Ultima 8: Pagan has never had the kind of tools Ultima 7 got years ago; the long-dormant Pentagram project began as a map viewer and evolved from there into a cross-platform engine, but it never reached the level of Exult.

Stephen Underwood wants to change that. He’s working on Project Tenebrae, which he describes as “an ambitious, long-term software development project designed to transform the classic 1994 RPG Ultima VIII: Pagan into a fully moddable, expandable, and modernized game while preserving the identity, atmosphere, and original vision of the classic.”

That’s a big claim, and the plan behind it is just as big. Stephen isn’t building one editor or a graphics pack. He’s building what he calls “an entire development ecosystem” in three parts.

The first part is the Ultima VIII Mod Studio, a set of tools for inspecting, decoding, modifying, rebuilding and checking almost every part of the game. It includes or will include:

• a Sprite Studio,
• tools for Pagan‘s FLX archives,
• a Usecode Studio for decompiling and eventually recompiling the game’s scripting,
• a Cutscene Studio,
• a World Editor and an Asset Inspector, and
• project management, and diagnostics that flag broken or clashing changes before they’re applied.

These tools all run on a shared framework rather than as separate programs. That framework is the second part, and it’s where the project’s ambitions show most. Its components include a virtual file system with an override layer, a deterministic build system, asset diffing and merging, a universal asset dependency graph, automated regression testing and a plugin SDK.

The third part, the Ultima VIII Enhanced Edition, is the long-term payoff. Planned enhancements include:

• higher-resolution graphics,
• better lighting and shadows,
• widescreen support,
• improved animation,
• a modernized interface,
• quality-of-life fixes,
• possibly new content and adventures.

Stephen is clear that the point isn’t to reinvent the game. The aim is to keep the dark fantasy atmosphere, the isometric view and the world design while bringing the technology up to date.

This isn’t just a pitch, either…from what Stephen says, at any rate. As he describes it, the project “has moved beyond the planning and proof-of-concept stages.” Assets decode reliably, sprites and multi-frame animations export to PNG and GIF, and modified assets can be written back into the game’s own formats. Right now the focus is on finishing the scripting and Usecode work. He has also shared a progress breakdown for each component. The tools for the game’s existing data are well along:

• FLX / archive system: 97%
• Sprite / animation studio: 93%
• Project / asset manager: 83%
• Diagnostics / validation: 82%
• Usecode Studio: 80%
• Plugin / extension foundation: 80%
• Expanded core framework: 72%
• Cutscene Studio: 60%

The modernization work, on the other hand, has barely started:

• Modern UI / 4K: 15%
• Map Studio: 12%
• Object editor and voice studio: 9% each
• Sound and optimization studios: 8% each
• Dynamic lighting: 6%
• HD graphics: 5%
• Content generator: 4%
• Randomizer, an in-game codex and bestiary, and a benchmark system: 3% each

Three line items are labelled as “Secret” (2%, 2% and 1%). I guess we’ll see what those amount to in due course.

To recap: the Mod Studio is the near-term story and the Enhanced Edition is a long way off, which is how Stephen describes it too. Nothing is available to download yet. Still, any project that wants to give Pagan “a comprehensive modern development platform” deserves to be watched, and I’ll report back as Tenebrae takes shape. With luck, I’ll even be able to add some download links to the project entry here at the Codex one day.