I just picked up the Ultima 1-3 bundle looking forward to a nostalgic romp through the start of it all. Ultima III had the best soundtrack ever for early 80's games - at least on the C64. I had the IBM pc jr and that version of Ultima III had no musical score. it was so depressing. So when I saw Ultima III on GOG, I figured here it is at long last- obviously they would feature the best version of Ultima III out there.
So upon launching- no soundtrack. Is there an option to activate teh musical score or am I just out of luck (and $5.99)?

I don't know how to activate it in the GOG version, but you can listen to the C64 music over at the
[url=http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php/Ultima_III:_Exodus_(C64)]Music Preservation Foundation[/url]:

Try this: http://exodus.voyd.net/projects/ultima3/

Not sure I will ever play the first three Ultimas (I already played 4 and I plan to play those that came after it, however, 5 and 6 probably in their fan-made Dungeon Siege Mod versions ;) ), but thatnks for this link!

No problem! ;) These patches, when properly applied make the games work great. I'm surprised GOG hasn't reached out to the creators to try and add them to the official downloads like they did with other games.

I just checked, and it seems these upgrades are also included in the Ultima Patcher: http://www.pixsoriginadventures.co.uk/category/ultima-patcher/

Which I already used for IV, when I played it several years ago.

Paladin, thanks for the link. I am having trouble getting the upgrade sound files to work with the game by just following the installation instructions. I feel there is maybe a missing piece that is obvious to regular tech folks. I have downloaded the zip file for the sound upgrade and unpacked it into the Ultima III file folder, and then ran the upgrade file, but nothing happens in the game- still no music. What am I missing? can you walk me through the install of the upgrade?
Thanks,

Hello. I just gave the upgrade a go and got it working using just the instructions on the website. I will retrace my steps and maybe you can find a clue as to what went wrong.

1) Download and install Ultima III (preferrably not in the Program Files directory, but something like C:\Games\Ultima III)
2) Download U3 Upgrade Release 3.3 (393 kB) from this page: http://exodus.voyd.net/downloads/
3) Extract the downloaded file to Ultima III's installation folder.
4) Navigate to the game's installation folder and run "u3upw.exe". Press Y and Enter for confirmation
5) Open "dosboxULTIMA3.conf" with WordPad.
6) Search (Ctrl+F) for "Cycles". The value should be 300. Replace it with 3000.
7) Open "dosboxULTIMA3_single.conf" with WordPad.
8) Replace the line that says "ultima.com" with "ultima3.com" (Brackets not included).
9) Run the game from GOG's shortcut and it should now launch with better visuals and music.

Thanks! I will give this a try now. Problem was I was not sure how to change teh cycles. that might be the problem. When I ran the upgrade previously, the game would simply crash. Ill let you know...

aaroxerxes: I'm glad Grargar was able to assist you. Hope you enjoy the game!!

Grargar: Thanks for the step by step for anyone else looking! +1 to you!

Paladin, I was able to install the update but now the game freezes when I try to move the character on teh opening game screen. Im thinking the cycle rate might be wrong. when I open DosBox, Ctrl-F12 does not do anything. I typed in "Cycle=full" to maximize the cycle rate, but that didnt seem to do anything. any suggestions?

It doesn't work with "Cycle=3000"?

3000 cycles makes it run way too fast... no music, sounds like PC Speaker.

I have played Ultima 1 to 3 and completed em.
With Ultima 1 and 2 ya won't get any soundtrack (then again it didn't have any).

In Ultima 3's case ya need a community patch which adds not only the music but also lets ya pick either EGA or VGA graphics (For Ultima 2 there's only graphics mod like that).

The same issue is in Ultima 4 and 5 and it's not GOG's fault, it's just how the game was made for DOS.

That's the recommended number from the upgrade group. And it worked fine for me.