I’ve not spent long on it, but I cobbled together a simple GOG Ultima game patcher on Saturday afternoon. The idea was to offer an easier alternative to install all the various patches for Ultima 1-4 for anyone who has bought them off GOG. It’s very basic and just copies the patch files, runs any installers inside DOSBox and alters the GOG DOSBox config automatically. There isn’t much point in using it if you know your way around DOS/DOSBox, but it might help a few people out. It needs some serious tidying up and I definitely want to add in links to the project sites and the like but it basically works for now. It’s in the Miscellaneous section in the downloads for anyone who wants it.
I’ll probably add the other games as they are released + the Underworlds, although it does mean buying them all again so I’m tempted to wait until a sale. After buying Ultima 1-3 on GOG that makes it 6 copies of Ultima 1 I own and 5 copies of 2 & 3 in one form or another. Surely I must have paid for these games enough times by now. $6 is not a lot of money though, so I’ll probably stump up the cash for the others.
While I’m posting, one of my favourite channels on Youtube, blacklily8, just added a mini-review of Ultima 4:-
Matt is a guy who is very much into old RPG’s and adventure games, and seems to have very similar tastes to myself. Despite that he’s not played any of the Ultima’s so this is more or less his first experience of the series.
It’s interesting to see what someone new to Ultima, but not to ancient RPG’s makes of it. It’s easy to forget just how awkward the interface is and how much there is to learn when you have been playing these games for years. There is a thread on GOG where several people couldn’t even figure out how to get past the menu screen at the start and thought the game was broken.
I’m a big fan of Matt Chat too! Thanks for the patcher, dude – I can do the DOSBox stuff, but this is much more convenient.
Great work Pix, just 2 things you could add to the patcher to make it almost perfect if you want:
Ultima 4 v1.01: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LQOZ5GU3
This updated version of Ultima IV fixes some minor bugs in the data
files. This is a list of the fixes:
1.01
– Charm in Cove asks her question
– Water in Lord British’s castle asks its question
– Alkerion in Minoc asks his question
– Shamino in Skara Brae asks his question
– fixed mispelling of keyword of prisoner in Yew
– fixed incorrect guard indices in Serpents Hold
As said, this fixes some conversations, and also things like the guards on Serpent’s Hold telling you they are Sentri.
and Ultima 4 music: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MI6XKW78
This one I think is an old version of the vga upgrade. Thing is, it just adds the music, and I think it can be combined with the EGA upgrade (I’m almost sure I played the entire game with both patches installed)
I’m not sure if this one is a bit buggy or not because I haven’t tested it in a long time, but if you want to try it, here it is.
Thanks for these, I’ll add them both in when I get the chance.
Hey Pix,
It’s no Caverns of Callisto, but I picked up a GOG Underworld 1+2 code for you…
… and then realized that I have no way to send it to you other than posting it here in public. Drop me a line at loaf@wcnews.com and I’ll send it.
Fantastic. I nearly bought them today as well and ran out of time in my lunch break. An email is on it’s way.
Love that Loaf guy.