New user, questions about Exult

[Userdemoose]

First off, I cannot play Ultima 7 in fullscreen mode without Exult, so this really helps my Ultima 7 experience since this is the first time I've played the game.
I do have some questions/concerns about Exult since I'm pretty much forced to use it unless I want to play in windowed mode.
As I said before this is the first time I've played the game so I'm curious as to what Exult changes other than new options? Will I miss out on anything by using Exult instead of the vanilla game and is there anything I should worry about other than that "disappearing bug"?

Thanks.

[Dominus]

http://exult.info/faq.php#improvements
and you will miss out on fabulous bugs that made U7 fun for some people.
I'm all for using Exult but these days, through Dosbox, one isn't forced to run U7 in windowed mode.

[TDI]

It's hard to say. The plus side of using Exult is that in addition to the new features, many game and plot bugs have been fixed, especially in SI.

On the negative side, I haven't tried Exult in a while (someone correct me if I'm wrong), but there seem to be some critical bugs on the loose at the moment which might break your game. Also some things such as NPC behaviour and combat have never reached the "fluidity" of the original.

A compromise would be to play Black Gate with Dosbox and Serpent Isle with Exult. I would recommend this order because this way you get a feel for what the original is like, and profit from the many plot bugs that were fixed in SI.

[Userdemoose]

Well, I cant run it in fullscreen with dosbox. When I do, it only shows the top half of the game and even then it freezes like that. In windowed mode however I have no problem.

[TDI]

You'll have to forego the nice SI paperdolls in Black Gate, but as compensation you'll get to pack a crate on your back which fits much more stuff than an ordinary backpack.

[TDI]

>"Well, I cant run it in fullscreen with dosbox. When I do, it only shows the top half of the game and even then it freezes like that. In windowed mode however I have no problem."

Weird. Try setting these settings in the dosbox.conf file. Especially the "scaler=hq3x" part. U7 works just fine for me under these settings.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=hq3x
...
core=auto
cputype=auto
cycles=12000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20
...
xms=true
ems=false
umb=true

[Userdemoose]

It didnt work. I have other DOS games too (from GoG) that also refuses to work in fullscreen mode, so its not just an Ultima problem. Some work, some dont. Unfortunately.

[TDI]

Hmm weird. The only other thing I can think of is that you're using an old Dosbox version (current is 0.74, I'm using 0.73 however - haven't updated yet).

If you want to keep on experimenting, here's the entirety of my dosbox.conf file as it works with U7. Note that I always start dosbox in windowed mode (fullscreen=false) and then switch to fullscreen using Alt+Enter when I want it.


[sdl]
fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=hq3x

[cpu]
core=auto
cputype=auto
cycles=12000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=false
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
gusirq=5
gusdma=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
xms=true
ems=false
umb=true
keyboardlayout=auto

[ipx]
ipx=true

[autoexec]

[Dominus]

The common cure fir dosbox display problems is to really update to the latest graphics drivers (from the maker and not the ones you get from windows update) and then change output in dosbox' config. Works everytime

[Userdemoose]

Thanks for the suggestions but the tweaks didn't help any. About the drivers, I think they are updated but since I'm using an HP laptop and how everything is set up, I can't get driver updates from AMD (even though I have an AMD gpu) I have to get the update from HP themselves, so for all I know I do have the latest drivers. I suppose I could just get used to it windowed, and if I like the game enough play through it again with Exult.

[Dominus]

Still take look if hp offers newer ones. Your description sounds like driver problems.
And try the different output settings in dosbox config...

[Userdemoose]

I set the output to ddraw and that fixed the problem, thanks again for the help.