Cheating in Ultima VIII
Ultima VIII has a cheat menu, various items left over from development, and a cheat room with almost all the items that could ever be needed, as well as a few other more complicated cheat mechanisms.
The F8 Cheat Menu[edit]
Changing the bytes at 2A to 01, and at 2B to 01 in the file AVATAR.DAT enables the cheat menu with [F8] with the following options.
Toggles[edit]
- Hackmover (H Key): Most anything can be moved. People cannot be picked up, but can be dropped from a deadly height.
- Power Avatar (P Key): The game's god-mode. Invulnerable and endless mana.
- Footpads (F Key): Displays a grid over the gameworld.
- Egg Bounds (E Key): Displays egg boundaries.
Avatar Menu[edit]
Once debug mode is enabled, left-click the Avatar. A voice will shout "Cheater!" and laugh and the menu will open with the following options:
- Demo: Skip to any "cutscene" sequence in the game.
- Spell Book: Makes available every spell in the game.
- Information: Brings up a crosshair which reveals information on targeted NPC’s location and current animation.
- Enemy Caster: Brings up a crosshair and asks for a spell caster that must be a Sorcerer and not the Avatar.
- Time: Avatar reports the time.
- Key: Avatar says "You now have the key."
- Staff: Avatar says "You have returned the staff."
- Call Guards: Brings up a crosshair and causes the targeted NPC to accuse the Avatar of some capital offense. Beren will then appear and kill the Avatar.
- Blow Up: Causes an explosion.
- Kill Me: Kills an NPC unless designated immortal.
- EndGame: Spawns blackrock fragments or energised fragments.
- Jump Ahead: Brings up a list of cryptically named options. Some spawn items, while others just make the Avatar say "Bzzzzt! Thank you for playing."
View/Edit[edit]
This option lets you view the properties of various NPCs and change their behaviors accordingly.
Teleport[edit]
Allows the Avatar to teleport to a desired destination via NPC or Map Data or XYZ LOCATIONS see INFORMATION OPTION. NPC 6 = Lithos NPC 22= Cyrrus I think
Hex Editing for Cheat Menu[edit]
Note: This procedure involves editing a game file; create a backup copy of the file before proceeding. Enabling cheat mode may also make it impossible to finish the game as intended.
Edit the static\avatar.dat file eg. using DOS DEBUG command:
- DEBUG AVATAR.DAT E 12A 01 01 W Q
Now, load the game as normal and access the cheats menus when the game starts.
- Click left mouse button on the Avatar.
- [Ctrl]+[F1], shows all the combinations of keys to press in order to get equipment.
- Press [F7] to access a pull down menu (to activate hackmover and such) Note: the latestpatch of Ultima VIII requires using [F9] (if pressing [F7] alone during gameplay causes a game to be saved, the patch is installed).
Press [F7] for a cheat menu and [CTRL]+[F1] for a list of other things.
More Hex Editing[edit]
Another modification to the AVATAR.DAT file readies a cheat menu.
Load AVATAR.DAT with a hex editor and change the 00s at bytes 42 and 43 to 01s.
Once the game is loaded left-click the Avatar and the cheat menu will appear. [SHIFT]+[F4] give the Avatar immortality and [CTRL]+[F1] accesses a debug menu.
Cheat Program[edit]
Alternatively to tampering with the game files , there is a program called U8 Cheat Activator which does the same, without altering any files and can be easily removed.
The Cheat Room[edit]
In the Tenebrae Library can be found an adventurer's book (Adventure Quarterly, Vol IX) that tells of “The Forgotten Riches of Knarl”. Knarl was a great city of trade and was the origin of many magical weapons and spells. It is rumored that it was sealed away by magic. There are many supposed locations of the lost city, but all agree that the entrance to it lies in the Lower Catacombs. It is said that only he who is sound of heart and steady of sword will find this passage and bathe in all its glory.
The Avatar will have to have completed the Earth section of the game to be able to enter the Lower Catacombs. There are two entrances to it.
- Enter the Upper Catacombs which ever way it is easiest (or possible) for you.
- For an easy reference point to start from, find the Birthplace of Moriens. From here, head through the passage to the eastern section of the Catacombs. Immediately turn south and walk past what looks like a broken staircase. Walk to the south and a gate will close. Walk away and walk back again, and the gate will lower. Beware the ghosts and ghouls in this area.
- Walk through the gate and then to the west until a door. Kill the ghoul that rises. Unlock the door with the Key of the Scion, and enter the Lower Catacombs.
- Beware of fire shooters and bombs in this entrance area. Rock Flesh, Intervention, or a purple potion are recommended. Once through, walk to the NW so the gate closes. Walk South and pull the one lever there that is not broken. Walk south again and through the gate. Pull the eastern lever to open the northern gate.
- Walk back North and through the gate.
- Follow the passage to a door with a fire shooter in front of it. Dodge the fire shooters and walk around the lava on the way.
- Stand directly in front on the door (right in front of the fire shooter). Make sure your arrow is as small as it can be and hit both mouse buttons to jump directly up. The Avatar will be teleported to the cheat room.
- This room contains all the weapons (magic and non-magic; except the Blade of Striking), the magic shield, all the regular helmets, one of each of the scrolls the game offers, fire and chaos gems, and oil flasks.
Other Cheats[edit]
Cost-Effective Training[edit]
Strength and Dexterity[edit]
Normally the Avatar gets STR and DEX by hitting enemies, or Darion during a training session. However, swinging a weapon at nothing will also improve these stats, albeit, not as quickly as when striking an enemy. Also jumping raises DEX.
In less than a hour, both stats will be at 25.
Intelligence[edit]
There are multiple ways to raise the INT quickly. Not only does casting spells raise INT, (which including using scrolls) but also creating them, or even learning about them the first time. “Learning” also includes reading a spellbook (Necromancy, Sorcery) again and again, cheating the Avatar to higher INT.
Also, reading any kind of book – even log books – raises INT.
No Need for Death Speak[edit]
Once reaching the fourth Ancient Necromancer, a bug will obviate the need for the spell Death Speak. After that, talking with Necromancers can be conducted the same way as with other NPCs, saving on regents. Alternatively, that quest can be skipped altogether since the Avatar will already know all the spells the Ancient Necromancers teach. The only real value the quest affords is loot.
Tenebrae Skeleton Key[edit]
The programmers left many items behind walls in Tenebrae like chairs, silver ore and even a Theurgy focus. Another useful item is a skeleton key that allows access to all buildings in Tenebrae, even ones that should be unlockable, like the prison cells. However its acquisition is difficult. It is almost entirely hidden behind the western wall of the southwestern room of the Palace of the Tempest (the room with the chest containing the Tear of Seas). There are three possible methods:
- Simply use the hackmover to remove the wall and all obstacles.
- Place a grey explosive bottle on the desk and light it. Once visible, Aerial Servant can be used to retrieve it, which will only be available later in the game. This may require several iterations to be successful, so the game should be saved first.
- Another solution requires a great deal of mouse precision. One pixel of the key is visible. So finding the exact pixel (it is noticeable where the black outline of the wall gets thicker), the spell Aerial Servant can be used to get it without further trouble.
Infinite Sorcery Spells[edit]
Sorcery foci allow for a limited number of charges and reagents are also limited. The four blue pentagram symbols collected in the Obsidian Fortress are fully usable symbol foci that can hold any spell and the charges do not deplete. This is a huge advantage considering how formidable Sorcery spells are in combat.
Breaking Open Chests[edit]
Unlike earlier games, in Ultima VIII it normally is impossible to break open locked chests. However, thanks to an oversight when patching the game, there is a way. When the patch raises the Avatar's carrying capacity to 4 × STR instead of 2 × STR, it enables the Avatar to carry a chest in the backpack (which however must be almost empty for that). Then throwing the chest into yellow lava destroys it, but its contents are unharmed and can be picked up. (Sometimes using Aerial Servant) This for example allows access to the Tear of Seas early.
Also, the game has no special check if an NPC wants the item in the chest while it is being carried. Thus, Vividos accepts the ritual dagger even if it still is in the chest.
Lava Walk[edit]
The spell Endure Heat is not the only thing allowing one to traverse lava. A bridge can be assembled by throwing flat objects like shirts, blankets or unrolled bedrolls on the solid lava and then jumping onto these objects allows a safe crossing of the danger zone.