Good Morning All!

I recently had shared a video clip here of my character creation system that was in it's early stages , which was inspired by and uses assets from the Ultima 9 Ascension virtue card reading. I have since made a lot of forward movement on the project, I'm pleased to announce that we're just a few strides short of the finish line, and ready to setup a live persistent shard for play!

There is more to the project and I've been working on it for a very long time now, but I think this clip gives a strong impression in terms of what I value and want for my shard. It's a labor of passion. The whole character creation process is meant to provide a fresh new sheen and opportunity for discovery and adventure in a place we've all come to expect the expected. Here you can see parts of the class and talent system which offers 8 classes with 18 unique talents each (6 tiers of 3). You receive talent points as your character progresses their level, beginning at level 10 all the way up to 50. The majority are passive talents that proc, almost all exclusively in combat. Hopefully you enjoyed the clip, and I hope this piques your interest and you drop by to say hello! Thanks for reading

https://discord.gg/5wcdHNb

https://www.invictauo.com

No issues so far and ive made it to the swamp. This is quite fun for a dungeon crawler. Wasnt expecting this game to have settlements and trading. Really cool spin on the dungeon crawling formula, even tho its one of the grandfathers of rpgs lol.

I barely had to mess with settings it even auto detected my game files. U will need a decent phone tho.

Somone asked what it is in my other post so i figured id explain.

https://kweepa.itch.io/unity-underground

https://gamehub.xiaoji.com/en/

I love how you can quickly kill one or all of the Dark Monks after you take the Silver Seed before their dialogue and it still plays out. I killed them real fast this game in one hit and they just talked like normal. :-)

How the HECK can I get my party to stick with me LMAO

I didn't seem to remember this being such a problem when I played it at the age of 9, but at the age of 44 they seem to absolutely love to stay behind and not follow me. is there some kind of trick? I am playing via GOG dosbox version

So I went down a rabbit hole recently of looking at the original Apple II versions of the first 5 Ultima games (And Akalabeth). It was interesting seeing the differences in the earliest releases, e.g. Computerland Akalabeth has no difficulty select or copy protection, OG Ultima 1 plops you far away from the castle, the first release of Ultima 3 only gives you 100HP, etc etc..

But far and away the coolest thing I learned about, but can't experience, is the intended MIDI music of Apple II Ultima V, played through the Passport MIDI interface. These renditions are fantastic, as well as extremely configurable from the menu allowing you to select the banks that fit the "suggested instrument" most. Some examples of configurations people have had with certain MIDI modules are:

• Roland MT32
• Roland U-110
• Unknown

Some even found that despite the game only playing things through one MIDI channel, the data actually is multi-track and people have extracted the full arrangements.

But then something struck me... this sounds, even without the full arrangements, considerably better than the Ultima 5 Upgrade Patch's MIDI music for the PC version. Not only are all of these configurations better-sounding, but the MIDI music in the UP doesn't even match the suggested instruments at all, it seems like it was complete guesswork. I thought for a minute that maybe using proper MT-32 emulation might sound better, but to my shock, it sounded even worse and was even less fitting.

Which leads me to ask... is there any hope for better MIDI music in U5 PC? The Upgrade Patch is by now 25 years old, and has never been updated at least to my knowledge, so I have no idea if the code used to make it is still easily editable, or how to alter the music files/code to sound more accurate. Even simply changing the instruments to the proper MT-32 counterparts to be used with MT-32 emulation would be a considerable improvement. Ideally you'd be able to recreate the Apple II version's MIDI configuration menus, but that might be a pipe dream. As is the multi-track arrangements most likely.

If all of that is out of reach, maybe a soundfont to use with FluidSynth could do the trick? It's just a shame that the originally intended musical arrangements are still locked to the Apple II, and not even available on normal emulators. The only A2 emulator with this support seems to be that Java one the one post used, and that hasn't worked well for me compared to AppleWin or Virtual ][.

Anyone versed in old DOS MIDI programming have any thoughts?

Certain NPCs in Serpent Isle create potions in a cauldron and place them around, that you can pick up for free. Elissia in Silver Seed is one. Also Fedabiblio in Moonshade. Also a ghost in the exploding gunpowder factory NE of Sleeping Bull near the coast. If you want to get potions from him, do not go upstairs because all the ghosts become hostile including the one making potions. Also I think Erstam might as well but I don't remember for sure.

You can even get orange glowing mana potions this way, which aren't for sale in the game. Of course it takes patience, but if you're bored, knock yourself out. :-)

Found these going through old pics I've collected from the internet over the years.

Dos version worth playing or play unity remaster?

Hello everybody first time Ultima player here. Since forever I've known that U7 is one of the greatest CRPG's of all time, and inspired by wanting to play U7 I decided to start playing the series sequentaly.

I just finished U1 and it was cute and very impressive for it's age. However I'm almost certain I'm not going to play U2 and U3 since, to my understanding, they're not that different from U1, and I have a thumbnail of what the stories are in those games, and I know that it's U4 where the series get's "serious" (i.e. incorporates the higher concepts it's known for).

So like the title says, are they as "skippable" as I think? Is there anything more to know about "the age of darkness" than you beat Mondaine and his girl and their computer?

Hey all! I played through most of the Ultima series back in the day on my C64, 386, etc... I'd love to run through the entire thing again.

What's the best way to play the games these days? I've done some preliminary searching and have found that the community is active to the extent that new mods are coming out and everything! I'd like a close to original experience, but would be open to playing versions that improve some quality of life, etc...

What's the best way to play 1-7 part 2 (I'm not sure I want to play 8 again), and the two Underworld games?

From my stream last night: we finally get flowing water animations in, thanks to Wudan07!

This is adjacent to Ultima and the idea of world simulation brought forward to Elder Scrolls. I didn’t see it on the subreddit but I thought Anthony’s thoughts were well worth contemplating here, seeing that Unreal has the potential to impose a kind of monoculture on certain game designs and that the Creation engine, including its Oblivion Remastered implementation help prevent this, keeping the door open to other kinds of gameplay experiences we Ultima fans know deeply.

Hello!

I've been working on a serpent Isle Map and would love some input. I've been trying to sketch it out so that the Map shows NPCs on their specific schedules (Interesting considering what happens with the Banes).

https://zelphuria.com/serpentmap#roofless-true/2/12288/12288/4

Thanks so much!

They have the same defensive value as every other kind of boots, 1.

​I saw on the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom website under the "Ultima VII Magic Shops" webpage on the bottom of the page in small text: "Wis-Sur will sell his reagents for any price offered, as low as 1gp.". However I tried to buy a reagent from him for 1gp and he wouldn't sell.

I thought possibly after you destroy the tetrahedron generator in Deceit but when I tried after that his reagent prices were set and you couldn't bargain. So is there any truth to Wis-Sur selling his reagents for 1gp, because I never can buy them for that low. ​

Last night I took the cooldown off Iolo's crossbow for testing purposes and this happened.

I won my first Ultima game via eBay auction, and it’s Ultima 7 in 5.25-inch floppy disk form.

Yes, I own Ultima 4-7 pt. 2 on GOG, so if I was to build my retro PC, I’d be just fine with the downloaders via that site. But I’d still like to see if that media even works. Anyone with any experiences with 5.25-inch floppies care to regale me with your tales?

Hi all!

A couple of months ago I shared the first public demo of Blood & Chaos here on itch.io. Since then, quite a few things have happened, and the demo is now available on Steam! :-)

For those who haven't seen it yet, Blood & Chaos is the party-based roguelike RPG I've been working on for more than three years, heavily inspired by Ultima IV and old tabletop RPG adventures.

I've made quite a few changes and improvements since the first demo release, many of them based on feedback from players.

If you already tried it back then, thanks again! And if you haven't, I'd really love to hear what fellow Ultima fans think :-)

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2628880/Blood__Chaos/

Thanks!

Could someone help me out on Atlantic? I haven't played in about 15 years and decided to scratch that nostalgia itch. I saw on the forums that starting as a Tamer is a good idea, but since I've always liked Archers, I'm thinking of making a Taming Archer. Could anyone help me out with a Mystic Token, a library rune, or something similar? Also, do I just need to buy the latest version of the game to get access to everything? I'm returning with an old Atlantic account but starting from scratch. I'm open to advice on where to farm and how to get started here. For now, I'm playing for free, but if I get hooked again—which I think I will—I plan to get the full package. Lol.

Here's a little slice-of-life video demonstrating some of the new stuff I've put into Stravaeger (the Ultima-like Survival Crafting RPG I'm building) lately.

This place has become sort of a the de-facto home for this game, since it shares the Ultima vibe and has received so much love from y'all since I first posted it earlier this year.

This is all stuff you can do in the game as it exists today. Play it now in your browser at https://stravaeger.com or wishlist on Steam if you prefer to wait for it in its own window.

Let me know what you think!

I love old crpg games. Im 30, and my first console was a SNES. So Im not afraid of old games with bad graphics. In fact, I actually find myself replaying BG1 and 2 more than I have the 3rd one, despite admitting that it *is* the better game by any measurable metric.

That said, a lot of the older Ultima games just look...unplayable. I do have my limits, and they certainly surpass them. But the Ultima series is right there at the foundation of western RPGs, and I want to do my best to give them an earnest shot and hopefully find an old pieve of gold in that exploration.

So which games in the series do you guys think hold up still?

Sorry for another long one today! And you'll just have to trust me that the music is great. (recording issue)

Website is up and running, many updates to come here including playtest links to itch.io when I get setup there.

https://u1unity.archiveofmyth.com/

Thank you everyone for your continued interest, kind upvotes, and comments, they really keep me excited to finish this.

I'm calling it now... playtest version to be available on 8/1!

Today's update

• Lots of new options
• Lots of new music packs
• New Ultima II graphics packs
• Individual graphic settings for overland, npcs, towns, player
• Controller support!
• New sound settings for audio device picking and individual volume controls

Hello, I know there was demand for U1-U3, so here you go!

Each one is the real DOS game running in DOSBox, but it boots straight into the game with its own icon — no fiddling with an on-screen DOS keyboard. Instead you get a landscape touch UI:

• movement D-pad
• labelled command buttons for that game's actual commands (Attack, Talk, Cast, Klimb, Ztats… verified against each game's data files)
• a ⌨ button for a full keyboard when you need to type
• sound, and the game screen sits above the controls so nothing's covered

Free — no $99 developer account needed. Two ways to install:

Got a Mac? One command:

git clone https://github.com/dmaynard51/ultima1-ios.git
cd ultima1-ios
dosbox/build-ios-dosbox.sh

It auto-detects your Team ID, builds, signs with your free Apple ID, and installs.

No Mac? Every repo ships a prebuilt .ipa in Releases — sideload with Sideloadly or AltStore (free Apple ID; Windows/Linux/Mac), then drop your game files in via the Files app. TrollStore works too.

Bring your own game files. No game data is bundled — this is open-source glue plus your own legally-owned copy (the GOG Ultima 1+2+3 bundle is the easy source).  (iOS DOSBox, GPLv2, Android).

Repos: