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Ultima 7 is a role-playing game for the PC
from about 1992. It's so massive and open-ended that I've never even
played through a fraction of it. Due to the age of the game, it doesn't
run well on modern computer configurations. A new open-source game engine,
Exult, was
written in 2000 which allows players to experience the game all over
again. The data files from the original game are still required, but the
game engine is all new, and even has some improvements.
This image is a complete map of the game, generated automatically by
Exult using the --buildmap command-line option. (See the
Exult documentation for details.) Generating the entire map at full
resolution creates 144 tiled images, each a 2048×2048-pixel indexed
PCX image. Rather than go through the
tedium of piecing together these pieces manually, I used Photoshop to
automatically convert all the PCX files to
RAW files (just pixel data). Then I wrote
a two-dozen line Java program
to piece together a single RAW image out of
all the parts. Then I
imported the complete RAW image back into
Photoshop and restored the
palette to the proper colors. The final image is 24,576×24,576
pixels (about 604 megapixels), 256 colors.
UPDATE — I created another map
with all the roofs and moutaintops on. Predictably, there's a lot less to
look at since everything's covered, so I'm not providing any
additional images.
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The city of Britania. Or at least most of it. The castle
is at the top of the image. 25% magnification. |
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A random section of Trinsic, the town you begin the game in. |
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The casino in Buccaneer's Den. Once you can get a ship,
go here. By saving your game every time you win and loading every time
you lose you can come into a small fortune in rather short order. |
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Caves north of Britania. 25% magnification. |
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A very dangerous cave. Wish the map had monsters on it so
I could see what was guarding this area. No doubt something terrifying. |
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A lair! Filled with riches! Huzzah! Probably the home of
another snarling beastie. |
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Nicodemus's bungalow (bottom) and a giant board for a game
for which the name eludes me (top). Not chess, I know that. |
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A quintet of wares peddlers' abodes in southern Britania. |
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