Exult mods Black Gate Keyring and Serpent Isle Fixes. They are available at Seven Towers.
The WCCIC team are looking for DAT Tape Experts :
Need DAT Tape Experts!
Team Technosaur is having trouble getting data off old DDS-1 and DDS-2 tapes. They've been successful in reading Exabyte tapes, but using the same method with the DAT tapes restores an empty (0 kB) file. LOAF adds that Windows Backup detects *something*, but it won't list any actual files. They have HP SureStore DAT24 and Seagate Scorpion tape drives that should be able to read these DDS-1 and DDS-2 tapes. There isn't much time left, so hurry and drop LOAF an e-mail if you think you can help!
Everyone is very busy at Mythic working 12-hour days, but here's a brief status update:
We began the day by finishing up with 3.5" disks (beta versions of various ~1994 games). Charlotte focused on CD ripping and finished almost the whole job. Chris finished major photography today. Scanning began and we found some really interesting WC stuff that we can't reveal yet.
Bandit LOAF has posted an update about day 1 of the project at WCCIC Forums. Apparently there won't be regular video updates after all as all material has to be approved by EA before being published. This does not mean they won't be published eventually but the process takes time and team rather spends the time on recovering and recording as much data as they can in the limited time they have and deal with EA's approval process later.
Ultima 6 Project Milestone 5 released!; Origin Systems' archive restoration project!The idiom "When it rains, it pours" seems to apply to Ultima News as well!
Ultima 6 Project Milestone 5 has been released! Most of the surface world is complete and accessible. List of changes :
RPGWatch has published an article about the Milestone 5.
There is new U6P concept art available in Alex Gonzales' Image Album. First is a concept of Ultima 6 The False Prophet Book and second is concept art for Avatar sacrificial scene in U6P intro.
Iris2 has won the 1st Prize (best project) at the Dusmania 10 hobby game dev meeting at Frankfurt/Germany. Check out their winning trailer at YouTube
Ophidian Dragon has updated his Ultima blog with and entry about Ultima 3.
I can't believe I've missed news about this project:
Members of Wing Commander Combat Information Center and team of other volunteers are currently at Mythic, Virginia assisting in a project to Archive what's left of Origin Systems' data library! They are also recording their discoveries and are making the recordings available at YouTube. Later they plan to upload higher quality videos to WCCIC archive.
Previous news updates about the project at WCCIC:
Ultima V for Ti Calculators 1.01 released and other Ultima newsLots of Ultima updates available today:
Ranman has released 1.01 version of his Ultima V for Ti Calculators. It contains following changes:
Hexxxer has created three DVD Covers for Ultima games. First is a Worlds of Ultima Collection cover for Worlds of Ultima games Savage Empire and Martian Dreams. Second is a Ultima Collection cover for first eight Ultimas. And third is a cover for Ultima IX: Ascension.
The Ultima 6 Project has opened a forum for discussion about their upcoming Mileston 5 release. They also uploaded new versions of britannia_art.dsres, britannia_logic.dsres and Lazarus/PB Compatibility Layer at Project Britannia Wiki.
Ultima Restoration Project has released new screenshots of Kilrathi Space Station in their remake of Ultima I - The First Age of Darkness for NWN. They've also reached new milestone and have all cities and space stations mapped and basis for dungeons created.
Marzo Sette Torres Junior made rather large changes to Exult and Exult Studio in the beginning of June. The update is mainly aimed for modders using Exult Studio. Check the changelog for full list of changes. Latest snapshots are available at project Download page.
Marzo also updated Black Gate Keyring and Avatar Pack mods at Seven Towers to be compatible with the latest snapshots of Exult.
EUO3D 0.16 was released. The new version added compressed map support and mini map.
Various updatesApparently Hacki's Ultima Page has recently moved to Bootstrike.
After receiving an email from Shawn Varga, I updated the Ultima 8 Bugs and Mistakes page to fix a few mistakes.
According to the Project Britannia website, the Ultima 6 Project is having hosting problems and may be down for a while until it moves to a better location.
Ophidian Dragon has continued his Ultima blog with a post about Ultima 2.
Aiera has seen a few updates since the last post here. Below is some news we missed:
Ultima V for Ti Calculators released!Ranman's Ultima V for Ti Calculators has finally been released after 4 long years in development! For screenshots and downloads visit project forums.
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
Original by Lord British (Richard Garriott), Origin Systems, 1988
Remake by Ranman (David Randall) May 2008
Prepare thyself for thy destiny:
After a century of relative peace, the Avatar of Virtue is summoned back to the medieval kingdom of Britannia to deal with a new threat: the usurper Lord Blackthorn, a formerly honorable nobleman who has been corrupted by strange new creatures called the Shadowlords. After the recent disappearance of the true king, Lord British, the realm has fallen under martial law. Blackthorn now rules the land by brutally enforcing the eight Virtues upon the people of Britannia - corrupting their meaning in the process. The Avatar must gather together his former companions, now made outlaws by Blackthorn's regime, and venture forth to defeat the vile Shadowlords and recover the true king from the shadowy depths of the Underworld. (Synopsis written by Ian Scott Frazier, Ultima V: Lazarus)
Ultima V - Highlights:
Ultima V - requirements:
Ranman plans to release the enhanced TI-92+/V200 version before the end of the month.
Ultima V for TI-92+/V200 calculators preview:
Ophidian Dragon reviews Ultima 1Ophidian Dragon has resumed posting in his blog after three weeks of inactivity. The latest post is essentially a review of Ultima 1.
10 years of La Legende d' UltimaSince it was last mentioned here, Ophidian Dragon's blog ("Blogging Ultima") has seen a couple of updates. The first update talks about the future of the blog (and possibly future blogs by Ophidian Dragon) since Ophidian Dragon's trip through Ultima ended back in February. The more recent update is about the crossbow that Ophidian Dragon received from Lord British, and also contains a review of Akalabeth.
Meanwhile, back in March, GrahfZilla decided to quit on his Ultima blog which was similar to Ophidian Dragon's blog. His main reason is a lack of interest, which he explained in a pretty long final post.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated a couple of times this year. The first update consists of a happy new year wish, and also announces the Ultima 6 Project's fourth milestone, which was released back in January. The more recent post, posted just a few days ago, celebrates the 10th birthday of the site. Sergorn Dragon has created a sort of history of La Legende d' Ultima to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Not exactly Ultima-related, but the Ultima 6 Project is promoting a charity to which potential U6P donors can donate instead.
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera posted a link to an article by David Wong about "The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey". It's a really good read, I assure you. The last page in particular is about what Ultima fans have been complaining about (in other games) for years: "Better graphics do not equal innovation and/or creativity".
EUO turns 5 years old; U6P project updatesEUO has turned 5 years old. To celebrate the special occasion, number of special events were held in game servers. New newbie island was also added to help new players get started.
- 5x xp on the reg server for the weekend April 5 and 6
- prizes & giveaways
- DM'd events
- eggnog & goblin master brew
- more bosses, more mega-bosses - hell, just more of everything!
I've also made a brand new interactive tutorial map called 'Newbie Island' - so if you thought EUO was in the too-hard basket before, you should give it another whirl now. I promise it will be somewhat demystified.
Corwin at RPGWatch has published the Ultima 6 Project's latest press release written by U6 Team Member Aletys. The Press Release reveals further details about new cities and places of note in the upcoming U6P fifth milestone, including the Nicodemus' keep and Penumbra's work room. It also includes call for help as the team is still looking for additional World Builders, 3D modelers, writers, 2D artists (portraits/textures, etc.) and music creators. Be sure to check it out.
Nicodemus has posted an update to his Worldbuilding Dev Diary. The update is mostly about Jhelom and it's new list field, the Pit, an area where fighters of Jhelom go to hone their combat skills. The update also features five new screenshots.
Iris2 build 2020 has been released.
There is a new xu4 daily snapshot available for Mac users.
Ranman has posted couple of updates about progress he has made with Ultima V for Ti Calculators. In his first update he lists some of the special item capabilities he has implemented and his second update deals with killing NPC's, guard behaviour and picking locks.
Some related project updatesLast month, Joshua Lawrence contacted me and Withstand the Fury Dragon (who has already posted about it) about a new version of the Adventure Creation Kit (3.0) that was released by Chris Hopkins. In Joshua's own words:
It has a number of big advances, including experience levels, bmp skinning of the main play-screen and dialogs, and more detailed day/night cycles that can be tied to, for instance, moongate appearances.
Most importantly [...], it now includes an 'Ultima Kit' you can use to build your adventures - it includes tiles from Ultima V and a bunch of Ultima-world objects, including the aforementioned moongates. The 'Demo2' adventure shows off the Ultima graphics, the time cycling (including two moons in the sky), Ultima music, and the moongates.
The ACK site has been moved to Joshua's main Mozomedia site; visitors can use shorter URLs to access the ACK site or the download page.
There are 6 new versions of Stones at the Stones Archive. Thanks goes to Peter Haytko for letting me know.
Those of you who enjoyed the work of Santiago Zapata (who has written several Roguelikes including DrashRL) will be pleased to know that he has just spawned a new creation. Santiago has just released a new game called MegamanRL, for the 7DRL challenge.
Ultima V : Lazarus German patch 1.1 released; Ultima V for Ti Calculators closed beta test beginsGerman 1.1 patch for Ultima V : Lazarus has been released. Along fixing number of cosmetic mistakes (typos, untranslated labels, etc.) the patch has number of bug fix mods integrated into to it :
- bugfix_Global_Game_Speed_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_Bantral_Jeholm_ship_payment_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_Landar_goldensilk_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_MasterHawkins_discount_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_Reaper_loot_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_Shannon_Duel_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_Spellsystem_fixes
- bugfix_Lazarus_Toshi_partydialoge_fix
- bugfix_Lazarus_Widow_Hahna_schedule_fix
- doomFix
- lazarus_localisation_+_lorescrolls_fix
- mod_judgedryden_jail_dialogue_change
- Ozzy's Comfortability mod - Quick pocketwatch
Tiberius, the Project Director of Ultima V : Lazarus, has made an announcement at Lazarus forums that he has been employed by Big Huge Games as a Senior Game Designer working on their brand new RPG. He will be working with Ken Rolston (of Oblivion and Morrowind fame). Tiberius had become unemployed recently as his previous employer, Iron Lore Entertainment, closed its doors at the end of February after being unable to secure funding for its next project.
Closed beta test of Ranman's Ultima V for Ti Calculators has begun and no more testers are needed at this time. Ranman estimates that the beta test will take about a month if no major bugs are encountered. System requirements at start of the test are TI-89, TI-89 Titanium, TI-92+ or V200 Calculator with 160Kb RAM and 260Kb Flash free.
Sage has once again updated his developer's diary at Titans of Ether forums. In his latest post he talks about subplots.
News from Dragon Press :
Having run for almost 8 years , the Ultima Online freeshard Ultima Legacy is finally making the transition from Sphere to RunUO and will receive major overhaul. It will also have brand new Serpent Isle map. While development is well underway they are looking people to help them in the C# scripting department.
New fan fiction, "Serpent Isle: Snippets of Elora's Journey" by Shadow of Light Dragon has been added to Dragon Press.
And finally the Ultima 7 fan comics by Damien Barban have gone missing. If anyone knows where they are currently hosted please let Shadow of Light Dragon at Dragon Press know.
Ultima 6 Project newsAt Project Britannia site, Zephyr posted some details about U6 Project team plans for next milestone release :
The U6 team is very much hard at work putting together their next release, which in terms of content will likely dwarf anything you have yet seen. No promises, but the intention is to get the entire overworld more or less completed, with most of it playable and accessible.
They're also looking for world builders :
There's a great deal of excitement surrounding this release throughout the team, but there's still a long way to go - and they're looking for help from anyone who has some experience with building challenging dungeons in the Dungeon Siege engine (DS1).
Nicodemus, one of the world builders of Ultima 6 Project, has posted a Worldbuilding Dev Diary, telling about his work while a he's been member of the team. The diary also contains 5 new screenshots of Paws and Skara Brae.
U6 Project team has also posted profile of team's new portrait and concept artist, Alex Gonzales, at project website. Be sure to grab the nice U6P wallpaper he kindly made available and also visit his online portfolio to see the other artwork he has created.
Ultima V for Ti Calculators beta test to begin March 16th, 2008According to Ranman, with the last major milestone in the Ultima V for Ti Calculators development now reached, beta testing of the game will commence March 16th, 2008.
He also posted an update on progress and what remains to be done :
Update:
- "Acknowledgments" menu option complete. Credits and copyrights to Lord British, Origin Systems, & Electronic Arts.
- "Introduction" menu option complete. The full Ultima V introduction complete with scaled down pics from the original game.
- "Create New Character " menu option complete. Answer critical questions to determine the initial stats of your avatar.
And with that, the last major milestone has been reached!
Still on the to do list :
- Add the "End Message"
- Add weapons and armor special abilities
- Tie up remaining loose ends
- General cleanup
Game engine - 61.8Kb
Progress - 98.5%
Ranman has also posted gif animations of character creation and introduction & acknowledgements.
At Titans of Ether forums, Sage has updated his developer's diary and Corv has posted new screenshots of Paws and New Magincia in Insider, a members only section of the forums.
Lost Sosaria downloads have been updated and site itself has recived new layout.
In his blog, Blogging Ultima, Ophidian Dragon has completed his year long playthru of the entire Ultima game series.
Worlds of Ultima : Lost Sosaria WIP module releasedWork in progress version of Worlds of Ultima : Lost Sosaria module for Neverwinter Nights has been released. Also problem with broken/corrupted downloads users may have experienced downloading the files earlier should also be fixed.
EUO3D 0.14 has been released. The new version fixes the minimise bug and integrates all changes from moa 0.82.
Ranman has posted an update on his progress with Ultima V for Ti Calculators :
- You can now leave and pickup party members at the Inns. The first month's rent is due at signing.
- You cannot take a dead party member into an Inn, else you will be thrown out with a few choice words from the owner.
- You cannot take a horse into any shoppe, else you will be thrown out with a few choice words from the owner.
- Game engine = 61.2Kb
- Progress = 97%
The Feudal Lands and Seven Towers have been inaccessible past week due to Wizardry Dragon losing u7feudallands.com domain but are now back online with new addresses. Please update your links accordingly.
Serpent Isle Fixes and Black Gate Keyring at Seven Towers have also been updated to fix problems introduced by bugs in Usecode compiler. Better diagonal moongates were also added to Black Gate Keyring mod. Also the Exult Intrinsic Reference has on the site has been updated but modders have to wait later snapshots of Exult to make use of the new features.
Sage has added two new entries to his developer's diary at Titans of Ether forums.
Large update from Titans of EtherCorv has posted rather large update at Titans of Ether. The update includes 27 new screenshots, 5 new music tracks (of 130 track soundtrack!!!) as well as update to Redemption status page and team roster where Direhaggis and Zini have been promoted to team Co-Directors.
Serpent Isle Fixes and Black Gate Keyring mod at Seven Towers have been updated to be compatible with latest Exult snapshots. SIFixes has also received feature that allows player to ask Shamino to set the time format of watch to 24-hour time or back if they change their mind
EUO3D 0.13 has been released. The new version adds support for md2 models, adds possible fix for flashing intro screen and integrates all changes from moa 0.81 patch.
Ranman's Ultima V for Ti Calculators is moving steadily towards completion. Special capabilities of the Crown Jewels have been implemented and Ranman has completed the final scrub of the NPC transcripts. He'll still need to at least go thru Shop transcripts and add ability to leave party members to inns to allow getting rid of less useful party members but the list of things to do is steadily getting shorter.
News from UltimaDot :
CVG has published and article about the ways player can kill Lord British in various Ultima games.
Richard Garriott's interview at GamasutraRichard Garriott was recently interviewed by N. Evan Van Zelfden at Gamasutra.
NCSoft's Garriott Talks Games As 'Pulp', Art
As part of a wide-ranging Gamasutra interview published today, Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott has been discussing games as art, suggesting many games are 'pulp fiction', but that his favourites touch the player emotionally.
At the Lost Sosaria website, WtFD has posted news of his plans of uploading the work-in-progress module for the project within next week. He also plans to release updates to the module at (ir)regular intervals. This is done so that visitors can download and test the module at any point and to leave feedback as it progresses.
Titans of Ether looking for new team members, EUO goes 3D and other Ultima newsWell, WtFD at Aiera beat me to most of these news but anyway :
The Titans of Ether team is looking for World Builders and Writers.
We are looking for 1 or 2 enthusiastic people to help us create NPC's for a few of the cities of virtue, dungeons, the wilderness, and perhaps even locations in the Ether itself. We want an active commitment from folk who are willing to stick with the team until at least alpha testing. For anyone interested, please contact me via PM. Thank you!
There also new developers diary up, this time by Sage, one of the teams dialogue writers.
Ranman posted couple of new gif animations from his Ultima V for Ti Calculators. First shows what happens if Avatar is caught by the guards in Lord Blackthorn's castle and second what happens if entire party succumbs to death.
EUO, the Ultima-like online RPG, is being converted to 3D. More info can be found in EUO3D topic in games forum and the brave can even give the early alpha builds a go.
Realms of Ultima released New Magincia Prefab. It still lacks building interiors and caves but the island itself is fully explorable.
In his blog, Ophidian Dragon has finished Runes of Virtue 2 and is on his second day of playing Ultima IX : Ascension.
Ultima 6 Project Milestone 4 Released and other Ultima news.Ultima 6 Project Milestone 4 has been released.
Written by Jesse 'Zephyr' Strachman
Saturday, 19 January 2008It is with much pleasure that I announce the release of Team Archon's next milestone of the Ultima 6 Project, Milestone 4 for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac).
Some things to look forward to in this release:
- New areas to explore ( Buccaneer's Cave, Wrong, Empath Abbey and Minoc)
- New game intro which draws from the original classic game
- Enhancements to existing areas
- New plot details and other subtle refinements
Numerous enhancements to the core gameplay such as:
- A prototype of a customizable journal system so you can take notes on your journey
- The ";" key now gives you extra information, such as reagent counts, projectile counts, etc.
- New "Gameplay Settings" from the Options menu
- Many more tunings and tweaks to the core Project Britannia systems ( for the nitty gritty details, check the change log)
If you want to mirror this 375MB download, please feel free to do so and post the link in our forums so we can update this news article with your mirror. At the moment, here is/are the only location(s) from which you can download M4 are :
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 give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, as always you can find us lurking about in our forums. That is, when we're not busily scratching away at building Milestone 5.
Also Corwin at RPGWatch has had change to interview the co-lead producer of the U6 Project Jesse 'Zephyr' Strachman.
Recently, I had the opportunity to ask the co-lead producer of the U6 Project Jesse 'Zephyr' Strachman a series of questions as they're working hard towards the release of their next milestone. After the tremendous success a couple of years ago of U5-Lazarus, there has been growing interest in this second remake using the Dungeon Siege engine.
Elsewhere in Ultima community:
Spyder at The Titans of Ether has yet again posted screenshots of another piece of Moonglowian architecture made by him. This time they show some kind of large manor house with four towers and roofed balcony.
Forgotten World Project has released one of the music pieces written by team composer Sounddreamer. It's called "Time Travel".
According to latest news at Ultima IX : Infinity Eternal website, the project and the team are still alive and kicking. Although things in real life, like MartinLoki having a baby and Thepal getting married and started teaching last year (Congratulations for both!), have slowed the project down, significant progress has been made over the past two months. He also posted a WIP screenshot of Valorian Isles. As a side note for those who might be interested : the team still looking for World-builders, Writers (Dialogue/books/quest), Music Composers, 3D and 2D Artists, Face Creators (in Oblivion) and Scripters to fill their ranks.
Ranman continues to make steady progress with Ultima V for Ti Calculators. According to him the game will be finished before the end of February -- by direction of his wife. Changes since last update:
In his blog, Blogging Ultima, Ophidian Dragon has finished Pagan in just 6 days. He's also pretty much done with Runes of Virtue 2 as he prepares to enter games final dungeon, The Stygian Abyss.
Gordon McNutt has posted release schedule for Nazghul 1.0. According to it, the Nazghul 1.0 is set to be released on May 26th, exactly five years from the day the project was registered on SourceForge.
Iris2 Testshard map has been updated and has been Testshard has been named Iris:4 Kingdoms.
Additional news from Aiera:
First Ultima news update for year 2008Forgotten World team is looking for World Builders to join their ranks:
The development of our world editor is progressing fairly. The rendering part is mostly done and we are getting to a point where we can actually start designing the user interface. This is where we need your help!
If you are:
- 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 let us know and join us! Contact information can be found on the team page!
WtFD has updated Worlds of Ultima : Lost Sosaria site with dozen new screenshots
Spyder continues to post screenshots of Moonglowian architecture in Moonglow developer's diary. This time he has added shots of an Observatory and (possibly) a Blacksmith's shop.
Last update of the yearFirst things first... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (from me too... since the last update was by Petrell). Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera sure did a better job than me at wishing everybody all the best for the festive season.
Ophidian Dragon, still Blogging Ultima, has been playing Ultima 8 and has made good progress. He almost finished the Fire part, which is close enough to finishing the game.
The team at Forgotten World mentioned that their project has appeared in a German magazine:
In their January issue (02/2008), the German "PC Action" game magazine writes about Forgotten World. In the "Maps & Mods" section there's an article on our project, so if you can get German magazines where you live, go and grab a copy if you like!
Christmas UpdateIt's been quite awhile since I last posted here and I apology for it. I was caught in series of unfortunate events that I had no control over.
But lets get to the news :
German Version of Ultima V: Lazarus has finally been released just in time for Christmas for all the German ultima fans enjoyment.
Ranman has been making steady progress with his Ultima V for Ti Calculators. Game is now about 94% complete, just 1% away from planned beta stage.
Here's short summary what's been completed since last update:
Inspired by Ophidian Dragon's Ultima Marathon, Master Katarn played thru entire Ultima series over the summer and has been posting his thoughts of each game over the past months in Ultima V: Lazarus forums.
Iris 2 Build 1648 has been released and Iris2-Testshard has been updated to version 0.4.
Forgotten World team have posted a screenshot of Britain viewed from within their new OGRE based world editor.
Spyder, a 3D-modeller in Titans of Ether team has added quite few new screenshots to Moonglow developers diary showing various pieces of Moonglowian architecture. Latest addition is the magical walls of Moonglow (and alternate stone version of same wall).
And short summary of additional news from Aiera:
Oh and before I forget : Merry Christmas and happy new year everyone!
December updateOphidian Dragon, in his quest to blog Ultima, has finally finished Serpent Isle.
A short post has recently appeared on the Lazarus website about the downloads page, where several links have been updated.
The Pentagram website has been updated with a short progress report:
Despite the lack of updates to the website, work on Pentagram has been progressing. Among other things, combat music now works, avatar attack speed has been improved, many rendering order problems are fixed, and falling and throwing are now working much better. The Pentagram main menu has also been improved, and now supports loading savegames directly.
November updateTribun Dragon brings news from the Codex of Editable Wisdom:
"The Codex celebrates over 1000 articles right now, and has grown to the most complete eneclopeida for Ultima by now. We by now cover all of the aspects, but work is far from finished, as we plan to expand greatly on the NPCs and Magic Spells."
Forgotten World is now using the OGRE engine for its world editor, and has published a screenshot of Buccaneer's Den to show it in action.
Ultima VII Babylon is an Italian translation of Ultima VII - The Black Gate that was recently finished.
Project Britannia announces a major update to the Siege Tools.
At Seven Towers, the Exult Intrinsic Reference and the UCC Scripting tutorial have been updated.
Kultan, one of the Titans of Ether, has written a new dev diary. You will, of course, need an account in their forum to see it.
Nazghul/Haxima 0.6.0 have been released in source form. Old save games are not compatible with the new version.
Ophidian Dragon is still playing Serpent Isle and writing about it in Blogging Ultima. Most recently, he has visited the northern icelands.
The Ashes: Two Worlds Collide website somehow no longer seems to display news any more.
The rest is news from Aiera:
Little UpdatesAt Seven Towers, the Black Gate Keyring mod has seen a few updates to correct some bugs.
Meanwhile, a quick update has been posted at Nazghul telling us that a release is likely by the end of this month.
Hawkwind at Forgotten World emailed me about a "render shot using Ultima 9's textures/models and Blender" that the team put on the screenshots page.
Also thanks to Natreg for notifying me about the existence of a second Ultima blog called "My journey through Ultima" by Grahfzilla.
Ultima: The Ultimate Collector's Guide coming soon; Goodbye John Watson; site movedChris at The Artful Gamer contacted me about an interview with Stephen Emond he wrote recently. Stephen Emond, otherwise known as Commander Falcon, has been working on his book, Ultima: The Ultimate Collector's Guide, for the past few years. With the book nearing completion, a copy was auctioned in a fundraising event organised by the University of Texas at Britannia Manor (Lord British's home). Chris from The Artful Gamer wrote a very interesting interview with Stephen Emond about the book and Stephen's background and meeting with Ultima developers. It seems that the book will also be published soon.
According to La Legende d' Ultima (who in turn got the news from Wing Commander CIC), John Watson has passed away. John Watson was involved with several Origin projects, mostly Ultima and Wing Commander. A permanent memorial page has been set up listing the games he was involved with, and memories written by those who knew him.
At Seven Towers, two mods (BG Keyring and SI Fixes) have been updated.
Ophidian Dragon, still Blogging Ultima after finishing Ultima Underworld 2, is now playing Serpent Isle.
The Titans of Ether website has been updated twice. Kultan, a dialogue writer, has joined the Titans. Also, a dev diary entry about Moonglow development (part 1) has been written. It is part of the forum and accessible only to registered users.
Other updates courtesy of Aiera:
Last but not least, Dino's Ultima Page has moved to a new location. The old shiftedphase site will remain online for a while until everyone updates their bookmarks, but will no longer be updated.
Nuvie Yearly Update; Ultima 7 Web MapSB-X at Nuvie posted the first update in a year (exactly). Progress has been mainly as far as the engine core is concerned, and now a scripting engine is being used. Several spells are working, features have been added, and bugs have been fixed. Check out the Nuvie website for details on what's new!
Nikolai Faaland made an Ultima 7 Web Map "using Exult's map output feature", to quote him. Check it out!
Exult for PSPOphidian Dragon is currently playing Ultima Underworld 2.
Thanks Paulon for pointing out that there is now an Exult PSP port.
Also, a while ago (sorry for taking so long), Martin Metzler pointed out an article about Richard Garriott's home, Britannia Manor:
an article about Richard Garriott and his house Britannia Manor... of course the article is in german.
Taken on the same visit to Richard Garriott were the following two pictures posted in the GameStar blog by the editor who visited him.
Dino's Ultima Page 5th anniversary (belated)2 days ago, Dino's Ultima Page celebrated its fifth anniversary.
Ophidian Dragon has finished Runes of Virtue.
New domain etcThe 5th anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page is fast approaching. Recently I bought a domain (Null Neuron - my site is the 'Gigi' one) which I'm sharing with some friends. Eventually I will move all my sites there, including this Ultima site. I suppose the URL will be http://gigi.nullneuron.net/ultima/, so I suggest you make a bookmark for later. I won't move the sites there yet, to leave some time for migration and to let everyone update their bookmarks, but eventually they're all moving. I've been on shiftedphase for 4 and a half years now, and I have to thank Eric (Edbgon) for the webspace.
This week I started work with a local IT company, meaning that even in summer I won't have much time for Dino's Ultima Page. Sorry...
At Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon informs the Ultima community that he will be away for a while (23rd July to 11th August), and anyone who would like to post news in his stead should contact him.
At Seven Towers, a bug with The Black Gate Keyring mod has been fixed.
Iris2 Build 1286 released; CGA/EGA support for Nuvie! New Windows build (Build 1286) of Iris2, the fan made 3D client for Ultima Online Freeshards, has been released. They have also added new Roadmap as all milestones listed in the Old Roadmap have been completed.
Efry has been working on providing CGA/VGA support for Nuvie and posted few screenshots in the project forum.
WtFD at Ultima: Aiera will be participating in the 21st World Scout Jamboree between 23rd of July and 11th of August and needs someone to help maintain the site during his absence. If you're interested, please let him know via the contact form.
Acording to Ophidian Dragon's blog Blogging Ultima, he had his computer die on him but is now back playing thru the Ultima series. He's currently playing Game Boy's Ultima: Runes of Virtue.
EA to resurrect Ultima?Ophidian Dragon has finished Ultima 7: The Black Gate. His next step will be to play Ultima: Runes of Virtue.
The latest news at La Legende d' Ultima appears to be quite interesting. My French is a bit rusty, but from what I've understood, there's a chance that EA will be working on a single-player Ultima CRPG.
Seven Towers' latest news reports that the NPC spellcasting reagent bug in the Black Gate Keyring mod has been fixed.
IGDA-Austin's Picnic at Richard's CastleUV:Lazarus team member J the Yellow was present in an IGDA picnic held at Richard Garriott's property near Lake Austin. He wrote short event report and posted photos he took while there.
U6Project team has posted profile of team's dialogue writer, content manager and QA tester, WyrdWeb.
Phillip "Lanica" George has added virtual keyboard to his Exult Pocket PC port to make game playable on keyboardless Pocket PCs. He has also released 4 screenshots of exult on Pocket PC.
WtFD has overcome the problems with his computer and has resumed work on new areas of Lost Sosaria. He also posted 21 new screenshots.
We're backSorry for being a bit absent lately, but now I'm back. Thanks Petrell for catching up with the majority of news we've missed so far.
Ophidian Dragon has almost finished Ultima 7.
Recent news from La Legende d' Ultima includes news of a 3D client for Ultima Online (Kingdom Reborn), the U6P M3 release, a new forum, and a new domain.
At Seven Towers, Marzo Sette Torres Junior updated the Exult Intrinsic Reference, and fixed a few bugs in the Black Gate Keyring mod.
Exult news; U3Project resurrectedThe Exult team has posted news:
Yes, we have done a lot of work in the past year:
- Our newest member, Phillip George, has succeeded in porting Exult to the PocketPC.
- Marzo has been actively working on his Keyring mod, in particular, improving Exult and Exult Studio to support further mod development.
- Many bug fixes, such as Marzo's recent implementation of missing weather effects in Serpent Isle. See the ChangeLog for the complete list.
- Support for the "Hq2x" and "Hq3x" screen scalers.
News at Forgotten World inform us that Story Writer/Editor position they announced just two weeks ago has been filled. They are still looking for Texture artists, Programmers (especially C++) and Composers though.
Withstand the Fury Dragon has completed the changes that he had to make due to change of Tilesets in his project, The Worlds of Ultima : Lost Sosaria, and resumed work on new areas. Unfortunately he seem to have also ran into computer trouble. Hopefully it can be resolved.
WtFD also added additional tools he has found to Ultima : Aiera.
Render Dragon has resumed work on U3Project after almost three years of absence. His more immediate goals include:
The first two are done and WAV playback is now handled by the SDL. Next task is getting graphics engine ported.
(Thanks for WtFD over at Aiera for noticing this)
Apologies and news from the past 1.5 monthsI apologise for my sudden and unexpected disappearance. Series of unfortunate RL incidents rendered me unable to post news during the past one and half months. Unfortunately Dino also got busy with his end of semester exams (that ended just few days ago) so he too has been unable to post news at the main page. But here's summary of what's been happening in the Ultima community between now and the last update (hopefully I got most of them) :
Richard Garriott was recently interviewed by The Escapist. In the interview Garriott talks about his past, his present, his plans for the future and why he thinks most games just aren't good enough.
The Ultima 6 Project has released its third milestone. It features number of new areas to explore (Spider Cave, Buccaneer's Den, Yew, Paws, and Continental Britannia), improvements to areas introduced in previous milestones (Swamp Cave, Sewers, Britain, Cove) as well as numerous enchantments to core gameplay. The Gargoyles, both winged and wingless are also now present in the intro.
Titans of Ether have posted a video of the Ship model the player will be able to sail around in Redemption. They’ve also put up New Developer’s Diary by teams lead dialogue writer and editor, Direhaggis, revealing additional details about status of the main plot and town of Britain.
Forgotten World team have found out that Ultima IX : Ascension actually supports higher textures than ones used in game and have added two new screenshots as demonstration. They’re also planning to make changes to the plot of U9A and are looking for someone very familiar with the Ultima lore to help them in the effort. For more details refer their updated FAQ page.
Since last update about Ophidian Dragon’s Blogging Ultima, he has finished Ultima Underworlds and is well on his way to finish Ultima 7 : The Black Gate. He just took 3 day side trip to Isle of Fire added by the Forge of Virtue expansion and should finish the main plot few days unless he gets sidetracked by the few areas he has not yet explored. He also added screenshots he had previously left out due to lack of time.
For past months the Pentagram team has made further improvements to pathfinding, Avatar movement, item manipulation and missile trajectories
Dark Key, the project to recreate U7 and SI in the UO engine seem to have perished.
Ranman aka. David Randall has resumed work on Ultima 5 for Ti Calculators that was put to halt due to birth his son, Garrett. He already did major reorganization to the general data format and to the shoppe talk functionality squeezing out additional 6kb from game engine that is now down to 50kb! Combat and magic still need to be implemented before first release is made.
Lanica has managed to port Exult to Pocket PC. While many issues still remain to be solved to make it playable, making it just run is major achievement in and by itself.
Scythifuge continues to work on Savage Empires Total Convertion for Exult and has posted number of new screenshots in Exult Forum featuring many new items and graphics he has draw for his project.
New and newly found Ultima fan sites :
Julie's Savage Empire Blog - A new blog where Julie talks about various things about her favourite Ultima game – The Worlds of Ultima : Savage Empire.
Hipolito's Ultima IV : The Little Shepherd - Tells a hilarious story of Shepherd Sausalito's (mis)adventures in Britannia.
Matthew Johnston's Ultima VII Mod - Another Total Conversion mod being developed for Exult.
Garriott goes Zero-GGruck posted a topic in my discussion area with a link to an article in which Richard Garriott writes about his recent zero-gravity adventure with Professor Stephen Hawking.
Ophidian Dragon has finished Martian Dreams, in 5 days just like The Savage Empire, though there was a bit more gameplay to it.
As Withstand the Fury Dragon posted on Aiera, there exists a mod guide for Ultima V: Lazarus by Sylore which lists the mods and provides important information about them, such as whether they conflict with other mods.
New faviconI've changed the favicon for Dino's Ultima Page... I put a favicon of the wandering warlock from Ultima 1. It's a bit more Ultima-related than the old flaming letter 'D' on a black background, and also has a transparent background. It's also a bit of a change since I've used the same favicon for around 4 years now. If anyone wants the old favicon I still have it.
Since the last mention here, Ophidian Dragon has finished The Savage Empire, in 5 days as I had predicted. His blog has also caught the attention of Stephen Beeman, who left a comment in response to Ophidian's last day playing The Savage Empire. Ophidian Dragon has now moved on to Martian Dreams.
A certain Joshua Lawrence contacted both Withstand the Fury Dragon and myself about the Adventure Creation Kit, a tool by Chris Hopkins used to make Ultima IV/V-style RPGs. Joshua is maintaining a website about the Adventure Creation Kit.
23 new screenshots of Lost Sosaria have been released, and there is also some information about the city of Gauntlet which has been built.
Aiera has also posted news about Lost Sosaria and the Adventure Creation Kit, and one of the Project Britannia files it hosts has been updated.
Ophidian Dragon rescues AielaOphidian Dragon's quest has taken him to some of the most interesting places of The Savage Empire. In the volcanic lands, he has finished the quests of the Jukari and Haakur. He has found the hideout of the Urali, defeated Darden, and rescued Aiela, but has not yet managed to free Fabozz. Ophidian also used Aiela's crystal and descended into the long-abandoned Underground City of the Kotl.
Ophidian Dragon discovers The Savage EmpireOphidian Dragon has started playing The Savage Empire, but does not appear to be too impressed about it. So far he has finished the Disquiqui and Yolaru quests (and possibly another since he mentions having finished three), but is stuck on the two quests involving boulders.
Misc updatesAiera has updated some of its hosted files, particularly concerning Exult, Iris and Project Britannia. An entry for an old remake of The Complete Ultima 7 has also been added to the now-renamed Cemetery.
Also news gathered from Aiera, it appears that Razimus' project to recreate Ultima 7 in Ultima Online (which has been named "The Dark Key", by the way) has released some artwork.
La Legende d' Ultima has some news regarding its recent downtime, and spam problems with the forum there.
Infinity Eternal has recruited a new dialogue writer, Theron.
The History of Computer Role-Playing GamesDr. Matt Barton, an assistant professor of English at St. Cloud State in Minnesota, has researched CRPG history and has written a lengthy three part article (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) about CRPG evolution from early student programmed CRPGs of mainframe computers at the late 70's universities all the way to modern CRPGs of today. Must read for Ultima fans and CRPG enthusiastics or anyone interested in computer game history.
According to a post by Resle, Ashes engine development has slowed to a crawl due to real life circumstances. It's still too early for demo but he does plan to release more gameplay movies hopefully by the end of the month. He also lists features planned for next build.
The next build is going to feature:
- Finished, polished combat
- Finished, polished dialogues
- Reworked GUI (more practical, but arguably less nice to see - I.E.: no "live" paperdoll npc)
- Particle system
- beta magic
- beta fully scheduled NPCs
- beta menuAnd thanks to Olly, lots of new graphics.
Ophidian Dragon has finished Ultima 6. He also wrote a walkthrough by which it may be possible to complete U6 without killing a single being. It's untested though.
U1 Map and TilesetCheck out the Files section of the discussion area for the latest world map (with fixed tiles) and tileset.
I also added some more information to the Ultima 1 info page yesterday.
Ophidian Dragon has managed to build a balloon and reach the Temple of Singularity in the Gargoyle Lands. He now has to visit the Gargoyle Shrines.
U1 Map Viewer: First ReleaseYesterday, in the Files section of my Ultima discussion area, I uploaded the first public release of my Ultima 1 tool (map viewer, for now). You can't do much other than roam around the map and save a computer-generated world map to disk. A sample map is also among the files, and I have also started a topic with instructions on how to use it. What I did not write there is that you will also need SDL.dll. You might also notice a few small bugs in the program, some of which have already been fixed (but the latest version is not online).
Meanwhile, Ophidian Dragon has fetched the Vortex Cube and traversed Hythloth. He is now in the Gargoyle Lands and will need to assist both humans and gargoyles to complete his quest.
Ophidian vs GargoylesOphidian Dragon, currently around half-way through Ultima 6 after nine days, has finished both the Clues quest and the Map Pieces quest. His next step will be to follow Sin'Vraal's advice and work his way through Hythloth.
At Lost Sosaria, eleven new screenshots have been released.
Quick updateA quick news update:
Happy EasterSome news from the Ultima community on Easter Sunday:
I am pleased to report that my free-time Ultima 1 project has progressed from tile viewer to map viewer. Today I implemented basic scaling of tiles and also made the map viewer. There are four new screenshots at the discussion area of Dino's Ultima Page. Of course there are a few little bugs, like towns are appearing as signs and dungeons are appearing as towns, but that won't be too hard to fix.
I have very little spare time and therefore work on this Ultima 1 project is almost at a halt (until I have more time). This doesn't concern me much because I never claimed I'd have achieved anything with it. Maybe one day it will evolve into an Ultima 1 engine like Exult is for Ultima 7; maybe it will be moddable and even playable online... or maybe not. I simply don't promise anything with this little project, and for me any progress is more than I originally expected.
Iris2 trailer etcOphidian Dragon has resumed his journey through the Ultima series after a couple of days away because of an interview. His blog entry for Ultima 6, Day 4 tells if his venturing into Dungeon Deceit, and his picking up Sherry the mouse as a tiny (!) addition to his party.
Following their release of Iris2, a trailer of Iris2 is available from the Ultima Iris website.
A pre-Easter update has been posted at Lost Sosaria. This news gives a short progress report and also includes a map of the Lands of the Dark Unknown.
Aiera updatesThere are a number of updates at Aiera concerning various remakes and mods. New Lazarus mods were spotted; Ultima Iris has released the first public build of Iris2, and several joke remakes were added. Check Aiera for details!
Exult Mods Updated; U4:VoH version 7.0401 released; UIX:Redemption progress updateExult mods Avatar Pack, Black Gate Keyring and Serpent Isle Fixes have been updated at Seven Towers.
Avatar Pack
version: 0.10.01
- Improved installation instructions.
- Added two new avatars: the bucket-headed avatar of U8 and U9 (both male and female versions) and a long raven-hair male avatar (XXXX).
- Retouched several avatars.Black Isle Keyring
version: 0.11.10
- New title screen for Keyring mod.
- Modified avatar bodies to be shape 1098.
- Merged updates from the Avatar Pack.
version: 0.11.09a
- Improved installation instructions.Serpent Isle Fixes
version: 0.15.05
- Added SI Fixes title screen.
version: 0.15.04a
- Improved installation instructions.
Ultima 4 : Virtue of Humility has been updated to version 7.0401.
Changes :
- Paying gold greater than or equal to what the Herb Lady wants, increases Honesty (Before it was Gold>cost)
- Iolo's class changed to a Bard
- Fixed Flicker, this time for good I hope. Y/ell sync to remove it if it does return
- Was told about /Z/tats removing game flicker as well..
- Fixed delay pause on load and changed resolution to 1024x768
Direhaggis posted a short progress update on Redemption at Titans of Ether forums. To sum it up : main plot about halfway done, 30 chapters in total, approx 60-80 hours of gameplay, chapters 1-6 scripted and implemented, 7-12 now being worked on, blacksmithing models and implements almost finished and some of the digitally painted 2D cutscenes finished.
Dungeoneering in the libraryI'm surprised, very surprised that no website in the Ultima community posted some stupid comment for April Fool's Day yesterday. It was a tradition. Not one that I liked, but at least it was a sign of life. Ultima fans must be in hibernation...
Meanwhile Ophidian Dragon, in his Ultima marathon, has been making some progress with Ultima 6. He cleansed a few shrines, stumbled upon the gypsies outside Trinsic, and tried to solve the Quenton murder. The next thing to do is a trip to the library.
Connecting projectsFrilly Wumpus posted a lengthy article on the Project Britannia website about Ultima and the remakes. Inspired by a part of the article at the end which pinpoints the lack of communication between development teams, Withstand the Fury Dragon reiterated by posting another article about connecting developers at Aiera. The bottom line is that a lot of time and hassle could be saved if there were a single place for Ultima developers (from various projects) to discuss things and share resources. I offered the new discussion area at Dino's Ultima Page to serve as such a place.
In other news, Aiera has seen some updates to the site itself, which include a new "Joke Remakes" section. There is also a post by Thepal from Infinity Eternal about a demo.
Those who are following Ophidian Dragon's quest to play all the Ultima games (Blogging Ultima) will know that he has finished Ultima 5, and started playing Ultima 6. I must admit that having gone through Dungeon Doom without companions is quite an impressive feat. Ophidian Dragon has also caught the attention of some PC gaming sites.
Lord British robbedFor those of you who have enjoyed plundering Lord British's castle in the Ultima games, here is an interesting bit of news: the real-life Lord British was robbed by a group of teenagers, who stole and/or drank $5000 worth of alcohol, partied on site, and left behind their digital camera full of photos of themselves.
In today's entry to Blogging Ultima, Ophidian Dragon has stumbled upon a number of useful items, completed all the shrine quests, and reached Dungeon Doom.
As Aiera has reported, Lost Sosaria now sports a new development diary as well as 15 new screenshots.
As regards my progress with reverse engineering Ultima 1 (you can find some files at the discussion area), I've implemented a basic tile viewer (that I might eventually extend into a map viewer, and possibly even beyond), and have made significant progress with decoding the savegame file format. As well as finding out where your current transport is saved, I've also found out that a good amount of the file (at least half of it) is used to save objects that appear on the map, such as monsters and transports. I have partially figured out the way they are stored. While the files I uploaded have not yet been updated to reflect my latest discoveries, anyone interested in the details is welcome to contact me.
New forum; blogging UltimaSome interesting news from Aiera: Ophidian Dragon is playing each Ultima game in sequence, and is blogging his progress.
Ultima: The Reconstruction has been updated three times since the last mention here. The updates are about Exult translation projects, Akalabeth remakes, and the graphics enhancement mod for Ultima V: Lazarus.
Note also that I've added a new 'forum' to Dino's Ultima Page. This is not really a forum but rather a Google discussion group. I figured it was the best idea with regards a place of discussion since the forums I've written, tried or seen are worth little against spam. I am beginning to add my files relevant to reverse engineering Ultima 1 to this group, though the discussion group may be used for any Ultima-related discussion. I am adding my U1 files there temporarily because they are obviously a work in progress; I may eventually create a webpage or a website for Ultima reverse engineering.
The Reconstruction continuesVoyager Dragon at Ultima: The Reconstruction appears to be bringing his site back to date slowly but steadily by adding one or two projects every day. Over the past two days, project entries relevant to Lost Sosaria, The Feudal Lands and Ashes have been added or updated.
Decoding U1; Virtue of Humility returns; fate of web directoryRecently I've been toying with the idea of 'reverse engineering' some old game, to learn a bit about both the file formats of old games and the reverse engineering process itself. Now reverse engineering is a vast subject, and something like Exult is more akin to it. For now I've been content with trying to decode the savegame format of Ultima 1.
I chose Ultima 1 for a variety of reasons. One is that it's a very old game, and is thus simple enough to decode (learn to walk before you can run). Another is that no documentation seems to exist about the file formats of Ultima 1, although Xenerkes Dragon seems to have cracked them before me. So far I know the general layout of the savegame files, and I can tamper with just about anything in the stats and inventory. I've also located locations where coordinates, the player name, and a move count are saved.
Something very interesting to note is that at a specific location (FF 10, FF 10) you are taken to a bizarre place which I'm calling 'La La Land' [screenshot]. This doesn't seem to be a mess you encounter at very large out-of-range coordinates, because if you vary the coordinates by one, you end up in the sea in the normal world.
Now for some news from the Ultima community...
Petrell has managed to locate the Virtue of Humility website, which was thought lost when its domain, www.wizardportal.com, stopped working. The project has seen a couple of updates since the loss of the domain:
U4 version 7.0317
- May have fixed flicker by adding code to Y/ell command - try the Y/ell command and type in sync. If not, try looking at Z/tats and see if that works.
U4 version 7.0308
- Fixed delay on startup
- Changed game resolution to 1024x768 due to many video cards not supporting 800x600 on widescreen LCD
Lost Sosaria, which was recently brought back into the light, is now seeking to recruit some new team members.
In a recent discussion at Aiera, the fate of the Web Directory on Dino's Ultima Page has been revealed. Everything remake-related (including resources that survived the demise of particular projects) will be moved to Aiera where they belong, while the Web Directory will handle other Ultima sites.
Dino's, Aiera and DOSBoxI've been working on updating Dino's Ultima Page again. Here's what I've done today:
DOSBox 0.70 has been released. This can be useful to play some Ultimas that may not run under modern operating systems, especially Ultima 8.
Today's update for Ultima: The Reconstruction is about Ultima-based engines, namely the Dragon Engine and Nazghul.
In yesterday's update to Aiera, Withstand the Fury Dragon mentions that he has added an Orphanage (dead remakes with released content) and a Cemetary (dead remakes with no released content) as new sections to Aiera. WtFD is also offering webspace (which he has in abundance) to anyone needing webspace for an Ultima project website.
Aiera has been updated again today, where several remakes have been added to the site.
Reconstruction, Lost Sosaria, DinoAs many of you probably noticed, just about every part of Dino's Ultima Page except the news has been collecting dust and cobwebs. There is much work to do but it has to start somewhere, so today I went over the info pages for Ultima 1 to 3 and did a little cleanup, removing dead links and adding new links. There are still some dead links and the pages are far from complete, but it's better than nothing.
I have many plans for Dino's Ultima Page, among which are a redesign, adding more guides, restoring the Feedback section, completing the guides I started and never finished, bring the Lost Vale fanfiction nearer to its original form, somehow change the web directory, and several other ideas. Considering the news file is nearing a size of 600KB with the weight of almost five years of news, I will also have to do something about this before Dino's Ultima Page starts loading with the speed of a snail. However, as usual, it all boils down to one problem: time.
The Lost Sosaria site, fresh from relaunch, has been updated with some screenshots of Castle Black Dragon.
Over the past few days, Voyager Dragon has been working hard to bring his site, Ultima: The Reconstruction, back up to date. On the 17th, Voyager removed some cancelled projects and added a few new ones. Other updates are about the Avatar Pack for Exult, the Ultima 6 Project and Project Britannia, Ultima 3 for Mac OS X, and a brief history of Ultima: Escape for Mount Drash followed by a mention of the recently-discovered DrashRL by Santiago Zapata.
Ultima III for Mac OS X Released; Lost Sosaria site restored; Infinity Eternal releases musicWtFD at Aiera has posted news informing that LairWare has released Ultima III 2.0 for Mac OS X. Game features improved graphics but also contains number of classic tile sets from various platforms. The demo version's only limitation is that you can't visit the land of Ambrosia. Registering costs 15$.
WtFD has also restored Lost Sosaria but apparently work on the project has to be restarted from scratch due to loss of both primary and backup copies of original Lost Sosaria. But at the same time he assures that he has learned a lot since he began the work on the Lost Sosaria and the NWN custom content community has had time to mature has released tons of custom content he plans to take advantage of. Also he has shrunk the game are to more reasonable size from 2000(!) to around 350-400 areas and now focuses only on one continent. Have to tip my hat for this guy and wish him luck on his endevours!
Infinity Eternal composer Jeremy LaMantia has released some of the music he has been working on. Released music includes two virtue themes, one for valor and one for compassion, and theme for town of Vesper.
Lots of project updatesThepal has upgraded the Infinity Eternal site and posted a progress update :
I decided that the website needed an upgrade, so I threw this one together.
As for the progress, it goes along at a steady pace. The Wiki is taking slightly longer than I anticipated, probably because I've just started a new job and therefore am working a lot. Life doesn't seem to want to let this project progress quickly.
The good news is that two people have contacted me about joining the team. Jeremy LaMantia is a talented composer who has already written eight different themes that I've heard.
MartinLoki is a world-builder who is hard at work creating the heightmap for Britannia. If you're wondering about the size of this game, picture Britannia in Ultima 7. Then double it. Then double it again. Then multiply it by around 100. Ok... that might be a slight exaggeration. But it is huge. Those of you that have played Oblivion, we're aiming for around four times the size of Cyrodiil. For some real world figures, we're talking 8 miles by 8 miles (13km x 13km). Which is 64 square miles (165 square kilometres). And that's not including the other worlds you can visit as well. This will be Britannia like it has never been seen before.
Now's the time to contact us about joining the team. If you think you can help, let me know at thepal at etherealsoftware dot com dot au.
In other news, we once again have a forum, so feel free to drop by and fill it with posts.
Zephyr posted an update at Project Britannia site about the status of the Ultima 6 Project :
Just a quick update to let everyone know we're still alive. Sorry that we have not kept the news up to date. The U6 Project has primarily been working on their content, and they are finishing up what they're calling M3 Part 1 as we speak. No timeframe has been announced, but most of the content is in place and is being tested.
Frilly Wumpus has been busy working with WyrdWeb on revamping the Project Britannia conversation system to use what's known as Usecode. This is a more complex and extremely flexible way of editing NPC conversations. This will allow a whole host of new quest concepts to be implemented, plus a bunch of new, fun features.
The U6 Project still looking for people conversant with the Siege Editor to help us finish up their content. That is their main blocking item. All the technology is in place; they just need people to help finish building the world. They also still need portrait artists.
Stay tuned! We are very much still alive and kicking.
Also Frilly Wumpus made an addition to the previous news topic that Gileathane Dragon, a writer and QA for Lazarus, has recently joined U6P and is currently getting familiar with the toolset and will be helping out where needed in dialogue, quests, and when he's comfortable with his skills, world building.
Iris Team have abandoned development of Ultima Iris and have started project from scratch using Ogre 3D engine. Iris2 (also known as Iris-Ogre) has already been in development for 6 months and release is planned for the end of the month.
Exult mod, the Black Gate Keyring, has been updated with new SI-style avatar portraits and sprites and new "angry" portrait for Laurianna glows. The new Avatar portraits and and sprites are also available in Avatar Pack. Both Mods can be downloaded from Seven Towers.
Reconstruction and Forgotten WorldAfter several months of silence, Voyager Dragon has returned to update his site, Ultima: The Reconstruction. In particular he mentions the release of Lazarus, and he also added a page for Online Remakes.
One of the online remakes is a new project, and was first seen in a comment to Aiera's latest news post. Called UO to U7, this new project aims to rebuild Ultima 7 using the Ultima Online engine.
The people at Forgotten World have posted a quick update to report that they have decoded several instructions of the Ultima 9 script format, and are capable of creating teleporters to any location of the maps.
PB/U6P quick update; Project Britannia releases new beta tools; Ultima : Aiera site content restoredFrilly Wumpus has posted a quick update in Project Britannia forums on how the project is progressing:
- The new areas planned for U6P Milestone 3 include Yew, Buc's Den, Spider Cave and possibly Paws
- Three new people have joined the team : Quentico (World Building and QA), WyrdWeb (Writing and QA) and KooK Dragon (QA)
There have been many improvements and enchantments to core Project Britannia systems including but not limited to :
- Enhancements to the conversation system to support some of the complex conversations in U6P
- Implemented "usecode" system that allows performing more complex actions inside conversations, banters, and dynamic right+click menus on items.
- A totally revamped banter system to allow building of complex banters reminiscent of some of the Bioware classics.
- Many, many tunings and bug fixes.
Frilly Wumpus also posted that new and improved beta tools and tutorials have been released and are available at Project Britannia Wiki.
Latest news entry by WtFD in Ultima: Aiera site informs that all site content from the old site have been fully restored. WtFD also mentions that he plans to restart work on Lost Sosaria.
Aiera and IT-HE updatedFollowing Aiera's redesign, the site has been updated several times over the past few days. Withstand the Fury Dragon has been adding new information pages and updating the files it hosts. The old site is still up and may be used for files that are missing from the new site. Withstand the Fury Dragon also posted a TODO list for the site to show what he plans to do for Aiera.
Remember JP Morris' IT-HE Software site? Well, this is not really an Ultima-related update, since the new page added is about Deus Ex (Deus Ex: The Fourth Coming), but those who have played the game may enjoy this new section.
Underworld Adventures discontinued; Withstand the Fury Dragon returns; Aiera site to be upgraded soonVividos has announced the discontinuation of the Underworld Adventures Project :
Project discontinued
I'm sorry to say that the current status of the Underworld Adventures project is "inactive". I didn't find enough time in the last few months and years to productively work on the project. Another thing that slowed me down a bit is the fact that it should be possible without much work to get Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 to run on Windows XP and later (via the proper settings), using DosBox under non-Windows operating systems, or with using VMware (Player) to emulate the old operating systems.
Nevertheless Underworld Adventures was a fun project and I learned much about open source development, licenses, people, doing script and graphics programming. Hope you enjoyed trying the early versions of Underworld Adventures!
Withstand the Fury Dragon has returned. While away he switched jobs four times, got himself engaged (Poor chap. My condolences ;-p.) and has had more than his share of computer problems. Now that he's back he plans to upgrade Aiera site to, among other enhancements, allow the developers to submit news by email.
Dor-lomin music archive updateThe Ultima Digital Music Archive at Dor-lomin: The Realm of Hurin has been updated with Ultima Online music. Thanks goes to Peter Haytko for reporting this piece of news.
The Codex of Editable WisdomThe latest Ultima information collecting effort is The Codex of Editable Wisdom. This wiki was once dedicated to Ultima V: Lazarus, but had died, and is now being extended to Ultima in general. Anyone willing and able to contribute information is encouraged to do so.
Drash RoguelikeSantiago Zapata has created an arena-like game called Drash Roguelike, which borrows elements from several Ultimas. For example, there is the background story of Ultima: Escape From Mount Drash; the graphics are from Ultima 4 and there is music from Ultima 8. Basically you are thrown in an arena and must fight your way out. It can be quite a fun game.
In other news, the Titans of Ether are seeking to recruit 3D designers and worldbuilders.
Nazghul 0.5.6 releasedNazghul 0.5.6 has been released. Version fixes a crash when dying upon exit from a cave and various other minor bugs.
Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal recruitment drive to start soonThepal has posted news on Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal site informing that he's soon ready to start assembling a team for the project. But first he'll be creating Wiki based Encyclopedia of Britannia where he plans to add the most complete collection of information on Britannia and the worlds it has been in contact with, as well as everything he has done thus far for Infinity Eternal. It'll be for the teams use only and Thepal estimates that it'll take another month to complete.
Anyone interested in helping can already contact him but the wiki won't be available until it is closer to completion.
Various updatesContrary to the activity level that has become the norm lately, there has been a good amount of news from Ultima websites over the past couple of weeks.
Ultima IV Multiplayer is changing web host, and warns that the forums are down and some links may not work.
The Ultima 6 Project has released some screenshots of the work of Riptzen, a worldbuilder on their team.
News from the Seven Towers website: there have been several fixes to the Black Gate Keyring mod.
A couple of updates from the Titans of Ether give a little idea about what's going on, as well as provide 4 new tunes to listen to.
The Dragon Press, silent for a long while, has been updated with some new content, namely Ovo's "Dead Ends" and the completion of Shadow of Light Dragon's "The Black Ankh".
A short update to the Pentagram page introduces Brian Tietz, the newest member of the Pentagram team, who improved pathfinding in Pentagram. Some fixes are also mentioned.
Forgotten World screenshotsSo Christmas has passed... I hope you enjoyed the Christmas lunch based on torax... er... turkey and that Santa Claus brought you several wonderful toys.
The Forgotten World team also thought it fitting to provide a nice little Christmas present, and released two new screenshots showing off their self-written terrain editor.
Ashes interview and new screenshots; Nazghul 0.5.5 released in source formAshes : Two Worlds Collide team has been interviewed by Stefa RPG. Team also released 7 new screenshots.
Nazghul 0.5.5 has been released. Major changes include multiple saved games; more meaningful use of character stats; basic character creation; and new dungeons, quests, NPC types, and characters. Unfortunately only compiled version available is for Arch Linux; rest of us have to compile it from source or wait until compiled versions are released for our platform.
Ultima V for TiCalc tileset finished; Nazghul next version planned for DecemberDavid Randall has finished the tileset for his Port of Ultima 5 for Ti Calculators and posted 2 screenshots in project forums to allow comparison between TiCalc and PC versions.
According to Gordon McNutt's blog, the release of next version of Nazghul is planned for December 22. The new version will feature, among other things, a new quest aimed at the early game.
Seven TowersMarzo Sette Torres Junior, a member of the Exult team, has just launched his new website: Seven Towers. In this new site one can find two of his Exult mods, as well as some documentation for the Usecode C used by Exult. Note also that this new site has been added among the Specific Info Sites in my Ultima Web Directory.
My list of Exult mods, ever growing, has been updated.
According to what he wrote on his website, La Legende d' Ultima, Sergorn seems to be pretty disappointed with Gothic 3. He added a review of the game to his website, as well as a gallery.
Forgotten World Behind-the-Scenes look and another team openingForgotten World team have managed to make normally invisible objects that are used to trigger scripts, items and monsters in the game world visible. 4 new screenshots were added to give us a peek at what this feature does.
They've have also figured a way to add music to U9A and are now looking for talented composer to join their ranks
Ashes still alive and well; nazghul ported to AmigaOS4ShadowMoses has posted an update on the status of Ashes: Two Worlds Collide stating that while the project has been dormant for a while due to commitments imposed by real life(tm), the project is very much alive; and to prove it he posted a progress report:
...I finished importing all the creatures, monsters, critters (or whatever you like to call them) into the game. In total there are over 40 variations from chickens to stone golems and some will include sub-classes such as -shamen , -ranger and -warrior.
On top of this the men of the Ashes world have been joined by women and we're not sure whether this is a direct result or not but some of the men have at the same time become fatter while others more muscular... and inevitably children have arrived too, both boys and girls. Family dynamics are finally starting to show!
NPC's are also much more skilled these days, they can for example operate a grindstone and sharpen their swords, cook in the kitchen, repair their houses, farm their lands and even go to church. NPC's aren't fully developed however. they still have much too learn.
ShadowMoses also states that while they can't show the stuff now due to project being between builds, he hopes to have something to show by christmas.
Hubert Maier has ported Nazghul to AmigaOS4 (PPC).
New U4Multiplayer serverA new Ultima 4 Multiplayer shard is available at http://www.demarco.com/ultima/.
U6O Economy and Sales updateAn Economy and Sales update for Ultima 6 Online has just been released. Trade dialogues have been implemented, and you can mark items as not for sale to prevent selling them by mistake.
Forgotten Worlds decoded U9 models file formatHawkwind from the Forgotten Worlds project reports that their team has managed to decode the file format for the models used in Ultima 9. They have released a new 'screenshot' with the following description:
"After spending a lot of time on decoding the file formats, we finally managed to unravel the file format for the models used in U9. The picture below shows a render scene from blender, a 3d modeling program using the models and textures from Ultima IX Ascension. We are using a self-written Python script to import models to blender where we can pose and modify them."
The Forgotten Worlds project has also extended its team openings.
Forgotten World team openings extended; Redemption status updateForgotten World team have managed decode Ultima IX Ascension model file format and are now looking for 3D-modellers and texture artist (in addition to talented programmers mentioned earlier) to join their ranks. They also announced the openings in various Ultima forums including Ultima 5 : Lazarus, Exult and Titans of Ether
-Direhaggis- posted a small status update shedding some light on the current state of development of the Ultima IX : Redemption.
Ultima 5 : Lazarus Post Mortem interviewRPGWatch have posted a lengthy interview with Lazarus Team Lead Ian "Tiberius" Frazier.
Many cRPG players see Ultima IV through to VII as a revolutionary period. The work to bring Ultima V to life with a modern engine - Dungeon Siege of all things - must surely be one of the most ambitious mod projects ever undertaken and successfully completed. If you haven't played U5: Lazarus, you owe it to yourself to experience this amazing work that really does succeed in recreating the atmosphere and soul of Ultima. Jesse Rink interviewed project lead Ian "Tiberius" Frazier to provide this in-depth retrospective on the project.
RPGDot moves onFrom the most recent news at UltimaDot, it appears that the entire RPGDot team has left the Jolt-owned RPGDot to start a new, independent site called RPGWatch. This probably means that we won't be seeing Ultima-related news at either of the two sites for a good while.
The latest news at La Legende d' Ultima is about Gothic 3, the U6P Milestone 2, and the Lazarus French release.
Ultima 6 Project Milestone 2 released!The Second Milestone of The Ultima 6 Project has been released and is now available for download at http://www.u6project.com/.
Ultimas in Gamasutra Quantum Leap AwardsOne of the latest features at Gamasutra which Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon kindly emailed me about was the Gamasutra Quantum Leap Awards, which explores some of the best RPGs ever in the quest to find the one RPG that made the biggest 'quantum leap' in the history of RPG gaming.
While the Ultima series did not make it among the top five, this was really because so many of the Ultima games were voted for that no one game got enough votes to rival other RPGs. The Ultima series received an 'honorable mention' and one can read several interesting commentaries about some of the best installments in the series.
U6M2 announcedMatt Hutaff, of the Ultima 6 Project, announced that the release of Milestone 2 is very near. It should be released this weekend if everything goes as planned. This new release features Cove, Britain and a new dungeon.
Meanwhile Corv, leader of the Titans of Ether, posted about the continuing forum and provider problems, and also wants to recruit a 3D artist and a dialogue writer.
Savage Empire guide releasedUnfortunately I have not completed my Savage Empire guide, but I am releasing it anyway. Since I am about to start University and it's not likely that I'll have much time to work on it, there's no reason to keep it hidden, considering a big part of it is finished. If I resume work on it I'll post an update.
Ultima IV : Virtue of Humility updated; Forgotten World team seeking talented codersUltima IV : Virtue of Humility has been updated. The update fixes possible crash that could occur during rune creation.
Forgotten World Team is looking for talented coders to join their ranks and help them with the project.
UVL French releasedThe French version of Ultima V: Lazarus has been released. You can get it from their downloads page.
U8 RevisitedSome words from The Red Mage about his project, Ultima 8 Revisited:
Ultima VIII using the NWN engine is back on schedule. After several personal set backs the project is in full speed ahead.
In fact The Red Mage has already released a demo of the remake. Meanwhile The Red Mage is looking for talented people who would like to help and are members of the Bioware/NWN community. Such people should visit the project's guild website.
SE walkthrough finishedLast night I finished the walkthrough in the Savage Empire guide. Today I upgraded the guide to XHTML 1.1, which means it uses a more recent standard than the rest of Dino's Ultima Page. While the walkthrough was the largest page in the guide, I still have to work on some of the other pages, such as Items, Bestiary and Places. The Dialogue page is the only one that will be partially finished when the guide is released, because it will take a while to collect all dialogues and implement them in PHP. At this rate I might release the guide in about a week. I hope not to take longer than 2 weeks, because in 2 weeks' time I start University, which means I will no longer have time to work on the guide.
Lazarus French coming very soonThe page dedicated to the Ultima 5 for TI Calculators has been updated to reflect some of the latest features of the remake.
It looks like The Red Mage, who had released a demo of Ultima 8 for Neverwinter Nights and later cancelled his project to give space to the Exile remake, has resumed his effort after Exile's demise. The project has its own website, which is currently empty, but if you check back later, there should be some new material. You can also check out the project's NWVault page, where a couple of files are already available. Note that I have updated this project's entry in my web directory.
As a followup to the last newspost's info about EA releasing Ultima 7 for the PSP, Gruck pointed out a blog entry that will probably kill all excitement. It's extremely likely that the PSP version of Ultima 7 will be the dismal SNES version.
La Legende d' Ultima has added a page dedicated to Ultima V: Lazarus, featuring a map of Britannia, a screenshot gallery, a downloads page (currently empty) and quite a bit of info. Also, in the news on La Legende d' Ultima, Sergorn notes that the French version of Lazarus should be available by the end of September.
SE and U8 Guides updated; EA to re-release Ultima for the PSPHas it really been three years since the last hidden thing in Ultima 8 was found? Looks like it, but it's not over. Heiko Fischer provided me with a treat for the "Objects Hidden Behind Walls" section. He found a hidden key blank that can open several doors all over Tenebrae. Check out said section for more information and screenshots.
The Savage Empire Guide is progressing nicely. Although I haven't worked on it today, yesterday I made great progress in the walkthrough and also finished implementing all cutscenes in the guide. That's right; you will be able to view the cutscenes as they are in the game, online, when the guide is released.
In other news, it seems that EA will be re-releasing Ultima for the Playstation Portable (PSP). According to a PDF document that Steve Sander pointed out, Ultima 7: The Black Gate will be one of 14 'old' games to be released for the PSP by EA.
Forum closed; work on SE guide resumedYou might have noticed that the forum here has been temporarily closed because it was being inundated with spam. I am currently working on an update to the forum script, and until then, the forum will remain closed. All topics have been backed up and nothing will be lost.
Another thing of note is that I have finally resumed work on the unreleased Savage Empure Guide, after a year-long break. I have found a way of loading images directly from the tileset, which saves a lot of work because I don't have to stay copying images, pasting them into a new file, and setting transparencies.
U5TICalc: Resurrection completeDavid Randall, who is developing the Ultima 5 for TI Calculators remake, posted in the old Ultima news topic that he has just finished the cutscene that comes up when the whole party dies and Lord British resurrects it. The next step is the "Hole Up & Camp" Cutscene.
La Legende and U6OLa Legende d' Ultima has undergone a maintenance update, which includes updates to the Ultima 8 (particularly regarding the Lost Vale), Arthurian Legends, Ultima Underworld, Gothic 2, and Other Universes pages.
Also, an update to Ultima 6 Online has been released, where horses have been added, weapon damage has been changed, dialogue has been improved, several new places to live have been added, and several bugs have been fixed.
Project Britannia to release unstable builds and The Feudal Lands v0.1 alpha to be released soonProject Britannia team will be releasing unstable builds for public testing as they work toward projects 3rd milestone. Feature list provided by Frilly Wumpus is rather impressive. For information of build status and downloads visit Britannia Wiki.
The members of The Feudal Lands development team have been working hard toward their first stable public release. Their goal is to get it released within a week.
SpamAnyone who still checks the forum probably already noticed the large amounts of spam that have been plaguing it for a while. I am working on an upgrade to the forum script, but I will need people to help me test it before I can use the new script. Later this week there will be a public beta test where everyone can poke around the new script and report any flaws. Anyone interested in taking part should contact me by email. It won't take too much of your time, and your contribution will be vital in improving the forum and keeping spam at bay. You can also try out the new features, such as account registration, on the forum before I actually release the script to the public.
La Legende d' Ultima, which has been silent for months, has a couple of new newsposts. They speak of Ultima Online and of the Lost Vale box that surfaced a while ago.
U5TICalc and Ultima 6 Online updateAccording to latest update posted by David Randal in the Ultima News topic, the Ultima 5 for TI Calculators is 82.5% complete. Latest completed features include :
- Summoning and killing the Shadowlords is working.
- All shrine quests are complete.
- Finding Lord British's items is complete.
- Using all special stones is working.
- Falling into the Underworld is working.
Ultima 6 Online has been updated. While main focus of the update is bug fixing and balancing, it does include number of new features including horses, 'returnbody' command for returning players dead body to place of his death and improvements to 'look' command. For full list of changes visit U6O Forums
Nuvie and U5TiCalcThe Nuvie project is still alive, as is confirmed by news that appeared on their website a few days ago. After almost a year of silence, making many people think the popular project had some sudden demise, there is now a list of what has changed in Nuvie, on the Nuvie website. There is also a new section in the navigation with a link to the Changelog, and links to very organised Progress pages for each game.
Take a look at the Ultima News topic. David Randall, author of the Ultima 5 for TI Calculators remake, has been hard at work on the Shrines quests and the Codex, as some new animated gif demos he posted in that topic demonstrate.
Various updatesAccording to Ultima 6 Online page next update is coming on August 19th.
Ultima IV Multiplayer developer Johnny Wood has been employed by Midway Games and had to move to Austin, Texas and thus have not had any time to dedicate to the project. Fortunately he should be again soon. In the meantime he has been able to enlist Steve Conley to help him in with the project and Steve has already managed to port both the server and the client to Linux and Solaris and is now working on scripting support and stronger database integration. They also plan on scripting all of the Ultima IV specific parts of the game so that the engine itself can be used to easily create early Ultima style mods.
Titans of Ether site is down once more due to technical difficulties. While waiting the site to come back you can still visit their forums.
According to Nazghul Devblog having fixed all reported bugs in project CVS, Gordon McNutt is now focusing on introducing number of new features into the engine. Currently they include character creation, text coloration, mini sprites in UI and NPC's as light sources.
IKickPuppies: Lazarus interviewA couple of months ago, an audio interview with Zephyr from the Ultima 6 Project was added to the IKickPuppies site. Now, the same site has released a new audio interview with Tiberius from Lazarus. You can get both interviews from the audio page at the IKickPuppies site.
U6P GargoylesZephyr from the Ultima 6 Project posted a screenshot showing that there will be gargoyles in the Milestone 2 release.
U6 Project Milestone 2 release delayedZephyr from the The Ultima 6 Project team has posted an update stating that they won't be able to release the Milestone 2 at end of July as planned and no new date will be set, instead it'll be "done when it's done." He did give a quick rundown of what has been done and what is left to do :
* The town of Cove is fully populated, and is somewhat expanded over the original U6.
* Britain is nearly fully populated. Most of the houses are furnished. We still need to finish the museum, the town hall, the mint, and the conservatory.
* NPC shopkeepers need to have shop inventories populated.
* NPC houses need to be stocked with items that are interesting (such as things you might be able to steal, etc.).
* A few of the NPCs that live in and around Britain are not going to make it in to M2.
* The drawbridge for the castle works. Niko recently completed the last piece of it, which I still have to get in-game.
* The "getting out of the castle" quest is not yet implemented.
* Some additional plot points need to be revised.
* A brand-new encounter will take place in Cove. No work has been done with this.
* Lots of in-game unit testing will need to happen before we can play-test.
* One of the dungeons needs to be fully stocked. This dungeon is roughly 2/3 stocked at this time.
* Guards need to be added to all three of the major locations: Castle Britannia, Britain and Cove.
* About 2/3 of the NPC portraits for Britain need to be completed.
Zephyr also reiterated teams need for additional portrait artists and world builders good with the Siege Editor. Those interested should make a post in their forums.
U5TICalc new features, Titans of Ether back online and other Ultima newsDavid Randall, the author of Ultima 5 remake for TI-calculators, posted two new gif animations in the Ultima News topic showing new features that he has implemented : clocks can be looked at to check what time it is in game, musical instruments can played and troll's now lurk beneath bridges of Britannia and may demand toll from innocent travellers and passer-by's. Two additional gif's can be found in his Ultima 5 topic in TI-Freakware forum, one showing random enemy generator in action and the other showing how torches can now be used to increase viewing distance in dark areas and crystal ball to view the mini-map.
Titans of Ether site and forum are now back online and the forum has a new look. According to Corv, the downtime was result of serious hacking attempt that, hopefully, have now been taken care of. In another topic, Direhaggis, the project lead dialogue writer has posted a mini update. He does not go into detail but assures that progress has and is being made in all areas.
Nazghul version 0.5.4 Mac PPC binaries have been released. Universal Binaries for Intel Macs should also be available soon.
Ultima Iris Developer Framework 0.4 has been released. New in this release :
-Grannyviewer 0.4.0.1 (Dress and Hue-Color the Granny Models, SMD Import/Export)
-IrisEdit 0.95 (Texture Editor added, Define High-Res Groundtextures for Iris, 3DS Import bug fixed)
-ParticleEdit 0.93 (UO - Spelleffect ID added )
-IrisMapEditor 0.31 (support for M.Legacy added)
-Maprenderer 0.21 (Tool to select Renderarea added)
Dino's Ultima Page: 4th anniversaryThe news of the day is definitely that today is the fourth anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page. Happy birthday to my first and biggest site! Unfortunately things are not looking too good since I found a very demanding summer job; I'll try to keep the site up to date but I don't think I'll be able to work on things like the Savage Empire Guide as I had planned.
In other news, Withstand the Fury Dragon posted at Aiera about current and future changes that the Time Immortal websites are and will be undergoing.
Voyager Dragon sighted! and other ultima newsVoyager Dragon has again been sighted! This elusive creature has once again been spotted at Ultima : The Reconstruction where he added two new news posts about various mods that have been created for Exult. Is he planning a comeback or is this some secret plot to get our hopes up? Stay tuned as we bring you more news as the events unfold.
This is Toni "Petrell" Hurskainen, DUNN (Dino's Ultima News Network) News, reporting to you live from the scene of the incident.
In other Ultima news :
Resle from Ashes has posted an update informing that while Shadowmoses is off on his honeymoon, work on ashes continues albeit slowly due to real life constraints. He also lists things he has been working on, going into bit more detail on their modular portrait engine that he have been working on with their 2d artist, Vic Urievsky.
Forgotten World project founder and team lead "Firstknight" can no longer dedicate time to the project due to real life constraints. Fortunately rest of the team have decided to continue his work and have already met some success in figuring out and decoding some of the Ascension files. Project also has a new domain : www.forgottenworld.de
Ultima Iris client has been updated to version 0.8.7. Here's the list of changes :
Bugs fixed:
* Ship support for all UO ships
* Walking bug fixed (hack)
* a.s.o.
New Features:
* Speechsupport for RunUO (speech.mul)
* Diff-Mul Support
Nazghul DevBlog has been revived after half year dormancy.
Ultima Aiera's forum, the Sword and Shield has been down for some time now. Also The Titans of Ether transition to new host hasn't gone as smoothly as has been hoped and the site is again down for maintenance after being up only few days. Hopefully the problems are only temporary and we'll see the site fully operational again soon.
U5TICalc takes shapeAt my Ultima news topic, David Randall reported that combat is beginning to take shape in his Ultima 5 remake for TI Calculators. The remake also sports a new look, which you can see in three animated screenshots he posted in the Ultima news topic. You can read what people commented about this, at a topic at the U5TICalc TIFreakware forum.
The Titans of Ether posted the following news a couple of days ago:
Finally we have a new, trustworthy provider!
The days where our site was down once a day and our database was deleted every few month are over! Now you can use the board without fear again ;)
Thanks Hawkwind for this great deal!
We didn't have access to the admin page of the old provider for 2 weeks that's why the board is now how it was two weeks ago which means a few people will have to register again and a few posts are gone. Sorry for that inconvenience, but as I wrote before, the days of fear are over. So go and use the forum! Post away ;)
Considering their whole site seems to have gotten deleted, I wonder how "trustworthy" this new provider actually is. Kind of reminds me of the Guardian: "...for I shall be your companion, your provider, and your master!"
Pentagram Mac supportOver the past few weeks, the Pentagram team has been working to improve Mac support. Universal binaries that should work on OS X 10.3 and above are now available on their downloads page.
U6P Zephyr audio interview and U5L - Enhanced Graphics Mod v 1.0 beta releasedIKickPuppies has interviewed Ultima 6 Project producer Jesse Strachman a.k.a. Zephyr. In the interview, among other things, Zephyr reveals details about the upcoming Milestone 2 release (release aimed to end of July according to Zephyr here). You can download the audio interview here.
Xiskio has released beta of his long awaited Enhanced Graphics Mod for Ultima 5 : Lazarus. The mod replaces many textures with enchanted ones and adds number of items such as tables, chairs and stone ankhs. For more details and download visit Xiskio's site or mod's topic in Lazarus Forums.
Nazghul version 0.5.4 released. New version includes blended terrain and numerous tweaks and bug fixes.
2 new shards for U4 MultiplayerUltima 4 Multiplayer announces that there are two new 'shards' (servers) you can play on. The original one at u4.dyndns.org is still offline for the moment but you can play on the other two. The new shards are at soznet.game-server.cc and u4.tanabi.org. Note that although characters have been copied onto the new shards, changes to your character on one server may not be reflected on the others.
Various updatesPaeron posted in Aiera's Sword and Shield forums, back in February, news of progress with decoding Ultima 9 file formats. Paeron announced having released a large guide to all the file formats in Ultima 9.
News of Lazarus needing beta testers for the French version (which we already knew about) has finally reached their homepage.
Ultima: The Reconstruction, inactive for almost a year, posted an update about Pentagram and uploaded the latest snapshots.
News thanks to Petrell: new screenshots have been added to the Forgotten World project. They feature parts of the new Western Yew and Northern Cliffs.
News thanks to Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon: GameSetWatch recently posted a couple of Ultima-related newsbits. The first is about GameTap re-releasing Ultima 1-6, which is scheduled to take place on 29th June. The second is about Ultima Online using the PunkBuster anti-cheat technology.
More news thanks to Petrell: the Ultima 6 Project updated their job openings page. Looks like they need a couple of portrait artists, three worldbuilders, and a 3D Modeller.
The Ultima 4 Multiplayer server is currently inactive because the server is moving to a new location.
Ultima 4 Multiplayer and AshesThe new Ultima 4 Multiplayer client and server version 6.6.19 introduces major changes to the inner workings of NPC dialogues, allows maps as big as 65536x65536, and increases account security.
As an interesting extra spotted by Petrell at a topic at the Ashes forum, it looks like Ashes editing tools will be included with the game when it's released, and data files will be easily editable.
Caught up with all old newsLooks like DOUG the Eagle Dragon's IT-HE Software has a new (well, it's almost 2 months old, but it's the latest addition to the site) section - a Lazarus anti-walkthrough.
Also, according to a topic in the Exult forum, it seems that someone is toying with the idea of remaking The Savage Empire using Exult Studio.
The following is old news; the last that I have left to catch up with.
Old news regarding Lazarus:
Old news regarding Project Britannia:
So, with that I've finally caught up with all old news, and Dino's Ultima Page is once again up to date (at least the news section). Next I'll be working on updating Aiera for those who prefer to read news there, and I'll be updating the information sections of Dino's Ultima Page. Eventually I'll also continue the Savage Empire guide.
Lazarus FrenchLooks like the French version of Lazarus is open for beta testing. Although the official website says nothing about it, this news was spotted at 2 sources:
News from Ultima 4 Multiplayer - the server went down on Thursday (15th June) and will be down until this evening.
And now, it's about time I caught up with old news from Nazghul:
More Lost Vale informationDon't thank me for today's news. Thank those who found the news over the internet.
An anonymous user posted in my forum the address of a site with more information about The Lost Vale. A lot of the information and images there are already available in my Guide to Ultima 8, but there is also new information provided by Sheri Graner Ray, who was working on The Lost Vale. I've added the new information to my Lost Vale page.
Petrell spotted more news from Ashes - the news is basically a thank-you for the comments and suggestions to everyone discussing Ashes, as well as a call for any 2D artists who may want to join the team.
On another note, I had my last exam today. I can now give more time to Dino's Ultima Page.
Titans forum posts lost (and older news)Petrell has created a new Ultima news topic since the previous one was getting too long.
I've corrected a bunch of broken links in the Credits and About site pages.
The Titans of Ether had some trouble with their forum. The forum is now back online, but all posts since November 2005 were lost. Users are asked to register again, and people who entered the competition are asked to re-submit their entries. The first winner is Onikage.
The Ultima 4 Multiplayer server site seems to be back online, so I assume the server itself is back online.
News from Ashes: Two Worlds Collide since the last mention here (30th October 2005):
As Petrell noticed, the Ultima Classics Revisited site was hacked and was redirecting visitors to the hacker's site until a few days ago. It has now been restored.
The latest development updates from Lost Sosaria are the two that were posted in January 2006:
News from Ultima Iris since the last mention here (7th January 2006):
Ultima 4 Multiplayer and LazarusNews from Ultima 4 Multiplayer: the server will go down today at 3:30pm CST, and will be down for several days. There is no mention of when it will be up and running again.
Although their news says nothing about it, the Lazarus website has been redesigned. It's wider and only has the left menu for navigation now. Some content looks like it's been changed too.
News from Pentagram (over a month old) include fixes with NPC interaction, combat behaviour of monsters, and the fact that the Japanese version of Ultima 8 is now on the same level as that for the other languages. The Pentagram homepage now also has a short section about the status of development.
News from the Ultima 6 Project since the launch of their new website:
At this point I've caught up with most Ultima news. What's left to catch up with is mostly Nazghul, Iris, Ashes and Project Britannia.
Dragon Press and moreThe Dragon Press now hosts two new fanfictions by Great Siberian Dragon - "Great Siberian Cousins" and "Avatar's Pagan Journal". The Dragon Press also mentions that Damien Barban's Ultima 7 comic is complete, and has a new link to the Serpent Isle comic that is now in progress.
The Titans of Ether have launched a new contest: answer 43 questions correctly and you can (be the only one to) get to see an exclusive in-game video.
Other news from the Titans of Ether is that Redemption featured in a PC Powerplay article.
Infinity Eternal updates I missed:
The Forgotten World project has a new home. The site has undergone some minor changes, and some new members were recruited.
David Randall, responsible for the remake of Ultima V for TI Calculators, wrote that "NPC shoppe talk is complete"; more information is available at the U5TICalc forum at TI-Freakware.
Ultima 4 Multiplayer has seen several updates since the last news I mentioned here (15th April). Since the site has been redesigned, you can read the news on the site's main page or at the server site. The new updates include:
Petrell noticed a post at Aiera's Sword and Shield forum, where Major_Error (leader of the slumbering Agape project) stated that "Agape is closed untill the release of the new NWN2 toolset," "hopefully around September or earlier".
The Lazarus homepage sports a beautiful crossbow, hand-made by David "Iolo" Watson himself, which was sent to Tiberius as a gift from fans. The crossbow comes complete with a serpent logo and is signed by Lord British himself.
An Ultima 5: Lazarus review has surfaced on UltimaDot. Lazarus scored a considerable 10/10 in the review.
Petrell spotted a topic at the Exult forum about using a dance pad to actually walk in Britannia in Exult. There is also a page with instructions on how to use it for Exult.
That's all, folks! (for today)
Forgotten WorldsMichael "Firstknight" Menapace created a website for his "Forgotten World" Ultima 9 project. For now you can see some screenshots of places around Yew, and read about the project.
Also, note that the guestbook of Dino's Ultima Page is now working again. I had disabled it temporarily because of spam.
Although Dino's Ultima Page (or at least the front page) is a bit silent lately, the Ultima Community is not. Read the latest updates in the Ultima news topic; I will post them here when I have more time.
Note also that on 14th June I finish exams, so I'll be able to post news more regularly and add some content to the site.
Titans and moreBecause I've been so busy (and still am), I haven't mentioned an update from the Titans of Ether since their 16th December update. Here's what we've missed:
I had noticed long ago that the English version of La Legende d' Ultima was not being updated; but it is only today that I noticed that its French counterpart is being updated. Anyone wishing to follow La Legende d' Ultima for Ultima news should stay current with the French version.
The following news was posted by Petrell in the Ultima news topic:
Also, it looks like Project Britannia has released Milestone 2.
Several updatesOver the past few days, Ultima IV Multiplayer has seen several updates:
On 10th April, there was an update to the Exult website, describing what the team has been busy with lately. This includes improved support for game details such as NPC schedules and combat; as well as better support for mods. The Exult website also mentions two large mods.
In fact, over the past few months people have been busy making mods for Exult. I have compiled a list of these mods in a new page dedicated to Exult mods. Not all of them are new; some have been mentioned in the news here, in the past.
Also, according to a topic at the Exult forum, the Exult documentation and FAQ have been updated.
There is an interesting topic about gumps in the Exult forum. Apart from discussing where the word 'gump' came from, it points to the blog of Jason Ely, who worked on Ultima 8 among other games (the blog entry is about gumps).
I have also added a link to an old Exult interview at RPGDot to the Exult section in my Ultima Web Directory.
Aiera's last update (which dates back to three months ago) mentions, among other things, a link to a page by Sir Iceblade which lists all known Ultima forums.
Work has been progressing on Ultima V for TI Calculators. The most prominent additions are moongate travel and shoppe talk. Also, Omnimaga, which originally had all the info and screenshots for this remake, has died. David Randall created a new topic with several animated gif demos. The page about this remake on Dino's Ultima Page has been updated to reflect all these changes.
That's all I'll be mentioning for today. I've caught up with a lot of news but there's still a lot left, especially from Titans of Ether, a little from Aiera, and several updates in the Ultima news topic. Keep checking this topic when I'm unable to post news.
Catching up a bit moreAs usual, a lot of this news is thanks to Petrell (see the Ultima news topic).
To quote Johnny Wood, of Ultima 4 Multiplayer fame:
Ultima IV Multiplayer is back up and running an alpha test again. There is also an opportunity for people to put themselves into the game by providing dialog for characters that had identical dialogs.
See the Ultima 4 Multiplayer website for more information on how to play with the new test server. The website also has information on how to send, if you want to, dialogue for Ultima 4 Multiplayer to replace the redundant character dialogues (such as the several Joe's in Britain).
Ultima 6 Online was updated on 6th March. There are lots of new features, but some of the more interesting ones include automatic pickup of projectile weapons; monsters now drop blood, bodies and items; and 4 new custom houses have been added.
The following is all the Lazarus news I haven't mentioned since the January update:
Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon found an interesting article at Gamasutra about computer games in general. While the article doesn't concern Ultima directly, it does feature Ultima 4, as well as some former Ultima developers. Do you consider gaming a waste of time? Read the article to see what other people think about it.
Galadis, who made the Ultima 7: The Black Gate comic, is now working on one for Serpent Isle. Check out the first five pages at Fantasiart.
Joe Garrity, curator of the Origin Museum, has let us know (in the Ultima News topic) that there is a new story called "Electronic Arts Bestows Its Bounty" in the Stories section of the Origin Museum website. EA authorised loads of Origin material to be sent to the Origin Museum... read the story to learn more about it.
That's all for today... I hope I can continue catching up with news before next month.
Catching up a bitMost of the news mentioned here has been posted by Petrell in the Ultima news topic, so thanks a lot to Petrell.
Galadis (website: fantasiart), who has done quite a bit of artwork for the Ultima community, has finished his 83-page Ultima 7: The Black Gate comic. The finished comic was released on 15th January, and is available only in English.
The Pentagram team posted an update:
The last few months have been a bit quiet, but development has been moving forward. We have fixed a couple of potentially serious usecode interpreter bugs, and some further Avatar movement problems. Preliminary support for the Japanese version of Ultima 8 has also been added.
News from UltimaDot: according to the EUO development journal, EUO will apparently no longer be worked on, but is not being shut down.
Posted by Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon: "Apparently, GameTap.com, a game subscription service, will be publishing Ultima 1-6."
Kevin Fishburne, who's developing the Ultima 5 for Morrowind mod, got a new web server, and got the forum working again. Also, he has announced that new screenshots and Littoral's source code will be released soon.
News from the Ultima 6 Project:
At a topic in my forum, Lutefisk (who used to be (is?) a regular poster at the Exile forum) announced that he is working on a multiplayer version of Ultima 8, but needs the help of a graphics programmer to get the job done.
JP Morris of IT-HE Software fame has released version 0.93 of his IRE (IT-HE RPG Engine).
Speaking of IT-HE Software, the latest news there (19th January) mentions that JP Morris' "current project is U5:Lazarus". I presume this means that JP Morris is someday going to write an anti-walkthrough for the remake.
There is still a lot of news I have to catch up with, especially from Lazarus, Exult mods, Nazghul and Ashes, but there's too much to post all at once. I'll continue catching up later on.
New TLV ChaptersA couple of years ago, Aloisio Senra had sent me a continuation of Amazing Dragon's "The Lost Vale" fanfiction (Chapter 15). Recently he sent me a revised version of Chapter 15, as well as chapters 16, 17 and 18. They have been uploaded and you can go ahead and read them.
Speaking of The Lost Vale, if anyone out there has a copy of the zip file containing a saved version of the original fanfiction (i.e. exactly as it was when Amazing Dragon hosted it), please send it to my Gmail email (see the Contact page). I had lost that zip file last year when migrating between computers and, while the fanfiction is online, I might someday upgrade it to be more like how it originally was (though still without the frames). I will need the zip file to do that, though.
I'll catch up with news from the Ultima community another time.
Various updates (yes, AGAIN)Again, I have been very busy (with exams this time) and have been unable to take care of this site. And as usual, Petrell has been posting updates in the old forum topic. Because of the ever-increasing length of that topic, we agreed to start a new news topic. Petrell has been posting news there ever since.
A concern arose at my forum recently because Hacki's Ultima Page and The Wayward Avatar (forum) could not be found at their original locations. Both have been found:
The Ultima 6 Project mentions three new recruits; but it still has lots of open positions for people willing and able to join the team. One of the new recruits, responsible for bringing the gargoyles to life, has a kind of online journal of his work.
Ultima 6 Online has been updated. There are new spells to cast and new places to visit, and you can upload custom portraits and use your microphone to voice chat.
That's all for today, but there have been a lot of updates I haven't mentioned here yet. I'll be posting them here sometime soon, but until then, stay current with Petrell's updates to the Ultima news topic in the forum.
Various updatesIf you thought only Exult was being developed for the GP2X handheld device (see 22nd December news), take a look at the screenshot in this topic. One of the reasons that projects like Exult and Nuvie are so great is that they are so portable. Apart from posting a screenshot of Nuvie on GP2X, Eric Fry also wrote something about what he's working on at the moment, in that topic.
The Ultima 6 Online website tells us to look out for a client and host update in 7 days (from 6th January).
News of Ultima VIII - Exile's demise has finally reached its website's news page. Corvwyn posted an article about the cancellation of the project.
All Lazarus music is now available online, along with album art. Also, Carsten "Cavon" Vonnahme is the first person to have finished Lazarus, and is about to receive a Team Lazarus polo shirt as an award.
The following news comes courtesy of Petrell who posted it (along with all the rest) in the news topic:
Various updatesMy page about Ultima 5 for TI Calculators has been heavily updated to reflect updates that were posted in my forum.
News from Lazarus:
To centralise as much Lazarus information and resources as possible (because it's becoming hard to keep up with all the download mirrors etc), I've created a page about Ultima V: Lazarus. While the official Lazarus website is always the best place to go if you want to learn about Lazarus, my page will be keeping track of things like download mirrors which are scattered throughout their news articles.
In my last news post here I offered to host any Lazarus reviews on Dino's Ultima Page, since I don't have Dungeon Siege and I can't write one myself. Unfortunately I didn't receive any, but the offer is still on. You can also send me screenshots to accompany any reviews, so you can do something like write a story and show it graphically with screenshots. Up to you.
As always, thanks to Petrell who has been posting news in the usual news topic while I was too busy to take care of this site. Note that he is keeping track of Lazarus updates in a special Lazarus topic, so you can look there for central Lazarus information if my new about-Lazarus page ever falls into disrepair.
In a recent news post, the Ultima 6 Project congratulated Lazarus and mentioned that they (u6P) are working on their upcoming milestone release ("very tentatively scheduled for mid-February").
Some Titans of Ether updates that I did not mention for the past couple of months (sorry...):
Lazarus releasedThanks to Peter Haytko for reminding me that Lazarus would be released today. That's right, Lazarus is finally complete, after five and a half years. Only the English PC version is available; Mac should be available tomorrow and the French and German versions will take a little while to be completed.
I unfortunately don't have Dungeon Siege, so I can't try out Lazarus as yet and write a review. If anyone wants to write and send me a review, though, I'll gladly put it on Dino's Ultima Page.
Before their release, Lazarus had also continued with their series of talking points:
The following Ultima spotting is by Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon:
http://www.ianalbert.com/misc/mapphotos.php
These people basically have a gigantic wall display. And what people do with gigantic wall displays? Display old game maps at full size. In addition to the Legend of Zelda, and A Link to the Past, the first map on the page is... tadah... Ultima VII with FoV. =)
David Randall of Ultima 5 for TI Calculators fame posted in my forum about an Exult port for the GP2X portable handheld device. Exult keeps spreading!
More updates that I will mention in more detail another time include:
As always, read Petrell's posts in my forum for up-to-date news when I'm busy.
If I don't post again before Sunday (which is likely), then Merry Christmas!
Back from slumberI realise that I've been a bit negligent with updating this site. I could go on ranting about how busy University keeps me, but I'm not one who likes bringing excuses, so let's get down to business. Petrell has kept posting news at the news topic, so you can see a complete list of news since the last update here, complete with quotes from the relevant sites. There have been too many updates in the past month to list in one update, so I'll just list some of the most prominent updates and then post the rest some other time.
After a long period of silence, Corvwyn, leader of Ultima VIII - Exile, posted at a topic in the Exile forum that he is not going to continue working on Exile. While there is still a chance that he reconsiders, Exile can now be considered cancelled, temporarily or otherwise. Here's what he wrote:
I haven't done anything on Exile in a very long time now and to be honest I'm pretty fed up with it. It's mainly the nwn toolset that's busting my chops and I just can't get it to do what I want it to. I also have lots of other things to do, like working on a game for my main project at school.
The way I imagine it now is that once I'm done with that game project I'll have gotten much better at making engines and I'll be able to use that knowledge for Ultima Exile. I'm not promising anything here, but I might just make an engine for Exile. I think it will be much easier to get it the way I want it to and I won't get tired of it like I did now.
I'll have to think about all this though, but unfortunately I don't think I'll continue this project. It's with a heavy heart I say this since I've promised things to you already and I really wanted it to work out.
Sorry guys (and girls even though I don't think there are any) ...
And after several months of silence, there is news at the Nuvie website. Among the many additions are cosmetic improvements and added functionality, but the most prominent news is that combat is being implemented.
Among other changes, the Pentagram website reports that the Pentagram savegame format has been fixed, so that there should always be backward compatibility for savegames from now on.
A fanfiction called "Saying Goodbye" by Opera Dragon, which was originally a fanfiction for Ultima IX: Redemption, has been added to the Dragon Press.
With the release of their remake nearing with every day that passes, the Lazarus team have released a series of talking points at their forum:
Aside from the talking posts, a Lazarus trailer (10MB) has also been released. Download links are available on the project website (under the relevant news).
That's all for today... I'll go on catching up with news another day.
Various updatesA section about the Lost Vale box (including the box scans) has been added to my Ultima 8 Guide.
W G, a fellow Ultima fan, sent me a 600*400 desktop wallpaper, with the following message:
I see you are an Ultima fan, by your web page. I made a fanart desktop with all reconizable faces from Ultima games. I wanted to share it with the ultima community.
Later on (when I have time) I might add a page for it, but for now you can only get to it through this news.
Petrell keeps posting updates at a topic in my forum. Check out that topic frequently because it's seeing more updates than this homepage is. Besides, the news I post here is very summarised, while Petrell's posts include full quotations. Here's the latest news Petrell posted:
Other interesting news that appeared at my forum is David Randall's decision to implement dungeons using bird's-eye-view rather than making a new 3D movement/drawing engine for his Ultima 5 remake for TI calculators. This will save space (which is very precious on calculators) without compromising gameplay.
Further to Chapter 15 and 16 of The Lost Vale fanfiction, Aloisio Senra now also sent me Chapter 17. I will add them all soon, don't worry!
Lazarus Release Date announced; TLV box sold for almost $2000The auction for the Lost Vale box ended on Wednesday. Until about 6 hours before the auction's end, the highest bid was just $310, but last-minute bids made the price shoot up to an amazing $1,923. Although there were many doubts about the box's authenticity, Denis Loubet sent the following email to me, Gradilla, Gromitron and a few others, confirming that the box is in fact authentic:
I have researched the cover and tracked down a person who remembers it. It
is authentic, and most likely a cover done by the Origin marketing
department for a never-released addition to Ultima 8.Denis Loubet
With Gromitron's permission, I will be hosting copies of the box scans (low-resolution to prevent the production of fake copies) on my Ultima 8 Guide in case they someday vanish from the web.
Other important news is the announcement of a release date for Ultima V: Lazarus, i.e. Christmas 2005. Now you know what to buy your kids for Christmas!
The Titans of Ether have a couple of new recruits, on probation. A few pages on their website have also been updated, including the feature list, the FAQ and the team roster.
There's a nice article at The Escapist about what happened to Origin. Natreg originally told me about this, but it's also been posted at the Exult forum.
The Ultima 6 Project and Project Britannia websites have announced that Project Britannia is more or less ready. All they need now is mirrors to host the 165MB download.
As usual, David Randall keeps working on his Ultima V for TI Calculators. Recent updates include:
At a topic in my forum, Petrell pointed out an update to the Ashes website (which I wouldn't have otherwise noticed). Things are getting harder to manage in the project, but progress is still being made. In fact, new features include stackable events, detached (independent) heads, equippable items and ambient lighting. What do these features mean? Check out the website and find out!
Meanwhile Aloisio Senra, who answered Amazing Dragon's original request for a Chapter 15 for his Lost Vale fanfiction by sending me his own Chapter 15 a couple of years ago, sent me a corrected version of said chapter, as well as Chapter 16. While I am currently short of time and have not yet added it, I will add it soon. So you now have something else to look forward to (apart from Lazarus, Project Britannia, etc.)!
TLV box auctionGromitron, owner of the only Lost Vale box known to exist, is auctioning said box. Meanwhile, at the relevant topic in my forum, the box's authenticity is being put in question.
The Titans of Ether have released 8 new screenshots (6 random and 2 of New Paws) and 6 new tunes.
The following news updates were posted in my forum by Petrell (along with detailed quotations), so you should thank him for bring this news:
TLV box; several project updatesYou really should check out the topic posted by Gromitron in my forum. Gromitron is likely to be the only person in the world (apart from the developers) to possess a box of The Lost Vale, and has posted a link to scans of the box as proof. It's amazing... over ten years after the expansion was made, finally something like this surfaces.
David Randall keeps adding new features to his Ultima 5 remake for TI calculators. Three new commands have been added lately, namely those to ignite torches, change the party order and view party stats.
A new client update for Ultima 6 Online has been released. This update is designed to reduce bandwidth usage, fix several bugs and add a couple of new features.
After working behind the scenes in the summer months and keeping their website pretty silent, the Pentagram team have posted a progress report on their website:
In the last couple of months the behind-the-scenes work has continued, with changes to savegames, game autodetection and key bindings. The more visible changes include antialiasing of the truetype fonts, detection of stealing and hopefully improved Avatar movement.
After all this, there's more news from Aiera:
...And now something from UltimaDot: Peter Berger compared and contrasted Ultima 4 and 7, and chose Ultima 4 as a playable classic.
Labyrinth of Worlds returns; U5TICalc updatedDavid Randall, who is developing the Ultima 5 remake for TI calculators, has emailed me with news of an update. He made a new animated gif demo that shows off the latest features he implemented, namely the fact that actual NPC sprites are used, the 'Look' command now works, and reading signs works as well. I've updated my U5 remake for TI calculators page to reflect these new features.
At a topic at Aiera's forum, the Sword and Shield, Sv brought to our attention a post in the Labyrinth of Worlds forum, where the following has been posted:
LoW development has resumed. CVS now contains a much cleaner rendering engine with bumpmapping and shadows, and much better core map handling and physics systems. Other parts of the game are being reintegrated.
Expect a release within the month, as well as more detailed news soon!
Although the Labyrinth of Worlds website has not yet been updated, it's good to know that this project is being worked on once again.
AOB docs releasedIf you go to the Spinoffs page in my Ultima Web Directory, you'll find a list of Adventures of Blackthorn documents that I've just released, with Wind Walker's permission. I have released all the plot/planning documents that Wind Walker sent me himself, as well as the dialogues I had written, and a world map that was once available on the Adventures of Blackthorn website. I also have a few other documents about characters, as well as the 50MB intro movie and the original website's homepage. I might release these too later. I still have to organise the character documents, and hosting the movie would eat up a lot of bandwidth so I have to consider what to do about it.
Hannibal's U9 site revived; AOB to followThis weekend I got permission to host both the now-defunct "Hannibal's Ultima IX Page" and dev docs from Adventures of Blackthorn. Both Hannibal and Wind Walker (the latter being the former leader of Adventures of Blackthorn) did not stop at giving me permission, but also sent me any files I didn't have. Hannibal's Ultima IX Page is already hosted on Dino's Ultima Page as part of my ever-growing Graveyard of once-lost Ultima sites. Along with the original website, you'll find part of Hannibal's Ultima 9 Saved Game Archive as well as an all-new bonus from Hannibal: his very own Ultima 9 walkthrough. The documents from Adventures of Blackthorn will be added right after I get them organised. They include information about the plot, characters, geography and other areas of the game. I also have six dialogues from Adventures of Blackthorn in HTML format which I wrote myself, because, as some of you might remember, I was once a dialogue writer in this project.
The page about the Ultima 5 remake for TI calculators has been updated. Among the new things you'll find a list of features, a list of what's been done and what's in progress, a new animated gif demo and a link to David Randall's Ticalc webpage.
The Lazarus website speaks of a large Project Britannia update. In fact, the people behind Project Britannia have added a whole wiki documentation to the site as well as a Release Plan.
Withstand the Fury Dragon, still recovering from a video card burnout, has been adding dialogue to his project, Lost Sosaria.
Ultima 5 remake for TI calculatorsAn Ultima 5 remake for TI calculators has been in the making for about a year, and now David Randall, its developer, has decided to tell us about it. I've made a page about it from where you can access all information and media about it, and added an entry for it in my web directory.
I've added six books to the Ultima 8 Writings section. You'll also find a new Ultima 8 easter egg thanks to Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon, which is related to some of the new books. I've also slightly improved the U8 Writings section by using a list for book locations.
My Credits page has been updated with a few new names.
I've fixed a number of broken links in The Lost Vale fanfiction.
David Randall, who's making the Ultima 5 remake for TI calculators, has also suggested a link to a good site with all Ultima 5 town maps - which I have added to the Ultima 5 info page.
To celebrate their first birthday, the Titans of Ether have provided 3 new wallpapers (not just logos but totally new screenshots) and a couple of new FAQs.
Titans' First AnniversaryA sample of U6 Project artist Wenndelin's work has been added to the U6P website. Visit the Character Cards page for a beautiful portrait of Sherry the Mouse.
Updates about remakes courtesy of Aiera: EUO 1.1 has been released; work is being done on Project Britannia before it can be made available for download; and two news updates from Lost Sosaria are about attention to dialogue and a fried video card that may hinder the project a little bit.
Last week, the Titans of Ether requested some feedback about eating and drinking, and the magic system. What they didn't post on their website yet (and that Corv was kind enough to mail me about) is that tomorrow the Titans are one year old! Happy Birthday, Titans of Ether!
Legend and U6P; SE guide progressSergorn Dragon is still adding content to The Ultima Legend. The latest additions are a Martian Dreams walkthrough and the "Other Universes" section.
Meanwhile Team Archon (which is developing the Ultima 6 Project) is proud to welcome on board the new SFX contributor, Exotronium, who is fairly young but also very talented.
My Savage Empire guide is still in progress. I know I said on 26th August that the guide may be released "in a few days' time", but that was a rather optimistic estimate. I've been working mostly on adding dialogues and cutscenes, and I've been writing the walkthrough, which is about half-done. Quite a few pages are already done (including Companions, Magic, Fun, Opinions, Credits and the Main page) but others still need a bit of work (Travel is almost done, but Items, Maps & Places and Landscape in particular still need a lot of work). Besides, some of the cutscenes and dialogue I've transcribed from the game are still written on paper, and it will take a lot of work to add them. I won't release the guide before it's as complete as can be, so this can take a month or more. I'll keep you posted.
Legend and TitansSergorn Dragon is continuing to update the English version of his website, The Ultima Legend, with more translations from the original French content. Also, Sergorn seems to have found a new project - Realms of Ultima. What is Realms of Ultima? It's supposed to be a persistent world template (whatever that is) for the upcoming Neverwinter Nights 2.
News from the Titans of Ether: you can read the final version of the timeline, welcome four new members, or just enjoy four new screenshots of New Magincia at night.
Project Britannia and Savage Empire GuideZephyr from the Ultima 6 Project sent me an email telling me that big news was announced on the U6P site. And rightly so, the news of the day is the launch of Project Britannia, which is the world of Britannia built by both Lazarus and Archon in Dungeon Siege. This is great news for anyone wanting to make an Ultima remake in Dungeon Siege, as it saves them having to build the whole world from scratch. You can read more about Project Britannia at the Lazarus, U6 Project and Project Britannia websites.
The other big news of today, not as big as Project Britannia of course, concerns Dino's Ultima Page. I'm pleased to announce that a new guide is in the works and will be made public soon. I've been working on this Savage Empire guide for about three days now, and it's coming along nicely. A lot of the information is already there, and I made it interactive so that you can enjoy dialogues, cutscenes, the introduction, character creation and credits exactly as they are in the game. Depending on the rate at which I keep working on it, I might make it public in a few days' time. Meanwhile if you want to give a little hand, have a look at the forum - there are a couple of topics where your input could be valuable.
Reconstruction up to dateUltima: The Reconstruction caught up with some of the latest developments in the remake scene, including progress from Lazarus, U6P, Nuvie, Exult and Pentagram. What's probably new to you is a short note about Nu5 (Gradilla Dragon's upcoming Ultima 5 engine) - in fact Gradilla has figured out the signs.dat data file and is working on a map viewer.
Those who wish to stay up to date with the Ultima 5 for Morrowind mod may now subscribe to the Yahoo mailing list that Kevin Fishburne purposely set up for his remake.
Ashes takes a breakApart from updating its on-site downloads, Aiera brings news that development of the Ultima 7-inspired Ashes project is on pause during August. Since August is almost over, that doesn't really matter - development will resume in little more than a week.
Titans, Legende and Exult Studio GuidesI've got an update to last time's newspost in which I said that La Legende d' Ultima vanished from the web. Looks like "The Ultima Legend", as it's called in English, moved to a new location to get rid of the plague of Lycos adverts. Among the few minor fixes and the translation of more pages from French to English, the website now also hosts the old Ultima X trailer.
As Gradilla Dragon posted on Aiera, the Exult Studio Guides website is being abandoned by its current administrator and needs someone to take care of it. Anyone interested should post to the relevant topic at the Exult forum.
The Titans of Ether website has been updated with the last part of the timeline, a load of new screenshots, and a Redemption wallpaper.
Info and remake updatesI've added back most of the old information pages, including Ultima 9, both Underworlds, Serpent Isle and Martian Dreams. The only ones that are still missing are those for which I am developing a guide. Note that I haven't checked many of the links on these old info pages... so some may be broken. If you find any broken links, please report them to me.
On another note, the fact that I'm getting slower at updating and that I've lost a bit of interest in this site is evident in the fact that the third anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page passed (27th July) without me noticing it.
Looks like La Legende d' Ultima vanished from the web. Strange it had to disappear just now, when it got an English version.
The latest news at the Ultima 6 Project warns about the forums being down and a new member joining the team.
Kevin Fishburne added traffic reports to the website of his Ultima 5 for Morrowind mod.
News from Aiera: Lost Sosaria has passed its second birthday. Its website has been redesigned and some changes have been made to the team.
U5 section and U4 MonstersAs of today, the Ultima 5 info page is back up, and I've also revamped the Ultima 4 Monsters page which was ancient and in a pitiful state.
Lazarus dialogue completeVery good news from Lazarus: dialogue is now complete and now all that's left before release is the integration of NPC schedules and quests into the world.
Various project updatesI have continued adding the old information pages to Dino's Ultima Page, and the Ultima 4 info page is now available.
Finally something interesting from UltimaDot - an interview with Richard Garriott was spotted at The Space Review, and it is about his involvement with Space Adventures.
At Ultima 5 for Morrowind, the latest version of Littoral (1.3.1) has been released. It's much faster than the previous version, with the exception of object generation. This latest version also includes some fixes and one new option.
In its latest update, the Ultima 6 Project announces that it needs to recruit some people "with Siege Editor skillz".
Recently La Legende d' Ultima was updated to take account of the latest remake updates. Yesterday, however, a different update was posted - stating that an English version of La Legende d' Ultima is now available and the site also has a new forum. Not everything has been translated to English yet, and the forum doesn't seem to be working for me, but these couple of additions are great nonetheless!
Updates to the Titans of Ether website include the new Fiction section (on the left) which has an Ultima Timeline; an update to the whole right column of the website (with the addition of the Titans' projects, and updates to the 'Other Ultima Projects' and 'Ultima Links'); and the news till July 2005 has been archived. In his newspost, Corv also speaks of current development of the project.
Return of the U6 ProjectAfter over a year of inactivity (the site being inactive, not the team), The Ultima 6 Project returns with a brand new website. There is no new content and no real news yet, but the news page promises some 'exciting announcements' soon.
Check out the new poll at Ultima VIII - Exile; Corvwyn would like to know which game people consider to be the best Ultima.
The Titans of Ether celebrate the first anniversary of their forum, and bid welcome to five new team members (one of which is Sage, former leader of Enilno).
If any of you are curious to know what the Exult website looked like in its early days, head over to the Exult forum where Andrea B. Previtera (and Blackbird) posted a couple of links to archived versions of the Exult site.
OK, so here are a few updates concerning Dino's Ultima Page:
Pentagram, web directorySome news from Pentagram:
"This week's bugfixes include a plot-stopping rendering bug that prevented you from reading a book Mythran gives you. Also, monster pathfinding has been changed significantly (hopefully improving it), a problem with teleporting has been solved, and training with Darion has been fixed."
Finally, I've updated my Ultima Web Directory. To be more specific, the Remakes page has been updated to reflect the current situation of remakes (especially Enilno) and Gargish Dragon's Ultima Page has been added to the Specific Info sites.
Comic, fanfiction and remake newsDamien Barban, the graphics artist you might remember from his portrait art for Ultima VIII - Exile and his Ultima 7 comic, has received a good response for said comic and has released the next 15 comic strips at his website, Fantasiart. For those of you who haven't yet read the comic before, there are now 33 comic strips to read.
The update to Damien's comic has been mentioned at the Dragon Press too, where the last chapters of "The Journalist and the Sea" were uploaded just a few days ago.
Meanwhile Johnny Wood from Ultima 4 Multiplayer has officially closed alpha testing and is having a break. The next step is beta testing, which is hoped to take place in a few months' time.
The Lazarus forums were having some trouble (as you can see from the last two newsposts) but are now back and working again.
Corv, leader of the Titans of Ether, has released a couple of screenshots of Castle British along with a tune called "Britain". The team roster has also been updated.
And for those who are bothered by the long silence at Ultima VIII - Exile, Corvwyn posted a little article offering some explanations.
Pentagram, Enilno, U6O and U5 for MorrowindIn their now-monthly progress report, the Pentagram team has reported, apart from some usual bugfixes, progress with the video options, audio options and game selection menus.
A new client update for Ultima 6 Online was released earlier this week. New things include the ability to buy your own house, the ability to play musical quartets, new portraits, weapon and spell improvements, and more!
To add to Withstand the Fury Dragon's last post here, about Ultima 5 for Morrowind and, in particular, Littoral, Kevin Fishburne has updated the documentation for Littoral 1.3.
In a recent update, Aiera mentioned the Ashes project's need for a portrait artist. Since then, there have been lots of updates, which include updated dev diaries and new screenshots among other things.
Also, there's rather major news coming from Aiera - it seems that the Enilno team has disbanded and Sage, the leader, joined the Titans of Ether, who will eventually be doing his remake of Ultima 2 in addition to Ultima 9 and 10. A brief note about this was posted recently on the Enilno website.
Littoral ReleasedKevin Fishburne has released for download his Littoral terrain-generation program. This program uses a series of bitmap files to rapidly generate high-detail terrain for Morrowind.
Titans of Ether hiring; U4 Multiplayer UpdatesDino is away on vacation, so I'll be handling the news posts for a day few days until he gets back. Already, there are a couple updates worth mention:
Also, Fengul contacted Aiera recently with his configuration for DOSBOX, which he says runs Ultima Underworld 2 very well on his machine. Withstand the Fury Dragon has opened up a forum thread for additional configurations for the time being.
Aiera, La Legende and ExultOn Aiera's Serpent Isle page you'll find the newly-added "Serpent Isle Fixes" by Marzo Sette Torres Jr, allowing, among other things, to cure Cantra.
The Exult website has seen its first update since last August; the update is about new things that are now supported in Exult.
Like Exult, La Legende d' Ultima has seen its first update since last year. The update brings links on La Legende up to date and speaks of "Mondain's Legacy", the latest Ultima Online expansion.
U4 Multiplayer and Lazarus nearing completionThere have been a couple of updates to Ultima 4 Multiplayer in the past few weeks. The latest reports that the Stygian Abyss maps have been completed and the game is almost fully finishable. A new poll has also been put on the website.
Good news also comes from team Lazarus, which has filled its need for dialogue writers and is scheduled to complete its dialogue by the end of July - after which final testing can be done and the game can be released.
A progress report from Pentagram states that effects for magic weapons (such as Flame Sting) and more types of monster treasure have been implemented. A little bug where text and container windows appeared partially out of the screen has also been fixed.
The latest dragon on the roster is... well, I'm afraid I won't be mentioning additions to the UDIC roster any more. Seems you now have to log on to stay checking the roster, which is more trouble than I'm willing to take, and which also means I can't post direct links to the roster any more. I don't think anyone ever really bothered to check the latest dragons on the roster, and quite frankly, I don't know why I did. Perhaps it was interesting to see some of the latest dragons actually being project leaders, a couple of years ago, but that doesn't really happen any more. So there, no more dragon announcements here.
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera noticed a topic in the Exult forum where Crystal_Elf is posting new, remade graphics for both Ultima 7s.
NCSoft's Tabula Rasa pageHoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon (aka Wwwwolf) informed me about some interesting info about Richard Garriott that surfaced upon the web recently:
Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon: "At E3, NCSoft opened new web pages for their upcoming games, including Tabula Rasa - http://www.playtr.com/. Personally, I found Richard Garriott's ramblings on the "Team Bios" page very interesting =)"
Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera has added two Morrowind projects to the website. The Ultima 9 Freedom mod was added to the site, and WtFD is working to get a copy of Morrowind: Underworld.
It seems that team Lazarus got the dialogue writers it needed and is now progressing steadily. Tiberius will post a release date as soon as he knows there will be no more delays.
Only a couple of dragons have joined UDIC in the past month - Barney-Rubble Dragon and Ducky Dragon.
Pentagram newsThe Pentagram team has broken its tradition of posting news on days ending in the same number as the year (5 in the present case) and brought us some news today. If you've been following the news on Dino's Ultima Page, you'll already know that the intro and name prompt have been implemented. What's new is that items are now placed randomly in containers (not in the top-left corner), and quite a few bugs have been fixed.
News from Ultima Classics Revisited through Aiera: version 0.1.2 beta has been released. This completes the 'outworld' and towns, and leaves only dungeons, space and the final confrontation with Mondain to be done.
The latest member on the dragon roster has quite an interesting name - Lord England. Quite a clever parody of Lord British, I think!
U6O updateA new update of Ultima 6 Online is available. The Orb of the Moons, sleep and mass protect spells, traps and spikes, and Serpent's Hold NPC dialogues have all been added. There are also some improvements in the healing/resurrection cost system, pathfinding, and some other stuff.
Redemption update; Lazarus delayedThe Titans of Ether site, newly updated, has some new screenshots of the Deep Forest, Cove, the Cape of Heroes and horses; as well as six new tunes, all of which you can find at the media section. Furthermore, the team page was updated, to reflect people who joined and others who dropped out.
A Links section was added to the Ultima 5 for Morrowind website since the last update.
Because of the dialogue department lagging behind, the release date for Lazarus had to be pushed back, and openings for dialogue writers were offered. A more recent update thanks those who applied to write dialogue for Lazarus, yet further applicants would certainly help.
Pentagram; Exult patchAn update to the Pentagram website speaks of newly added audio, including in the intro and endgame. The process in the beginning that shows the intro and asks for the player's name has also been implemented. Combat has been improved so that the Avatar reacts properly when hit.
Aiera recently mentioned an update to Ultima 5 for Morrowind, where new screenshots and a list of development tools were added. The site has since been updated again, with an explanation and graphical examples of the final phase of Littoral added to the Landscape section.
A new Exult patch has been released, as Alun Bestor, author of the patch, posted in a topic at the Exult forum. The patch adds new quests and increased interactivity ("Milk cows! Churn butter! Grind wheat! And more!") so it will add some new fun to the good old Ultima 7 game.
Lazarus progressThere is finally something new at the Lazarus website. The progress bars have been updated - the game is overall 89% ready with most things more or less finished except dialogue and node production which are lagging behind a little.
Two more dragons joined UDIC recently - they are Yarso Dragon and Haasenfuss Dragon, according to the grand roster.
Minor project updatesUltimaDot posted news of an update to the Enilno FAQ. The update includes information about system specifications required to run the game.
Aiera shows updates from another two projects, namely EUO (Aiera's post is about EUO soon becoming account-based, but since then another update was posted and EUO is now completely account-based) and Ultima Classics Revisited (which has released version 0.1.1, mostly comprising new Ultima 1 features and fixes).
Agape changing handsNews from Ultima: The Reconstruction speaks of the Ultima 7 "Agape" project having died and been adopted by Major Error. There has not been any update to the Agape website yet, but there are some links to screenshots in the newspost at The Reconstruction.
Also, Withstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera wonders what makes Dransik so popular, as is shown from his download statistics. I am just as curious, and seeing how nobody commented yet, please do share your opinion about Dransik at the relevant topic if you play it.
Interestingly enough, no Ultima website posted any April fools yesterday.
U6O and UIV MultiplayerThe Reconstruction's old news archives are back online.
The alpha testing contest at Ultima IV Multiplayer has ended and the answers (which are quite an interesting read) have been posted.
Ultima 6 Online has been updated; changes include custom keyboard controls, mouse movement, powder kegs, the quest being finishable, and more!
Remake and Web Directory UpdatesAs far as my Ultima Web Directory is concerned, the page for Specific Info Sites was getting a little long, so I moved some sites into a new page for Written Info Sites. Eventually I might categorise all the Specific Info Sites. I also did some maintenance, fixing some broken links and updating the description of Ultima: The Reconstruction.
Sound has been added to Pentagram, and while some sounds are still missing, they will be added in the near future. Credits and Quotes are also now available.
The latest two dragons on the roster are Trivia Dragon and Sightless Dragon.
The alpha testing competition for Ultima IV Multiplayer ends tonight, and Johnny Wood added a couple of really easy questions to encourage participation.
News I read off Aiera: in a topic at the Exult forum, Andrea B Previtera posted some screenshots of his 3D engine, Ashes, which uses some Ultima 7 graphics.
My Guestbook is back in case you want to drop any comments!
Update on U6 ForumI'm afraid I overlooked an update on Aiera last time. Well, the thing is that there is a new Ultima 8 Viewer around, a program allowing you to see the graphics from the game data files. This is the fourth of its kind... the Pentagram Map and Shapes Viewer by the Pentagram team, the U8GFX program by Mad Hatter and the shapes viewer incorporated in the current Pentagram have preceded this new program.
Meanwhile alpha testers are being accepted at Ultima IV Multiplayer if they can answer a few questions about Ultima IV. There first were just 5 questions, but they are so difficult that they eventually became 8 and then 10, with 5 correct answers required. The contest is still on.
Some people have been wondering what happened to the Ultima 6 Project forum. Frilly Wumpus answered that question in a topic at my forum; it seems the Ultima 6 Project set up a new forum at Siege The Day.
I'm glad to inform Mac users that Nuvie binaries for Mac OS X v. 10.3.x (it is untested on earlier versions but may work) are being made available for download from the Nuvie downloads page. Before, only Windows binaries were available.
And finally, if you like staying current with projects on Aiera, you will be pleased to know that new projects have been added to the site, some have been removed and downloads have been updated.
Reconstruction Rises; Pentagram MinimapSurely the most important news since the last update here is the return of Voyager Dragon and the updating of his site, Ultima: The Reconstruction, that was collecting dust in the past 2 years but is now back in good shape. The Reconstruction was probably the most important site for remakes, as it was probably the first one to list them all and host their downloads. It was also the inspiration for Aiera, which now runs parallel to The Reconstruction.
Meanwhile Voyager Dragon has been catching up with the latest projects and updating links. There is also something that is new to me - news from Gradilla Dragon's Neat Ultima 5 (see 18th March 2005). In fact Gradilla says that "nu5 will use a client-server architecture", and work has begun on the library needed for such communication. Other news at The Reconstruction I haven't heard of before is the porting of the first trilogy of Ultimas to PalmOS.
The Dragon Press has also seen an update lately: a fanfiction by Wayfarer Dragon called "Ultima 0: Origins" (about Zog) has been added and a link to Damien Barban's Ultima 7 comics has been posted.
The latest dragon on the roster is now LowKee Dragon.
More interesting news is the implementation of a minimap in Pentagram. It was just an experimental feature but has become so popular that people have been asking for something similar in Exult. From what I've seen, only two screenshots exist so far - one is at the Pentagram screenshots page and the other is at Ultima: The Reconstruction. The Reconstruction also explains how to enable the feature and gives a little description of it.
And now for a number of updates courtesy of Aiera:
New U4 remakeIn a topic in my forum, Infinitron Dragon pointed out the existence of a little-known Ultima 4 remake for Neverwinter Nights called Ultima IV Reborn. I have added an entry for it in my Web Directory.
Scaling has been added to Pentagram, allowing the game to be run in the original 320*200 resolution, and solving some problems.
Aiera, in the 20th February update, mentioned the new EUO Wiki documentation.
Ultima 7 comicOK, so first of all, many of you have probably noticed that I no longer post almost-daily updates to Dino's Ultima Page. It's obviously because my free time is very little, and just when I thought I couldn't get busier, next week I'm starting an evening course. Well, I'm hoping to rebuild my Control Panel and hand the control of news to trusted Dragons as soon as I find a spare minute. This does not mean I am giving up on taking care of my site, but I'm going to need help keeping it up to date for the time being. Until then, I recommend you check Aiera for quicker Ultima news. It is a very good site by Withstand the Fury Dragon that I have had a small part in creating, and the news there isn't much different from what you find here. Although Aiera specialises almost exclusively on remakes, there isn't much other Ultima news lately, so you won't miss anything by following Aiera.
So yesterday I got an email from an old Ultima friend, Damien Barban, who had given us a hand with portraits in Ultima VIII - Exile. He told me about a new comic of his, narrating the story of Ultima 7. It's brilliant, and you can read it in either English or French. I'm going to add it to my Web Directory as soon as I finish doing this update.
The Titans of Ether has posted a news update with some new stuff - new team members have been recruited, and there is new media including the first character screenshot.
Here is more news from Aiera:
Aiera also wrote about a Nazghul release (version 0.3.3) back in October. Well, It's been updated again, because version 0.4.0 was released a few days ago.
3 new dragons3 new dragons have been added to the roster. The latest one is Lydian Dragon.
Wolf Dreamer's site backI have begun resurrecting the dead sites I have recovered. Today I've added Wolf Dreamer's website to the graveyard of my Ultima Web Directory.
A progress report has been posted to the Nuvie website. There have been some bugfixes, new things you can use, and there is also a note about current and future work. Combat is being worked on, and a scriptable magic system is being planned. We are also told that an official release may be released with the next update.
At the Dragon Press, BlueClaw's "The Journalist and the Sea" has been updated with chapter 7.
Pentagram updates; websites recoveredThe Pentagram team has not been idle and has come up with some interesting progress:
"The avatar will look around when idle, NPCs play their talk animation while talking, some previously broken spellcasting animations now work properly, double-right-clicking the avatar will toggle combat mode and NPC schedules are properly set every hour."
I am very happy to report that the files I thought lost (see yesterday's news) have been recovered (except my bookmarks). Some dead sites will soon see the light of day again!
Scroll bug fixed; surviving info lostI have some bad news. Very bad news, to me. On 3rd January of this year I mentioned how I had some backups of websites that were lost to the web. Well, I actually lost those backups. Another thing I lost was all my Mozilla bookmarks, where I had lots of bookmarks, especially of important Ultima info locations I would have used for Dino's Ultima Page. Well, this is a pity. It means I can't resurrect the sites I was planning to get back on the web.
On a slightly better note, I have finally fixed the bug that displaced text in the Ultima 8 scrolls (U8 Writings page) in Internet Explorer 6. I now have Internet Explorer 6, so I am unable to make sure it works in Internet Explorer 5.0 and 5.5 - whoever has these versions please check out the scrolls and tell me whether they look ok or not.
Here are some updates from the remake scene, straight from Aiera:
Large Redemption updateWithstand the Fury Dragon at Aiera had his eyes open lately (unlike me) and found a topic in the Exult forum about a WIKI for Exult that has just been set up. This is a documentation project with guides for players and developers alike; as well as Usecode documentation and information about the much-sought Exult 3D.
The Titans of Ether homepage is filled with progress news. Companions ride horses with you; flora has a new animation; a more detailed fletching system than ever is now in the game; you can read the latest dev diary entry for details. There are also new team members. The Redemption competition is over, and the winner will be announced very soon at the forum.
BackI'm currently recovering from hardware problems, hence the lack of updates recently. Contrary to Dino's Ultima Page, the Ultima community has seen lots of updates lately. Here are the updates I've found with a quick look at some sites:
Other updates are from Aiera:
Remains of dead projects foundWhile backing up the Ultima files on my hard disk, I came across lots of saved webpages of websites that no longer exist. These include websites such as Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn, Houston Dragon's Ultima Page, Wolf Dreamer's website, Hannibal's (U9) Saved Game Archive, Destination Games, Fans for Ultima and some others. Eventually, some of them will be added to the Ultima Web Directory. Some will not, such as Houston Dragon's Ultima Page and Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn, unless I get proper permission to resurrect these sites. For now, I have updated the Remakes page in the Ultima Web Directory, adding an entry for The Complete Ultima 7 (which died long ago) and adding some surviving screenshots from Ultima 5 for NWN.
In the last update here, I overlooked the exact Lazarus release date that was announced on the website. Kobra Kai notified me about it. Lazarus is due to be released on 18th May 2005.
The Titans of Ether have released two screenshots of New Magincia. They also draw our attention to a new poll (whether they should go on working or treat us to a video of New Magincia) and an updated dev diary in their forums.
Here is an update from Aiera: George Stephan from Ultima IV: Virtue of Humility has announced a new project: Orion II.
Lazarus release dateGood news from Lazarus... Tiberius has posted the following in a topic at the Lazarus forum when asked for the release date. This time, the answer wasn't the typical "when it's done".
I expect Lazarus to be fully completed within a few short months, and officially released in "gold master" at E3 2005 in late May. It's possible that we'll suffer unavoidable delays, given the nature of the project (welcome to the land of spare time and no budget), but we've been on track for a while now and I really think we're going to make it.
Merry ChristmasTibby at Lazarus actually bothered to post a Merry Christmas greeting on the Lazarus website. So far, it seems that this is the only Ultima website that posted such a notice.
Well, Dino's Ultima Page will be the second site to do that, then. All of you, have a nice Christmas and a great new year. As a Christmas present, I've added a couple of 'Christmas cards' about Ultima... send them to an Ultima friend or something. They now occupy a page of their own in the General Info section.
Good and bad news before ChristmasI'm sorry to say it's been quite a while since there was any interesting news on UltimaDot. But this time they've got it - they have posted a link to an article called "Ultima Online R.I.P.". While this article in no way implies that Ultima Online will end up anything like Ultima X did, it does show that EA's obstinacy in some areas is leading to a heavy loss of customers for Ultima Online.
If anyone's interested, a mint-condition copy of Akalabeth and Ultima 1 for the Apple II has just been placed on eBay. It is extremely rare, and bids are already sky-high.
Three dragons were recently added to the roster. These are Soulkingrex Dragon, Stormness Dragon and Pleomorphic Dragon.
Lazarus has updated its picture of the week since around a month ago, and also updated the progress page (which reads that the game is overall 81% done).
Quite a few updates are promised with the next client release of Ultima 6 Online. These include, among other things, sacred quests and a walkthrough for new players.
The Titans of Ether have been nice and gave us an early Christmas present, consisting of a couple of screenshots and a new tune ("Wanderer2"). You can find them all in the media section.
The Enilno team also hasn't forgotten the Christmas period. Wishing us all a happy 2005, they have opened some positions on the team, and will be posting a new chapter of their story introduction.
Aiera brings news from not-so-popular Ultima projects. IRE, the "IT-HE RPG Engine" by DOUG the Eagle Dragon, was updated to version 0.92 a few months ago. Also, EUO is now in its 1.008 version.
Finally, I bring bad news which those Ultima webmasters out there with PHP-powered websites had better take notice of. Yesterday, the Wayward Avatar fell victim to a worm that 'defaced' the site. The Wayward is now alright, but Infinity Eternal just fell victim to it as well. You can read more about it in a topic at the Wayward Avatar. From there I gathered that over 40,000 sites fell victim to this worm, which is using Google to locate new victims.
Oh, and also... if I don't post another update tomorrow, then Merry Christmas. Father Nystul Christmas and The Guardian both wish you a happy Christmas along with a wonderful new year.
U8 Guide continuedA few updates to the Ultima 8 Guide:
Since the last update, the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter has welcomed another Dragon - Soulkingrex Dragon.
If you want to hear about The Samurai Empire, the latest Ultima Online expansion, head over to UltimaDot. It has linked to a couple of reviews.
Aiera brings news that a beta version of Ultima Classics Revisited (also available for Windows) has just been released. Although it's become a beta from an alpha, changes to the games are minimal as the changes have almost all been code-related.
General Ultima OpinionsI've just added a new page to the General Info section. It is similar to the U8 Opinions page, but it is actually a General Opinions page for opinions about the whole Ultima series, and which games are favourites. Please go ahead and give your input! Note that I've also added a few more surviving Ultima 4: The Dawn of Virtue interviews to the Remakes page in the Web Directory.
The Titans of Ether have just released a PDF story for your reading pleasure. There is also a Gamestar article complete with translation in their forum.
xu4 1.0 beta1The Titans of Ether have completed a new master file. For those of you (like me) who don't know what this is, there is an explanation in their forum. We have also been promised some screenshots before Christmas.
Also, I gathered from Aiera that xu4 is on the way to releasing its 1.0 version. A first beta for this long-awaited version has already been released.
RG Q&AEdbgon has just informed me about a recent Q&A with Richard Garriott. Thanks to him, you can read, among other things, about Richard Garriott's tastes regarding his house's rooms and his near-death experiences.
Infinity Eternal using Oblivion: confirmedIn the past week, not one but two client updates were released for Ultima 6 Online. The one released on 22nd November is required, but the more recent one (released just yesterday) is optional.
There is another progress report from Pentagram with quite a few new features: the gradual gaining of health and mana points, the ability to cast Grant Peace, the implementation of Avatar-seeking fireballs at the Zealan Shrine and some combat improvements.
Three dragons have recently been added to the list, with some interesting names - Resigned Dragon, Hungarian Horntail Dragon and Mercadian Dragon.
Meanwhile Thepal at Infinity Eternal has posted a confirmation that his project will be using the Oblivion engine. Until the engine is released, he will be working on designing the world.
Multiplayer-U4 finds hostUltima 4 Multiplayer has found someone willing to host the server. Things will be set up for public testing over the next couple of weeks. Time has not been wasted while waiting to find a host, as death and resurrection have been implemented, and transports have been improved.
While there hasn't been any official news from Nuvie lately, there has been some other news concerning it in the forum. At one particular topic, it is noted that the Nuvie documentation has been updated with advanced configuration settings, and Pieter Luteijn has been working on implementing magic (you can follow his progress at his own webspace).
And finally, a short progress report from Pentagram. There were many bugfixes; missiles now use proper collision detection; and combat is always drawing nearer to implementation.
EA to be suedA GameSpot article pointed out by Edbgon mentions that many EA employees are overworked and not paid proper overtime. Looks like EA may be in trouble!
Trauts Dragon is now the latest on the roster.
Exile screenshotsCheck out Ultima VIII - Exile, where four new screenshots of various places have just been released.
Contacting me; UO Samurai EmpireA note to anyone using the Contact page to contact me - don't use the email form; contact me using one of the emails listed on the Contact page. The email form doesn't seem to be working so you'll just have to do without it until I can get it fixed. If you sent me email using the form, I apologise; kindly send it again.
The latest news on both La Legende d' Ultima and UltimaDot concerns the recent release of the new official Ultima Online expansion: Samurai Empire.
News from Aiera: another project by Withstand the Fury Dragon, this one called Human Ascendence, has just been launched.
Pentagram's Avatar dyingThere isn't much news from Pentagram, but they did report that bugs with the Avatar dying have been fixed.
U6O New ClientI've made some minor changes to my Web Directory, namely updating some links in the Remakes page and adding "Ultima Thule!" to the General Info page.
As of today there is a new version of Ultima 6 Online which may fix some connection problems.
Finally some news from UltimaDot:
UGCK demoThe Underworld Game Creation Kit, that was just a free-time work-in-progress of Telemachos's, has now become more than a host of screenshots posted at a forum. It now has its own website, forum and demo!
A new client download for Ultima 6 Online is available. There are some fixes and some additions for new players.
Thepal at Infinity Eternal has clarified what he said about moving to Oblivion. This should not take too much longer than it would with the current engine.
Apart from releasing a screenshot of the Cape of Heroes, the Titans of Ether have announced a competition where you can have your quest included in the game. Submissions must be sent by the end of the year.
Pentagram is now set to play the introductory sequence with Devon, though it can be disabled as described on the website. Some issues with collision detection have also been fixed.
From Aiera I gather that a Windows port of Ultima Classics Revisited is now available. Also, you should visit their website at the new host, as the old address will apparently no longer be used.
Forum and XML NewsI forgot to mention two things yesterday. First, the forum is back. Secondly, you can view the news in XML format. It will take time to load though because it's over 400KB. This XML version of the news is actually not an alternate version of the news, but is the raw news format I use. The main page converts the XML to normal XHTML so that it can be used in the page.
The latest Lost Sosaria module has been put up for download. The site itself has also been updated as there is a new character description and two new screenshots.
Back to shiftedphaseI have finally moved back to shiftedphase and you can find the site at this address: http://dino.shiftedphase.com/ultima/. The site is still being rebuilt in the new design so bear with me until I can get everything back up. Please update your bookmarks. Dino's Ultima Page will not remain on timeimmortal.net forever and from now on will only be updated on shiftedphase.
With my return to shiftedphase, so has the Ultima VIII - Exile website returned with a subdomain on shiftedphase and a totally new look.
Unfortunately there was nothing we could do on both sites to save the old forum topics. I have a very early backup of about 25 topics of the Dino's Ultima Page forum but the bulk of the topics has been lost.
News from Infinity Eternal: a change of engine is being considered, in favour of the Elder Scrolls - Oblivion engine. This would cause a year of waiting for the engine to come out but would bring more advantages.
Two new dragons have joined the club, the latest being Itzchy Dragon.
No one has volunteered to host the server for Ultima IV Multiplayer so far. Game improvements will continue to be worked on since alpha testing is thus not yet possible.
UCR updateAnother dragon has joined UDIC, and is the latest on the roster - Carvalio Dragon.
The good news all comes from Aiera today:
Did I say the good news all comes from Aiera? Well, I was about to forget to mention that I'm preparing to move back to shiftedphase. The domain is back, and I'm settling some things before moving back there (especially the forum which is giving me lots of trouble to re-adapt). The address will be almost the same as before, though with a small change... I'll let you know everything in due time.
Remake updatesThere has been an update to Underworld Adventures after a long period of slumber, about which I had read last time on Aiera but forgot to mention here. The developer log has been updated and also has an RSS feed now. Some screenshots of their debugger have also been added.
The links on the Enilno site have been updated; a couple have been added and some dead ones were removed.
Another fiction has just been added to the Infinity Eternal website.
Two dragons have been added to the roster, the latest being Drakesteele Dragon.
The Pentagram website reports that a TrueType font can be used for conversations, and that saving and loading from the diary menu is working right (apart from some other fixes and improvements).
SI-French New WebsiteArtaxerxes reported in the Exult forum that the SI-French website is now hosted on Sourceforge.
There's a little progress report at the Titans of Ether site that reports some worldbuilding progress.
Misc Remake UpdatesAt the Lazarus site you can find re-recordings of the Resistance and Oppression themes: that's two new music samples remade from old ones.
There has been a "huge update"
at Infinity Eternal: one word in the fiction has been changed.
The Titans of Ether team is living up to its promise to keep us aware of what goes on in its production. The team is concentrating on worldbuilding, 3D design and scripting features. A couple of new team members have also joined the team.
Exult 3DThe newsbit of the moment is surely the sudden appearance of an Exult 3D, of which many screenshots have been posted on the Exult forum. This effort by Sam Matthews is just like the actual Exult, using the original graphics and all, but adjusted into a nice 3D view.
Someone asked nicely on the Lazarus forum and two new music samples have been released on the Lazarus website.
If you're interested in Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal, you might like to have a look at the new fiction that has just been put up.
For those of you who have had trouble running Nuvie while it was undocumented, there is now some basic documentation that can help you get the game running and that can give you some background information about the changes from the original in Nuvie.
Remake updatesMy web directory has been updated, not with new entries but with changes and additions to existing ones. In the remakes page, I've updated the Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue entry to reflect its cancellation, and added some surviving information for Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue, Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn and Eriadain.
The Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue forum will be deleted in two days' time, on the 4th of October. If there's anything you want to save from there, be quick about it.
The Titans of Ether have attempted to contact EA about getting permission for their remakes, but got the same answer as everyone else ("no"). They have thus removed EA-related material to follow EA's request but will continue with their projects.
The homepage of Ultima 6 Online has seen a redesign, as well as an update. The gypsy character creation has been added, as well as the possibility of having up to 8 party members. New NPCs have also been added.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated with the latest important news since the last update, particularly featuring the shutdown of The Dawn of Virtue and the rise of Titans of Ether and Infinity Eternal.
UltimaDot have news of a live publish schedule update for Ultima Online.
Dawn of Virtue cancelledI only noticed from Aiera that Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue has been cancelled. The reason for this is that EA (as with all projects) refused to grant permission for the remake. A farewell notice has been posted where the site once was.
My web directory will have to wait to be updated about this. I am too busy at present to make any changes to the site other than these little news postings.
More hopeful news is an update from Nuvie. New features keep on being implemented, and the latest progress report mentions many of these. FM-Towns audio support, using of some complex objects, resurrection, inn-sleeping, save descriptions and more - these are the latest features you can find in Nuvie.
Remake mediaNews from Aiera:
In more recent news, icons have been added to Agape for better handling of frames.
In other news, the latest dragon on the roster is now Time Guard Dragon.
WebDir updated againI have added three new sites to the general info page and four to the specific info page of the Ultima Web Directory. Latest additions are listed at the end.
On another note, I start school tomorrow, so updates may slow down a little. Still, I'll do my best to keep the site up to date.
PME 1.03 releasedFor those who still use the old Pentagram Map and Shapes Viewer, I have released the Pentagram Map Executer version 1.03. You can get it from my U8 Utilities page, although you won't see any changes to the page - the changes are within the zip file.
Titans of Ether: new siteThe new site for the "Titans of Ether" team, which are creating both Ultima 9: Redemption and Ultima X: The New King was launched yesterday. The new site has a structure much like the Redemption site used to have, but with a chilly feel. All the site has been made compatible with both projects.
Ultima Classics RevisitedI learned from Aiera that there's another Ultima project out there called Ultima Classics Revisited. This is a project to remake all Ultimas from Akalabeth to Ultima 6 - that's seven games in all. Currently there is no support for Windows systems, but that may very well change sooner or later, as the project is an SDL project (like Exult), and SDL is cross-platform.
Once again, my web directory has been updated, with a larger update than yesterday. It is slowly nearing completion:
Avocet is backPeter informed me that Avocet Dragon's Journey to Sosaria actually still exists at a different web address. Hence my Web Directory has been changed to reflect this.
Apart from this, the following additons were made to the web directory (I told you it isn't complete yet):
Web DirectoryA new section of Dino's Ultima Page is finally released: the Ultima Web Directory. This basically lists all the Ultima sites I know of. It's far from complete, and I have a whole list of sites I have yet to add, but the essential stuff is there.
Old info sitesI've been working on the upcoming Ultima Web Directory, which is to replace the old Links page, and have stumbled upon some news about old Ultima information sites that probably nobody checks any more. First of all, the old "Avocet Dragon's Journey to Sosaria", one of the great info sites of old, appears to have vanished from the web. Secondly - and this comes almost seven months late, but nobody else has mentioned it yet - the Moongates Ultima 4 Annex has been updated last February after three years to give mention to xu4.
News from Aiera, apart from announcing the new "Agape" Ultima 7 remake, brings relieving news from Lost Sosaria: the missing areas have already been recovered.
Speaking of the Ultima Web Directory, I'm glad to say it's almost finished. I'm hoping to release it this week, but if I don't, it will have to wait a little while longer, as I start school next week and will no doubt be very busy.
U7: Agape for NWNThe website of a new project called Agape - a remake of Ultima 7 for Neverwinter Nights - has gone live. The authors of this remake are the same ones who released a demo of Pagan last month, and who abandoned remaking Ultima 8 when they discovered the existence of Exile.
New King and Redemption MergeThe big news promised at the Redemption forum has been announced. The news is that the teams from Ultima - The New King and Ultima IX: Redemption have merged into a new team called Titans of Ether. Therefore both projects will be hosted at the old Ultima - The New King website and the forums for both projects are also at the same location; and Corv will lead the newly-formed team.
Ultima - The New King will be a sequel not to Ascension, but to Redemption. Thus the team will work on finishing Redemption first, although a lot of The New King will be ready once Redemption finishes, since many things such as lancscape, scripts, etc. are shared by both games.
This fusion, as was its purpose, brought back motivation to the Redemption team even when it was on the brink of failing. Many inactive team members have become active again, and Xodus who left a few days ago has returned.
On another note, there's news from Aiera - the site has been redesigned a little, and reports bad news from Lost Sosaria, which lost some of its maps due to a motherboard error.
Infinity Eternal ScreenshotsNew screenshots of Serpent Isle in Infinity Eternal have been released - see them at the media page.
The dragon roster has become populated with another three dragons, the latest being Mediocre Dragon.
Good news from remakesSome screenshots of Skara Brae were requested in the Lazarus forum. Tiberius kindly contented us and there are four new screenshots to see.
Enilno is now two years old. Sage has posted some commentary about what happened this last year. The story introduction has also been continued, and you can now read chapter 2.
Aiera reports that Nazghul and Ultima 4 Multiplayer have been added to the site.
U4 Multiplayer going alphaLooks like Ultima 4 Multiplayer will be entering alpha testing soon. The latest news says that the big work is ready, and all that's left is tweaking. Before alpha testing can begin, a volunteer is needed to host the server.
Two much-requested Redemption screenshots have been released, along with news that a team member resigned.
More site buildingI have now restored the General Information section and the Ultima 8 Guide. The General Info section has been revamped and been split up into a number of pages. The Ultima 8 Guide has progressed a little with a new page in the Walkthrough and a nice new interface for the writings section. A known bug is that scrolls may look a little out of place in Internet Explorer 6, but I'm trying to fix that.
The devblog at Nazghul, as usual, is being updated very regularly. The latest entries are about improvements with trolls.
Ultima - The New King writes an update to mention that a new scriptor has joined the team.
Rebuilding the siteThis will be the home of Dino's Ultima Page for a few weeks, so I am slowly rebuilding the whole site in this new design (most of it is already done but needs a bit of adapting). You can now access the "About Site" page, the Credits page, the Contact page and the Mount Drash Guide. All these pages are completely up to date now, with the exception of a few broken links which are inevitable due to the forced move to this server. One thing of note is the new FAQ - it's totally different from the one there used to be in the early days of Dino's Ultima Page, and answers some of those questions which I regularly find in my inbox or my forum.
Fawn screenshots from Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal have been released (9 screenshots). They have not yet been added to the Media page but are hanging in that directory.
Moriendor at UltimaDot has been posting news about Ultima Online client patches and strategy guides. If you're interested, check out the Ultima Online update centre.
Remake updatesUltima - The New King now has a feature list, to give a better picture of what the module will contain (as well as to accomodate public requests).
There have been many updates to Ultima IV Multiplayer as of late; most are about interaction as well as the implementation of dungeons.
Spanish beta 2 of U7 translationThe second beta of the Spanish translation of Ultima 7 has been released at Dantoine and can be downloaded from there.
Publisher for Collector's GuideStephen Emond, otherwise known as Commander Falcon, has been working on an Ultima Collector's Guide for years now. His site now gives the good news that he's found a publisher for the guide, and it's likely to be published as three separate books.
In other news, there have been three updates to Ultima - The New King in the last five days. There are a couple of new team members, and a screenshot of a house has been released.
Pentagram bugfixesThere is news from Pentagram reporting several bugfixes, including one that occurred in the original game.
Server problems; Aiera launchHello, all. Those of you who visit Dino's Ultima Page regularly must be wondering why Dino's Ultima Page, and inevitably, both shiftedphase.com and exodusmachine.net are down. I'll satisfy your curiosity at once. ExodusMachine and ShiftedPhase, first of all, are on the same server, and Dino's Ultima Page is a subdomain on ShiftedPhase. Our host has recently taken to changing server, but some unexpected problems occurred, and the server may remain down for a while. Withstand the Fury Dragon has been kind enough to offer a temporary home for Dino's Ultima Page until things settle and the server is back.
You'll also be wondering what happened to the "Dino's Ultima Page" that you know. No navigation, different look. Let me tell you that this is only a temporary measure. Dino's Ultima Page was part of a hub of four websites back on ShiftedPhase, and was bound to them. Separating it from them takes more work than is worthwhile, so I did not transfer the entire website here. Since the news section is what visitors want most, it's what I've brought to the temporary server. As for the look of the site, this is what Dino's Ultima Page is going to look like when it will be re-released under a new design with more content. If you like it, well and good. If you don't like it, then tell me so, or you'll be stuck with it once I release the redesigned site. You can reach me on a new email: [dandago at gmail dot com]. My old shiftedphase mail is as defunct as shiftedphase itself, so you can't reach me there. If you sent any emails to my shiftedphase address, please resend them at this new address.
The most important news is the release of Withstand the Fury Dragon's "Aiera" website: a website that continues the legacy of Ultima: The Reconstruction, which is no longer maintained. Aiera provides a more up-to-date archive of the existing Ultima projects, as well as an Orphanage for abandoned projects like Eriadain.
Aiera is also providing news of the Ultima remakes, as Reconstruction once did. The latest concerns a new client update for Ultima 6 Online and new screenshots released for Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal.
Little thingsThe Dragon Press has been updated... not with new fanfiction, but with a few fixes.
Unique Dragon (what a unique name...) is now the latest dragon on the chronological roster.
Reign of the Just: site updatedFollowing the announcement of the second demo of DOUG the Eagle Dragon's "Reign of the Just", the site has finally been updated nearly two weeks ago. The site update features new screenshots and you can go ahead and download the demo (30MB).
I see that Bootstrike has also been updated; among the many non-Ultima-related updates, there is a mention that a patch for Ultima 7 in Windows XP has been added to the Ultima 7 files section.
Lazarus screenshotsSome new Lazarus screenshots have been released on the site of one of their newest team members. They show some interesting places like the crypts of Covetous, the Fens of the Dead and some headless-infested ruins among others.
Another 2 NWN RemakesAs if the recently found projects (I'm counting at least 3 this month) weren't enough, Hoki-Aamrel the Cherry-Red Dragon (also known as WWWWolf) has found another two Neverwinter Nights remakes! An in-progress Ultima 7 remake, announced recently at the official NWN forums, seems to be moving at a surprisingly fast pace, even though there is nothing released yet. Then there is an Ultima VIII - Pagan demo for Neverwinter Nights, which isn't the "Exile" remake.
As a consequence of these findings, my links page has been updated, with the following changes:
ERA ReasonsTelemachos, who leads Peroxide (which won't keep that name for long), has posted the reasons for closing down project ERA. The reasons are apparently because the team cannot maintain a site and meet expectations as yet; as well as the fact that they are still finding it hard to open a game company.
On another note, UltimaDot is pointing out news about UO publish 26.
Ultima: The New KingAlthough it's my 17th birthday today, I'm popping in to let you know that I've found a new Ultima project called Ultima: The New King. This is a very recent project; in fact it began on the 3rd of August. It aims to create a totally new Ultima in Morrowind, which could be considered Ultima X, but which actually isn't.
La Legende d' Ultima has also been updated today (it says 15th July, but it's actually August). It reports the shutdown of Eriadain.
Pentagram progressThe latest Pentagram progress report speaks of improvements in the movement system and the implementation of targeted jumping and item stacking.
Also, UltimaDot has news coming from Ultima Unreal, who have screenshots of four new models.
Eriadain fallsMoa Dragon has announced the death of Eriadain. Those who have been checking the website often could probably have guessed at this, but it's still sad to lose another remake. Those who want to play around with the original files of Eriadain will be able to do so, as they will be made available for download.
More pleasant news comes from UltimaDot, who have found that the Nazghul engine is going to be used for a complete game called Haxima.
Ultima game preservationMy Links page has been updated again. This time, I've worked on the Ultima Remake Sites, adding "Finished Games" and "Online Games" subsections. I've also added links to three more Ultima Engines.
By chance, today I came upon an article titled "Ultima game preservation". It is short, but it's a very good read, as it sums up all that Ultima is about: a unique game series, followed by a massive fan community including many who take the trouble of remaking the games.
This article also links to another article at GameSpot where Ultima 9 is judged as the "Most Disappointing Game of the Year". It pretty much sums up all that is bad about Ultima 9 (except of the statement that "it stays very true to the nature of the popular series"
). Some of you might have already read it, but I guess others (like myself) have not. It's a funny coincidence that if you click on the link to Worst Game of the Year at the bottom, you'll find that it is also by EA.
2 new projectsFirst of all, I'd like to point out that my Links page has been updated. It previously was totally obsolete and had lots of broken links. It's still not fully updated, but is much better than before.
Edbgon pointed out the existence of a SDL game called Aklabeth, which is actually a remake of Akalabeth.
Another remake project has been announced in a topic at the Exult forum. This new project is called Ultima IX - Infinity Eternal, and is being made in Morrowing by a former member of Ultima IX: Redemption. See his FAQ to find out why such a project is actually necessary, considering the existence of Redemption.
Finally, July 2004 news has been archived.
Ultima IX Original Plot: Further FindingsNatreg Dragon recently pointed out to me that three PDF-format scripts of the Ultima IX cutscenes that were made for the original "Bob White Plot" can be found at the website of Michael Morlan, who wrote, directed and animated the cutscenes.
Artaxerxes announced at the Exult forum that a new version of SI-French has been released.
The latest dragon to be added to the roster is now Symphony Dragon.
ERA to change name... againOne year and eight months after "Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn" changed name to "ERA: The Arken-Throne", it has been announced that the project will change name again. This time, though, the company name will change too, and "Peroxide" will be no more:
"A warm thanks goes to anyone who have followed this project thus far. We are still hard at work on bringing you the rpg you always wanted.
After long consideration we have decided to continue the production under a yet unannounced title and company name."
In other news, a Mac OS X binary for Exult 1.2 has been released.
DOUG the Eagle Dragon bioThose of you who have been to IT-HE Software and enjoyed the site might want to know more about its author. In that case, you're in luck, because Parcival at UltimaDot has interviewed DOUG the Eagle Dragon.
UVL Contest Winners AnnouncedThe six winners of the "Get Your Face In The Game" contest have been announced on the Lazarus website. Another twelve people, including Tailrace Dragon and Amazing Dragon (who wrote the Lost Vale fanfiction hosted here) achieved a 100% score in the trivia challenge but were not selected in the final drawing.
New Project: U4 MultiplayerA new Ultima project has recently appeared: Ultima IV Multiplayer. The project is very close to alpha testing, and although it may be some time before a download will be available, you can already read about it, view screenshots and discuss it.
The Pentagram site reports that dropping objects precisely at the mouse target has been implemented.
UltimaDot draws our attention to the Ultima Online Update Center, where an Ultima Meetup with the Ultima Online team has been organised for 2nd August.
Redemption Update; Lazarus Screenshot; Lost Sosaria CountdownRedemption has posted a major update, including a snazzy new site banner, an updated team page, and some new sea travel music!
Telemachos has continued to post lots of new screenshots [10, 11, 12, 13, 14] from his Underworld Game Creation Kit's development process over in the ERA Forums. Later on in the thread he also discusses the cross-platform nature of the project.
Claymore, over at Lazarus "accidentally" released a screenshot in the Lazarus Forum.
Lastly, over at Lost Sosaria, a countdown of sorts has begun as the project approaches its 1st year.
Dino's Page Turns Two!There may be other news from the Ultima Community today, but for now surely the foremost is that, today, July 27th, Dino's Ultima Page celebrates its Second Anniversary!
There's a new thread in the forum where you can drop off your birthday greetings!
Enlino's New Home; Latest U6O Clientl Nazghul 0.2.0Enilno, the Ultima II Remake project, has moved to a new domain. It seems their previous domain was stolen from them, which is rather unfortunate.
A new client was released for Ultima 6 Online, featuring a whole host of updates to the game's functionality.
xu4, the Ultima IV Remake, has added a FAQ section to their site.
After a goodly while, Nazghul 0.2.0 has been released, adding - among many other features - the ability to save.
Direhaggis at Redemption gave an indication in their forum about the latest developments in that project.
U6 Project Dev DiaryI was tripping around the U6 Project forums when I found this little tidbit: Frilly Wumpus' development diary for July, 2004. Sounds promising! His June 2004 posting is also quite a good read.
Underworld Game Creation KitHead over to the "Underworld fun..." topic in the Era forum to read the news of the day: six new screenshots of Telemachos' Underworld Viewer have been released, and he has announced that this once-called "Underworld Viewer" is developing into an "Underworld Game Creation Kit".
Bid welcome to Psi Phi Dragon, the latest and 15605th dragon on the roster.
Tomorrow is the third anniversary of Hacki's Ultima Page. Happy anniversary!
This will be my last news update this week. I am going abroad to central Europe (Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria) so I will be away. Withstand the Fury Dragon has kindly agreed to keep you posted with the latest Ultima news while I'm away.
Spanish Ultima 7Another interesting bit of news from Natreg: the first public beta version of the Spanish translation of Ultima 7: The Black Gate, including Forge of Virtue, has been released. You can download it from Dantoine.
UO: Samurai EmpireNatreg informs me that the new expansion pack of Ultima Online has just been announced. Entitled "Samurai Empire", this expansion pack claims a link with the mainstream Ultima series, as it is based on the Land of the Feudal Lords from Ultima 1; apparently an attempt to draw hardcore Ultima fans towards Ultima Online.
Peroxide Underworld Viewer RevampedAs UltimaDot announced, Telemachos at Peroxide recently posted a topic in the Era forum about the Underworld Viewer. Telemachos has rewritten the Underworld viewer from scratch, improving it by far in the process. While the new version is not yet available for download, some screenshots of the new viewer can be seen from the topic.
In your faceUltima V: Lazarus has set up a "Get Your Face In The Game" contest of 40 Ultima 5 trivia questions; if you get 40 on 40 correct, one of the Lazarus NPCs can have your face as its portrait.
Interesting news of progress comes from Pentagram: you can climb walls and other objects, and the death sequence of monsters (i.e. how they die, and what loot they leave) now works properly.
Enilno Sage has informed me that the Enilno forum has moved to a new location. It also appears that the Enilno site is also up on the same server.
Lots of various newsThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter just topped and exceeded 15600 dragons, having added about 15 in the last couple of days. The latest dragon on the roster is Tiamant Dragon.
The Lazarus French and German demos have been released a few days ago.
If you aren't tired of reading articles about Ultima X: Odyssey's death, and understand French, you can have a look at La Legende d' Ultima where Sergorn Dragon has written about the cancellation of Ultima X.
Updates from UltimaDot (here in brief):
Another UXO OpinionNow that I remember how this news script handles its carriage returns...
I was digging around the site where the new Lazarus Interview was posted, and I stumbled across an excellent (if slightly profane) opinion piece written about the demise of UXO and EA's motivations for it.
It pretty much reflects what a lot of us have probably been thinking, and what Dino and I have talked at length about...this is just another (albeit expensive) way to shift attention back to Ultima Online.
Opera Dragon is Back; Lazarus Interview; Time Immortal PicturesDino is still away, pending repair of his DVD drive. A few new developments, though, include:
Dino is Away; Some Web NewsDino will be away for the next couple of days, and so he's turned news posting over to me for the time being.
So let's see what's new...
Extern Dragon is now the latest dragon on the roster.
Also, it appears that the Ultima Nation is back and has been redesigned. They are hosting some of the Lazarus screenshots.
Houston Dragon's Ultima site seems to be down for updates of some sort.
Ultima IX Freedom Mod ReleasedWithstand the Fury Dragon found an interesting announcement posted recently by Michael "FIrstkniGHT" Menapace at the Wayward Avatar. FIrstkniGHT developed a mod for Ultima 9 that allows access to all cities from the beginning of the game, and released his "freedom mod" at Ultima-Ascension.de. Even though the site is in German, his post about the mod at the Wayward describes the mod in English.
Ultima engine updatesSurprisingly, the websites of the engines for Ultimas 6-8 have all been updated in these couple of days.
Nuvie, the engine for Ultima 6, speaks of changes since the last update, especially the implementation of saving, and hints at what areas of the game will be developed after saving is completely done with.
The update on the website of Exult, the Ultima 7 engine that started the whole trend of engine-making, takes a different stance as it is not a progress report but the announcement of plans for the future. The news update, in fact, warns that the coming implementations will make Exult very unstable due to the complicated changes, so people intending to finish Ultima 7 should use the official releases and not the snapshots.
Pentagram for Ultima 8 has seen the basics of combat integrated into it, as the website says. There is still a lot to do as far as combat goes, but you can at least kill people and monsters even though they won't react or have loot.
UXO Artwork, Book of Lore, Time ImmortalWithstand the Fury Dragon's Time Immortal is back and beautifully redesigned, together with Lost Sosaria.
UXO Stratics pointed out that due to UXO's cancellation, Liquid Development, who played a large role in the development of artwork for the game, has released two demo reels alongside the UXO artwork it already had on its website. There is a Character Animation Demo Reel and a World Building Demo Reel.
There is also a new forum on UXO Stratics called "Ultima - The Book of Lore". This is supposed to be a new Ultima encyclopaedia, i.e. information is being collected in this forum.
Moriendor at UltimaDot pointed out a new UO Client Patch that has been released.
Another client update for Ultima 6 Online has been released. This includes updates related to combat, dialogue, spells, sound and stability.
Ultima X cancelledNo, you aren't going to believe it. I didn't either when Withstand the Fury Dragon informed me, so I checked the official Ultima X website, and it redirected me to this press release:
June 30, 2004
Dear Ultima X: Odyssey community members,
As of today, development on Ultima X: Odyssey has ended. We feel that Ultima Online is where we need to focus our online efforts and most of my team will be moving to the UO expansion pack, the UO live team, and an unannounced Ultima Online project. Development on UO will be greatly enhanced as we consolidate our resources behind that franchise.
This isn't an easy decision but it's the right move for the future of all things Ultima, including the community and the team. We look forward to sharing our plans for the future of Ultima Online very soon.
I would like to thank all of the Ultima X: Odyssey supporters who have been with us from the beginning. I hope you will continue to support the Ultima franchise and the development team as they transition to new projects.
Thank you,
David "InQWis" Yee
Producer, Ultima X: Odyssey
It is interesting to note, however, that the official UXO site is still accessible from the main page after the splash page, for those who want to view it as a memory.
Further reading:
Reason for AOB shutdownYesterday I had a chat with Wind Walker, who originally led Adventures of Blackthorn. I invited him to shed some light on why his project vanished suddenly in mid-February 2004. The conversation can be read online at Dino's Ultima Page.
The Lazarus site's latest news points to an interview with Claymore at Grimwell.
DrCode, one of the developers on Exult, has posted in the Exult forum about some things he is implementing:
Now that 1.2 has been released, we can work on new features. This means that the daily snapshots could become more "interesting". I've just merged in the following:
- Support (not complete) for multiple maps.
- Combat uses dexterity to determine how fast you can strike.
- Wand charges are kept track of.
Other news from UltimaDot includes:
Pentagram site launched; UltimaDot promises U9 GuideAs Gunnar rightly pointed out (since I was too distracted to notice myself), the Pentagram site has finally been launched in all its glory. Apart from a short but interesting progress report on the news page, there is also an array of screenshots, some links and documentation among other resources.
Parcival at UltimaDot has released a first version (preview) of a new Ultima 9 Guide. The full guide should be ready by the end of the year, but there is already some good information in this first version.
If you like Ultima music, you will find a new theme on the Lazarus website: the Truth theme.
UO 7th Anniversary Edition now availableTeam Lazarus are looking for help and have a few new openings available.
The latest dragon on the UDIC roster is now O'neo Dragon.
UltimaDot pointed out a UO Interview as well as the fact that the Ultima Online 7th Anniversary Edition is now available.
Exult 1.2 releasedThe Exult team have released Exult 1.2. A list of changes since the last version can be found at UltimaDot.
Tired of forum problems, The Lazarus forums have been moved to a new location.
U6Edit, the Ultima 6 Editor by Paul Gilbert, has been updated (as UltimaDot pointed out). The new version 1.1 has a few enhancements including a memory improvement that fixes previous problems with running the program.
More news from UltimaDot: the Ultima Online 7th Anniversary Publish has been released worldwide.
U6O Large UpdateAs if the Ultima 6 Online updates of late weren't enough, a new client update was released two days ago with a number of fixes and improvements. There are 9 changes listed on the site, and others that aren't mentioned.
UltimaDot are now mirroring the second Lazarus alpha demo.
Lazarus Alpha Demo 2 releasedUltima V: Lazarus has released its second alpha demo, just over four months since the release of the first one. I unfortunately don't have Dungeon Siege, but from the gallery that UltimaDot set up showing screenshots of it, it looks beautiful.
The editors at UltimaDot have noticed that Ultima 4 features at number 21 in a series called "The Essential 50" on 1UP.
Checking the chronological dragon roster, it seems that former Ressurrection Dragon is now the latest dragon, under the name of Resurrection Dragon. His Internet-Explorer-only website has been redesigned; his project renamed like him from Ressurrection to Resurrection, and even those who don't like Ultima can delight in reading his version of the Ultima History.
April 2004 and May 2004 news has been archived.
Ultima Sims Art PackCommander Falcon's Falcon Designs has experienced a couple of interesting updates. In the downloads section, you will find a new Ultima Art Pack for the Sims. See the screenshots in the Downloads section to see what it looks like. Under "Legendary Series" you will also find some new stories about some of the games and the ages.
More news from UltimaDot includes:
U6O again: new client updateAlways up to date, the Ultima 6 Online website announces a new client update. This adds features such as global and private messages, the ability to pick up partial quantities of an object, and the ability to make panpipes.
U6O: Great ProgressThe Ultima 6 Online website has seen a couple of major updates lately. Among the improvements are the ability to cast spells, the healing effect of consuming food, the respawning of monsters and the ability of monsters to poison you.
U4: Virtue of Humility updateThe only interesting news today is from UltimaDot, concerning the Ultima IV: Virtue of Humility remake. George Stephan, who made this remake, has started upon a project to remake Ultima 5.
Dino is busy; Numerous Updates!Hey, all. In case you were wondering why the site here hasn't been updated in a while, Dino contacted me yesterday and informed me that he's been busy these last few. To that end, he's turned the helm over to me for a couple of days while he polishes off some work.
Firstly, starting from UltimaDot:
Other updates of note include Time Immortal's move to their new site. This won't be the final move for Lost Sosaria, however, as a new site design is being finalized.
Jaakko Peltonen replied to a thread in the forums for Dawn of Virtue concerning the apparent inactivity of that project. Interesting talk of newly added features.
U5 back from E3; UltimarX 10 announcedI was checking a topic in the Exult forum and discovered a "new Ultima remake in the works"
, as the topic title reads. A band of er... developers have decided to follow the footsteps of Ultima IV: Elijah in the creation of the all-new UltimarX 10: The Legend of the Warriors False Gate Isle (go remember that). It's such an amazing project that I won't spoil more of the fun for you... just go there and see it for yourself.
Ian "Tiberius" Frazier, project lead at Ultima V: Lazarus, along with Matt "MasterMinoC" Regnier, are back from this year's Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3). The Lazarus website shows off a picture of Tiberius and MasterMinoC with Richard Garriott, and also explains what happened at the E3. Tiberius was busy showing off a second alpha demo there, which will be released to the public in two or three weeks' time.
U5 Wallpaper; U6 TechDemo gallery at UltimaDotApart from promoting the Ultima 6 Project's tech demo, Ultima V: Lazarus have released a new wallpaper featuring a beautiful Lazarus world map.
The newly-updated dragon roster, with the latest addition of FoxFire50 Dragon, now totals 15573 members.
News from UltimaDot includes:
U6P Tech Demo released; Tabula Rasa revealedAs if the new screenshots added recently to the Ultima 6 Project's website aren't enough, they have now released their first tech demo. You can read some impressions about the demo at the Ultima 6 forum, and you can post your own.
More important news is the unveiling of Tabula Rasa. This is shown not only in a GameSpy preview about the game (pointed out by UltimaDot) but also in the Computer Games Magazine, of which you can see several pictures linked by La Legende d' Ultima.
In other news, four new dragons are listed on the roster, the latest being Aldwyn Dragon.
UltimaDot also points out the following:
UltimaDot and UDIC roster updatesUltimaDot has pointed out an update to the Ultima Online update centre, where the 4.02c patch has been released, as well as a page about Ultima Unreal at GarageGames.
The UDIC chronological roster has been updated again; the latest dragon is now Alfre Dragon.
U6O Progress updateAnother progress update was posted on the Ultima 6 Online website on the 21st of April. Things have been going well. Magic, combat, monster stats and the U6O interface are planned to change in the near future and be more akin to the original game.
Origin's goodbye gift to Origin Museum, U7 usecode documentationWizardry Dragon, who frequents the Exult forum regularly, has posted a link to some of his Ultima 7 usecode documentation. This is still a work in progress, but it appears that a very useful document will come out of this very soon.
UltimaDot brings news about the Origin Museum. Following Origin's relocation to California, some of the employees sent a whole treasure of Origin relics to the Origin Museum. There is a story about it that you can read, followed by photos of this treasure.
UltimaDot also points out what Tiberius said about Ultima V: Lazarus in a particular topic in their forums. The E3 is three weeks away, and some Lazarus team members will be there.
RemakesTeam Archon, who is developing the Ultima 6 Project, has released a number of screenshots of their upcoming tech demo. These include a screenshot of nightshade, one of the Light spell, and two of transportation (by ship and by moongate).
23rd April marked one year since the last update of Ultima: The Reconstruction. Unfortunately, this once-great site is getting out of date, as Voyager Dragon, its webmaster, hasn't found time to update it for the past year. The worst part of it is that those who are skeptical about the Ultima remakes are taking The Reconstruction to represent all the Ultima remakes, and have been taking it as a sign that Ultima remakes in general are dying. This is obviously not the case. Let's hope things take a turn for the better and Voyager finds time to update The Reconstruction once again.
UltimaDot has been announcing some important updates about remakes, among others, including:
New Dragon; RPGDot joins JoltBid welcome to Ilcid Dragon, the latest dragon on the roster!
A notice is now shown on UltimaDot, concerning the RPGDot Network, of which it forms part. RPGDot is now owned by jolt.co.uk, and this change of ownership has been made in the best interest of the RPGDot Network and the quality of the news they provide. Read the full notice at UltimaDot itself.
Hacki's Poll: U8 StorylineHacki's Ultima Page finally has a new poll, which is about a much-discussed topic: whether the Avatar is evil in Pagan. The previous poll, asking which virtue system was best, was won by the traditional Truth, Love and Courage system.
New Nitpicks, Dragon Press backHacki's Ultima Page has been updated! Therein you will find lots of new nitpicks, along with a theory on floating elevators in Ascension. Enjoy!
The Dragon Press has been down for a couple of weeks, but is now back up for your reading pleasure.
Vistaer Dragon at Redemption has seen fit to go over the site and fix whatever needed fixing, particularly those hardly-legible red links which so many people complained about; the site surely looks much nicer and user-friendly now. Furthermore, the media section has been added, and comes with some new music and fan art. And that's not all, as Redemption now has its own forum, hosted in its own server as opposed to the old one which was on the Wayward Avatar.
In addition to all this, there's more news for you to see at UltimaDot, which includes:
RGCU* FAQUltimaDot has been spreading the news that the RGCU* FAQ has finally been updated again. It's been over a year since Samurai Dragon last updated it, but it's now up to date once again.
U9R Site RelaunchedMarch 2004 news has been archived.
The Ultima 9: Redemption is back, after months down, with new material and news about the team. There is a new desktop wallpaper along with new fanfiction to accompany the newly-redesigned site, now free of frames. Avatus has apparently gone missing, and Chlorthos Dragon has temporarily taken the lead of the Redemption project along with Xodus until Avatus' return.
There is more news from other projects, brought to you by UltimaDot:
U4 and U5 updatesI'm back from a great trip around Andalucia, southwest Spain. I would like to thank Withstand the Fury Dragon for taking care of the news here while I was away. Let's see what else has been up lately...
The UltimaDot editors have taken a look at the Ultima 4: The Dawn of Virtue forum and found a short progress report by Jaakko Peltonen which makes up for the lack of updates to their website, and tells us to expect an actual update "soon"
. The progress report is a little vague, but fog in particular has been mentioned as a weather improvement.
The Ultima V: Lazarus website tells us that a review of their demo is in the May issue of the Computer Games Magazine, in the "Mods & Things" column on page 36.
Easter WellwishingJust want to wish everyone a safe and happy Easter weekend!
U6 Project CorrectionOkay, first off, I would like to apologize to Team Archon and the Ultima 6 Project. I am, it seems, crazy. The U6 Project website is not actually broken; it's just that I have the wrong link here. Instead of linking to u6project.com, the link should point to u6archon.com, which is still active. Thanks and kudos to Gunnar and Zephyr for pointing this out to me. I'll inform Dino that some of his links are broken when he gets back.
In other news, there are two new Dragons on the roster, Dragon-tamer Kyara Dragon and inu Dragon.
Lastly, for anyone wondering what's become of U9 Redemption, you should check out their forum over at the Wayward Avatar, because there has been quite a lot of talk about the new team and the new site (which is due to launch very soon). From the sound of it, the team has regrouped after the apparent loss of Avatus, and a new leader who goes by the name Xodus316 has posted a call for new team members.
Enilno Renders, U6 Project OfflineSurely the biggest news has to be the release of four rendered images of what Enilno, the Ultima 2 remake, will look like "in-game". These images appear to be exclusive to UltimaDot, but news of them is also on the Enilno site.
Also on the Enilno site is mention of the posting of part two of their story introduction.
Strangely, the Ultima 6 Project website appears to be down for construction of some kind. Perhaps a left-over April Fool's joke? The site can still be reached through Planet DungeonSiege.
Imperial Chaos Dragon is now the latest Dragon on the UDIC roster.
As well, you might want to head over to the Time Immortal website, where there is mention of a proposed second project for that team.
Going abroad...I'm going abroad tomorrow, to Spain, for seven days. I'll be back on Tuesday 13th April 2004. While I'm away, I'm entrusting the news of Dino's Ultima Page to the care of three of my most trusted regular visitors, so you might still see news on Dino's Ultima Page until I'm back on Tuesday.
Meanwhile UltimaDot have news about Ultima X from OGaming: They have a "Design a crest contest and some new fan-made wallpapers.
U3 in Windows and U6 for GBAAnother Dragon, WhiteAngel Dragon, is now losted on the roster.
I just noticed that the latest Dragon after WhiteAngel Dragon - Dubs Dragon - has a site about Ultima 6 for Game Boy Advance. It seems only to work in Internet Explorer, and it's a bit difficult at first to figure out that navigating the site involves moving the Avatar into the various rooms on the map, but the site looks very, very interesting.
UltimaDot brings news that the Ultima III Project, which has been on hold for a couple of years, is back in action. It is even including the option of playing Ultima 3 in 3D, and screenshots of this are shown on the site.
April FoolsEriadain and Redemption are still alive! Ha! April Fool!
Yesterday the maintainers of three Ultima sites (Lazarus, Exult and Enilno) had a little laugh by posting their April Fool's joke on their website. I mean, when you see a whole row of extraordinary news piling up on UltimaDot - "We've given up our project!"
, "Our website has been hacked!"
, "Our code has been stolen by John Brown!"
, coincidentally sitting beside the date of 1st April 2004, you begin to wonder what kind of idiot the people maintaining these sites think you are. It would have been worth a giggle if they actually came up with something original. Despite it being evidently a joke, the Exult 'press release' was worth the giggle. But ironically, Lazarus posted that they are shutting down, just two months after their first demo. Very original. So original that I was actually thinking of posting a joke myself that I would discontinue Dino's Ultima Page, even before I read the April Fool's jokes today. The Enilno joke was very distasteful, as it even contained foul language. I know April Fool's Day is a day of fooling around (trust me, I had a whole day doing just that), but there's a way to do it.
Anyway, in other news...
UltimaDot also has a couple of updates dated 30th March which I haven't pointed out yet:
Remake updatesUltimaDot has four news articles related to the remake scene:
UXO newsUltimaDot has been posted with a notice to say that the official Ultima X website has been updated with a series of monster animations.
La Legende d' Ultima has been converted to PHP, and also points out a topic in the UXO Stratics forum about a new Ultima X producer - David "InQWis" Yee.
UO updates from UltimaDotUltimaDot has two news updates concerning Ultima Online. The first is that the Character Transfer system is going to Japanese shards. Secondly, Ultima Iris now has the option of playing in 2D, aside from the normal 3D of the client.
U6O found hostingHeading over to UltimaDot, you'll see that:
You will also notice a new dragon, Mystic_River_of_Darkness Dragon, if you check the latest dragon on the chronological roster.
Bootstrike backBootstrike, a major Ultima information resource, was forced down recently because of trouble with its host. However, it is now back: 17th March 2004 [...] Web site is back thanks to Philip!
UltimaDot have posted a link to an article about EA dominance in the gaming industry. If you're interested in learning more about the power of tyrant EA in the gaming industry, this is what you are looking for.
Notable Domain; Nuvie ProgressUnderworld Dragon kindly informed me that his website, The Notable Ultima, now has its own domain. You can find his site straight at http://www.notableultima.com/ other than at the old address (http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/).
If you look at the Nuvie website, you'll notice a large update. Its first birthday was just three days ago, and there is a large list of updates and changes to Nuvie since the last progress report. Some include great features such as the ability to scroll back through your conversations, custom music support, and new ALT codes (among many others).
Makofan Dragon is now the latest dragon on the chronological roster.
The Ultima VIII - Exile website has been updated another two times in the last four days. They are both about NPC schedules; and while one speaks of the progress made in the schedules, the other points to a discussion about them in the Exile forum.
The Ultima 6 Online site has bad news - "Unfortunately we have been unable to find a temporary host for U6O so from March 23rd until May U6O will be unavailable."
The latest update also speaks of the addition of the various magical rings and a couple of other minor things.
UltimaDot has other news worth looking at:
Pentagram resources and moreThe Ultima V: Lazarus website announces an interview with Claymore at Grimwell Online.
Two new members have joined the Ultima 6 Project's team.
Two new dragons are listed on the UDIC chronological roster, DomMok Dragon being the latest.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated again, featuring two small updates to the actual site, namely the Ultima X and Remakes pages.
More updates from UltimaDot lately are the following:
"Female Phoda wearing plate armor and wielding a sword".
My Ultima 8 Utilities page has been updated with these new Pentagram resources, as well as with links to a resource on Mad Hatter's homepage (thought dead by many since it actually relocated some time ago).
Death of UXODhruin at UltimaDot pointed out an article entitled "The Death of UXO". The article speaks of how the main people behind Ultima X have had to leave Origin because of EA's recent decision to move the company. To sum it up, La Legended' Ultima's latest update is a whole essay about this matter.
The screenshots of updated robes at Ultima VIII - Exile that were promised in the last update are now in the Media section.
There is a whole load of new nitpicks on Hacki's Ultima Page.
Exile news & Virtue of Humility interviewAfter almost four months of slumber, the Ultima VIII - Exile site now has news. The news speaks of two modellers who have applied to join the team, and of the enhanced robes permitted by the Neverwinter Nights updates, which you will be able to see from screenshots which will be released shortly.
Parcival at UltimaDot has taken the opportunity to interview George Stephan, the man who made and completed, on his own, the Ultima 4 remake, Virtue of Humility.
Exult 1.1.10RC2 releasedExult 1.1.10RC2 has been released; it's mainly related to bug fixes, including the plot-stopping kind.
The Ultima 6 Project has released version 0.2 of its Font Builder.
There have been quite a few general additions and changes to the Ultima V: Lazarus lately. The progress bars have been updated, and while the team roster has also been updated, the ever-growing team is still looking to expand and the job openings page has been updated to reflect two new openings. A new wallpaper, entitled "The Shadows Come", has also been released.
Other updates are brought to you by the editors at UltimaDot:
OSI relocation and other newsSad news is running around the net about the relocation of Origin Systems Inc. to California, which may result in the laying off of employees, and possibly Origin's shutdown. Read more about this in the following locations:
More news from UltimaDot is as follows:
U9R to be back soon; Lost Sosaria alpha releaseThere has finally been an update to the remains of the Ultima IX: Redemption website. The little notice that has been there for a couple of months has been added with a notice saying that the Redemption website is "returning soon"
.
Twice has the Ultima V: Lazarus website been updated today. The first update points to the openings page, as Team Lazarus is looking for a musician. Moreover, an interview with Tiberius can be found at Gamer's Radio.
And once again, there are plenty of updates at UltimaDot:
Era wallpaper and U6P Font ToolEra's homepage has been changed a little, recently. In the news section, the quest for publishers and investors has been summarised in two short paragraphs; the team augurs a good 2004; and it says that a wallpaper has been added to the download section to replace the obsolete wallpapers.
The Ultima 6 Project has released its Font Builder, with which modders can easily create custom font sets.
There has been an update to the Ultima 6 Online website just today. After the news of progress posted on the 12th, whereby quite a few gameplay improvements were implemented, today there has been more progress. 16 NPC dialogues have been completed, and basic saving/loading features should be available by the end of the month.
If you look at UltimaDot, you'll find lots more news:
Blackthorn joins Allysium??The link to the Adventures of Blackthorn website seems to redirect to a website called The Road to Allysium. Taking a closer look at the news, it appears that Wind Walker from Adventures of Blackthorn has joined this project:
Welcome!! to the new Allysium site!! our First major announcement is that Prizm Entertainment (Team Blackthorn) has hopped on board with Mystical Productions to bring you a better Allysium!! and we are becoming chock full of custom content!! Have a look around and be sure to join the forums, we want to hear from you!!
It would seem that there will be no Adventures of Blackthorn, as Wind Walker is giving a hand with Allysium.
UltimaDot's only news is an Ultima X contest at MMOG Hell requiring participants to design a guild crest.
Ultima X updatesThe news today is all related to Ultima X. La Legende d' Ultima points out the updates to the official Ultima X website; and UltimaDot has mentioned that along with the following news:
Era screenshotsUltimaDot has over a dozen new updates but the main one is that it has ten new Era screenshots, showing dungeons, landscapes, a town, and one particular screenshot of a ship which I consider most beautiful, as the water looks so nice and realistic.
Three more dragons are new to the roster.
The Lazarus website has been updated with new music as well as the mention of a couple of photos by Ymochel the Dark Elf Bard showing Lazarus played on a projector screen. I also just noticed that there are a number of screenshots from the demo in the screenshots page.
Other updates from UltimaDot include:
"Phoda's running on all fours and then attacking a terathan".
Exult, Ultima translatorThe Exult website tells of a change in audio configuration, including how to use digital music.
Speaking of Exult, it was on the Exult forum that Artaxerxes announced a web tool with which to translate Ultima 7. It is available at the SI French Project Files page on SourceForge.
2 more mirrors now host the Lazarus demo, as its official website reads. These links have again been added to my Ultima 5 info page where I have listed all the available mirrors from where one can download the Lazarus demo.
UltimaDot set its spotlight on the Ultima Lair of Great Siberian Dragon.
Lazarus mirrorsThe Ultima V: Lazarus is flowing with life and has been updated again; there are two new download mirrors and the Lazarus demo has been featured on a GameSpot news article. My Ultima 5 info page has been updated to reflect these new links.
The Ultima 6 Project also stepped forward to announce the Lazarus demo release, pointing out that the conversation engine is a fruit of U6P-UVL collaboration.
More Laz materialThe Lazarus team would like to thank three members of the Archon project, as the website says. More download mirrors for the demo have also been added. I took the opportunity to list all the known download mirrors in my Ultima 5 remakes section. UltimaDot has also put up a screenshot gallery for people who don't own Dungeon Siege.
Other news from UltimaDot includes an Ultima X interview at GameZone and a new Ultima X screenshot at OGaming.
For avid Ultima collectors, check out the latest column at Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe, which is about Mount Drash. This link has been added to my Complete Guide to Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash.
As Eric Fry (of Nuvie) has informed me, U6Edit 1.0 has been released.
January 2004 news has been archived.
Ultima V: Lazarus alpha demo releasedA demo of Ultima V: Lazarus has finally been released! I unfortunately don't have Dungeon Siege, but other people who played it have made very good comments about it. Read the opinions expressed on Hacki's Ultima Page, UltimaDot and La Legende d' Ultima where this news has been announced.
In other news, the Lazarus progress bars have been updated.
UltimaDot also brings to our attention three new Ultima X screenshots at UXOVault and news of an upcoming Ultima X Dev Chat.
Various newsUltimaDot brings various news from the Ultima community, including the following:
Exult 1.1.9RC1 released; UDIC roster linksExult 1.1.9RC1 has been released. Everybody is urged to test this release to help report bugs and ensure that the upcoming Exult 1.2 release will be the most stable ever.
I see an improvement to the UDIC rosters (by date or alphabetical) - the name of those dragons who have a website is now a link to their own website.
UltimaDot has news of an Ultima Online land rush and amnesty program, as well as a third Ultima X designer diary at Gamespot.
One week to the prophecyThe Ultima V: Lazarus website reminds us that only one week is left for the prophecy of the Codex to be fulfilled.
Again, the UltimaDot news is focused on Ultima X. At Ogaming there is a new screenshot; at the IanStorm forums there is information about Ultima X, and GenGamers has a music file from Ultima X available for download.
No more common network pagesI've removed the pages that were common to all sites on my network, such as the "About me", "Disclaimer" and "Contact" pages. Dino's Ultima Page now has its own "Contact" page; the disclaimer is provided on the main page of Dino's Network and Dino's Ultima Page now has its own "About me" page. I've also created a new personal site, so while the "About Me" page describes my personal experience, you can go to my personal site to learn about other areas of my life.
This is the first step towards a redesign of Dino's Ultima Page. If you find anything that doesn't work, please let me know.
Exult 1.2 coming soonA discussion at the Exult forum has led to information about the next Exult release, which should be out very soon. To quote Colourless Dragon, "1.2 should be coming out 'real soon now'.... Actually in less than a week is the current forecast."
UltimaDot posted news about Origin wanting input about Ultima Online, a discussion at the Era forum and two updates to the Features section of the official Ultima X website.
U7 Remixed to be back soonUltimaDot has news of the Ultima 7 Remixed project. In fact, a notice on the site tells us that "Return to Britannia will return shortly"
.
The latest Dragon on the roster is now Cybernetic Dragon.
U6P and UVL fusion produces shipsThe union between Lazarus and the Ultima 6 Project has led to the making of nautical navigation, i.e. ships. Both websites have been updated to point out the screenshots on the Ultima 6 Project's site.
Lifelust Dragon is now the latest on the roster.
Bootstrike, despite the notice that has been there since October about it having to eventually be put down, is still up. The "bye-bye" notice has been removed, but there seems to be no indication as to whether Bootstrike will remain alive and kicking or be forced to be put down with its web host. Since the Serpent Isle section has been updated on New Year's Day, it seems that the site is alive and well for now.
UltimaDot's latest news consists of having pointed out an Ultima X screenshot at OGaming and more Ultima X screenshots at Gamer's Pulse.
Lands of UltimaApart from having mentioned the third GameSpy Developer Diary for Ultima X, UltimaDot pointed out a new Ultima website called The Lands of Ultima which contains a nice collection of Ultima maps made with Xenerkes Dragon's Ultimatrix.
La Legende d' Ultima mentioned the Ultima X website's update and added some new screenshots of the Playstation version of Ultima Underworld.
The Ultima 6 Project's Interface Designer has been upgraded, and you can download version 0.2.6.
Hacki's Ultima Page is back!Hacki's Ultima Page is back after months of repose! Hacki was kept back by "a university study, a broken computer in the summer and the sudden desire for a general overhaul"
, but now the site has been updated with a new design, loads of new nitpicks (including a new system of laying them out), an organised news archive by month and a new navigation structure to name a few things.
In other news from UltimaDot:
"a map demo by month's end".
U6P, U6O and other updatesThe Ultima 6 Project have given us a new collector's card, an update to their API definitions and the promise of a new version of their Interface Designer very soon.
UltimaDot brings news of:
Various newsUltimaDot mentioned the Lazarus news with an explanation to the "Groundhog" bit (i.e. that the release date of what is coming should be around 2nd February). Apart from this, the editors at UltimaDot pointed out a heated discussion about Ultima Online servers, and that the decompiled scripts of the new Ultima 6 editor have been released with an update today.
Lazarus, Archon and Elemental cooperating on Dungeon SiegeThe Lazarus, Archon (Ultima 6 Project) and Team Elemental websites have been updated to say that the latter two teams are cooperating with Lazarus. Furthermore, the Lazarus site has a link to a runic message which reads:
"Long have the people of Lazarus laboured upon a work which may bring them much fame. Known only by the words "Project Houston" for reasons which no man can name.
This work's end is now fast approaching, its time is, at last, close at hand. Prepare yourselves thus for its coming, when the Groundhog seeks shadow on land."
New dragons keep being added to the roster. The latest is Gossamer Dragon.
UltimaDot, apart from the update at the official Ultima X website, has pointed out an exclusive Ultima X screenshot at OGaming.
Various newsThree new dragons have been added to the roster.
As UltimaDot announced in their news today...
New DragonA new Dragon has joined the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter. He is Valdric Dragon, and is now listed as the latest Dragon on the chronological roster.
Speculation on redesignIn my forum, I've been discussing the possibility of a redesign to Dino's Ultima Page. This wouldn't change much in terms of appearance compared to how it is now, but much more content would be added and the site would be more dynamic, allowing easy addition of new content. This update may take very long, but at the end of the day it will benefit the site a lot. Such a redesign is currently speculation, but may become in progress soon if I get enough feedback.
Nytefall, a 2D artist, has joined Ultima V: Lazarus. Team Lazarus also thanks Team Elemental and Team Archon for their recent help.
UltimaDot also brings another two updates to attention - the first is that Era may have been updated with new Emers Isle screenshots but made no note on the news page about such an update, and the Lost Sosaria website has been relaunched with some new content and revised pages.
UltimaDot & La LegendeLa Legende d' Ultima has been updated and its 2003 news has been archived. It speaks of a mistake made with Tabula Rasa screenshots, and of an RPG called Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome that seems to be inspired by Ultima 7 due to a similarity between the two engines.
There are 3 updates on UltimaDot today, including:
Project updatesApart from the Nuvie and Ultima 6 editor news, UltimaDot have found 3 other updates on other sites:
December 2003 news has been archived.
New U6Edit editorA new Ultima 6 editor has been announced at this thread in the Nuvie forum. U6Edit, as it's called, has not yet been released, but the screenshots on the website make it look very promising.
UltimaDot has been updated just to tell us happy new year.
Nuvie - great progressNuvie has given us a nice big progress report as a New Year's gift. One of the new features consists of eggs now spawning monsters. This engine is always coming nearer to the original Ultima 6!
Formerly located at http://members.shaw.ca/cmdrfalcon/, Falcon Designs, the home of the upcoming Ultima Collector's Guide, has moved to a new address. The old site is still there but the new one is more up to date.
The only updates to UltimaDot today are the announcing of the Era update and of the birth of a new site in the RPGDot Network, SiegeDot.
Happy New Year!
Era wallpaperThe Era website has been updated to wish us happy new year, and a wallpaper has been added.
UltimaDot points out a new Ultima X screenshot at ogaming.com.
General Info updatedI've removed a couple of dead links from the general information page and added links to the "Dragon Gallery" biographies at UltimaDot to the bottom of the page. I have larger plans for the general information section, but as with most of my other plans for this site, it requires time...
Instead of showing the directory index, the location where the Ultima IX: Redemption website once was shows the message: "The Project Is Currently On Hold
", whatever it means in this case. Let's hope all is well.
Era looking for investorsThe Era website's news has been replaced with a plea for investors to fund Peroxide. Most of the site has in fact been changed to be aimed at such people.
U9 Ghost ship screenshotsInfinitron Dragon, the webmaster of Ultima Thule!, has spotted a ghost ship at the Britain docks in Ultima 9 and has kindly provided five screenshots, which have been added to my Ultima 9 gallery.
Parcival at UltimaDot found a link to a new screenshot of the Labyrinth of Worlds remake.
U6P site redesignThe Ultima 6 Project's website has been totally redesigned. There's a new picture of the week, new documentation and updates to pretty much the whole site.
Apart from this, UltimaDot has been updated to mention the following:
Merry Christmas!
U6O update mentioned on UltimaDotThe Ultima 6 Online update I mentioned yesterday is now shown on UltimaDot as well.
Thesis on soft shadowsThere have been four updates to UltimaDot yesterday:
There is a new update to the Ultima 6 Online website dated tomorrow (!) about a security problem that has been fixed; it also says that the online download will have to wait a few more days.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated with its regular update explaining what happened in the Ultima scene since the last one. The most recent Ultima X website's update is mentioned, as well as concept art of Tabula Rasa (a game Richard Garriott is working on) at Eric Shawn's website.
On a side note, my Christmas Holidays have started; this means more free time. I've been replaying Ultima 5, and I'm in the process of collecting information (once again). With some luck, I might even release some soon, or else I might just wait until I collect enough information to start a guide... depends how things turn out.
U4 dev diary, UXO updateYesterday, the update to the Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue website was delayed for the third consecutive day. However, today there has been an actual update - a new entry in the development diary describes what's been going on in the remake's development.
UltimaDot has also pointed out the above update to the Ultima 4 remake's website. Furthermore, modeller requests in the "Fan Development forum at the Wayward Avatar has also been pointed out. As far as Ultima X is concerned, UltimaDot links to the fourth part of RPGVault's Ultima X interview, as well as to the official Ultima X website, where there has been an avalanche of updates including new media (AIM icons, videos and wallpapers), Links (Developer Feedback and fan sites), a new feature (Virtue Abilities), a new orc fiction and an update to the FAQ.
UXO beta?Silverado posted a link in my forum to some kind of promotional notice about an Ultima X: Odyssey Beta Giveaway on MMORPG.com! From what I can understand, people with an MMORPG.com account and who live in the United States or Canada have a chance of winning the UXO beta in January.
Another brief notice has been posted to the Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue website, telling us to wait another day because the actual update is not ready yet.
Tuga Dragon is now the latest Dragon on the roster.
UltimaDot points out two updates from Ultima sites - one is about the Ultima 6 price list I added yesterday to Dino's Ultima Page, and the other points to the Ultima 6 Online website where there has been an update about server problems, what's going on behind the scene and the release scheduled to be in a few days.
U4:tDoV update expected; U6 prices addedThe Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue website has been updated to tell us that the expected update mentioned on UltimaDot yesterday should be there tomorrow.
The price list for Ultima 6 which Crowley so kindly submitted in August has finally been added to my Ultima 6 Items page. Cheers to Crowley!
UXO screenshots at IGNThe official Ultima X website has been updated, and this time the update is not too large. The sections updated include:
La Legende d' Ultima's latest news mentions all the important things that happened in the Ultima scene since the last update little more than two weeks ago. The updates to the remake websites and to the official Ultima X website are all mentioned.
UltimaDot brings a few other pieces of news to our attention:
.pdf, is now available here at the UltimaDot galleryUXO screenshots at IGNThe only real news today comes from UltimaDot. Apart from having mentioned the Ultima 6 Project's latest news (the new collector's card), they have posted a link to Ultima X screenshots at IGN.
November 2003 news has been archived.
News from RemakesSome screenshots of Dungeon Shame have been added to the Lazarus website. I usually keep my opinion to myself when writing news in order to remain neutral, but I must say that these shots are really beautiful.
The Ultima 6 Project has also been updated; it has released a new collector's card of a female Avatar.
The Ultima IX: Redemption team has released the second part of their Ultima Timeline.
As usual, other news comes from UltimaDot. Apart from Lazarus and Redemption, UltimaDot brings news about:
UXO, UltimaDotThe official Ultima X website has been largely updated, now featuring:
UltimaDot features the fourth installment of its exclusive Dragon Gallery, now starring Houston Dragon. Apart from this, it has mentioned the Ultima X site update and new screenshots on the Ultima Iris site.
Dragon Press, UltimaDotOn the Dragon Press, Shadow of Light Dragon's "The Black Ankh" fanfiction has been updated.
New screenshots of the Ultima 6 Project have been released. They look great, and they feature the spellbook system, a moongate, a spell effect and some game effects.
As usual, lots of news comes from UltimaDot, since the websites I usually keep track of are pretty silent lately. Here's what's new from UltimaDot:
UXO siteThe official Ultima X website has been updated yet again. Here's what's new:
UltimaDot has hired a new editor, posted news about rumours of a possible upcoming System Shock III, and announced the update to the official Ultima X website.
U9R Evil AvatarAvatus has updated the Ultima 9: Redemption website to explain in further detail how the game will be playable as an evil Avatar.
Apart from this, UltimaDot has four new updates:
I've added a few more links to the Ultima X information page to keep it up to date.
SoL's homepage; Nuvie darkness code; UXO materialShadow of Light Dragon's Weyr has moved and has been nicely redesigned.
Three screenshots of the new darkness system in Nuvie have been posted at the Nuvie forum. This nicely improves the way darkness works in Ultima 6, but support for the old darkness system is planned too.
Ultima X has been the main concern with UltimaDot's updates over the last couple of days - in fact, there are three such updates (four actually, but one is repeated, for some strange reason):
La Legende d' Ultima's news is once again up to date. The latest update is about the new material at the official Ultima X website and Adventures of Blackthorn's change to Morrowind.
Various UltimaDot updatesMidgard Dragon is now the latest dragon on the roster.
There's a whole load of news at UltimaDot:
Speaking of the official Ultima X website, it has been updated with more than just screenshots. Here's a whole list of what's new:
AOB changing plansThe Adventures of Blackthorn project, which was previously using the Dungeon Siege engine, has changed plans. The old website has been taken down and replaced with a notice saying why this project is switching from Dungeon Siege to Morrowind. The progress they did with Dungeon Siege is not lost, in fact there is a page for Dungeon Siege fans where you may download the horse pack.
Ultima V: Lazarus has got some "new blood", as the latest headline says. Worldbuilder Craig "Amras" Jewett has joined the Lazarus team.
UltimaDot announced the Redemption Timeline, as well as an update to the Ultima 6 Online website (with new screenshots and the release date) and a topic in the Ultima Unreal forum where the team is looking for a programmer.
U9R Timeline, UltimaDotThe Ultima 9: Redemption website says that it's going to release a timeline in 5 parts over the coming weeks. Part 1 has been released - you have to click on "Fiction" at the top then "Timeline" to the left to get to it (I can't link to it directly because of the damn frames or the navigation will be lost).
UltimaDot has mentioned the Ultima X website and Ultima V: Lazarus updates, which have already been mentioned here, as well as:
And finally, October 2003 news has been archived, to the joy of those who started to think that this would never happen.
UVL, U6P, UltimaDot & UXOThe Ultima 6 Project now has its own forum, which is the first taste we are getting of the site redesign. The forum is based on phpBB (like most others) but nicely customised.
Updates to the Ultima V: Lazarus website include the progress indicator, current openings and picture of the week/decade having been updated.
3 new dragons are listed on the roster - the latest to have joined UDIC being Ulreg Dragon.
There has been some update to the official Ultima X website, but I can't access the site at the moment. Both UltimaDot and La Legende d' Ultima have mentioned it; the latter lists the updates.
More updates from UltimaDot, apart from what has already been mentioned here, includes:
UXO updates at UltimaDotThere are a number of new updates at UltimaDot:
Exile screenshotsFour new screenshots have been released on the Ultima VIII - Exile website. They show Devon's schedule, which is quite complex and very realistic (he even cooks his fish).
UltimaDot mentioned the combat system feature at the official Ultima X website, which I've announced with yesterday's update.
TLV Chapter 15 added; UX site; UltimaDot updatesAloisio Senra is the first person to have responded to the request for Chapter 15 for the Lost Vale fanfiction which was started by Amazing Dragon and never finished. Aloisio's Chapter 15 has been added to the fanfiction.
IT-HE Software, the site by Doug the Eagle Dragon, has been updated. His U6 editor now supports Martian Dreams.
There are more updates to the official Ultima X website, including:
There are lots more updates from UltimaDot, including:
2 new dragonsUDIC welcomes two new dragons, now shown as the latest on the roster.
UltimaDot againUltimaDot has set its spotlight on the High Resolution Ultima Map Project. There is also an update pointing to a topic posted in the RPGDot forums by the Ultima 6 Online project leader, Galleon Dragon.
As some of you may have noticed, I've been quite busy lately and updates to Dino's Ultima Page have become slightly infrequent. I'll do my best to keep the site up to date every single day, and on the first occasion, I'll try to add some new material to the site.
UltimaDot UpdatesThere are more updates to UltimaDot. They include the mention of the new screenshots on the official Ultima X website, an Ultima X interview at GameSpot, and some news from Lost Sosaria (in the absence of updates to the Lost Sosaria website).
UX updates and moreThe official Ultima X website has been updated with a number of new updates, including:
La Legende d' Ultima has mentioned the above updates in the official Ultima X website, and it has also pointed out some exclusive (and official) Ultima X music released at UXOO, entitled "Town Life".
Finally, there are several updates from UltimaDot, where the following news has been posted:
Gamespot UX screenshots2 days ago, some more Ultima X screenshots were added to GameSpot, and have been mentioned by UltimaDot yesterday.
Redemption team members, UX site updateThe Ultima IX: Redemption team has grown by 3 members, as the website says.
The latest updates to UltimaDot are about the Redemption team members and an Ultima X interview at ToTheGame.
As La Legende d' Ultima pointed out, the official Ultima X website has been updated again. Updates include:
Redemption and UltimaDotThe Ultima 9: Redemption website has a series of updates, including:
There's also a new dragon on the roster - it's Ashikaga Dragon this time.
UltimaDot also has a fair share of updates:
Exult 1.1 Beta3 released, Bootstrike closing downExult 1.1 Beta3 has been released, fixing all the bugs with the previous official release (Beta2).
Apart from the Exult release, UltimaDot has two more updates. It mentions that the Redemption website is back up (though with no update yet) and that there is a new Ultima X interview at Telegragged.
As Kobra Kai said in my forum, Bootstrike is closing down! Bootstrike's web host is closing down and it needs a new provider that can provide 25-30GB of bandwidth. Keep your fingers crossed that Bootstrike finds a new host, or hurry up and save the whole site before it shuts down by the end of October!
Dan Simpson's U7 GuideThere are 4 new updates on UltimaDot:
.pdf format) is now hosted by UltimaDotUX site update, U4 & U5 patchesMarc Winterrowd, who has a website with Ultima Tech Info and Patches, has released two new patches for Ultima 4 and 5 respectively. The Ultima 4 patch changes normal text to runic text where necessary, and the Ultima 5 patch changes runic text to normal text to save the trouble of translating the runes. These patches have been added to my U4 and U5 info pages.
The official Ultima X website has been largely updated, and the many updated pages include:
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated to announce the Nuvie and UXO updates.
UltimaDot pointed out the screenshots at the official Ultima X website as well as some interesting information at the Lazarus forum including detailed information about horseriding and weapons.
Nuvie Progress update, xu4 forumThe Nuvie website has been updated with its monthly progress report and some good news - the project lead acquired Ultima 6 for FM-Towns, and the team is aiming for the first official release.
xu4 now has a new forum based on Phorum, just like Exult and Nuvie.
UltimaDot's spotlight has now been set on the website of Ultima 3 for Gameboy Colour. UltimaDot also has a new feature - Parcival has compiled an Ultima Reference Card listing all Ultima games including official games, remakes, engine enhancements, spinoffs and all Ultima games. UltimaDot has also mentioned the xu4 forum.
UltimaDot: The Traditional UltimaApart from mentioning the xu4 update of the original Ultima 4, UltimaDot has released a new feature of its own - an article by Parcival called "The Traditional Ultima", discussing what features make a real Ultima.
Original Ultima 4 upgradedxu4, the Ultima 4 engine, has released version 1.01 of the original Ultima 4, which means that the original game has been upgraded. This update fixes some conversation bugs. Thanks again to Marc Winterrowd for pointing this out.
Two of my Ultima information pages have been updated:
Nazghul 0.1.4 released; UX preorderAs Marc Winterrowd kindly pointed out, version 0.1.4 of Nazghul, the Ultima 5 engine, has been released, and is available for download at the SourceForge files page. Nazghul has also been added to my Ultima 5 info page.
UltimaDot's latest update is about the possibility to preorder Ultima X at Gamestop. Apart from this possibility, you can also get a glance at the box art and some info on the game at the preorder page.
UX updates and UltimaDot spotlightThis is the first time since 29th August that there has been no update to Dino's Ultima Page on one particular day. So far, it's been updated every day since 30th August.
The official Ultima X website has been updated. There's a biography of Jonathan "Oaks" LeCraft, new monsters and links to fan pages.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated to mention the Ultima X updates and the recent Redemption interview at UltimaDot.
UltimaDot has also bene updated, setting its spotlight on Auric's Ultima Moongates and pointing out the new monsters at the official Ultima X website.
U9R interview & Nuvie ProgressUltimaDot has a new feature - an Ultima IX: Redemption interview.
The Nuvie forum has had a couple of short progress reports (supported by screenshots) including the newly-added support for ships and horses. You can download the latest Daily Build, last updated today, from the Nuvie downloads page.
Era Camera and CombatTelemachos, leader of the Era project, has posted an interesting summary of how Camera and Combat will be dealt with in the game.
News of the Nuvie forum has reached UltimaDot.
Nuvie ForumThe Nuvie project now has a new forum, similar to the Exult forum. This makes it more accessible than the old SourceForge forum which required people to have a SourceForge account in order to post.
Again, another name has been appended to the Dragon roster - this time it's Destroth Dragon.
September 2003 news has been archived.
More from UltimaDotJustAnother Dragon is now the latest dragon on the roster.
UltimaDot set its spotlight on the Origin Museum, mentioned the new wallpapers on the official Ultima X website, and pointed out a topic in the Horizons tavern where Tiberius posted a Lazarus poster.
Ultima X UpdatesThe official Ultima X website has been updated once again. This time, the new things are shown on the main page:
Remaining on topic of Ultima X, UltimaDot mentions an interview at Ultima X: Odyssey Online.
La Legende d' Ultima's latest update mentions all the above Ultima X information, the past remake updates, and an update to its own Links page.
UltimaDot updatesThe Ultima 6 Project's website has been updated. The website is being redesigned, and a couple of regions have been completed. Aside from mentioning that screenshots will be released soon, the author of the update also makes the usual appeal for worldbuilders, modellers and artists.
I started school today, so don't blame me if updates are slow (which they shouldn't, but just warning). This is my 12th year in school now, and it's more demanding than ever before (I spent 2 hours to unsuccessfully attempt to solve a single equation).
UltimaDot has six updates:
Guardian's Teeth TheoriesA few entertaining theories as to why the Guardian's teeth keep changing between Ultimas have been added to my page about The Guardian.
I am not going to archive September 2003 news as yet so that anyone who hasn't read yesterday's important news can do so. September 2003 news will be archived in a couple of days' time (or maybe a little more).
Exile and Encyclopaedia BritanniaCorvwyn, leader of the Ultima VIII - Exile remake project, has posted an update on the website. The upgrade regards scripts, particularly the schedule script and the dialogue script. "Schedules will work like u7. People will eat, work, sleep and things like that."
, he says, and he also mentions that we are trying to improve the dialogue script further.
The only update to UltimaDot today is the mention of the Exile update.
Those of you who have visited the Wayward Avatar forums before will know that there was once a forum entitled "Encyclopaedia Britannia", where people would submit information for the day when an Encyclopaedia incorporating this information would actually be built. Today, thanks to Jaz (who has already done great deeds for the Wayward including the forum update), this dream has come true! In this topic, in fact, Jaz posted a link to a beta version of the Encylopaedia. This is obviously not the final version, so some links don't work and all entries are under "Uncategorised".
Once again, another name has been appended to the Dragon Roster.
Finally, I come with more great news: Dino's Ultima Page has been updated every single day this month! This is a new record - and one can now literally say that Dino's Ultima Page is updated every day.
La Legende and U5Lazarus newsMore news added to yesterday's update to La Legende d' Ultima includes the fact that Sergorn Dragon, its webmaster, has finished Gothic II, and has thus updated his Gothic II page.
The Lazarus domain name, www.u5lazarus.com, is back, and Tiberius posted a short notice on the website about the domain problems.
La Legende mentions UX updateAs UltimaDot did yesterday, La Legende d' Ultima mentioned the update to the official Ultima X website, but only mentioned one of the many updates.
Articles section scattered; UltimaDot updatesThe Articles section of Dino's Ultima Page no longer exists. The articles it contained have been grouped under other sections, including Ultima Information sections and the About Site page, which has been updated.
La Legende d' Ultima's latest update mentions the new screenshots from Adventures of Blackthorn.
The official Ultima X website has been updated. They could at least put a page telling what has been updated, but anyway, here's what's new:
The Enilno team are looking for 2 3D modellers and a concept artist, so their openings page has been updated.
UltimaDot has 5 new updates. xu4 and Ultima Iris have been added to their project database, and they have mentioned the Enilno job openings, the screenshots at the Redemption forums, and the new movies at the official Ultima X website.
Adventures of Blackthorn mediaThe Adventures of Blackthorn website has been largely updated with over 50 new screenshots, as the main page reads, and a few nice wallpapers. This has also been mentioned on UltimaDot.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated as well, mentioning the recent Redemption screenshots and the trailer about the making of Ultima X, as well as an update to one of its own pages - that about other worlds.
My Ultima X page has been updated again. I've added 2 new nitpicks, a link to the "making of Ultima X" video in the trailers section, and another link to information about Ultima X. New additions to information pages now show as highlighted.
UltimaDot load of updates; UX section updatedParcival at UltimaDot has posted a series of updates about what has happened lately in the Ultima community. Some are slightly old news, such as the Nuvie progress report on 12th September, but the rest includes:
The Ultima X section on Dino's Ultima Page has been updated; it is now up to date and lists most of the recent interviews and previews, as well as resources on the official Ultima X website. In particular, there is a new section for Ultima X nitpicks.
The Lazarus website's domain name, www.u5lazarus.com, is experiencing problems. Aegis announced this, and suggested using the www.planetdungeonsiege.com/ultima5/ address until things get back to normal.
Totally new Ultima IX: Redemption screenshots have been posted at the Redemption forum, showing NPCs and dialogue. Awesome!
U7 Guide announced, U9R screenshots, History of MMOGsTill now few people knew about this, but I'm now going to make it official. I'm working on an Ultima 7 Guide. It is going to be a huge thing. So far, the most notable things I've added to it are a search script for keys and a method of showing locations by marking them with crosshairs (identical to those in Exult's teleport system) on the map. I might also mention that books and scrolls are being transcribed in their original form, which means you'll see text with the book or scroll in the background, and books will actually be divided into pages just like the original. This is no joke - these features have already been implemented.
I've just started this new Guide last week, on Wednesday 17th September 2003, so don't expect it anytime soon. In fact, it may very well take 3 or 4 months or more to complete, as it's going to be massive. To compare, the Ultima 8 Guide took less than a month to bring near completion, and there are approximately 32 NPCs in Ultima 8. Ultima 7, on the other hand, has about 279 NPCs.
OK, so what's the point of me telling you about this if you won't see it for months? I wanted to let you know that I actually am working on something for the site. Does this mean that the Ultima 8 Guide will never be completed? No, I'm still working on it. I'm just working on the U8 Guide at a much slower pace since it's nearly complete and there's little left to add. If you have any questions or comments about this, you're welcome to post them at the forum.
OK, I've said enough about Guides on my site. Let's see which other sites have been updated, shall we?
Adventures & RingtonesAn update to the Adventures of Blackthorn website tells us to expect new screenshots soon, and tells of some new people who joined the team recently.
Dino's WAP Ultima Page has been updated again, and 3 new Ultima ringing tones (from U7) have been added.
LB explanation, WAP stuff, UXO making videoAs I said yesterday, some sites announced "the return of the Lost King" (Lord British). This was announced on at least 3 sites: UltimaDot, MMORPGDot and Ultima Online. All this fuss was made just because Richard Garriott played Ultima Online.
The WAP site of Dino's Ultima Page has moved to http://dino.shiftedphase.com/ultima/wap/index.wml - I moved it there to be able to better organise the WAP files. In addition, the WAP site now features 2 Ultima ringtones you can download for your mobile phone if you have internet access from your phone via WAP and/or GPRS.
As Natreg told me, UXO Stratics now has a movie about the making of Ultima X, which is at their movies section.
Lord British Returns?!I couldn't connect to internet today so I unfortunately can't give you a complete summary of updates from all Ultima websites today. The only way I've managed to get onto internet is through my mobile phone, and most sites aren't very friendly with portable devices so I couldn't find out properly what's going on. The sites I've managed to check for updates haven't been updated.
Anyway, UltimaDot says something about the return of Lord British, and has a link to MMORPGDot which in turn has a link to the Ultima Online website. I'm afraid I can't give you any direct links, and I haven't understood what's going on myself, so go to UltimaDot and see for yourself. With the next update I'll give you a summary of what's happening (provided that I manage to get onto internet).
UltimaDot IRC Channel & U9R ScreenshotsUltimaDot have announced the opening of RPGDot's IRC channel.
Six beautiful screenshots have been posted on the Ultima IX: Redemption homepage.
UltimaDot Staff & U8 Female AvatarThere is news on UltimaDot about 4 new people that have joined their news crew.
There is always something interesting on the Exult forum. This time, gruck posted a topic with a link to a 3-second long movie showing his attempts at making a female Avatar for Ultima 8. In my opinion, it came out pretty well.
UX updates on UltimaDotThere are 3 updates about Ultima X on UltimaDot, including:
On another note, there is a discussion at the Era forum about how certain things on the official UXO website appear to have been copied off Peroxide's now-deceased Ultima 1 remake. These include at least 2 things on the splash page of the official UXO website - including the text reading "A new Ultima legend is born" (note the similarity with "A Legend is reborn", the title of the U1 remake) and the border around the wide image, which is strikingly similar to that of the loading screen of the U1 tech demo.
After more than a year of inactivity, there is an update at the Wayward Avatar website! The update mentions that the Wayward Avatar forums have a new address, so people should update their bookmarks and links (most of which still reflect the old address of the forum before it was updated by Jaz).
Lots of updatesThere are quite a few updates today, both internal and external. Let's go over them:
Savage Empire CreditsI've added the Savage Empire credits to the Savage Empire section, just as they were in the original game (with a small difference - the font).
News from other sitesThe sites of which I usually keep track don't have any updates today, but I noticed an update on two other sites...
I'm also planning to add as much information to Dino's Ultima Page as I can in the coming 2 weeks as I can because I start school on 2nd October and that will take a lot of my time. However, unfortunately, I'll first have to do some scripting, because a certain prankster with too much time on his hands spammed my guestbook. Even though I logged his IP number and reported him to his ISP (after a warning and banning, and 7 spam posts), I'm going to have to upgrade the guestbook to improve security. Anyone who wanted to sign the guestbook and found this crazy nutcase spamming it, please be patient, it will be upgraded soon.
In the meantime, I'm collecting information on my forum should you wish to contribute something.
New U8 Hidden Thing DiscoveredThanks to Tom Vorwerk, more hidden stuff has been found in Tenebrae. The Hidden Things section of my Ultima 8 Guide has been updated, so that all hidden things are placed in a single section, and you will also find the new discovery (with a screenshot) - two chairs hidden behind the west wall of the Tenebrae Library. I have no idea why the developers wanted to hide 2 chairs, but the fact remains that they're hidden.
UX interview at GameSpyAs UltimaDot now shows, there is a new Ultima X interview at GameSpy, also featuring a 104MB movie about the game.
Nuvie and UInfoA progress report has been posted on the Nuvie website, exactly one month since the last one. Over the last month, several new features have been added, bringing Nuvie closer to the original Ultima 6. The new features are described in the progress report, some supported by new screenshots.
I've also updated two Ultima Information pages on Dino's Ultima Page:
Era and U7CBI forgot to mention yesterday that the Era website has been updated with a news post about cloth simulation and the effect of wind on cloth objects such as banners and flags. However, the dates of the news have been deleted - a cunning move since it can decrease the amount of people begging for updates.
There's also some news from the Ultima 7: Chronicles of Batlin project - there is a topic on Hacki's Ultima Forum where a member of the project posted an explanation as to why the U7CB site is down:
Our host took our site down, don't worry though - once we find a new host we'll get the site back up.
We're also considering releasing a demo of our work on the Banes modification to try and keep interest in our work.
That says it all - just as I said in yesterday's news, their host deleted their site, and it will be back as soon as they find a new host.
U1 site dead for goodBad news today. Two more sites have died:
UltimaDot has a new fact sheet of the Ultima 6 Project, as well as news of another Ultima X preview at ActionTrip. My Ultima X information page has been updated with this link too for completeness' sake.
Ultima 6 Full SpeechThe Origin Museum website has been updated with an article about full speech in Ultima 6. The curators of the Origin Museum got their hands on an FM-TOWNS machine, which was a Japanese computer released in 1989 that was very advanced for its time, as well as an FM-TOWNS port of Ultima 6, complete with speech! The article contains a few samples of this speech, some of which was recorded from the real Ultima people (for example Richard Garriott's voice was used for Lord British). This article contains information about something unique to the Ultima scene, so don't miss reading it!
The UDIC roster has been updated with four new dragons.
Ultima X Page at Dino'sTo satiate the thirst for knowledge about Ultima X in the Ultima fan community, I've added an Ultima X section to my Ultima information. This page features a brief history of how the Ultima X rumours started and lots of links to resources such as trailers, screenshots, information about the team, information, Ultima X websites, previews and the X-Event.
UltimaDot pointed out GameSpy's Biz Buzz, which refers to Ultima X while discussing the business behind games.
Ultima IX: Redemption are looking for professional, hardcore programmers in order to expand their programming team to be able to implement some new game systems into the remake.
Wayward Forums UpdatedThe Wayward Avatar forums, which were the busiest Ultima forums in the whole web (having slowed down a bit lately), have been updated. They now use a phpBB forum, though still maintaining a lot of its original theme (such as the colours). Jaz, who made the update, has posted an announcement, in which there is also an explanation why 3 forums (Encyclopaedia Britannia, Baldur's Gate 2 and Ultima X) have been removed.
The Redemption forum is one of the Wayward Avatar forums as well, so it has been affected by the update as well.
The Ultima 7: Chronicles of Batlin website has also been updated - the new spells have been put on hold, progress has been made with the Wantonness Bane quest, and they need 2 more bug testers.
Dino's Ultima Page MaintenanceI've performed some maintenance to Dino's Ultima Page, including:
Notice also that August 2003 was the month with most news ever on Dino's Ultima Page, having surpassed the old record-bearer (August 2002) thanks to the many updates about Ultima X.
Era Dialogue Script Docs ReleasedTelemachos, leader of Era: The Arken-Throne, has released the documentation for Era dialogue scripting at a topic on the Era forum. Anyone who is interested in how Era's dialogue engine works should read it.
Ultima 9 galleryI've made an Ultima 9 gallery, finally updating the last of the old information files. The gallery contains five sections and a whole list of links to pictures elsewhere on the net, and it is needless to say that more of these external links have been added as well. Try moving your cursor over the thumbnails of my gallery for some interesting comments.
Warning - Lamer on the LooseSome light has been shed on why the Ultima 7: The Chronicles of Batlin shut down yesterday. They received an email from a person who asked them to shut down or face legal repercussions. RhoneRanger, the programmer on the Enilno remake, got the following message today:
EA does not allow the remakes of Ultimas. Please cease in your project. Although the story line is good, you can not carry the Ultima name. Please change the names, or do something to ensure this remake will not be attached to EA.
Thomas Downs
Both the Ultima 7: The Chronicles of Batlin and Enilno remakes posted warnings that this email was a fake. The leader of the Enilno team forwarded a warning email against this fake, stating a few facts about it, including that the email address was masked and that there is no "Thomas Downs" working at EA. The email is therefore considered as a lame prank by a person with too much time on his hands.
The Ultima 7: Chronicles of Batlin project is therefore back in action, as the shutdown yesterday was done in fear of legal action and the team now has nothing more to fear.
Dino's Ultima Page had some downtime today (for the first time, I might add), because the server itself was down. Anyway, it's back, so there's nothing to worry about. I also finished updating the Lord British page.
An Ultima X FAQ has been added to UltimaDot.
Chronicles shut down, Guardian pageBelieve it or not, Ultima 7: The Chronicles of Batlin has already died. The goodbye notice on the website has caused confusion, because it says "We have been shut down"
, which might insinuate that EA or something shut it down. What caused it to shut down so quickly is not known, but hopefully some light will be shed on this soon.
I've been working on adding something interesting to Dino's Ultima Page. The first thing I did was to add a page about the Guardian, where you can read all about the history of the Guardian, theories about his origins and even interesting information accompanied with screenshots about how his teeth change with every game! I'm also in the process of updating the page about Lord British which hasn't even been updated to properly reflect the new layout of the site. I've been rewriting much of it, but I haven't finished yet, so the page is currently half-updated (I'll finish updating it tomorrow).
New remakeThere is a new Ultima spin-off in progress. Named Ultima 7: The Chronicles of Batlin, it will be using the Exult engine in a spin-off project in which you play as Batlin before the arrival of the Avatar upon Serpent Isle. The most interesting thing is that a former Origin employee appears to be on the team, providing the missing original plot of Serpent Isle.
Two new dragons have been added to the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter's roster.
The Ultima IX: Redemption site has been updated, and a new MP3 has been released.
La Legende d' Ultima has mentioned Chronicles of Batlin and the Redemption update.
Forum changes and new materialThe Lazarus forum is now open again, with its fresh new theme to match the Lazarus website (where the forum change has been announced). If any of the old icons appear on the forum, try refreshing or read the instructions on the announcement topic.
The Lazarus site isn't the only one that had some changes made to its forum. I've updated my own forum (the old forum script was 10 versions behind what it is now) which now has several new features and security enhancements.
La Legende d' Ultima has also been updated. In its news, it mentioned the Eriadain update, and the Serpent Isle page on La Legende d' Ultima itself has been updated with a map of Gorlab Swamp.
The Dragon Press has been updated with none other than the official Lazarus background story - "The Fall of Lord Blackthorn".
Eriadain is back!UltimaDot has 2 new news updates about Ultima X: Odyssey:
The Lazarus forum has been temporarily locked, as is explained by Aegis Kleais in a recent announcement. The forum will remain locked for a couple of days while Aegis changes its theme to suit Lazarus better.
Moa Dragon, the leader of Eriadain, has finally posted an update after 13 months of silence. As can be expected, in the update he explains the lack of updates, and gives us a little progress report. According to the update, the next update should feature screenshots of a living and inhabited Britain.
UltimaDot updates; Dino's Ultima Page WAP siteThere are 3 updates on UltimaDot, where:
There's also news from Dino's Ultima Page; I've just set up a WAP site so that even mobile phones with WAP or GPRS enabled can access the latest news on Dino's Ultima Page. To access the WAP site, go to http://dino.shiftedphase.com/ultima/news.wml using your mobile phone. The WAP site consists only of a news page, and the news is very brief to fit on a phone's screen. Furthermore, only the most recent news will be displayed. I don't guarantee that the WAP site will be updated as frequently as the normal site, but I'll try.
Ultima 6 fun page; UXO review & screenshotsThe Ultima X page at La Legende d' Ultima has been greatly embellished - before, it was a brief summary of the little that was known about Ultima X at the time, but it now contains all sorts of information about the game (in French).
UltimaDot has mentioned more Ultima X screenshots at RPGDot and a report about the X-Event at RPG Vault.
I've made an Ultima 6 fun page to add to my Ultima information. It contains cheats, tricks and ways to exploit bugs - there are some of the common cheats (such as the spam cheat) and some other tricks that nobody knows, complete with screenshots.
Official UXO site reports X-EventThe amount of news from Ultima X: Odyssey has finally calmed down; the only news today comes from UltimaDot, where they have mentioned both the exclusive X-Event photos on Dino's Ultima Page (added yesterday) and a new page on the official Ultima X site about the X-Event - this page contains both an article and photos of the event.
More UXO stuffAs lots more UXO material is showering in, I'm thinking of opening an Ultima X section on Dino's Ultima Page. A lot of people seem to be contrary to this new game, but there are many people who want information about Ultima X, so it's only right that I provide it. Besides, even if it's a MMORPG, it follows the Ultima series unlike Ultima Online, so it may be considered part of the series.
Several Ultima people have attended the X-Event in San Francisco. To name a few, there was Underworld Dragon, New Breed, and the curators of the Origin Museum, thanks to whom I can now offer an exclusive of the UXO Event. This new article contains 35 exclusive pictures of the X-Event, taken by the curators of the Origin Museum themselves. The pictures are obviously copyright of the Origin Museum, and may not be copied without the curators' consent.
An Ultima X gallery has been added to La Legende d' Ultima, containing many of the screenshots and concept art that have been released so far.
There are also 5 new updates to UltimaDot, including:
Another shower of X-materialAnother screenshot has been released on the Ultima IX: Redemption website. It shows the gypsy's wagon, and although it might not feature within the game, it gives an idea of what to expect.
Lots more material about Ultima X: Odyssey has come to light, and both La Legende d' Ultima and UltimaDot have been updated to announce them (the latter with a whole shower of updates). Here's a quick list of what's new:
...And finally, there's an Ultima V: Lazarus fact sheet now at UltimaDot.
X-EventSince the Ultima X Event took place between yesterday and today, lots of new Ultima X material has been released. The official Ultima X site now shows a press-release entitled "Origin Announces Development of Ultima X: Odyssey"
, and the other Ultima news sites, including UltimaDot and La Legende d' Ultima, have posted links to reviews, screenshots and movies on other sites. Ultima X material includes:
Apart from mentioning all the Ultima X updates, UltimaDot has set its spotlight on Mysterious Sosaria, and has pointed out some interesting discussion in the Ultima IX: Redemption forum.
Speaking of Ultima IX: Redemption, its first screenshots have been released on its website. The screenshots, which are of the Drylands, are accompanied by a description of the place.
UltimaDot plagued with virus emailsYesterday, Myrthos has posted news at UltimaDot, explaining the amount of virus emails they are receiving, and appealing to everyone to get hold of a good and up to date virus scanner.
La Legende updateThere is an update at La Legende d' Ultima, explaining what has happened in the Ultima scene since its last update. The news it brings include news of the remakes and of the recent Ultima X short movie.
There's also an update on UltimaDot, pointing out a forum topic which asks what the public would like to know about Ultima X after the X-Event coming up this week.
New DragonThe roster at UDIC has been updated, now showing Ressurection Dragon as the latest Dragon on the roster.
U8 pictures & UltimaDotApart from mentioning the new Redemption MP3 and the Ultima X: Odyssey movie, UltimaDot has pointed its spotlight at Joxter Dragon's Stones Archive, a site containing the lyrics of Stones and downloads of many different versions of the music. Also, UltimaDot pointed out a new Ultima-related project - Nazghul. Nazghul is a new game using an enhanced version of the Ultima 5 engine - it is not a remake of Ultima 5 but its developer is going to make an improved Ultima 5 engine and use it to create his own game (from what I've understood).
The Ultima V: Lazarus website has announced the last chapter and epilogue of its background story, which have been up since yesterday.
I've finally updated my Ultima VIII Guide, adding many more pictures to the Landscape page. There are just 3 more pictures I need to add for the Landscape page to be complete.
U4 info update, UX movie, cancelled Origin gamesI've updated my Ultima IV information page, organising the links to Ultima 4 maps and adding the new "Items" and "Dialogue" information sections.
Commander Falcon pointed out a discussion in which several games that were being made by Origin but which never saw the light of day are mentioned. Among them is a certain "Lords of Ultima", which may have been intended to be a real-time strategy game.
UO Stratics has news of another Ultima X movie.
Although it hasn't yet been announced on the Ultima V: Lazarus website, the Last Chapter and Epilogue of Lazarus' background story "The Fall of Lord Blackthorn" have been released.
The Enilno website has moved permanently to a new home. It had originally moved temporarily, but since there was a problem that couldn't be fixed on Myran's host, Enilno has moved from http://www.myran.com/enilno to http://www.dr-code.com/enilno/.
The Ultima IX: Redemption website has had another update - 3 broken links to MP3 downloads now work, and a new MP3 of Buccaneer's Den has been released.
UltimaDot has mentioned the release of the Ultima V: Lazarus fanfiction and the Enilno site move.
IT-HE update & U9R Fact SheetParcival at UltimaDot has compiled a fact sheet for Ultima IX: Redemption.
IT-HE Software, a fantastic site teaching of unorthodox methods possible in Ultima and other games, that hasn't been updated since last Christmas, has finally been updated with a new Ultima 6 trick. The site doesn't point out which trick is new, but I'd take a guess that it's the last one on the Ultima 6 tricks page, entitled "How to Unlock Stubborn Doors".
The grande finale for the Ultima V: Lazarus fanfiction entitled "The Fall of Lord Blackthorn" is to be expected today. At this time, the last 2 chapters haven't been released yet, but they are scheduled for release today.
Yesterday's update to Dino's Ultima Page was a bit late (just about 14 hours earlier than today's), so if you missed it, don't forget to check it out.
...And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue celebrating my 16th birthday. :)
Remake and Dino's Ultima Page updatesThere's another update to the Ultima IX: Redemption website today - the site has experienced minor updates and Vistaer Dragon pointed out that the "Join Us" application form was pointing to the wrong address so any who filled in that form over the last 2 months should resubmit their applications. He also stated the Morrowind requirements for the demo.
The Adventures of Blackthorn website has been updated as well, notifying us that the forum has moved and has changed appearance. Also, the progress bar has been updated because of the new talents that joined the project, and a release date (March 2004) has been announced.
UltimaDot has posted news updates about the Ultima IX: Redemption, Adventures of Blackthorn, Nuvie and Ultima 6 Project updates.
There are also a couple of updates from Dino's Ultima Page itself. First, I've made an email form so you can send an email by just filling in the form on the new contact page. All the contact details are there. Secondly, I now have a subdomain with shiftedphase, so you can visit Dino's Ultima Page at either http://www.shiftedphase.com/~dino/ultima/ or http://dino.shiftedphase.com/ultima/.
U6P Progress reportThe Ultima 6 Project website has another update with news of progress as far as dialogue and worldbuilding go. As always, Zephyr, who posted the update, appeals to anyone who would volunteer as a 3D designer to contact him.
I forgot to mention in yesterday's update that apart from the large progress report, Vistaer Dragon has also posted an interview, concept art, a movie and news of his joining the Redemption team on the Ultima 9: Redemption remake's website.
UltimaDot has mentioned the updates to Ultima 9: Redemption, as well as the fact that the RPGDot Network, of which UltimaDot is part, intends to cut down on ads.
I've made a small update to the page about Dino's Ultima Page, updating the list of sites of which I bring news.
Big updates from Redemption and NuvieVistaer Dragon has posted a huge update on Avatus' behalf to the Ultima 9: Redemption website. The update is huge, and takes up a third of the news page alone. It's a progress report, and Avatus has mentioned what the team has been up to lately. Among the many things mentioned are U7-style dialogues, eating and resting systems, the demo being situated in New Magincia and a custom interface for the remake to replace the Morrowind interface.
There's a big update at the Nuvie website as well, mentioning all the new things added to the engine since the last update 3 months ago.
This time, UltimaDot has pointed out two discussions about which game engine is best for remakes - there's the one at the Lazarus forum and the one at the RPGDot forum.
Ether Dragon is back!I've added more links to the Ultima Underworld I information page. There were originally just 10 links, so I added many more to provide a decent amount of links to anyone wanting something related to Ultima Underworld.
While I was collecting links for the Ultima Underworld info page, I just happened to notice by chance that Ultima Lives, which is a very good Ultima resource site, has been updated after about 15 months of inactivity. Ether Dragon, its webmaster, said that he collected lots of Ultima info and that he's going to add it to the site.
UltimaDot has mentioned the Exult 1.1 Beta 2 release which I mentioned yesterday.
More remake updatesThe Exult team has released Exult 1.1 Beta 2 to correct some serious bugs with the previous beta release. You can find it at the Exult download page.
Ultima V: Lazarus has announced the fourth chapter of its background story "The Fall of Lord Blackthorn" - "By Blade".
And there's more news from UltimaDot, including:
Updates from RemakesThe Ultima VI Project has released some music samples by Steven Keys.
The Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter welcomes a new Dragon on its roster - Dumars Dragon.
There are another two updates from UltimaDot - they've mentioned the U8E news I posted yesterday, and they also put together an Enilno fact sheet with information about Enilno, the Ultima 2 remake.
Last of all, I've updated my "Tale of the Mystics" fanfiction with two new chapters.
Ultima X PreviewRendelius at UltimaDot has posted 2 updates to the site - one is about a member of UltimaDot staff that just got injured, and another is about an Ultima X Preview at Online Gaming Network that outlines what is known about Ultima X so far.
That's not all - I've posted news at Ultima VIII - Exile about the new dialogue system we managed to make for the remake and also mentioning progress for the upcoming demo.
Ultima Collector's GuideThere is an update to the site of The Ultimate Ultima Collector's Guide, better outlining what the guide will contain. This is a huge guide that has been in progress for some time now, and it will be a guide of all things Ultima.
July 2003 news of Dino's Ultima Page has been archived.
Tale of the MysticsSince there's no news from the Ultima community today, I've made an update to Dino's Ultima Page to make some news. "Tale of the Mystics", my fanfiction, has two new chapters - 18 and 19.
U5 fanfiction & Exult portsThe Ultima V: Lazarus website has announced the release of the third chapter of The Fall of Lord Blackthorn. This news has also been mentioned on UltimaDot.
UltimaDot has also mentioned the U6P job opening which I pointed out in yesterday's update to Dino's Ultima Page.
The Exult website says that packages for RedHat 9 and the Sharp Zaurus have been added to the Exult Download page.
And more from UltimaDotThere's another update on the Ultima VI Project's website, and it's another job opening (they need a programmer now).
Again, UltimaDot isn't lacking updates, and in fact there are three new ones. They've mentioned:
July news on Dino's Ultima Page has not yet been archived so that whoever missed yesterday's update, or that of the day before, can just scroll down and see them, since both were done a little late.
UltimaDot againToday is exactly one year since the last update on the Eriadain website. Of course, the Eriadain team has released some screenshots last February, but anyone going to the site will probably think the project is dead, so an update there would really be handy.
There are 4 new news updates on UltimaDot, which are:
Yesterday's update to Dino's Ultima Page was done a little late (as is today's), so don't miss it if you haven't seen it already.
KK U8 Guide Public (and other news)Kobra Kai Dragon's Guide to Pagan - Ultima 8, an excellent guide to methods of enjoying Ultima 8 by going beyond normal means permitted by the game, is finally public. This link has been added to my Ultima 8 Fun page.
My Articles section has a new addition - "The Bar that killed the King", an article about the origin of the easter egg of that plaque that kills Lord British in Ultima 7. This is the same as yesterday's post in my forum, just that the details are all in the article and the pictures show. Thanks Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum for allowing this.
The Exult website announces the release of Exult 1.1 Beta1, which is now available for download. This has also been mentioned on UltimaDot.
UltimaDot have also written an Ultima 8: Exile fact sheet. I took the opportunity to mention this on the Exile website as well as progress on the upcoming demo.
An update to the Ultima VI Project's website notifies visitors of problems with the site and apologises for any inconvenience.
And finally, UltimaDot have released an exclusive MP3 of Adventures of Blackthorn called Kholdan. The Adventures of Blackthorn website itself has been updated to mention this as well as the fact that a German translator has joined the team.
U8: Treasure Cove found & U7: The real plaque storyThere is some important news today, so I'll take the occasion to introduce a new feature to Dino's Ultima Page - important news titles now have a black background to stand out more.
Kobra Kai has discovered Treasure Cove. It's been under our nose for years, and only now do I realise that the Slayer Quest is Treasure Cove. The Omissions and Slayer Quest walkthrough pages of my Ultima 8 Guide have been updated with proof that the Slayer dungeon is Treasure Cove (including a screenshot).
The Origin Museum has acquired exclusive photos and the real story of the origin of the plaque in Ultima 7 that kills Lord British. The story has been posted in my forum.
Another addition to my Ultima 8 Guide is that of more information about how to break out of area boundaries in Ultima 8, that I had posted in my forum some time ago.
And there's another change to my Guide to Ultima VIII - Pagan, in which information about breaking out of area boundaries and the Cheat Room (which both aren't cheating) have been moved from the Cheating page to the Hidden Things page. The "Hidden Things" page now serves to show discoveries and hidden goodies, while the "Cheating" page only deals with real cheating (i.e. using cheat programs, hackmovers, etc.).
The last update to my Ultima 8 Guide is on the Opinions page, where I have added a link to Ultima 8 opinions on UltimaDot.
Away from Dino's Ultima Page, UltimaDot has two new updates. One is about the anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page that was 2 days ago, and the other is about a news article on the German magazine Gamestar which links to some artwork. This artwork is shown to be of Ultima Online, but the Gamestar editor thinks it really belongs to Ultima X.
And finally, Waving Dragon is the latest dragon on the roster.
AnniversaryIf you didn't realise, today is the first anniversary of Dino's Ultima Page. In this event, I've written an article about the site's progress in its first year.
Again, there's an update on UltimaDot, in which music and screenshots have been taken from the Ultima X X-Event movie.
LOADS of updatesI'm back from a great trip around central Europe (visited Germany, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium). So, what did we miss while I was away?
Most of the sites of which I keep track have been updated. There hasn't been this amount of news in such a brief period of time for quite some time, and I think it's mostly thanks to UltimaDot.
Ultima IV magic screenshotsSurprise surprise, another update! Since I'm going abroad this afternoon, I still found time to update this morning. However, the bad news is that I'll be back from abroad late at night on the 25th, so the next update will be on the 26th, not the 25th.
The Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue website features three new screenshots depicting the magic system in the game.
UltimaDot has two new updates about the Ultima IV magic screenshots and the discussions at the Exile forum.
Dino's Ultima Page goes to sleepThe Ultima V: Lazarus website now mentions the "Britannic Lands" exclusive MP3 put up recently on UltimaDot.
UltimaDot has also been updated (again) with some Enilno goodies including a gallery and a poll.
I'm going abroad tomorrow, so Dino's Ultima Page will hibernate until 25th July (which means no updates till then).
UltimaDotThe relatively new site "UltimaDot" is full of recent news, including an exclusive Lazarus MP3 called "Britannic Lands" and a link to a site containing an Ultima MP3 Collection.
There's been a small update to Dino's Ultima Page as well, with a few new links added, including a link to Ultima 5 computer-generated maps and links to parts of the unused original plot for Serpent Isle mentioned on the Exult forum.
U4 new site designThe Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue website comes with a new design and new material, including the screenshot of a tower, a desktop background showing a ghost and new music. The site has also expanded, archiving news and dividing different media into pages of their own.
Once again, La Legende d' Ultima has mentioned this update in its news.
Lazarus fanfictionA long-awaited update (for those who knew about it before from the Lazarus forum) to the Lazarus website presents us with a new fanfiction by New Breed as a sequel to The Tale of Captain Johne - "The Fall of Lord Blackthorn". These two fanfictions form part of the official Lazarus background story. "The Fall of Lord Blackthorn" is not a complete fanfiction yet - in fact just the table of contents and the prologue are done, but a new chapter will be added weekly until its completion on 15th August.
Meanwhile, La Legende d' Ultima is always up to date, and in today's update, it mentions the updates to the Lazarus, Era and Adventures of Blackthorn websites that I mentioned today and yesterday.
Blackthorn horse ridingThe Adventures of Blackthorn project has managed to make horse riding work, and there are 2 screenshots showing it.
There's also an update to the Era website just letting everyone know that work is progressing faster than before.
Mentioned on La LegendeThere is an update to La Legende d' Ultima about the Adventures of Blackthorn news which I mentioned in yesterday's news.
New peopleTwo new Dragons are listed on the roster of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter.
Also, the Adventures of Blackthorn team has a new lead musician.
Enilno new siteThe website of Enilno, the Ultima 2 Project, has a new design and a new screenshot. This has also been mentioned at La Legende d' Ultima.
U6P dialogue engine and UX release dateAn update on the Ultima VI Project informs us of three new members added to the team, as well as the dialogue engine recently finished by Zephyr.
The U6 Project's update has also been mentioned at La Legende d' Ultima's news. Apart from this, La Legende has also mentioned the release date of Ultima X (at the end of this year) as well as the fact that the SI French team need people to test their translation.
My "Tale of the Mystics" fanfiction has also been updated, with the addition of Chapter 17.
Dino's Ultima Page updatesOnce again, there are some updates to Dino's Ultima Page, including:
Small updatesDrakmoor Dragon has been added to the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter as the latest Dragon on the roster.
There has been a little update also to Adventures of Blackthorn, who now have a new member called Ikkyo.
Legende newsOver the past 2 days (today and yesterday) there have been 2 updates to La Legende d' Ultima (in French), speaking of the original Serpent Isle plot documents as well as the relatively new "Lost Sosaria" spinoff project.
Remakers are volunteersIn an update to the U6 Project website, Zephyr makes it clear that theirs is a team of volunteers, since people have been applying for paid jobs with them.
More DragonsThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter has 3 new dragons, as you can see on the chronological roster.
Serpent Isle original plotAn announcement has been made on the Exult forum by Andy who has found and uploaded some Serpent Isle plot docs, which contain hints to things that were left out of the game.
This announcement has also been mentioned on Hacki's Ultima Page.
La Legende d' Ultima has been updated regularly over the last few days, and has lots of new news, including the addition of a page about Escape from Mount Drash following Telemachos' PC port of said game. My Complete Guide to Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash has been consequently updated with links to this new information page.
My Serpent Isle page has been updated with links to the new Serpent Isle plot docs and many other resources, such that there are about 3 and half times as many links now as there were before.
As the news on the Lazarus website says, a new version of the Lazarus title theme by Terilem has been released.
Have a look at yesterday's news on Dino's Ultima Page too if you didn't already, because I updated late yesterday and you might have missed it.
Hidden Theurgy devices in Tenebrae!My Ultima 8 Guide has been updated - you will find that the "Hidden Things" page has a new section showing where four Theurgy devices are hidden, including three pieces of silver ore and a fist focus.
Mt Drash Complete Guide; Ultima X title pictureIn the event of Telemachos' PC port of Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash released 4 days ago, it took me 2 days (today and yesterday) to write a Complete Guide to Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash. Everything you need to know about the game is there. I think that this is the first complete guide to Mt. Drash on the net, and it is also the first complete game guide on this site.
A screenshot of the Ultima X title screen has leaked to the public, as you can see on the UO Stratics news. This new game will apparently be called Ultima X: Odyssey. You can also see the picture at another location.
The Adventures of Blackthorn website has been redesigned, and you can find lots of new stuff in it.
Savage Empire wisp dialogueDialogue in the Savage Empire section of Dino's Ultima Page has been updated. A new dialogue, that of the wisp, has been added, and both existing character dialogues have been updated with a description of each character. The wisp's dialogue was much harder to make than Intanya's, because I also had to deal with yes/no choices and name input.
Meanwhile, Tiberius, leader of Ultima V: Lazarus, urges us not to miss the September issue of the PC Gamer magazine, which will feature a short interview and some more Lazarus screenshots.
Hacki's Ultima Page has also been updated, mentioning the news on the Ultima 6 Project.
Ultima VI Project newsThe Ultima VI Project website has been updated, bringing to our attention the change of plans from a Cove demo to a Trinsic demo, as well as reminding everyone of the need of artists.
Mt. Drash ported to PCTelemachos, the leader of Era: The Arken-Throne, has ported Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash to the PC, as he said on the Exult forum. You can download the PC port of Mt. Drash complete with source code and a .jpg containing documentation.
U2 links & La LegendeToday I've added some links to my Ultima 2 info page, and now there are roughly 2 and half times as many links as there were before.
Sergorn Dragon's French site "La Legende d' Ultima" has been updated as well today, explaining the current situation with an interview with Richard Garriott, remakes and fanfiction.
Savage Empire linksSince there are no new updates on other Ultima websites today, I'll make up for it by adding Ultima information to Dino's Ultima Page. When there were previously just nine links on the Savage Empire page, there are now about three and a half times as many. The collection of Savage Empire links is also near completion, because there aren't many sites with Savage Empire information.
UW2 Links, Nitpicks & fanfictionThe amount of links in my Ultima Underworld 2 Information page have been more than tripled. There were previously only eight links, but now I've added many more.
Hacki's Ultima Page has lots of new nitpicks, as eleven of its pages have been updated.
There is also new news from the fanfiction scene, as the Dragon Press also has new updates. Two new limericks by me have been added. BlueClaw's "The Journalist and the Sea"
has also been updated, and the news also mentions that "The Chronicles of Lord British"
will also be added to the Dragon Press soon thanks to SilverWisp Dragon.
U4 InformationI've added a few new links to my Ultima 4 information page, including the new "Ethics and Virtues" section, more information concentrations, more maps, and more file format information.
U9 walkthrough and UDICEverything I wanted to add to my Ultima 9 walkthrough has been added, including:
Onagh Dragon is now the latest Dragon on the chronological roster.
U9 walkthrough, Laz shots and Tseramed modI have started an Ultima 9 walkthrough, though I don't intend to complete it (by writing the whole thing till the end of the game). This is just to show what there is to do in the initial areas in detail.
Ultima V: Lazarus has new screenshots from New Magincia that you might want to check out.
As Dominus has posted on the Exult forum, Ken Demarest, who is impersonated by the character Tseramed in Ultima 7, had created a mod for Neverwinter Nights.
Tale of the Mystics Chapter 16Since there are no updates from the other Ultima sites today, I made an update myself to Dino's Ultima Page. My fanfiction, Tale of the Mystics, has been updated with the new Chapter 16 and a couple of other minor updates were made to it as well.
Exile AnniversaryOn the occasion of Exile's first anniversary, I posted some news on its website about some of its earlier history, as well as a status report about the upcoming demo.
Lots of site updatesLots of updates have been made to Dino's Ultima Page, including:
Ultima 7 HumourI've added a page with a nice little joke you can do in Ultima 7 (Black Gate) - The Leaking Avatar! Enjoy it!
Consequently, I've added some links to Humour and Fun in my Ultima 7 Information page.
The progress indicators of Ultima V: Lazarus have been updated (even though it's not mentioned on their news page).
MMAzrael Dragon's Ultima 7 Remake for Neverwinter Nights will apparently be getting a new home.
3 New DragonsThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, as usual, always finds new members. In fact, there are 3 new dragons as you can see on the roster.
U8 Guide and Exult for ZaurusI've updated my Ultima 8 Guide again, this time with links to resources on Auric's Ultima Moongates and The World of Ultima: Year Two. Consequently, the Maps & Places and Walkthrough pages have been updated.
As announced on the Exult forum, there is a new package for Zaurus available for download.
U8 Guide updated againThere are more updates for my Ultima 8 Guide:
U8 Guide & U5 for NWNThere is news from the Ultima 5 for NWN remake! There are three new screenshots to see... you can check out the first, the second and the third directly from these links.
My Ultima 8 Guide has been updated with new Ultima 8 information, among which you will find:
...And I have more information planned to be added in the next few days. Additionally, after my last exam on 5th June, I'll work towards the completion of the Ultima 8 Guide and possibly start a new guide for some other game (I'm currently considering Ultima 5, Savage Empire or Serpent Isle).
Various NewsMore material has been released on the Ultima VIII - Exile website. The team page has been updated to reflect the current status, and there is also new music as well as news of a 3D modeller who has joined the team.
The Dragon Press has also been updated - my "Tale of the Mystics" version on the Dragon Press is now up to date with the one on Dino's Ultima Page, and BlueClaw's "The Journalist and the Sea" has been updated as well.
The Nuvie website is continuously adding new screenshots even though it is not being mentioned in the updates section, so you can go there and find new things even if the news doesn't say anything.
Small updatesIt's been a long time again... but I've updated my "Tale of the Mystics" fanfiction with Chapter 15.
The Redemption updates have been announced on Hacki's Ultima Page as well.
Era newsAn update to the Era website features new screenshots and the mention of engine progress.
Redemption has movedThe Ultima IX: Redemption website has moved yesterday from http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~fountain/ to http://ultima.ukpcnet.co.uk/. Please update your bookmarks.
The Redemption website has also been updated - there are in fact 3 new updates! They are about the book competition, public demo and the need for recruiting.
U8 DiscoveryMy investigations of yet unknown things in Ultima 8 are shedding light on new discoveries. I have posted a topic in my Ultima forum about what I have discovered today, and its contents will be added to my Ultima 8 Guide sometime in future.
Great Info UpdateI am pleased to announce that my Ultima V Information is complete! Ultima 5 links to resources on every known Ultima website have been added, and the amount of links has been nearly quadrupled, with 70 new links. The Ultima 5 information page will therefore not need another update until I turn it into a Guide and add my own information.
I've just noticed a recent update on Sergorn Dragon's French La Legende d' Ultima (3rd May to be more accurate). It mentions three news items about what happened in the last 2 months, so the people who know French can see a summary of what happened lately from there.
Withstand the Fury Dragon is now the latest Dragon on the roster.
DS2 Announced!As has been mentioned on the Lazarus website, Dungeon Siege II has been announced! The news on the Dungeon Siege website announces this, and you can see the Dungeon Siege II site as well.
There is another update on Hacki's Ultima Page, which is about Ultima music. Steven Keys, who has a music website, has made some Ultima music. As a result, this link has also been added to the General Information page of Dino's Ultima Page.
Very small updatesThe news I announced yesterday about Gamestar has also been announced on Hacki's Ultima Page.
The continuously updated UDIC Dragon roster now shows Shadow Griffin Dragon as the latest Dragon.
I've changed the Ultima 4 Monsters page a little so that there is no longer a big gap between each monster.
ProgressThe restoration of the old info files is still in progress - the copy protection questions and answers has been restored just yesterday.
As Trevor Clim pointed out on the Exult forum, the editor of German PC Game Magazine "Gamestar" will ask Richard Garriott the most exciting questions he receives by email, as you can read from the actual article. If you don't know German and want to ask Richard Garriott something, post on the topic where Trevor Clim mentioned this, and he will ask the editor for you.
There is a progress report from Nuvie, the engine for Ultima 6, Martian Dreams and The Savage Empire. You can do a number of things now (further explained in their latest news), and apart from this, there are also two new screenshots and a download.
Info and NitpicksThere are many new links in my Ultima 6 information page, since I am refurbishing many of the info pages these days and adding links to them.
Hacki's Ultima Page has also been updated, and there are new nitpicks on three different pages.
Hacki pollHacki's Ultima Page has a new poll, as well as the results of the previous one.
The Ultima VIII - Exile website has also been updated with new team talk from Corvwyn.
Hacki Major UpdateAt last, there is a great update on Hacki's Ultima page featuring 50 new nitpicks and many new features in the site's design!
I've made an information update to Dino's Ultima Page - you'll find that the amount of links in the Ultima 7 Info page have been doubled and the Characters and Dialogues section of The Savage Empire has been updated because you can now actually talk to Intanya! See the Savage Empire page for more information on how to use it.
Small updatesThe job openings list of the Ultima 6 Project has been updated, as there have been new members added to the team.
Four new dragons have been added to the roster.
Exult newsThere is an array of news from the Exult project.
Site updatesI have updated two of the old information pages that were getting obsolete especially because of the fact that they were still partially compatible with the older design of my site. The first page I updated is the Ultima IV Monsters page which is now totally adjusted to the current design of the site. Also, I've changed the old "Ultima VI Magic Wares" page into an Ultima 6 Items page. I've added pictures and improved the information within, and I will also be adding information about the regular items and more unique items.
A new portrait and new music have been released on the Exile site.
Ultima XHas EA listened to the people who signed the Ultima X Petition? Natreg Dragon pointed out some news on Stratics concerning the long awaited Ultima X. The bad news is that if the news holds true, Ultima X will be an MMORPG. Go to Stratics to read the actual news about Ultima X.
MaintenanceA few small additions have been made to the site:
Version 0.6.0 of pu6e, the Ultima 6 world editor, has been released. This world editor can be used for Martian Dreams and The Savage Empire as well!
For those people wanting a French version of Serpent Isle, there is news on the Exult forum - Artaxerxes has announced the completion of the SI-French translation.
New fanfics; Redemption competitionThree new fanfictions by Sergorn Dragon have been added to the Dragon Press - these are "A Destiny's Tale"
, "Return to the Serpent Isle"
and "Return to Britannia"
.
Avatus has launched a competition on the Redemption forum where people can submit books for the remake and receive credit for it. The author of the best book will have an NPC in the game based on him.
Lost Vale clues foundI have received some feedback pointing out an article with clues to the plot of the Lost Vale. This resulted in a small update of my Ultima 8 Guide - find the information on the Lost Vale page.
Redemption Demo aheadOn the Redemption forum, Avatus has announced an upcoming demo.
Six updates from ReconstructionAfter two months of inactivity, Ultima: The Reconstruction has news for us again... and there's a lot this time. There are, in fact, six updates.
About Site RevisedI've revised the page about Dino's Ultima Page, removing stuff nobody cares about and keeping it to the point.
Another DragonThe latest dragon on the chronological roster is now Go Dragon.
Ultima 4 Dev DiaryIn another update to Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue, there is a new entry in the Development Diary about dialogue editing.
Exile musicThere is news from the Exile project - the team has taken on two musicians, therefore there may be a new music sample very soon.
UDIC DragonUsurrian Tigress Dragon is now the latest Dragon on the roster.
Remake upgradesThere's some news at Lazarus about some upgrades to be done to the team's development centre.
U6edit, an Ultima 6 world editor, has been ported to Windows just a couple of days ago for a test version.
The Enilno team has released some new screenshots that clearly show progress in the development of the engine.
Era waterThe Era: The Arken-Throne team have added some tech talk about graphical effects and the Era water. It's truly awesome.
ScreenshotsAs a result of fan pressure, Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue has released two new screenshots and a beautiful dragon poster ideal for a desktop wallpaper. This has also been announced on Hacki's Ultima Page.
Although this has not been announced on its website, the Nuvie project has a new screenshot which appears in both the screenshot gallery and the main page.
Dragon Press and Laz interviewThe Wicked Toast interview with Lazarus (the same one I mentioned in yesterday's news) has been mentioned on the Lazarus website.
On the Dragon Press, Shadow of Light Dragon's "The Black Ankh"
has been updated.
The new U6 projectsThe Nuvie project now has a new website with a new design.
Also, there is a new Ultima 6 project called Ultima 6 Online (U6O), which will allow people to play Ultima 6 as a multiplayer game.
March 2003 news has been archived.
Wicked Toast features a new Lazarus interview.
Various updatesI've added a picture to Chapter 12 of Tale of the Mystics so that it is easier to picture the events.
There is an update on the Era: The Arken-Throne website, featuring three new kingdoms and an updated cast of characters.
The Lazarus website has also been updated. In the event of Britain entering the final stages of production, new screenshots have been released.
You may see a sample of the Exile portraits too - in fact, the portrait for Vividos has been released.
Fanfic, Maintenance & DragonI've been performing some maintenance to my sites... I also wanted to apologise for not updating the information on Dino's Ultima Page, but I'm seriously pressed with exams. In fact, I start exams tomorrow.
While performing maintenance, I remembered the Utilities page in my Ultima 8 Guide which was a bit unfriendly because of the fact that the list of maps in Ultima 8 took up most of the page (and you had to scroll down to see the rest of the utilities). Because of that, I put the map list into a little box which you can scroll. Like this, if you want to see the rest of the utilities, you can just skip it, while if you want to see the map list, you can scroll that down.
I've also added some CSS code to make printing more convenient... with this addition, the navigation menu will not feature and only the content will be printed.
I've written a new fanfic entitled "The Return"
, which was originally meant to be a homework but made to be Ultima-inspired. It has also been added to this page on the Dragon Press. Speaking of the Dragon Press, BlueClaw's "Fallen Legacy"
has been updated.
Another Dragon has been added to the roster - Rainstaff
is the newest Dragon in fact.
Four dragonsFour new dragons are listed on the roster of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter.
Another remakeThere is a fairly new remake in production - it's a remake of Ultima 5 for NWN. Just have a look at the screenshots. This remake looks far from the usual new remake that jumps into the Ultima community - in fact the person making it has already completed a remake of Ultima 4 called "Avatarship". Find them over at Lyrac.
New DragonThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter roster by date has had its latest addition. In fact, The Invoker Dragon is the 15400th Dragon on the list.
Nuvie and ExileA new Ultima project has started in the Ultima community - it is Nuvie, a game engine for Ultima 6, Martian Dreams and The Savage Empire just like Exult is for Ultima 7.
There is also news from the Exile website - in fact Corvwyn has posted an update about the Galadis' portraits, the musician job opening, and upcoming content.
Adventures of BlackthornIt seems that although the Adventures of Blackthorn website has been silent since October, development has not. This is evident from the many new screenshots on the front page and the screenshots page.
PressAs announced on the Lazarus site, the April issue of the Computer Games Magazine features an article about Lazarus and some other remakes... the only deal is that you'd have to buy it.
On the UDIC roster by date, Golanv Dragon has been added just before Tristin Dragon.
The page about me has been updated and changed to be more compatible with my other site.
Dragon & ExultTristin Dragon has been added to the Dragon roster, now featuring as the latest Dragon.
There have been some fixes to Exult, including improvements and bug fixes.
Fallen Legacy againFallen Legacy has been updated again on the Dragon Press.
Laz Leader contacts Lord BritishThere are two updates on Lazarus. The first is that Tiberius, the leader, has got in contact with Richard Garriott himself, who has apparently agreed to assist the remake by offering advice. The second update is a release of more screenshots - in fact there are more screenshots from Serpent's Spine as well as from the Deep Forest.
FanfictionOn the Dragon Press, BlueClaw's Fallen Legacy has been updated, and there is a new fanfiction called Mixed Virtues
.
Exult and DragonsExult development has brought new news - check out the Exult site for more details on what's new!
There are two new Dragons on the roster.
Icons and RemakesIf you look at your address bar, you'll notice a new favicon next to the address of Dino's Ultima Page. This might not work in some versions of Internet Explorer.
Ultima V: Lazarus features a large update with lots of new material and even more promised to come in future. There are two new pieces of music, a new portrait, a page full of impressive screenshots and an animation showing transport!
The Lazarus update has also been announced on Hacki's Ultima Page.
The Exile team has archived the February news, so you'll have to go there to see their recent news.
Demo nearIn our effort to keep the public up to date with the demo progress, the Exile team has released some rough figures regarding how much is left for the demo, as well as a much more realistic update to the progress bars.
The latest Dragon on the roster is now Aerick Dragon.
February News has been archived.
Back in ActionHaving finished my exams the day before yesterday, I'm back in action! I got my hands on a GIF animator and added an animated picture of the Ultima 8 morphing object to the Ultima 8 items and fun pages.
Also, the articles section has been updated with an Exult review, written to satisfy indirect feedback of people looking for an Exult review through search engines. Read it to learn more about Exult!
I've posted an update on Exile. As the demo is drawing nearer, I posted some team talk to explain the current situation and more or less how far away the demo is.
You might also be interested to know that Telemachos (leader of Peroxide, currently developing Era) has made a major breakthrough
, as he said in this thread. He has apparently managed to make soft shadows, and you can compare the soft shadow with the hard shadow!
U1 change announced on U:TRVoyager Dragon has finally announced Peroxide's change of name on Ultima: The Reconstruction. If you notice, there is also a new poll, after several months with the old one, and the new poll asks whether it is legal to remake an Ultima. The old poll, which was about which remake you are most looking forward to, was won by the Ultima 1 remake, which is no longer an Ultima remake. Exile was a close second.
More DragonsThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter welcomes two new Dragons to the fold - Alvion Dragon and Gouki Dragon who are the latest on the list.
New forum and new music!As Hacki's Ultima Page has announced, the Ultima Digital Music Archive at Dor-Lomin has been updated. Hurin has posted some background information about the music at the Wayward Avatar.
And also, I've successfully made a new forum! This is to facilitate communication about Dino's Ultima Page as well as other things. It is a simple forum written in PHP, so you don't need to log in or anything (although I might consider making a login script if I receive feedback requesting it). As in the forum, a certain degree of BBCode and smilies are supported even by the guestbook. While adding the forum, I also added a script that allows you to send me private messages in case you don't feel like emailing me but want to give me feedback.
New Dragon, lost musicianNeri Dragon is now the latest Dragon.
The Exile project has lost its musician, unfortunately. The Exile team is in need of a musician now, so if you think you can help, please contact Corvwyn.
Fanfiction and small updatesBlueClaw's Madman's Rage
, a fanfiction on the Dragon Press, has been updated.
Yet another update to the Exile site features an update to Edbgon's team talk.
There has been a little update to my Ultima Information, especially to Ultima 6. Nothing special, I just added a few links.
DownloadsMy Ultima 8 Guide now offers two downloads:
As Hacki's Ultima Page has announced, Hayn Dragon has uploaded a gallery containing a collection of possibly all the pictures from the original Ultima IX.
Redemption - email changeOn the Ultima 9 Redemption website, Avatus explains about a change of email address, as well as about the project's current accomplishments.
U8 Utilities and Peroxide Online EditorThere is a small update to my Ultima 8 Guide featuring a new page dedicated to Ultima 8 utilities.
The latest update to the Era website is about some new tech talk by Stone (one of Peroxide's team members) which is about the Peroxide online editor.
Exile still up to dateYou may read about Exile's atmosphere enhancements in Corvwyn's team talk.
Various newsI have updated the Lost Vale fanfiction with a summary that was on the original fanfiction's website. You can find it on the Lost Vale main page.
The Eriadain project, as Hacki's Ultima Page has also announced, is still alive. Although the website has not been updated, Moa Dragon has announced some screenshots showing current development.
I have kept Exile up to date with a new news post about current development, especially dialogue.
Ultima V: Lazarus has recruited new team members, comprising three worldbuilders.
MembersThe U6 Project is looking for help and has put up quite a few job offers.
The same thing has also been announced on Hacki's Ultima Page.
Draiken Dragon is the newest Dragon that has been added to the chronological roster, although he does not appear as the latest.
Ultima MusicI have made a little update to my general information with links to Ultima music and remixes of Ultima music. I must thank Hacki Dragon for the links.
Era updateEra: The Arken-Throne has announced another update. RPGDot has three new screenshots from Era, featuring, among others, the inventory system. However, there is more on RPGDot than the screenshots that were announced on the Era website, because from the Era information page on RPGDot, a link there takes to an Era interview.
There is also a small update on Ultima VIII - Exile where Edbgon mentions a new news script which should allow Exile members to update more easily.
Lord British InterviewRichard Garriott (aka Lord British) has been interviewed by GameSpy. For those who want to know the latest news of the father of Ultima, read the interview to learn more about his current situation. Those who want to read about Ultima can be satiated too, as it is mentioned near the end of the interview.
Although not about Ultima, there is another interview, also on GameSpy, but this time Warren Spector has been interviewed. Although the interview is about Deus Ex and not Ultima, Warren Spector was one of the great employees of Origin. Those of you who played The Savage Empire or Martian Dreams might recognise his photo on the interview to be nearly identical to the portrait of Johann Spector in those two games. So if you are interested in what the former Origin employees are up to now, both interviews can be of interest.
Fable Dragon has been added to the UDIC chronological Grand Roster as the latest member of the community.
On the Ultima V: Lazarus website, Tiberius (the leader) urges visitors of the site to vote for Lazarus in the poll at The Reconstruction.
Major U8Guide UpdateI have made a large update to my Guide to Ultima VIII - Pagan. These are the new things:
I hope you enjoy the new information, as I will not be very able to update the Ultima VIII Guide much in the coming two weeks because of my exams that start next week.
Lazarus forums openThe latest update on Ultima V: Lazarus announces the opening of the new Lazarus forums.
Hacki's Ultima Page has also announced the new Lazarus forums.
Exile and U8 FunAnother update on the Exile site is about the new team member Galadis, who will be doing 2D art and portraits for the remake.
I have added an update to the fun page on my Ultima VIII Guide, in which I have written about a saved game by Kobra Kai and added an external link.
Some people requested a quiz on my forums when I asked what they would like added to Dino's Ultima Page. Now, I've actually done it. You can test your mettle with my new general quiz. Apart from those who inspired me to make this quiz, I also thank Edbgon for helping me make it work.
Hacki and U8GuideThere are new nitpicks on twelve different pages on Hacki's Ultima Page.
I've made a small update to my Ultima VIII Guide, in which I have added a link to prices from my Items page. There's more to come, however, because I am preparing an update for the Fun page.
Exile demoThe Exile team is working on a prerelease, as has been announced on the website. The demo will be coming soon, and more details will also come shortly.
Forgotten RealmsThe latest Dragon on the UDIC roster by date is Forgotten Realms Dragon.
Madman's RageThe Dragon Press has yet another new addition - a fanfiction called Madman's Rage by BlueClaw.
Ultima 8 Guide and LimericksThere is a new limerick that has been added to the Dragon Press.
I've removed the Lost Vale screenshots page from the Lost Vale fanfiction, and changed the link to the screenshots on my Ultima 8 Guide. Like this, you can see the Lost Vale screenshots in a much more organised manner.
My Ultima 8 Guide has also been updated:
Era and U8GuideAgain Peroxide's Era is proving to be up to date, with two new screenshots entitled "Mine Entrance" and "Mountain Path" in their Work in Progress screenshots section.
My Ultima 8 Guide is also growing in information, as I have just added a Necromancy section under the Ultima 8 magic.
January 2003 news has been archived.
Remake projectsHacki's Ultima Page has also announced the U6 Project's latest news.
Today is six months since Eriadain's last update, which leaves an enigma about whether that project is still alive.
There is also a new dragon listed on the roster, although not the latest. White Lightning Dragon has been added before the latest dragon.
My Ultima 8 magical weapons page has been updated, filling in many of the missing information about armour statistics (only one left) and adding pictures.
Shower of updatesIt looks like the new Era website will be up to date, as it has already given us an update. It announces Telemachos' babble about shadows.
The U6 Project has given an update about what they are doing, as well as announcing a demo ahead.
I also made an update to Dino's Ultima Page, more precisely, to my Ultima 8 Guide, featuring:
Voyager announces Ultima 2Back up to date, Ultima: The Reconstruction has added Enilno, the Ultima 2 project, to his list.
The First MoveFinally Dino's Ultima Page has moved to a better host, so you will not be seeing any more Geocities adverts. You will notice a few new links in the navigation menu to the left, but don't miss the articles link at the bottom of the Information links. That will tell you about the reasons for moving and the new features of Dino's Ultima Page. Rather than making an extremely long news blurb that not everyone would want to read, just visit my article with all the explanations.
It's been a while since The Reconstruction's last update, but there are two now, announcing the U6 Project's change of address and MMAzrael Dragon's Ultima 7 - The Black Gate Remixed.
Moving...The U6 Project's new domain is now working.
There is also an update on the Grand Roster of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, showing Tareon Dragon as the latest Dragon.
Dino's Ultima Page is scheduled to move to its new host tomorrow. I will prepare a redirection to the new host. I think I have completed enough of the Ultima 8 Guide to release the new site. Apart from the walkthrough, writings and magic sections mentioned before, the dialogue section is also incomplete, but since these are long sections and it will take me some time anyway to complete them, I think I may very well release the Guide anyway. Whether I release the Guide tomorrow or some other date at the end of January, those sections will still be incomplete, so there's no reason to wait any longer. In tomorrow's update, I will introduce you to the features of the new site.
U6P URL changeI was contacted by Sliding Dragon from the U6 Project team, who explained that the U6 Project will have a new domain at u6archon.com, and that the old domain (u6project.com) no longer works. As is said on the Lazarus website, the new domain does not work yet because it was just registered, but it will be up within a couple of days. Meanwhile, all those people who bookmarked the old link or linked to it from their site should update it.
The links page has been updated to reflect this change.
Remakes and sitesThere is an update on Lazarus. Apparently they will make an announcement related to worldbuilding in about a week, and in the meantime, they have put a link to an old PVP comic related to when Richard Garriott left Origin.
As far as sites go, I noticed lately that the Ultima Emulation Archive, formerly the Dragon's Den, is down.
Also, the U6 Project's website (from the PlanetDungeonSiege link) is back up.
Regarding my upcoming U8 Guide and my site moving host, that will come very soon. My Guide is very near completion, and all I have left are the walkthrough, writings and magic sections. Due to the length of these sections, it would probably take me much longer than the end of January to complete them, so I might release the Guide even before they are completed, while completing them little by little as time goes by. I will try to complete as much as possible, while trying to stick to the given release date (end of January), so I will not release the Guide any time before that.
Rune ReadingHacki's Ultima Page has changed poll, displaying the results of the previous one about the Eight Virtues, and offering a new one about which runic languages you can read without a chart.
Fallen LegacyA new fanfiction written by BlueClaw called Fallen Legacy is the latest addition to the Dragon Press.
ExplanationsFor those who have noticed that the U6 Project's domain is down, Ultima V: Lazarus have explained that there is trouble with their domain, so you can reach their website through their PlanetDungeonSiege address. For now, it seems something is wrong even with the U6P's PlanetDungeonSiege website, but I think it will be fixed soon enough.
And as far as explanations go, you might have noticed that I have not yet archived the December news. This is because Dino's Ultima Page is moving. Don't worry, you will not come for news and get a boring "This page has moved" message; I will make a redirection from the Geocities page to my new website when it is ready for releasing. If you want to know when the new website will show up, I can tell you that I will release the new website when I finish the Ultima 8 Guide I'm working on. That means soon, in about a week. The most it can take is the end of January. If you want an explanation as to why I am moving host, I think I do owe you an explanation. The reason is that it is better for both you and me. With the new host, I will be able to use PHP, which will allow me to control the website more easily. You will get much more, as you will be seeing:
Updates and downdatesApparently there is a final notice on the old Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn site, telling visitors to visit the Era site.
Ultima V: Lazarus has released new music, comprising the Lazarus theme.
Hacki's Ultima Page has also spread the news of Lazarus' new music.
Exile updateThere has been a large update at Ultima VIII - Exile, featuring many new screenshots. There are two new screenshots at the People page and a whole new media page with six new screenshots.
Dragon Press and EraThere is a new fanfiction on the Dragon Press called "Servant of the Flame".
Peroxide, who were remaking Ultima 1, have released the website of their new project Era.
It seems that the Enilno project is making good progress, as can be seen from the newly-released screenshots of their engine.
Bad news againNo new updates today, actually there is what you can call a downdate, not an update. Fans for Ultima seems to be dead...
Lots of updatesIn the latest update on Hacki's Ultima Page, Scene 6 of Dissention has been added.
There is an update on Lazarus, in which it seems that another worldbuilder has been hired, and the site will once again be updated regularly.
And speaking of new members, it looks like there are five new Dragons on the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, as you can see on the Grand Roster per date, on which they feature as the latest Dragons.
There is also an update to Dino's Ultima Page itself! It has been very long, but Tale of the Mystics has been updated. You can now read the new chapters 13 and 14, which are now available.
My Site Map has also been updated.
Dissention Scene 5If you liked Dissention on Hacki's Ultima Page, then know that Scene 5 has been added.
EngagementNews on Lazarus states that Eramus has had an engagement.
Various issuesThe only update today from the Ultima community is on the Ultima 9 - Redemption page, announcing that they still need more people to help, including modellers, artists and Morrowind worldbuilders, as well as that they should be updating more often in future.
The debate over at the Ultima 1 forums is still on, and has reached 8 pages. The discussion is basically the same as it was yesterday and the day before... people telling Peroxide not to give up etc.
There are great things to come on Dino's Ultima Page! At the moment, I am working on a guide to Ultima 8. This does not only mean a walkthrough, but also practically a whole site about Ultima 8. It will have various sections, and don't worry, it will have lots of pictures as well. I do not know when I will finish with it, but I can say that I already finished a few sections. When it's ready, I will announce it.
Fall of a remakeAlthough many people will not believe it unless they see it, it happens to be that the remake you would have least expected to give up - Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn - will no longer be an Ultima remake due to legal issues with Electronic Arts. Hacki's Ultima Page also announced an extract of the announcement that Telemachos made on the Ultima 1 forums. It is all explained in that thread. This does not mean that Peroxide are dropping their current project; it just will not be an Ultima. In fact, their project is now called Era: The Arken-Throne, and might become commercial. Bad news, I know, but this gave Peroxide more flexibility in their current project, and they no longer have to worry about legal issues with EA.
This is definately the worst news I've ever announced on Dino's Ultima Page. And to think it's the first update of the year!
Speaking of falling remakes, I noticed from some time that the U6 Project website is down, and Eriadain looks pretty dead, having not been updated since July 31st of last year.
End of yearToday is the last day of 2002, and the Ultima websites seem pretty quiet.
Meanwhile, I have upgraded the appearance and code of my Journal of Pagan.
There is an update on Hacki's Ultima Page with a new theory, a media section update with a closer look at British's crown, and a new fanfiction section started with "Dissention".
Happy new year!
ChristmasIt was Christmas yesterday, I hope everyone enjoyed it. There's been an update from an Ultima website - in fact the Dragon Press was the only website that bothered to put a "Happy Christmas" notice.
BlackoutUnfortunately something went wrong with my connection over the past few days, and I had to stay without internet for a week before the problem was finally solved today. I apologise for the inconvenience. I didn't waste my time, however, in the meantime, as although I got sick, I improved the code of The Lost Vale and I am preparing for more Ultima Information coming up.
What did we miss while I was unavailable? Nothing much, surprisingly. The only update I saw was on the chronological roster of UDIC. There are a good 11 new dragons!
Star Trek & Ultima fanfictionA new fanfiction on the Dragon Press, called Star Trek: The Next Generation: Ultima World was written by Robert McQuistion.
November news archivedI have archived the November news.
There is also an update on Hacki's Ultima Page, featuring new nitpicks for the Tapestry of the Ages and Lord British's Castle.
Exile in GermanFor those people who want to see Exile in German, here comes proof that it's coming! In fact Ultima VIII - Exile have released two new screenshots from the German version! The first screenshot features the execution in German, and the second one shows the letter to Mordea from Lieutenant Vittek. The translation is thanks to Tribun Dragon.
There's also some news on the Dragon Press. In fact, "The Black Ankh" by Shadow of Light Dragon has been updated.
TestsFor those interested in testing their Ultima knowledge, I've updated my General Information with a list of tests you can take.
And in fact, Quill Dragon's Lair has been updated with an all new vice test. You may see a list of Quill Dragon's tests, as well as see the new one, in the Path of the Powerplayer.
There goes fanfictionThe Dragon Press hosts a new fanfiction called "Birthright".
Lazarus jobs - againThere's a new job offer on Ultima V: Lazarus - they need a highly skilled assistant web developer. If you think you can handle the job, head there and apply!
Lazarus jobsThere are eight job openings on Ultima V: Lazarus. They require 2D artists, 3D modellers, worldbuilders and coders; with 2 positions vacant for each! Visit their job openings page for more information.
The Lazarus job offers have also been announced on Hacki's Ultima Page.
The Fearsome PassageThe latest update on the Dragon Press shows that Tailrace Dragon's "The Fearsome Passage" has been edited.
New nitpicksHacki's Ultima Page has been updated with new nitpicks from Ultima 5 to 9.
Exile job offerI have posted some news on the Ultima VIII - Exile website. The Exile team are seeking a 3D modeller, preferably one that can also do 2D art as well. Go there for more details.
Redesign CompleteThe improvement of this site's code can be considered complete. The site now uses extensive amounts of CSS compared to before, and it takes much less space. The pages should load faster.
Black Ankh updated"The Black Ankh", Shadow of Light Dragon's fanfiction, has been updated. Go to the Dragon Press to see its latest.
I also have added a link to Quill Dragon's Lair.
New Dragon joins the clubThere is a new Dragon on the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter - Matt's Dragon. See him as the latest Dragon on the Grand Roster per date.
Lazarus job offers aheadAfter a month since the last update, there is news now on the Ultima V: Lazarus website. They will have job opportunities sometime in the near future, apparently.
A revised Ultima IX walkthroughQuill Dragon has informed me that is hosting a slightly revised version of Ravege Dragon's complete walkthrough for Ultima IX. My Ultima IX Information page has been updated accordingly. You can find the revised walkthrough at Quill Dragon's Lair.
3 New DragonsAnd once more the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter has listed new Dragons. You may see three new ones on the Grand Roster per date.
There is news on Hacki's Ultima Page concerns an old review from the German PC Player magazine on the Ultima IX Press page.
New Dragon on UDICThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter grows still, and the latest Dragon there is Guruzen Dragon. You may see him as the latest Dragon on the Grand Roster per date.
Voyager announces ExultThe latest news on Ultima: The Reconstruction is the announcement of Exult 1.0.
UW2 RemakesUltima: The Reconstruction has announced another two Ultima Underworld II remakes.
New fanfiction, and XU4 updateUltima: The Reconstruction's latest news has announced an update (though a month old) on XU4.
A new fanfiction by Sslaxx is now on the Dragon Press. It is a very short Ultima/Doctor Who Crossover, as the latest news says.
This website's code is being improved and reduced thanks to increased use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Hopefully, the pages will load more quickly within the next few days. If you encounter a problem, please email me at danixl@hotmail.com.
The Lost Vale now uses CSS, and has its own CSS file.
A new update on Hacki's Ultima Page features the results of the previous poll and a new one about the eight virtues.
Exult 1.0 Released!Exult have finally released Exult 1.0.
Also, the latest update to Hacki's Ultima Page is an announcement of the above.
Dragon Press updateThe Dragon Press is up to date with the latest chapter of my Tale of the Mystics.
Some new thingsI have added something to my Copy Protections document, thanks to Artaxerxes who emailed me about two questions in the Serpent Isle questions that were never asked.
And as Edmodragon has announced on this thread, there are rare Ultima collectibles for sale on Ebay at incredibly cheap prices, including the Ultima IX Dragon Edition.
French SI in Exult; Richard Garriott interviewOn this thread (in the Exult forums), Artaxerxes has announced a new version of Serpent Isle in French for Exult. Go there for more details. The team developing this French port for Serpent Isle are in need of testers for this new version.
Also, as Hacki's Ultima Page has announced, a scan of an old interview with Richard Garriott from 1988 is available on the German site Kultpower. And as Hacki has also said in his newsletter and website, there is a photo of him in 1988, as well as Bard's Tale and Ultima V being discussed, and more. Of course, the interview is in German, but you can still have a look at his photo in 1988 if you don't know German.
October News Archived; Hacki is backI have now archived the October News.
After many code improvements to Hacki's Ultima Page, Hacki has made a new update, featuring:
Tale of the Mystics is back!I have been very busy with school and other things lately, but I have finally found time to write Chapter 12 of Tale of the Mystics.
U5 Info and UDICI have made a very small update in my Ultima V Information page.
There is news from the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter. The latest Dragon on the Grand Roster per date is now Erbornic Dragon.
Code improvementsI have modified the HTML code in this news page and made it shorter, still giving the same effect as before and better.
The navigation is now coded differently as well, and uses some CSS.
Also, this site has achieved valid CSS, and it now shows in the FAQ.
The latest news on Ultima VIII - Exile announces that a new member has joined the team. Tribun Dragon is now Exile's German translator.
Exult updatesI will start giving news of Exult as well from now on. The FAQ now reflects this.
And the latest update from Exult include documentation, bug fixes and letters of praise from users as well as Lord British. Go there to find out more!
There are also new links of remakes.
Leobaldur DragonA new Dragon has joined the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter. In fact, Leobaldur Dragon now appears as the latest Dragon on the Grand Roster per date.
Siege TutorialsThere's news on Ultima V: Lazarus about the "Siege University Tutorials" and a download of it that is now available.
Dragon EngineVoyager Dragon's latest update on Ultima: The Reconstruction features a download for the Dragon Engine thanks to DOUG the Eagle Dragon.
1000 visitsThere is an update on Ultima V: Lazarus about LazGUI, their Graphical User Interface.
Also, Dino's Ultima Page has had its 1000th hit today!
ScreenshotsIf you want to see the latest of Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn, look here for new screenshots showing new things such as combat.
Ultima VIII - Exile has been updated with new places screenshots, including an updated tavern picture and two new ones.
They are backVoyager Dragon, who runs Ultima: The Reconstruction, is finally back after over a month which he described as the "month of Hell", and his latest update is an apology for the absence. New remakes have joined the community while he was away, so keep your eyes open for more updates to come!
The members of Ultima VIII - Exile, including me, are very busy nowadays. However, there is an update to the site, including new team talk from most of the team.
General LinksThere are many new links to information concentrations on my General Information page, including concentrations of places and ethics.
All about Lord BritishI have released a document about Lord British. It contains all my research about Lord British, and some pictures as well. I first made it a long time ago, though only yesterday did I convert it to HTML. If you think something is wrong, or something could be added, or you simply want to give me your opinion, do pass by this thread on my forums and speak your mind.
The site map now shows this new file, and you can also reach my Lord British information via my Ultima information.
Dragons and remakesA new Dragon has been listed on the UDIC Roster, and is now the latest Dragon there - Gannondorf Dragon.
Ultima IX: Redemption are "Desperately seeking 3D modellers", as the latest news headline reads. Go there to read more about it!
Adventures of Blackthorn has released some screenshots to make public the efforts currently being made for the upcoming game. You can see them from the home page itself.
Blackthorn Strikes BackA brilliant job has been done for an update on the Adventures of Blackthorn website, including:
So go there to see the latest on this most promising upcoming game.
More DragonsThe latest two Dragons on the UDIC Grand Roster per date are now Poison Lord Dragon and Occult Dragon, in that order.
News archivedThe September News has been archived.
Linked to TomMageA new link has been added, a link to Tom's Ultima, Infocom and RPG Page.
Ultima 1 update; Award!At long last, the Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn website has been updated. Below their note about Ultima for Linux, they have announced that Orbital Bliss is now their voice actor. Checking the contact page shows that he's also the sound engineer. Cheers and good luck to Orbital Bliss!
TomMage, webmaster of Tom's Ultima, Infocom and RPG Page, has honoured me with his Ultima Fantasy Award.
I have updated the FAQ to show more about what my site has achieved till now.
Lazarus ProgressUltima V: Lazarus has made a neat advance in progress.
Lazarus Dungeon ScreenshotsThe Ultima V: Lazarus website has released impressive dungeon screenshots of Covetous and Wrong. They're well worth a visit!
UDIC; Serpent Isle revelationsThe latest Dragon on the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter is now Polyphonic Dragon, who really is the webmaster of Ultima VIII - Exile, and a colleague of mine - Eric Samuelson.
As Hacki's Ultima Page has announced, something of Serpent Isle's original plot was revealed on the Exult boards. The postings can be found here.
Origin Museum link; Redemption newsMy links page has been updated with a link to the Origin Museum, which is dedicated to preserving worlds.
There is new news on the Ultima 9: Redemption website. They seek a dialogue editor. If you've got the right skills, you can apply for the post.
Sidenote: I started school today, and this is my last year at school, a crucial year. I apologise in case I might be unable to bring news any time in future (it most probably won't happen though, just letting everyone know).
Ultima 4 beasts; Blackthorn updateI have finally completed my Ultima 4 bestiary. All monster pictures are available. For the phantom, I used a picture of those strange phantoms in Minoc, as I couldn't find phantoms anywhere, and in no dungeon at all. It shouldn't matter.
Adventures of Blackthorn has been updated:
2 new DragonsSeeing the unusual lack of updates going on among the community of which I provide news, we must thank UDIC for today's news. Two new Dragons now appear on the Grand Roster per Date - MMAzrael Dragon and Oelrodd Dragon.
The first of the newcomers, MMAzrael Dragon, is leading the new Ultima 7 remake.
Enildo's linkI didn't even notice yet that Enildo, a new remake of Ultima 2, has linked to Dino's Ultima Page. My thanks to them!
U9 update and MWA flopI have updated my Ultima 9 page with some interesting links, among them the Ultima 9 dialogues, extracted recently by Quill Dragon and announced on the Wayward Avatar forums.
Also, Dino's Ultima Page now appears on the Malta Web Awards' list of applicants, though the picture of Dino's Ultima Page there rendered badly, my description was truncated, and a globe appears on the website's name. Not to mention that they didn't even bother to close the Geocities ad, and let it appear in the picture. Can't they do it right?
Forum, U4 Bestiary and CreditsOnce again, my Ultima IV Bestiary has been updated with a few more pictures.
I now have a forum! This will facilitate the flow of feedback and contributions. Feel free to participate. I know it isn't the most beautiful thing in the world, but ezboard is not easy at all to configure.
Windwalker, leader of Adventures of Blackthorn, has added Dino's Ultima Page to his Links, and he now features on my credits for that.
Blackthorn and Lazarus news, and more updates galore!Our friends at Ultima V - Lazarus want us to know that they're still alive, as their latest news clearly states.
Lots of new updates from the Blackthorn team:
I applied for the Malta Web Awards yesterday. This site is running for the contest!
The Ultima III Information page has experienced a huge update.
The people of the Wayward Avatar has been updated with my dragon pic and Albareth's photo.
I have added a few new pictures to my Ultima 4 bestiary, and converted everything except my two JPGs to GIF format, and soon even the JPGs will be GIFs.
Redesign ReadyI bring great news! The redesign and upgrade of Dino's Ultima Page can be considered complete, as I gave it the final touches:
Poll, Hacki and The Lost ValeThe music in The Lost Vale has been removed. It was not an easy choice, but it had to be done. Apart from being invalid HTML, music would be a pain for anyone listening to some of his own music, as the browser music would take over.
Also, I have improved the Lost Vale code, putting more space between adjacent links, changing link colour on the main page and making some HTML valid.
As Hacki's Ultima Page has announced, there is a poll on RPGDot. This is the opportunity to tell the world Ultima is the best, so vote for Ultima!
FAQ, Validation and ExileThere is now a FAQ, with lots of information about this site.
The Ultima VIII - Exile site is back up and running. Edbgon had to set some things after Exodus Machine's relocation.
I will be participating in the Malta Web Awards sooner or later, and I'm doing my best to improve my site. I've started yesterday by implementing the scroll design, and today I have corrected the main site pages to have valid HTML. Apart from the advertisements, the main pages on this site are now valid HTML, and I will work towards making the whole site valid HTML.
Hacki poll and U1 infoHacki's Ultima Page has a new poll - about which character in Ultima 9 is most pathetic!
The Ultima I info page has been updated with lots of links to a website submitted by Natreg Dragon.
News is now archived. The news page was growing too big, so I am keeping a page for news per month. Old news is still available, so just click on the links at the top or bottom of the news page to get to the older news. To go directly to a particular month, find it at the bottom of the news page.
Dino's Ultima Page now has a new design - the scroll design.
DP and U6P updatesA bigger logo of the Ultima 6 Project is available, as the latest news there announces.
The Dragon Press has been updated with Chapters 10 and 11 of my Tale of the Mystics.
Hacki links, new Dragon and U6P web probsHacki's Ultima Page has linked to Dino's Ultima Page! He now features on the credits page for that as well.
I updated the credits with the people who linked to this site.
The Ultima I page has been updated.
Ulape Dragon has joined UDIC and is now the latest member on the Grand Roster per date.
The website of the Ultima 6 Project had some problems lately. Go there to learn of what happened.
Hacki's newsHacki's Ultima Page has lots of news, both good and bad. Go there to check it out!
The Mystic InfoChapter 11 of my Tale of the Mystics is up if you want to read the latest of my fanfiction.
There is new Ultima Information up! The Ultima 1, Ultima 5 and Serpent Isle pages have been updated.
Laz, UDIC and other minor thingsUltima V: Lazarus have news; they are fixing up some servers, and have set up an IRC channel. Go there to read more!
The Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter have their 15,310th member - Cottle Dragon, who is now the latest dragon on the Grand Roster per date. Also, Kravlor Dragon now appears before Pibbur Dragon.
There is a new link - a link to Exodus Machine.
The Ultima 8 page has been updated since Kravlor Dragon added the Ultima VIII maps of everywhere from the cluebook onto his site.
Cluebook and U8 updated; so is U6PThe link to General Information on the Ultima VIII Cluebook, on Kravlor Dragon's site has been corrected, and my Ultima VIII page has been updated accordingly.
Team Archon of the Ultima VI Project have a team logo animation up.
TOTM updated, and Ultima 4 will surely be reborn!Chapter 10 of my Tale of the Mystics is up.
Ultima: The Reconstruction has announced two new Ultima 4 remakes: Lyrac and Virtue of Humility. Go there to learn more!
Info and Exile; and Ultima 8 Galore!Ultima VIII - Exile has been updated with a screenshot of Orlok's tavern and some music.
Also, Kravlor Dragon has uploaded Pentology: Ultima VIII Cluebook.
All of the Ultima information pages have been updated once again.
Mods, Interviews and DocumentationA list of copy protection questions and answers has been added to the Ultima Information, and is accessible from the Ultima Information main page.
The Ultima VI Project has news of an interview with UO Stratics.
News of Odorous Rex's Britannia mod for Morrowind has reached Ultima: The Reconstruction.
Yes, info againI have updated my Ultima 8 page, with a link to my Ultima 8 journal, and I have completed the contents links in my Intanya's Dialogue.
Info Galore!All the pages on my Ultima Information have been updated.
When one dies, another rises; Info goes public! And Exile takes ArgoUltima: The Reconstruction has lots of news, including dying projects, Adventures of Blackthorn and the Underworld remakes.
Exodus Machine, the host of Ultima VIII - Exile, is hosting Ultima Forever, another project for which I work, and Machina Diabolica.
Finally my Ultima Information is public!
I have announced Exile news; Argonaut joined the Exile team as a result of Gallaen Frost's resignation.
How's Blackie?Adventures of Blackthorn has been added to the Links page. They have recently released an excellent movie. Check it out!
Remakes and Dragon Press updatedLazarus have announced that they are getting an IRC channel to chat with the fans.
The Ultima VI Project have good news from Dungeon Siege.
My work has been updated on Dragon Press. My new limerick has been added to the Limericks on Dragon Press, and my Tale of the Mystics has been updated on Dragon Press as well.
UDIC and Hacki and Dino updatesPibbur Dragon has joined UDIC. The Grand Roster per date is updated.
Hacki's Ultima Page has been updated with fresh new nitpicks!
The look of Tale of the Mystics has been arranged with CSS.
My Tale of the Mystics has been updated with Chapter 8 and Chapter 9.
Credits ChangedThe Credits on the Credits page have been redesigned.
Lost Vale EmailsI've added a Lost Vale Emails page to the Lost Vale.
Tale of the MysticsThe Dragon Press has announced my Tale of the Mystics, my new creation. It is available on this website here or on the Dragon Press here. The Dragon Press now reads:
NEWS, August 18th 2002: Dino the Dark Dragon, aka Daniel D'Agostino, has submitted a new fan fiction, "Tale of the Mystics."
The Black Ankh and PlanThe Dragon Press has news that Shadow of Light Dragon's "The Black Ankh" has been updated.
In Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn, Telemachos updated his Plan file in his babble corner. There's lots of news in that babble corner, and in there Telemachos speaks of what will happen next in the remake.
Lazarus Siege NewsLazarus has announced news of links to the updated Siege Editor.
Sidenote: It's my birthday today! :)
New LinksI now have a list of Ultima Remake Sites on my Links Page.
MoonLight Shadow Dragon - New MemberUDIC now have a new member. The Grand Roster per date now shows MoonLight Shadow Dragon as its newest Dragon.
Exodus Machine and this site improvedExodus Machine, the host of the Ultima VIII - Exile site, has improved its look with a darker theme.
I arranged the pictures and the HTML code that linked to them, in Lost Vale, and I freed 0.6MB!
Remakes goin' steady an' otha newsLazarus show that they are well up to date. They once again have news, and work is going steady.
There is new news on the Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue website has been updated with an entry in the Development Diary where Shadow of Light Dragon explains the way she works with dialogue.
Exodus Machine, that hosts the Ultima VIII - Exile website, has hosted a new Neverwinter Nights site - the Two Empires site.
Hacki's Ultima Page has a new poll and has shown the results of the old poll on the news page.
Hacki NewsHacki's Ultima Page has news; the HTML code has been edited for the better, but Hacki also has bad news about himself; he has been victim of a virus, and his email seems to refuse to work.
Exile Moves forums!Seems I've missed something - Ultima VIII - Exile has moved its forum from ezboard to Exodus Machine.
Limericks, Lazarus, Reconstruction and Exile NewsThe Dragon Press has had its Limericks updated with two news ones from me and one from The Relentless Dragon.
The guys at Lazarus have done it again! There's more news!
Reconstruction is also quite up to date, as news of Eriadain's job offers have reached Voyager Dragon as well.
Ultima VIII - Exile has news of an update to the site.
I've changed the font of the main pages through CSS, which I am slowly learning thanks to Hacki Dragon. Also added subtitles to the links table to the left.
Lazarus Lives, Credits Come, Reconstruction Remembers and Eriadain...Apparently Ultima V: Lazarus is the remake project that gives most news updates. Head there to see the latest news.
I've now made a Credits page.
Ultima: The Reconstruction has announced news of Ultima 9 - Redemption that is some time old, but it's better to announce it late than never.
This has been around for a few days, but Eriadain needs team members.
Ultima Limericks and remakes updatesDragon Press has been updated with four Limericks from me.
Much news has come from Ultima: The Reconstruction. Check it out!
The Ultima VI Project has news of an interview.
I've finished Bentic's dialogue for Ultima VIII - Exile and have posted it on my Team Talk.
Lazarus, Exodus Machine and TLV NewsUltima V: Lazarus have updated their website with news of their work.
Exodus Machine, who kindly hosted the Ultima VIII - Exile website, has hosted a third site - Kingdom of Ruunwald. However, only Ultima VIII - Exile is Ultima over there; the other two sites are Neverwinter Nights.
The Lost Vale has had a minor update where minor features such as link colour and position were fixed.
Disclaimer, The Reconstruction and DPI've now got a Disclaimer.
My news of the Ultima VIII - Exile website's relocation has reached Voyager Dragon who announced this on Ultima: The Reconstruction.
Ultima: The Reconstruction also have a new poll up; it asks which remake the people are most looking forward to. Seems Exile is winning!
Dragon Press has been updated with new Ultima Limericks and a new fanfiction called Blackthorn's Inquisition by Shadow of Light Dragon.
There is a new link to Auric's Ultima Moongates and his Ultima IV Annex, as well as links to the UDIC Grand Rosters in the Links page.
Arizail's pic on People of the Wayward Avatar was changed from this to this.
Updates GaloreHacki's Ultima Page has been updated with a large number of new nitpicks.
Underworld Dragon's Notable Ultima and the Ultima Online Archive have been added to the Links page.
The new Ultima VIII - Exile website has been released today. The old one gave us trouble since we exceeded its bandwidth limit, and it was down for a couple of days. There is also redirection to our new site here. The Links page has been updated with these new links.
Much New NewsThe News Page was successfully redesigned.
There is a new link to Silva's World on the Links page.
The People of the Wayward Avatar has been updated with the pictures of Ches Dragon and Strider^.
Legend added to News Page.
People of the Wayward mirroredJaz set up a copy of The people of the Wayward Avatar, to be able to keep it up to date, which is now on my Links page.
Also, started redesigning the News page once again.
No need for "True Tale of Batlin" any moreRemoved the notice on the Links page that asked to send me the True Tale of Batlin if anyone has it, since it is now on Dragon Press.
Redesigned the News Page.
"True Tale of Batlin" recoveredThe Dragon Press is finally complete! It has finally recovered The True Tale of Batlin thanks to Fenyx Dragon who sent Shadow of Light Dragon the last lost fanfic. Dragon Press has recovered all the old fanfics!
More LinksUpdated the Links Page.
Major UpdateUpdated the Lost Vale, and added the Home Page and Links Page of the main site.
Website Starts with The Lost ValeUploaded The Lost Vale, fixing links and adding music.
© by Daniel D'Agostino 2002-2026
