While it is true, that my main focus remains on translating Ultima games into German, along the way I stumble across nitpicks, enhancements and issues, I want to address for the English original versions, too.
Here you find patches, add-ons and downloads I created for the original ENGLISH version of Ultima 7.
Modern font for Ultima 7 & Serpent Isle
A serife font (Antiqua) for better readability that works for Ultima 7 The Black Gate as well as for Serpent Isle. I have reworked the original release by Kato from scratch, as the font spacing was too big for all text to show up correctly. Especially in shops you would be missing out purchase options due to the increased line spacing. It now works fine, displaying ALL text, purchase and dialogue options. If you have been using the old serife font version, please do replace it with this one.
U7Hacks by JohnGlassmyer
UltimaHacks by JohnGlassmyer are a must have add-on for Ultima 7 in my opinion. It adds the better shortcut system from Serpent Isle to Ultima 7 without replacing any pre-defined keys. So us oldish folks do not have to break old habits 😉 But it does not only make life in U7 easier by allowing one-key-press-triggered feeding, targeting and “inventoring”. It also adds an keyring-like functionality, which makes life a lot less tedious. And there is plenty more: check the manual in-game to learn all about the possibility (by pressing ALT+K)
Ultima 7 – Nitpicker’s Patch
The Nitpicker Patch combines bugfixes available with contextual modifications to iron out some of the flaws in the original game. Text-wise I have tried to be as careful and faithful as possible and keep changes to the necessary minimum that were needed to get rid of the inaccurancies in the game. The storyline now is partly more compliant to the canon and obvious mistakes such as wrong directions from NPCs, non existing things (e.g. a fish & chips “wagon”) have been corrected (to the actual “Fish&Chips stand) – things of that sort.
From a technical perspective the patch applies all bugfixes (I know of) that fellow Ultima Dragons and fans have created.
The patch also includes the UltimaHacks by JohnGlassmyer mentioned above. All keyboard layouts I have created can be found in the archive and can be chosen to be installed using the CMD-Installer included.