Old Ultima on Net?

T

talwynor

First Post

• Jun 28, 2006

• #1

So, on a bit of a nostalgia kick and I was wondering if any of the early Ultimas have been essentially hosted on the net. I'm talking walking stick figures swinging plus signs as swords. I'd love to relive those and thought they might be simple enough to be on the net...doesn't have to be Ultima, but that would be my preference.

Somewhat related, I've thought about going to a MUD to relive that part, but keeping track of directions is a bit of a drag for me...any MUDS that are easier in that respect?

 

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Jubilee

First Post

• Jun 28, 2006

• #2

I've played on a mud before where they didn't have cardinal directions for movement, but you moved in relation to the descriptions of the room (through the arch, up the sairs, through the door). I found it much more difficult to grasp/memorize/orient myself than muds who use the n/s/e/w model. I didn't get out of mudschool on that one.

/ali

 

BOZ

Creature Cataloguer

• Jun 28, 2006

• #3

heheheh... something like Ultima Online, but running on graphics more similar to Ultima V or older would be wicked fun(ny).

 

LostSoul

Adventurer

• Jun 28, 2006

• #4

I'm pretty sure Origins released Ultima IV for free. I think you can get it from their site.

Lemme find a link.

 

BOZ

Creature Cataloguer

• Jun 29, 2006

• #5

cool, please do.

 

A

AuraSeer

Prismatic Programmer

• Jun 29, 2006

• #6

You can get Ultima IV here, on Home Of The Underdogs. The other Ultimas have not been released for free.

Home Of The Underdogs has a lot of old games available for download. They're mostly either freeware or "abandonware," which means that the copyright holder isn't enforcing its rights. (In a lot of cases, the game maker went out of business without transferring the copyright.) They don't have cracks or stolen games, and they remove games from the site whenever the owner asks, but it's still a great place to find old-school RPGs and other classic goodness.

If you want the rest of the Ultimas, you'll have to pay money. Games I-VIII were released on a compilation CD under the title "Ultima Collection", and you can find a used copy of that on Amazon or Ebay for about $50.

 

LostSoul

Adventurer

• Jun 29, 2006

• #7

Hmm... I did a little looking and couldn't find it.

I did find other pages where it could be downloaded, but not the official one. So I don't know if it's still out there legally.

 

TheLe

First Post

• Jun 29, 2006

• #8

Note that there is a Total Conversion Mod made for DUNGEON SIEGE, called Ultima V: Lazarus.

It's free is is basically a Ultima V written in the Dungeon Siege engine. It's gotten great reviews so far, and is supposed to be almost completely bug free!

Full details here: http://www.u5lazarus.com/

(You need to own a copy of Dungeon Siege to use the free addon)

~Le

 

Last edited: Jun 29, 2006

Henry

Autoexreginated

• Jun 29, 2006

• #9

LostSoul said:

Hmm... I did a little looking and couldn't find it.

I did find other pages where it could be downloaded, but not the official one. So I don't know if it's still out there legally.

Click to expand...

Found this: http://www.notableultima.com/collectibles/Title_U4.html

In 1997 Origin released free, complete versions of the PC port of Ultima IV through two publications: the August 1997 issue of PC Games, and the October 1997 issue of Computer Gaming World. Soon thereafter, several other online sites began to offer the binary for download, against Origin's wishes, because they felt it had been placed in the public domain. It hadn't, of course, and there was a great deal of heated debate and angry words tossed back and forth because of it. More recently, Origin has decided to allow anyone in the Ultima Dragons to provide the game for free.

Click to expand...

So it was released for free at one point, but NOT into the public domain. However, anyone wanting a copy is probably best to contact the Ultima Dragons and see if Origin's offer still stands.

 

Turjan

Explorer

• Jun 29, 2006

• #10

I have Ultima IV running on my laptop: See here!.

That's double the original resolution btw. Everything above that gets too blocky. The best site for the technical side of the original Ultima 4 is xu4. Makes running the little game on modern computers a breeze .

You can also get other Ultimas on the net, but as far as I know, that's illegal. If you still own an original Ultima VII (no matter which of the two), I recommend Exult, as this makes those games look very nice on a modern PC.

Henry said:

So it was released for free at one point, but NOT into the public domain. However, anyone wanting a copy is probably best to contact the Ultima Dragons and see if Origin's offer still stands.

Click to expand...

No need to contact them. Ultima IV is legally available on sourceforge.net (at the xu4 site I linked above). It's true that it's not really public domain, but Origins gave generous hosting permissions. With other Ultimas, they shut the sites down as soon as they notice them.

 

Last edited: Jun 29, 2006