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Can it be? Ultima VII ported to the PSP (Homebrew)

M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
I haven't tested it yet, but lookie lookie...

http://www.thefoodsucks.com/chuckles/

Ultima VII. One of the best CRPGs that has inspired or influenced most modern CRPGs. What happens when a golden oldie meets one of the hottest gaming handhelds in modern history? You get to relive a classic in style.

Introducing a port of Exult to the Playstation Portable platform, a framework that allows you to play Ultima VII: The Black Gate / Forge of Virtue as well as Serpent Isle / The Silver Seed.

It took a bit of wrangling and there were bumps along the way, but here it is, playable. We also made some cosmetic updates; I pixeled a few bits of custom graphics for an interface and illustrated a background for the PSP EBOOT and Chemical crafted a swank new logo for us and put together our online home to make the experience that much more enjoyable for you folks out there. ExultPSP isn't perfect, however. It wasn't written with the PSP in mind, so there is one remaining issue, namely memory consumption; I ironed out as many problems as I could, but Exult has quite the appetite for memory which slowly increases and increases as you play. Eventually, the PSP will be able to provide no more, resulting in a crash (it will however let you know that it has run out of memory). So you'll have to save your game occasionally. Despite this, you should be able to get decent stretches of gameplay before this happens. Another issue that snuck up on me is that Serpent Isle isn't playable in this public release. Rest assured this will be remedied in the next release. One final important note, do not suspend your PSP while ExultPSP is playing. I haven't yet accounted for sleep mode, and doing so will wipe out critical memory - I don't want to guess what kind of catastrophe can ensue because of it. Just quit ExultPSP before you shut off or suspend. Make sure you read the included readme text for all the info you need to get this up and running on your Playstation Portable!

And with that, I hope you Ultima fans of old and those new to this game enjoy this offering, as much as we had making it happen. My thanks to Chemical and the testers for their encouragement and support, as well as the Exult Team who deserve the reverence. Ultima VII truly is a remarkable game that has stood the test of time. Enjoy the Adventure that awaits!
Click to expand...

Thanks to a buddy of mine for the FYI!!

Edit - OK. Lots to play around with to get it running, but to start, open up the readme and start reading. To get the full sounds and updated music, you'll need to download a bunch of goodies from here (http://exult.sourceforge.net/download.php). Specifically:

Sound pack for Black Gate (Roland MT-32)
Sound pack for Serpent Isle (Roland MT-32)
Ogg encoded Music files for Exult Part 1
Ogg encoded Music files for Exult Part 2

You can get the regular sound packs (lower quality sounds, but less storage-intensive) instead. I believe you can skip both Ogg packs as well, if you don't want any music!
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Time to dig up my Ultima Collection CDs!!!

Oh man, if this works even reasonably well, it'll be THE BESTEST THING EVER!!

None of that bullshit SNES-style U7 included in that EA compilation...

Who cares if it doesn't support sleep mode? U7 innately supports save anywhere (save for combat). Save and shut down, if need be.

IT'S FUCKING UNWATERED ULTIMA VII ON THE GO!!*

*potentially
 
S

sky

Member
"Avataaaaaaaar!"

Amazing game. It felt as though it had a mind of it's own, at times... the ai was so weird and unpredictable :lol.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Please tell me that Exult's awful approximated combat and broken thief-consequences mechanics from many years ago were fixed...
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
NO. THAT'S THE SHITTY SNES VERSION. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

Beyond being absolutely terrible, it doesn't include the U7 Part 1 expansion, U7 part 2, or U7 part 2 expansion.
 
M

mcgarrett

Member
nincompoop said:
Ultima VII is already available on the PSP, it was included in EA replay... has anyone tried it out? Any good?
Click to expand...
It's the SNES version... investigating "kidnappings" instead of murders, no party, etc.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Bah, forget the gimped content (which is bad enough). But even the MECHANICS were ruined in the SNES port. Horrible.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Alright. I THINK I got it right. I set up both games (yes, I know SI doesn't work yet), the beefed up sounds and beefed up audio for each. Combined, just under 90 MBs from the mem stick. I'll try it out and also see if I can capture screenies for you folks!
 
P

Pellham

Banned
mcgarrett said:
It's the SNES version... investigating "kidnappings" instead of murders, no party, etc.
Click to expand...

Wow, that sounds horrible. I can't believe that godly classic was ported to the SNES and gimped so badly >_<
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Of course. Exult was a program that let you emulate all incarnations of U7, which were notoriously Windows-incompatible.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
AVATAR!
KNOW THAT BRITANNIA HAS ENTERED INTO A NEW AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT!

Holy... it woooooorks! It found both Black Gate and its expansion, Forge of Virtue. No dice on Serpent Isle or its expansion, Silver Seed, as expected!

Now to see how well it plays!
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Yikes. The post-character-creation load time is pretty nasty. I hope the whole game isn't this way...
 
D

Durante

Member
Mejilan said:
Found my CD. Setting it all up now...
Click to expand...
CD? What manner of tomfoolery is this? Mine is on 8 floppy disks :D

Mejilan said:
Yikes. The post-character-creation load time is pretty nasty. I hope the whole game isn't this way...
Click to expand...
Let us know how well it plays on the PSP, I may put it on there for an occasional nostalgic gaming session.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
I have The Complete Ultima VII (Parts 1 and 2 and the expansions of each) on 1 CD.

Beyond that, I also have The Ultima Collection CD (Akalabeth, U1-U8).

Alright. I'm in Trinsic, just teamed up with Iolo and am checking out that gruesome murder scene in the stables. Just got the earthquake, that's the Forge of Virtue trigger, IIRC. So far, it looks like BG + FoV is a go. That initial load was pretty brutal, in-game performance is quite solid so far! It'll take a while to get used to the controls. It uses every PSP button and then uses the L and R shoulder buttons as two sets of shift-toggles that, in conjunction with the rest of the buttons, provide you with a ton of keys to memorize.

For starters though, Square and Triangle are the left and right clicks, respectively, Cross toggles combat mode on and off, and Circle brings up your inventory! You can walk with the D-pad, and the analog nub controls the mouse. You can use the analog nub + Triangle to walk/jog/run as well...

If you're prompted to enter text (change your name when starting a new game or name a save file), start brings up the OSK.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
L + dpad runs. Good. Because the analog nub does not a responsive mouse make. And on that note, manipulating items is a serious pain in the ass here.

Seems like the stealing mechanics are still broken in this version of Exult. Oh, Iolo complains (Is this virtuous, Avatar?) but no one's raising an alarm.

Attacking townsfolk does trigger the guards though, so that seems to work now.
Woops! My bad. Got caught stealing from the Trinsic shopkeeper. Was warned. Continued stealing... bam, guards! Awesome! They fixed it!
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Protip: If you decide to go for the digital music. Make sure you enable DIGITAL music in the options, once you've started a game. Vast improvement over the default midi. :)
 
F

Flo

Member
I'm not home so I don't have my UVII cd handy.. but this is what's in the readme:


The Good: Play Ultima VII on your PSP, anywhere, anytime!
The Bad: Exult and the PSP were not made for eachother. At all.
The Ugly: Exult will continue to consume memory during gameplay beyond
which the PSP is able to offer. Crash, imminent.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Just release this on XBLA already (you could even sell the expansions and speech pack as DLC--like the original release all over again!). XBLA was made for classic PC game ports that most 360 owners never had a chance to play but it seems we'll have to be happy with The Incredible Machine for now (if we ever get that).
 
O

Obaid

Banned
runing isos on psp is way to easy, thats way nobody buys psp software but the hardware sells very well. It is a very weird situation. Like people buy a car but no one buys petrol. Is it good or bad? :D
 
F

Flo

Member
Obaid said:
runing isos on psp is way to easy, thats way nobody buys psp software but the hardware sells very well. It is a very weird situation. Like people buy a car but no one buys petrol. Is it good or bad? :D
Click to expand...

I don't know but it doesn't have anything to do with this thread!
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
Just tried it and it works great!! I had no problems setting it up at all, just follow the readme and it worked like a charm.

The initial load was a bit painful (like 2 mins maybe?) just how it was back on my 386. After that though the game looked amazing, sounded amazing and it ran like buttah. Controls are mapped fairly well, but the major issue with playing U7 on the PSP is the analog nub. I wish you could change the sensitivity as it's a bit too much on the high side. I ran around most of Trinsic, there's a slight pause (4 seconds) when accessing new parts of the map (caching what will cause a memory overflow in time I'd imagine) but I didn't have any other problems. The only other minor quibble I noticed is that the Exult engine isn't showing the Serpent Isle paperdoll in U7 like they do on the windows version. The option is there in settings but you still get the classic U7 paperdoll. I haven't tried SI yet.

I'm not sure if I'll play through the entire game on my PSP but it sure seems like it's possible. Maybe with a few more tweaks and added suspend support I will!
 
M

mcgarrett

Member
Mejilan said:
AVATAR!
KNOW THAT BRITANNIA HAS ENTERED INTO A NEW AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT!
Click to expand...
Portable U7 is very cool, but I find Exult annoying. The intro above, for example is somewhat ruined by the fact that the Guardian's lips just flap randomly instead of synching with his speech (unless they fixed this).
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
Luckily the loading time is extremly minimal once you save a game. It's only the first time that takes so long (like the original).

Also protip: Use the shoulder buttons to change number increments like when answering the latt & long questions for the Trinsic password.

I just wish it had a way to do precise pointing like in the GTA PSP games.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
I'll have more detailed impressions and at least a dozen screens (snapped by yours truly) within the hour.
 
T

Throwaway123456789

Member
Holy shit I'm so trying this! Ultima VII is one of my absolute favorite games evrrr, even though I never finished it.

Any chance of this ever running on DS?
 
V

Versipellis

Member
Mejilan said:
L + dpad runs. Good. Because the analog nub does not a responsive mouse make. And on that note, manipulating items is a serious pain in the ass here.
Click to expand...

Iolo takes you aside and whispers, "Avatar, for the sake of our mutual sanity, I strongly suggest that thou shouldst purchase a mouse." :D

mcgarrett said:
Portable U7 is very cool, but I find Exult annoying. The intro above, for example is somewhat ruined by the fact that the Guardian's lips just flap randomly instead of synching with his speech (unless they fixed this).
Click to expand...

They fixed it in 1.4
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Alright. I'll tell a fun story with images! I guess. I've taken all of these shots myself, using a GAME150 homebrew screen capturing plugin. Woo!

snap000.jpg
snap001.jpg

The Exult XMB skin and Exult system screen. (Serpent Isle not available in this build).

snap002.jpg
snap003.jpg

Ultima VII Part 1 splash and title screens.

snap004.jpg
snap005.jpg

AVATAR! The Guardian's spiel scene and U7 P1 main screen. (You'll note that the Forge of Virtue expansion is recognized!)

snap006.jpg
snap007.jpg

Save/load screen (with on-screen keyboard) and a quick look at the Avatar's status screen, paperdoll, and backpack!

snap008.jpg
snap009.jpg

Foul murder (the quest begins)! The Avatar investigates (conversation trees)!

snap010.jpg
snap011.jpg

im in ur storz, stealn ur hurbz. Uh-oh... BUSTED!

snap012.jpg
snap013.jpg

An irate guard approacheth. An irate guard vanquishes me!

snap014.jpg
snap015.jpg

Seriously, you get to run down game and run 'em through for sustenance! Ah-HAH... remember how to access to the cheat room???

I've put an hour or two in the game now, and I've got some thoughts.

PORTABLE ULTIMA VII! It's a very good start, but definitely has some wrinkles that require ironing out.

I realize that it has to cache areas on the fly, but I imagine that they need to clean up the code a bit, because pausing the game randomly for 3-8 seconds while it streams an area can be annoying, especially out in the wild where you want to cover ground quickly and don't have buildings full of people to talk to and goodies to steal to keep you relatively rooted in one location and happy. In particular it seems that if you straddle one of these invisible boundaries, it'll cache repeatedly as you accidentally cross the boundary. Very annoying! Towns and dungeons seem much more manageable.

The analog nub-as-mouse implementation is awful. It's completely digital, so you're stuck with one speed. Too slow for moving about and selecting targets, but way too fast to easily select tiny goods such as gold coins, bananas, keys, levers, lockpicks, gems, etc. They either need to implement true analog sensitivity to the nub, or at least allow two additional speeds with L + nub and R + nub toggles.

Save for those two issues, this is absolutely brilliant. Fix the two issues above and allow us to play Ultima VII Part 2 (Serpent Isle), and you'll merit a Paypal reward from me!!
 
C

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
Man, i'm ready to buy a new PSP just so I can run homebrew.

Why did I upgrade my firmware, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
Mejilan said:
PORTABLE ULTIMA VII! It's a very good start, but definitely has some wrinkles that require ironing out.

I realize that it has to cache areas on the fly, but I imagine that they need to clean up the code a bit, because pausing the game randomly for 3-8 seconds while it streams an area can be annoying, especially out in the wild where you want to cover ground quickly and don't have buildings full of people to talk to and goodies to steal to keep you relatively rooted in one location and happy. In particular it seems that if you straddle one of these invisible boundaries, it'll cache repeatedly as you accidentally cross the boundary. Very annoying! Towns and dungeons seem much more manageable.

The analog nub-as-mouse implementation is awful. It's completely digital, so you're stuck with one speed. Too slow for moving about and selecting targets, but way too fast to easily select tiny goods such as gold coins, bananas, keys, levers, lockpicks, gems, etc. They either need to implement true analog sensitivity to the nub, or at least allow two additional speeds with L + nub and R + nub toggles.

Save for those two issues, this is absolutely brilliant. Fix the two issues above and allow us to play Ultima VII Part 2 (Serpent Isle), and you'll merit a Paypal reward from me!!
Click to expand...


Cool summary, agree with everything, though he deserves a tip for what he's done so far. Hopefully he'll use the money to buy another PSP and release a better version.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Yeah, I'm pretty amazed how far he's gotten. This is a very good first release candidate.

Red Scarlet said:
Oh, I thought maybe someone cast an explosion spell on him or something.
Click to expand...

Nope. One of the main story quests involves exposing the Fellowship for the corrupt organization it is. The murders of poor Christopher and Inamo are what set you off on that path. This won't be the first ritualistic murder you stumble upon before the end! :D
 
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