Exult Snapshots Updated
Actually, they were also updated a while ago, but it’s taken me this long to get around to reporting about it and uploading the changed files to the project entry.
The most significant update, to both the OS X and Windows binaries of Exult, is the addition of the HQ4X scaler. Dominus, who committed that particular change, warns that HQ4X is a very processor-intensive scaler, both to use and to compile. That said, if you wanted to play Ultima 7 at a ridiculously high detail and resolution setting, you now have that option. (I don’t imagine that the Android port received this update, but I noticed that the APK for it had also been updated. I’ve added this as a download, as well.)
The Exult Tools package and Exult Studio downloads were also updated recently, so these too have seen updates at the project entry.
I am not sure whether Dominus also folded in Jason Penney’s CoreAudio MIDI support patch, so Exult‘s OS X build does in fact support SoundFont. Although this is evidently old news.
As noted above, I’ve updated the downloads available at the project entry. Go and grab them there, or at the Exult project site.
The SoundFont on OS X patch I submitted was accepted and added to Exult a whole ago, but Dominus ported it to Pentagram just recently.
@wtf, you know you never announced the android port 😉
And you have to be careful, there are two flavours. One by project leader, Jeff, by porting to Java. The other by just using the ported SDL and using the normal SVN. That port is refered to as native port. 😉
Is there a way to double the screen resolution without using full-screen mode? I looked through the config file and there wasn’t an example. It ran perfect on my system, just too small and full-screen went across two monitors.
Nevermind… The way to do it is to start a new game and go to Video Options. It’s not in the first/main menu.
By default there is only one setting for both windowed and fullscreen mode. You must have messed withe the cfg in a way that it got screwed up. Avoid the user unfriendly cfg, most things can be setup in the gui.
And afaik the only thing that you can’t set in the main menu is the sfx pack since that is game specific. So you should have been able to set things up in the main menu and not the in game menu.
Great news! I love that things still progress with Exult.
I did set it up. I ran it in 3840×1080, but I need three monitors to have my avatar centered. Dual-screen sucks for games. What’s amazing is that it runs at that resolution full-screen with no performance hit at all. 1920×1080 is no problem at all.
Now if I could just get out of Trinsic. Love how they immediately physically constrain you unless you do what they say. I got past this when I first played it, but now that I’m wiser I disagree with the basic mechanic and am looking for ways to open the gates manually. I should be able to kill a guard, move the switch, then run out? Man my memory sucks…
They lock youin because it’s a copy prevention thing. If you get out by any other means you will not be able to be rescued from a near death experience in the game.
So they set the “No Time Lord” flag if you don’t flip the switch by messing around in town. Very un-Ultima like. Copy protection went 1984, invading the actual gameplay and story. Maybe that’s what Orwell was talking about (games not governments).
I have the box, manual, disks, etc., for Ultima VII. I bought it outright new and kept it for 15+ years. Apparently this is old-school DRM that is tedious because it doesn’t require entered text but a sum of specific actions to let you run around. Shitty start to a single-player game. You’re not even in jail, but somehow you can’t get out. Is there a video of the Avatar killing everyone in Trinsic, finding the mechanism or key, and getting out without some crazy penalty?
You cannot get out without following the plot without penalty. Of course you can get out, for example through the trinsic cheatroom, but yes penalty…
Game plots went a bit more plot driven and made you do things in sequence. A bit with Black Gate, much much more with Setpent Isle. Serpent Isle is often considered the better U7 because of this, btw.
Saying this 1984ish… Hmm… time for a happy pill. Or complain to LB about this 18/19 year old game…
Saying that later games were even more constraining but that the plot advancements worked hand-in-hand with the exchange and were more universally regarded is making my argument for me. Not my idea of progress, but I guess whoever was in charge of making Ultima sequels decided progress wasn’t enough and elected to sit on the IP for some time. Mismanaged at best, if the IP has any value in our current culture.
I’m all for on-rails type games, but not if they purport to be like Ultima.
Also, it is 1984-ish, because copy protection migrated from a technical obstacle to a gameplay-driven one. It wasn’t good enough if I had the intentionally damaged original disk, I had to pass level 0 to advance. Plot aside, it’s shitty to mix DRM and gameplay like that. Maybe they should have had you pull off 10 head shots in 10 minutes with bots on the lowest difficulty level, just to make sure you could still bake bread under pressure.
Complaining to Lord British is like complaining to anyone one else (including the gods). You may imagine an answer, you may imagine a silence, you may reflect upon your question, and your mileage may vary. Good luck with that shit.
it’s just you being unreasonable grumpy again. I’m not even asking you to clarify the 1984ishness.
Good luck with that shit
While that’s funny, it’s not addressing my specific points as I addressed yours. Perhaps debate is for another night. Also, my aka should be “unreasonable grumpy”. That’s my permanent moniker. Andy Rooney’s dead, after all.
I’m not debating with unreasonable grumpy. There is no point to it. I tried that when you complained about no Linux snapshots for (enter name). Not looking forward to doing such a discussion again.
So yes, I’m butting out and leave you with your complaints.
Let’s see how to unsubscribe a topic.
Well you’re no fun. I’ll try to remember to avoid disagreeing with you in the future.
Gentlemen!
There were barely any new comments this morning. Now I’ve got two pages of new discussion, which normally I’m glad to see…but half of it is consumed with this silly dithering over narrative quality and plot flags!
Is it really so offensive that Ultima 7 requires you to pass Trinsic before it becomes truly open world? It’s a minor quest that takes half an hour (at most) to solve. And yes, it means you have to go through some copy protection questions…but by the same token, it’s not the only set of copy protection questions in the game, either (Batlin asks another set). And once you’re out of the City of Honor, the game is your oyster.
This is not an issue to get incensed about.
You’re right, and I’m not incensed. You do re-pose the question of my opponent’s argument however, which seems a bit unfair. The referee’s elbow moves one way perhaps.
I find it hard to swallow that any extensive (multi-faceted) DRM or copy-protection is a good feature to have. Unless you program that kind of shitola for a living I don’t see how it fits in to the enjoyment of playing a game. DRM is cutting the nose to spite the face with the side effect of making pirated copies just as shitty as legitimate copies. Brilliant strategy.
I will agree that some DRM strategies (Ubisoft…!) are pretty awful. Some are minor annoyances (Steam), and others are of no particular bother (EA in most cases).
My first real game was Ultima 6; there are two sets of copy protection questions in that game. Many games I played thereafter also had some copy protection features, including other Ultimas. I’ve grown up with it, and to a certain extent I agree with it.
And if I repeat Dominus’ question, it’s because I do kind of agree with his point at some level. I think game developers are entitled to the use of reasonable means to protect the fruits of their labours against piracy. A bit of copy protection here and there is fine; it crosses the line where it becomes an obsessive thing (like this always-online DRM nonsense).
And — and this is the key point — where it is used moderately and sensibly, it has no negative impact on game quality. Indeed, the Ultima model is a fine example of a rather cheeky way to build copy protection into the narrative of the game.
And at some level, I think even you agree with this; you will, after all, be using measures to limit which of Sanctimonia’s features and elements are available to free players, right? It may not be the same DRM scheme as we’ve seen used elsewhere, but the underlying principle is there. You want people to pay for the game that you’ve poured all this blood and sweat into, and people that don’t won’t get the same experience of it as those that do.
While those are all reasonable arguments, perhaps I haven’t made myself clear.
Copy protection in its current and previous iterations is an evil. I understand the paranoia of making a game and having it distributed widely with no immediate reward to yourself. Most starving artists would have to be convinced to sue, while most established studios would sue by default on behalf of their legal team, even if outside the better judgement of their creative team.
I agree that we should defend what is ours, but shooting your next door neighbor because he danced to your stereo at a BBQ he wasn’t invited to is overkill.
“And — and this is the key point — where it is used moderately and sensibly, it has no negative impact on game quality.”
Moderate and sensible copy protection, or DRM. I guess that’s what Ultima employed. Disk or physical-media-based, later combined with gameplay-based. I pirate all Ultimas now, but originally (when they were hot) I bought the NES version of Ultima III (Exodus), the IBM-PC versions of the Ultima Trilogy (bought last), Ultima IV, Ultima V, Ultima VI and Ultima VII.
Copy protection just seems silly in retrospect to me. By incorporating it into the very gameplay it lasts the ages, whether you bought it or not.
As far as your comparison to my desire to monetize Sanctimonia, it is true that all parties want to monetize their works. My game will allow trial periods with no gameplay restrictions. Subscription will simply continue the account without interruption. To filter bots I haven’t decided yet. Something simple, but not asking players in plain text to talk to ten people and quote the manual when asked. Something like a valid ID, whatever that is these days online, should suffice. Maybe a Google or PayPal account.