This update is probably way overdue, but today I’ve released a new version of the Ultima 2 Upgrade. This version includes new builds of command-line utilities that run natively in Windows (32 and 64 bit), DOSBOX, or Linux. You no longer need to find CWSDPMI in order to run them.
There are no new game features or bugfixes in this release, so if you’re waiting for the new and shiny you could certainly sit this one out and not miss much. But I wanted to get a new build out as I know the DOS/DPMI binaries have been a sticking point for quite a while and I had already solved this for U3 some time ago. For more information, please see the release notes.
I’m also aiming to adhere to a philosophy of getting more frequent but smaller iterations of updates out rather than waiting until I have all the things that I want in it as I have a habit of doing. Next up will be v2.0 which will be focused on a pretty big refactor of the graphics code so that CGA and EGA routines are driver-based. No schedule of course, so no idea what that means in terms of timeframe. 😉
One last thing – I also found that there was a bug in the implementation of u2up/u3up patcher that would cause it to crash if there were files with long filenames in the same folder (greater than 31 characters). I fixed both and uploaded a new U3 Upgrade v3.3 (no change to the version) with the new build of u3up.
Is there any chance of TGA/3-Voice support in the future? I have a Tandy 1000SX that I’d love to be be able to play these games for the first time on, using your patches.
Hey there! Since midpak doesn’t support it then it’s not likely, as that’s what the driver hooks into to simplify the playback of midi’s. I also tend to focus on getting the upgrades running on modern emulators rather than legit hardware. E.g. there are some drivers (cga composite, timed sfx) that require at least a 386 in order to run with low overhead.
Thanks for the interest and suggestions! 🙂
While I admit I’m disappointed to hear that, I’m going to take some inspiration from you guys here:
“thanks especially to Richard Garriott for creating Ultima II & III in CGA and forcing us to play it on RGB monitors, thus inspiring me to learn assembly. ”
and I’ll be picking up some books on x86 Assembly! It seems me that the Tandy 1000 computers are somewhat underappreciated these days. They are the answer to the inferior CGA and PC Speaker of the PC. You get the horsepower of a PC with graphics and sound on par with (or perhaps better than) Apple II and Commodore 64 — I don’t think there was a better computer for gaming in the pre-Adlib, 8088 era.