Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress Downloads and Links

Ultima II is virtually unplayable in its basic Ultima Collection form. Between speed-related crashes, map-related bugs, and the removal of DOS, playing a game from 1982 just isn't easy almost 30 years later. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources available out there to help.

DOSBox

If you have a computer running an old enough version of Windows, you can play Ultima II in native DOS. However, doing so is still a pain, and I'm assuming you have a modern computer that can run DOSBox. DOSBox is a fantastic DOS emulator that will let you run any Ultima game (except Ultima IX) in an accurate environment. In the case of Ultima II, if you want authentic game speed, set the cycles to about 300. If you just want to play the game without dealing with slowness, turn it up as far as 1,000 cycles, but be aware that this will change the PC speaker sounds.

The Galaxy Patch

Ultima II has a mind-bogglingly huge bug that went unnoticed when it was re-released on PC: most of the other planet files are missing. This is because Ultima II originally came on multiple disks, with one disk having the data for earth and another having all of the planets. It seems that when they ported the game they just copied both disks, and overwrote any files with the same name, leaving the earth files intact. You can actually beat the game despite this since the only planet you have to explore is on the disk, but you can't explore most of the other planets (you'll just end up back on Earth). The fact that this bug was so big and yet missed because it didn't actually affect the game pretty much sums up my issues with Ultima II.

Download the patch (17k), courtest of Mike Marcelais (Moonstone Dragon). This patch has been on the web for a very long time, so I hope Mike doesn't mind me hosting it here. UDIC represent!

Map Fixes

As I mention in the Game Systems page, there are a number of minor map bugs that don't really affect the game much. I've taken the time to fix them, and you can find a .zip file with the fixed maps (7k) here. These maps are named using assuming you've used the above Galaxy Patch, though there won't be an issue if you haven't. Just make sure you apply the patch first, then unzip the fixed maps. Because these are errors in the original game and don't really matter much, I don't really endorse this fix (even though I wrote it!). What can I say, I'm a stickler for playing games as they were. But still, I couldn't resist fixing a few minor bugs.

The .zip contains the following maps:

  • MAPX10: Pangea world map: adds Greenland Dungeon entrance (this change is reflected in the on-site maps)
  • MAPX24: South America Tower map: removes one-way ladder from level 10
  • MAPG15: Mercury Dungeon map: removes the gap in the outer wall in the corner of level 03
  • MONG41: Jupiter Village creatures: corrects the behavior of the four fake NPCs
  • MAPG44: Jupiter Tower map: fixes a wrapping and dungeon design issue in the corner of level 15
  • MONG61: New Jester creatures: corrects the behavior of a non-moving shopkeeper and one of the pursuing jesters in town
  • MAPG71: Computer Camp map: removes the orc from cabin nine
  • MONG71: Computer Camp creatures: corrects the starting location of the orc that was in cabin nine
  • MAPG81: Tommersville map: fixes the water tile in the northwest corner of town
  • MAPG85: Pluto Dungeon map: corrects the directions of the ladders on levels 14 and 15
  • MAPG92: Towne Basko map: fixes the water tile in the northwest corner of the town wall
  • MONG92: Towne Basko creatures: corrects the duplicated bartender and corrects the terrain under the transport merchant

Other Resources

There are other patches out there, to add more colors, or to help you play the game in a native DOS environment on a fast computer. I've stuck with the files that are necessary to play the game in its original form on a modern computer, and don't want to include a bunch of optional enhancements. After all, where does that end? Still, if you can't stand the 4 colors and aren't as obsessive about game purity as I am, these patches are out there. I recommend checking out the Ultima II Shrine's utilities page.