It has been a couple of months since we last heard from Zeph concerning his texture pack, but he has put the downtime to good use:

What started out as tweaking the UI in my texture pack (…4 months ago? Sheesh…) turned into a fullblown overhaul with a sleeker, more minimalist look. Still very U6, but without the blockiness. We’re also able to change the font used in the game (which I had done a while ago, but it actually works now! So it’s fully implemented). The actual U6 font proved to wide for Minecraft to handle, so I made a skinnier version. Think it improves the feel. This also let me use Britannic runes for the enchanting table. Still gibberish, but readable gibberish for some! Lastly I redid the ores, and water. The big thing is that these textures are now animated! 1.5 brings animated textures to Minecraft, and I took the opportunity to simulate U6’s animated pallets. Really brings things to life! …but is hard to capture in a screen shot.

He even included a handful of screenshots showing off his handiwork! You can check those out and grab the updated texture pack from the project entry here, as always.

And sadly, this may be the last such texture pack we see from Zeph:

this may be my last update to the texture pack, or at least the last for a while unless something specific needs fixing. With the new format, wherein each texture has it’s own file, if anything new is added to the game, it will simply use the default texture if no new one is found, so we artists don’t have to rush out a new pack with every update. Also, games have a shelf life, and Minecraft is reaching it for me. I’m just not as involved with it as I used to be. This could change as I have my whims of nostalgia (obviously, look what I spend my time making! o_O) but for now It’s getting moved off the front burner.

Even so, it should continue to work with Minecraft for the foreseeable future, and it remains a massive undertaking that any Ultima fan should enjoy using with his or her copy of Mojang’s little game that could.