- INSTA-POLL -
Poll 10 Results
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Poll 9 Results
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Poll 8 Results
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Poll 7 Results
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Poll 6 Results
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Poll 5 Results
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Poll 4 Results
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Poll 3 Results
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Poll 2 Results
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Poll 1 Results
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News: October 1999
Select another month's news:
(July-August 1999)
(September 1999)
(October 1999)
(November 1999)
(December 1999)
| October 31, 1999 - Sunday | |
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19:57 - [Neocryte] - Sorry for the late and frankly useless update.. nothing new. Except... today is my birthday!! Woohoo happy birthday to me.. ahem. Ok :) |
| October 30, 1999 - Saturday | |
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13:04 - [Neocryte] - There is a very nice long video included with the demo, showing a few people up close. It is played just as the Avatar enters the moongate from Earth. I took two small pics from the video. Here is an up-close pic of Avatar's face... and here.. tada.. for all of you who think the Guardian doesn't look big and scary enough, take a look at this! I don't consider these spoilers.. unless you don't wanna see what Avatar and Guardian look like. Enjoy!
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| October 29, 1999 - Friday | |
21:19 - [Neocryte] - Wow, it seems that I have missed a huge update at the official U:IX site. They added eleven more screenshots, a few of them yet unseen. They have also added an Order section, listing special items in Dragon Edition and other brief game info (the order links they have are to EA Online Store, of course). And last, our all-favorite Lord British has updated his message to the fans. Here's a small bit:
"Here are some notable aspects of the game. I had previously estimated the demo as about 1/10 of the total game. After playing the game from beginning to end numerous times myself, I now know that the demo is a tiny fraction of the total, I'd guess about 3 - 5% at most. Most importantly, this game is an Ultima! It has a beautiful, huge, hand crafted, in-depth world to explore and adventure in, and hundreds of NPC's and items with which to interact which will provide you literally hundreds of hours of entertainment."
Make sure to read the rest and to vote at the new insta-poll :)
20:51 - [Neocryte] - Finally I got a bit of free time (aside from playing Ascension, hehe) to update the insta-poll question. First, on the last one. The results are right here. In a nutshell, Dragon Edition won with 235 votes, Regular and Both are tied at 25, and Neither has 3 votes. Thanks to all the people who participated! So.. with this new one, a bit different from the previous ones, it should be interesting to see where Ultima fans are from. So please take a minute to cast your vote.
Also, if you have played the demo and wondered on how to quit it without using the journal, Jaccl has commented at the boards that [CTRL] + [X] will quit anytime during gameplay.
18:07 - [Neocryte] - Ok, CGW is finally in stores! Yes, here in Pennsylvania, US, I bought my copy today for about $8. Well, the demo seems to show off the game pretty nicely. From all the earlier post by others, I was actually suspecting it to crash much more than it did. Check out some more demo screenshots posted by Wewp! Entertainment. So the point is, if you can, go and buy the CGW with the demo. If not, go to 3D Files and download it :)
06:09 - [Neocryte] - Two new previews up. Check out this huge 10-page preview at GameSpot and this fully German preview at GameSpot DE.
Also, despite all the leaking internet news, Ascension has not yet gone gold. Here's a confirming article
from Adreline Vault:
"Despite many reports all over the Internet today, we have confirmed with Origin's Richard Garriot and David Swofford that the highly anticipated Ultima IX: Ascension has not yet gone gold. Adrenaline Vault staff writer, Chris Harding, spent the day with Origin to look at the upcoming game and reports that what was sent to EA today was only a release candidate. If no glaring bugs are found, Ultima IX is expected to go gold and be released to manufacturing in a few days. Right now, Origin is shooting for a November 16 release date but the title will most likely ship around Thanksgiving."
05:58 - [Neocryte] - I have recieved a confirmation from Hurin that CGW is out in Santa Barbara, California. Here's a small timeline he prepared:
"Well, at 8:35PM I read that Borders had the CGW CD edition
At 8:45PM, several potential traffic/speeding tickets later. . . I stood
before the magazine rack. It was indeed before me.
8:47PM Still at magazine rack. Alas, the only that could possibly slow me
down in my desire to play the next Ultima. . . the amazing picture of
Jennifer Love Hewitt on the cover of the new Maxim. I usually think that
these magazines go too far. . . but this one even got me.
9:00PM Back home. Writing this.
Thanks for the tip. I'm in Santa Barbara, CA, by the way. Feel free to
pass that on. :)"
Woah.. Jennifer would stop even a hardcore Ascension fan like me, especially if I already had my CGW clutched in my hands. Thanks Hurin!
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| October 28, 1999 - Thursday |
20:31 - [Neocryte] - Well, to sum it all up. Here is the most stable demo download site. If you need more FTP sites, check the boards. And don't forget to download the last of the demo videos - it is REALLY good! It's a whopping 4 minutes long, features tons of cinematic and gameplay scenes, and is narrated by our beloved Guardian.
Also, it has become known (posted by Dogwood) that the CGW is now available in Borders Book Stores in California. I am going to check tomorrow here in Pennsylvania, hopefully, it's out.
15:12 - [Neocryte] - Ok, a bunch of news... First of all, the most important. 3D Files has posted the demo! It is now available for download. Here is the download site. There are 21 RAR files to download, each around 14.3 MB (last one is 9 MB).
Now, while you are downloading, Wewp! Entertainment has posted some new screenshots from the demo and a small preview Enjoy!.
06:19 - [Neocryte] - Official U:IX site has posted another video for
download. It combines gameplay scenes and cinematics... 19.24 MB, MOV format. Go grab it here!
00:02 - [Neocryte] - Quick update... 3D Files is again willing to post the whole demo up on their FTP, which should be very reliable. Here's Tim's message:
"I screwed up and jumped the gun. I deleted the upload, that wasnt finished anyway, because of the CD check and the large size. Personally, seeing how badly you guys want it, i will make it happen if you can help by uploading or giving me somewhere to get it. Id rather NOT have the bin file, but the files so anyone can play it. I have tried FTP sites listed here and see they are down or the files gone. NOW you see how hard it is to hand out a large demo and this is just ahandful of people!
Get it to me and ill make it happen on a ftp site you can count on. Period. :) Again, sorry for dropping the ball, lets straighten it out. Email tim@3dfiles.com with an ftp or ill give you mine. High speed cable or better only, no ISDN. All emails asking status will be ignored, sorry."
Ok... now let's hope someone with a fast connection uploads it.
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| October 27, 1999 - Wednesday |
19:57 - [Neocryte] - Well, CapnBill has just explained to us all how to get the demo to work without the CD. So, if you have the demo (and the download sites ARE already available by certain Ultima fans - check the boards for FTP addresses and passwords), you can get it to work now:
"I'm sorry about all the concern about the demo being "Copy
protected"--the truth is, it's not. We never meant for the
CD to be required to play. We did put a lot of the audio &
movies on the CD for the game, so the game looks on the CD
for those files to minimize your hard drive install
footprint; and that code carried over into the demo.
So, here's what to do to play without the CD (assume "CD:"
is the drive of your CDROM, and "Install" is the directory
you installed the demo to):
1) Copy CD:\SOUND\MUSIC.FLX to Install\SOUND
2) Copy CD:\SOUND\SPEECH.FLX to Install\SOUND
3) Create Install\Movies
4) Copy CD:\MOVIES to Install\Movies
OR, just leave Movies off; they're not required to play
Now, just run the demo! The code will find all the sound
files it needs in the SOUND directory on your hard drive,
and won't pester you for the CD. Tada!!! Remember, LadyMOI asks that if you post the demo, give credit to CGW.
Thanks!"
No, thank YOU, CapnBill :)
18:00 - [Neocryte] - Good news! The1Mango just stated that the demo will very soon be available for download - as soon as they get around the CD issue. So, stay tuned!
17:06 - [Neocryte] - Ok boys and girls, you HAVE to take a look at this... Wewp! Entertainment has posted 22 new screenshots from the demo! Take a look at them right here! And while I am it, here's a scanned in pic of the demo CD (courtesy of Wewp!). Thanks to Johnny Tips for the info!
One more thing, I will try to update the insta-poll over the next few days.
16:27 - [Neocryte] - GameSpot UK has posted an awesome exclusive preview of Ultima IX. Here's a small bit:
"Changes to the gameplay are measured rather than radical. One of Origin's
priorities has been to make this game more accessible for new players
without
dumbing it down for old hands. Thus, you begin on planet Earth in a
non-aggressive, narrated "tutorial" environment designed to get you used to
the
3D interface, searching out objects and making use of them. The interface
itself is very simple - right mouse button to move, left to interact and so
forth,
with a tool belt for spells/items linked to hotkeys. There's no front-end -
loading, saving, etc, are all done from within the game."
Read the rest here! Thanks to Ian Howie for the info.
06:35 - [Neocryte] - Quick sidenote. Ultima IX: Ascension the Dragon Edition is now number 2 on EA Online Store site's Top Ten List.
06:08 - [Neocryte] - Sorry about that guys.. the page was down all night. I don't know what happened. On the good side, here is a very interesting topic where people share their first impressions of the U:IX demo. It's worth a read!
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| October 26, 1999 - Tuesday |
21:41 - [Neocryte] - LadyMOI has made a grand appearance at the boards today, spreading the words of wisdom. She answered a lot of angry questions and calmed down a lot of people. Here's a small piece of her intro speech, but please take a few minutes to read the whole topic:
"Some of you have become agitated at the lack of opportunity to get it because you are located in foreign countries, or because you don't care for the magazine, or whatever other reason. I ask you to please consider that without this deal with CGW, the demo would not be released at all."
One last thing... any suggestions for the next insta-poll?
17:03 - [Neocryte] - Here's an interesting bit of info provided to me by Glenn Altemose. This is the e-mail he sent to Tim Tibbetts at 3D Files:
"As you guys may have heard, there is a whole slew of controversy
over the Ultima Ascension demo not being available, especially since now
it appears that it has some form of CD check - apparently you guys have
already validated this. Is is possible to put up the file for download
anyway, with the disclaimer that they must be on the CD to work?
Assuming we have the title of the CD as originally stated, we can just
burn the files onto a CD ourselves if we have a CD burner. Is this
possible? Thanks for the reply!"
Well, here's what Tim Tibbetts replied:
"No, because its 400 megs. All the guy complaining that we cant make it
available for download are forgetting the costs involved with transferring
thousands of 400 meg files. Since there is supposed to be a demo next month,
its not worth it, not for anyone :("
Thanks to Tim for answering and thanks to Glenn for the info!
16:42 - [Neocryte] - Zero did a nice job
summarizing everything below. I put direct links for the videos into our Movies section, so enjoy!
13:00 - [Zero] - Okay folks, a little news about the demo. Over at 3dFiles.com they have said that the Ultima 9 Demo which comes with the CGW magazine has a CD check and is officially over 400 megs. What does this mean? Well, for one, those of us who aren't subscribed to CGW will have to wait for EA to release the on-line demo or wait for CGW to come to the stands. (400 megs is just too big to have on most servers)
On the bright side, 3dFiles has decided to post some movies from the Demo CD right here.
12:50 - [Zero] - This isn't really news, but I thought you all would be interested in these pictures I found while searching the web. As you could guess, these are from the old Ultima 9 engine from about 1997. Check out how much it has changed! Amazing. I guess it was good that the U9 team had to take a year off to help Ultima Online. Click to enlarge
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| October 25, 1999 - Monday |
21:44 - [Neocryte] - Gamespot has got an interesting article up - 700 MHz Shoot-Out. Guess what? The new PIII Coppermine (0.18 micron) kicked Athlon's butt! Yeah I know, it's not really Ultima related.. but who cares, it's interesting news anyway :)
21:22 - [Neocryte] - Here's a really long message from The1Mango today, about the demo and some other questions.. so read on!
"Demo:
Our exclusive deal with CGW was only for US. We distributed
the demo to all our international territories and told them
they were free to give it out to all the game mags, as long
as it wasn't released earlier than Nov. 1st. It's really up
to the PR/Marketing folks in each terrority to get it onto
demo discs. I'm assuming that the very large size of the
demo was a limitor as to how many mags would take it. I'll
confirm this though and get back to y'all.
Yobgod is right in that since the game is one continuous
world, it is impossible to break it down in to level chunks.
The whole game will still be on 2 CDs.
We are going to be exploring more ways to make it smaller,
but that'll have to wait until we sign off the final
software! :)
Oh, Canada:
I believe that all EB stores, US and Canada, essentially
have the same distribution, so I'm assuming that it will show
up on the shelves the same time as the US. As for the
online vs. retail issue, that's a tough one. Usually what
happens to me is that I get to the store to find out they
have sold out already and wish I had ordered it online. :)
Misc:
I've tried to hit everyones questions, but let me know if
that's not the case. I'm sorry I can't reveal the exact ship
date, but I can tell you things are going well and you won't
have to wait that much longer!!! :)
I hope you all are able to get your hands on the demo, I'm
really looking forward to your feedback. Please just keep in
mind that a lot has changed since we sent that demo off to
CGW, so hopefully any of the issues you may have have since
been addressed.
Long live the Dragons!!!"
16:49 - [Neocryte] - Ok, first thing is first. There is no demo available for download yet. Hehe, people are going crazy at the boards, providing sites to upload to, etc. :) After the first emotions, my advice is, to go ahead and wait for a week until the CGW is out on storeshelves or when they post it on the official U:IX site, which will be November 1st-2nd, I think. Oh, one more thing. Still in doubt if the demo exists? Check out this topic that contains the actual readme file from the CD.
Also, there is a new virtue story up at the official U:IX site, about the Virtue of Sacrifice.
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| October 24, 1999 - Sunday |
20:46 - [Neocryte] - It seems that CapnBill has paid a short visit to the boards and answered the question about swap file size:
" We set ours to about 500MB, which seems about optimal. Much larger didn't seem to improve performance (it actually seems to slow the game down in some cases)."
Some people are already playing the demo. Some are talking about demo bugs, some about other things. If anyone out there has the demo, please people, taking the time if you have a good connection, and upload it to some site. Thy humble action shall earn thee immortality in the eyes of us, Dragons and Ultima fans.
19:22 - [Neocryte] - Hey, check this out.. So it looks like some people already DO have the demo:
"hey guys, anyone else that has a the demo i have a
question... i heard a while back that you would be able to
use the bow on the demo to shoot things... theres plenty
enuff things to shoot but problem is i cant find the bow
anyplace... anyone find it yet??? thanks bros..."
Also I have heard that the demo may appear on 3D Files soon, so check back often - hopefully we will be able to download and play it soon :)
10:34 - [Neocryte] - My friend Batlin informed me today that none of his numerous friends yet recieved their CD issue of CGW:
"...so I would guess it's safe
to say that the non-cd mags come before the CD Mags."
Well, let's cross our fingers and hope we see that demo
soon! Thanks a lot for keeping me informed, Batlin!
Also, check out these demo thoughts at the boards, posted by Frodo. Gives you quite a different side of the story...
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| October 23, 1999 - Saturday |
19:11 - [Neocryte] - CapnBill has been at the boards today and answered a couple of questions. First, here he is explaining stuff about the demo:
"(Hope I make sense here--we're pretty darn tired these daze)
The game will run at least as well as the demo. We put the
demo out before our final round of debugging, and we've made
some performance changes since then (nothing major, just
minor tweaks).
As you may surmise from that statement, the demo is a tad
buggy. It has load/save, but it's a little unreliable, so
don't be surprised if your savegames exhibit some strangeness
(like rats making goat sounds, one of our favorite bugs!)
Also, our D3D support in the demo wasn't fully mature at that
time.
Another thing to remember about the demo is that, by its
nature, it doesn't contain some of the showcase features of
the game (we couldn't put the Britannia map in the demo, so
it doesn't contain many NPCs or conversations). But, the
demo is >>very<< fun, and does give you an idea of what it's
like to play the game! So, enjoy!!
One more thing about the demo. We initially thought the
demo was about 10% of the game. Then, we thought it was more
like 5%. Well, our current estimate is more like 2 or 3%!
The game is HUGE."
And here's my favorite Capn, on how the game is moving on:
"Again, I can't give an official release date here. But, I can fill you in on where we are now! The source code is now locked; the only changes we're making are critical changes (crashers, plot-stoppers). The maps are locked too; the only changes made are critical ones. We're all pulling long hours; everyone is on 24-hour call. Even Richard is pulling all-nighters, playing through the game & making sure the balance is right.
Bottom line: WE'RE DAYS AWAY!!!! After that, it's packaging & distribution, then to the shelves."
12:45 - [Neocryte] - There was a question at the boards, concerning the use of Runic language in the game. Here's Jazar:
"The Dev team has mentioned before that the runic alphabet does play an important part of U9. So you better brush up on your runic before it's released! ;-)"
Well, as the man says, you better brush up on your Runic! To help you out, the Miscellaneous Downloads section has been updated. It now has the Runic TTF font and the Runic-to-English alphabet. Enjoy!
12:18 - [Neocryte] - Check out this interview with Ultima IX designer, Seth Mendelsohn, posted at GameFan:
"[3D]definitely makes the world more immersive. Being able to move anywhere in the world and see everything in 3D really makes the player feel as if they were in the game. It will also require the player to look everywhere in the world for things, not just in front or behind."
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| October 22, 1999 - Friday |
22:37 - [Neocryte] - Just a quick update. Demoman has been at the boards and said that his friend didn't get the demo yet. So, we shall hope tomorrow is the day. Thank to Batlin for the info!
15:37 - [Neocryte] - Well, there's still no Ascension on any demo download sites. BUT, here is a glimmer of hope, a message that brings happiness to my heart, by Demoman (cool name):
"Someone who has a subscription to CGW and the Demo CD as well, is going to upload the U:A demo to someone else tomorrow (they didn't get it today, but they should get it tomorrow).. once that person uploads it to the next person, that next person will be spreading it across ftp sites for other people to download at their leisure.. someone may post ftp site addresses will be on here tomorrow so you may want to be around.. I hear it's probably going to happen tomorrow, late PST time.. ;)"
Nice! I'll be there. By the way, here is a direct link to that topic, at the official boards. Let's just hope this is real.
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| October 21, 1999 - Thursday |
19:25 - [Neocryte] - Hehehe, check out this topic where disgruntled fans scream: "We want demo!! We want demo!!!" Here's DurhamDragon's comment on the demo availability:
"I'd wager there is an agreement with CGW that they have the
cover CD exclusive. Until the magazine goes offically on
sale to the public on Nov. 2nd, I don't think they can make
it available for download."
Ouch! Another two weeks?? That hurts... But DD is probably right.
15:33 - [Neocryte] - Well, all you lucky Computer Gaming World subscribers, the December issue has arrived! Yep, you get to play the Ultima IX: Ascension demo!!! Unfortunately, my friend's subscription doesn't include the CD, or otherwise I would be playing it right now :) I checked some demo websites, but it's still not available for download anywhere. Hopefully, it will be soon.
15:20 - [Neocryte] - There is an article up at Computer Games Online, talking about Origin's THX sound:
"If you didn't think sound was important to a game, consider what they're doing in Ascension. "For years Richard [Garriott, creator of Ultima] has wanted music to play a part in the plot," says Williams, "something that helps guide the player." The storyline of Ascension is based on a set of core virtues, and composer George Oldziey has given each their own musical motif."
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| October 20, 1999 - Wednesday |
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16:06 - [Neocryte] - Still no official news on the size of the demo, although some people are saying at the boards that there will be two versions of the demo - the full one on the CGW magazine and a 3dfx-only one also. In any case, I updated the Pre-Order Section, adding two more sites to pre-order from. I hope it's helpful!
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| October 19, 1999 - Tuesday |
21:50 - [Neocryte] - Bah! Here's a bit of disturbing news from The1Mango, the product manager from the boards:
"...As for downloading it, there are game sites that are
interested in hosting it (it's a gigantic 450megs!!!), but
nothing finalized yet. Won't be before the CGW cover though."
Ummm.. this is certainly strange - a week ago it was mentioned that the demo is about 200 MB. If you feel like
stating something or complaining on this topic, go here!
11:14 - [Zero] - Okay everyone, have some urgent news. Over at Gamespot they have a poll question asking what RPG you are
most looking forward to playing: Diablo 2, Final Fantasy 8, or Ultima 9. Now, the bad news is that, as of right now, Diablo 2 leads with 67%, FF8 with 16% and Ultima9 falls behind with 15%!! Whats wrong with you people?? Get on over there now and vote for Ultima 9.
This doesn't really determine anything, but I am suprised at how many people obviously don't know what Ultima 9:Ascension is... they dont know what they are missing.
Also, like Neocryte said, our new section is up; Pre-Order: IX. I highly suggest you check it out, Neocryte did a great job on it and we will continuelly be adding to it, to help all of those confused about the most reliable source to order from.
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| October 18, 1999 - Monday |
15:21 - [Neocryte] - Well, here it is... the brand new Pre-Order U:IX section! I ordered the Dragon Edition yesterday, and that inspired me to go ahead and create this little guide that will help people out there. So, if you'd like
to tell me how awesome I am or how much my page sucks, send your comments here.
15:01 - [Neocryte] - Check out the new virtue story on the Justice Virtue, at the awesome official Ultima IX site. And, I am still working on the pre-order page, it's almost done.
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| October 17, 1999 - Sunday |
22:26 - [Neocryte] - I am working on a new section right now, 'Pre-Order' - it will help you people out there to pick the right place to pre-order Ascension from. It is nearly finished, but it's bed time for me. It should be up around 17:30 tomorrow.
21:07 - [Neocryte] - Welcome back, Zero!
Actually this isn't really an update... umm.. just updating pic of the day. :)
13:52 - [Zero] - Hello everyone! Yes thats right, I am not dead... in fact I am more alive then ever. School has been very busy for me and for some reason I completely neglected Ultima 9... But I am coming back on track! My birthday gave me a wake up call, and my new computer is in the mail. wohooo. 700mhz of pure speed! Anyway, I am going to continue helping out Neocryte and keep you all updated on our favorite upcoming game-Ultima Ascension!
Alright, enough apoligizing, here is a little news I caught. For those of you who refuse to order from EBworld, you can pre-order Ultima 9 at the Starvector web site. I believe it is a little cheaper.
11:44 - [Neocryte] - Hey people, check it out - Ultima IX: Ascension, The Dragon Edition is number 8 on EA Store's Top Ten Titles list.
10:58 - [Neocryte] - Ok, today I actually have some news for you. :) First, Fullmetal, Russell, and Yobgod announced today at the boards that they are leaving the boards. Tis truly sad, for all three are great guys! Post them a farewell letter! We will miss you, guys!
On another, perhaps a happier note, CapnBill has been at the *gasp* boards and answered a couple of questions plaguing our minds, hehe. The first one
was about the demo saved games being transferrable to the full game. Here's what he said:
"The demo was done well before the game was finished (it
still isn't quite finished!), so I certainly wouldn't
recommend trying to transfer your save-games from one to the other!"
On the question about a screenshot-taking utility built into the game, he simply said:
"Yes, we do have it in!" Hehe.
And saving the BEST for last, CapnBill mentioned something very interesting while answering a question about Mip-mapping:
"Also, you'll all be interested to know we finally got our
multi-res support running properly. UIX looks FANTASTIC on a
TNT2 at 1280x960!! (Of course, it ran a tad chuggy in that
configuration). Generally, we've found that a Voodoo card at
800x600 suffer from no slow-down at all; and, the Matrox
G200 in my office ran at 1024x768 with no problems. The
higher resolutions really showcase the quality &
high-resolution of our art!"
Well, these are certainly awesome news! Thanks Capn!!!
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| October 16, 1999 - Saturday |
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16:24 - [Neocryte] - If you are bored and have nothing to do, check out this topic at the boards, where you can read people boasting about their PC's for Ascension. Perhaps it will also give you an idea of what to upgrade for U:IX.
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| October 15, 1999 - Friday |
22:39 - [Neocryte] - Ooops, forgot to mention something. Today is Zero's birthday! Yeah, the guy who helps me out with the page. Anyway, happy birthday Zero!
22:37 - [Neocryte] - Not much new. There was a question at the boards, asking about the performance of K6-2's. Since a lot of people own these effectively priced CPU's, here is DurhamDragon's comment:
"Without the benefit of 3Dnow, a K6-2 300 will likely perform somewhere between a Pentium 233 and a Pentium II 233, probably closer to the former than the latter. I believe K6-2 tests fine with the game, but you should probably make your own decision about performance via the demo due out in November. I think it should be fine running the game at lower detail."
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| October 14, 1999 - Thursday |
21:09 - [Neocryte] - If anyone out
there is concerned about Ascension being shipped overseas, Starvector Software is the place to buy at - they ship internationally. They already have the regular and Dragon Edition for preorder ($53.99 for DE). Go here, click on Pre-Order, and then you should see a list, with UIX and UIX Dragon Edition close to the bottom.
16:43 - [Neocryte] - Remember
those German/English movies from our Videos section?
Well, there is actually a way of viewing them in English or German only.
Read here how to do it - basically you just have to change the wave balance to only one of the speakers.
It's pretty cool.
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| October 13, 1999 - Wednesday |
21:33 - [Neocryte] - The News Archive section has been changed. I separated it into
months, so it is now much easier to view. Enjoy.
21:00 - [Neocryte] - Ok, all
the pages should be updated with the new insta-poll question now. Please take a few seconds to vote. Click here to see the last one's results, and here they are
in a nutshell... How long are people prepared to wait for Ultima IX? Surprisingly, 'No more' won with 29 votes.
'2-3 months' was second with 26, 'Forever' - third with 25, '1 month' had 18 votes, and '6 months' - only 4.
Pretty close results there, especially between 'No more,' '2-3 months,' and 'Forever.'
20:38 - [Neocryte] - In case
you are interested in Ascension's inventory system, here is what Audball said at the
official boards yesterday:
"Inventory still works as we have described in the past. (Yobgod's repost of our posts is still valid). The only addition/change to our previous posts is that now the backpack and belt can have bags (currently nine slots per bag, and no bags can be put inside other bags, to keep the invetory a maximum of two levels deep)."
As of right now, I am changing the insta-poll question, so you might find the little voting bar at the left not working for the next half an hour or so.
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| October 12, 1999 - Tuesday |
21:01 - [Neocryte] - Good news everyone. EA Online Store has now got Dragon Edition for pre-order! Go here, search for Ultima IX. In the description, the page also says what will come with Dragon Edition:
"A Cloth Map of Britannia - This high quality cloth map is a limited edition item.
8 Tarot Cards - One for each of the 8 sacred virtues, so that you an foresee the destiny of yourself or others.
Ankh Pendant - Wear this 1 inch gold pendant around your neck to show your virtue.
The Ultima CD Collection - Contains Ultima I through VIII, including Ultima VII add ons: Forge of Virtue and Silver Seed.
Original Music CD - Containing original scores from the game, Created by a 50-piece professional orchestra.
High Quality Illustration Reprint - Depicts the conflict between the Avatar and Guardian, created by long time Ultima artist Dennis Loubet.
Deluxe Manuals - With an imitation leather cover.
Lord British Certificate - A personal thank you to the fans of the Ultima series from Lord British."
17:15 - [Neocryte] - Virtues
story number five is up at the
official Ultima IX page. This one is about Sir Geoffrey and the Dragon, focusing on the
virtue of Valor.
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| October 11, 1999 - Monday |
20:17 - [Neocryte] - Here
is another view of the Ultima Ascension: Dragon Edition box, taken from EB World's site, where you can already preorder Ascension! So, looks like this is the official box U:IX Dragon Edition will be shipped in! Check it out, it even says 'Dragon Edition' on the bottom, under the Ultima caption.
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| October 10, 1999 - Sunday |
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20:19 - [Neocryte] - Check out
this interesting
topic at the official boards, discussing whether we should play the demo or not. Also, Fullmetal mentioned at the boards that the demo is already out there, but where? Anyone know? Also, Fullmetal did a very nice job explaining the difference between PCI and AGP ports today. Read his explanation right here (a bit long to post in the news).
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| October 9, 1999 - Saturday |
19:56 - [Neocryte] - Here is an interesting topic at the boards, discussing why Ultima IX would not be able to run on a Dreamcast... Yeah, nothing really new though.
16:33 - [Neocryte] - Wondering what type of CPU to get lately, for Ascension purposes? Well, there was a question at the (duh) boards, asking about Celeron vs. Pentium III. Here's what DurhamDragon said:
"A Celeron is approximately equal to a Pentium 2 or 3 of the
same speed. A Celeron 50MHz faster will be faster (generally
speaking). BUT...the Pentium 3 has the SSE instruction set,
so if the software supports it, it can boost performance."
And then Yobgod added:
"But U:IX doesn't support SSE.
There are other advantages to the PIII architecture, but
they are more subtle and may not affect the game.
For computational science, Celerons are pretty useless."
I am also thinking of changing the insta-poll question, so if you have any ideas, please e-mail them to me!
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| October 8, 1999 - Friday |
19:39 - [Neocryte] - If you're still not sure which card to get for Ascension, here's DurhamDragon's comment from the boards:
"If we're talking about U9, the safest choice is a Voodoo3. And U9 runs quite well in Glide mode and the D3D mode (which any card not made by 3Dfx will need to use) is still being tweaked and optimized.
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| October 7, 1999 - Thursday |
22:02 - [Neocryte] - Nothing really
new. Here's DurhamDragon from the boards, commenting
on Ascension's controls:
"It's mostly like a third person version of System Shock 2.
The mouse controls where you look (up, down, left, right) and
using the right mouse button let's you walk (you can also
use the keyboard to walk). There's also a 'use' mode where
you can move the cursor around freely to pick up items and
move them in and out of your backpack and toolbelt (and also
equip and de-equip items from your body)."
04:49 - [Neocryte] - Ok people,
I just found out that the pre-ordering on EB World
for Dragon Edition works. So click here and pre-order it! :) Thanks to Glenn for the information!
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| October 6, 1999 - Wednesday |
18:02 - [Neocryte] - Here is another comment by CapnBill, concerning Ascension's textures:
"
Our textures are the highest-detail we've seen. Our characters don't use "skins"; the artists designed them with multiple, even dozens, of textures per character.
In fact, they even went through some of the NPC textures lately & de-res'd some of them--and you can't even tell.
Trust me, we're the kings of texture RAM. The game does contain options to run with lower-res textures, for older cards with less texture RAM. But generally, running in the highest detail setting, the detail is amazing."
Hah! This isn't it all. Here he is again on bugs:
"
Sorry for all the confusion. What our esteemed LB >>meant<< to say was that there were about 20 bugs per programmer, not a total of 20 bugs. Now this number is a little deceptive. It doesn't mean that we only have 20 bugs apiece to fix. It's just a rough measure of how we're doing. Our QA team is busily testing the product, and coming up with dozens of new bugs daily. The dev team is able to fix the bugs at about the rate they're being found; and, lately we've accelerated somewhat so our average bug count has gone down. But, there are still hundreds of bugs left to be found in the product (some areas of the world haven't been wrung out very well). But, if we keep going the way we're going, we'll be just fine."
17:53 - [Neocryte] - Here is the direct link where you can pre-order Ascension Dragon Edition. It's only $54.99, but there seems to be an error - no one can pre-order it as of right now! Hopefully they will fix it shortly...
And check it out, CapnBill has been at the boards today.. Here's his comment on 16bit vs. S3TC colors:
"16-bit does look quite good. We found that the colors in
S3TC appeared more vibrant than 16-bit Glide, but the
smoothness & color was similar (ie they both lack the
color-banding so typical of 8-bit). The color vibrancy may
also have just been a feature of the Savage card we were
using to test our S3 on."
Here's also his comment on Voodoo2 SLI vs. Voodoo3:
"It's been a while since we tried SLI mode. However, our
earlier test seemed to show that it didn't help us much.
We're not fill-rate limited, or even vertex-limited; we're
mostly CPU limited, and texture-bound, and SLI doesn't help
that much.
At this point, I'd have to recommend a Voodoo3. But, our
frame rate tests in D3D, especially with the TNT2, are not
final."
17:26 - [Neocryte] - Grrr, finally have time for a quick update. Here's a small bit of info by Colourless Dragon:
"
EB World is now accepting pre orders of the Dragon Edition.
They say that the following will be in the Dragon Edition
"Tarot cards, cloth map of Britannia, Leather journal,
Leather spell book, Poster, Ankh (antique gold pendent), CD
featuring all 10 games from Ultima series, Music CD, and a
certificate."
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| October 3, 1999 - Sunday |
22:04 - [Neocryte] - Not much new. Here is an interesting topic at the boards, discussing meanings of the word "Avatar." Also, there was a question at the boards, concerning cheats. Here's Yobgod:
"No cheats. The programmers and testers are carefully removing all development tools and every possible way in which the code could be exploited before release. No cheating will be possible, no matter how hard you try."
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| October 2, 1999 - Saturday |
22:04 - [Neocryte] - The Japanese Britannian Peacocks site has posted the box art of Ultima IX: Ascension. Here it is (click to enlarge):
15:58 - [Neocryte] - Here's an interesting bit of info provided by DurhamDragon from the boards:
"Someone from Electronic Boutique (see the September 30th news item at Ultima Horizons) said that they will have the Dragon Edition available for sale (which means you should be able to order it from overseas at their website www.ebworld.com). Apparently the regular edition will be $49.99 while the Dragon edition will be $59.99."
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| October 1, 1999 - Friday |
18:02 - [Neocryte] - Ravage Dragon's
Ultima Dungeon site has moved to a new address. I updated the links, so now you can safely continue.. umm.. whatever it is you were doing.
17:52 - [Neocryte] - All right, I am finally back. Woohoo! I am happy to hear about the November 23rd release date, and especially the November 1st demo release date. I got my November issue of PC Gamer today, and the demo is not on the disk, hey, but at least there is a cool Ultima IX ad in the middle of the magazine. :) And thanks to all who visit the page, helping us hit the big 5K!
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