[8.bit.fan]

...use this same engine to recreate the ultima 1, 2, and 5...[/img]

...when I do an Ultima IV / V makeover.

Hi there!
Just want to pop in and say I'm still following this project! In fact, I come in here to check for updates almost daily! I'm holding off on checking out the beta version for now until the official release because I want to experience it in its final form.

With that said, the above comments/suggestions has got me excited!! Remaking Ultima 1,2,4,5 on the NES with this new and improved engine would be absolutely AMAZING. I know this might be a tall order, but if you could somehow get the music from their original versions on home computers ported to the NES version that would be tremendous!!

Anyhow, keep up the great work and I look forward to playing this!!

Cheers!! 

8-bit fan

[coinilius]

I don't want to explore too far into the pre-release beta, but I downloaded it so I could have a quick look around and it is amazing!

[roney33]

wouldn't it be possible to remove the line of sight from programming, or just use one black color? even to make the movement faster, when you are on the ship the movement is extremely slow

[Fox Cunning]

Pre-Release 20200215 available here.
I've ironed out a couple bugs and sped up some routines by skipping sprite updates when rendering is disabled.
If you see any sprites disappearing or appearing when/where they shouldn't, please let me know.

@Scythifuge we certainly share a love for this franchise, I too appreciate all that the community has done! And definitely I'd like to do more.

Remaking Ultima 1,2,4,5 on the NES with this new and improved engine would be absolutely AMAZING. I know this might be a tall order, but if you could somehow get the music from their original versions on home computers ported to the NES version that would be tremendous!!

At least U1 and U2 should be doable (funny enough U1 would be more difficult as it included a space shooter section), but everyone loves a challenge!
I'll be studying the music engine as soon as I've published this hack, the goal is to make a separate music/sound one.
Also thanks for the interest and support, I do appreciate your work on FF4 and other games, so that's humbling for me.

wouldn't it be possible to remove the line of sight from programming, or just use one black color? even to make the movement faster, when you are on the ship the movement is extremely slow

Removing the "rogue-like" LoS would be easy, but it wouldn't make movement faster I'm afraid. The party still walks one pixel per frame.
However, I have vastly reduced the slowdown that happens when you are not sailing downwind.
If I recall correctly, in the computer versions you couldn't even move at all except in the same direction of the wind! This should be a lot less frustrating already, but without making the wind feature completely pointless

I don't want to explore too far into the pre-release beta, but I downloaded it so I could have a quick look around and it is amazing!

This might be pretty much to the final version, unless someone can find any other bugs or glitches then I can probably release it next week.

The last thing I was trying to do is reducing the wait when closing the Status menu. I managed to shave off a few thousand cycles compared to the original code, but it's still 2 good seconds of wait.
It may have to stay like this since most of the lag depends on the way the game transfers data from RAM to the PPU. I hope it's bearable.

[Scythifuge]

At least U1 and U2 should be doable (funny enough U1 would be more difficult as it included a space shooter section), but everyone loves a challenge!

I remember that Star Wars for the NES had a mixture of side-scrolling, 1st person turret shooting, and I think a top down space section.  Completely different code of course, though it is interesting that a NES game had different modes.  Maybe the 3d dungeons could be modified for a space shooter portion?

What would be really great is an Ultima editor that would allow users to hand place tiles and create conversations and quests.  It is why I am waiting for Nes Maker to have the RPG module before I buy it. 

[roney33]

please, i'm interested in your tool ue editor


here, some tiles of ultima 4 of nes for you to use

https://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/ultima5questavatar/

[Scythifuge]

One thing I can say about V for the NES is that the addition of character portraits was awesome, back in the day.  The game did have potential, but projectiles looking like bone piles, one tune throughout the game play section, small world, slow walking, and removal of NPCs and quests was terrible.

That you added NPC portraits is AWESOME!  Is there room for more character portraits, by chance?  Could it be possible to add the V portraits to your mod in addition to the ones from VI? 

What would you recommend to someone who wants to acquire skills akin to yours? Udemy has a class for programming games for the Atari 2600, and I thought that taking that class might be a good way to start learning assembly.

[roney33]

One thing I can say about V for the NES is that the addition of character portraits was awesome, back in the day.  The game did have potential, but projectiles looking like bone piles, one tune throughout the game play section, small world, slow walking, and removal of NPCs and quests was terrible.

That you added NPC portraits is AWESOME!  Is there room for more character portraits, by chance?  Could it be possible to add the V portraits to your mod in addition to the ones from VI? 

What would you recommend to someone who wants to acquire skills akin to yours? Udemy has a class for programming games for the Atari 2600, and I thought that taking that class might be a good way to start learning assembly.

that Ultima 5 for nes is horrible, that oblique perspective used in most recent Ultima games do not match for nes limits; I prefer the version of ms-dos

[Scythifuge]

that Ultima 5 for nes is horrible, that oblique perspective used in most recent Ultima games do not match for nes limits; I prefer the version of ms-dos

I agree, though the sprites were decent, and I liked the spellbook portion of the U.I.  The pc/npc sprites and some of the items were drawn very well for the NES version of V. Perhaps Origin's lack of NES experience resulted in a poorly optimized game.  However, the portraits are pretty good and could fit in well with Fox Cunning's awesome project.  I truly wonder if it were the sprites that slowed the game down.  I have played NES games with larger, more detailed sprites and they ran well.

[Fox Cunning]

Is there room for more character portraits, by chance?

I think I've left room for one or two more portraits, but the real problem is that the game doesn't have any sort of unique IDs associated to NPCs.
Basically, each portraits is tied to a dialogue, and multiple NPCs could use the same dialogue, so I had to keep track of who is saying what to make sure no women would show up with a man's face just because they are repeating the same line as a male sprite.

Ultima 5...

It was an interesting attempt, akin to the crazy Ultima 6 port for the Commodore 64, but with worse results. And barely playable.
One day I'll have a proper look at that game and see if it can be salvaged, but if I had to re-make it from scratch, I'd use the PC version as a base and improve on that one instead.

Could it be possible to add the V portraits to your mod in addition to the ones from VI?

Note that they didn't use scrolling, leaving one separate screen dedicated to dialogues/spellbooks/inventory etc.
This means their portraits were not limited to using the same palettes as the map like mine, and they had more freedom with attribute alignment.
Basically, they can't be just copy/pasted into U3 I'm afraid.

What would you recommend to someone who wants to acquire skills akin to yours? Udemy has a class for programming games for the Atari 2600, and I thought that taking that class might be a good way to start learning assembly.

Well, I am an engineer working for a semiconductor chip manufacturer and while this is my first NES hack, I had known 6502 assembly since the Commodore 64 days. But I'm sure anyone with enough patience and curiosity can learn quickly.
My first complete assembly project was a Tron game clone for the C64.
Hacking is a bit different in that you need to understand how someone else's code works before you can modify it and inject your own. It's a lot easier when you can make your own code from scratch first.

please, i'm interested in your tool ue editor

I'm still planning to release the editor and source code, don't worry. I just need to make it less of a frustrating experience to use

[roney33]

i'm trying to generate a graphics with mesen, and i made some edits, there's result




February 20, 2020, 04:26:07 am - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)I would like to share with you this package of graphics that I am editing for the mesen emulator, it is still in alpha and may have some errors, and the characters will still be doing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SY5-OO6K5P5EyxnwuT2r10t9ZtWDxUmg/view?usp=sharing

[Fox Cunning]

Just a quick update as I've been testing the current pre-release with a "normal" (e.g. no cheating) playthrough.
So fare I've found and corrected one minor bug, and if nothing else pops up then I will be publishing the finished product just in time for the week-end

I would like to share with you this package of graphics that I am editing for the mesen emulator, it is still in alpha and may have some errors, and the characters will still be doing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SY5-OO6K5P5EyxnwuT2r10t9ZtWDxUmg/view?usp=sharing

Cool contribution! I'm glad there is interest for this game (as well as other Ultimas).

I hope I'll be able to also release a usable editor soon and see if people will come up with new maps/quests/etc.

[4lorn]

My bad, I misread your post. This specific project I'd just like to finish as soon as possible now, but I will definitely need a hand when I do an Ultima IV / V makeover.

Cool, I hope I'll be able to help then

Grabbed this over the weekend and played a while, and it really felt like a great experience. Waiting for the final release!

[roney33]

version 0.0.2 alpha, terminated color frames, and i started color some symbols, chars and monsters




https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SCXHg_UqJiVjbCP3LJ_cFwrCoGHLcgHY/view?usp=sharing

[Fox Cunning]

After a few more hours of playtesting, some quick adjustments and a small bugfix, I've now submitted the official release version 1.00, let's hope it gets approved quickly!

[Badseed]

The fact that this project is awaiting approval is great news! As I've just learned about it and the link to pre-release is dead. Can't wait 😍 I'll be counting the seconds

[8.bit.fan]

Oh yes! Can't wait!!
Will the list of changes be in the readme file?

Thank you again for the great work on this! 

8-bit fan

[Scythifuge]

After a few more hours of playtesting, some quick adjustments and a small bugfix, I've now submitted the official release version 1.00, let's hope it gets approved quickly!

Fantastic! I'm looking forward to playing the official release and I also look forward to seeing what you'll do next!

Also, your project inspired me to hunt down resources for learning 6502 assembly. Now I'm trying to balance pixel art, Unity/C# classes, looking into C++, and now assembly, lol..  I have too many ideas that I don't want to go to waste.

[Fox Cunning]

It's online! Very proud of my first NES hack, whether it has success or not it was a fun and rewarding experience.

Will the list of changes be in the readme file?

I've been as thorough as I could in my release notes
Next time I'll try to keep tidier notes though, it was a pain going through them and I might still have missed something.

Also, your project inspired me to hunt down resources for learning 6502 assembly. Now I'm trying to balance pixel art, Unity/C# classes, looking into C++, and now assembly, lol..  I have too many ideas that I don't want to go to waste.

That is awesome, 6502 assembly is very fun although working around its limitations can be as rewarding as it is frustrating sometimes.
Good luck with your endeavours!

[Zimgief]

Congratulations!

Alas, I tried several roms on the net, and couldn't get the patch to work. Maybe I apply it badly. I'm used to .ips and .bps.
So I couldn't test the beta version, and was kind of hoping the final release would be more conventional. ^^"