easymode

I am going to start posting my rough tutorials for these old games. Basically, I want to have this here as a reminder to myself... in case I want to install the game on a different system or in case my future self forgets how I got things going.

So, here is how I play Ultima Underworld (works for Ultima Underworld I and II) on a modern PC. PAY ATTENTION AVATAR!


This requires the GOG version, which I imagine is the primary way most of us play it these days. I do have the floppies, but they won't work with this patch.
If you don't have these games, they go on sale frequently and are currently $2.99 (regular price is $5.99). GOG link: https://www.gog.com/en/game/ultima_underworld_1_2

So, this tutorial is kinda stupid-easy, but finding the right tool was the big deal... and this is the right tool:

• Download this: https://github.com/vini1264/Ultima-Underworld-Portable?
• Extract that anywhere (I just made a folder inside my game directory called "Ultima-Underworld-Portable"
• Go into your gog installation folder and find the game.gog file. Copy that into your Ultima-Underworld-Portable folder
• Inside the Ultima-Underworld-Portable folder, run Extractor.bat
• Once that is finished, you can play the game using UWPortable.bat
• I like to make a shortcut for UWPortable.bat and put it on my desktop, but you do you.

That's it. Now, it's time to learn to play... these old games feel new because they aren't anything like modern games in regard to control schemes and such.

Once you are in the game, you will need to know how to toggle things. The patch integrates John Glassmyere's UltimaHacks with mouselook. Here are the relevenat controls (shortcuts lifted from https://github.com/JohnGlassmyer/UltimaHacks).

`(Backquote/tilde): toggle mouse-look
Alt+`: invert mouse-look axes (cycles through 4 states)
wasd: movement, typical of modern shooters
Space: attack (using last attack type, or slash)
Shift: jump
q: look at object in 3D view
e: use object in 3D view
z: display map
r: flip to rune-bag panel
f: flip to character panel

Ctrl+Alt+<letter>: select a rune
Ctrl+Alt+Backspace: clear selected runes
Ctrl+Alt+Space: cast the selected runes

Ctrl+Up: Easy Move Walk Forward
Ctrl+Left: Easy Move Left
Ctrl+Right: Easy Move Right
Ctrl+Down: Easy Move Backwards

g: activate compass
h: activate health and mana flasks
Ctrl+Shift: standing long jump
Shift: fly up
Ctrl: fly down
c: close container in inventory view
v: scroll inventory down
b: scroll inventory up

s: up one level
w: down next level
d: previous realm (Ultima Underworld II only)
a: next realm (Ultima Underworld II only)
c: go to Avatar's level

Enjoy.

Thanks for the tutorial! I've never played any of the Ultima games....would this one be a good one to start with or should I look elsewhere?

YES. Simply because it is not really an Ultima game. It was just Underworld until Origin became the publisher and decided to add, "Ultima," because $$$.

The mainline Ultima games are a pain to get running (it'll take a longer tutorial)... and they are ugly, lol. They are worth playing and it's insane how much you can do in them, but the Underworld games are something totally different. This was the first game from the team that became Looking Glass. So, you can feel the beginnings of what would become System Shock, Thief, and Deus Ex. I like it better than System Shock 1, but not 2.

Beyond that, the control scheme is so different that the game actually feels new. Every game basically feels the same to me these days... run, slide, aim, shoot, etc. Back then, they didn't have standards, so it was all experimental. Anyway, after you get used to it... and get used to toggling the mouselook off so you can use the cursor to interact with the world, it'll get fun.

Going to try this out once I get my hands on these games again. Besides the first Underworld, the only other Ultima games I ever played was Ultima IV (which was over a decade ago, and I didn't get particularly far) and Akalabeth.

I have been pondering if I should check out some dungeon crawlers, so I might have to consider these...