Ultima 7 is one of the fussiest games to get running. Both 7 & 8 were released before Windows 95. The games use their own memory managers and need custom startup configs to be able to run.

You'll also run into the issue where Ultima 7 is unplayable due to your CPU's speed.

SScorpio wrote on 2024-11-06, 18:35:

Ultima 7 is one of the fussiest games to get running. Both 7 & 8 were released before Windows 95. The games use their own memory managers and need custom startup configs to be able to run.

You'll also run into the issue where Ultima 7 is unplayable due to your CPU's speed.

Damn! Any way to get them working? 🙁

Any reason not to use Exult and ScummVM? Both work on 9x.
You'd probably need to use an older ver of Exult, mabye. I know as of 2017 I was able to get Exult working on NT 3.51 so you wouldn't have to go back to far if you had to.

DosFreak wrote on 2024-11-06, 19:06:

Any reason not to use Exult and ScummVM? Both work on 9x.
You'd probably need to use an older ver of Exult, mabye. I know as of 2017 I was able to get Exult working on NT 3.51 so you wouldn't have to go back to far if you had to.

Got to check those out, I don't really know what it is 😁

There is a patch by Dragon Baroque for both U7 and U8 to play them in Windows 9x. The reason to do this these days is beyond me, though 😀
https://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?eve … eyword=upgrades ("Ultima 7 Complete Upgrade" has U7Win9x) and https://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?eve … eyword=fanpatch (Ultima 8 in Windows)

Dominus wrote on 2024-11-06, 19:21:

There is a patch by Dragon Baroque for both U7 and U8 to play them in Windows 9x. The reason to do this these days is beyond me, though 😀
https://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?eve … eyword=upgrades ("Ultima 7 Complete Upgrade" has U7Win9x) and https://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?eve … eyword=fanpatch (Ultima 8 in Windows)

I have a nice setup with my CRT monitor and all and I'm trying to experience those as I did back then, I have a converter from VGA to DP but the quality is far from perfect, wanted really bad to play them in my 98SE machine 😀
What would be the best bet to play these games, especially for these "harder to run" games, on my Win98SE machine?
Thanks! 😀

Hmm, for games like these you are better off playing them in pure DOS not in a Windows dos prompt, IMO.
But as I'm one of the developers of Exult and of Pentagram (Ultima 8 engine) before it became part of ScummVM, I really need to urge you to try out Exult for Ultima VII and ScummVM for Ultima 8 on a modern machine. We do bring so much enhancements 😀

Dominus wrote on 2024-11-06, 19:28:

Hmm, for games like these you are better off playing them in pure DOS not in a Windows dos prompt, IMO.
But as I'm one of the developers of Exult and of Pentagram (Ultima 8 engine) before it became part of ScummVM, I really need to urge you to try out Exult for Ultima VII and ScummVM for Ultima 8 on a modern machine. We do bring so much enhancements 😀

That's awesome! So Exult for 7 and ScummVM for 8 right? Any specific versions for it to work on my 98se? Keep up the good work, lovely stuff!

I‘d recommend using a modern operating system. I don‘t think there is a ScummVM version for Windows 9x that had U8 support and Exult has had many improvements (especially crash improvements) since the last Win9x compatible version

Dominus wrote on 2024-11-06, 19:39:

I‘d recommend using a modern operating system. I don‘t think there is a ScummVM version for Windows 9x that had U8 support and Exult has had many improvements (especially crash improvements) since the last Win9x compatible version

Oh, so I will try on my modern one, so for my 98 machine I'm kind of out of luck to run these properly I guess?

For your Windows 89 machine try these patches I mentioned in my first post.

Dominus wrote on 2024-11-06, 19:47:

For your Windows 89 machine try these patches I mentioned in my first post.

Will do, will let you know feedback, thanks a lot! 😀

Never managed to get Ultima 8 running on computers with more than 64 MB of RAM. Other than that, it never gave me any trouble to speak of.

You could try using himem.sys/emm386.exe from older versions of DOS (5.0?) that only addresses smaller amounts of memory. Might also be an idea to try with a 64MB stick or smaller before doing that effort if you have one, to make sure your relatively modern other hardware doesn't cause other problems.

Got U8 installed on my P233MMX with 64MB RAM, S3 Virge, SB AWE32, W98SE. Working perfectly with that setup.

kaputnik wrote on 2024-11-06, 22:03:

Never managed to get Ultima 8 running on computers with more than 64 MB of RAM. Other than that, it never gave me any trouble to speak of.

You could try using himem.sys/emm386.exe from older versions of DOS (5.0?) that only addresses smaller amounts of memory. Might also be an idea to try with a 64MB stick or smaller before doing that effort if you have one, to make sure your relatively modern other hardware doesn't cause other problems.

Got U8 installed on my P233MMX with 64MB RAM, S3 Virge, SB AWE32, W98SE. Working perfectly with that setup.

Woah, seems they are pesky to run indeed! Atm I'm trying the patches, so far no bueno but it can be that the GOG version ain't good for these patches, will try my CD version later.

U7 runs but, no sound whatsoever, I have onboard sound with my sovtek board, what should I choose in the install config? 😀
U8 still nothing, it's being mean!

The RAM is the problem with U8 as mentioned by someone else. 63MB max

Dominus wrote on 2024-11-07, 16:31:

The RAM is the problem with U8 as mentioned by someone else. 63MB max

U7 gave me a config.sys files=38 instead of 40 error aswell, been a while... Can't remember how to make it work though. 😀
The U8 ram thing, how can I lower it, configuration wise, without messing with the dimms? 😀
Thanks!

Well...IIRC, older BIOSes had a setting for RAM configuration. My Win98SE tower doesn't, though, but it's a Pentium 4. I looked. 😀 Maybe you can change the setting in CMOS. Try it out!

BTW, will Ultima 7 and 8 work in DOSBox? I'll try them on dosgamesarchive.com now. 😀