Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness
Developers | |
---|---|
Origin Systems | |
DOS | John Fachini |
Publishers | |
Electronic Arts | |
Release dates | |
DOS | 1987 |
Windows (DOSBox) | August 30, 2011[1] |
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox) | October 18, 2012[2] |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | One-time game purchase, Expansion pack |
Modes | Singleplayer |
Genres | RPG |
Themes | Fantasy |
Series | Ultima |
Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness is a singleplayer RPG game in the Ultima series.
The original 1980/1981 version was released only for Apple II and Atari 8-bit computers. The DOS version was released in 1987 and is probably based on the 1986 remake for Apple II and Commodore 64. This DOS version was actually released after the DOS version of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar and supports EGA graphics out of the box.
Unlike the DOS versions of Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress, Ultima III: Exodus and Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, the game runs without issues on faster systems even when not using any unofficial patches. However, it suffers from some additional bugs when compared to the 1986 version for Apple II and C64. For example, the armor apparently does not give any protection during combat in the dungeons.[3]
General information
- The Codex of Ultima Wisdom - A huge wiki for the series
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | Run in DOSBox. | |||
GOG.com | DOS version in DOSBox. Includes Ultima II and Ultima III. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.[4] | |||
Origin | Not available in some regions. |
Game data
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
DOS | <path-to-game>\PLAYER*.U1 |
Windows | <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1] |
macOS (OS X) | <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1] |
- Characters are saved as individual files (
PLAYER1.U1
,PLAYER2.U1
, etc.)
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
GOG Galaxy | ||
Origin |
Video
Graphics feature | State | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | 320x200 only. | ||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | For DOSBox toggle with Alt+↵ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds). | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | |||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds). | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds). | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds). |
Controller types |
---|
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | On/off only; toggle with N. | |
Surround sound | ||
Subtitles | Everything is text-based. | |
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file. |
|
Royalty free audio |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English |
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
DOS video modes |
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | XP, Vista | |
Processor (CPU) | 1.8 GHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 512 MB | 1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | ||
Video card (GPU) | DirectX 7 compatible | DirectX 9 compatible |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | ||
Operating system (OS) | 10.6.8 | |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core Duo 2 GHz+ | |
System memory (RAM) | 1 GB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | ||
Video card (GPU) | 64 MB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data. For the GOG.com release, file changes in DOSBox are redirected to
<path-to-game>/cloud_saves/
even if GOG Galaxy is not used (this folder contains all redirected files, so some files in thecloud_saves
folder might be temporary files or other files that do not contain saves or settings).
References
- ↑ New release: Ultima 1+2+3 ● GOG.com - last accessed on 9 June 2023
- ↑ GOG.com goes Mac ● GOG.com - last accessed on 9 June 2023
- ↑ Bugs - The Codex of Ultima Wisdom, a wiki for Ultima and Ultima Online - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ List of GOG games using DOSBox, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023