XU4
===

   "Prepare yourself for a grand adventure: Ultima IV, sixteen times
   larger than Ultima III, is a milestone in computer gaming.  Lord
   British has produced a game to challenge, not only your physical
   and mental skills, but the true fabric of your character.  The evil
   triad of Mondain, Minax, and the hellspawn Exodus, have been
   vanquished and peace reigns throughout the land of Britannia.  Evil
   yet abounds, but in isolated pockets and in the hearts of men.  A
   new age awaits the coming of one who can conquer evil on all
   frontiers through the mastery of both magic and the use of force.
   Daemons, dragons and long-dead wizards still plague the countryside
   and must be destroyed.  The seeker on the path of the avatar will
   faces hostile groups composed of mixed enemy types and will survive
   such encounters only by strategic use of weapons and terrain.
   Earthly victories over seemingly impossible odds lead to the final
   conflict, where the ultimate challenge -- the self -- awaits..."
     -- Back cover of Ultima IV box

XU4 is a remake of the computer game Ultima IV.  The goal is to make
it easy and convenient to play this classic on modern operating
systems.  XU4 is primarily inspired by the much more ambitious project
Exult.  Linux is the primary development platform but it gets ported
to Windows and MacOS X regularly. It should be trivial to port to any
system with SDL support.

XU4 isn't a new game based on the Ultima IV story -- it is a faithful
recreation of the old game, right up to the crappy graphics.  If you
are looking for a game with modern gameplay and graphics, this is not
it -- yet.  New features that improve the gameplay and keep with the
spirit of the original game will be added.

XU4 also tries to maintain strict compatibility with the original for
its savegame files.  You can use a game saved in XU4 with the original
and vice versa, at least in theory.


STATUS
------

Version 0.9 - see README for details

COMPILING
---------

Note that you need libxml2, SDL, the SDL development libraries &
headers, and the SDL_mixer library to compile.  TiMidity++ may be
necessary on some platforms, too.  Assuming they are present, type
make in the src directory to build it.  An executable called u4 is
created.


RUNNING
-------

The actual data files from Ultima 4 are loaded at runtime, which means
that a copy of Ultima 4 for DOS must be present at runtime.

Fortunately, Ultima IV is available as closed-source freeware on the
internet (legally).  A copy is mirrored at xu4.sourceforge.net.

In this version the Ultima4 and Ultima IV VGA upgrade are used
directly from the zip files. These files are included in this RISCOS distribution and have been put in the required location in the
!xu4 application directory.

At the title screen, a configuration menu can be accessed by pressing
'c'.  Here, the screen scale, filter, volume and other settings can be
modified.  Note: the game must be restarted for the new settings to
take effect.  These settings are stored in the file $HOME/.xu4rc.

xu4 also accepts the following command line options:
 -f        - fullscreen mode
 -g        - german keyboard - swap y & z
 -i        - skip the intro, go directly into the game
 -q        - quiet mode - no music
 -scale n  - scale the original graphics by a factor of n
 -filter n - use a filter on the scaled images; point, 2xBi, 2xSaI,
             and AdvanceMAME can be specified
 -v        - verbose output; prints out information useful for
             troubleshooting


ULTIMA 4 DOCUMENTATION
----------------------

Included with Ultima 4 for DOS, as downloaded from one of the above
sites, are electronic copies of the printed documentation from the
original Ultima IV box.  HISTORY.TXT contains the "The History of
Britannia", a general introduction to the world of Ultima IV.
WISDOM.TXT contains "The Book of Mystic Wisdom", which explains the
system of magic and provides descriptions of the spells and reagents.

PDF versions of these books may be available from:
http://members.aol.com/trigonman3/u4.html

An image of the cloth map from the original Ultima IV box can be found
at either of these sites:
http://members.aol.com/trigonman3/u4.html
http://www.dengler.net/xedragon/hrump/

KEYBOARD.TXT in the documents directory specifies the keys used with
the game.

(This is a text version of the KEYBOARD.DOC provided with the ULTIMA
4 distribution).


MISC
----

See http://xu4.sourceforge.net/links.html for some other interesting
Ultima IV related links.

Please send me a mail at andrewtaylor@users.sourceforge.net if you are
interested in helping.

This original README document that this file is based upon is supplied
in the games main directory. 

Copyright Source code: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, version 2.
See COPYING for details.

Copyright Ultima4 files (in ULTIMA4) sub-directory: Closed-source freeware.


RISC OS PORT
------------

Ported to RISCOS by Alan Buckley October 2003.
Version 0.9 Ported June 2004.

This program is 32 bit compatible and requires RISCOS 3.6+.

Digital Renderer module (available from http://home.t-online.de/~zarquon) 
may be installed in System:Modules if sound is required.

The Music requires the !SDLSample directory to have been seen by the filer
(available from http://www.chocky.org/unix/).

The !UnixHome application (available from http://www.chocky.org/unix/) must
have been seen by the filer.

You will also need to have installed the Shared Unix Library 1.0.2 which
is available from the Unix Porting Project (http://www.chocky.org/unix/) 
and the GCC pages.

Part of the Unix Porting Project.  Support for this program under RISC OS
is only offered to subscribers.  See http://www.chocky.org/unix/
for more information.

The source code provided here has had minor changes to the original to
support RISCOS.

