Ultima 7 HD?

[Guest]

"How many attempts at Ultima remakes have there been by now, none of which have received a cease-and-desist from EA?"

It happened with Ultima 1: Reborn, despite their blessing from Garriott himself.

[Wizardry Dragon]

Crowley: there have been four projects which have had legal troubles with ea. Exult has been under the radar because it's an engine emulator using original code, but a graphics related project would be different.

Wizardry dragon

[Crowley]

"It happened with Ultima 1: Reborn, despite their blessing from Garriott himself."

I thought the deal with that was that they decided to make something commercial out of all their work, and voluntarily stopped it as an Ultima project to avoid legal problems.

[Malignant Manor]

Wizardry, TFL is also illegal.

[Dominus]

Please open a new thread, for example "Legal issues" or so. It IS an interesting discussion but may be better served with its own thread instead of spreading it to various threads where it is not full on topic.

(I wish we could easily split off threads and thus manage it...)

[Crowley]

To sum it up, I'd say the rule of thumb here is "Don't try to make profit, otherwise don't worry before you get mail from lawyers."

[Wizardry Dragon]

I should apologise, I wasn't trying to accuse anyone or make up a shitshorm or something (pardon my french). What I'm basically trying to say is, "distributing modified versions of U7 art is copyright infringement, and you should probably be wary about doing it." There IS a certain amount of Fair Use involved, but it is worthwhile educating yourself in what does and does not qualify as fair use.

For example, the reason that I changed the TFL domain name from "u7feudallands.ca" to "thefeudallands.ca" is that using an (albeit abbreviated) form of the trademark in a domain name as an unlicensed individual is considered trademark appropriation and thus illegal.

All I'm really trying to say here is that you should be mindful of the legal issues, as there are several involved here. Marzo himself is rather well-schooled in them, though he's not a lawyer, so I'm not particularly worried for the future of the project. I just want to caution people about the legalities involved.

Sorry for derailing the topic. This'll be my last post on the forums on the topic unless someone wants to discuss it in another topic. I just felt it neccesary to explain myself.

Wizardry Dragon

[Warder]

http://exult.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=331309#p331309



(edit by Dominus: URLified the link)

[Wizardry Dragon]

On the topic of having artwork and the HD script - these aren't mutually exclusive. You could easily have a hdart directory or something which would override the default script renderings.

Wizardry dragon

[BillF]

Wiz: "Tangentially, I also felt the dungeons were overly small in U7. I intend to fix that as a part of TFL. I may also release it as a separate patch."

They had to be, of course, because there was nowhere on the map to put the extra dungeon levels. The U7 engine has no concept of basements, and only one ground level. Staircases that go below ground level actually go somewhere else on the map. The devs simply had nowhere to put any more dungeon. They hid all sorts of stuff in the mountains that shouldn't be in there, especially in SI. Only a bigger map (or fewer locations...) would fix that particular issue.

[Wizardry Dragon]

BillF: Exult's multiple map capability fixes it perfectly

Wizardry dragon

[Jon C]

This is somewhat of an old thread, so I'm wondering if this is still going on. In playing with a recent "art contest", I sought to create a bunch of 2D sprites in the U7 fashion, and came across you guy's discussion. A sample of the work can be seen here: would something like this be of interest to you?

http://opengameart.org/forumtopic/rever ... etrics-wip

[TDI]

That looks pretty neat.

I wish someone would pick this up to create new graphics. There are probably tons of free 3D models out there that could be "U-sevenized".

[Dominus]

Just revisiting this thread after someone on Ultima Aiera mentioned it. I noticed the problem of asking EA for permission. With the recent Mythic/Bioware interest in the IP they might actually be the correct ones to address with this idea. Contact through wtf_dragon could probably be arranged...

[WtF Dragon]

Yeah, someone let me know what the specific permission issues are, and I can bring it up with someone at Mythic.

[Scythifuge]

I would be interested to know if EA/Mythic would have a problem with original graphics (U6/SE/MD/U7/SI) being reworked and then distributed for free in a finished product or demo.

I try to draw as much from scratch as possible to avoid issues and be original, though it adds significant time to projects.

[T. J. Brumfield]

Can anyone point to a single texture/model project that was shut down? Because I see improved textures released by fans for games constantly.

EA hasn't cracked down on retexture projects for other games in the past.

Though it really would be easier to just focus on remaking U7 in a newer engine, such as picking up with Project Britannia.

[Sergorn]

Considering EA has never put a halt to even fangames or remakes... it seems extremly unlikely they would have any issue to a mod that gives new graphics, espcially since that would require the original game in any case.

Though it really would be easier to just focus on remaking U7 in a newer engine

No it wouldn't.

There's a world of difference between improving graphics of an existing game, and creating a new one from scratch.

-Sergorn

[TDI]

Remaking U7 in a newer engine? I think they should remake all those newer RPGs in the Ultima 7 engine!

[Torgus dragon]

Wouldnt using uo engine be the easiest better gfx, engine, modability, etc.

That is where I would start. 50% of the gfx or more are already in the game

[Dominus]

guys, we are on the exult forum, so Ultima 7 with the help of Exult Studio is THE engine to discuss. Back on topic, please

[Corpsecrank]

As far as other engines no there are already projects that have attempted remakes in newer engines and all fail to accomplish what a graphics overhaul on the original engine could do.

When you change engines you change the game completely not just the graphics. You actually change the way the game is played and the way things work. UO is also not a possibility because for one the graphics are really not much better and also that game is going to be extremely hard to convert to a form that will work for something like this. You would have to change it from a client/server based game to something that can be installed and run locally without all the net functionality of it. Basically combining the client and server in some form or another.

On topic though I would love to see this and would love to help if I were able to. I do work with graphics but not like this. I don't think I have the type of skill required to create graphics like this.

I suppose if you took the palette and used photoshop and simply drew the objects and then pixelated them slightly it might work but I think you will find few people who can help out with this. A shame really since this is a really awesome idea and could be one of the coolest things I have ever seen done with the ultima series.

[Dominus]

Maybe this would help
http://exult.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=357375#p357375

[Guesto]

@corpsecrank

The graphics in UO are quite a lot better, and the combat is way better

It's already possible to play UO locally without an internet connection, that's because an offline demo was created for T2A

[Denn]

@Guesto
The UO graphics are much better, but they're too dark. If the UO engine is used, I would rather the palettes to be modified to be lighter and closer to the U7 graphic style.

[Random Person]

is this still on the table?, sounds like a solid and interesting concept!!

[WaltC]

You know, the really sad thing about this kind of thing is how quickly the enthusiasm winks out. If they had started even a multi-year project they'd have finished by now! In reading through this thread I think they might've talked themselves out of it... At any rate the conceptual content links have long ago given up the ghost, apparently.

But it takes dedication--can't do it with brief soundbytes and emotional excitement alone--that doesn't last very long. Real projects take focus and attention, will and dedication. You know, like Exult...!

Another case in point: over in the NWN2 nexus mod forums, some guys recently finished a project that took 'em an astounding 7 years from start to finish--and by gosh--they actually finished it and are still pumping out patches and may do one more patch yet. What they started was very ambitious, they decided to port all of the original Baldur's Gate to the NWN2 engine--actually BG and it's expansion, IIRC. 7 *Years*--but they've *done it* and man did they ever do a good job, imo! And as I say, they're still at it.

Some of those guys will get decent jobs in the industry if, after the last 7 years they aren't sick of it all, that is, and that's what they want. The guys who finished that project aren't quitters, though, and I suspect it was all just excellent training and eyetooth-cutting for them.

This is not to disparage thinking up complex projects because few of us have years to devote to game mods unless we get started very early--and some of these projects really do take *years* for a small group of people with little to no budgets to speak of. It's the exceptional ones, though, that stay the course and turn that grand idea into shipping code, though, isn't it? Few and far between--just like the really great games themselves.

[Skee]

--- Intro: ----
- Hi, for now you guys can call me call me "Skee".
* i am a long time fan of Ultima, specifically: U7, FOV & SI.
* This post is to "gauge" interest and see who is active here, sorry for the wall of text, but those interested will read all...
--- What am i doing: ---
- Creating a game as close to U7 as possible
--- Why am i doing this: ---
- i played it when i was little, occasionally i hop onto it every now and again for nostalgia & and no game has ever compared to this.
- i do not have the lifestyle or remaining years to become a games designer
- no game as ever come close to this and i enjoy making stuff.
- i am currently developing another game, i would like to utilise my free time to build U7

--- what i have done ---
* A long time ago [over 2 years] i looked into finding a remake of U7, back when the extent of my knowledge for computers was as much as turn on/ off, optimise, customise and gaming for fun/ money or kicks and giggles.
* Since then i did not find a remake [not a complete worthy one anyway]
* Since then i have learnt 2d texture design, 3d model design, some sound creation skills and even some code

- i am intermediate overall, but have preferences and places i am more confident with, [textures/ level design, team management] and fail at [code,code and code]

- I have been playing with ideas and programs since then but never really started./// ...Until now

--- Ultima 7 remake ---
* preferably close to original
* solely a Tribute{non-profit}] and trying to avoid infringement as much as possible
- no 'original' U7 content may be used in the project but the entire game is based going to be based on it
* so far its a solo project but i am looking for activity on these forums.
- i MAY contact origin directly when the game is 90% complete
--- How am i doing this ?---
- its been a few years on & off but i am now comfortable with the Unreal Engine
- Using UDK i can do all of the game myself but to an average standard
- theres alot of room for improvement and would love some help
- Using UE4 i cannot code in C++ but the entire game can be built without Code

Basically guys, i am doing it, its already started! the ideas in motion 2 years ago, and i have started the code and events + gathering what i need.
- Interested ????
1. First reply here.
2. be a REAL PERSON not a bot, not a critic or a nay-sayer
...and please provide some useful information, what you can do to help e.g, the key factor is we get along, have fun and stick to it to the end
- ^^ this is most important to me
** my current est. time for completion based on 1 person is 2 years.
- for 2 people - 1.4 yrs and with a coder and a 3d guy or 2d guy to take the load...less than a year for a beta without FOV or SI
Many Thanks for reading.

[Dominus]

Great post, but please post it again in its own thread. Hijacking almost unrelated threads is a big big no no

And also please remember that this forum is for Exult only. You may recruit here and tell people to contact you per email. If you want discussion you will need to provide your own forum.