Cutemouse version 1.8. A very small mouse
driver, thanks to Nagy Daniel. Download the latest
version (which takes up about 3.5 Kb) and find out all
about Cutemouse from the Cutemouse official page.Ultima 8 for Beginners
Following in the tradition of my Ultima 7 page, this is an attempt to give some guidance to those who are having trouble getting Ultima VIII - Pagan to run on a Pentium or similar computer, with Windows 95/98 as the operating system.
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STOP PRESS!! There is an exciting new development in the bid to run Ultima 8 in Windows. A small utility has been developed which takes all the hard work out of getting this game to run, and will be the answer to many frustrated players' dreams. This program allows you to play Pagan natively in Windows 95, 98 or ME with almost any type of sound card. If this is for you, you need read no further - just go here.
The following information is somewhat dated since this development, but if it doesn't work for you, or you want to understand more about the DOS background of Ultima8, read on..
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There is good news and bad news regarding Pagan:
First, the good news. This program does NOT use Voodoo, the infamous memory management system that makes Ultima 7 so hard to install and run. Therefore running in conjunction with EMM386 is quite possible; setup is very much easier. Also, there is a frame limiter built into the program - you do not need to use Mo'slo, as in Ultima 7.
Now the bad news: It is still firmly a DOS-based program, and you need to have some familiarity with startup files, sound card initialisation, IRQ and DMA numbers etc. These topics are treated in more detail in my Ultima 7 page - check there for a quick refresher course.
Once you have mastered these concepts, installation and setup are relatively easy. Firstly, you need to set up your sound card.
Find it in START - SETTINGS - CONTROL PANEL - SYSTEM - DEVICE MANAGER - SOUND, VIDEO AND GAME CONTROLLERS - (YOUR SOUND CARD). Double-click to open it up, and select RESOURCES.
The basic input/output range (highlighted) should be 0220 - this is OK. Next look for the Interrupt Request and Direct Memory Access. If the IRQ is not 3, 5 or 7 try to change it to one of these numbers. You will be told if there are any conflicts with other devices. For Ultima 8 you also need to be concerned with the Direct Memory Access number (Low) - that's the first one. The game itself only gives you a choice of 0 or 1 - therefore you have to change the DMA setting in your system to one of these numbers.
Having done that, then install the game itself. On installation (or if you rerun the INSTALL program later) you specify your sound card, its I/O address, IRQ and DMA numbers. Make sure these numbers correspond with your system settings. Select the same card as your music card. There is a limited choice of cards - unless you have an exotic or unusual card select Sound Blaster and it should work.
Recent experience suggests that running Ultima 8 with a PCI sound card may be difficult, for reasons similar to Ultima 7. (See the sound card section on my Ultima 7 page for more details) You may have to invest in a cheap ISA Sound Blaster card to get the full sound experience.
Next you make a shortcut to run the game from Windows. Steps are as follows:
Find U8.exe with Explorer. Drag this to the desktop to create a shortcut.
Rightclick on the shortcut and select Properties. Click on the Program tab. You will see that "This program is configured to run in MS-Dos mode...."
Click the Advanced button.
You will see that MSDos mode is ticked; you can uncheck "Warn before entering MS-Dos Mode"
Then click the button to "Specify a new MSDos Configuration"
You are now specifying your own startup files; fortunately this is MUCH easier than Ultima 7.
The config.sys file can actually be left as it is; Windows defaults to FILES=60, and this is more than sufficient for U8. Also without the conventional memory restrictions of U7 memory is not such an issue.
The autoexec.bat file is pretty well OK; you can leave in all the lines that are already there. There should be a SET BLASTER or similar statement in the autoexec.bat file, with the appropriate I/O, IRQ and DMA numbers.
You only have to add one line to the Autoexec.bat file - the program needs a mouse driver. Assuming your mouse driver is on the C drive, just type C:\MOUSE.COM (or whatever the name of your driver is.) Click on OK to save these settings.
I can offer three drivers - click on the disk icons below to download one.
Cutemouse version 1.8. A very small mouse
driver, thanks to Nagy Daniel. Download the latest
version (which takes up about 3.5 Kb) and find out all
about Cutemouse from the Cutemouse official page.
The driver I have
used for a long time. Reliable, but a bit bigger. I
recommend this driver over the others for Ultima 8 - it
is a fairly recent 100% Microsoft driver, and keeps the
game happy. Also there are not the memory constraints
with Ultima 8 that there are with Ultima 7.
A small and
reliable driver (courtesy of Obtuse
Dragon). Only takes 11 Kb of
conventional memory; I now use it with Serpent Isle, and
can load Smartdrive as well.
When you click on the shortcut, Windows will close down (completely), the computer will do a warm reboot and start up using the new files you defined - it should run straight into the game. When you quit the game Windows will restart.
TO USE A BOOT DISK
Some people may find it less stressful to use a boot disk to play Ultima 8. The principles are the same as above - just proceed as follows:
Make a system disk by either:
You now have a Win 95 startup disk.
Open Notepad; make two new files as follows and save them to the A: drive
DOS=NOAUTO
DOS=HIGH
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
FILES=45
BUFFERS=45
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
NOEMS
Save this as Config.sys
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330
T6 (Remember to set these
numbers appropriately)
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE
C:\(Your mouse driver).COM
C:
CD\ULTIMA8
U8
Save this as Autoexec.bat
Put the floppy in the A: drive and reboot your computer.
If you have Windows ME or Windows 2000 you have a problem. These OS's have dispensed with DOS support, and running DOS applications is difficult to say the least.
For this purpose I have made up a U8setup file.
Download this, and unzip it onto a floppy disk. You will
then have a fully functional Windows 98 boot disk, with
all required files for playing Ultima 8.
Depending on your sound card setup, and which directory
you have put Ultima 8 in, you will probably need to amend
a couple of lines in the Autoexec.bat file - please see
the readme file enclosed.
This utility also incorporates a Ramdrive facility - when
starting it up you will see a Windows 98 Menu. Just
select the number corresponding to the amount of RAM in
your computer, and an apporpriately sized RAM drive will
be created. This eliminates the increasingly common
problem of U8 refusing to run because there is more than
128 Mb of RAM in the system - "Abnormal program
termination."
Click here to download U8setup.zip.
As an alternative, you may like to patch your version of Windows ME so that it once more has DOS functionality, and working with the startup files is once again possible. There is a patch available which will do just this - you can get it here.
TROUBLESHOOTING
If the sound doesn't work properly, it's most likely an IRQ or DMA conflict. Review your system settings, game installation and autoexec.bat statement. They all should say the same thing. In the intro to the game you should have music and the voice of the Guardian. Once the game starts you should have music, background sounds and footstep noises when the Avatar walks.
Any queries, comments or corrections, please mail me.