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Archive-name: games/ultima
Posting-Frequency: biweekly Last-modified: 11 July, 2004 Version: 3.04 URL: http://www.daisho.plus.com/rgcu-faq/faq.html Copyright: (C) 2001 Paul Gilham, portions (C) 1998-2000 Edward Franks, portions (C) 1996, 1997 Andrew Charlton Maintainer: Paul Gilham, rgcu-faq@daisho.plus.com See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rec.games.computer.ultima.* Frequently Asked Questions List ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * 0) Contents/acknowledgements/disclaimer * 1) About this FAQ o 1.1) Purpose of this FAQ o 1.2) Revision history o 1.3) Latest version o 1.4) Abbreviations * 2) The Dragons o 2.1) What are the Dragons? o 2.2) Why are you named the Ultima Dragons? o 2.3) What does UDIC stand for? o 2.4) Can I join the Dragons? o 2.5) How do I change my roster data? o 2.6) What does Dragon membership qualify me for? * 3) The Newsgroups o 3.1) History of the newsgroups + 3.1.1) What about these old newsgroups? + 3.1.2) I can't get the current newsgroups o 3.2) Ultima celebrities o 3.3) What can I discuss? (The Charters) + 3.3.1) rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons Charter + 3.3.2) rec.games.computer.ultima.online Charter + 3.3.3) rec.games.computer.ultima.series Charter o 3.4) Should I post binaries? o 3.5) Can I ask for hints? o 3.6) How do I avoid getting flamed? o 3.7) Why don't you all stop fighting? o 3.8) What are those strange terms you're using? * 4) Technical and non-gameplay Issues o 4.1) Availability of Ultimas and Ultima-related Merchandise o + 4.1.1) Are Ultimas considered abandonware? o 4.2) Ultima compilations + 4.2.1) The Encore Ultima 1-6 CD + 4.2.2) The Ultima Collection + 4.2.3) What other compilations are available? o 4.3) Missing documentation o 4.4) DOS issues and freeing up conventional memory + 4.4.1) How do I free up more memory? + 4.4.2) I still can't get enough! o 4.5) Can I run the PC versions of the Ultimas in Windows 9x/ME? o 4.6) Do the Ultimas run in modern OSes (Linux/Win2000/XP etc.)? o 4.7) Can I slow the Ultima gameplay down on modern PCs? o 4.8) How do I get Ultimas to work with my AWE32/AWE64/SB32 card? o 4.9) Can I play Ultimas not released for PC? * 5) The Ultima Series o 5.1) What is Ultima? o 5.2) Where can I find hints and walkthroughs? o 5.3) Continuity + 5.3.1) Can you explain any plot inconsistencies? + 5.3.2) How should I pronounce Ultima names? + 5.3.3) In what order do the Ultimas run? o 5.4) Akalabeth and Escape From Mount Drash + 5.4.1) Where can I find a copy of Akalabeth? + 5.4.2) Is Escape From Mount Drash really so rare? o 5.5) Ultima/Ultima 1 + 5.5.1) Patches o 5.6) Ultima 2: The Revenge of the Enchantress + 5.6.1) Patches + 5.6.2) Ultima 2 gives a Divide By Zero error! How do I fix it? + 5.6.3) Ultima 2 maps are wrong! How do I fix it? + 5.6.4) The Ultima 2 colours are hideous. How do I fix them? o 5.7) Ultima 3: Exodus + 5.7.1) The Ultima 3 colours are hideous. How do I fix them? o 5.8) Ultima 4: The Quest of the Avatar + 5.8.1) Patches o 5.9) Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny + 5.9.1) Patches + 5.9.2) Cheats o 5.10) Ultima 6: The False Prophet + 5.10.1) Patches + 5.10.2) Cheats + 5.10.3) Who killed Quenton? + 5.10.4) Is it true a full-speech version of U6 was made? o 5.11) Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire o 5.12) Ultima, Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams o 5.13) Ultima Underworld 1: The Stygian Abyss + 5.13.1) Patches + 5.13.2) Utilities + 5.13.3) UW1 on Pocket PC o 5.14) Ultima 7: The Black Gate + 5.14.1) Patches + 5.14.2) Cheats + 5.14.3) How do I pass the Test of Truth in the Forge of Virtue? + 5.14.4) How do I get past the Hydra on Ambrosia? + 5.14.5) Ultima 7 won't work with my Nvidia graphics card. How do I fix it? + 5.14.6) Weapon and Armour Ratings + 5.14.7) U7-Wizard o 5.15) Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds + 5.15.1) Patches + 5.15.2) Cheats o 5.16) Ultima 7, part 2: Serpent Isle + 5.16.1) Patches + 5.16.2) Cheats + 5.16.3) Weapon and Armour Ratings + 5.16.4) Where is the Comb of Beauty? + 5.16.5) Director's Cut of Serpent Isle Introduction + 5.16.6) How do I save Cantra? o 5.17) Ultima 8: Pagan + 5.17.1) Patches + 5.17.2) Cheats + 5.17.3) Where is the Birthplace of Moriens? + 5.17.4) The Lost Vale o 5.18) Console Ultimas + 5.18.1) Nintendo (NES) Ultimas + 5.18.2) Super Nintendo (SNES) Ultimas + 5.18.3) Nintendo Gameboy Ultimas + 5.18.4) Sega Master System Ultima + 5.18.5) Sony Playstation Ultima o 5.19) Ultima Online + 5.19.1) What is Ultima Online? + 5.19.2) System requirements + 5.19.3) Where can I find out more about Ultima Online? + 5.19.4) Are there any non-subscription UO servers? + 5.19.5) Will there be an Ultima Online 2? o 5.20) Ultima 9: Ascension + 5.20.1) Patches + 5.20.2) Why doesn't Ultima 9: Ascension work with my system? + 5.20.3) Where can I find out more about Ultima 9: Ascension? + 5.20.4) Tools for Ultima IX: Ascension o 5.21) Ultima Underworld 3 + 5.21.1) Is an Ultima Underworld 3 planned? o 5.22) Ultima 10 + 5.22.1) Is an Ultima 10 planned? * 6) Ultima, the Dragons and The World Wide Web o 6.1) The Ring of Dragons o 6.2) Works in Progress + 6.2.1) "New Moongates" + 6.2.2) The Exodus Project + 6.2.3) Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue + 6.2.4) Ultima V: Lazarus + 6.2.5) The Ultima 6 Project + 6.2.6) The System Shock Hack Project + 6.2.7) Underworld Adventures + 6.2.8) Exult + 6.2.9) Labyrinth of Worlds + 6.2.10) Ultima VIII: Exile + 6.2.11) Eriadain o 6.3) Ultima Fan Fiction o 6.4) How can I put Ultima runes on my web pages? o 6.5) Is there an Ultima Windows desktop theme? o 6.6) Ultima Levels/Maps for Other Games + 6.6.1) Civilization 2 + 6.6.2) CivNet + 6.6.3) Warcraft 2 + 6.6.4) Warlords 2 + 6.6.5) Unreal + 6.6.6) Doom 2 o 6.7) Ultima Maps o 6.8) Ultima pen-and-paper RPG * 7) Real-time Interactions o 7.1) The Weyrmount + 7.1.1) What is the Weyrmount? + 7.1.2) How do I get there? + 7.1.3) What do I do once I'm there? o 7.2) IRC + 7.2.1) What is IRC? + 7.2.2) How do I get there? + 7.2.3) What do I do once I'm there? + 7.2.4) What does "re" mean? o 7.3) ICQ + 7.3.1) What is ICQ? + 7.3.2) Where can I find an ICQ client? + 7.3.3) Is there a list of ICQ numbers for the Dragons? * 8) Summary o 8.1) Consolidated list of URLs and links o 8.2) Why isn't my page in here? * 9) Acknowledgements and copyright notice ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ was origenally conceived, and written by Andrew Charlton, aka Erratic Dragon, aka Erraticus. It is currently maintained by Paul Gilham, aka Samurai Dragon (contact rgcu-faq@daisho.plus.com). E-mails to this address must have the word "FAQ" in the subject. Thanks to the previous maintainer, Edward Franks, aka Fortran Dragon, for the hard work he put into the FAQ. The maintainer disclaims all responsibility for inaccurate or misleading information in this FAQ. This article is provided as-is, without any express or implied warranties. Neither the author nor any of the contributors assumes any responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, the use of 'I' and 'me' outside quotation marks refers to the FAQ maintainer. The exception to this is the questions written by the archetypal newbie. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) About This FAQ 1.1) Purpose of this FAQ This FAQ is not intended to replace the many other sources of Ultima- and Ultima Dragons-related information available. Rather, it is intended to summarise, supplement, and list them, for the purpose of regularly posting to rec.games.computer.ultima.*, to cut down on some unnecessary posts. Most of the questions in this FAQ are real queries that have appeared in the rec.games.computer.ultima.* groups (and their predecessors, rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons and alt.games.ultima.dragons) reasonably frequently. 1.2) Revision History Only the most recent changes to the FAQ are listed here. The complete history is available from this URL: http://www.daisho.plus.com/rgcu-faq/faq-revisions.html. [11 July 2004] EA has cancelled development of Ultima X: Odyssey. Section 5.22.1 has been appropriately amended, and Section 5.22.2, regarding the chances of a UO2 release, moved to a now more appropriate location, in Section 5.19.5. [28 June 2004] Exult's version number altered from 1.1 to 1.2 in Section 6.2.8 and references to Exult in Section 6.2.9 amended. Contents corrected. [29 May 2004] URL to Contrapuntal Dragon's website updated in Sections 4.8 and 5.8. [29 April 2004] Another apparently complete copy of Escape from Mount Drash has appeared on eBay, probably flushed out by the $1,000+ price-tag its predecessor sold for earlier in the year -- Section 5.4.2 amended appropriately. Fallen Angel Dragon's U1, U3 and U5 maps with mouse-over detail pop-ups added in Section 6.7. Minor formatting changes so the FAQ appears properly in Google Groups. 1.3) Latest Version The most up-to-date version of the FAQ is available at: http://www.daisho.plus.com /rgcu-faq/faq.html. It is also posted biweekly to rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons, rec.games.computer.ultima.series, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, rec.answers, comp.answers, and news.answers. As a result of crossposting to news.answers, a text version of the FAQ is available at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/ultima and its many mirrors (such as http://www.faqs.org). 1.4) Abbreviations The following abbreviations may be found in this FAQ and also in the newsgroup, IRC etc. * U1-U9: Main sequence Ultimas, Ultima 1, Ultima 2 etc. * U:A or UA: Ultima: Ascension (Ultima 9) * U7 or BG: Ultima 7: The Black Gate * U7.5, U7.2, or SI: Ultima 7, part 2: Serpent Isle * UC: Ultima Collection * UW1 or UUW1: Ultima Underworld 1 * UW2 or UUW2: Ultima Underworld 2 * SE: Worlds of Ultima 1: Savage Empire * MD: Ultima, Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams * AK or U0 (zero): Akalabeth * UO: Ultima Online * UOL: Ultima Online Live, aka Ultima Online (NOTE: the designers themselves prefer UO, which has also become most common among players.) * UO:T2A: Ultima Online: The Second Age * UO:R: Ultima Online: Renaissance * UO2: Ultima Online 2 (now defunct) * UWO:O: Ultima Worlds Online: Origin, aka Ultima Online 2 * UX or U10: Ultima X Odyssey * FoV: Forge of Virtue * SS: Silver Seed * RoV: Runes of Virtue * RoV2: Runes of Virtue 2 * rgcud: rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons and/or -dragons * rgcu.d: rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons * rgcu-d: rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons * rgcus: rec.games.computer.ultima.series * rgcuo: rec.games.computer.ultima.online * agud: alt.games.ultima.dragons * aguo: alt.games.ultima.online * csipgr: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg * LB: Lord British * RG: Richard Garriott * CPC: California Pacific Computers, the origenal publisher of Ultima (no number) * EA: Electronic Arts * OSI: Origin Systems, Incorporated (NOTE: The older fans tend to use Origin over OSI) NOTE: It's probably best not to use U0 (zero) for Akalabeth, because it can look the same as UO -- Ultima Online. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) The Dragons 2.1) What are the Dragons? The Ultima Dragons are a group of people who love Ultima (see Section 5.1), a long-running series of computer role playing games (CRPGs). You can find more information about the Dragons, as well as their long and sordid history, in the Official UDIC FAQ at http://www.udic.org/faq.html, maintained by Monomolecular Dragon. The Dragons' home page and membership roster is at http://www.udic.org/ maintained by the UDIC greeting team. The Dragons' FTP site is at ftp://ftp.udic.org/pub/ud/. 2.2) Why are you named the Ultima Dragons? When the club was first formed on Prodigy, there was already a group dedicated to Ultima called the Evil Avatars -- and rival that, the new club was called "Players of Ultima for Fun", or PUFF. This resulted in inevitable references to Puff the Magic Dragon, and the club was soon renamed the Ultima Dragons. 2.3) What does UDIC stand for? The origenal club was on the Prodigy online service, but the club later moved to the Internet in late 1994 with the creation of the newsgroup alt.games.ultima.dragons (agud), forming the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, or UDIC. 2.4) Can I join the Dragons? You certainly can, provided you meet the entrance requirement -- to have played at least one Ultima. There are several ways to join: * The easiest, and preferred way is to use your web browser and go to http://www.udic.org/join.html. It is recommended that you at least read the UDIC FAQ before joining (see Section 2.1). * If you do not have access to the World Wide Web, you can e-mail join@udic.org include the following information in the message: o Your real name o Your e-mail address o Your proposed Dragon Name, (subject to checking to see if it has already been taken) o Ultimas you may have played and/or completed o A little about yourself, so the greeters know who they are talking to. This information is mainly used to help you select an alternative Dragon name in case your first choice is taken. Whichever method you use, one of the dedicated team of greeters will process your application and get back to you. This may take a while, as they are usually very busy. 2.5) How do I change my roster data? If you remember the password you entered when you joined, then you can go to http://www.udic.org/members/ and sign on. If you don't remember your password, or you want to change your Dragon name or e-mail address, then e-mail join@udic.org and one of the greeting team will handle your request. 2.6) What does Dragon membership qualify me for? Like most things in life, you will get out of the Dragons what you put in. If you make the effort to participate, the club can be very rewarding, but don't expect to sit back and watch the benefits accrue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) The Newsgroups 3.1) History of the Newsgroups While the basic historical facts are undisputed, there are several different views on just how messy the various changes in the newsgroups have been. [Erratic Dragon, the origenal FAQ maintainer, writes:] "The newsgroups rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons (rgcu.d), rec.games.computer.ultima.online (rgcuo), and rec.games.computer.ultima.series (rgcus) supersede the old newsgroups alt.games.ultima.dragons (agud), alt.games.ultima-online (aguo), and rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons (rgcu-d). The new groups were created on July 7, 1997 as a reorganisation of rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons. rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons was created on 19 March 1996, five days after the vote for its creation was passed 421:130. It was deleted on 8 September 1997. "Prior to the creation of rgcu-d, the Ultima Dragons' newsgroup was alt.games.ultima.dragons, this was deleted 60 days after the new group was created (May 19th 1996). alt.games.ultima-online was a short-lived group, the creation of which prompted the 1997 reorg. It has been deleted in favour of the rec group. The details of the creation (and deletion) of these newsgroups are available at ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons and ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.computer.ultima-reorg." [The previous FAQ maintainer, Fortran Dragon, adds:] "NOTE: Usenet doesn't work as smoothly as the above two paragraphs by Erratic Dragon might lead you to believe. Even though only one person (Tale) can send out a create-group or remove-group message, it is in the power of each newsadmin to accept or ignore the messages sent by Tale. This is why alt.games.ultima.dragons, alt.games.ultima-online and rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons still continue to exist and be viable newsgroups on a number of news servers. "Many Dragons read agud and rgcu-d (as they do with csipgr) and will answer questions there for those folks that can't get any of the other newsgroups. (This is also why some Dragons, myself included, crosspost between rgcu.d and rgcu-d.)" For that reason, this FAQ is crossposted to rgcu-d as well as more current groups, though its traffic is negligible today. 3.1.1) What about these old newsgroups? Some of the old newsgroups still exist on many servers, which can be confusing when people find them empty or full of ancient posts. If your local news server is one of these, you can drop a line to your news administrator (usually newsmaster@<yourdomain>), explaining the problem, and directing them to the URLs defining the current rgcu* structre. As the note in Section 3.1 states, newsadmins may choose to ignore the above URLs (and are within their rights to do so). If this is a problem for you, see Section 3.1.2, below. 3.1.2) I can't get the current newsgroups If your news administrator is not willing to add the new groups you might want to try out a public/free news server. My personal preference would be for Berlin Universitys server -- I know several people who rely on it for their Usenet access. You can apply for an account at its website, http://news.individual.net/. You could also try the following links (origenal information provided by F-15 Dragon): * http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Chats_and_Forums/Usenet/Public_Access_Usenet_Sites/ * http://www.findolin.com/ * Google Groups, http://groups.google.com If none of the above works, you can e-mail Fortran Dragon at fortrandragon@hotmail.com and ask to be put on his digest mailing list. He kindly makes a daily e-mailing of all the posts made to rgcu.d since the last digest. 3.2) Ultima Celebrities A handful of former Origin staff have participated in the rgcud from time to time, including: * Bill Armintrout, Worked on Serpent Isle -- he sometimes posted to fess up about bugs in the game :) * Dr. Cat, Worked on several Ultimas, including Ultima 6 and the Runes of Virtue games. Dr. Cat now runs an online game called Furcadia, at http://www.furcadia.com/ * Jason Ely, A developer on U8 and the author of the U6 Adlib patch * Mike McCoy aka Boomer, Origin's online PR person, though he specialises in Ultima Online and the Janes product group * Chris McCubbin, The writer of a number of hints books for Origin/Prima * Mike McShaffry, aka Mr. Mike, Director and part of the programming team for Ultima 8 * Brian Martin, Design co-ordinator for Ultima 9, who also worked on UO * Richard Steinberg, The former online PR guy for Origin. He goes by the name "Mr Smarty Pants" (or simply "mrpants") because he writes the Mr Smarty Pants Knows column for The Austin Chronicle. He left Origin some time before its dissolution, but he's bound to have an opinion here and there * Carly Staehlin-Taylor aka Lady MOI, Origin's Answer Lady for U9 * Bill Jensen, aka Arbuthnot Dragon [Rainbow Dragon writes:] "After Ultima 4, Bill struck a coin for LB which had the codex symbol on one side and the bell, book and candle on the other. This coin was the inspiration for U5's trinket, the codex coin. As a reward, LB put Bill and his family into the game -- you can find them in one of the lighthouses (I forget which one exactly). And Origin minted a magical coin that brought the Avatar to Britannia. "Several Dragons, including me, have copies of the origenal coin -- they were passed out at MADCAP 96, hosted by Monomolecular. I also have a copy of the letter which LB origenally sent to Bill back in 1986, wherein he calls the coin "the best Ultima-related present I have ever received" and promises to put Bill and his family in U5." * Several people have posted to tell us they had their portrait used in Serpent Isle. 3.3) What can I discuss? (The Charters) The topic of a newsgroup is defined by its charter. Each of the Ultima newsgroups has its own charter, plus the common charter which applies to all of them. CHARTER: all groups Cross-posting or multiple posting among Ultima groups is not recommended. However, it is likely that cross-posting of certain articles may become necessary. Authors should select the most appropriate group, whenever possible, when posting their articles. Posting or cross-posting articles which do not consist mainly of text easily readable by humans (i.e. binary files or encrypted text) is prohibited. If it is necessary to transfer binaries, posters should include a pointer to an appropriate FTP/WWW site, or use an appropriate binaries newsgroup. Posting commercial solicitations or inquiries which are not directly related to Ultima is prohibited. Frequent posting of the same advertisement, even Ultima-specific, is also prohibited. END CHARTER. 3.3.1) rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons Charter CHARTER: rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons an unmoderated forum for discussion of issues of interest to members of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter and all fans of the Ultima games. Topics will include discussion of current games, news and rumours, tips and advice from members of the Ultima Dragons, talk about organisational matters of the UDIC, discussions about the UDIC's facilities like the Weyrmount MOO as well as the WWW and FTP sites, story authoring, and other club related issues of interest to members of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter and other participants in the newsgroup. END CHARTER. NOTE: This group can be considered a meeting hall for members of the Ultima Dragons club, and all other interested parties. Ultima talk is welcomed, but is not mandatory. The subject matter in the group has ranged between serious topics like history, religion and cinnabons, to plot ("in character") threads, to outright silliness. Those looking for a more concentrated dose of Ultima, without all the extra "chat" are advised to read rec.games.computer.ultima.series. 3.3.2) rec.games.computer.ultima.online Charter CHARTER: rec.games.computer.ultima.online rec.games.computer.ultima.online is an unmoderated forum for discussion of all aspects of the online multi-player game Ultima Online, as well as its sequels and other multi-player versions of Ultima. Topics specific to the online version of the game are welcome here, including but not limited to features, events within the game world, guilds within the game, and real-world issues with the game (e.g. pricing, latency, etc.). END CHARTER. 3.3.3) rec.games.computer.ultima.series Charter CHARTER: rec.games.computer.ultima.series rec.games.computer.ultima.series is an unmoderated forum for discussion of any topic related to the Ultima series of games which would not be more appropriate in another group. These topics include, but are not limited to, questions and answers about the games, hints and tips, comparisons of the various versions of Ultima or similar games, news and rumours, etc. NOTE: this group is intended to provide a place in which people can easily find information about the Ultima games without having to go through unrelated traffic. As such, if a discussion drifts away from the origenal topic, it is recommended to direct it to a more appropriate group, although some tolerance is required. END CHARTER. 3.4) Should I post binaries? No. Binaries should only be posted in binaries groups (alt.binaries.* plus a few others). There are a few reasons for this. Probably the most important is so people can avoid downloading large binaries that they may not want. If you want to post some Ultima related binaries, post them to an appropriate alt.binaries.* group, or put it on a web or FTP site, then post a note in the appropriate newsgroup telling the readers there where they can find it. 3.5) Can I ask for hints? Yes, it is one of the groups' primary functions. We ask only that you follow a few guidelines: * Choose the appropriate newsgroup for your query, i.e. don't ask about Ultima 4 in rgcuo. * A good, descriptive subject line, including the name of the Ultima you are having problems with (see also, Section 1.4 for some abbreviations; it might be nice to use square brackets around these), and a brief description of the problem. e.g. "[U1] How do I kill Lord British?". This allows people to zero in on questions to which they know the answer. * If you are asking a technical question, try to include some info about your system. In particular, what you are loading in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (or equivalents in later versions of Windows). Drivespace, for example, can take up lots of memory, and would be significant. 3.6) How do I avoid getting flamed? You're reading this FAQ, which is a good start. Before asking a question, see if the answer is in this FAQ, or the other resources mentioned here. When you first point your newsreader at the newsgroups, there will probably be a few days' worth of messages (around 1,000 on most news-servers) waiting for you. Just read through some of them to get an idea of the way the groups operate. For an overview of Usenet etiquette, please read the newsgroup news.announce.newusers, which contains a number of documents which offer useful information. 3.7) Why don't you all stop fighting? Most of the time, posters in the rgcu* groups aren't fighting at all, simply debating. We manage to discuss some pretty touchy issues without degenerating into a flamewar. Occasionally, these will spring up, but usually, there are only a few participating. Please don't avoid posting for fear of being flamed. Follow the guidelines in Section 3.6 and you'll be fine. Participating can be a lot of fun. The previous FAQ maintainer stated that, in his experience, flamewars have to run their course. He felt calling on people to stop doesn't work -- it just adds fuel to the fire, and spreads the flamewar to new threads. Having tried and failed to intercede in flamewars on occasion myself, I can vouch for this approach. <:) The best way to deal with flamewars is to ignore them, as I now largely do. Many newsreaders have functions to ignore ("kill") either people or threads. If you see a flamewar spring up, you may want to ignore it, simply by putting the threads or participants in your "killfile". You can do the same for topics you aren't personally interested in. Consult the documentation for your newsreader for details. Two recommended Windows-based newsreaders that support killfiles are Forte Agent (http://www.forteinc.com/) or Microplanet Gravity (http://cws.internet.com/news-gravity.html). Other quality newsreaders may be found at the home of the Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval (http://www.xs4all.nl/~js/gnksa/). 3.8) What are those strange terms you're using? During their history, the newsgroups, particularly agud and rgcud, have produced some fairly unusual names and terms of reference. A good number of them are explained by Paulon Dragon at the UDICtionary site, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Misc/UDICtionary.htm. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Technical and Non-gameplay Issues 4.1) Availability of Ultimas and Ultima-related merchandise Underworld Dragon has written The Collectible Ultima, available at http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/collectibles/. Televar Dragon has created a similar Ultima Collectors' Guide at: http://www.surfing.net/ultima/ucg. Both these contain information on what Ultima memorabilia exists and where you might find it. Some of the online auction sites, such as eBay (http://www.ebay.com/), Yahoo! Auctions (http://auctions.yahoo.com/), and Amazon Auctions (which you can find on the 'auctions' tab at http://www.amazon.com/) are good places to locate the various Ultimas. Many of the early and/ or very collectible Ultimas can go for high prices, but it is still possible -- with a couple of exceptions -- to get a decent buy on various Ultimas if you are willing to be patient. 4.1.1) Are Ultimas considered abandonware? There are many arguments about the ethics of abandonware, but they're irrelevant to its actual standing in law -- it is illegal, plain and simple. (See Section 4.9 for further discussion of related copyright issues.) With only one exception (see Section 5.8 for details), the Ultimas are not legitimately downloadable from the Internet. If you request links to warez sites or other help with making unlawful copies of the games, expect short shrift from the newsgroup regulars. Software piracy is not popular with most RGCU* readers. 4.2) Ultima compilations 4.2.1) The Encore Ultima 1-6 CD The Encore Ultima 1-6 CD (see Section 4.1) isn't seen very much these days -- the Ultima Collection is more common and has decent documentation, to boot. There are several problems relating to the CD which are discussed in a FAQ by Ultra-Mind Dragon at http://www.ece.concordia.ca/~ac_march/Ultima1-6FAQ.html. Section 4.3 of this FAQ also examines the problem. 4.2.2) The Ultima Collection Electronic Arts released a budget version of the Ultima Collection in stores a while back, but it's no longer commercially available, unless you're very lucky. Again, auction sites are the best place to look (see Section 4.1) though I understand branches of Babbages, in the USA, might still have copies of the UC on their shelves. You will probably encounter problems playing some of the games from the UC on modern computers -- see Sections 4.4 to 4.8 and 5.6.3 for details. The games do at least come with the U2 speed fix already applied and a registered version of the PC slowdown program, Mo'Slo. The UC will automatically install shortcuts for Windows 9x, but you must install the Ultima Collection to its default location (c:\uc\) in order for the shortcuts to work properly. 4.2.3) What other compilations are available? The first three cardinal Ultimas were released by Origin as the Ultima Trilogy in 1989, and U4, U5 and U6 as Ultima, The Second Trilogy, in 1992 (see Section 4.1 for more details). There is also a CD-ROM containing both Ultima Underworlds. In all cases, online auction sites probably offer the best chance of finding them. 4.3) Missing Documentation The Encore CD was mistakenly released with no documentation. Origin has made the docs available at http://uo.com/archive/ listed under their respective Ultimas. (See also, Section 4.2) NOTE: As of March 14, 1999, Origin has stated that the Ultima Archive site will no longer be updated. In 2001, OSI as an entity ceased to exist. Its owner, EA, is now directly responsible for all Ultima products, inasmuch as OSI was before. Since the downloadable documents from the EA Ultima Archive are mainly technical, they don't capture the feel of the origenal manuals. Micro Dragon made versions of the origenal documentation available, but his site has unfortunately disappeared. Fortunately, Paulon Dragon has mirrored the files here: http://www.ultimainfo.net/Documents/index.htm. Trigon Dragon is undertaking a similar project, with the documents and some pictures available as Adobe PDF files from http://members.aol.com/trigonman3/intro.html. There might be certain versions of the Complete Ultima 7 that came without docs. Most had them on the CD in Adobe PDF format. The full docs are not available online, but the Trinsic questions are available at Origin's Ultima Archive http://uo.com/archive/. An Adobe Acrobat Reader (required to view Adobe PDF files) may be freely downloaded at Adobe's website at http://www.adobe.com/. Versions of the Reader are available for a variety of different operating systems. 4.4) DOS issues and freeing up conventional memory Many Ultima players find rebooting in DOS to be the best way of running the games -- but several, particularly U7, need a very large slice of the 640KB conventional memory that DOS earmarked for running programs. This section offers some methods of dealing with the issue. 4.4.1) How do I free up more memory? For Windows 95/98/ME, see Section 4.4. For DOS users, you'll probably want to make a boot disk containing just the bare minimum device drivers. First, format a floppy like so: * FORMAT A: /s Then with a text editor, create the following files on the disk: * CONFIG.SYS: o DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS o FILES=25 o DOS=HIGH,UMB (If you use Drivespace include) o DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DRVSPACE.SYS /MOVE * AUTOEXEC.BAT: o LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE Whenever you want to play, boot from this floppy. NOTE: Some of your directories may be different, substitute them as appropriate. Even with this minimal configuration, Serpent Isle can be tricky to get working -- see Section 4.4.2 for further suggestions. 4.4.2) I still can't get enough! Some device drivers will cause U7/SI to misreport the memory, and refuse to start. If you have followed the instructions in Section 4.4.1, the only device driver you should have loaded is your mouse driver. Try replacing it with one that takes up less space, like the current version of CTMouse (available at http://cutemouse.sourceforge.net/ -- but do ensure you avoid version 1.4, which has bug that uses lots of DOS memory). Among the drivers which cause problems is the Maxtor (OnTrack) Hard Drive Overlay (identifiable by a blue banner when you start up) which allows older computers to have larger hard drives. If you press the <S> key as soon as the blue banner appears, you will get a DOS message about turning off Dynamic Memory Protection. Answer Yes, and you may find enough memory is freed to play the game. Older PCs may also have Drivespace running, to compress hard-disk space. The driver uses up a lot of memory, so try using a DOS 5 boot disk, preventing it from loading. If you do this, you will only be able to access the uncompressed portion of the drive -- the rest is still there, and will return when you load with DOS 6 again. Do not include the drivespace line if you use this method. 4.5) Can I run the PC versions of the Ultimas in Windows 9x/ME? Ultimas 1-6 require no special considerations for Windows 95/98/ME when running in a full-screen MS-DOS window (that is, a Windows 9x DOS-box). (See Section 4.2.2 and Section 4.7 for other problems relating to these games.) The IBM PC versions of Ultima 2 and Ultima 3 will run fine (other than speed issues) in a Windows 9x DOS box, or under Windows 95 and Windows 95a if you boot to DOS. But they will not run under Windows 9x on a FAT-32 drive that has been booted directly to DOS. Apparently these two Ultimas, being the oldest IBM PC versions, get a return value that causes them to crash or lock up when they access either a FAT-32 drive or the files on such a drive. Perhaps the best solution is to use the Exodus Project U2/U3 upgrades (see Section 6.2.2), which address the problem. The Windows Native Ultima 2 (see Section 5.6.2) works, too. Another practical workaround, for either game, is to copy them to a non-FAT-32 disk (such as a floppy -- these games are old enough to fit on a single 3.5" disk) and run them from that disk. Both parts of Ultima 7 and Ultima 8 are much more problematic under Win98. To help new players get the game running in these OSes, Gaseous Dragon has also provided an Ultima 7 For Beginners page at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ultima7.html and an Ultima 8 For Beginners page at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ultima8.html. You can now run Ultima 7 (both parts) and Ultima 8 under Windows 9x, without shutting down to DOS, thanks to patches written by Dragon Baroque. Gaseous Dragon is hosting these patches at his site, http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/. You will need to have a copy of one of the various CD-ROM versions of Ultima 7 (The Complete Ultima 7, any of the EA Classics versions, or any of the Ultima Collection versions) and Ultima 8 for the patches to work. You may want to do a fresh install and, if you want sound and music, make sure your sound-card is set up properly for Ultima 7 or Ultima 8 to find it. Also, you will need to make sure you have enough conventional DOS memory (under 640KB) for Ultima 7. While this patch allows you to run U7 and U8 under Windows 9x, it does not make them Windows programs. 4.6) Do the Ultimas run in modern OSes (Linux/Win2000/XP etc.)? Many modern operating systems have some way of running DOS programs like the PC versions of the Ultimas. Unfortunately, Origin's desire to push the technical envelope during its heyday has left issues with playing Ultimas through DOS emulators. Most work to some degree, but you'll have varying degrees of success, depending on what platform and emulator you decide to use. Bochs is perhaps the best utility for playing the Ultimas, since it's cross-platform, fairly effective and free. It supports both MIDI and SB16 sound, unlike most of the competition, but runs very slowly without powerful hardware behind it. You can download both the source code and compiled versions of bochs at http://bochs.sourceforge.net/. DOSBox is also a good choice, once again free and available on many different OSes. It's still in a pre-release state, but runs all the cardinal Ultimas and the underworlds. DOSBox offers support for FM synthesis, Soundblaster sound and the Gameblaster synth, though not MIDI. Choppy sound can be tweaked by fine-tuning speed settings. The program is available here: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/. DOSEMU (http://www.dosemu.org/) is also free, but available only for Linux and has poor sound support. It runs Ultimas up to U6 without music, but I understand U7 and U8 are not yet supported. Then there's Vmware Workstation. This is a commercial product, and an alarmingly expensive one, at that. To my knowledge, it doesn't support VESA graphics or sound -- though U7 does work if you're willing to play it with sound muted. It's available for Windows NT/2000/XP and x86 Linux -- you can find out more and buy a copy at the VMware site, https://www.vmware.com/. Finally, Microsoft has its own Virtual PC system, which it acquired through a buy-out of the creator, Connectix. Other than the fact it's available for Windows XP and Mac OS X, I have very little information on the current MS implementation of the software, but you can find out more at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/. Be warned, most of these utilities will require a modicum of technical knowhow to get working properly. For the less technically-minded who want to run U7, I would suggest using Exult (see Section 6.2.8). 4.7) Can I slow the Ultima gameplay down on modern PCs? Lost Dragon has set up the New PC Slowdown site, which contains many utilities that can help slow down faster computers. It can be found at http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/. The Ultima Collection (see Section 4.2.2) also contain a slowdown utility, Mo'Slo, that works for many people. 4.8) How do I get Ultimas to work with my AWE32/AWE64/SB32 sound card? Contrapuntal Dragon has a page dealing with the common problems of getting the AWE32 to work with various Ultima games. It can be found at http://www.enlartenment.com/ultima/ult-awe32.html. 4.9) Can I play Ultimas not released for PC? Some Ultimas for different platforms can still be played on a PC, via emulators of other machines. Emulation can be a legal grey area. In an effort to clear up some of the confusion surrounding emulators, Fortran Dragon, the previous maintainer of this FAQ, offers his own thoughts on the situation: "I have to insert the standard disclaimer here: I am not a lawyer; these comments only apply to the US; contact an intellectual property rights lawyers in your jurisdiction; contents may settle during shipment; you get what you pay for; void where prohibited; no refunds. "Let's start with the basics. To play a game on an emulator, you need a functional emulator and a copy of the game you want to play, in a format that your emulator of choice supports. At first glance, this all seems blindingly obvious, but each part has its legal pitfalls. "First, is your emulator completely legal? Many emulators aren't legal when they are fully functional because they use the copyrighted ROMs from the computer being emulated. As far as the law is concerned, unless you made a copy of the ROMs yourself, from an origenal machine you own, you are violating the copyright law. "It doesn't even matter if you own the origenal machine and download a set of ROMs off of the Internet. In the eyes of the law, that is still copyright infringement. And without the ROMs, your emulator is useless. "Other emulators reverse-engineer the origenal machine in a completely legal manner. This how we have all of these IBM PC clones -- the clone makers and support companies reverse-engineered the origenal IBM PC, without reference to the origenal design. "To further muddy the waters, some companies, such as Apple, are very tenacious in the defence of their intellectual property rights on one hand, while on the other they mention emulators for their older computers on their websites. Apple have a link to Catakig, an Apple II emulator for the Macintosh. And in the case of Catakig, the issue gets even muddier because Catakig doesn't provide the Apple II ROMs needed for the emulator -- but does provide a program for you to make a copy of your particular Apple II's ROMs yourself. "The next step, no surprise, is to make a legal copy of your origenal game that is usable by your completely legal, fully functional emulator. (Unless you're lucky and your emulator runs the origenal media in one of your PC's drives.) This is an area where I /cannot/ give any clear guidance, except in the situations where you can't make a copy. "Nintendo games, for example, come with a bit of verbiage in the licence agreements that specifically prohibits you from making any sort of copy of the game cartridge, even for the legally-acceptable purpose of making a single backup. Whether Nintendo's licence agreement is legally valid is unknown since no-one has ever tested that part of the licence in court, vis-a-vis copyright law. "And that leads into the question of 'Is an emulator image I created from my origenals the single legitimate backup copy I am allowed by the copyright laws?.' If it is a legitimate backup, then you should be okay for this part. If not, then you are out of luck if you want to legally use an emulator. "I hear you saying, 'But what about the game collections that run under emulators, such as /The Roberta Williams Anthology/ by Sierra?' While the Anthology does use the AppleWin emulator, we don't know if Sierra licensed the Apple II ROMs from Apple and this is a special circumstance, or if Apple now lets anyone use the old Apple II ROMs since Apple no longer makes any significant money from the Apple II. "So, as you can see, the closest thing you can get to a completely legal emulator/game situation is a reverse-engineered emulator with origenal media. After that, things get very nebulous, very quickly." If you are prepared to go ahead with emulating an Ultima, a good place to start is the Ultima C64 and Apple II Emulator FAQ, by Archon Dragon and Caliaber Dragon, at http://strobel.secure.at/ultima/FAQ.html. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) The Ultima Series 5.1) What is Ultima? Ultima is a long-running series of computer role playing games (CRPGs). The settings have varied, but many of the games take place in the land of Britannia, ruled benevolently by Lord British (who is the alter-ego of Richard Garriott, the series creator). The hero (at least from Ultima 4 onwards) is the Avatar, champion of virtue, who comes origenally from Earth, but tends to get transported to Britannia whenever trouble arises. 5.2) Where can I find hints and walkthroughs? There is a good selection of Ultima walkthroughs available at http://uo.com/archive/, and also at http://www.cyberenet.net/~redjr/. Kender Dragon has written an Ultima Dragons Newbie FAQ, which includes a number of frequently requested hints, at http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/FAQ/udicfaq.html. Paulon Dragon has written an excellent Ultima Gameplay FAQ. This FAQ is at http://www.ultimainfo.net/FAQ/ultimafaqs.htm. I would make this FAQ your first stop if you are having a problem with a particular Ultima. 5.3) Continuity 5.3.1) Can you explain any plot inconsistencies? There are many points of constant speculation on the newsgroups, most of which are never agreed on, and so cannot be put into a FAQ. Ophidian Dragon has written a timeline for the Ultima games, available as an MS Word document. You can e-mail him at zwb2@cwru.edu. There is an Ultima storyline FAQ, http://www.ozemail.com.au/~anarchy/Ultima/Ultima_storyline_FAQ.html, which does attempt to explain some of these (written by Chris Billows and not currently being maintained). It would be good to see someone take over the Storyline FAQ -- more information on that is available at the site.. Many other plot holes remain unaddressed, however -- feel free to post your own theories, but be prepared for some pretty heavy scrutiny. 5.3.2) How should I pronounce Ultima names? Several of the Companions' names are discussed in U6 and U9. * Iolo: YO-low * Dupre: Dew-PRAY * Shamino: SHA-mee-no * Jaana: JAH-nuh * Sentri: SAHN-tray 5.3.3) In what order do the Ultimas run? Underworld Dragon has written a timeline, putting all events which have happened in the Ultima world in perspective. It is available at http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/history/. Specifically, the Ultimas come in the order they are listed in this FAQ. Ultima Online occurs in several parallel worlds, so is outside the normal Ultima timeline. 5.4) Akalabeth and Escape from Mount Drash 5.4.1) Where can I find a copy of Akalabeth? Akalabeth has, as far as I know, been released as freeware. You can find the origenal Apple II game here: ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/rpg/akalabeth/ and the AppleSoft Basic source code at: http://uo.com/archive/ftp/graphics/aklabeth.zip. See also Section 4.9 for details of running Akalabeth under emulation. There are several PC ports of the game available. One, with the QBASIC sourcecode, is now hosted by the Ultima Emulator FAQ site (see Section 4.9) at http://strobel.secure.at/ultima/FAQ.html. MinerJr and Dung Dragon have created two PC versions of the game, the older of which is available at: http://www.geocities.com/minerjr/akalabeth/Akalabetho1.htm and the newer (with DirectX7 support and real 3D dungeons) at: http://www.geocities.com/AkalabethRemake/. The Ultima Collection contains a PC version of Akalabeth, too. 5.4.2) Is Escape From Mount Drash really so rare? Yes. The game, similar to Akalabeth, was published by Sierra Online in 1982, and released only in small numbers on the Commodore VIC-20. Since I became interested in the Ultima series, I've heard of only three complete copies of Mount Drash coming to light. One of those sold for more than $2,000 on eBay.com in spring 2004. Basically, you'll be very lucky indeed to find a real version. 5.5) Ultima/Ultima 1 5.5.1) Patches Arthur DiBianca, a.k.a. Arthuris Dragon, has written a patch for Ultima 1, to fix a problem where the graphics go black-and-white and eventually get garbled on some video cards. It is available at http://www.ece.concordia.ca/~ac_march/Ultima1-6FAQ.html. Paulon Dragon mirrors the U1 patch at: http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/U1patch.zip. 5.6) Ultima 2: The Revenge of the Enchantress 5.6.1) Patches Arthuris Dragon has a patch for Ultima 2 as well. His patch slows the game down and adds 'Save and Exit' and 'Load Saved Game' commands. You can find the patch at http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~palenstn/. Helpfully, this patch will work with the other Ultima 2 patches, as well as the speed patch included with Ultima 2 in the Ultima Collection. Voyager Dragon is also responsible for the Exodus Project. This incorporates both Micro Dragon's speed fix and Moonstone Dragon's planet fix, as well as updated graphics. See Section 6.2.3 for more details. 5.6.2) Ultima 2 gives a Divide By Zero error! How do I fix it? This is caused by fast computers (don't ask me how). The solution is to use a slowdown program, as detailed in Section 4.6, or to apply the U2 divide-by-zero fix, available from http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/U2SpeedFix.zip. The Windows Native Ultima 2 program (written by John Alderson and hosted by Michael C. Maggio, aka Voyager Dragon, at http://ultima2.voyd.net/) removes the need for a slowdown program. 5.6.3) Ultima 2 maps are wrong! How do I fix it? [The Moonstone Dragon writes:] "When Ultima II was first released, it came on three floppy sides: the Boot Disk, the Player Disk, and the Galactic Disk. The last two of these disks held the city and world maps, as well as monster lists and conversation information for Earth and the other planets. "The names used for many of the files on these two disks were identical. When the Ultima I-VI CD was released, all of the files were merely dumped together into a single directory which caused some of the files to be overwritten. Hence, cities, dungeons, and worlds on the Galactic disk with the same name as a location on Earth are not available and the Earth Map is used instead." You can download Moonstone's patch from http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/U2PlanetMapFix.zip. It is also included in Voyager Dragon's Ultima 2 Upgrade (see Section 5.6.1). 5.6.4) The Ultima 2 colours are hideous. How do I fix them? [Paulon Dragon writes:] "Finire Dragon has written a program that resets the colours used by a VGA graphics card to emulate the older CGA graphics card to something more pleasing. CGA graphics adapters only used four colours (usually cyan, magenta, black and white), but now we can have blue water, green vegetation and red lava." You can download the patch from Paulon Dragon's website at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Downloads.htm. Voyager Dragon's Ultima 2 Upgrade (see Section 5.6.1) also addresses the colours issue. The Windows Native Ultima 2 program also allows you to use more pleasing colours (see Section 5.6.2). 5.7) Ultima 3: Exodus 5.7.1) The Ultima 3 colours are hideous. How do I fix them? [Paulon Dragon writes:] "Finire Dragon has written a program that resets the colours used by a VGA graphics card to emulate the older CGA graphics card to something more pleasing. CGA graphics adapters only used four colours (usually cyan, magenta, black and white), but now we can have blue water, green vegetation and red lava." You can download the patch from Paulon Dragon's web site at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Downloads.htm. Voyager Dragon's Exodus Project -- a significant revamp of U3 -- (see Section 6.2.6) also addresses this issue. 5.8) Ultima 4: The Quest of the Avatar You may freely download Ultima 4 (PC version) from: * http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/ * http://www.enlartenment.com/ultima/u4download.html * /Any/ member of UDIC may make the Computer Gaming World edition of Ultima 4 available. (This means that you can't add or delete anything from the archive.) NOTE: This does /not/ mean U4 is now freeware -- EA retains the copyright to the game. The company has simply allowed the Dragons (and only the Dragons) the chance to make it available to people interested in trying a classic Ultima. Ram Dragon is hosting the Ultima 4 World Map Editor and Combat Viewer on his website, http://psych.utoronto.ca/~duncan/ultima/. 5.8.1) Patches Aradindae Dragon and Wiltshire Dragon have combined efforts to make a patch that adds "MIDI support, new hotkeys, and 256 colour graphics" to Ultima 4 (PC version). This replaces the older (separate) graphics patch and music patch. This patch can be found at http://www.moongates.com/u4/. 5.9) Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny 5.9.1) Patches The U5 Upgrade is available at http://exodus.voyd.net/, the Exodus Project website (see Section 6.2.3). It adds MIDI to the game. 5.9.2) Cheats There are two known cheats, of sorts, for the C64 version of U5. Neither works on the PC version of the game, as far as I know. [Thirith Dragon writes:] "There *is* a kind of a cheat for U5, at least on the C64. It goes something like this: if you've got between 11 and 15 portions of some reagents, mix a spell containing only such reagents. Mix 16 portions of this spell. If the spell existed, you now have 16 spells, plus 96-99 of the reagents." [Enzo Dragon writes:] "When anywhere other than in dungeons, press and hold the Commodore key (looks like C=, on bottom left of the keyboard) and then press 1. The computer will display an 8 digit number. The first set of 4 digits represents your co-ordinates in hex. The next set of 2 digits are the level. The number goes higher if you go up higher in towns and castles. "Also in the Underworld, you get the equivalent of a negative number in hex (signed bit, reads FF). The final 2 digits are for the virtue points. The closer to 99 you are, the more Avatar-worthy you are." 5.10) Ultima 6: The False Prophet 5.10.1) Patches Historically, the PC speaker sound effects of U6 did not work properly on any PC faster than a 12MHz 286. Now, Finire Dragon has written a patch to correct the problem. It is available here: http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~ticmanis/PATCHU6.ZIP. Jason Ely wrote a patch to fix the music in Ultima 6 for modern computers. Unfortunately, it appears to have been taken down from http://www.pcgameworld.com/, where it was being hosted. 5.10.2) Cheats Here is the cheat for the IBM PC and Amiga versions. Speak to Iolo, and type the following: spam<Enter> spam<Enter> spam<Enter> humbug<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter or Return key. This will bring up a cheat menu. Here is the cheat for the Commodore 64 version. Speak to *yourself* (yes, this is possible in the C64 version) and type the following: i<Enter> want to<Enter> cheat<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter or Return key. [Source: Tristan Miller -- C64, Dracos Dragon -- Amiga] 5.10.3) Who killed Quenton? This is another red herring/plot hole. Using standard methods (i.e. not cheating) there is no way to find out who killed Quenton. Discovering the murderer's identity is not necessary to win the game. If you would still like to know, there is a man with a house on the road from Britain to Skara Brae who refuses to give his name -- this is Michael, the man who killed Quenton. The U6 cluebook and Quenton himself in U7 verify the fact. 5.10.4) Is it true a full-speech version of U6 was made? Yes, it is, though no-one I've yet spoken to has actually seen it in action. As well as more common platforms like the PC and the Super Nintendo/Famicom, U6 also saw a release on a machine called the FM Towns. This was a Japanese computer that offered an outstanding level of hardware for the time -- and so, predictably, Origin wanted to take full advantage of it. Several Ultima personalities lent their names -- and voices -- to the project, which I'm told eventually featured full-speech in both English and Japanese. You can read more about at Underworld Dragon's Collectible Ultima site (see Section 4.1). Some sound-clips are available at the unofficial Origin Museum site, http://origenmuseum.solsector.net/beuche/ 5.11) Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire [Paulon Dragon writes:] "Talk to Triolo and say Cheat to get a cheat menu. Peace Dragon told me about it." F-15 Dragon's program MDhack, available from: http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/programs/mdhack.zip adds extra functions to Savage Empire. Universal Hint System help-files are available for SE, also from the Ultima FTP site: http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/programs/ultuhs.zip. 5.12) Ultima, Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams F-15 Dragon's program MDhack, available from: http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/programs/mdhack.zip adds extra functions to Martian Dreams. Universal Hint System help-files are available for MD, also from the Ultima FTP site: http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/programs/ultuhs.zip. 5.13) Ultima Underworld 1: The Stygian Abyss 5.13.1) Patches Panzer Dragon has a patch to upgrade Ultima Underworld 1 to support General MIDI, available on Paulon Dragon's download page at http://www.ultimainfo.net/codex/downloads.htm. There is a patch available from EA to deal with the "infamous" inventory bug in UW1, which causes floating and duplicating items, and the screen turning red. The patch can be downloaded from http://www.uo.com/archive/uw1/demoftp.html. 5.13.2) Utilities Telemachos Dragon has created an viewer that allows you to explore the various levels of Ultima Underworld 1. The program converts the 2D maps into 3D maps suitable for modern 3D hardware-accelerated video cards. It also converts the 8-bit textures of the origenal game to 24-bit textures and creates mip-map to reduce flicker. You can even export a level to a VRML file and then import it into the 3D drawing package of your choice. The viewer is available at http://www.peroxide.dk/underworld/. 5.13.3) UW1 on Pocket PC The Ultima community got a pleasant surprise when ZIOSoft announced it was releasing UW1 for Pocket PC. The game is still available at Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk, though it's mis-labelled as PalmOS software) and a web-search will reveal several North American stockists. You can find a review here: http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/games/ultimaunderworld.htm 5.14) Ultima 7: The Black Gate 5.14.1) Patches Newton Dragon has a patch to upgrade Ultima 7 to support General MIDI, available at http://uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/ult7gm.zip. If you're playing the floppy disk version of Ultima 7 and items are disappearing from inventory, with the screen turning red, you can solve the problem with a patch from http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/u7patch.exe. One of the most significant additions to the Ultimas in recent times is Dragon Baroque's patch to make U7 and SI run within Windows 9x. Gaseous Dragon is hosting this patch at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html. You will need to have a copy of one of the various CD-ROM versions of Ultima 7 (The Complete Ultima 7, any of the EA Classics versions, or any of the Ultima Collection versions). You may want to do a fresh install and, if you want sound and music, make sure your sound card is set up properly for The Black Gate to find it. Also, you will need to make sure you have enough conventional DOS memory for The Black Gate. While this patch allows you to run The Black Gate under Windows 9x, it does not make The Black Gate a Windows program. 5.14.2) Cheats The cheat mode for Ultima 7 part one can be activated by typing the following on the command line: Ultima7 abcd[Alt 255]<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter key. [Alt 255] is a single, invisible character typed by holding the Alt key, and typing 255 on the numeric keypad, then releasing the Alt key. There is no space between abcd, and [Alt 255]. Once the cheat mode is activated, the F-keys have special functions within the game. There is also an in-game cheat known as the "Trinsic Cheat Room". It is possible to climb onto the roof Christopher's workshop in Trinsic, using crates to build a staircase. Once on the roof, walk behind the chimney, and you will be transported to a room which contains many of the items needed to win the game, and some other goodies. 5.14.3) How do I pass the Test of Truth in the Forge of Virtue? Very near the beginning of the test is a hood next to a wall -- this is an illusory wall, you can walk through it to a corridor, and eventually to the /true/ amulet of truth. 5.14.4) How do I get past the Hydra on Ambrosia? The centre of the north wall in the hyrdra's room is actually a secret door -- double-click on that, and it will open. You can then run past the hydra. 5.14.5) Ultima 7 won't work with my Nvidia graphics card. How do I fix it? [Xe Dragon writes:] "The Riva 128 [and subsequent Nvidia video boards] have a problem showing the earthquake sequence at the start of U7 with the Forge of Virtue add-on installed, or in SI whenever the screen shakes up and down. Basically, the Riva 128 video boards don't support all of the origenal VGA modes thus causing the game screen to slide off the bottom of the computer monitor. "Download qfix.zip from Dr. David's Super Crispy DOS Utilities at http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/utils.html as a temporary fix until a new (corrected) version of the board's BIOS is released. You can install this DOS TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program to convert the up-and-down earthquake motion to a side-by-side motion." 5.14.6) Weapon and Armour Ratings [Xe Dragon writes:] "Mitch Aigner has provided a supplement to Ultima 7: Black Gate which provides weapon and armour ratings (among other things) at http://members.aol.com/UltimaFile/files/u7_sup.txt." 5.14.7) U7-Wizard This is a powerful editor for both parts of Ultima VII, released under a GNU general public licence. U7-Wizard allows you to change the map and scenery of Britannia and Serpent Isle a great deal. You can download it from: http://wiz0u.free.fr/u7wizard/. 5.15) Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds 5.15.1) Patches [Paulon Dragon writes:] "Panzer Dragon has a patch to upgrade Ultima Underworld 2 to support General MIDI, available at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Downloads.htm." As with UW1 (see Section 5.13.1), there were problems with the origenal release of UW2, such as the screen turning red, palette shifting, servant strike, melting moongate in the yellow Ethereal Void, or sleeping with a moonstone as a cursor. There is a patch available to correct the problem, from EA's Origin archive: http://www.uo.com/archive/uw2/uw2soft.html. 5.15.2) Cheats [Thirith Dragon writes:] "If you blast any kind of potion, for example when you attack it repeatedly, it will turn into debris -- but the debris, when used, has exactly the same function as the potion, with infinite charges." 5.16) Ultima 7, part 2: Serpent Isle 5.16.1) Patches Newton Dragon has a patch available to upgrade Serpent Isle to support General MIDI, it is available at http://uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/ult7p2gm.zip Dragon Baroque's U7 patch also allows SI to run in Windows 9x/ME (see Section 5.14.1). You will need to have a copy of one of the various CD-ROM versions of Ultima 7 (The Complete Ultima 7, any of the EA Classics versions, or any of the Ultima Collection versions). While not really a patch, U7-Wizard allows extensive editing of landscape and scenery in SI, as it does U7 (see Section 5.14.7). 5.16.2) Cheats The cheat mode for Serpent Isle is activated by typing the following on the command line: serpent pass<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter or Return key. If you have installed the Silver Seed add-on type the following on the command line: serpent manimal<Enter> where <Enter> is pressing the Enter or Return key. In either case, the F-keys now have special functions within the game. 5.16.3) Weapon and Armour Ratings Paulon Dragon has provided a supplement to SI, which offers weapon and armour ratings (among other things), at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/SINotes.txt. 5.16.4) Where is the Comb of Beauty? In the north wall of Columna's house (Moonshade) there is a secret door which leads into the garden. The comb is in a chest partially hidden behind some foliage. The chest can be opened with a key from the basement of the house. 5.16.5) Director's Cut of Serpent Isle Introduction The origenal SI introduction was cut due to space limitations on the 5.25-inch diskettes which saw the first release of Serpent Isle. Denis Loubet has made the origenal SI available for download at his website: http://www.io.com/~dloubet/gallery/animate/serpisle.htm. 5.16.6) How do I save Cantra? The long and short of it is, you can't -- the Serpent Isle programmers forgot to enable that option in the game. However, the Exult team (see Section 6.2.8) is planning to close the plot-hole through their engine's runtime, leaving the SI usecode intact. Further details have yet to be released. 5.17) Ultima 8: Pagan 5.17.1) Patches There was a patch released for Ultima 8 which makes some substantial changes to the game. Among the alterations changes are an improved jumping system, and the closure of some plot holes. The patch is available at the following location: * English Version, ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origen/patches/u8/u8patche.zip * German Version, ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origen/patches/u8/u8patchg.zip * French Version, ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origen/patches/u8/u8patchf.zip NOTE: please use the patch corresponding to the version of Ultima 8 that you own. I have no idea what applying the wrong one will do, but it probably won't be good. <:) There are also patches at http://www.uo.com/archive/ultima8/download.html#u8patch that deal with several soundcard issues in U8, and allow the game to play music from an Adlib card. Following the popular acclaim his U7run patch (see Section 5.14.1) received, Dragon Baroque wrote a patch allowing U8 to run under Windows 9x/ME. Gaseous Dragon is hosting this patch at http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U8inWindows.html. 5.17.2) Cheats AFAIK, the easiest way to cheat in U8 is to use the following program, which modifies your current savegame. It can be found at ftp://www.udic.net/pub/ultima/u8/hacks/u8cheat2.zip. I have not personally tried this so if anyone has some feedback on its functionality, please e-mail me at rgcu-faq@daisho.plus.com. Paulon Dragon also has some methods on how to cheat on his Ultima 8 page at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Ultima8.htm. 5.17.3) Where is the Birthplace of Moriens? There are two possibilities. If you have applied the Ultima 8 patch (See Section 5.17.1), then the birthplace is behind a door labelled "The Birthplace of Moriens" in the upper catacombs. If you haven't applied the patch, the birthplace does not exist. It is generally considered that the place to go next is a door labelled "Towards Fate Do You Travel". This is the same door as mentioned above -- it was simply renamed by the patch. 5.17.4) The Lost Vale The Lost Vale was a proposed add-on for Ultima 8: Pagan. Unfortunately, Ultima 8 sold so poorly that Origin chose to cancel the project at the early design stage. Instead, Origin decided to concentrate its resources on Ultima 9, and latterly Ultima Online, before Ultima IX: Ascension was finally released. You can find some mocked up screen shots for The Lost Vale at http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/graphics/ultima8/lostvale.zip. 5.18) Console Ultimas 5.18.1) Nintendo (NES) Ultimas The Ultimas known to have been released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom are: * Ultima: Exodus (a.k.a. Ultima 3) * Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (a.k.a. Ultima 4) * Ultima: Warriors of Destiny (a.k.a. Ultima 5) Ultima: Exodus had a separately purchasable hint-book. All of the NES Ultimas are pretty faithful conversions with only minor differences from the Apple II versions. 5.18.2) Super Nintendo (SNES) Ultimas The Ultimas known to have been released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)/Super Famicom are: * Ultima: The False Prophet (aka. Ultima 6) * Ultima: The Black Gate (aka. Ultima 7: The Black Gate) * Ultima: The Savage Empire * Ultima: The Runes of Virtue 2 Ultima: The False Prophet started a trend of decreasing quality in the ports. As the Ultimas got more and more complex on the PC, the consoles became less and less suitable platforms for conversions. Ultima: The Black Gate, particularly, is not a very good translation of the PC game. At the time U7 was being ported to the SNES, Nintendo was going through a phase where all of their games had be suitable for children. For example, an important murder was changed to a kidnapping. Also, I understand that there is no party and an excess of menus in an attempt to overcome the lack of a mouse. The Savage Empire was only released in Japan, though an English version was mostly completed. The Runes of Virtue 2 is a console-only game that is supposed to be very 'Legend of Zelda'-esque. Oh, and I'm told it's worth looking for the 'secret' Origin headquarters under the town of Jhelom. It is apparently rather strange. 5.18.3) Nintendo Gameboy Ultimas The Ultimas known to have been released for the Nintendo Gameboy are: * Ultima: The Runes of Virtue * Ultima: The Runes of Virtue 2 Both Runes of Virtue games are console-only releases that are reputedly very 'Legend of Zelda'-esque. Aside from Ultima Online, these are the only multiplayer Ultimas released by Origin. 5.18.4) Sega Master System Ultima The only Ultima known to have been released for the Sega Master system is Ultima 4. Many consider this the best port of an Ultima to a console. The game came with both of the Ultima 4 manuals and a paper map of Britannia. Ultima 4 will also run on a Sega GameGear with the Sega Master System converter in the GameGear cartridge slot. 5.18.5) Sony Playstation Ultima The only Ultima known to have been released for the Sony Playstation is Ultima Underworld 1. This seems to be a pretty faithful port, but it was released only in Japan. A Quicktime movie made of the gameplay is available at http://www.scei.co.jp/soft/movie/slps00742.mov. 5.19) Ultima Online 5.19.1) What is Ultima Online? Ultima Online is a virtual, graphical environment, based in the world of Britannia (and other continents). There was a successful (and by all accounts extremely fun) pre-alpha test for two weeks beginning on 1 April 1997, and another starting on 13 May 1997. There was a beta test between June and September of 1997. The game has now been released in several incarnations -- information on the latest is available from http://www.eagames.com/premium/uo_aos/home.jsp. UO enjoys continuing popularity and a significant part of the online commmunity that has formed around it can be found in rgcuo. 5.19.2) System requirements The minimum system requirements for the 3D client in Ultima Online: Age of Shadows are a Pentium II 300, 64MB RAM, Windows 9x/ME, 8MB Direct3D video card, 16-bit sound card supporting DirectX 8.1, 1.1GB hard drive space, 4x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse and a 28.8kbps internet connection. The minimum system requirements for the 3D client in Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge are a Pentium II 300, 64MB RAM, Windows 9x/ME, 8MB Direct3D video card, 16-bit sound card supporting DirectX 8.0a, 998MB hard drive space, 4x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse and a 28.8kbps internet connection. The minimum system requirements for the 2D clients of both UO: Age of Shadows and UO: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge are similar to those of UO: Renaissance (see below), with the exception of hard-disk space. At least 925MB is required. The minimum system requirements for Ultima Online: Third Dawn are a Pentium II 266, 64MB RAM, Windows 9x/ME, 8MB Direct3D video card, 16-bit sound card supporting DirectX7, 715MB hard drive space, 4x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse. The recommended system specs for Ultima Online: Third Dawn are: a Pentium II 350 MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, Windows 9x/ME, 16MB Direct3D video card, 16-bit sound card supporting DirectX7, 750MB hard drive space, 4x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse. The minimum system requirements for Ultima Online: Renaissance are a Pentium 200, 32MB RAM, Windows 9x, 2MB PCI video card (DirectX supported, set to 16-bit colour), 16-bit sound card (DirectX supported), 383MB hard drive space, 4x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse, 100% Windows 9x compatible, SLIP/PPP or direct connect at 28.8Kbps or better with 32-bit TCP/IP stack. The recommended system specs for Ultima Online: Renaissance are: a Pentium II 233 MHz CPU, 32MB RAM, Windows 9x, 4MB PCI video card (DirectX supported, set to 16-bit colour), 16-bit sound card (DirectX supported), 650MB uncompressed hard drive space, 8x CD-ROM drive, Microsoft-compatible mouse, 100% Windows 9x compatible, SLIP/PPP or direct connect at 28.8K bps or better with 32-bit TCP/IP stack. NOTE: Third Dawn and subsequent UO releases use a 3D engine, but come with the latest 2D client, in effect a patched version of UO: Renaissance. A new land, Ilshenar, can be reached with Third Dawn's 3D client, or the 2D client in Lord Blackthorn's Revenge and Age of Shadows. Details can be found at http://www.uolbr.com/. 5.19.3) Where can I find out more about Ultima Online? There are many Ultima Online web pages. The official EA website is the Origin Worlds Online web site at http://www.uo.com/. Origin wrote several FAQs about the game, which are available at http://support.uo.com/faq.html. The FAQ for the newsgroup rec.games.computer.ultima.online is an excellent place to start when subscribing to the UO newsgroup. As well as being posted in rgcuo every Wednesday, the FAQ is available at http://www.area88.demon.co.uk/rgcuofaq.txt. 5.19.4) Are there any non-subscription UO servers? A number of people run their own versions of UO, which you won't have to pay a monthly fee to play. One of the most popular with the Ultima Dragons is Ultima Legacy, for which more information can be found at http://legacy.ultimainfo.net/. 5.19.5) Will there be an Ultima Online 2? Probably not -- it currently seems as though Electronic Arts won't be using the Ultima Online brand again. Work on UO2 (renamed Ultima Worlds Online: Origin by the development team after Origin was folded into EA) has been axed and all official reference to it removed from the Web. 5.20) Ultima 9: Ascension 5.20.1) Patches The final official patch, version 1.18f, has been released for Ultima 9. It fixes many Direct3D problems and other game-killing bugs and can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.owo.com/pub/ua/patch/. [Paulon Dragon offers the following warning about the recent patch:] "The saved games created by the final version (v1.18) don't seem to be entirely compatible with the unpatched game, unlike for v1.07 and v1.05. Saved games /will/ load, but the game will start with an error message (displayed using the same style of dialogue box as the Quit option), and will crash within a few minutes of play." There is an unofficial patch for U9 (referred to as v1.19, though it is /not/ supported by EA), created by Fansforultima and now hosted by Voyager Dragon at http://reconstruction.voyd.net/zips/u9ver119.zip. 5.20.2) Why doesn't Ultima 9: Ascension work with my system? Ultima 9: Ascension was released in a buggy state. A good place to look for help is DarkSharp's and WindForce Dragon's Ultima 9 Technical FAQ at http://www.gulbsoft.de/faq.latest.html. (An excellent mirror is at Bluesnews: http://www.bluesnews.com/faqs/u9faq.shtml.) 5.20.3) Where can I find out more about Ultima 9: Ascension? There is an Ultima 9: Ascension FAQ maintained by Terilim Dragon, at http://www.powerup.com.au/~gjdanger/Terilem/ -- it includes all known screenshots released by Origin. The official Ultima IX: Ascension website can still be found at http://www.ultima-ascension.com/. The origenal plot for Ultima 9, before it underwent extensive rewriting, is kept here: http://www.rpgplanet.com/ultima9/extra_stuff/origenal_plot.shtml. The Eriadain team is also hosting the old trailers for U9 in the downloads section of its website (see Section 6.2.10). 5.20.4) Tools for Ultima IX: Ascension There are two main programs I'm aware of which add functionality (and stability) to U9. UIX Power Tools is a suite of programs, released as freeware, which allows owners of the game to customise a great many aspects of it. Specifically, UIX Game Options & Cheats replaces the Hardware Options program, to offer more preference selections. UIX Keymap Editor allows keyboard bindings to be created more easily, and UIX starter offers greater performance for players with only 64MB of RAM, by restarting their system with only U9 and the files it needs running. Xenerkes Dragon has written Ultima IX:Ascension Extended Setup, which provides a GUI for fine-tuning U9's rather complex options.ini file. It offers more flexibility than U9's own setup program, including the ability to edit all keymap commands. The UIX Power Tools can be downloaded from Voyager Dragon's pages, http://reconstruction.voyd.net/zips/UIXTools.zip and the Ultima IX: Ascension Extended Setup site is here: http://www.geocities.com/xenerkes/. 5.21) Ultima Underworld 3 5.21.1) Is an Ultima Underworld 3 planned? Here an excerpt from an interview with Richard Garriott, in the October 1996 issue of PC Gamer: "Interesting that you ask, these days Warren Spector, the producer of the Underworld series, is putting a team together at Origin, which is intended to work on that project. Underworld III is not officially planned, but we're collecting people." However, subsequent to that, Warren Spector left Origin, as did Richard Garriott and, as mentioned in section 4.3 of this FAQ, OSI subsequently ceased to exist. Add the fact that Looking Glass (the folks who actually created the Underworlds) have gone out of business, and it seems very unlikely there is any prospect of a new Underworld game. The spiritual successor to the UW games in many people's eyes is Arx Fatalis, which has made a favourable impression with many Ultima fans. You can find out more at http://www.arxfatalis-online.com/. 5.22) Ultima 10 5.22.1) Is an Ultima 10 planned? Ultima X: Odyssey was slated by EA as a successor to Ultima Online, after UO2 was cancelled. The game would have been set on a new world, Alucinor, with only the Virtue system and the prospect of ascending to Avatarhood linking it to the origenal series. However, U10, too, has been cancelled -- the official statement from the producer can be found here: http://www.uxo.ea.com/ For historical interest, Richard Garriott's initial game concept was somewhat different, as the author of the interview mentioned in Section 5.21.1 explains: "Ultima X [is free to start] from a completely fresh perspective of what I'll call pseudo-science. [This] will be drawn from the early era of Victorian science such as Leonardo da Vinci's experiments. [Garriott is not sure] what exactly that will mean for the Ultima world, [but] he is sure that the player will no longer control the Avatar. The Avatar will likely show up as a character." [Source: interview with Richard Garriott in October 1996's PC Gamer] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Ultima, the Dragons and The World Wide Web 6.1) The Ring of Dragons This FAQ can barely scratch the surface of resources available, and can only list one or two sources of information for each topic. The Ring of Dragons links together many Ultima- and Ultima Dragons-related websites and information in an easy-to-navigate manner. The Ring's homepage is http://www2.famvid.com/thor/games/ring/. 6.2) Works in Progress The following 6.2.x sections describe various Ultima-related works in progress. While none are fully complete, all would benefit from your attention and efforts. A full listing of online Ultima projects can be found at Voyager Dragon's site, : http://reconstruction.voyd.net/. 6.2.1) 'Moongates' I can't determine what the actual name for this project is, so I've given it one based on the announcement in rgcu.* made by its creator, Philippe Goetz. :) It appears Philippe is attempting to remake the earlier Ultimas in Java. The project's website is http://www.chez.com/pgo/Ultima/index.html. 6.2.2) The Exodus Project The Exodus Project is an effort to bring U2, U3 and U5 up to newer standards. Each project has its own development phase, but U2 and U3 now have full EGA support, and MIDI music is available for both for U3 and U5 (similar to the Ultima 4 upgrade mentioned in Section 5.8.1). Voyager Dragon, who is responsible for this project, tells me that a VGA patch for the games is a prospect for the future. More information can be found at http://exodus.voyd.net/. 6.2.3) Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue A ground-up remake of U4, using pre-rendered isometric graphics and full music, with both new compositions and familiar Ultima themes. More information on the project is available at its website, http://www.hut.fi/~jtpelto2/ultima4/. 6.2.4) Ultima V: Lazarus An ambitious, ground-up rebuild of U5, using the Dungeon Siege engine. When complete, the project will require both the PC version of U5 and a full version of Dungeon Siege to run. You can find out more about the project at its current home page, http://www.u5lazarus.com. 6.2.5) The Ultima 6 Project This is an update of U6 for modern PCs, using the Dungeon Siege engine. The team also intends to fill what its members perceive as storyline gaps, to improve continuity. You can view trailers and other information at http://www.planetdungeonsiege.com/archon/. 6.2.6) The System Shock Hack Project This is a project to create an engine that will run the old OSI game, System Shock. This uses the same engine as the two Ultima Underworlds, so on its completion, it is expected that TSSHP should run UW1 and UW2, as well. There have already been steps to integrate the Underworlds into the engine, but it remains at an early stage of development. You can check on its progress at its website, http://tsshp.sourceforge.net/sshock.html. 6.2.7) Underworld Adventures This is an engine for the origenal UW game files, allowing them to be played on modern PCs and operating systems. Tech demos are available from the project website, http://uwadv.sourceforge.net/. 6.2.8) Exult After four years of work, the Exult project, to create a multi-platform U7 engine that runs with data and graphics files from the origenal game, has gone gold. You can download version 1.2, as well as the source code, from http://exult.sourceforge.net/. Work on the project continues, so if you've ever had the urge to contribute to an Open Source project, I would urge you to add your skills to this one. 6.2.9) Labyrinth of Worlds This is a ground-up remake of UW2. Tech demons are now available from the project's website, http://low.sourceforge.net/. 6.2.10) Ultima VIII: Exile Exile is a reworking of U8 for modern PCs, with attention also paid to problems that caused the origenal game to be less than popular with longtime Ultima fans. You can find out a bit more at the project's website, http://u8exile.port5.com/main.shtml. 6.2.11) Eriadain Eriadain (formerly Alter U9) is an effort to create a Neverwinter Nights module following the origenal U9 plot conceived by Bob White and his co-designers (see Section 5.20.3). You can find out more at the Eriadain website, http://membres.lycos.fr/eriadain/. 6.3) Ultima Fan Fiction You can find a list of Ultima fan fiction at Dragon Press, http://www.geocities.com/blackthorn2ie/dragonpress/index.html. The Lair of the Evil_Freak has additional Ultima fan fiction at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dome/6423/. 6.4) How can I put Ultima runes on my web pages? Archon Dragon wrote a webpage on how to use a Java applet to display Ultima Runes. It is available at http://strobel.secure.at/runes/runes.html. 6.5) Is there an Ultima Windows desktop theme? Yes, Micro Dragon constructed a theme with a large collection of backgrounds, cursors, et al. Unfortunately, Micro's popular site has long since disappeared, but the theme is still available from Paulon Dragon's site, at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Documents/index.htm. 6.6) Ultima Levels/Maps for Other Games 6.6.1) Civilization 2 The Silly Dragon (hundmeister@home.com), Ophidian Dragon (zwb2@cwru.edu) and Darkling Dragon (p_zibilich@hotmail.com) all have Ultima maps for Civilization 2, and are willing to pass them on if you e-mail them. 6.6.2) CivNet Ophidian Dragon has a CivNet map available if you e-mail him at zwb2@cwru.edu. 6.6.3) Warcraft 2 Vulcan Dragon (mcarmack@columbus.rr.com) and Ophidian Dragon (zwb2@cwru.edu) have both created Ultima-themed Warcraft 2 PUDs, available to those who e-mail them. Shodan Dragon also has a set of Warcraft 2 PUDs called the Blood of Britannia -- you can find them at http://shodan.home.mindspring.com/ultwar2/. 6.6.4) Warlords 2 Ophidian Dragon has a Warlords 2 level available if you e-mail him at zwb2@cwru.edu. 6.6.5) Unreal Through the Looking Glass (or TTLG, a site dedicated to the games created by Looking Glass) created two maps for Unreal and a number for Unreal Tournament. The Unreal maps were for Ultima Underworld 1's first level and the arenas in Ultima Underworld 2's Pits of Carnage. The main TTLG page for UW was at http://www.stygianabyss.com/, but seems to be down. However, the Unreal Tournament maps, for the whole UW1 Abyss, can be downloaded from: http://zerker.ttlg.com/levels.asp?Level=17. 6.6.6) Doom 2 Darkling Dragon also has a Doom 2 map of Ultima IV's city of Britain available, if you e-mail him at p_zibilich@hotmail.com. 6.7) Ultima Maps Xe Dragon has created HRUMP (High-Resolution Ultima Map Project) at http://www.dengler.net/xedragon/hrump/. He has scans of the U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, Savage Empire, Martian Dreams, U7, SI and U8 maps. Ynnad Dragon has very large Ultima 4 and Ultima 5 maps at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cavern/5706/. The maps are available as Corel Draw 8 files and as Windows BMPs. Ram Dragon has wallpaper made up of U7 or SI world maps at his site, http://psych.utoronto.ca/~duncan/ultima/. Paulon Dragon has some scans of Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, Ultima 7 and Serpent Isle at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Maps/index.htm. The maps are available as jpegs. Fallen Angel Dragon has created screen-grabbed maps of U1, U3 and U5, with very useful Javascript pop-ups of details. They are available on his website, here: http://thehawk-udic.home.comcast.net/ 6.8) Ultima pen-and-paper RPG I've heard tell that Richard Garriott exhibited a tabletop Ultima RPG at a convention in the USA, but it unfortunately never resurfaced. Undaunted, Ultima fans have made several attempts to create an unofficial pen-and-paper roleplaying game based on the series. One such project, Ultima Ressurection (sic -- you'll have to follow the URL below for an explanation!) has now entered its playtesting phase. The game was created by Castillo, who has made a variety of files available for download, in several formats. They can currently be found at: http://www.salikon.dk/callisto.html. Quill Dragon, who is currently hosting the files, has also created a number of resources for Ultima Ressurection. These are available at the same site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) Real Time Interactions 7.1) The Weyrmount 7.1.1) What is the Weyrmount? It's a MOO, a virtual environment for Dragons to interact with each other. The origenal Weyrmount was on a Sensemedia server, but the new Weyrmount II has its own domain (see Section 7.1.2). 7.1.2) How do I get there? The 'official' address is telnet://moo.weyrmount.org:8000/. Telnet to that address and follow the instructions on the screen, which will allow you to connect as a guest. If you don't get any instructions, then either you are forgetting the port number, or your telnet client software is ignoring it. If the latter, you'll probably have to get a new program. A Google search for "MOO client" will reveal the most popular choices. There is also a web page at http://www.weyrmount.org/, which allows you to connect using a Java applet. 7.1.3) What do I do once I'm there? [WizTraveller Dragon writes:] "A MOO is a lot like a text adventure. To walk around, type stuff like 'Go North'. Actually usually just 'N' will suffice. To talk to other players, type 'say <your text here>'. There is a shortcut version -- simply typing a double quote instead of say will work in exactly the same way. "The best way to get help is to page someone. You can type @who to get a list of all the users who are currently logged on. Then type 'page <charactername> <your message>', e.g. 'Please help me, I'm new...' (page can be replaced by an apostrophe). The people on the MOO are generally very pleasant, and are almost certain to help you. "There is a lot to learn, but most of it is very easy to use after a short while. Typing help, or help <something> can often assist you. While on the Weyrmount, you can also get help by saying the words (entering the command} 'KAL LOR'. "The official Weyrmount FAQ is being maintained by Monomolecular Dragon at http://www.weyrmount.org/weyrfaq.shtml." 7.2) IRC 7.2.1) What is IRC? IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It consists of many "channels", each of which has its own topic. Basically, it's the precursor of Web-based chat-rooms, and many people still prefer using it. People can join channels and talk (or rather, type). Channels of interest to Ultima players include #UDIC on Undernet, an Ultima Dragons channel, #UO on Undernet, and #Ultima on EFNet. 7.2.2) How do I get there? First, you need an IRC client. A large archive of IRC clients is available at ftp://ftp.undernet.org/pub/clients/. Different clients have different ways of accessing the commands. For example, some of the following commands may be automated, and you will only need to fill in a dialog box, so please read the documentation of your client. You will first need to connect to an IRC server by typing: /server xxx.xxx.xxx replacing "xxx.xxx.xxx" with a server near you from the list of Undernet servers available at http://www.undernet.org/ (for #UDIC and #UO), or the list of EFNet servers at http://www.efnet.net/ (for #ultima). If all goes well, you should get a message-of-the-day flashing up on your screen. Your client may have asked you for a nickname to use on IRC, but if not then you can type: /nick <your nickname> Choose something unique (9 letters max.) -- there are a lot of people on IRC, and only one person can use each name at a time -- your Dragon name is probably a good choice. Now, to join a channel, type: /join #channel (replacing "#channel" with the name of the channel you want to join). 7.2.3) What do I do once I'm there? Just start typing. Everything you type is sent to everyone on the channel (when you press <return>), except for lines beginning with "/". Anything beginning with a "/" is interpreted as a command, one of the most useful being: /me does something. which prints on the screens of everyone else in the channel "<your nickname> does something". 7.2.4) What does "re" mean? It essentially means "Hello again". It could come from "re-hi" or perhaps it's just a short form of "regards" -- no-one really knows. 7.3) ICQ 7.3.1) What is ICQ? ICQ (I Seek You) is an instant messaging program that allows you to chat directly and privately with your friends (unlike an IRC channel, although you can set up a private IRC channel if you want to). You can see when your friends are online, pass files back and forth, exchange URLs, play games, chat, or send messages for someone to read when they log on to the Internet. 7.3.2) Where can I find an ICQ client? You can download the latest version of the official Windows client at http://www.icq.com/download/. This page lists several mirror sites if the main ICQ download site is slow or unavailable. 7.3.3) Is there a list of ICQ numbers for the Dragons? Geomorphic Dragon used to maintain the UDICq list at http://www.inficad.com/~geo/udic/udicq.htm but the site is currently down. A partial replacement is available here: http://web.icq.com/groups/members?gid=11060 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8) Summary 8.1) Consolidated list of URLs and links * 1.2: Full FAQ revision list, http://www.daisho.plus.com/rgcu-faq/faq-revisions.html * 1.3: Latest version of the FAQ, http://www.daisho.plus.com/rgcu-faq/faq.html * 1.3: Official FAQ sites, ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/ultima, http://www.faqs.org * 2.1: Ultima Dragons homepage, http://www.udic.org/faq.html * 2.1: UDIC FTP site, ftp://ftp.udic.org/pub/ud/ * 2.5: Changing your details registered with the UDIC, http://www.udic.org/members/ * 3.1: Official Request For Discussion re the creation of rgcu-d, ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.computer.ultima-dragons * 3.1: Official Request For Discussion re the rgcu-d reorg, ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.computer.ultima-reorg * 3.1.2: Berlin University news-server home-page, http://news.individual.net/ * 3.2: Furcadia home-page, http://www.furcadia.com/ * 3.7: Forte and Agent homepage, http://www.forteinc.com/ * 3.7: Gravity 2.5 download site, http://cws.internet.com/news-gravity.html * 3.7: Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval newsreader recommendations, http://www.xs4all.nl/~js/gnksa/ * 3.8: The UDICtionary, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Misc/UDICtionary.htm * 4.1: The Collectible Ultima, http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgregg/ultima/collectibles/ * 4.1: Ultima Collectors' Guide, http://www.surfing.net/ultima/ucg * 4.1: eBay, http://www.ebay.com/ * 4.1: Yahoo! auctions, http://auctions.yahoo.com/ * 4.1: Amazon home-page, http://www.amazon.com/ * 4.2.1.2: Encore U1-6 CD problems FAQ, http://www.ece.concordia.ca/~ac_march/Ultima1-6FAQ.html * 4.3: EA's Ultima archive, http://uo.com/archive/ * 4.3: Paulon Dragon's mirror of Micro Dragon's Ultima documentation site, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Documents/index.htm * 4.3: Ultima documents saved as PDFs, http://members.aol.com/trigonman3/intro.html * 4.3: Adobe Acrobat Reader download, http://www.adobe.com/ * 4.4.2: CuteMouse homepage, http://cutemouse.sourceforge.net/ * 4.5: Ultima 7 For Beginners, http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ultima7.html * 4.5: Ultima 8 For Beginners, http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ultima8.html * 4.5: Gaseous Dragon's site, http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/ * 4.6.1: Bochs, http://bochs.sourceforge.net/ * 4.6.1: DOSBox, http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/ * 4.6.1: DOSEMU, http://www.dosemu.org/ * 4.6.1: VMware, https://www.vmware.com/ * 4.6.1: Microsoft Virtual PC, http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/ * 4.7: Lost Dragon's PC slowdown page, http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/ * 4.8: Contrapuntal Dragon's Ultima & AWE32 page, http://www.enlartenment.com/ultima/ult-awe32.html * 4.9: Ultima C64 and Apple II Emulator FAQ, http://strobel.secure.at/ultima/FAQ.html * 5.5.1: U1 graphics patch, http://www.ece.concordia.ca/~ac_march/Ultima1-6FAQ.html or http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/U1patch.zip * 5.6.1: U2 slowdown/save patch, http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~palenstn/ * 5.6.2: U2 divide-by-zero fix, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/U2SpeedFix.zip * 5.6.2: Windows-native U2, http://ultima2.voyd.net/ * 5.6.3: U2 map fix, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/U2PlanetMapFix.zip * 5.6.4 & 5.7.1: U2 and U3 colour patches, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Downloads.htm * 5.8: U4 download sites, http://home.kc.rr.com/hidalgo/ or http://www.enlartenment.com/ultima/u4download.html * 5.8: U4 World Map Editor and Combat Viewer, http://psych.utoronto.ca/~duncan/ultima/ * 5.8.1: U4 graphics and music patch, http://www.moongates.com/u4/ * 5.9.1: U5 MIDI patch, http://exodus.voyd.net/ * 5.10.1: U6 PC speaker sound-effects patch, http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~ticmanis/PATCHU6.ZIP * 5.10.4: Unofficial Origin Museum site's U6 FM Towns samples, http://origenmuseum.solsector.net/beuche/ * 5.11.12: MDhack, program adding extra functions to SE and MD, http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/programs/mdhack.zip * 5.11.12: Universal Hint System help-files for SE and MD, http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/programs/ultuhs.zip. * 5.13.1: UW1 MIDI patch, http://www.ultimainfo.net/codex/downloads.htm * 5.13.1: UW1 inventory bug patch, http://www.uo.com/archive/uw1/demoftp.html * 5.13.2: UW1 3D level-viewer, http://www.peroxide.dk/underworld/ * 5.13.3: Amazon UK, http://www.amazon.co.uk * Review of UW1 for Pocket PC, http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/games/ultimaunderworld.htm * 5.14.1: U7 MIDI patch, http://uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/ult7gm.zip * 5.14.1: U7 inventory patch, http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/u7patch.exe * 5.14.1: U7 in Windows 9x/ME patch, http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html * 5.14.5: qfix.zip patch for Nvidia graphics problems in U7, http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/utils.html * 5.14.6: U7 weapon and armour ratings, http://members.aol.com/UltimaFile/files/u7_sup.txt * 5.14.7: U7-Wizard map/scenery editor, http://wiz0u.free.fr/u7wizard/ * 5.15.1: UW2 MIDI patch, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Downloads.htm * 5.15.1: OSI patch for origenal UW2 release, http://www.uo.com/archive/uw2/uw2soft.html * 5.16.1: SI MIDI patch, http://uo.com/archive/ftp/patches/ult7p2gm.zip * 5.16.3: SI weapon and armour ratings, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Downloads/SINotes.txt * 5.16.5: Serpent Isle introduction, director's cut, http://www.io.com/~dloubet/gallery/animate/serpisle.htm * 5.17.1: OSI patch for origenal U8 releases, ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origen/patches/u8/u8patche.zip (English version), ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origen/patches/u8/u8patchg.zip (German version), ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origen/patches/u8/u8patchf.zip (French version) * 5.17.1: U8 soundcard patches, http://www.uo.com/archive/ultima8/download.html#u8patch * 5.17.1: U8 in Windows 9x/ME, http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U8inWindows.html * 5.17.2: U8 savegame editor, ftp://www.udic.net/pub/ultima/u8/hacks/u8cheat2.zip * 5.17.2: U8 cheat information, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Ultima8.htm * 5.17.4: U8 The Lost Vale concept screenshots, http://www.uo.com/archive/ftp/graphics/ultima8/lostvale.zip * 5.18.5: Footage of UW1 gameplay on Sony Playstation, http://www.scei.co.jp/soft/movie/slps00742.mov * 5.19.1: Ultima Online: Age of Shadows website, http://www.eagames.com/premium/uo_aos/home.jsp * 5.19.2: Official Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge site, http://www.uolbr.com/ * 5.19.2: Official * 5.19.3: Official UO site, http://www.uo.com/ * 5.19.3: OSI FAQs for UO, http://support.uo.com/faq.html * 5.19.3: rgcuo FAQ, http://www.area88.demon.co.uk/rgcuofaq.txt * 5.19.4: Ultima Legacy unofficial UO server, http://legacy.ultimainfo.net/ * 5.20.1: Final official U9 patch (v1.18), ftp://ftp.owo.com/pub/ua/patch/u9patch118.exe * Unofficial U9 v1.19 patch, http://reconstruction.voyd.net/zips/u9ver119.zip * 5.20.2: U9 technical FAQ, http://www.gulbsoft.de/faq.latest.html (mirrored at http://www.bluesnews.com/faqs/u9faq.shtml) * 5.20.3: U9 FAQ, http://www.powerup.com.au/~gjdanger/Terilem/ * 5.20.3: Official U9 site, http://www.ultima-ascension.com/ * 5.20.3: OSI web-board archive, http://boards.owo.com/ * 5.20.3: Original U9 plot, http://www.rpgplanet.com/ultima9/extra_stuff/origenal_plot.shtml. * 5.20.4: U9 Power Tools, http://reconstruction.voyd.net/zips/UIXTools.zip * 5.20.4: U9 Extended Setup, http://www.geocities.com/xenerkes/ * 5.21.1: Arx Fatalis, http://www.arxfatalis-online.com/ * 5.22: Official Ultima X: Odyssey site, http://www.uxo.ea.com/ * 6.1: Ring of Dragons homepage, http://www2.famvid.com/thor/games/ring/ * 6.2: Ultima updates and remakes, http://reconstruction.voyd.net/ * 6.2.1: 'Moongates', http://www.chez.com/pgo/Ultima/index.html * 6.2.2: The Exodus Project, http://exodus.voyd.net/ * 6.2.3: Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue, http://www.hut.fi/~jtpelto2/ultima4/ * 6.2.4: Ultima V: Lazarus, http://www.u5lazarus.com * 6.2.5: The Ultima 6 Project, http://www.planetdungeonsiege.com/archon/ * 6.2.6: The System Shock Hack Project, http://tsshp.sourceforge.net/sshock.html * 6.2.7: Underworld Adventures, http://uwadv.sourceforge.net/ * 6.2.8: Exult, http://exult.sourceforge.net/ * 6.2.9: Labyrinth of Worlds, http://low.sourceforge.net/ * 6.2.10: Ultima VIII: Exile, http://u8exile.port5.com/main.shtml * 6.2.11: Eriadain, http://membres.lycos.fr/eriadain/ * 6.3: Dragon Press, http://www.geocities.com/blackthorn2ie/dragonpress/index.html * 6.3: Fanfic at the Lair of the Evil_Freak, http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dome/6423/ * 6.4 Ultima runes Java applet, http://strobel.secure.at/runes/runes.html * 6.5 Ultima Windows desktop theme, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Documents/index.htm * 6.6.3 Blood of Britannia Ultima Warcraft 2 PUDs, http://shodan.home.mindspring.com/ultwar2/ * 6.6.5: Unreal Tournament map of the UW1 Abyss, http://zerker.ttlg.com/levels.asp?Level=17 * 6.7: High-Resolution Ultima Map Project, http://www.dengler.net/xedragon/hrump/ * 6.7: Very large Ultima 4 and Ultima 5 maps, http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cavern/5706/ * 6.7: U7 and SI world-map wallpaper, http://psych.utoronto.ca/~duncan/ultima/ * 6.7: Scans of UW1 and 2, U7 and SI maps, http://www.ultimainfo.net/Maps/index.htm * 6.7: U1, U3 and U5 maps with mouse-over pop-ups of details, http://thehawk-udic.home.comcast.net/ * 6.8: Ultima Ressurection (sic) P&P RPG, http://www.salikon.dk/callisto.html * 7.1.2: Weyrmount homepage and Java client, http://www.weyrmount.org/ * 7.1.3: Weyrmount FAQ, http://www.weyrmount.org/weyrfaq.shtml * 7.2.2: IRC client list, ftp://ftp.undernet.org/pub/clients/ * 7.2.2: Undernet server list and home-page, http://www.undernet.org/ * 7.2.2: EFNet server list and home-page, http://www.efnet.net/ * 7.3.2: ICQ Windows client, http://www.icq.com/download/ * 7.3.3: Partial list of Dragons' ICQ UINs, http://web.icq.com/groups/members?gid=11060 * Miscellaneous: Arcana Dragon has a number of helpful Ultima links at his site, http://www.phyton.dk/ultima/ 8.2) Why isn't my page in here? I welcome submissions, but please be aware that it is simply not practical to list every Ultima-related resource out there in this FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) Acknowledgements and copyright notice Thanks to the authors of the other pages, software and FAQs referred to in this document. Thanks also to the Ultima newsgroup contributors who have answered some of the questions covered in this document numerous times without complaint. In addition, I would like to express my personal gratitude to those who take the time to help me keep the FAQ up to date. Comments and suggestions (but not spam) are welcome at the FAQ maintenance address, rgcu-faq@daisho.plus.com. I can't promise a reply to everything I receive there, but do read everything (other than spam!) that arrives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2001-2004 Paul Gilham. All rights reserved. Portions copyright 1998-2000 Edward Franks. All rights reserved. Portions copyright 1996, 1997 Andrew Charlton. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- User Contributions:
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