Exult Forum

Greetings!

A while back, when I was a lurker here, someone posted some messages, claiming to be working on a Savage Empire remake. I was very annoyed to never see any new messages, screenshots, or links concerning this.

Well, I've been experimenting with Exult Studio during the past few days. I have also been experimenting with Gimp and Paint Shop Pro. I have put together some experimental screenshots that give an idea of what I'll be working on. I like to think of it as more of a port, than a remake. Demo and original shots are provided for comparison.

Inside Intanya's hut:




Walking outside:







Overhead view of the demo area:



Since I can't find a program, or anyone with the capability to extract the graphics data from the Savage Empire data files, I have been using Pu6e to take screenshots. I then cut and paste the items from the screenshots. Then its a "real fun" process to edit out all of the background graphics, and then resize them, and decrease the color depth to 256 color 8-bit graphics, export to an optimized .png (to keep the transparency), then import them into Exult...

As you can see, the sizes and colors of some of the graphics are not correct, and will require further experimentation to get right. I went through many failures and crashes until I could get the graphics loaded right. Gimp seems to save in hi color, and I can't figure out how to get it to save in 256 color, which would eliminate having to use Paint Shop Pro for that. Plus, I find resizing the graphics in Gimp to be user-unfriendly, and a quite easy to do in PSP. If I could extract the graphics from SE, all of this would be a lot easier, and faster (they are in LZC format). As it is, I don't know how I'm going to get a hold of the SE portraits, and playing the game all of the way through, just for screen captures of the portraits, isn't in the cards right now.

Another problem is that whenever I save any maps with shapes on them in ES and then quit, I cannot load my map anymore. This happens even if I have only one chunk and one shape on the map. So what you see in those screenshots is the second time I put it together. It only took me a few minutes though, so no big loss. But I am afraid to start building a map on a large scale, just to have it not work anymore. A mini map, or a similar aid would help exponentially with world building. Another issue, is that many of the cliffs in SE are very high, and with the Z height being at the limit it is now, some areas of SE are impossible to make (well, I do have a couple of tricks to try, but it would require custom chunks and shapes, and my artistic ability is somewhat limited). Then there are the waterfalls, dinosaurs that would require larger monster shapes than the U7 default ones, etc.

Well, enough rambling on for now. I just wanted to show some screens, and explain where things are at, and what stands in the way. At some point, I'll formally ask if anyone is interested in forming a team. I may wait to see what the next version of ES is like.

Scythifuge

Ugh...those screenshots are small. I'll have to find another way to show them to everyone, so that you can see all of the details. The original sizes of the screenshots are 2.10 - 2.30 mb in size.

Ok, I think these will look better:

Inside Intanya's Hut:





Walking Outside:







An Overhead shot of the Demo Area:


Some things I forgot to mention:

Those walls are obviously from U7. I tried redrawing them to look like bamboo, but failed utterly. I was a first pass though. I'm trying to make them look like Savage Empire. My plan is for some of the tribes to have different styles of dwellings/bedding/etc. It doesn't make sense that they all use the exat same stuff, being that they are supposed to be culturally different. I understand the limitations at the time the original was made.

The ground is the wrong color. The U7 ground colors are to dark, and not very lush looking. In SE, the dirt and paths had a sandy color, and the grass was brighter. I hope to implement SE style ground and roads. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that if I edit all of those little terrain graphics, that would change the chunks.

Sythifuge

Looks good, though there might be copyright issue questions.

I can help you with how to see the portraits without replaying the game.
Look at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/SEHack.htm for info on how to reactivate the disabled cheat functions and how to see the portraits using them.

There's also a trick which you can use to decode the speech file (IIRC talk.lzc) into a (somewhat) more legible format, provided you have copies of the original floppies in working order. I don't know if it'd work with a CD release, as I've never tried it.
When installing, the game gives the option of using a compressed format, or an uncompressed one. Rename the talk.lzc file to the name of one of the files that the installer will uncompress (I don't remember which one I used sorry), and then rename the other file to talk.lzc. Do an uncompressed install, and the normally inscrutible speech file contains intelligible conversation, though there's still plenty of 'junk' characters.

Looking good. By the way, you do know that you can press Ctrl+Alt+S within Exult to take a screenshot, right?

Looks good, though there might be copyright issue questions.

I can help you with how to see the portraits without replaying the game.
Look at http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/SEHack.htm for info on how to reactivate the disabled cheat functions and how to see the portraits using them.

There's also a trick which you can use to decode the speech file (IIRC talk.lzc) into a (somewhat) more legible format, provided you have copies of the original floppies in working order. I don't know if it'd work with a CD release, as I've never tried it.
When installing, the game gives the option of using a compressed format, or an uncompressed one. Rename the talk.lzc file to the name of one of the files that the installer will uncompress (I don't remember which one I used sorry), and then rename the other file to talk.lzc. Do an uncompressed install, and the normally inscrutible speech file contains intelligible conversation, though there's still plenty of 'junk' characters.

Thanks you Paulon, for the imformation. I will definitely look at that website. Decoding the speech will be an immense help as well. I do in fact, have the original floppies. As far as copyright issues go, I am hoping that someone can come up with a way to detect original SE files on the hard drive before running the mod.

Looking good. By the way, you do know that you can press Ctrl+Alt+S within Exult to take a screenshot, right?

Thank you, Marzo, for the compliment and the tip! I remember reading about taking screenshots within Exult. I was using Screenhunter to capture images from Pu6e as well as ES, for the before and after shots.


***SPOILER WARNING FOR THOSE WHO NEVER PLAYED SAVAGE EMPIRE***





When I awoke this morning, I remembered two other problems that will need to be solved, though I'm hoping that they can be solved with scripts. The big tree that needs to be chopped down in order to go from one cliff to the other, and rocks that needs to be blown up to to make the boulder fall (two scenes in the original use this scenario). One is to block a waterfall in order to pass by it, and the other is to kill a t-rex by dropping the boulder in it's head.

At first I thought this was a remake of the SNES version.

Why do you call it a port, rather than a remake?

The original PC SE didn't really have high-cliffs because it didn't have any Z coord, just tile graphics.

If Pu6e can display SE tiles than it should be easy to modify to export them as some other graphics format. (well, if you know Python that is)

are you just taking the original graphics straight from SE?

At first I thought this was a remake of the SNES version.

Why do you call it a port, rather than a remake?

The original PC SE didn't really have high-cliffs because it didn't have any Z coord, just tile graphics.

If Pu6e can display SE tiles than it should be easy to modify to export them as some other graphics format. (well, if you know Python that is)

I was partially inspired by the SNES version.

I like the idea of "porting" SE over to Exult, while enhancing it. I guess it can be called either a port, or a remake. Though to me, a remake usually means rewritten dialogues and different graphics, etc.

About the cliffs...
I haven't been able to figure out a way to recreate the SE cliffs (or waterfalls) using ES. Since U7 does have Z coordinates, I am thinking that if the Z height is increased, then shapes can be drawn to look like flat mountain sides, and stacked to create the mountains as they look in SE. It would be interesting for other mods as well, such as multiple level towers, castles, and other structures.

About tiles and Pu6e:
I don't know Python or any other programming language at the moment. I live in an area devoid of programmers, so I cannot enlist the aid of a programming tutor.

are you just taking the original graphics straight from SE?

As of right now, all of the graphics are original SE or U7 graphics. Its one of the reasons why I refer to the project as a port, rather than a remake (this keeps the game looking like SE and saves a lot of time). Thats why, if the project gets completed, I won't distribute the game unless there is a way to check for the original SE on the player's computer (or an original disk in the floppy drive). Some of the graphics will be redrawn. Some of the U7/SI graphics I'm reusing are for items that exist in SE.

Such as (to name a few):
spears (I may recolor the spear head to look obsidian)
boomerang
tooth necklace
fire/campfire
tropical-looking plants
single bananas
fish
parrot
naga (probably will recolor tail to look like the snake woman from SE)
ring
wisp

Natives would use naked npc frames for the base look. Most npc's in SE have little clothing, so it may be easier to draw these onto the npc's, than to redesign each fram for each npc from scratch. Since the Unlimited Adventures magazine that comes with SE describes Aiela as having copper skin, most NPC's will reflect this look (except for the Barako tribe, who are described as caucasian). Even the portraits, once I have them, will have recolored skintones. The avatar will need to be redrawn, but there is an npc# that can be used as a base, in order to save time. Jimmy Malone and Dr. Rafkin, and the other NPC's from modern Earth will probably require the most customization of their npc graphics.

Many U7 items will be used as a base item, but be completely redrawn. The musket, for example, will be redrawn twice. Once for a bamboo rifle that the player can construct, and another for a bolt action rifle (maybe a third time for a shotgun with triple crossbow-type functionality, with bullets instead of bolts). The latter items would of course be found in Dr. Rafkin's lab.

As for the dinorsaurs, I'm hoping that they will mostly be from scratch, because the U7 is capable of more detail than the original SE dinosaurs had. Plus, I'm hoping that there is a way to have multiple-yet-linked shapes for the larger dinosaurs. This would be similar how U6 based games made large creatures, and of course how U7 made carts and ships. For the gigantapithicus, I'm thinking that the etheral beast would be an appropriate base model.

Whew. As everyone can see, portions of this project are quite ambitious. I have a couple of design docs that list items, tribal names/cultures/dwelling types/etc., what needs drawn/redrawn, and enhancments or additions (such as extra buildings in each village) that I want to include.

Scythifuge

That looks really cool. I am a long time ultima fan though I was pretty young when the first few were released. I played 6-8 including UW1 and UW2 and unfortunately 9. I have never heard of the savage empire but I recognize the U6 engine after I researched it a bit. Where would one be able to find copies of SE or martian dreams? I would really look forward to playing your port to the black gate engine if you can work out your issues.

I would also like to tryh my hand at using the exult studio, I have managed to edit the maps slightly and have come up with what I would consider a 'round about' way of getting SI shapes into BG which I fear will eventually cause problems in the future. I was astounded by the keyring mod that mazzo made for us obviously mazzo was able to use SI shapes because I think that the braizer from his principle flamew were from SI and obviously the keyring itself.

Anyway do you need major programming skills to create NPCs or create events such as the lock lake cleanup in the keyring mod? I have basic skills in C and C++ but is has been a while.

Like I said I am excited with all of the mods that the fans are making. In reference to your comment about copy protection that sounds good to me. One thing I would like to see with future releases of exult is that it actually aknowledges the fan made mods. I think it would be great for example that if you had mods downloaded or created that when you started a game with exult you could actually decide if you wanted to activate mods. I mean you could play the official exult release without any changes or you could pick to play with the changes that were made by mazzo for example. Just a random thought.

Whatever, keep up the good work.

To convert to 8-bit color in the Gimp, right-click, and then select "Image-Mode-Indexed". You can have ES export a palette that the Gimp will read in, although I'm not sure where you need to put the file in Windows for the Gimp to find it.

You can have ES export a palette that the Gimp will read in, although I'm not sure where you need to put the file in Windows for the Gimp to find it.

If GIMP is installed in folder 'Foo', the the palette goes to 'Foo\share\gimp\2.0\palettes'. For example, in my laptop, GIMP is installed in 'C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0', and the palettes go to 'C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\palettes'.

Looks great, keep up the good work.

The huts you used from Ultima7 need to be recolor to the original huts from Savage Empire.

The Huts from U7 are made from regular trees while the huts from Savage Empire is made from Bamboo Sticks.

To convert to 8-bit color in the Gimp, right-click, and then select "Image-Mode-Indexed". You can have ES export a palette that the Gimp will read in, although I'm not sure where you need to put the file in Windows for the Gimp to find it.

If GIMP is installed in folder 'Foo', the the palette goes to 'Foo\share\gimp\2.0\palettes'. For example, in my laptop, GIMP is installed in 'C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0', and the palettes go to 'C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\palettes'.

Thanks for the information guys!

The huts you used from Ultima7 need to be recolor to the original huts from Savage Empire.

The Huts from U7 are made from regular trees while the huts from Savage Empire is made from Bamboo Sticks.

The settings for those shots were set up in just a few minutes time, to test the feasibliltiy of redoing SE with ES. I did some experimenting with redrawing the walls. Not only are the U7 walls the wrong color, but they look vertical. The bamboo walls were horizontal. My plan is for some villages to have different styles of dwellings, but they would look like they used material from Eodon (such as rocks or bones). Some tribes will definitely have bamboo walls and other items. They will have thatched rooftops as well. These were missing from the original SE, but included in the SNES version.

As of now, I'm doing research on rainforests, indian tribes, dinosaurs, and reading Ultimate Adventures a few times for the project. I have been tossing around the idea of adding more dialogue eventually, since I have been speculating on the location of Eodon, and why it exists with the multiple tribes and dinosuars. I don't want to give too much info about that right now, but I will say that it will have something to do with the Timelord.

Other plans include, making the obsidian sword look like the one that was drawn in Ultima Adventures, which is similar to paintings I have seen of this type of weapon. The woman by the furnace will be used as the base model for many of the tribal females, because I think that only a few modifications to the art work are needed (recolor the shirt and turn it into a bikini-type top, recolor the skirt and add hair decoration=tribal woman). Naked male npc just needs a loin cloth that is the same color as the tribal woman's clothes. The Haakur tribe may be difficult, since their bodies are "excessively hairy". Goblins could be used as a base model for the Sakkhra. Dinosaurs will probably be the most challenging to create, and I'll probably ask for help when that time comes.


Actual world construction isn't in being done at this time, due to crashes with ES, and a lack of a minimap during world building is making it hard to acurately lay out the landscape. The landscape will be, at the very least, the same size as the original Eodon, but possibly even bigger. I want to increase the sizes of the villages, especially the Nahuatla city. Also, I haven't gotten past the cliff issue yet. Meanwhile, I will continue the research, and completing as much artwork as I can. Some art is beyond my skill at the moment, but I'm getting better with practice.

Maybe the "locator' tool should, optionally, build and display a mini-map.

Maybe the "locator' tool should, optionally, build and display a mini-map.

That sounds awesome! A mini map would be excellent. Trying to build a large map from scratch without a mini map, is haphazard at best.

Scythifuge,

there is a tool to convert a 192x192 BMP into a u7map file almost automatically. At least, it will take care of the chunks. You first create a mapping file, say mapping.txt containing the following:

FFFFFF 312
33CC99 513
921461 633

etc

where the first columns contain hex colour and the second column contains chunk number. You then create your BMP with the colours defined in that file and run it with a tool from Exult and you obtain a brand new u7map with what you want.

The tool is called mockup and should be in the Exult Toolbox.

Artaxerxes

I've written code to generate a mini-map automatically, but haven't tested it yet. The part that worries me is that an entire chunk has to get mapped to a single pixel. My first try just averages all the pixels in the rendered chunk, but I'm worried that this will be too "mushy".

(Sorry to Scythifuge for hijacking the thread)

I've written code to generate a mini-map automatically, but haven't tested it yet. The part that worries me is that an entire chunk has to get mapped to a single pixel. My first try just averages all the pixels in the rendered chunk, but I'm worried that this will be too "mushy".

After fixing a couple of bugs (which I just checked in), it can be seen to work extremelly well:

Hey, thanks! It now gets called when you hit shift-F3, and writes out "patch/minimaps.vga", with a frame for each map. You can then view it in Exult Studio. Funny thing is, it looks almost identical to the "teleport map" you get when you hit F3, and is pretty close, except for the snowy areas, to the one shown when you double-click the map in the game.

Maybe when the "minimaps.vga" file is present, we should use that when you hit F3.

Maybe when the "minimaps.vga" file is present, we should use that when you hit F3.

YES! please, excellent idea.

I second that resolution!

All in favor say 'Aye!'

Artaxerxes

Maybe when the "minimaps.vga" file is present, we should use that when you hit F3.

Indeed. We should just make sure to reload the minimaps after saving them and it will be a lot extremelly useful for map-editing.

One other thing which *could* be done to improve the mini-maps is to include ground-level objects contained in each chunk instead of just the flats. This *could* make forests green (they are brown because the ground beneath the trees is brown) and the lava (in SI) red (it is that pinkish color because the lava is actually ground-level objects, whereas the ground is "empty").

Okay, F3 now shows the minimap if it's available. A nice thing about this is that if you've created multiple maps, it will show you the one you're currently on.

Haven't tried the rendering improvement suggested by Marzo, yet.

Hi Scythifuge,

I've just added a little utility to the Nuvie project that allows you to dump all the portraits as BMP files from either Savage Empire or Martian Dreams. Just thought you might be interested.

Eric

Hi Scythifuge,

I've just added a little utility to the Nuvie project that allows you to dump all the portraits as BMP files from either Savage Empire or Martian Dreams. Just thought you might be interested.

Eric

Thanks Eric, thats awesome! Is the utility available for download, and is it possible to use it to dump shapes/tiles?

Dr.Code, thats great news about the minimap!

Scythifuge

Hi Scythifuge,

The utility is part of the nuvie tools package. (unpack_portraits) It is available in the current windows snapshot. Or alternatively you can compile it from CVS.

It only dumps the portrait shape graphics.

Have you looked at this image it might be what you're looking for.

http://www.graf.torun.pl/~rackne/images/setiles.GIF

Eric

That's a nice toy. I've wished I could get at those portraits occasionally in the past.
Having had a slow afternoon, I used the extractor and made some icons out of the portraits. They're available from http://www.ultimainfo.net/Codex/Downloads.htm

I included the character names with the images, and with the Savage Empire ones there's also the hexadecimal value the game uses to refer to the unique NPCs. For some reason the number given by the extractor doesn't precisely match the one used by the game for SE, instead having an offset of one. It's fine, given conversion from decimal, for Martian Dreams. Go figure.

Very good looking thusfar. I'm sure I'm not the only one that looks forward to a patch release so we can poke around in it.

If you need any help regarding modding, feel free to contact me on the Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands board at http://www.u7feudallands.com

--------
Peter M Dodge aka Wizardry Dragon
Lead Designer,
Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands

I wanted to do a Savage Empire remake at one point, but due to a lack of people wanting to help, I stopped work.

Perhaps I'll help you with graphics.

....Oh man. I love both the original Savage Empire and the Ultima VII games so this is great news indeed! So far it looks awesome, even at this early stage! I'll be keeping an eye on this. I really hope it isn't dead/dying.

Thank you!

It isn't dying. It is just very slow. I just picked it back up after a few months of working on other things. I'm slowly learning pixel art, and learning shortcuts for creating graphics as fast as possible. I'm asking my neighbor who is a professional artist for some help with the more difficult tiles.

Right now, I'm spending a lot of time on each frame for whatever it is I'm working on at the moment. Some things, like the spear shape, take a much shorter period of time as opposed to npc frames.

Well, if you still want the bamboo look for walls I suggest that you look at Ultima Online graphics for it if you can. If I recall correctly, there is a town, Papua, that is accessed through the Moonglow mage shop by saying "recdu" that has those types of graphics. To leave, say "recsu". For Trammel, you can recall there directly if you have a rune for it. I'm not sure if the free version has that area available or not. It could have some of them available through player house tiles. Free shards that are recreations may have it. I can look for you and send some screen shots if I find them.

The shapes that you are using currently look nice enough (a lot better than Savage Empire). I think one of the reasons for lack of interest is the original graphics for the most part were pretty bad and it has been played by a lot less people than the core games.

I am posting a few screenshots thay are in 256 color png format. I suggest just extracting a wall frame and using these shots for texture. That way they will be a consistant size.

01
02
03
04
05

Thank you, Malignant Manor! I downloaded the screenshots for analysis. I completely forgot about Papua! It has been a long time since I last played UO...

The "new" shapes that are in the screenshots are ripped from S.E. screenshots, but with the size increased. The colors are a little off due to the palette differences. This affects the original portraits as well, and they will have to be recolored.

I tried putting a bamboo wall together, but the bamboo changed when imported to have what looks like some vines and was on it. I didn't think it looked that well. I also did a horrible job at making the far corner look like a post, but I'm not very good with artwork at that small of a size. It has been awhile since I quit UO and that was a decent while after 8th anniversary. I had to patch over 150 MB just to play. The 3d patch alone was about 58-59 MB.

I got a prototype bamboo bridge nearly finished, thanks to your screenshot! After I finish that, I think I'm going to work on walls and more weapons. I have the spear 95% finished; I have to tweak a couple of frames.

If you're going to base it off of existing artwork, I suggest looking at the Savage Empire SNES game. It was only released in Japan, and amounted in gameplay similar to the SNES version of Black Gate, but it had U7 style graphics. Email me about it, and I'll send you screenshots.

It's great to see someone working on this at last

Savage empire was the more memorable of the two Worlds of Ultima games, and I was a little disappointed when the franchise appeared to stop, although I could see the lack of appeal of non-canon ultimas to fans.

I have some small experience with graphics and map making, although none so far with exult studio, having worked a little on total annihilation (another game lost in time now)

drop me a line if you'd like any help!

GeistHund: "Savage empire was the more memorable of the two Worlds of Ultima games, and I was a little disappointed when the franchise appeared to stop, although I could see the lack of appeal of non-canon ultimas to fans."

Actually, there were at least three more Worlds of Ultima games planned: The first one became Serpent Isle. The second, Arthurian Legends, was cancelled. The third one served as the basis for Ultima VIII: Pagan.

Those look good but you should look at the serpent isle back grounds it has alot more choices then u7. on a similar note do you know if anyone is remaking u6 with the u7 engine style? just asking

Wow, I haven't been on this thread in a while! Those ancient screenshots do not represent the current state of the project. Almost everything that I was showing off on this thread, as well as the S.E.T.C. thread, have been completely redone, due to me getting better at drawing, and me not wanting to use the original game's graphics, or U7's graphics. Newer graphics are on the Avatar's House thread. I'm trying to finish that up, in addition to some Eodon stuff, and will try to show more stuff soon. In all actuality, I started on some tiles that are common between the Avatar's House map and Eodon, which resulted in me drawing some other tiles for Eodon, so now I need to focus on the original goals. Time isn't on my side as much as I would like!

Oh, I almost forgot. Someone started an Ultima VI project, but it seems to be no more. The thought of remaking other Ultimas crossed my mind, but after the S.E.T.C., I'm going to work on the cyberpunk project.

By the way, using Ultima material in an Ultima mod isn't a copyright issue except insofar as the mod is of course going to be considered a derivative work, as far as I know. Im not a lawyer though

But it's the same as using SI stuff in U7 even though a seperate team did SI - its still Ultima licensed materials.

wizardry dragon

Its not really a copyright issue, but rather a desire to have the re-imagining of The Savage Empire be as original as it can be; to have it stand on it's own. In hoping that other people create new graphics for Exult Studio, I want to try to make everything as unique as I can. When the game is completed, I intend on sharing the shapes for other people's mods, and maybe we can get an asset repository created.

Some graphics will be slightly recognizable from one of the other games. For example, I have completed one frame each for a smilodon and a jaguar. Both share certain portions of the snow leopard's outline. This was to jump start those frames and to keep the angles right. The rest of the similarities are superficial. Sometimes though, with the axiometric projection and low resolution, I find it difficult to avoid some graphics looking similar to others!

Oh, don't get me wrong, Scythifugue! I'm not trying to rain on the parade, just responding to the comment before about OMG COPYRIGHT or whatever

In any event, it is coming along quite nicely! I look forward to see how it progresses.

wizardry dragon

Thank you, Wizardry Dragon! I know that I always say it, but I'm hoping to at least create a couple of mock-ups to show off soon. One would be The Avatar's House with fixes and a more proper setup (though probably not the yard just yet, I'm working on new trees and what not), and the other would show some Eodon stuff. I've been compiling a canvas of the completed/most completed items to reduce the clutter amongst all of my art folders, and to make it easier to import things into E.S.

Scythifuge, I've picked up the U6 exult thing and I've actually gotten a whole lot finished or near finished. I work on it quite a bit these days, I have Skara finished, Britain finished with the exception of a few NPC's usecode, Cove (w/out npc usecode just yet), Yew & Empath Abbey complete with npcs and usecode but I may redo some areas, the base design for Minoc, and pretty much right now just working on the worldmap in general. I plan on getting a bit more done before I release anything right now.

That is excellent news, agentorangeguy! Let me know if you need anything, I have some weapons and whatnot that I drew. That reminds me, I have to get back to the shields for Wizardry Dragon at some point. Its cool that you can mess with usecode; I hope to be able to someday.

I may work on Ultima IV concurrent with the cyberpunk project, because I think that it would be an easy project compared to the other stuff I'm working on, but I won't know for sure until well into the final stages of The Savage Empire.