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    uw2wnt.exe  version 1.2                        readme.txt version 2.1

    patch makes ultima underworld I und II run on Windows NT/2000/XP

    according to the problem solution by Moscow Dragon
    see the following copy of his news entry

  --------------------- begin of news entry -------------------------------
    From        : Moscow Dragon (maxim__s@mtu-net.ru)
    Subject     : UW2 on NT: looks like solved!
    Newsgroups  : rec.games.computer.ultima.series
    Date        : 2001-12-23 15:06:51 PST

    Patching    :
    - make a copy of the original UW2.EXE, for a case if something will go
      wrong.
    - open UW2.EXE in your favourite hex editor like HIEW (or use some UNIX
      tool).
    - go to offset 0x24719
    - you will see the bytes of:

      FA 52 BA 03 00 E4 64 A8 02

      If you see some other bytes, do not proceed. Looks like you have some
      other build of UW2 then me.
    - patch the FA byte to C3
    - save and exit

    Technical details:
    - UW2 has a function which sends "set LED indicators" command to the
      keyboard ports, bypassing BIOS.
    - this way of accessing ports is incompatible with NTVDM and hangs it.
      NTVDM waits forever on some Win32 event as a result of the DOS app
      reading the port.
    - the patch switches the function away at all, C3 is RETN
    - I do not know whether the function is vital for UW2. Probably not.
    - for now, I also do not know whether the function called many times from
      UW2 or only during the introduction.

    Max

  --------------------- end of news entry -----------------------------------

  The uw2wnt Patch
  ----------------

  uw2wnt = Ultima Underworld to Windows NT
  
  I found out that the offset is dependent on the Ultima Underworld version,
  but Moscow Dragon's solution should work with all versions and even with
  Ultima Underworld 1 too. Just search for the pattern and change the first
  byte according to Moscow Dragon's description.

  Many people don't own a hex editor or are not familiar with the operation
  of this tool. For all this folks I've created this patch which will do the
  necessary work automatically. BTW - should work means that I wasn't able
  to test this with all Ultima Underworld versions and with all Windows NT
  versions. My Ultima Underworld 2 version is different from Moscow Dragon's
  (not the same offset) but this patch program works fine for both of my
  Ultima Underworlds and also both on my Windows 2000 (SP2) and Windows XP.
  
  BTW - I've just replayed and solved the patched Ultima Underworld - The
  Stygian Abyss version (Windows XP).   

  Put the patch program uw2wnt.exe into the Ultima Underworld directory and
  start it. uw2wnt will look for UW.EXE and UW2.EXE and patch it so you can
  use it with Windows NT (2000, XP). It will also create a backup of the
  original file which is called UW.EXE.BAK or UW2.EXE.BAK. The patch program
  will shelter the back up file from overwriting by setting the read only
  attribute.

  After patching you must modify the properties of UW.EXE respectively
  UW2.EXE. Select the Memory tab (hope this is the correct term, I own
  the German version and my tab is called 'Speicher' which means 'Memory').
  Select the Expansion Memory (EMS) listbox and choose 4096. Then select
  the Screen tab and activate the Fullscreen radio button (again I can only
  guess the English terms, just secure that Ultima Underworld don't start
  in a window).

  Run Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 with VDMS for sound and music. Get VDMS for
  free, visit http://www.ece.mcgill.ca/~vromas/vdmsound.

  Troubleshooting
  ---------------

  problem  : the game starts but hangs within the intro screen, sound works
             with VDMSound
  solution : download a decent driver for your graphics card

  problem  : you cannot talk to the inhabitants of the Abyss
  solution : be sure that all of your files in your Underworld folder and
             subfolders are not write protected. Try 

             attrib -r *.* /s /D

             from your Underworld directory

  problem  : "no EMS memory" error message even after customizing the games
             memory options as described above
  solution : a bios setup can help (perhaps) - some new mainboards don't 
             support EMS any longer. Maybe you are "blessed" with such a board. 
             To be sure try this:
             - open the Windows Explorer and go to your system32 Windows
               directory - c:\Windows\System32 for example
             - right-click command.com and create a shortcut
             - right-click this shortcut and open the properties
             - go to the memory-tab
             - select the Expansion Memory (EMS) listbox and choose
               4096 (close the properties with OK)
             - now double-click your new command.com shortcut
             - type mem [Enter] into the Dos-Box
             - you should see a line like 4194304 Bytes ... (EMS) -if the line 
               shows 0 Bytes you are lost :-( 

               Lost? Not yet! Try to play with your BIOS settings. Shut down your 
               computer, turn it on again, and access the BIOS menus. Somewhere on 
               the menus, perhaps under "Advanced" or "Peripheral" or "Peripheral 
               Configuration" or perhaps under some other menu entirely. Highlight 
               the entry that reads "USB Legacy Support" or "Legacy USB Support" or 
               something closely similar. Press Enter or use whatever other keystroke 
               is recommended to open the options. Select Disable (not Auto or Enable). 
               Save your settings and exit the BIOS settings. Or the entry is called
               similar like "Enhance USB Compatibility". Choose Enable in this case!
               
               If all your efforts fail try DOSBox: 
 
               http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/     or
               http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1

               Edit the dosbox.conf file. Search for [cpu]. Change cyles=2500 to
               cycles=8500.

  problem  : you have deleted you <ulima underworld>\DATA\UW.CFG config file by
             mistake
  solution : create a new one. Try the following content:
             3 5 220 1 sound
             1 5 220 1 speech
             0 cuts

             or

             3 7 220 1 sound
             1 7 220 1 speech
             0 cuts

  Credits:   Paul Neurath, Doug Church, Jonathan Arnold, Jon Maiara, Dan Schmidt, 
             Carlos Smith      for making my eternal favorite game
             Moscow Dragon     for detecting the solution how to play this game under NT
             Vlad Romascanu    for creating VDMSound
             Edward Mendelson  for his valuable hints how to enable EMS on up-to-date 
                               computers (http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/emsxp.html)

  
  Now have fun with this patch and let me know if you like it ;-)


    development : Sir Cabirus Dragon aka Frank Wolter
    email       : Sir.Cabirus@gmx.org
    homepage    : http://www.SirCabirus.com
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