The Mystery of Ultima V for the Atari 8-Bit

[Fox-1 / mnx]

I might even buy a 2nd hand Atari 130xe to play it.

 

That's something you should do anyways. XE's are plenty and cheap over here.

[RobS]

This is coming very late from the original thread, so we may want to start a new one, but I just realized that I had not posted the finished/corrected disk images for this project that I had intended to do then. I had worked on them when this thread went up in 2012, just to find the most complete version and make a few small fixes and make sure most of the stuff worked that worked before. I never did find the final sources I had done, but I got this very close. This was only ever a proof of concept, so much of the basic code was intended to be converted over to machine language routines to be loaded in small pieces from disk when needed. Like the "look" routine. It is a small ML routine and a block of text that gets loaded from disc into a temp space (probably page 6) and run for just that command. Peer a gem was also originally like this, but for some reason I only seem to have the basic code version, so it runs slow.

 

Anyway, sorry for the loooong wait on these, but here are the disk images. There is a "boot" disk which also has the game program and data files. This *must* remain in drive 1. Drive 2 *must* have one of the map disks. Britannia and Underworld are included, you can use either one, the program no longer checks to verify. Boot with Basic, then type RUN "D1:U5LDR3". After the intro animation and when you are at the intro menu, just hit enter on Journey Onward. It is already set up to use 2 drives.

 

I have been using Altirra to test this. For Altirra, I recommend you go to system->video->adjust colors and set the Artifacting Phase to 199 and the saturation to max. Run as system= 65XE/130XE and turn on acceleration for the disk drives and CPU to 500% or Warp. That should get it close to what it ran like when I complied the basic code with MMG. Play around with the commands, but W is most useful, it toggles the walk restriction so you can walk over anything. Movement is using CTRL-Arrow on your keypad. (L)ook and (P)eer a gem work, some other commands display the text of the command but dont do anything.

 

Hope you all enjoy it, maybe someone can use this as a base and actually make it into a working game someday.

 

-Rob

U5 Atari 8-bit FINAL.rar

Edited January 17, 2016 by RobS

[Tillek]

I'm not sure what the greatest tragedy in all of Atari 8-bit history is......... That this game was never finished/released.... or the 1450xld..................

 

All I can do tonight is get drunk and cry and try to play some Ultima IV on my 1200xl (because that's the closest I'll ever get to Ultima V on a 1450xld).

[Tillek]

But seriously, that said... Thank you for giving us that. I really do appreciate what you've done so far and that glimpse of what could have been. Maybe... just maybe.... someday someone will be able to make it work (or make something even better!)

 

Something like Wrath of Denethenor on the A8?

[Tempest]

Thank you for posting this.

[Kyle22]

Why coudn't the Apple or Commie (or both) be dis-assembled, re-written for our chipset, graphics and sounds copied, etc.?

There's several people doing that for other games. Those guys have even done (very good) Z80 to 6502 translations.

 

I don't see why you couldn't just copy the data files verbatim, unless there's executable code in them.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Kyle22

[_The Doctor__]

bump who took up the torch?

[zzip]

Why coudn't the Apple or Commie (or both) be dis-assembled, re-written for our chipset, graphics and sounds copied, etc.?

There's several people doing that for other games. Those guys have even done (very good) Z80 to 6502 translations.

 

I don't see why you couldn't just copy the data files verbatim, unless there's executable code in them.

Some of the ultima game engines have been rewritten from scratch as open-source projects. I think it's definitely doable. Just needs someone dedicated to doing it.

 

It's tempting for me since to try since I aspired to create an Ultima-style game of my own back then, and I even created an engine that could do much of what Ultima could. I just fear my 6502-asm skills are too rusty.

[TheGreatPW]

Rob,

 

Thank you for trying to pick up the pieces of Ultima V decades ago and sharing your work on here recently. Really impressive how you were porting a Commodore 64 game to your Atari 130XE. When porting titles to an Atari, most cases involve porting from an Apple version or creating an Atari version from scratch. I don't hear of too many games where people essentially take the graphics from the C64 version to convert over (I remember Shanghai from Activision was a Commodore 64 hack/port as well). Really impressive. I appreciate you describing the entire process of how you were able to pull it off as well. It was a great read and to learn from.

 

Sadly the original promised Atari version was probably cancelled due to the programmer who did the previous versions moving on from Origin at the time. I think the last ports he did was the Atari 800 and Commodore 64 versions of Ultima IV. They probably just couldn't find a programming house or person to do the Atari port in time for the release as they were becoming less and less due to the Atari 8-bit market shrinking even though some great titles were still being released. Atari 8-bits were quickly becoming the 6th platform (behind PC, Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari ST, and Mac) in term of priorities for ports back then. Once the original programmer left Origin, it probably spelled the end of all Atari 8-bit conversions. 1 salaried guy doing all the other 8-bit ports at the time other than Apple II, how can you beat that?

 

All the Atari versions of Ultima were direct ports of the Apple II version so your hack/port of a C64 version would be impressive to see if it ever gets finished. At least graphically the Commodore version of Ultima V was better than the Apple version.

 

Thank you again for sharing Rob! Maybe someday we can see a complete working version.

 

I do have one question. In your post you mentioned that you were hoping your hack would be seen by Origin as an Atari port done at a bargain price. Can I ask if you and Robert ever got to even talking about compensation? I'd be curious if they offered anything.

 

Great story! Long live Atari!

[TheGreatPW]

Hmm, while if possible, I'd recommend starting at the very beginning, if I had to pick a "condensed" set, it would

be Ultima 3, 4, and 5.

 

I have to /sigh on the Atari ST version of Ultima 6. It had so much going for it when it was announced, and I was

so looking forward to it. Huge game, great storyline, new mouse driven interface, even hard drive installable...

 

Then I actually played it...ugh. Graphics on the ST are horrible IMHO. It looks like they took a CGA version

and just copied it straight across, not adjusting for palette or anything else.

 

I've not played it on anything else besides the PC version. It was okay there with the 256 color VGA graphics.

 

PS I guess Ultima 7 is my favorite of any non-Atari release - there is a game engine, Exult, that lets you play

it under Linux. Very cool.

 

I have to agree completely. The Atari ST version of Ultima VI was a total disappointment. They weren't even trying. Even though the 16-bits were showing their limitations by then, companies like Sierra Online and Lucasfilms were able to get more out of the Atari ST at the time.

 

I didn't find it very playable from what I remembered. My friends gave up on it pretty quickly One of my friends (a huge Ultima fan) literally bought a PC the next day after playing the Atari ST version of Ultima VI. He was willing to live with the Atari ST a little longer when he found out Ultima VI was being released but once he played it, he was ready to move on. He got the PC for Christmas that year after the summer he bought Ultima VI for the Atari.

 

Surprisingly I found the Atari ST version of Ultima 2 to be great (not a popular opinion shared by Atari ST owners i know) specifically because it took advantage of GEM and rarely any large publisher like Sierra Online or Lucasfilm did anything like that with their Atari ST games.

 

Maybe the Ultima 2 Atari ST programmer should've done the rest of the Ultima conversions! Just kidding! I just think any other effort could've been better than Ultima VI on the Atari ST LOL.

[Goochman]

 

I have to agree completely. The Atari ST version of Ultima VI was a total disappointment. They weren't even trying. Even though the 16-bits were showing their limitations by then, companies like Sierra Online and Lucasfilms were able to get more out of the Atari ST at the time.

 

I didn't find it very playable from what I remembered. My friends gave up on it pretty quickly One of my friends (a huge Ultima fan) literally bought a PC the next day after playing the Atari ST version of Ultima VI. He was willing to live with the Atari ST a little longer when he found out Ultima VI was being released but once he played it, he was ready to move on. He got the PC for Christmas that year after the summer he bought Ultima VI for the Atari.

 

Surprisingly I found the Atari ST version of Ultima 2 to be great (not a popular opinion shared by Atari ST owners i know) specifically because it took advantage of GEM and rarely any large publisher like Sierra Online or Lucasfilm did anything like that with their Atari ST games.

 

Maybe the Ultima 2 Atari ST programmer should've done the rest of the Ultima conversions! Just kidding! I just think any other effort could've been better than Ultima VI on the Atari ST LOL.

 

I suffered playing U5 and U6 on the ST. U5 had numerous lockup bugs, but I ultimately finished it. U6 I think had a bug that made it almost impossible to finish - I never did on the ST. At some point towards the end you need to either cast a spell or use a weapon to open the drawbrdige to the bad dudes castle - it wouldnt work for me...................

 

Intersting info on the 8bit Ultima series. RG stated in some Genie chat that U5 would def be coming out for the 8bit series but alas you've filled in the last missing bit that the conversion guy left. Was that "Chuckles"? He seemed to be on a few of the 8bit conversions early on.

 

I have to disagree on U2 on the ST - my god the UI was awful. You couldnt easily repeat commands which in some cases was necessary. U2 was my first Ultima and Ive beaten it on almost every platform except the ST - too painful to build up a character

[leech]

This just reminds me of when I got the 4mb upgrade for my Mega STe, and copied Ultima VI into a RAM disk, so it loaded the whole thing out of RAM, it was amazingly fast, and only stuttered slightly when moving around on the map.