Ultima 7 on 5 1/4" Floppies

[Fingersmith]

I would love to be able to play Ultima 7 but my box came with 5 1/4" floppies and I can no longer use them. Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can do?

[Dominus]

with 5 1/4" floppies? Strange! I have BG in an original box and have 3 1/2"

[Armchair Avatar]

Why can't you use them?
Is it because you don't have a 5 1/4" drive, or because the data has become corrupt?

[Fingersmith]

If I remember right at the time the game came in both formats but we didn't have a 3 1/2" drive at that time.

I don't have a 5 1/4" drive anymore, I hope the data is still intact, do you think I could take them to a shop or something to get them converted onto CD or 3 1/2" floppies? Would Origin give me replacements?

[Dominus]

forget origin.
I'm not sure how i would go about getting them off the 5 1/4" disks. I'd have to get my old drive from back home (700 km away). I know no one who still has a drive...

[MV]

Pity it doesn't look like you're in Australia, otherwise we could easily organise you to send them to me for conversion. (I have about 4 5 1/4" drives here. I've just got so much old stuff).

Anyway, my only other suggestion is to pick a drive up off ebay. Preferably a new one too. It'll be hard, but not impossible. I got a new external toshiba 5 1/4" drive not too long ago from AU ebay.

Or even another option is to just either find U7 on a compliation CD from a shop in the cheap section, or just buy it on ebay.

[Fingersmith]

Yea I'm in England which is a shame because your offer is very generous, thanks MV.

I hadn't thought much about it but now that I've found exult I'll ask around my family and friends, someone must still have one of the old 5 1/4" beasts.

I didn't know I might be able to get a new 5 1/4" drive and I didn't know they did Ultima compilation CDs. There's some options for me. So thanks for your help!

[Ezric]

I recently picked up a used high density 5 1/4" drive at a used computer parts store for something like $2.50 US. They're dirt cheap if you can find one for sale.

[Annorax]

I have Ultima 7 on 5.25'' floppies, it needs about 7 to fit! I also have a 5.25'' drive in my current computer running Windows 2000. You should have no problem installing the drive, just make sure your motherboard supports it. It goes on the same IDE chain as the 3.5'' floppy.

[Armchair Avatar]

I got a new external toshiba 5 1/4" drive not too long ago from AU ebay.

Is it a USB drive?

[MV]

Is it a USB drive?

Nope, printer port.

But the drive itself is a standard drive and can mount internally if you remove it from the external housing.

[teamster1975]

Fingersmith, where abouts do you live? I'm in Woking in Surrey, if you're local we can sort something out.

[Anonymous]

Highly recommend you get the Compilation CD if it's not too much money. There are usually a few available on Ebay fairly cheap. You'll get the forge of virtue add-on, plus Serpent Isle and its add-on.. which means exult can pull the paper-dolls from SI into Ultima VII for you, making it even better.

You'll still be able to use your map and manuals from your original copy...

[Darkstar]

> It goes on the same IDE chain as the 3.5'' floppy.

I wouldn't recommend connecting a floppy to an IDE cable

--Darkstar

[MV]

Just as long as it's a 34pin ide floppy cable.

I just wouldn't try plugging a floppy into the ATA interface unless it was a ls120, zip or something similar (40pin).

[teamster1975]

Don't forget you'd need a convertor for the edge connector on the 5 1/4!

[Annorax]

>> It goes on the same IDE chain as the 3.5'' floppy.

>I wouldn't recommend connecting a floppy to an IDE cable


Well, whatever you call it.
It's the same chain as the 3.5'' drive. I hooked mine up with no problems, and the BIOS and OS recognize it fine.

[wintermute_turing_ai]

Okay, honestly, and I mean no offense to you hard working and WELL MEANING folks, but these are some of the worst suggestions I've ever seen.

Want to know what piracy is? Paying $70 for U7 in 1991, and then paying another $20 for the Ultima Collection in 2003 to play U7 because your diskettes are truly useless now. Even sillier, spending countless hours shipping fragile (and collectable) diskettes halfway across the country for conversion. Or better yet, waste a weekend chasing down relatives for some stinking yellowed 5-1/4" sony drive that hasn't been cleaned or used in 10 years, only to find out that its so dirty that it scratches your diskettes and permanently destroys the data on 'em.

If EA execs want to be that completely unyielding in situations where their products are literally unplayable after several years.. well, I don't know what to say. I doubt there's any civil word for it.

[Edited by Dominus: We REALLY don't want to see something like this on the forum, no matter what you think about EA]

cheers,
WM.

[MV]

So your suggestion is to find it on a P2P network and download it?

Just because I payed: (u7 ONLY orientated, much more spent on other ultimas):

~$80 for u7, ~$40 expansion (disks suffed up)
~$100 SI, ~$40 SS. (Disks stuffed up again)
~$80 U7 CD collection. (Full collection with ALL manuals, not value)
~$90 (I think, probably more though), U9 dragon edition
~$50 (I think), for some 'top 10 pack' with U7 on it.
~$10 recently on ebay for an original U7 with working disks.

All I can think of right now.

Does not mean I'll pirate U7 because I hate EA.

[wintermute_turing_ai]

Dominus: Fine. I'll relent.


Fingersmith: if you'd like some help, e-mail me.

[Dominus]

thanks

[Telemachos]

I doubt anyone really care much if you download U7 or now - as long as you do so *silently* No need to post here about it.

Personally I'm a big Ultima collector and have just about all Ultimas one or more times in their original version and packaging. As long as you have the UC cd you are pretty much set for most of the games but there are a few that isn't included on that cd. And I'll be the first to admit that my personal policy is that once bought some way or the other I can use any means nessesary to play. Hmm.. although now that I think of it I cannot think of any of the games that I don't have on the UC cd or on 3'1/2 discs... but lets say just for arguments sake that I bought SE for example and it only came on 5'1/4 discs.. then I would probably download it - but I wouldn't tell ya

- Tele

[Telemachos]

Ahh, now I remember.. actually SE *doesn't* include both floppy formats.. the first version I found only came on 5'1/4 actually! Then later I got another one on 3'1/2... but to be honest I think that was *after* I played the game, so there

- Tele

[Dominus]

Now I remember the last time I used my 5" 1/4 - to copy SE from the disks to hd, right after I received it. Won on Ebay.