Ultima/ gs for Apple IIgs from Vitesse Ultima If you've seen the original game's manuals, you know the Vitesse versions are stronger in some areas (like monster descriptions) and weaker in others (like describing Space travel). Vitesse neglects to say much about the use of the Sector Scan. Space Space is laid out on a 7x7 wrap-around grid. Pressing I shows a rough map of all 49 sectors. You can locate your ship and also get a pretty good idea of what is in each sector. Sector Scan Key + is a space station which may also have one or two ships you can use H indicates presence of one or more hostile ships ^ a yellow diamond indicates there is a star here . dots indicate an empty sector Space combat is a good deal more difficult in Ultima I/gs. It helps to use the keypad (instead of the arrow keys) and to know that the 5 key works for "down". Getting used to using SPACE for quick re-centering and F to fire takes a while. After a bit of practice I've managed to do okay. Still, it is fair to criticize the new Ultima I for mixing-in a rather rough arcade sequence. There should be some other way for 'arcade challenged' players to become Space Aces-- like, for a lot more $$$ you can purchase a better ray gun, sector bomb, or whatever. Overflow The new Ultima I does seem to have fixed the overflow problem. That is, if an attribute like Intelligence is at 99, then visiting a place where the attribute is boosted (like the Tower of Knowledge) has no effect. The attribute does not reset to 0. Unfortunately, the game does not let Hit Points or Experience go beyond 9999. Diddling ... You may wish to change the value of some attribute that gets messed around-- for example, Intelligence can be lost when battling Mind Whippers. If so, just edit the saved game file. Attributes start at byte $6E with Strength. The order is the same as that shown via a Z-stats display. Each attribute is stored as two bytes. So, for example, a Strength of 92 will show up as 5C 00. These are hex values with, as usual, the low byte coming first. $5C is 92 in decimal. Why two bytes? Evidently, this has to do with the 65816 being in 16-bit mode when it reads/writes values to the saved game file. Obviously, since the program tops-out at 99 for attributes, the 2nd (high) byte is always going to be $00. Time Machine So far, no player* seems to have located the Time Machine-- even after becomming a Space Ace and rescuing the Princess. (In fact, I rescued all eight princesses and got the "You are ready for Time Travel... Time Machine is to be found far to the Northwest" message each time-- still, no Time Machine!) Even if there really is some way to locate the Time Machine, the absence of adequate clues amounts to a game bug. *New Info (2005) Here is some new info on finding the Time Machine from Joseph Seeley ... > Just wanted to share a small piece of miscellany I > discovered this past weekend. > > I was playing Ultima 1 GS with my two sons and we > finally got to the point where you have all the gems, > free the princess and you should find the time machine > somewhere "far to the northwest". > > I ended up using your hack to edit the character file > and change the value at $1A to get a time machine. > > I had to do the same thing for my oldest son's > character as well. > > However, much to my surprise, my other son got the > time machine to appear without any hacking necessary! > > You either have to go to the Lost King's or Lord > British's castle first and free a princess for this to > work. If you free another princess prior to this the > time machine will never appear. My son doesn't recall > which castle of the two he went to but perhaps either > one works. > > And indeed, the time machine does show up in the > northwest area of the continent, not on any of the > signpost islands. > > So there you have it. Don't know if this is going to > be of use to somebody someday but thought I would > share this with you just in case. The Hack A player can 'find' the Time Machine by diddling a Saved Game file. First, go to the town next to the King's castle on the Lands of Lord British continent and buy some cheapo transport, like a Horse or Cart. Leave town and BOARD the new Horse or whatever. Move to an open area (say, a bit to the north of the town and castle). Now, press Q to Save the game (while still on board). Exit the game. Using Block Warden or some other block editor, edit the Saved Game file (it will occupy a single block). Byte $1A should have a value of $01 if you are on a Horse, $02 if you're in a Cart .... $05 for an Air Car, .... . Change the value in byte $1A to $07. Save/Write the changed block. The $07 means you are aboard the Time Machine. Start the game and load in the changed Saved Game. You will be aboad the Time Machine. Do an X-it and move. The Time Machine will remain on the map. It's a good idea to save your game here. When you next board the Time Machine and have all four Gems, you are transported to Mondain's domain. (In fact, there is no option to exit!) You can board the Time Machine whenever you're ready to take on Mondain. (HINT: Use the GET command to GET/Destroy Mondain's Gem of Power.) Continent Names: Ultima/IIgs and Ultima/Original Lands of Lord British Ho Lands of the Feudal Lords Eyoh Lands of the Dark Unknown He Lands of Danger & Despair Hum Continent Order on the Globe ---> He <------> Hum <------> Ho <------> Eyoh <--- | | Ho Hum Misc Saved Game Info $0008-$000B H/V location of character (2 bytes each) $001A ID code of current boarded Transport (bit 3 is 0). $00 = None $003E- ... These appear to be counts of each transport type (Air Cars @ $42) $006E- ... STRENGTH and other Character Attributes (2 bytes each) $007E, $007F $$$ (max is 9999) $009E- ... Horizontal location of transport at $013E- ... $00EE- ... Vertical location of transport at $013E- ... $013E- ... Vehical ID codes (bit 3 is set): Horse= $09, Shuttle= $0E, ... $018E- ... Possibly, continent Location for transport at $013E- ... Note 1: Evidently, the program creates a new H/V record for a vehical which moves to a new continent. (i.e. another byte at $013E ... is used for the ID code, etc.) Really, this looks like a bug. Note 2: One can change the type of an existing Transport by changing its ID code in the $013E ... area. For instance, to change an existing Horse to a Time Machine, change $09 to $0F. The program is pretty good about adjusting counts, etc. when the game is saved. Rubywand updated 21 October 2005