Cheating in Ultima IV
This article lists exploits in Ultima IV.
General Cheats[edit]
The Status-Trick[edit]
This cheat takes advantage of the way that character's status work. In the game, enemies that cast Sleep against your characters (like reapers and balrons) can be neutralized by just having a character being poisoned. The game engine can only handle one status ailment (asleep, poisoned, dead) at a time, so a poisoned character can never fall asleep. Since poison is not much of a problem inside of dungeons, creating a poison field and poisoning characters before entering rooms with Sleep-casting monsters will protect them from the effects of Sleep spells. Of course, Cure spells are required after the battle is done to remove the poison.
Overwriting Energy Fields[edit]
Some energy fields can be changed to a different type by casting a new one in its place. For example, a sleep field can be changed to a poison field. Other combinations may be possible but not all combinations work. For example, changing a lightening field to poison is not possible. This was tested on the Sega Master System port and may behave different in other ports. This costs less mana that dispelling the field.
Money Through Mystics[edit]
Just like in Ultima III with the Exotics, it is possible in Ultima IV to find and sell the Mystic Armour and Mystic Arms repeatedly for money. However, it is harder than with Exotics, since you first need to be an 8-part Avatar before it is possible to find them in the first place.
Money Overflow in Arms Trafficking[edit]
When you buy multiple expensive weapons, Ultima IV computes the total price by doing a 16-bit unsigned multiplication without checking for overflow. Thus if you start with 1500 Gold coins, you may go to Minoc and purchase not one Magic axe but 88 of them for 928 Gold coins only. You can similarly get 79 Magic Swords for 892 instead of one at 2000 in Minoc. Or in Buccaneer's Den, 99 Magic Bows for 1392 instead of one for 2000, 92 Magic Wands for 1248 instead of one for 5000. As for armours, you can get in Jhelom 99 Plate Mail at 1392 instead of one at 2000, 99 Magic Chain at 2784 instead of one at 4000 (also in Trinsic), or 94 Magic Plate for 2640 instead of one at 7000. If needed, this infinite money supply and storage is easily bootstrapped by a first round of arms-trafficking of Mystic Weapons between Serpent's Hold and Buccaneer's Den just as above.
Passage of the Moons[edit]
Normally, waiting on the world map for the right moon phase to open a moongate causes time to pass. This in turn makes you use up food, which cones with a cost, especially in the beginning of the game. However, if you push Z in order to read the stats, while time is stopped, the moons continue changing phases. This means that you can look at the stats until the right phase is there and then enter the gate, to save food and avoid conflicts.
Unlimited Nightshade and Mandrake Root[edit]
Normally nightshade and mandrake root are difficult to come by because they can only be harvested when both moons are in the new phase. The current moon phase is not part of the save file, so every time one launches the game the clock resets back to new-new. This means one can harvest either reagent until Felucca shifts, save, exit, reload, and then continue to harvest with only minimal delay. This is markedly faster than the previous Ztats trick.
Chests are Forever[edit]
Chests that are dropped by monsters stay on the overworld map until opened by the player. This can be used in creative ways, such as defeating monsters on swamp patches and then letting the chest stay there in order to be able to walk over the swamp without risking getting poisoned by it. This technique is especially useful when harvesting mandrake root, or marking the specific location of or a path to nightshade.
Stats the Easy Way[edit]
There is a way to raise the stats very quickly for which you need at least one Xit spell. Then, enter the ladder in Castle Britannia down into dungeon Hythloth and immediately cast Xit to leave the dungeon. Entering from the surface, you just have to turn left to find a magic orb that raises all three stats. These regenerate each time you leave a dungeon and since this one is right next to the entrance, you can quickly raise your stats to the maximum by using it, leaving Hythloth, and then entering again.
The only difficulty is, that anyone below level 7 gets killed by touching the orb, so either have lots of Resurrect spells at hand, have the last man standing cast Gate Travel to return to Lord British for revival, or simply kamikaze and accept the loss of equipment.
Apple II Cheats[edit]
Disk Swap[edit]
Go to the lefthand edge of Castle Britannia, swap the Britannia disk for the Underworld disk, and travel east. The overworld map becomes garbled and you may be able to find an infinite chest. Swap the disk back and travel back the way you came to get back to the normal map. The details can be observed in the video below.
| Unedited Ultima 4 Disk Swapping Exploit |