Ultima Classics The Almost Complete Collection of Ultima by Sedryn Tyros July 16, 2004 v1.3 Introduction: Wow. I've taken this whole Ultima Classics thing way farther than I ever intended when I first began this project. My goal since the beginning was to make the classic series of Ultima accessible to fans who lack the time or the know-how to hunt down the various titles and somehow make them work on a modern PC running Windows XP. I started with the PC versions, but have now included the Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64 & 128, and Apple II versions of Ultima. Putting all these games together in way that (I hope) makes it easy for you to play them ended being much more time consuming than I originally anticipated. I don't regret spending the time for one second, though. Every game in this package should have been released into the public domain by EA long ago since there's no money left to be made off of any of them. Nothing left of Ultima CRPGs but fond memories. I tip my hat to Richard Garriott for galvanizing computer RPGs with his initiative and creativeness. The Ultima series represents a milestone in computer gaming history and although its time is waning some of us who grew up in the 1980s will always hold a special place in our hearts for this paragon of gaming greatness. The roleplaying computer games that fathered roleplaying computer games: Ultima. This package contains every CRPG Ultima game ever made for the PC except Ultima 9 (which you can undoubtedly find floating around somewhere), diskette images for Ultima 3, 4, 5 & 6 for the Commodore Amiga; Ultima 1, 2, 3 & 4 for the Commodore 64; Ultima 5 for the Commodore 128 (which can also be played on a C64 emulator but without music); and Ultima 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 for the Apple IIe. I've taken the liberty of creating backup copies of all diskette images (this comes in handy if you plan to use multiple player diskettes for some of the Ultima games). Also part of this package are the emulators needed to play these games in a Windows environment: DOSBox emulates DOS 5.0 and a 486 PC; WinUAE v0.8.27 emulates the Commodore Amiga, WinVICE v1.14 includes emulators for the Commodore 64 & 128, Hoxs64 v1.0.2.0 is a Commodore 64 emulator I included specifically for the C64 version of Ultima 6, and AppleWin v1.12.3 emulates the Apple IIe. In addition to the ready-to-play games, I've included video clips of an interview with Richard Garriott (a.k.a. Lord British) from the Ultima Collection CD-ROM, as many associated materials (manuals, copy protection info, maps, walkthroughs, etc.) that I could find in a reasonable amount of time, several independent Ultima remakes and revisions, and fan patches (even though I didn't use any of them). While I personally don't think that every single version of Ultima in this package is worth playing, there's at least one version of each title that's decent. For the die-hard Ultima fan, purist or otherwise, this is the dream collection. Everything you need to play the most influential RPG series in entertainment software history is in this package. Enjoy! System Requirements: I honestly couldn't tell you exactly what systems will and will not run these ancient games, but I do know that a few of the PC version require a system with some muscle when run through the DOSBox emulator. The contents of this package were tested on an enthusiast-level, custom-built 2.8GHz P4 system with an ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe Mainboard, 1GB DDR400 Corsair XMS SDRAM, an ASUS v9280 GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP 8X video card with 128MB RAM, a SoundBlaster Audigy Gamer OEM sound card, running Windows XP Professional. Obviously, this test bed is well beyond what's required to run most of these games, so if you don't have anywhere near this level of system don't worry about it. For instance, DOSBox usually runs fine on a 400MHz P2, unless you're overclocking CPU cycles, which I've configured DOSBox to do for Ultima 7 Parts 1 and 2, Ultima 8, and both Ultima Underworlds games to run smoothly. Try to play the games no matter what system you have, most of them will probably work just fine. Contents included in this Package: "Documentation" - manuals, maps, walkthroughs and copy protection bypassing info. "Fan Patches" - unofficial patches; I didn't use any of them. "Game Box Art" - some art pics of original Ultima game boxes. "Links" - URL's to a wealth of Ultima resources as well as emulators for old computer systems. "Lord British Interview" - video clips of Richard Garriott from the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. "Remakes & Revisions" - source materials for fan-based Ultima recreations and modifications. "Shortcut Icons" - program shortcuts used to start the games once you've finished setup. "Ultima Classics - Apple Install.exe" - Ultima for the Apple II, and AppleWin emulator. "Ultima Classics - Commodore Install.exe" - Ultimas for Amiga, C64, C128, Vic20 and emulators. "Ultima Classics - PC Install.exe" - All PC CRPG Ultimas and DOSBox emulator. Setup: This entire setup routine assumes that you're running Microsoft Windows on a fairly new PC (specifically Windows XP, but most Win9x systems will probably work). Run the "Ultima Classics - PC Install.exe" self-extracting zip archive to setup PC versions of Ultima and the "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" set of Ultima games, run "Ultima Classics - Commodore Install.exe" to setup Commodore 64, 128, Amiga & Vic20 (Escape from Mt. Drash) Ultima games, and run "Ultima Classics - Apple Install.exe" to setup the Apple II Ultima games. All three of these self-extracting zip archives point to "c:\" by default (leave them that way and all the folders will extract to the proper locations under "C:\Classic Games"). After extracting the contents of the Ultimas you want to play, you'll need to initialize the WinUAE Amiga emulator if you setup the Commodore package and the AppleWin Apple IIe emulator if you setup the Apple package. There are shortcut icons to both these emulators under "Shortcut Icons\_Emulators". "WinUAE v0.8.27 (Amiga Emulator)" will initialize WinUAE; it's best to set your desktop color depth to 16-bit (high color) before initializing WinUAE. "AppleWin v1.12.3 (Apple IIe Emulator)" will initialize AppleWin. Once both these emulators are initialized all the shortcuts in "Shortcut Icons" should run the games corresponding to their labels. If you have any of my other Ultima Classics packages setup on your computer there is probably already a folder on your C drive named "Classic Games\Ultima" (or "Ultima Games" if you setup v1.1). I suggest you delete all the old folders relating to past Ultima Classics releases (or rename them with .bak extensions if you need to copy over saved games). You can also uninstall DOSBox from your programs menu if you only installed it to use Ultima Classics v1.1 or v1.2. In Ultima Classics v1.3, DOSBox will now install itself to "C:\Classic\Games\_Emulators\DOSBox" with all the necessary ".conf" files when you run "Ultima Classics - PC Install.exe". Documentation: In the root of the "Documentation" folder you'll find a document taken from Dino's Ultima Page that contains all the answers you'll need to bypass copy protection in every Ultima game. Unless you're a veteran of whatever game you're playing, I recommend you also check out the folder corresponding to the game you intend to play. At the very least examine the game's instruction manual ya freakin' goon! Fan Patches: These are a collection of Ultima patches I downloaded from the Ultima Reconstruction website (which you can find in the "Links" folder) and didn't end up using. Most of them aren't needed with DOSBox and the ones I tried to use didn't work out for one reason or another. I included them here in the off chance that someone, somewhere might use them for something. To find out more about them check out this link: http://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?page=project&type=fanpatch Game Box Art: This folder has JPEG images of the boxes for all of the original Ultima games in this package. Most of these were posted on the File Soup forums by Lynette C (all but Akalabeth, Savage Empire, and Martian Chronicles, which came from Moby Games). Thanks Lynette C! Links: A collection of URLs that are handy for getting information on these classic Ultima games and the emulators used to run them. Most of the Documentation included in this package came from these websites. There are also a few links to game archives for old computer systems. Lord British Interview: These are the video clip answers to the interview with Richard Garriott from the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I renamed them to form a logical chronology so that if sorted in name order and viewed from top to bottom they tell a brief tale of Ultima history from the perspective of its creator, Lord British. Remakes & Revisions: Here's some information on the contents in the "Remakes & Revisions" folder that I could not setup in advance. These require manual setup. *See "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" in the "Shortcut Icons" section below for a description of the materials I could and did setup in advance under "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions". Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine) [\Remakes & Revisions\Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine)] I recommend installing this and using it to run Ultima 7 Parts 1 and 2. There are two versions included in this package, Exult v1.1.10rc2 (earlier version) and Exult v1.2 (the latest version). I recommend using Exult v1.2. It's not 100% polished (I noticed that some sound effects aren't reproduced with precise accuracy) but it runs a lot more smoothly than playing the original games through DOSBox and has several video and sound configuration options not included in the original Ultima7 engine. I've included the Sound Packs needed for sound effects to work while using Exult. Information on configuring the sound packs can be found under section 3.0 of Exult's Documentation page here: http://exult.sourceforge.net/docs.php#Audio. The simplest configuration is to extract the Sound Packs from the zip files in "Remakes & Revisions\Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine)\Sound Pack - Black Gate" and "Remakes & Revisions\Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine)\Sound Pack - Serpent Isle" to the "Data" folder of your Exult installation. No further configuration is required for sound effects to work. When you install Exult it will ask you to point to your Ultima 7 and Ultima 7 Part 2 installation directories. If you've run the "Ultima Classics - PC Install.exe" package then Ultima 7 should be located at "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima7" and Ultima 7 Part 2 will be located at "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Serpent". Here's the Exult website: http://exult.sourceforge.net/ Underworld Adventures (Ultima Underworld Windows Engine) [\Remakes & Revisions\Underworld Adventures (Ultima Underworld Windows Engine)] This project looks very promising but isn't as far along as Exult. This version is called the "mojito" release. Take a look at it if you're curious, but I ran into difficulties with the most basic parts of the game such as picking up items, doors were too small, things like that. Here's the Underworld Adventures homepage: http://uwadv.sourceforge.net/ Ultima Darkcore (unofficial browser-based Ultima) [\Remakes & Revisions\Ultima Darkcore (unofficial browser-based Ultima)] This was a browser-based Ultima game created for Internet Explorer 4.0 and Netscape 4.0. Unless you have one of those old browsers you'll likely experience repeated crashes. This game is set just after the end of Ultima 8. Here's the website: http://bilbo.bio.purdue.edu/~mhilborn/darkcore/ UltimaV Lazarus (3D Recreation of UltimaV using Dungeon Siege Engine) [\Remakes & Revisions\UltimaV Lazarus (3D Recreation of UltimaV using Dungeon Siege Engine)] As a prerequisite to using this module, you must have the Dungeon Siege game (which is not included in this package) installed on your computer. This project is currently in its alpha stage of development. The U5 Lazarus homepage: http://www.u5lazarus.com/ Shortcut Icons: These are shortcuts I setup to run the games in this package. As long as you follow the instructions I listed in the "Setup" section of the "Introduction" portion of this readme then all the shortcuts should work. The "Shortcut Icons" folder contains the following sub-folders: "_Emulators", "Ultima (Apple)", "Ultima (Commodore)", "Ultima (PC)", "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)", "Ultima (Sedryn's Picks)". Below are several descriptions, one dedicated to each program in each sub-folder, detailing the programs run by each icon. Each program description also lists the location of the program it runs directly below the underlined heading. Special thanks to Frank Wolters (a.k.a Sir Cabirus) for his awesome Ultima Icon art. Here's his homepage http://www.sircabirus.com/ _Emulators: AppleWin v1.12.3 (Apple IIe Emulator) [C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\AppleWin] AppleWin is probably the most mature Apple IIe emulator in existence. It has an enhanced speed option for diskette drives that makes loading from diskette images lightening fast. The emulator does need to be run once so that it can add entries to Windows registry and make the necessary file type associations before the "Shortcut Icons\Ultima (Apple)" shortcuts will run the Apple II versions of the Ultima games. Games will run in windowed mode by default. On the right border, click the fifth icon from the top to switch between windowed and full-screen mode. The third and fourth icons will allow you to swap diskette images when needed. These icons are still usable in full-screen mode, but you'll need to move the mouse over to the right border for them to be visible. To make the emulator recognize a diskette change, you usually must press the "1" key after swapping a diskette image in drive 1 or press the "2" key after swapping a diskette image in drive 2. All the diskette images for the Apple IIe Ultima games are located under "C:\Classic\Games\Ultima\Apple II". F9 toggles between the available display modes (monochrome, color standard, color text optimized, color tv emulation). Holding down the Scroll Lock key ("ScrLk" on most keyboards) runs the emulation at full throttle; useful for skipping past load areas. AppleWin has the ability to emulate the Mockingboard sound system on slots 4 and 5. Ultima 3, 4 and 5 can take advantage of this. There's also an option to set the emulator beyond normal speed. This comes in handy in a few situations (for Akalabeth specifically) since the authentic speed of the Apple IIe was very slow. The last icon on the right border brings up a menu where you'll see a slider which controls the emulation speed. Adjust the slider as needed for the game you play, I've left it on "Use Authentic Machine Speed", which seems to work fine for most Ultima games. DOSBox v0.61 (486, DOS 5.0 Emulator) [C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\DOSBox] DOSBox is an excellent emulator which emulates a DOS 5.0 environment with a 486 processor. All of the official versions of Ultima are played through DOSBox-0.61 except Akalabeth. I've configured the DOSBox games to start in Windowed mode but you can toggle between windowed mode and full-screen mode with "ALT-ENTER". Some of the older Ultima games (Ultima 1 through 4) have no in-game command for quitting the game. To quit out of these games switch to windowed mode and close the DOSBox window, but make sure you save first (using "Q")! All sound in DOSBox emulation is piped through the wave output in Windows, including PC Speaker sounds. This is very handy since you can control the volume of the PC Speaker sounds with the Windows "wave" volume control (or the master volume) or your speaker's volume dial. DOSBox attempts to emulate a fast 486 processor system. It's default CPU Cycle setting is 2500. Since many older games didn't reference the internal system clock to control their timing, I've had to tailor the CPU cycles to match each game's requirements. In each game description I've included the CPU cycle value that I used in the games .conf file. I chose the values based on what I think most accurately reproduces the sound effects and gameplay of the game while still taking into consideration that some games could have utilized a beefier system in their day (such as Ultima Underworlds 1 and 2). All the PC versions of Ultima are now located under "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC". Boxer is a front-end for DOSBox and a dang helpful one too. It made it a lot easier to fiddle with the various game configurations. Here's a link to the Boxer website: http://www.pcgamester.co.uk/modules/news/ Hoxs64 v1.0.2.0 (C64 Emulator) [C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\Hox64] I included this emulator to run the Commodore 64 version of Ultima 6, since WinVice couldn't handle it for some reason. Because the graphics in this version of Ultima 6 are incredibly pathetic compared to versions on other systems I spent no time configuring it. I didn't even create a shortcut icon. It's really not worth the time. Play the PC version of the game Ultima 6. As far as I'm concerned, the Commodore 64 version never should have been made. WinUAE v0.8.27 (Amiga Emulator) [C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\WinUAE] WinUAE is an excellent Commodore Amiga emulator that's still being improved by its creators. It's fairly easy to use once you get used to it and its many options relieve some of the frustration of running old games off of diskette images. First, you need to run the emulator once (double-click the "WinUAE v0.8.27 (Amiga Emulator)" icon located under "Shortcut Icons\_Emulators") to add the necessary entries to your Windows registry. To run the Amiga Ultima games, you first double-click on the icons that end with "(Amiga)". This will pre-load the game's configuration and bring up the "WinUAE Properties" window. From this window, click the "OK" button to start the game. I've defaulted the games to play in full-screen, but that can be changed to windowed mode on the fly (uncheck the "Full Screen" box in the "Display" tab of the "WinUAE Properties" window) as can most of the emulator's options. Use the "F12" key to bring up the "WinUAE Properties" window during emulation. Most options you change will take effect once you click the "OK" button and return to the emulation. Some games require that you swap diskette images during play. While you can do this from the "WinUAE Properties" window, the easiest and quickest way to do it is to hold down the "End" key and then press "F1". This will bring up a window for you to select which diskette image to place into DF0 (the first disk drive). You can use "End" plus "F2" through "F4" for DF1 to DF3, but you should never need to swap diskette images with any other drive except DF0 while running the Amiga Ultima games. All game configs are set to run the diskette drives at 800% of the actual Amiga floppy speed. All Ultima diskette images for the Amiga should be located at "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Amiga" If you are interested in using this emulator to emulate other Amiga games, you'll be glad to know that in this package are Kickstart Roms v1.3, v1.4, v2.0, v3.0, v3.1, v3.5, and Guardian. Most games and applications work best with Kickstart v1.3, v2.0, or v3.1 (all the Ultima games use Kickstart v1.3) which are located under "C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\WinUAE\Kickstart". The other Kickstart roms are under "C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\WinUAE\Kickstart\other". I've also setup configurations for a Workbench 1.3 system disk and a Workbench 3.1 system disk. This will give old Amiga fans their familiar operating systems in case they want to setup other applications that run off of virtual hard drives in Workbench. In this version of WinUAE, Workbench 1.3 only recognizes hard disks when using Kickstart Rom v2.0 (it should be able to see hard disks using Kickstart v1.3, so future WinUAE releases will probably address this bug). Workbench 3.1 runs off of Kickstart v3.1. To use these system disks, start the WinUAE emulator by double-clicking the "WinUAE v0.8.27 (Amiga Emulator)" icon from the "Shortcut Icons\_Emulators" folder then select which Workbench version you want to work with from the configurations, click the "Load" button to load the configuration and click "OK" to start the emulation. One other thing worth mentioning, the color depth of your desktop should be set to 16-bit (high color) for best performance with this emulator and games should be run in full-screen mode. Here are the stats on performance vs. desktop color depth taken from the emulator's readme: 16 bpp full-screen - 100% 16 bpp desktop - 98% 24 bpp desktop - 72% 32 bpp desktop - 60% WinVICE v1.14 (C64 Emulator) & WinVICE v1.14 (C128 Emulator) [C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\WinVICE] WinVICE is a windows version of the VICE emulator. It includes emulators for the Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Vic20, and the Commodore PET series; it has separate executables for each of these emulators. I've configured the emulator to use 1541-II diskette drives with all optional RAM upgrades for all four drives (Devices 8, 9, 10, and 11). For the Ultima games, you'll never use Device 10 or 11 since none support more than two diskette drives. Some games require you to swap diskettes; to swap diskettes for Device 8 (the first diskette drive) use ALT-8; to swap diskettes for Device 9 (the second diskette drive) use ALT-9. All diskette images for Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 emulation are located under "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128". The emulator is also configured to start in double-sized windowed mode (which is 800x600 I think). You can toggle between windowed mode and full-screen using "ALT-D". One other VERY useful feature is warp mode. Activate and deactivate warp mode using "ALT-W". Warp mode essentially maxes out emulation speed. It comes in handy when you first start the game; you can enable warp mode until the program loads and then disable to play the game at normal speed. Anytime you're waiting for a diskette image to load, you'll be grateful for warp mode. Do not attempt to use "ALT-D" while warp mode is active (and don't ever use "ALT-Enter") to switch back and forth from windowed and full-screen mode or your game will become minimized and irretrievable. The directional keys for moving your character are different for the Commodore 64/128, which apparently didn't have arrow keys. Use " [ " to move your character Up/North, use " / " to move your character Down/South, use " ' " to move your character Right/East, and use " ; " to move your character Left/West. Overall, I'm not too impressed with the Commodore 64/128 versions of Ultima. If the only way you experienced Ultima in your youth was on a Commodore 64 then you got shafted! Ultima (Apple): Akalabeth (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] This is a decent version of Akalabeth. Probably one of the first ever made. When the game boots up it asks whether or not you're ready. Press the "Y" key and the game then runs through the basic history of the Akalabeth setting along with the instructions for playing. You can use the arrow keys to move Left/West and Right/East but to move Up/North you use the "Enter" key and to move Down/South you use the " / " key. This is a bit cumbersome until you get used to it. Try using your left hand to control Up/Down movements and your right hand for Left/Right movements. I recommend increasing the emulator's speed to fastest or a setting just below that depending on your computer's speed. Emulation speed is adjustable via the "Emulation Speed Control" (the last icon on the right border will bring up the menu with this slider). Any time in the game you're prompted to press "CR" press the "Enter" key. Akalabeth (Newer Intro) (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] This is a later version of Akalabeth, probably released sometime in the early 1980's. When the game boots up it asks whether or not you want instructions. Press the "Y" key and the game then runs through the basic history of Akalabeth along with a cool little introduction and the instructions for playing. Pressing "N" from this first prompt skips past the intro and instructions and takes you directly to the start of the game. You can use the arrow keys to move Left/West and Right/East but to move Up/North you use the "Enter" key and to move Down/South you use the " / " key. This is a bit cumbersome until you get used to it. Try using your left hand to control Up/Down movements and your right hand for Left/Right movements. I recommend increasing the emulator's speed to fastest or a setting just below that depending on your computer's speed. Emulation speed is adjustable via the "Emulation Speed Control" (the last icon on the right border will bring up the menu with this slider). Any time in the game you're prompted to press "CR" press the "Enter" key. Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] The copy of this game in this package is cracked, so there's an obnoxious screen crediting the crackers when the game starts up. When you start you'll be prompted to insert the player disk. Click the Drive 2 icon from the right border (fourth icon from the top) of the "Apple IIe Emulator" window and locate the diskette image labeled "Ultima1 (Player Disk).dsk" in the folder "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II". Once you've inserted the Player diskette press the 2 key and then there should be no more diskette image swapping. Because of how refined this emulator is and also that the colors look so much better than the PC version played in CGA, I recommend playing either this Ultima 1 or "Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness, Enhanced (Apple IIe)" unless you've figured out how to get the PC version of Ultima 1 to run using EGA colors without the graphics corruption (I've thus far been unable to accomplish this). Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness, Enhanced (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] The copy of this game in this package is cracked, so there's an obnoxious screen crediting the crackers when the game starts up. When you start you'll be prompted to insert the player disk. Click the Drive 2 icon from the right border (fourth icon from the top) of the "Apple IIe Emulator" window and locate the diskette image labeled "Ultima1, Enhanced (Player Disk).dsk" in the folder "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II". Once you've inserted the Player diskette image press the "2" key and then there should be no more diskette image swapping. There's already a character created on the Player diskette image but you can create a new character and overwrite this one easily enough. Because of how refined this emulator is and also that the colors look so much better than the PC version played in CGA I recommend playing either this over other Ultima 1 versions unless you've figured out how to get the PC version of Ultima 1 to run using EGA colors without the graphics corruption (I've thus far been unable to accomplish this). I'm honestly not sure what the difference is between this version and "Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness (Apple IIe)" but I'm guessing that "Enhanced" designation must count for something ..... right? Ultima 2 - Revenge of the Enchantress (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] When prompted to insert a blank player disk click the Drive 1 icon (third icon from the top) and select the "Ultima2 (Player Disk).dsk" (a blank Player diskette image), press the "1" key and then press the "Esc" key to select the new character's stats. Always use Drive 1 when asked to swap diskette images. This version of Ultima 2 only seems to recognize that first diskette drive. I would recommend this version of Ultima 2 if not for the awkward control scheme. You can use the arrow keys to move Left/West and Right/East but to move Up/North you use the "Enter" key and to move Down/South you use the " / " key. This is a bit cumbersome until you get used to it. Try using your left hand to control Up/Down movements and your right hand for Left/Right movements. Worked for me. : ) Ultima 3 - Exodus (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] This is the "Mockingboard" version of Ultima 3 for the Apple II. That is, it's the version with sound. When the game first starts up you'll be prompted to answer which type of sound you wish to use and which slot the Mockingboard sound system is using. I recommend selecting option "3-SND/SPCH 1" and "4" for the SLOT. It's only mono sound, but it's better than nothing. When prompted to "Insert Game Disk-1.2" click the Drive 2 icon (fourth from the top) and select "Ultima3, Mockingbird (Game Disk).dsk" and press the "2" key. You'll have to create a party before you begin, but you should not have to swap any more diskette images. This is a decent version of Ultima3, but I'd recommend play the Amiga one instead. Ultima 4 - Quest of the Avatar (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] When you first start this version of Ultima4, press the "A" key to "Activate Mockingboard". You'll then be prompted with "How many?" and given the options "One Mockingboard" "Two Mockingboards"; press the "T" key to select "Two Mockingboards". Next prompt is "First Mockingboard: Which kind?" with three options; "1- Sound One", "2- Sound-Speech", and "3 - Mockingboard A or C"; press "3" to select "3 - Mockingboard A or C". Then, you'll be prompted with "First Mockingboard: Which Slot? Enter a number 1 - 7"; press "4". Next two prompts ask you to select the variables for the Second Mockingboard; select option 3 again for type, but choose "5" as the slot number. Now you should here sound, in stereo even! It really is good sound for the era during which this game was released. Next, press "N" so that Number of Drives is shown as 2. Now, click the Drive 2 icon and select the diskette image labeled "Ultima4 (Britannia Disk).dsk". Keep the Britannia diskette image in Drive 2; you'll probably only ever be prompted to swap diskettes with Drive 1. This Britannia diskette image doesn't have anybody else's game on it, so you'll have to initiate a new game to play. This version of Ultima 4 is decent, but there's a lot of diskette image swapping. The fast speed of the emulator takes the edge off of this intrusion, but you're still better off playing Ultima 4 via XU4 (part of Ultima Classics) or the Amiga version. Ultima 5 - Warriors of Destiny (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] For some insane reason, this version of Ultima 5 doesn't support multiple diskette drives, even though it's predecessor does! This makes the diskette swapping most tedious, not to mention that it's graphically inferior to most Ultima 5 versions for other computers. If you insist on playing this version of Ultima 5, the first thing you should do is select the "Activate Music" option. Then, select "Load Music Configuration", which will prompt you to insert the "BRITANNIA disk". Click the Drive 1 icon and select the diskette image labeled "Ultima5 (Britannia Disk).dsk" then press the "Esc" key. This will load the music configuration, which is Mockingboard A or C on slots 4 and 5 (exact same as Ultima 4). Select "Return to the Game" and you'll be prompted for the "PROGRAM disk". Click the Drive 1 icon and select the diskette image labeled "Ultima5 (Program Disk).dsk" (if you have an intelligence level greater than that of a cooked radish, you probably could have seen that coming) and press the "Esc" key. Every time you're prompted to insert a diskette image it will be to Drive 1 and you'll need to press the "Esc" key afterwards. So, you can either have fun swapping diskette images or you can play "UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0)" from the "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" icon set. Ultima (Commodore): Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness (C64) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128] The copy of this game in this package is cracked, so there's an obnoxious screen crediting the crackers when the game starts up. This is the 1986 release of Ultima 1 for the Commodore 64. There are already four characters on the roster (probably created by the crackers) but you can easily delete any of them to create your own. This version of Ultima plays fairly well if you use warp mode while loading (ALT-W) otherwise it's not worth waiting for the load times. The color palette is very basic, but looks better than playing the PC version in CGA mode. I'm not sure exactly why (probably part of the crack) but you can use the arrow keys to move your character with this version of Ultima 1 (you can't use arrow keys in most Commodore 64 versions of Ultima). The " [ / ' ; " keys will also work as with the other Commodore 64/128 Ultimas. Ultima 2 - Revenge of the Enchantress (C64) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128] This is a solid version of Ultima 2, but doesn't have the cool startup screen with the dragon head (I know that's tough to live without, but stop crying). Once you're past the intro screen you'll be asked to "(P)lay a game" or "(C)reate a character". Selecting either option prompts you to "Insert the Player Disk and Press ". Use "ALT-8" to swap diskette images and select the image "Ultima2 (Player Disk).d64". The diskette image already has a character named Gandalf on it that's quite a bit through the game (I'm not sure how far). If you want to create a new character you'll be given the option of overwriting this character. If you later want to check out the Gandalf character there's a backup copy labeled "Backup - Ultima2 (Player Disk).d64" located under "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128\Backup". Ultima 3 - Exodus (Amiga) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Amiga] This is far an away the best version of Ultima3 I've ever seen. The color palette, background music, and sound effects are excellent for the era during which this game was released. The game plays off of one diskette image and this same diskette is used for saving games as well (so no diskette swapping during play). The copy of this game I found already has a party created but you can easily delete them from the roster and create your own party, which I'd advise doing since one of the characters is named Exodus (kind of cheesy, I think). The game has full mouse support, so you can use the mouse for moving or the arrows keys on your keyboard. Left-click will move your party in the direction of the pointer, right-click in the wilderness will issue an attack command in the direction of the pointer, and right-click in a town will issue a "transact" command in the direction of the pointer. You must use the mouse to pointer to click on the options from the main menu (keyboard keys don't seem to work), so you'll have to click on "Journey Onward" to start a game once you've formed a party. As with the PC versions, use the "Q" key to save your game before exiting the emulator. If you're an Ultima 3 fanatic then you've found your Nirvana! Ultima 3 - Exodus (C64) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128] This an okay version of Ultima 3. With use of warp mode (ALT-W) the load times are bearable, but the game doesn't run very fast in normal mode. It's playable, but not nearly as playable as the Amiga version. It looks and sounds better than the PC version, but doesn't run as well. All in all, I'd say play the Amiga version over this one. Ultima 4 - Quest of the Avatar (Amiga) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Amiga] This is probably the best version of Ultima 4 I've seen, aside from fan-based creations like XU4 and Virtue of Humility. For the staunch purist, this is a good Ultima 4 to play. It uses a great color palette, decent music (it's a little tinny, but not bad), and pretty good sound effects. The game uses two diskette images; it starts with the "Boot Disk" and when you begin a game and create a character you'll be asked to insert the "Play Disk", which is labeled "Ultima4 (Play Disk).adf". The game has full mouse support, so you can use the mouse for moving or the arrows keys on your keyboard. Left-click will move your party in the direction of the pointer, right-click in the wilderness will issue an attack command in the direction of the pointer, and right-click in a town will issue a "talk" command in the direction of the pointer. As with the PC versions, use the "Q" key to save your game before exiting the emulator. Ultima 4 - Quest of the Avatar (C64) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128] The copy of this game in this package is cracked, so there's an obnoxious screen crediting the crackers when the game starts up. I've configured the Britannia diskette image to be inserted into Device 9 at startup. From the main menu, make sure you specify that the Number of Drives as 2 so that both Device 8 and Device 9 can be used to hold diskette images. It's probably best to swap diskette images in Device 8 when prompted (using ALT-8) and just leave the Britannia diskette image in Device 9. This could have been a decent version of Ultima 4 if not for the fact that the game pauses every fifth or sixth step. This makes the game pretty much unplayable. I recommend trying "UltimaIV (XU4 v.9 with 256-color upgrade v1.3)" from the "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" icon set or the Amiga version. Ultima 5 - Warriors of Destiny (Amiga) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Amiga] The copy of this game in this package is cracked, so there's an obnoxious screen crediting the crackers when the game starts up. This version of Ultima 5 is virtually identical to the one made for the PC, but not quite. There are three noticeable differences: the Amiga version has background music (you can toggle between it and sound effects with F5 but for some irritating reason can have both playing at once), the Amiga version has mouse support, the Amiga version is played with two diskette images, and the Amiga version stutters horribly. The game starts up with the "Play-Underground Disk" and immediately asks for the "Dungeon-Intro Disk". There's a party already formed on the "Play-Underground Disk" but you can create your own game and overwrite this game by selecting the "Create New Character" option from the main menu. The mouse support in this game works the same as in Ultima 4. Left-click will move your party in the direction of the pointer, right-click in the wilderness will issue an attack command in the direction of the pointer, and right-click in a town will issue a "talk" command in the direction of the pointer. As with the PC versions, use the "Q" key to save your game before exiting the emulator. I recommend playing "UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0)" from the "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" icon set instead of the this version. The stuttering in the Amiga version quickly gets annoying. Ultima 5 - Warriors of Destiny (C128) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\C64 & C128] This is not my favorite version of Ultima 5 for a few reasons. One that comes to mind is all the diskette image swapping. Without warp mode (ALT-W) I never would have bothered to test this version of Ultima 5. I've configured the Britannia diskette image to be inserted into Device 9 at startup. From the main menu, make sure you specify that the Number of Drives as 2 so that both Device 8 and Device 9 can be used to hold diskette images. It's probably best to swap diskette images in Device 8 when prompted (using ALT-8) and just leave the Britannia diskette image in Device 9. This could have been a decent version of Ultima 5 if not for the disk swapping and the fact that the game pauses every eighth or ninth step. This makes the game pretty much unplayable. I recommend playing "UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0)" from the "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" icon set instead of this version. Ultima 6 - The False Prophet (Amiga) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Amiga] Originally, I intended to setup the Amiga Ultima 6 on a Workbench 3.1 system hard disk image but once I discovered how poorly it runs I didn't bother. In order for the graphics to display properly, I had to set the Misc Chipset options from the normal "Fast Copper" (which gives the best performance - the rest of the Ultima games use it) to "Cycle exact CPU and Blitter". This kills the performance of the game. It runs so choppy that it's not even worth playing. Not that it matters since its PC counter part is virtually identical in terms of graphics (sound isn't quite as good, but close enough considering that it performs ten times better). I recommend playing the PC version that's included in the "Ultima (PC)" icon set. Ultima - Escape from Mt. Drash (Vic20) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Vic20\Escape] Here it is. The most obscure Ultima title in existence. Originally created for the Commodore Vic20 cassette expansion, the game was published by Sierra Online during the same time that they published Ultima 2. If the circumstances surrounding its release are any indication, Sierra didn't give an Avatar's ass about this game. They even recycled the rear side of the Ultima 2 box cover art as the front facing for the packaging of this pile of digital turds. The only thing about this game that's Ultima is the name. It has nothing in common with any of the other titles. Rumor has it that Richard Garriott himself didn't even know this game existed for many years after its release. However, if you have an original copy then you should consider selling it for no less than $1500 since it is by far the rarest Ultima game even if it is the crappiest. I could not find a cassette image of the original Vic20 version. This version is a PC port done by Kasper Fauebry of the peroxide team. From what I understand it's a fairly accurate recreation of the original. It runs in Windows, but on my system it always crashes once I get past the first dungeon level. For instructions on how to play, look at the image file of the command card located at "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Vic20\Escape\card-inside.jpg". Ultima (PC): Akalabeth (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima0] This version of Akalabeth comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. It has a few colors (CGA) and some MIDI music that weren't part of the original Akalabeth. This game runs fine in the NTVDM environment of Windows XP as long as the "C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt" file has the following line: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T3 (For Win9x users, this line would be in the Autoexec.bat file off the root of Drive C) Make sure that this is the only SET BLASTER command in the Autoexec.nt file that's not REM'd out (it should be by default). This game doesn't work properly in DOSBox-0.61, but DOSBox was handy in configuring the sound file. My attempts to configure the sound via the Akalabeth setup.exe file from the Windows XP NTVDM console resulted in multiple crashes, so it's best you don't mess with sound configuration. MIDI music (which is the only sound) should play correctly as long as your sound card is compatible with NTVDM soundblaster emulation and the SET BLASTER command line variable shown above is included in your Autoexec.nt file. In this version of Akalabeth "Q" will save your game, "CTRL-Q" or "CTRL-E" will quit to desktop and "CTRL-R" will restore your saved game. None of these commands were present in the original Akalabeth. Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima1] This is the 1987 re-release of Ultima 1 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 300 for this game. Although this version of the game has 16-color graphics I had problems running it in this mode with DOSBox so I set the emulation to use CGA instead. If you want to give the 16-color graphics a shot on your computer then edit the "Ultima1.conf" DOSBox config file (located at "C:\Classic Games\_Emulators\DOSBox ") as a text file and change the line "machine=cga" (found under the [dosbox] heading) to either "machine=vga" or "machine=auto". There's also a Fan Patch in this package that supposedly fixes a bug in the OUT.EXE file that caused compatibility issues with certain VGA schemes, but this patch didn't seem to fix the graphics glitch for me in DOSBox so I didn't use it. This game uses only PC speaker sound effects with no background music. Use the "Q" key to save your game before closing the DOSBox window. Ultima 2 - Revenge of the Enchantress (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima2] This is the original 1982 version of Ultima 2 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 225 for this game. The game uses CGA graphics and PC speaker sounds with no background music. Use the "Q" key to save your game before closing the DOSBox window. This is the version of Ultima 2 I recommend playing. If you can get used to the awkward control scheme of the Apple II version, it does have better colors than the PC version, but overall the PC version is easier to deal with. Ultima 3 - Exodus (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima3] This is the original 1983 version of Ultima 3 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 275 for this game. The game uses CGA graphics and PC speaker sounds with no background music. Use the "Q" key to save your game before closing the DOSBox window. I recommend playing the Amiga version of Ultima 3 over this one. Ultima 4 - Quest of the Avatar (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima4] This is the original 1985 version of Ultima 4 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 300 for this game. The game uses 16-color graphics and PC speaker sounds with no background music. DOSBox doesn't get this game quite right (at least not on my system). There are some odd pauses, such as after you attack a creature, and the PC speaker sounds aren't emulated as well as they could have been. Use the "Q" key to save your game before closing the DOSBox window. Unless you're a staunch purist, I recommend trying some of the unofficial recreations I've included in this package. XU4 is probably the closest to the original game the one I recommend playing over the original, but don't discount Virtue of Humility, which is truly an impressive piece of work (it plays the game in 800x600 resolution) even though there are differences that set it apart from the original Ultima 4. Utlima 5 - Warriors of Destiny (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima5] This is the original 1988 version of Ultima 5 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 500 for this game. The game uses 16-color graphics and PC speaker sounds with no background music. There are some odd pauses during startup and while viewing the introduction but the game itself seems to play just fine through DOSBox. Hit "CTRL-E" while in-game to bring up a prompt asking whether or not you want to quit to DOS. Don't forget to save first (using "Q"). I recommend trying "UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0)" since it has everything this version of Ultima 5 does plus background music. Ultima 6 - The False Prophet (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima6] This is the original 1990 version of Ultima 6 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 1800 for this game. The game uses 256-color graphics, PC speaker sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use Creative Music System for the MIDI music and it seems to work well. Although you'll hear sound during the introduction, when you start a new game the sound is disabled by default; use "CTRL-Z" to toggle the sound on/off when in-game. I recommend that when you start a new game you immediately switch to "party mode" by pressing "0" (keys 1 through 8 put the selected character in solo mode) and enter combat by clicking the crossed-swords icon (the far right icon); this will activate the combat AI for Dupre, Shamino and Iolo and make the first battle with the three gargoyles go a lot smoother. Click the far right icon again (which should now look like a sword in a sheath) to end combat mode when the gargoyles are defeated. The game seems to run well in DOSBox, but you may notice that the images on the Avatar's television play ridiculously fast during the intro sequence! Don't worry about this, the gameplay itself seems to work properly. Hit "CTRL-Q" while in-game to bring up a prompt asking whether or not you want to quit to DOS. Don't forget to save first (using "CTRL-S"). Ultima 7 - The Black Gate (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima7] This is the original 1992 version of Ultima 7 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM, which includes the Forge of Virtue expansion. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 5000 for this game. The game uses 256-color graphics, digital sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use SoundBlaster Pro for sounds and Adlib for the MIDI music. After you double-click the icon to start the game you'll also need to hit the space-bar after you see the DOSBox window come up (this is a necessary work around to some problem with DOSBox and this game). On my system, the voice in the intro is significantly louder than the MIDI music and unfortunately DOSBox does not currently have an option to toggle volume controls for each sound component. Also, the game is very stuttery, with pauses every few feet; I could not figure out a way around this. If you're not a purist, I recommend installing Exult, the unofficial Windows engine, located in the "Remakes & Revisions\Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine)" folder of this package. Overall, the Exult team has done an incredible job of creating a superb engine from which to play Ultima 7 Parts 1 and 2 in a Windows environment and the engine includes many additional configuration and gameplay features not found in the original game. Ultima 7, Part 2 - Serpent Isle (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Serpent] This is the original 1993 version of Ultima 7 Part 2 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM, which includes the Silver Seed expansion. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 5000 for this game. The game uses 256-color graphics, digital sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use SoundBlaster Pro for sounds and Adlib for the MIDI music. After you double-click the icon to start the game you'll also need to hit the space-bar after you see the DOSBox window come up (this is a necessary work around to some problem with DOSBox and this game). On my system, the voice in the intro is significantly louder than the MIDI music and unfortunately DOSBox does not currently have an option to toggle volume controls for each sound component. Also, the game is very stuttery, with pauses every few feet; I could not figure out a way around this. If you're not a purist, I recommend installing Exult, the unofficial Windows engine, located in the "Remakes & Revisions\Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine)" folder of this package. Overall, the Exult team has done an incredible job of creating a superb engine from which to play Ultima 7 Parts 1 and 2 in a Windows environment and the engine includes many additional configuration and gameplay features not found in the original game. Ultima 8 - Pagan (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima8] This is the original 1994 version of Ultima 8 that comes with the Ultima Collection CD-ROM. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 10000 for this game. If your computer is not fast enough, you may experience choking which makes the game unbearably choppy. To toggle back the CPU cycles use "CTRL-F11". "CTRL-F12" will increase the CPU cycles. Decreasing CPU cycles will result in slower framerates but is preferable to choking which grinds the game to a halt. While playing in windowed mode, you can see what your current CPU cycles are across the top border of the active DOSBox window. Once you find a number that works for you, you can edit the "Ultima8.conf" DOSBox config as a text file and edit the "cycles=10000" under the [cpu] heading to the new default value that works best on your system. The game uses 256-color graphics, digital sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use SoundBlaster Pro for sounds and MPU-401 for the MIDI music. On my system, the voice in the intro is significantly louder than the MIDI (even more so than the Ultima 7 titles) and unfortunately DOSBox does not currently have an option to toggle volume controls for each sound component. The game is somewhat stuttery but definitely playable. Ultima Underworld 1 - The Stygian Abyss (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\UnderW1] This is the original 1992 version of Ultima Underworld that comes with the Ultimate RPG Archives CD-ROM set. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 9000 for this game. If your computer is not fast enough, you may experience choking which makes the game unbearably choppy. To toggle back the CPU cycles use "CTRL-F11". "CTRL-F12" will increase the CPU cycles. Decreasing CPU cycles will result in slower framerates but is preferable to choking which grinds the game to a halt. While playing in windowed mode, you can see what your current CPU cycles are across the top border of the active DOSBox window. Once you find a number that works for you, you can edit the "Ultimaworld1.conf" DOSBox config as a text file and edit the "cycles=9000" under the [cpu] heading to the new default value that works best on your system. The game uses 256-color graphics, digital sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use SoundBlaster Pro for sounds and Adlib for the MIDI music. On my system, the voice in the intro is somewhat louder than the MIDI music and unfortunately DOSBox does not currently have an option to toggle volume controls for each sound component. The game runs fairly well in most respects. Ultima Underworld 2 - Labyrinth of Worlds (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\UnderW2] This is the original 1993 version of Ultima Underworld 2 that comes with the Ultimate RPG Archives CD-ROM set. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 12000 for this game (this game requires the most CPU resources of any game in this package to run smoothly). If your computer is not fast enough, you may experience choking which makes the game unbearably choppy. To toggle back the CPU cycles use "CTRL-F11". "CTRL-F12" will increase the CPU cycles. Decreasing CPU cycles will result in slower framerates but is preferable to choking which grinds the game to a halt. While playing in windowed mode, you can see what your current CPU cycles are across the top border of the active DOSBox window. Once you find a number that works for you, you can edit the "Ultimaworld2.conf" DOSBox config as a text file and edit the "cycles=12000" under the [cpu] heading to the new default value that works best on your system. The game uses 256-color graphics, digital sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use SoundBlaster Pro for sounds and Adlib for the MIDI music. On my system, the voice in the intro is somewhat louder than the MIDI music and unfortunately DOSBox does not currently have an option to toggle volume controls for each sound component. The game runs fairly well in most respects. Worlds of Ultima 1 - Savage Empire (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Savage] This is the original 1990 version of Savage Empire. This games uses the Ultima 6 engine. As far as I know, the game was never patched and never re-released. I scrounged this copy off the internet. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 1800 for this game. The game uses 256-color graphics, PC speaker sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use Adlib for the MIDI music and it seems to work well. Worlds of Ultima 2 - Martian Dreams (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Martian] This is the original 1991 version of Martian Dreams. This games uses the Ultima 6 engine. As far as I know, the game was never patched and never re-released. I scrounged this copy off the internet. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 2100 for this game. The game uses 256-color graphics, PC speaker sounds and MIDI background music. I've configured the game to use Adlib for the MIDI music and it seems to work well. Ultima (Remakes & Revisions): The folder off the root of this package labeled "Remakes & Revisions" contains the source materials I used to setup the "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions" program folder. There's also a folder in "Remakes & Revisions" labeled "Exult (UltimaVII Windows Engine)" that allows you to play Ultima 7 through Windows (very handy since it plays poorly in DOSBox). I couldn't setup Exult in advance because it adds to Windows registry during installation. You'll need to run the installation yourself if you wish to use it (which I recommend you do if you want to play Ultima 7 Parts 1 and 2). Everything else except "Underworld Adventures (Ultima Underworld Windows Engine)", "Ultima Darkcore (unofficial browser-based Ultima)" and "UltimaV Lazarus (3D Recreation of UltimaV using Dungeon Siege Engine)" I've already setup for you. Akalabeth (AK1 - Original Version - Miner Jr) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\Akalabeth (AK1 - Original Version - Miner Jr)] This is a PC port done by Miner Jr of the original Akalabeth game created by Richard Garriott way back in the near-forgotten archaic age of 1979. It is the same game verbatim; no changes whatsoever. I've now set this up to play through DOSBox for easier management (basically, it's easier to end the game - you just close the DOSBox window). It's set to run at 200 CPU cycles. Akalabeth (AK2 - Remake - Miner Jr) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\Akalabeth (AK2 - Remake - Miner Jr)] This is Miner Jr's recreation of Akalabeth with some basic tile-based graphics and backgrounds. I used to think this was some nice work, but after spending a bunch of time trying to get the music to play correctly through Windows XP I'm no longer too fond of it. I imagine the original goal of Miner Jr was to get this to run through Windows, but it has proven so cumbersome that I decided to set this up to run through DOSBox instead. It's set to run at 8000 CPU cycles so that it runs through the intro bitmap quicker, but the game will certainly play fine at a lower cycle setting. Although the sound effects don't work correctly, the MIDI music does work and the game otherwise plays decently through DOSBox. Once in game, the "Enter" key is used to bring up a command window in the upper-right corner. Whatever your situation, all commands aside from moving your character are executed through this window (there seems to be no quick keys). Don't bother trying to view the introduction; it will probably crash the game to desktop. Akalabeth (AK3 with Graphics Addon - 2K1 Beta v1.02 - Miner Jr) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\Akalabeth (AK3 with Graphics Addon - 2K1 Beta v1.02 - Miner Jr)] This is a later Akalabeth recreation done by Miner Jr that sadly never left the beta stage. I encountered some very annoying bugs in this game while trying to run it (too many to bother listing them individually). If you choose to give it a whirl don't be surprised if it sucks. Here's a link if you're interested in getting more details on Miner Jr's now seemingly defunct Akalabeth recreations: http://www.geocities.com/AkalabethRemake/ UltimaII (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.1) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaII (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.1)] This upgrade was written by Michael C. Maggio a.k.a. Voyager Dragon. This upgrade to Ultima 2 adds 16-color graphics (EGA), the ability to toggle the autosave feature on/off, the ability to save your game on galactic maps, while on a horse, ship, plane or rocket, a speed fix and frame limiter that allows the game to be played through Windows XP in the NTVDM environment, and hotkeys for restoring saved games (ALT-R), exiting to dos (ALT-X), and quitting to the main menu (ALT-M). Unfortunately, the upgraded graphics introduce glitches (like the ones seen when playing Ultima1 in 16-color mode) if the game is played through DOSBox. Since the game must be played through Windows the PC Speaker sounds will probably not work correctly on most systems. So, your decision to play this version boils down to whether or not you want the PC Speaker sounds of the original or EGA graphics with the extra options. Run "u2cfg.exe" located in "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaII (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.1)" to configure the game options. UltimaII (Windows Native) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaII (Windows Native)] This a Windows Engine for Ultima 2 written by John Alderson. It has some bugs and no sound. The project now appears defunct. Since the original Ultima 2 game seems to run perfectly in DOSBox where you have the option to hear or not to hear the PC Speaker sounds, there's no longer much point in a Windows Engine for Ultima 2. Here's the source website if you're curious: http://ultima2.voyd.net/ UltimaIII (Exodus Project Upgrade v2.5) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIII (Exodus Project Upgrade v2.5)] This upgrade was written by Michael C. Maggio a.k.a. Voyager Dragon. This upgrade to Ultima 3 adds 16-color graphics (EGA), the ability to toggle the autosave feature on/off, a frame limiter that allows the game to be played through Windows XP in the NTVDM environment, hotkeys for restoring saved games (ALT-R), exiting to dos (ALT-X), and quitting to the main menu (ALT-M), and MIDI background music from the C64 and Apple II versions of Ultima 3. Unfortunately, the upgraded graphics introduce glitches (like the ones seen when playing Ultima 1 in 16-color mode) if the game is played through DOSBox. Since the game must be played through Windows the PC Speaker sounds will probably not work correctly on most systems. So, your decision to play this version boils down to whether or not you want the PC Speaker sounds of the original or EGA graphics, MIDI background music and the extra options. Run "u3cfg.exe" located in C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIII (Exodus Project Upgrade v2.5) to configure the game options. UltimaIII (U3Project - Beta 20030323) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIII (U3Project - Beta 20030323)] This is a recreation of Ultima 3 that's still in the beta stage of development. The intention among other things is to recreate Ultima 3 with a new, more colorful tileset and better sound. I've encountered various difficulties with this one, including crashes to desktop while trying to get past the title screen. When I did manage to create a party and start a game I couldn't actually move anywhere! But hey, the graphics look way better than the original Ultima 3!!! Keep your eye on this one. I have a feeling it may eventually become close to being as good as XU4 or Virtue of Humility are to Ultima 4. Here's the project website: http://www.xmission.com/~mhansen/ultima3/ UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0430) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0430)] The crème de le crème of Ultima recreations. George Stepan has really outdone himself on this one. The game runs natively in Windows XP with 256-color graphics at 800x600 resolution. I highly recommend playing this in addition to the XU4. It's a very impressive accomplishment, but since it differs from the original Ultima 4 I can no longer recommend that it be played as a substitute. The entire Ultima 4 game is here (altered at certain points) with an additional module not present in the original game and everything looks and sounds much, much better to boot! This is by far the most advanced old-school Ultima recreation to date. In part, you have Electronic Arts to thank for that since in an uncharacteristic display of generosity they released Ultima 4 into the public domain. Because of that, the game can be distributed as a full product whereas recreations of other Ultima titles require that you have the original Ultima game to run them. Being able to distribute a complete product without concern for copyright issues undoubtedly makes coding easier to deal with. "F1" will quick save your game, "F11" will quick load, and "CTRL-Q" will exit the game without saving. See the readme.txt located at "C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0430)" for more details. UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0530 - U5 tileset) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0530 - U5 tileset)] This is an enhanced version of Virtue of Humility using an improved Ultima 5 tileset. George Stepan just doesn't know when to quit! For details on this version, see the readme.txt located at "C:\Classic\Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0430)". Here's the link to the Virtue of Humility website: http://www.wizardportal.com/ UltimaIV (XU4 v.9 with 256-color upgrade v1.3) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIV (XU4 v.9 with 256-color upgrade v1.3)] XU4 is a project to recreate Ultima 4 with a Windows Engine. It’s nearing completion and in its current state is fully playable from beginning to end with some minor bugs. This is a very accurate recreation that purists will certainly appreciate. Virtue of Humility may be a bit too much of a departure from the original Ultima 4 for your tastes, so I recommend you check this out first especially if you’ve never played the original. Just about every feature that’s been added above the original can be disabled. I’ve included Aradindae Dragon and Wiltshire Dragon’s 256-color upgrade to the Ultima 4 tileset (which is compatible with the original Ultima 4 as well as XU4. Note, this upgrade also adds MIDI music to game when used with the original Ultima 4, but XU4 has it’s own MIDI scores and therefore only utilizes the tileset upgrade). If you wish to play XU4 with the original 16-color Ultima 4 tileset simply edit the video configuration from the configuration menu in-game; set it from VGA to EGA (and disable screen shaking if you’re shooting for a pure recreation). The same video configuration has an option to switch from windowed mode to full-screen. Use “ALT-X” to exit XU4 at any time, but don’t forget to use “Q” to save your game first. Here’s a link to XU4’s homepage: http://xu4.sourceforge.net/ This is a link to Auric's Ultima Moongate Annex, host site for Aradindae Dragon and Wiltshire Dragon's Ultima Upgrade: http://www.moongates.com/ UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0)] This upgrade was written by Michael C. Maggio a.k.a. Voyager Dragon. This is the least developed of the three Exodus Project upgrades, but ironically therein lies its strength. Because no frame limiter or major code changes were made with this fix the game can be played through DOSBox, so the original PC Speaker sounds will still work. I've set the DOSBox CPU cycles to 515 for this game. This upgrade adds the MIDI background music from the Apple II / Commodore 128 version of Ultima 5, music during character creation, the introduction, and endgame (not found in any original version of Ultima 5), and the ability to exit the game from the main menu (CTRL-E). I recommend playing this version of Ultima 5 over all the others I've tried since it includes everything from the original PC version along with the background music and extra features and it seems to work well. Here's the homepage for the Exodus Project: http://exodus.voyd.net/ Ultima (Sedryn's Picks): Details on the programs these icons run can be found in the above sections, and all the programs can be run with the icons from their respective icon sets. I copied the icons here (and renamed a few) because this is the set of Ultimas that I recommend playing. I'll give a brief detail on why I recommended the versions of Ultima listed below over other versions of the same games. I only bothered to do this to save time for those people who simply want to play the best (well, what I think is the best) version of their favorite Ultima title without having to wade through the other inferior versions to find it. If there's only one version of a specific game (that I'm aware of) I simply wrote "Only version of this Ultima". Akalabeth (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima0] I chose this version of Akalabeth because it has CGA colors, MIDI music, and will play correctly through NTVDM. It also has the ability to save games and restore them. Ultima 1 - First Age of Darkness, Enhanced (Apple IIe) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Apple II] Ultima 1 for the PC is a more updated version than this one, but this one uses a nicer color palette than the CGA scheme used by the PC version when played through DOSBox. If you can figure out how to get the PC version of Ultima 1 to use EGA colors without the resulting graphics corruption than that would definitely be the best version. Ultima 2 - Revenge of the Enchantress (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima2] This was a tough call. The Apple II version has nicer colors but an awkward control scheme. Even though this version has the CGA color scheme, it uses the standard arrow keys for movement. The only reason I didn't choose "UltimaII (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.1)" over this one is that version has no sound (not even PC speaker sounds play correctly). If you don't mind a complete lack of sound, then you should play "UltimaII (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.1)" in the "Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)" icon set since it has EGA graphics and therefore looks better than all other versions of Ultima 2. Ultima 3 - Exodus (Amiga) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\Amiga] This is the best version of Ultima 3 ever made. In terms of graphics, sound and gameplay it's better than all other versions. Ultima 4 - Quest of the Avatar (XU4 v.9 with 256-color upgrade v1.3) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaIV (XU4 v.9 with 256-color upgrade v1.3)] This was another tough call. I chose XU4 because it uses a Windows engine, a well-done remake of the musical score from the original versions of Ultima 4, and with the 256-color upgrade you have the option to play with the original Ultima 4 tilesets or the upgraded ones. It remains faithful to the story and gameplay while providing optional improvements. For an authentic Ultima 4 experience, I recommend trying “Ultima 4 - Quest of the Avatar (Amiga)” from the “Ultima (Commodore)” icon set (this version has mouse support and very nice graphics). I also recommend trying “UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0430)” or “UltimaIV (Virtue of Humility v4.0530 - U5 tileset)” from the “Ultima (Remakes & Revisions)” icon set. The Virtue of Humility versions of Ultima 4 differ from the original game in numerous minor ways, but they are playable in 800x600 resolution and are graphically superior to any other Ultima 4 remake I’ve seen. Ultima 5 - Warriors of Destiny (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\_Remakes & Revisions\UltimaV (Exodus Project Upgrade v1.0)] This version of Ultima 5 is identical to the PC version but has a musical score from other versions of Ultima 5 and the ability to exit the game from the main menu with "CTRL-E". This is definitely the best Ultima 5 version I've found. Ultima 6 - The False Prophet (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima6] All alternatives to the PC version of Ultima 6 have something wrong with them. This is the only one with decent graphics, sound, and gameplay. Ultima 7 - The Black Gate (Use Exult v1.2 - see Readme for setup instructions).txt This is not an game shortcut. It's a reminder to install Exult to play Ultima 7. Exult is definitely the best way available to play Ultima 7. Playing through DOSBox doesn't work very well. Ultima 7, Part 2 - Serpent Isle (Use Exult v1.2 - see Readme for setup instructions).txt This is not an game shortcut. It's a reminder to install Exult to play Ultima 7, Part 2. Exult is definitely the best way available to play Ultima 7, Part 2. Playing through DOSBox doesn't work very well. Ultima 8 - Pagan (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Ultima8] Only version of this Ultima. Ultima Underworld 1 - The Stygian Abyss (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\UnderW1] Only version of this Ultima. (Unless you count Underworld Adventures, which is not yet playable) Ultima Underworld 2 - Labyrinth of Worlds (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\UnderW2] Only version of this Ultima. Worlds of Ultima 1 - Savage Empire (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Savage] Only version of this Ultima. Worlds of Ultima 2 - Martian Dreams (PC) [C:\Classic Games\Ultima\PC\Martian] Only version of this Ultima. -------- Well, that's it for Ultima Classics v1.3. I have a feeling that I'll revise this package yet again at some point in future, but it may be a while. It's time now to turn my attention to other classic games that haven't received the attention I feel they deserve. Keep your eyes open and you may just see the words "Classics" pop-up somewhere in front of another popular games series of old ...... maybe even two. ;)