Replaying U9 Ascension

[Soule]

Recently, I got bored and installed U9 again for a replay.
I realised that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was many (10?) years ago.
I used to hate the game because of its many crashes, ignore of predessors, boring NPCs, and lack of avatar companions.
Now I feel the game was just too much ahead of its time then. No average machine could run the game with crashing. However, the graphics are still decent for a game ten years ago and the gameplay was interesting. If Origin/EA could have spent more time to implement NPC schedules and re-introduce back the companions, perhaps it would have not been that bad.
Jumping wasn't that important for an RPG game. If they have taken out jumping, they could have had more time to develop the NPCs and companions (my guess is jumping introduced a vertical element that would have made it difficult for companions to follow you).

[alagner]

I'd say that companions are not suitable for Gothic-like tpp game. If the it had looked more like Dungeon Siege, then it would have been great to implement party, but in such situation I'm not so sure 'bout that...

[Dominus]

Jumping wasn't that important for an RPG game. If they have taken out jumping, they could have had more time to develop the NPCs and companions (my guess is jumping introduced a vertical element that would have made it difficult for companions to follow you).

I highly doubt that jumping had any impact on this.

[Paulon]

I recall one of the developers saying that they had a follow routine which would allow companions to follow the Avatar even while jumping obstacles. It wasn't technical issues which led them to drop the Companions - at least not when it came to having them follow.

[Viking]

From what I remember, it sort of was, since they didn't manage to get proper pathfinding, so the companions would always be linked to the avatar and turn, climb etc in synch

(look at how e.g. a school of fish behaves in the game, and you see how the party would've functioned).

[Soule]

That was what I remembered.
The pathfinding issues led to the drop of the companion system.

[Dominus]

THAT makes more sense instead of just jumping being the issue.

[Andrea B Previtera]

Pathfinding and... "pathfollowing" WERE implemented in U9 infact I remember there's a side quest where a woman follows you, and she (painfully) manages to do so even through many obstacles (I don't remember she ever jumped, though). A party system begins with the following code but there are more things than just that. They didn't support a party just because the game was rushed, not unlike u8. EA, EA, EA.

[Soule]

Yeah I agree.
Given enough time, I am sure the pathfinding and schedule features can certainly be included.
I am halfway through the game now.... there are some parts where the plot is sloppy. They actually included two clones of the Britain mayor : One in Paws and one in Britain - they say the same things. It's weird - almost like he is following the avatar.

[Warder]

Some parts? The U9 plot is a trainwreck, even if you don't count all the things from previous Ultimas it directly contradicts

[MeddlingMonk]

Although it's kind of fun exploiting the bugs. Or trying to find ways to work around them. I actually found a way to keep Dermot in the cemetary in Britain, and ways to get two extra bags instead of one when boxing and how to get two manna hits per ghost bracelet. A screwed-up game can have entertainment value, too; just not the usual sort.

[Andrea B Previtera]

Exploiting U9 was undoubtely funny:
http://www.it-he.org/ultima9.htm

[Viking]

MeddlingMonk: How did you keep Dermot in the cemetary? And did he give the conversation he is supposed to give about the skeletons in the house on the hill?

[MeddlingMonk]

I don't think this is the right place for that subject, so just click here and you'll get a PDF file describing the cheats and exploits I've discovered (kind of a long list).

And, yeah, you get the full Dermot experience when he's made to stay put.

[Soule]

I just completed U9 and Dermot was never at the cemetery... he was constantly drunk at the pub.
And Sir Robin (who was supposed to tell you about the dragons) never appeared. Same with the lady survivor in Dawn - I suspect she got killed!
And using the fly cheat; I found Cleo buried underneath the Paws swamp next to Smith!!! This is absolutely zany...

[Soule]

MeddlingMonk: I just read your document.
Well done! You seemed to have found the bugs that I was inflicted with!
I am totally amazed. How did you ever find out the truth about all these bugs?

[MeddlingMonk]

Dermot leaves the cemetery at sunset on the first day in Britain. I'm not sure what exactly is supposed to trigger Robin but normally he appeared for me. Molly sometimes is, sometimes isn't in Dawn but it's often possible to make her appear. Cleo is always underground; I suspect her Z coordinate was misset because there's nothing that can be done to move her.

Now that you've played U9 once, play again and cheat/exploit the smeg out of that sucker.

[Soule]

I don't really want to replay the game again...at least not so soon.
Could you tell me about the story of the skeleton with the ruby eye?

Molly didn't come back even after I returned from the dungeon..that wretch!

[Soule]

Sorry forgot to ask you something as well.
The later patch mentioned that it is possible to keep the Mage Shield.

"Created a way for you to keep the Mage Shield once you've found it"

Do you happen to know what this 'way' is?

[MeddlingMonk]

Basically, the skeleton is supposed to have been a pirate. Dermote doesn't really say any more than that.

The only way I know of to keep the mage shield is to kill Batista after she's given you the sigil. Which patch are you referring to, btw?

[Soule]

Dear MeddlingMonk,

Check out this link and click on 'Show More Details', then look for references on the Mage Shield.

- Created a way for you to keep the Mage Shield once you've
found it. If you install the patch before you arrive in
Britannia you will see this change.


http://www.fileplanet.com/36594/30000/f ... ion-v1.18F

[DarkAvatar]

U9's story i think is all mixed up and mashed together, it has a firm idea down but it seems to me like they rushed it, and didn't take time on it, it was about as much of a blunder as Pagan was, pagan's still a great game and so is ascension.. but its not as great as 7 is, and it seems to me that it lost its style when they decided to take out the party system, now if they would of expanded upon 7's engine and recreated it into the later games and actually spent time on the story (at least for ascension) they would of been masterpiece's like there predecessor's were..

[Tobyn]

just can't let this thread and a good opportunity pass on withouth finally asking about a nasty problem I have with U9:

The game works fine when set to my laptop's native 1400*1050 screen resolution, but
when I open any standard book, journal, spellbook or the trade scroll (shop conversation), it
might take more than 20 seconds to open, during which the game blocks all other action. I only
hear the music (with repetition if StreamDuration from sound section in options.ini ecxeeded).

The waiting time for opening books is greatly reduced along with screen resolution:
1400*1050 needs 10 sec (20-30 sec when my laptop heated up due to too much U9)
1024*768 only needs 6 sec (10-15 sec when overheated)
800*600 only needs 5 sec (not tested when overheated)
320*240 only needs 2 sec (still only 2-3 sec when overheated)

changing GameScreenDepth (colors) from 32 to 16 also halves the above times.

Why are opened books, spellbook and journal calculated along with the other 3d stuff even though they
seem to be fixed gumps, always being displayed the same way, position, distance? More importantly:

Is there any way to have the great screen resolution but avoid the nasty waiting time,
e.g. changing some other options? Does anybody else experience similar?

Even if you can't give me an answer but know any good U9 sites instead, I'd be glad to get directions, please

thanks and greetings,
Tobyn

-----

excerpts from [Game] section in options.ini

; 2 = D3D, 3 = Glide
Game Rasterizer=2

; Set to 1 to force alpha textures to draw as 4444 (for 3dfx in D3D)
Force4444Alpha=0
GameScreenWidth=1400
GameScreenHeight=1050
GameScreenDepth=32
D3DGUID=2229681632,18090,4559,129,111,0,0,192,32,21,110
DDGUID=1734890841,12550,4560,185,113,0,170,0,52,47,159
GameMipMapLevel=1
PromptForDevice=0
SaveStatePath=0
KeyboardMouseDistance=60
MultiPassChromakey=2
LODScale=1.0

[Andrea B Previtera]

@Tobyn:
From what you say, I suspect that either by some horrible choice in the u9 engine, or more probably some issue with the way it deals with your graphic card, it could be drawing gumps pixel by pixel using some super-slow but super-compatible function (like Opengl's GlDrawPixel, for example). That would explain why as the resolution grows, they take more and more time to be drawn, and why switching from 32 to 16 bpp halves the drawing time.

[Paulon]

Does the laptop have dedicated video memory, or is it using the CPU's RAM when it needs it?

[AnyOtherName]

I can just imagine solving some of those inane jumping puzzles with party members... you miss the ledge...
*splash*
You begin swimming your way out and...
*splash, splash, splash*
ugh... haha.