Ultima Patcher 1.7

A new version of the Ultima Patcher has recently been released adding support for the PC port of Ultimore 1 – A World Divided. That’s available for download from https://github.com/Fenyx4/UltimaPatcher/releases/download/1.70/UltimaPatcher.zip.

I still need to give this new Ultimore port a go myself. Trying to get anywhere with the Apple II original was a frustrating exercise but I’m looking forward to being able to try it on the PC. I should be reviving this blog as least briefly whenever I do get around to it.

You may notice the external website address. The Patcher is now open source and all the recent work has been done by Fenyx Dragon who has also added support for his own Ultima 4 randomizer patch at the same time.

Ultima Patcher 1.68

As you may see in the recent comments on here, I’ve been informed that there was a virus in the last version of the Ultima Patcher. I’ve run it through an online virus checker and only 8 out of 75 algorithms were predicting a virus in the Savage Empire 2.1 upgrade added in that last version. It’s almost certainly a false positive but in the interests of not spreading anything malicious (a popular theme these days), I’ve deleted that particular patch and replace it with my own equivalent created from scratch. Everything else is unchanged and you can get the new version here.

Ultima Patcher 1.67

I was approached by “Death Strike” about adding a patch for Savage Empire to the Ultima Patcher. Apparently, the GOG version of the game contains a bug which disables the alternate ending but a later fixed version was released on the compilation CD with 7 Cities Of Gold (anyone who has ever spent time hunting for Ultimas on Ebay should be familiar with this particular CD). They created a patch to update the GOG version which I’ve added to the Ultima Patcher.

Other than that, I’ve added in the latest default installation directories which appear to have changed every time I look, updated some links and changed the Beautiful Britannia download URL. You can download the new version from here.

Ultima Patcher 1.66

I’ve just uploaded the latest Ultima Patcher, version 1.66. The additions are:-

  • Another fix from Natreg Dragon with a minor tweak to Weblock’s conversation tree in Ultima 5.
  • The latest version of the Ultima 2 upgrade (2.1) from Voyager Dragon. This adds new graphics modes, a couple of fixes and a stat mode selector so you don’t have to count your steps.
  • Also from Voyager Dragon, an alternative Ultima 4 music upgrade with more traditional instruments.

As always, my testing was minimal so let me know if something doesn’t work as expected. The patcher can be downloaded here

Ultima Patcher 1.65

The updates for the Ultima Patcher are coming thick and fast this year. This latest one adds some tweaks from Natreg Dragon to Ultima 4, 7 & Serpent Isle. The most major of these is an EGA downgrade patch for the VGA upgrade. While this might initially sound counterproductive, it can be used to play the game with the original graphics but with the added enhancements the VGA patch offers such as music. The previous music only patch had major issues with low CPU cycles in DOSBox and I’ve dropped this from the patcher.

The tweaks to Ultima 7 and Serpent Isle are more minor and are detailed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/UltimaDragons/permalink/10156908034553797/. This patch will fix the ability to fish in both games and the Eiko/Amanda/Iskander is also fixed in Ultima 7. I’ve also added the earthquake fix to Serpent Isle.

The latest version can be downloaded here. Beyond checking that the patches apply, I’ve not done any testing of these so please let me know if I’ve missed anything.