Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
2 ports
Ultima VII: The Black Gate / Serpent Isle (Exult)
exult/exult
Exult: a new engine for Ultima VII, written in C++ with SDL, that uses the original data and graphics files of the game, a DOS title with a very nonstandard memory manager that is hard to run on current computers. It fully supports The Black Gate and Serpent Isle, both of which can be finished, their Forge of Virtue and Silver Seed add-ons, and the Serpent Isle beta. It adds any resolution with scalers up to 8x, a game area larger than the original 320×200, Serpent Isle’s paperdoll in Black Gate too, a shortcut bar, combat options, and MIDI music through a real device, FluidSynth, an emulated MT-32, or FM synthesis. Since 1.8 it plays Serpent Isle’s long intro, which Origin cut down to save floppy disks. It includes Exult Studio, an editor for making mods, and the Windows installer offers to install some, such as Keyring or the Ultima VI remake made by other fans. There are builds for Windows, macOS, and Android, and on Linux it’s on Flatpak. The latest stable release is 1.12.1 (January 8); 1.13 snapshots, already on SDL3, come out often, the latest on October 21. The repository includes that intro, restored from an old recording (about 10 MB of animations), and, in its documentation, a disassembly of Black Gate’s usecode, the code behind the game’s scripts and dialogue (about 6 MB). Separately, its website offers as optional downloads the game’s music recorded on a Roland MT-32 and its sound effects recorded on a Sound Blaster and on an MT-32, which the Windows installer can download.
You needThe files from your own copy of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, or both, already installed (the GOG, CD-ROM, and floppy versions all work), without mixing one game’s files with the other’s; the Forge of Virtue and Silver Seed add-ons are optional. For the emulated MT-32, the ROMs from your own MT-32 or CM-32L. Plus Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.12 or later (snapshots need 10.15), Linux, Android, or iOS.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate / Serpent Isle (Ultima7_Decomp)
Kitrinx/Ultima7_Decomp
A decompilation of Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, verified byte for byte with Borland C++ 2.0, the original compiler; what Origin wrote in assembly is kept as assembly, and most function and variable names are inferred. Two ports are built on it. Ultima VII Portable, with builds for Windows, macOS (Apple silicon), and Linux, replaces each game’s original executables with hardly any change to their logic: it merges the intro, menu, game, and endgame into one program, fixes the null pointers DOS tolerated and the 16-to-32-bit issues, and plays sound through an MT-32 emulated with Munt (with your own ROMs) or an AdLib emulated with Nuked OPL3; the latest release is 0.4.0 (October 12). Ultima VII Modern, added on October 20 and not released yet, plays both games on the Serpent Isle engine: it brings that game’s fixes and conveniences to Black Gate (the paperdoll, hotkeys such as feed and target, a keyring from the start), adds 16:9 and 16:10 views, a start menu with settings, and stereo AdLib music derived from the MT-32 score, and lets items from one game appear in the other. Black Gate’s paperdoll uses Grant W. Chapman’s art, with the artist’s permission. The author states the decompilation was AI-assisted. The repository also includes the two games’ decompiled usecode as source (the character and event scripts, with their dialogue), which is compiled separately and isn’t needed to play.
You needThe files from your own installed copy of Ultima VII: The Black Gate (with its STATIC folder), Serpent Isle, or both; Ultima VII Modern needs both. Ultima VII Portable writes to the game folder, so use a copy. For MT-32 music, the Roland MT-32 ROMs. Plus x64 Windows, an Apple silicon Mac, or x64 Linux.
Installs with
Questions
What projects are there for Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle?
The catalog has 2 ports for Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, all on this page with their status.
What do I need to play it?
Your own copy of Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (DOS). Recompendium only links projects that don’t distribute the game, and each entry says which version or region you need.
Which one is the most popular?
Ultima VII: The Black Gate / Serpent Isle (Exult), with 702 stars on GitHub.