Exult
Exult is an open-source project focused on the playability of Ultima VII and Ultima VII Part Two on modern systems. Their engine uses the original data files from the two games. They have also extended the original specifications in many excellent ways, as well as provided support for the creation of entirely original games based on the engine.
Project Status[edit]
The project is currently in a highly advanced state of development. Almost all features from the original Ultima VII are supported and work similarly to the original. The main problems nowadays lie in the fine details of the games. Especially the everyday actions of the NPCs are still difficult to implement due to the sheer complexity of the system and all the fine details. Improvised code in the original also made it more difficult. Also, up to now the original very complex music engine has not been implemented properly, the looping is still simplistic and the dynamic shifting of the music if the situation changes is not yet perfected.
There are many releases available, but the newest snapshots are stable and contain the most features. The source code is available from SourceForge as snapshots and through Subversion.
New features[edit]
Exult features implemented so far that original Ultima VII didn't have:
- Support for screen resolutions higher than 320x200 to display the area, as well as windowed mode. However higher resolutions can have negative effects since the program was designed with a fixed view in mind.
- High-quality antialiasing for smoother graphics, as well as other possible filters.
- An improved savegame menu allowing a near infinite number of save slots.
- Paperdoll support in The Black Gate (Serpent Isle must be installed).
- Six new Avatar portraits for Black Gate, three for every gender, as well as several Avatar sprites for the various races (Again, Serpent Isle is needed).
- If combat is too hard or too easy, then then difficulty can be adjusted from -3 (very easy) to +3 (very hard).
- Many new cheats and gameplay options, including a built-in cheat menu and teleport map.
- New hotkeys such as "p" for using lockpicks and "b" for the spellbook. "k" now uses all keys in Black Gate.
- Status bars for the characters give quick overview of hit points and mana.
- Digital music of very high quality (MIDI is still available), as well as re-recorded digital effects.
- Exult Studio which allows users to create their own games.
- The ability to translate text, such as the ambitious Serpent Isle in French project.
- Support to add mods to modify the game, like the Keyring Mod or Serpent Isle fixes.
Relationship with Pentagram[edit]
The goal of the project is similar to Pentagram’s goal for Ultima VIII; in fact, the projects share several developers. Pentagram could be viewed as an offshoot of the original Exult team.