Exult Forum

I've noticed something strange while playing Ultima VII today and I couldn't find mention of it previously on these forums.

In Ultima 7, the Avatar only uses two frames for the walk cycle, where as all other NPCs, party members, etc I've observed use a three frame walking cycle. The only difference I notice here is that that the standing frame is used in the middle of the animation cycle, and I find it makes the movement much more fluid. I just can't figure out why the Avatar doesn't also use this three frame animation cycle.

I'm currently compiling Exult Studio so that I can poke around and figure out if I can add in the missing frames.

Also I forgot to mention that this occurs in the original game under DOSbox as well, so this isn't an Exult issue.

Well this issue seems to go a bit deeper than I expected. This happens even if I change the Avatar's shape to another NPC's shape, so it's part of the actual coding. Is it at all possible for this to be fixed? Even be a toggle in the menu or something? I'd really like to have the full animation cycle.

It's funny that I never came across it or even noticed it until now and yet it's been in the FAQ!

Obviously I wouldn't want to imply that the team should do anything about it, but the section regarding the walk cycle kind of gives the impression that at one time the Avatar was indeed using the three frame walk cycle. Would this be difficult to add into the options? Of course there are more important things to worry about with Exult.. but I'm just curious. And if it's not as simple as enabling it one way or the other, would it be possible through a usecode patch?

Thank you for your time.

Its hard coded in the movement code. Usecode can't change this. It'd probably be possible to make a toggleable option to change the avatar's walk/run animation sequence but you'll need to find someone to do it.

I actually decided to be adventurous and poke around in the code. I was not only able to make the walk cycle for the Avatar the same as all other NPCs, but I also offset the camera because normally it's centered on the tile the Avatar is standing on, but now it's centered on the Avatar's head.

Might not sound like much, but I only have a vague grasp of C++ so I'm proud of myself. I might see if I can look at how the options are coded and put it together for just that purpose.

While you're at it, maybe you can fix the disappearing items bug.

I'm already busy scripting the Avatar to bake me a cake and bring it to me via the nearest circle of stones on Earth, but I'll see what I can do once I finish with this.

I have vague memories of going back and forth on this.

There are probably even discussions on this on the forum...

One would need to really do a thorough search though...