Need help installing "The Complete Ultima VII" to my comp...

[POOKISTAN]

Okay, well, obviously I loved this game way back when so I'm lookin' to get it working again. That said, I can't even get it to install let alone run (and as was noted in the FAQ you need the files from the game on your comp before Exult can do anything for you so I'm dead in the water as of now)...

I'll start with the somber part: The copy I got is ****** up (the ******* thing even has a crack in the inside that doesn't appear to affect the data-storing area of the CD but WTF!?) - I'm considering returning it to the seller for a refund along with some "not-so-nice" words but I'd prefer getting it to work (if it will)...

Anyways, like I said, it flat-out won't install. I'm running Windows XP and the auto-run starts just fine and the previews play just fine but when I click Install it says "Runtime Error!" and then shows it came from the file D:\GATEWAY\pifmaker.exe...

I also found a zip file with the original Ultima VII install file from back in the day but it complains about a boot disk when I try to install it that way (I don't even have a floppy drive on this computer)...

It should be noted that I haven't ran the Install Acrobat portion (not sure if that'd help or not) and I did have a firewall and Norton running while attempting this but I somehow doubt neither of those had anything to do with it...

If anyone could help I'd highly appreciate it and as you may have picked up on I'm not all that computer literate in some senses - If you give me instructions I can prolly follow them as long as they're straight-forward...

This's the only place I could think of to ask this question because this is such a niche game nowadays and hopefully someone here will be familiar with at least the software I'm talkin' about and hopefully the nature of the problems because I would really, really like to play Ultima VII again (it should be noted that I only played Black Gate so if I can just get that working I'll be happy)...

Thanks for any help...

[POOKISTAN]

I just found the following text when I clicked Help:

"Readme.txt for the PIFmaker ( 8-25-96 )

The PIFmaker is designed to help configure your system to
the game requirements. It will search your system files
and copy the appropriate DOS drivers, and then will create
a Windows 95 "Shortcut to DOS". This program will not make
any changes to your system files. Unfortunately, due to
manufacturing oversights or reasons beyond our control,
the PIFmaker will not work on all systems. Included in
this help file are some common error messages and their
solutions, as well as Origin Product Support Information."

Now regardless of what that says there's gotta' be a way to put the files on a current computer otherwise it would render the whole Exult project useless - Like I said, I'd really appreciate any help and it'd be good if you were familiar with this specific software. Anyways, I'll read more in-depth and see if I can find any other bits in the text that might help but seeing when it's dated I doubt it...

[SB-X]

You can't install U7 on a Windows XP computer. From the Documentation page:

9.7. Installing the CD-ROM versions of Ultima VII

There are a couple of CD-ROM versions of Ultima VII. These all come with the add-ons pre-installed so with these you don't have to bother with installing the floppy disk version of the add-ons. To our knowledge the following CD-ROM versions exist:

* Ultima Collection
From the CD just copy the folders Serpent and Ultima7 to C:\Exult. Don't bother with the Ultima Collection installer.
* The Complete Ultima VII (EA presents CD-Rom Classics)
On this CD-Rom the games are zipped in Serpent.zip and Ultima7.zip. Unzip serpent.zip to C:\Exult\SERPENT and unzip Ultima7.zip to C:\Exult\ULTIMA7.

[POOKISTAN]

So simply unzipping those files to those locations should be sufficient?

[POOKISTAN]

Okay, got it working - Seems I was making a mountain out of a mole-hill...

I guess my final question is how can I full-screen it but I'll poke through the documentation and stuff and hopefully I'll have that answered without any more help. Thanks much...

[Skutarth]

I have the Ultima Collection, and it gives me the same error. It still installed it fine, though. It just happened at the end and closed the installer.