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Greetings, traveler! Here you will find the most bug-free edition of Ultima IV for the Apple II ever known.
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Download the playable disk image at https://github.com/sean-gugler/u4remasteredA2/releases/
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Browse the README and source code at https://github.com/sean-gugler/u4remasteredA2
This release would not have been possible without the incredible work done by those who came before me. All credit to MagerValp and Genesis Project where due.
For an exhaustive list of all differences between this version and the original retail release, see:
For a forensic analysis of the various known versions of the public retail release, see:
As many people already know, this game was originally designed for the Apple II. Although it was released for many platforms, the others were all secondary ports. I actually played this game on the Commodore 64 when it was new, ignorant of its Apple origins. After discovering and enjoying MagerValp's "Remastered" C64 edition, I encountered a frustrating bug that devolved into an epic quest to understand the complete code and fix every flaw I could find. (Read the tale at https://github.com/sean-gugler/u4remastered/wiki)
The Apple II origins became very clear to me as I worked my way through the C64 code design. Techniques that are essential to Apple II hardware - like generating sound effects with rapidly-timed volume toggles and using odd/even parity calculations for graphics - are far from the native capabilities of the C64, yet still largely present in the code.
Having satisfied myself with repairs to the C64 edition, I decided to see how many of the flaws had originated with the port and how many were inherited from the Apple. Turns out nearly all of them were inherited ... thus I embarked on a fresh journey to back-port all those fixes to the Apple II edition as well, since it seemed no one else had yet done so.
This project is the result of that effort.
I've taken one step further and symbolicated the entire codebase, even the parts that didn't need patching. May it be of use, or at least of interest, to future historians and scene modders.