Ultima 6 Speed Run Ground Rules…Finalized

A few people have asked for the establishment of a list of ground rules that they can use in their own attempts to beat my 88 minute and 55 second Ultima 6 speed record. Because I think this is awesome (both from a community-building standpoint and because it means people will be playing Ultima 6), I put up a list of rules a while back which were to be the guidelines for any future speed run attempts. Here, then, are the finalized rules:

Part the First: Setup & Configuration

  1. The game must be played using DOSBox. This can either be the Good Old Games version, or something you’ve set up yourself. (For the record: I used the GOG version.)
  2. The CPU core emulation must be set to simple. (This is the GOG default.)
  3. The CPU type setting must be set to 386_slow. (This is the GOG default.)
  4. The CPU cycle count must be set to 3000. (This is the GOG default.)
  5. The game must be configured to run in its VGA graphics mode.
  6. You may use whatever audio setting grabs your fancy. I did my speed runs with the default AdLib sound, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying MT-32 sound if you’d rather.
  7. You can upscale the game as you see fit; playing at original resolution is also acceptable (though it might be a bit difficult on particularly high-resolution monitors).

Part the Second: Evidence

  1. The playthrough must be recorded, and the duration of the recording (or the sum of the durations of the recordings) shall be taken as your playthrough time. In DOSBox, video recording can be triggered by pressing CTRL+ALT+F5.
  2. Playthrough videos must be uploaded to a video sharing service, e.g. YouTube. YouTube (and possibly other services) allow for uploads in excess of 15 minutes of length if you take certain steps; be sure to enable this feature if needed.
  3. If your playthrough is broken into multiple videos, please ensure that your party is in roughly the same position at the start of each video as they were at the end of the previous one, or at least ensure that the game is in the same general state.
  4. Video recording shall begin at the moment the game interface first appears following the introductory video. DOSBox will automatically terminate the video during the endgame sequence, when the game switches from the playable interface to the cutscene.
  5. Playthrough duration will not include cutscenes, and the video(s) you upload do not need to include these. DOSBox will save these as separate videos, so you will not have to do any video editing.

Part the Third: Plot Points & Gameplay

The following plot points must be completed in order to actually pass Ultima 6: liberate all eight Shrines of Virtue, obtain the two Codex Lenses, obtain the Vortex Cube, obtain the balloon plans and build the balloon, obtain the sacred quest from the Temple of Singularity, and journey to the Shrine of the Codex to carry out what must be done there.

For my speed run, I played from a position of semi-ignorance; I made a point of talking — in each Virtue town — to the NPC who could tell me the mantra for the corresponding Shrine. I also made a point of visiting each of the three gargoyle Shrines — Diligence, Control, and Passion — in order to obtain the necessary mantras.

We can debate whether the above should be included amongst the rules. Here’s what I think should be the minimum standard:

  1. If you have to complete a task to obtain an item, complete that task in the most expedient manner possible without killing any relevant NPCs. This is mostly the case with the Rune of Sacrifice; I think you can obtain it by killing Selganor, but for this playthrough you must go through the process of obtaining panpipes and playing Stones for him.
  2. Use of the Pickpocket spell is not, strictly speaking, disallowed…but you’ll probably waste a lot of time reaching level 5.
  3. No using Iolo’s cheat menu!
  4. You must, at minimum, recruit Beh Lem at the appropriate point in the game; everyone else is optional. Technically, recruiting Sherry is also required at one point, but you do not need to keep her in the party if you don’t want.
  5. I don’t know if it’s strictly necessary to obtain the Amulet of Submission from Draxinosum; it may not be. Regardless, it must still be obtained for the purposes of your speed run attempt.

Anyhow, as noted above, this is an initial proposed rule set. We can hash things out for a day or two, and on Wednesday the finalized rules will be published. At which point, Dragons and Dragonettes…start your DOSBoxes!

17 Responses

  1. Micro Magic says:

    I dunno, sounds good to me. Not a huge leap away from u6o. It doesn’t sound anything out of the ordinary… I like the idea you have to do some more storyline like in u6o.

    I accept the challenge. Either way, if I have to get accustomed to traditional u6 interface. I’m going to do my own speed run where anything goes anyway.

    Anyone have any objections?

    Maybe we should do it u6o style, you need all the map pieces, thieves guild belt, silver tablet pieces, no killing anyone, perfect karma to gain holy quest, etc etc.

    We just had someone beat it in u6o without the balloon and a little help from an orb holder and resurrect with about 6 hrs of gameplay… it was pretty impressive.

    • WtF Dragon says:

      Micro:

      Maybe we should do it u6o style, you need all the map pieces, thieves guild belt, silver tablet pieces, no killing anyone, perfect karma to gain holy quest, etc etc.

      This is actually something I had in mind…for a bit later. I have been meaning to do a completionist-pacifist playthrough, and would welcome fellow-travelers/challengers.

      (Except for the karma bit, because the game barely tracks it.)

      But for now, we go for raw (or…well…blue-rare) speed, what say? Pass only that which is necessary to complete the game, without resorting to NPC-murder.

  2. Sanctimonia says:

    Something for the tips & tricks section:

    I play the IBM PC & Compatible version (original) and use dosbox. My config file is here:

    http://www.eightvirtues.com/misc/dosbox-0.74.conf

    You’ll notice a line that says:

    midiconfig=20:0

    This is the device ID of your MIDI output device, which Ultima VI will use if configured for MT-32 or other MIDI output (Ad-Lib is an ISA card, not a standalone MIDI device). In Windows use the command:

    MIXER /LISTMIDI

    (from the dosbox wiki) to find the correct value. In Linux (Debian-based distros such as Ubuntu), install the app pmidi with the command:

    sudo apt-get install pmidi

    then run the command:

    pmidi -l

    to list your MIDI-enabled devices. If you don’t have an MT-32 or other comparable sound module connected somehow, you may be able to use FluidSynth or Timidity (software synths, must be running for detection to work) to get decent, though non-canonical, instrumentation.

    I have an MT-32 connected to the MIDI Out port of an M-AUDIO KEYSTATION 88es MIDI controller (connected via USB), detected as device “20:0” under Kubuntu 11.10. All dosbox games including Ultima VI produce perfect sound using this setup, which is infinitely better than the Ad-Lib emulation. To hell with emulation when a working MT-32 (or better) is available via eBay for around $50. Get them before they decay. 🙂

    If you’re interested in getting better sound out of your DOS games drop me a line and I’ll do my best to help.

    • WtF Dragon says:

      This would be acceptable to use, I think, if anyone wanted to.

      The main concern here is that we all play with a consistent emulated CPU speed & cycle count; sound configuration shouldn’t impact performance that significantly.

  3. Sanctimonia says:

    True. You’d have to be using a pretty crappy PC for that to make a difference, unless the software emulation raped every bit of your single core and put you at a distinct disadvantage.

  4. bigspoiltbrat says:

    humbug

  5. RusticDragon says:

    I keep a digital photo frame on my desk here at work and I’ve loaded about a dozen speed run videos on it that loop throughout the day. I have Ultima 6 and 7 on there. (stitched together from the youtube pieces)

    The U6 speed run is under thirty minutes and he finishes the quest in a single game day. I believe this is the time to beat. 😉 You can find it if you google “Ultima 6 speed run.” Best of luck everyone!

    (oh, and I’ll give you a hint, when he went to use the balloon, he realized that he neither had a fan nor could cast wind because he never meditated at the shrines to level up! Knowledge you could use to shave a few moments off your time. 😉 )

    • WtF Dragon says:

      A fan is easy to obtain (Yew). I’ll have to watch his progress, though, because I can’t free the shrines in under 30 minutes, let alone finish the game.

      Does he publish info about other game settings he used? DOSBox cycles, etc.? If he ramped it up to 10,000 cycles, that might explain it. (At 3,000 cycles, there’s just no way to pull it off that fast…or so I would suspect.)

      Cool news, about that photo frame, by the way.

  6. Thepal says:

    The shrines can be freed in less than 5 minutes. You run in, say the mantra, grab the orb, and run out. You don’t have to kill gargoyles. Of course, you need the runes first… That might take another 5 minutes… Yeah… I think it could be done in 10. There’s enough Orb points near places (Minoc, Ben, other rune locations).

    I might try this this weekend.

    • WtF Dragon says:

      I still think it must be a cycle count thing, as well. The shrines can be quickly freed, if you remember the mantras, but there’s still some distance to traverse. And you’ll waste at least five minutes (if not more, and then only if you time it just right) getting the Rune of Sacrifice.

      Come to think of it, the Rune of Honesty is also a bit of a time sink, what with the need to go tomb raiding.

  7. Thepal says:

    Does Sacrifice take that long? Orb to near Ben -> Run to Ben -> Get wood -> Orb to Minoc sawmill -> Cut wood -> Run to Julia -> Get panpipes -> Run to Selganor. I don’t think that would take five minutes…

  8. Micro Magic says:

    You have to get their schedule’s down. The wood buy doesn’t wake up till 12.

    • WtF Dragon says:

      Quite; he’s a late riser.

      You could probably hit Moonglow first, since I think they guy there that gives you the crypt key gets up earlier. Polish off that shrine. And if you were quick enough with the crypts, you could get to Yew — and maybe even polish off the shrine there — in time to catch Ben at his rising. Jump on over to Minoc, get the board, get the panpipes, and get the rune there. Polish off that shrine. There’s three.

      What other runes require human interaction? Compassion…that’s quick enough. Honor…no, that’s just sitting in plain sight. Humility…yes, but that is also quick. Spirituality is found in a chest. And Valor requires Sherry, but she never sleeps. So the logical course of action is (probably) hit Britain and then New Magincia to get the runes, then liberate both shrines. Two more…five total. Grab Sherry, get Valor, drop Sherry again, polish that off — six. Spirituality and Trinsic round out the collection, and really can be done in either order. Boom — all eight.

      You could do it in a game day, maybe less.

      Update: I had a watch of the half-hour speed run, and while I commend the guy on his record, he certainly took some shortcuts that I wouldn’t, and which the ruleset here disallows. For example, he murders Selganor to get the Rune of Sacrifice. From an expediency perspective, it’s a sound move; it cuts out the whole panpipes subquest entirely. But by the same token: not acceptable.

      Also, he’s definitely using a higher cycle count in DOSBox; his Avatar just motors along in an open stretch.

      I’m beginning to think we will need to establish leagues or competition categories. There can be a raw speed category (removing all rules on killing NPCs, among others, and allowing a higher cycle count), a minimalist completionist category (the play style under discussion here), and a full completionist category (complete all quests, including the ones you could otherwise skip). Oh, and a pacifist full completionist category, because that’s pretty much the hardest-core way to play the game.

      Thoughts, folks?

  9. Sanctimonia says:

    I’d be in the missing category of just messing around trying to do cool stuff and expoit bugs. Never beat the game, but hearing about the quests so itemized is interesting.

  10. Micro Magic says:

    Id still love to make this happen but my laptop is in warrantyworld. So ill get around to it when its back. Before it crapped the bed on me I loaded up u6 in dosbox. 3000 cycles is pretty slow… I ramped it up past 20000 or so. Although very unstable twas a lot of fun.

    Now that I know this trick I can play through u7 at super high speeds like when I first got the game!