"After you restored Order to Serpent Isle, the Guardian's hand ripped through the void and pulled you to one of his own domains; Pagan. Alone for the first time in many many years, you are dropped onto this world of enternal night. To escape from this world you must learn its twisted ways of magic and take dominion of the very Ether itself. Your friends are praying for your return. Don't let them down!"
Pagan was released by Origin in 1994, as the sequel to highly acclaimed Ultima VII. I remember playing this when I was 16... I remember being shocked by the stunning graphics, by seeing Hydros in its crystal blue tentacles, Pyros emerging from a flaming pentagram threatening to "feast upon my entrails"... For those times, it was a supreme experience.
So, let's see how we can replay this oldie on today's computer. Before starting, I'll assume you have the original game already installed. I will help you re-playing it, but I will NOT help you in getting it. I'll also assume you'll be following this tutorial under Windows Xp.
Now, let's explore the possibilities we have:
- Using a virtualization product to run DOS + game
- Using DOSBOX
- Patching U8.exe to run under windows
- Using a replacement engine for U8, pentagram
First method: Virtualization"Why not going easy? Since this game is designed to run on DOS... Let's give it DOS!"
So, if you have DOS available, you can use a virtualization product to install it. I would suggest VirtualBOX, as it is open source & free. Please go on the official homepage, download the installer for your OS and follow the instructions on how to install DOS over it. After you manage to install it, just install U8 on the Virtualized system as you would've done back in the days. Happy playing!
Second method: DosBOXDosBOX is an emulator for MSDOS. It's main purpose is, in the very words of the authors,
"
DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that uses the SDL-library which makes DOSBox very easy to port to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to many different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X...DOSBox also emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card for excellent sound compatibility with older games...You can "re-live" the good old days with the help of DOSBox, it can run plenty of the old classics that don't run on your new computer! DOSBox is totally free of charge and OpenSource."
So, jump to the DOSBOX emulator webpage, and fetch the right build for your system. How does U8 run under DosBOX? From the games section of the website:
"
I didn't run into a single problem running this game. I didn't even need to turn EMS off. After playing for three hours, I didn't experience a single crash or bug. Very fluent, very stable and a joy to play. Music & sounds play perfectly without abnormalities. Beware for downloaded copies. "
So, install DOSBOX, install U8 inside the virtual hard drive and you're done... Happy playing.
Third method: PatchThe third solution is definetely the one for hardcore people. So, first thing we need to do is to check if our U8 is patched to the very last version. If not, then we do download the last official patch here:
patch.
Now, extract the files, and move all of them into the directory where U8 is installed. Now, open a command prompt and navigate to the directory where U8 is installed. At the command prompt run the patch by typing:
"u8patch c:\my_u8_directory"
Now the game is patched to version 2.12. Now, we need to modify the U8 executable so that it runs under Windows. To do so, we download this
private patch. We do decompress the archive and copy the extracted files again into U8 directory. After this, just invoke U8Win9X.exe. This command will create a modified version of U8 main executable, U8W.exe, that is capable of running in Windows. Now launch the game with U8W.exe and enjoy.
Fourth method: PentagramPentagram is the effort of an independent group of developers to port U8 to modern operating systems. It is a remake of the game engine that makes use of original data files. Note that entagram is still in development, and is not complete - expect serious issues while playing the game. Anyway, let's first go to Pentagram's
homepage, and download the version for our OS. While downloading, it would be very good to read the documentation. Anyway, after the download, please install pentagram.
Now Pentagram is ready and willing: the only thing you need to fix is the pentagram.ini file. Go to Pentagram's directory and edit pengram.ini.example: modify it to make it similar to this (default game u8, 1024 * 768, 32 bpp, window game):
[pentagram]
defaultgame=u8
fullscreen=no
width=1024
height=768
bpp=32
ttf=yes
[u8]
path=c:\oldies\ultima8
Now save the file as pentagram.ini and run Pentagram.exe: happy playing, and please report the bugs you find to the project members!!
EDIT: After a brief reverse engineering session, the patch is confirmed to do what and only what it is supposed to do. I am actually very impressed by the knowledge showed by the author of the patch... The patch was a really impressing feat!
