On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 10:18:07 -0500, "Mathew" <mncrist2000.DeleteThis@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>I have the old 3.5 floppy version of Ultima 8 and was never able to complete
>because of an error. I could get to the fire magic area and complete the
>demon summoning which got that guy killed but when I try to continue with
>that story line I get an error asking me to insert another disk. I believe
>it happens as I am trying to pass through some pillars. Anyone else know of
>this and maybe know a way to correct it?
>I've been looking online to see if U8 is old enough yet to fall into P.D.
>but so far no luck. Thought maybe if I had another copy it may work, because
>my disks could have been faulty and not installed the game correctly.
Technically, Ultima 8 won't fall into the public domain until, what is
it now, 95 years after publication (longer if copyrights are extended
AGAIN)? Unless, of course, the copyright holder lets it go earlier
(yeah, right, that'll happen).
Of course, they *could* relax release it for free (still maintaining
rights to the assets), as some developers have done, but this is still
not the same as public-domain.
Nor is abandonware, which is still copyright violation (e.g.,
"warez"). Although I can sometimes almost see the justification for
it.
No, your best bet is to buy yourself a fresh copy. With such an old
game, I doubt it will cost very much. Search E-Bay (or computer-game
reseller websites) for the Complete Ultima Collection, which is all
the Ultima Games sans U9 on a single CD (you can also get it free if
you pick up a "Dragon Edition" of Ultima 9, which I saw going for
$2.99 at the local gamestore
