Adventure: Ultima IV Part 2

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:45 pm

I'm starting a new thread to replace the previous "work in progress" thread, now that this is a released game.

For those just joining us: Ultima IV Part 2 is an adventure for Adventure Creation Kit, a parody of the Ultima series, set during the time between Ultima IV and Ultima V. More information, and downloads, can be found at:

http://www.80sgaming.org/ultima-parody

Readers note: there may be spoilers in this thread!

rld · Post by **rld** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:27 pm

Just started playing, but it looks awesome so far.

One question: I notice a sound glitch in the background music each time a new BMP displays during the opening. Is that unavoidable, or is there some DosBox setting I could tweak to keep that from happening?

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:46 pm

This seems to be a DosBox thing with the sound emulation. There are some settings you can try in the dosbox.conf (if you use the Windows launcher, edit both the dosbox.conf and ackmod.conf in the launcher's folder)

Under the [mixer] section, try these values:

blocksize=1024
prebuffer=1000

The sound will skip a little less (though still a tiny amount sometimes). However it'll skip a little more sometimes when it terminates playing of a song. So there don't seem to be "perfect" settings.

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:02 pm

Just a note to everyone that if you find Hawkwind's dialogue to be messed up (he greets you with a fragment of another response, instead of a real greeting) then your ACK may not be properly patched to v3.25. Save, quit, re-patch ACK, and then resume play.

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:52 pm

If any of you are in the process of making an ACK adventure and want some further insight into how certain details were accomplished, feel free to send questions -- I can describe them in more depth. Most of them will end up being about what you can do with macros, and this game is a pretty good example because it does quite a few things with macros:

* Towns that are different in the day (music, merchants, people walking around) and in the night (crickets, guards asking what you're still doing up?, the occasional hooker)

* Dungeon rooms with puzzles and traps (like one where you have to arrange some items on the floor a certain way and then pull a lever... or another where you pull a lever to drain a pool... or another where a door tries to get away from you)

* Playing a cutscene and resurrecting the character on death, instead of just ending the game. (If you're playing, make sure to die at least once.)

* Interactive menus (for example, the orb, or the one in Buccaneer's Den)

So if you run into anything and want more detail on how I did it that way (and why), feel free to ask.

rld · Post by **rld** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:52 pm

Chris H wrote: * Towns that are different in the day (music, merchants, people walking around) and in the night (crickets, guards asking what you're still doing up?, the occasional hooker)

I noticed this in the game, and saw in the editor that there were separate 'day' and 'night' regions (as opposed to one region with some method to make objects disappear and reappear). I was curious, did you have to redraw the region completely to create the 'night' version, or was there some way to copy the worldmap data from one region to another?

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:22 pm

was there some way to copy the worldmap data from one region to another?

I copied files manually -- but found that method wasn't ideal, as I had to delete and recreate all the portals. I'd like to add a "copy region" tool to the map editor to make this easier, as I can see lots of situations where this would be useful -- day/night, before/after an attack, etc.

rld · Post by **rld** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:12 am

Chris H wrote:
was there some way to copy the worldmap data from one region to another?
I copied files manually -- but found that method wasn't ideal, as I had to delete and recreate all the portals. I'd like to add a "copy region" tool to the map editor to make this easier, as I can see lots of situations where this would be useful -- day/night, before/after an attack, etc.

If it was a region that you only entered/left via the map edge, that might not be too bad, though...

Which files exactly do you have to copy to do this? Any special tricks we need to know about?

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:41 am

Say you wanted to copy region 12:

Back up your adventure. (I tend to do this about once an hour anyway when I'm working)
Create a new region (let's say it ends up as 17) of the same type and dimensions.
Copy the .A, .B, and .C files (copy game.A12 game.A17, etc.)
Open the new region and delete all the portals. If the map edge is a portal, change it to a non-portal terrain.
Re-create all the portals.
Set the region options as needed (those don't copy)

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:41 pm

I've fixed the audio skip issue with the title/intro. If you are experiencing that problem, just apply the ACK 3.251 patch. (It will patch the U4PART2 files for you.) Saved games won't be affected.

And new downloads of the game of course won't have the problem.

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:32 am

Hi everyone,

I've posted a patch (this isn't an ACK patch, it's just some updated files for the U4PART2 game) that fixes bugs with torches and swamp boots. You can download it at:

http://www.80sgaming.org/ultima-parody/ ... -patch.zip

Any future patches that fix game bugs (as opposed to engine bugs) will be announced here, so you might want to subscribe to this thread.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:19 pm

I've got a wheelbarrow full of sand how do i empty it into lake generosity?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:27 pm

nevermind i found the spot to dump the sand lol

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:05 pm

So has anyone found the "hot coffee" yet or figured out what it's for? ;)

rld · Post by **rld** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:06 pm

Chris H wrote:So has anyone found the "hot coffee" yet or figured out what it's for? ;)

I found it, but I don't know what you're supposed to do with it yet. I tried dropping it on Exodus's amplifier but that didn't do anything. :)

BTW, excellent job on this game. I have been having a lot of fun playing it, and I never even played any of the Ultima games so I'm sure it would be even more entertaining if I actually understood all the in-jokes. :)

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:50 pm

I'm glad to hear that it works out to be funny either way, then. :) Yeah, no doubt some of the gags would make more sense having played the originals... the ordeal that Katrina puts you through is funnier if you've played U6, for example... and the deal with Iolo/Gwenno/Smith is funny when you remember that U5 has Iolo and Smith alone in a cabin in the woods, with his wife nowhere in sight. Some of the jokes were a little obscure: putting Indiana Jones in Yew was making fun of the fact that Short Round was in Yew in U4. The older Ultimas (especially U2, which for reasons I can't explain is my favorite) loved to squeeze pop culture into unlikely places.

Rejor · Post by **Rejor** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:57 am

I've been looking all over for the mystic staff and I can't find it! Any hints? :)

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:34 am

Have you completed the shrine quest?

Chris H · Post by **Chris H** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:44 pm

Hi everyone,

The game has received kind mentions from Dino's Ultima page and from Ultima:Aiera.

I've also had a ton of traffic from a thread on rpgcodex.net where someone posted a poll, "is U4P2 worth playing?" The "No" answer is winning, but what do you think? Drop by and vote!

And feel free, those of you who have played, to mention the game to friends or on other sites if it's on-topic to do so. Thanks, to those who have sent in comments or shared the game with others, for your support!

- Chris H

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:08 pm

I wouldn't worry too much about what some of those dick-whistlers are up to over there, with their poll. Not only because of sample size, but:

Ultima iv? WTF is that shit? It looks ugly and has a shitty gameplay, modern console games have better gameplay than that

Adventure: Ultima IV Part 2

Adventure: Ultima IV Part 2

wheelbarrow and the sand

mystic staff?

U4PART2 in the news...