So much why?

Why did they include a map and the obscure all the names?
Why did they PURPOSELY stop the use of mods from updates? Why? Just. WHy?
Why doesnt the game FOLLOW its OWN rules. Its either bugged or idk Im trying
to get the Warrior to join in Jehlom and unless hes behind one of the locked doors in
the inn he either WONT spawn or WONT join. IM level 3 1 have 1 person so shouldnt
be an issue....


Wtf????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Which game?

(If you're talking about Ultima 4, then yes, the Fighter is behind a locked door. With that said, he's the second worst party member, so I wouldn't bother recruiting him until you already have 6 characters (and are level 7+).)

Regarding the map, if you're referring to the names being in runic script, I think that may just be a matter of taste: some people enjoy deciphering the names, and indeed find that they learn the script well enough through use that reading it comes somewhat naturally.

But naturally, there will be others who won't find it enjoyable.

What's fun for one may be frustrating for another, and vice versa.

Lol, written like someone who did not grow up in the 80's.

Back then, you got a physical map with the game, a codebook with a translator, and you needed to translate all of the name in order to figure everything out. This was a pretty novel idea back then, and it was kind of a fun little thing to have players do. A lot of time was taken just reading the manual and figuring out the world before even starting to play the game. In fact, there's a lot of things you wouldn't be able to figure out how to do in the game until you DID read the manual.

I'm unsure what you mean about "stopping the use of mods." Back when this game first came out, there were no mods. But mods do exist now, and you can install them with some effort.

Yes, the Warrior in Jehlom is behind a locked door, and you will need to figure out how to unlock doors in the game to get him. You'll probably want magic users in your party first though. Cure poison spells are super important at the beginning. So it's probably better for you to recruit one of the other characters from the other towns first before recruiting him.

And not the one from the ruined town. (She's the worst party member.)

Yes mods exist. No they dont work. And they dont work on purpose. TY lord british.

You include a map but the player has to decipher the text on the map???? That sounds like
more bad decisions from Lord British and his pathetic fanbase that thinks everything he touches
is gold. HE personally saw to it that mods dont function anymore, they literally dont work at all
you go to install and it says files are missing.

THey arent missing they have just been renamed so that the base game cannot be modded anymore.
Lord British WANTS the game to played the way HE wants you to play them and thats exactly how you
purchased them.

As of 2025 you cannot mod Ultima 4. Thank you Lord British.

Nah. just idiosyncratic ones.

The fact that you don't enjoy a thing doesn't mean that others won't.

And it's okay that you don't enjoy this particular feature! Each to their own, and all that--it just means that this particular aspect of the game isn't for you.

As a kid in the 80's, I loved it. I ended up memorizing the runes so that I could just read everything in them without a key. It was a blast playing with my best friend where he handled the combat and I would be scribling notes, deciphering the runes, and drawing dungeon maps. What on Earth are you talking about? Richard Garriot hasn't been involved with Ultima for over 20 years, and really closer to 30 outside Ultima Online.

I've patched Ultimas 1-5 using the Ultima Patcher within the last two years

https://www.pixsoriginadventures.co.uk/category/ultima-patcher/

I have used the patcher your talking about and when i go to apply the patches it tries to find files that dont exist... so the install always fails.

What OS? Did you set the directories for each Ultima? They have to be manually set. And I may be wrong, but I think that mod may have issues if the games are installed undeer the Program Files X86 folder rather than something liek C:\Ultima

Windows 11.
The Ultima upgrader DOES. NOT. WORK. Anymore.
When you go to install the various patches it errors out saying cetain files are not present that
need to be present. ANd thats because Lord British has gone in and made it so these games cannot
be modded anymore.

I just copied my fresh, unmodified, installs of Ultima 1, 2, 3, 4 (the in the paid pack version), 4 (the free version), 5, 6, 7, 7SI, UW, UW2, Martian, and Savage from GoG into a new folder on my desktop to test all this.
I just downloaded the UltimatePatcher from the link above. I have never used this before.
I went thru all of them and it ALL. WORKED. JUST. FINE.

This all points to you doing something wrong.
Or you are trying to use some random downloaded versions and not from GoG or other official sources.
Or you are using an Ultima already modified in a way the patcher is unaware of.
Or your system is not setup correctly in some really really weird way (installed in Program Files? That is a gamer no no. Ain't nobody should be doing this for decades).

Reality check:
"Lord British" has not touched these PC games in forever, decades even. Akalabeth was the last one even touched on an official release, the 1998 Ultima Collection CD, and it was just a port of the Apple II version to MS-DOS by a fan that was then made official by being included in this collection.
"Lord British", more than likely, does not care what anyone does with these old games as long as those "anyones" have a legit copy and they do not try selling it as their own, changed/modified or otherwise. Even then, he probably does not care anymore, and it would be EA who cares as it is they who control the Ultima IP since 1992. It would be EA mucking around with them if anyone. And based on my results above, they have not been mucking around in them, and seemingly they don't care either as long as it is legit copy and you don't try to sell anything as your own.

Attached picture showing proof that my Ultima 4 patched just fine with a number of the patcher options.

Where are the games installed (directory) and did you point the patcher to those locations (it may try to detect automatically, I can't remember)?

Lord British has done nothing to these games. GOG has, but as you can see from the previous poster, the patcher works just fine when set up properly. The problem is on your end.

I did exactly as you said... New install and all. Made sure the directory is right and I get this "Unhandled exception has occured in your application. blah blah Could not find a part of the path D:\UltimaPatcher\Files\U4EGAUpgrade" No matter what I try to patch i get an error as above and nothing gets patched.