Cheating in Ultima VI
Ultima VI contains a built-in cheat mode (which was most likely used by the developers for testing and QA). There are other cheats as well.
Cheat Menu[edit]
Talk to Iolo, and enter the following:
spam (enter)
spam (enter)
spam (enter)
humbug (enter)
This will bring you to the Secret Cheaters Menu with the following options:
- Get Items (allows you to get any item)
- Set Flags (set internal game state flags)
- View NPCs (allows you view anything about an NPC)
- Edit Party (allows you to add/remove player from party and modify stats)
- Edit Player (allows you add/subtract karma)
Get Items[edit]
- Main article: Ultima VI Get Items list
You will be asked for
A) the item number (see the main article)
B) the quality (unless otherwise indicated in the list, use 1)
C) the quantity (however many you want!)
After entering this stuff, when you leave the cheater's menu, you will have the item(s) in your inventory, regardless of weight and volume.
NOTE: Any item created with this method will vanish if you drop it and leave the area.
Strange Items[edit]
Using the cheat menu, you can create an item that looks like one item but has the properties of a different item. If you add 1024 to the item number you want, you will get an item that behaves like the item you want but has the appearance of the item after it. Adding 2048 to an item number will give it the appearance of the item after the item after it.
Formally, to get an item #x that looks like item #x+r, you would enter r*1024+x for the item # (and maybe the quality too).
For example, to get a crossbow (#42) that looks like a two-handed sword (#46), you would enter 4*1024+42 = 4138.
NOTE: You can only get the appearance of a later item. Also, the item number has a limit of 65535.
Creating NPCs[edit]
Create a shrine (#393), and for the Quality put the NPC# of the NPC you wish to create (to get this, look in the character database using the Tweak program of the Ultima VI development kit). When you talk to the shrine, it should act like the NPC in question.
Set Flags[edit]
You can set various internal quest-related game flags.
View NPCs[edit]
You can:
- 1. View the portrait of an NPC.
- 2. View the inventory of an NPC
- 3. Search for an item. You can search for an item by looking at individuals or by searching all NPCs
- 4. Set the worktype for an NPC
- 137-146 NPC works
- 149 NPC will not move (for approx 12 hours)
- 150 NPC is talkative (Restarts conversation after "bye")
- 151 NPC is talkative (Restarts conversation after "bye")
- 153 NPC attacks
- 154 NPC runs away
- 155 NPC is hostile (NPC attacks and refuses to talk)
- WT_SLEEP: NPC sleeps
Edit Party[edit]
You can modify the stats, level, and experience of any of your party members. It also can be edited if the party is riding on a horse.
Edit Player[edit]
You can view and modify the karma level, and set a quest flag.
Other Cheats[edit]
Teleportation[edit]
- Main article: Ultima VI teleportation
Holding [ALT]+214 (on the keypad) will bring up a prompt (in Gargish) for three coordinates – these three hex numbers will bring you to any location in Britannia, the dungeons, or the Gargoyle world. This is apparently the programmers method of travel.
Overhead View and Coordinates[edit]
To get a good overhead bird eye's view, (just as if you used a peer gem) use [ALT]+213 (on the keypad): This will also give you a number: XX YYYY ZZZZZZZ Where XX is the amount of karma you have. (Which you lose if you steal) YYYY is the current time of the day in military time. ZZZZZZZ is the current location of your party. This actually allows you to gather coordinates for the teleport cheat.
Accelerate Time[edit]
Tired of holding down the spacebar to make time go by? Press [ALT]+215 to wait an hour.
Killing 'Nicely'[edit]
If you attack someone, kill them, resurrect them, and then try to talk to them, nothing will happen as they do remember what you did (unlike in Ultima VII). To prevent this from happening, you have to kill someone indirectly. Examples include a Poison spell, pushing people into fireplaces, using cannons, etc. They then act like nothing has happened.
Infinite Carrying Capacity[edit]
If you look at an empty bag and then pick up an item, you will always be able to pick it up provided its weight does not exceed your total carrying weight.
Unlocking Doors[edit]
To unlock a normal door that you do not have a key to, simply cast Magic Lock on the door, and then cast Unlock Magic. All locks will be removed from the door. The reason is, that each door can only hold one of four possible statuses (unlocked, locked (pickable), locked (unpickable) and magically locked). Using the first spell always changes the status of the door, thus when then magically unlocked, it has forgotten its other lock.
Karma Boost[edit]
The cook at Serpent's Hold accepts dragon eggs. Giving eggs results in a karma boost. The trick is that due to a bug, the game does not remove the egg from the inventory, meaning that this is an endless karma gathering-exploit.
Stealing Tips[edit]
Stealing normally is strongly discouraged and the consequences of getting caught are steep. However, there are several ways to minimize the penalty or even evade the matter entirely.
- The game does not bother with someone just moving things around (fixed in Ultima VII), so you can move the desired object outside of the sight of the townspeople, before taking it and evade trouble with the populace, though you still take the karma loss.
- The game also does only put the penalty of karma-1 on the action of stealing, not taking the quantity of the loot into account. This means you can move all the loot (see above) into one big pile if it can stack and then pick that up at a minimal karma loss. Thus it is possible to loot the mint (240 gold nuggets) with a measly karma loss.
- Even better, if dropping a bag, and then moving the desired object into said bag, the bag then can be picked up without any penalty - it doesn't count as stealing - and the object is yours.
- The Animate-spell does have, besides the fun below, also a quite practical use. If you animate an object you want to steal and then "kill" it, the owned-tag is removed and thus there is no penalty for taking it or for killing it (as it is not really alive).
8th Circle Spells Early[edit]
Normally, the way to level 8 is long – though it is worth the powerful stuff found in that circle. However, the programmers overlooked something. When using the Enchant spell on a yew staff bought from Nicodemus, the game does not check if the Avatar already is at the level of the spell being put onto the staff. Thus the important 8th circle spells can be put onto some staves and the normally boring grinding for level 8 can be set aside.
Cheats for Money[edit]
The Wisp of Gold[edit]
This actually is not a cheat in itself. The Xorinite wisp west of Yew wants to read The Book of Forgotten Mantras. In return it is either information or gold. The information is useless, but the gold is not, because the wisp will give you as many gold nuggets as you can carry! (can be exchanged to gold in Britain)
The cheat part is, that in some ports and versions, due to a bug this can be done as often as you want, just seek out a different wisp.
The Animate-Clone Cheat[edit]
This is a real cheat, taking advantage of a weakness in the programming. If you put an item on the ground, and cast Animate on it, it will be alive. This also means you can cast Clone on it to create copies of said item! These item do hold the properties of the original. The usefulness of this tactic is limitless! Either you animate and clone a object before killing them to have more of these available (lightning wands f.e.), or you sell the dead cloned objects! Doing this with magical armour and selling it in Trinsic will make you rich!
C64 Cheats[edit]
The Cheat Menu[edit]
To enter the cheat menu in the C64 version of Ultima VI, talk to yourself and say the following.
I (enter)
want to (enter)
cheat (enter)
The options in the menu are as follows:
- Get Items: Get any item in any quantity, just by entering the correct number from the Ultima VI Get Items list. Beside the quantity, the quality is also asked about, see more in the list about that.
- Set Flags: Set all kind of event and plot flags.
- Edit Party: Change the stats, level and experience of all party members to your liking.
- Edit Player: View and change the karma level and set a quest flag.
- Hocus Pocus: Chose which spells you want to "learn". In this port, a spellbook is not needed, spells are learned and then are always available.
Hexadecimal Values[edit]
Also in the C64 version, press the Commodore key and 1 and you will get a set of 8 numbers in four sets. The first two sets are the coordinates in hex, the next set tells of the level in hex with Underground being a negative number (FF) and the last set of numbers are the karma value (99 max).
Teleport[edit]
Press [RUN/STOP]+[F7] at the same time. now you can enter coordinates in hexadecimal for the values x/y/z.
Examples:
- 133/188/0 Drawbridge Castle Britannia
- 16B/282/0 Entrance of Paws
These have to be real coordinates, or the game will crash. Also if "z" is greater than 0, then the transport will go under the earth. 0 means Britannia, 1-4 Dungeon levels and 5 the Realm of the Gargoyles.
POKE-cheating[edit]
On a real C64 with a cheat module like the Action Replay VI, or on an emulator with a cheat function, the following POKE-codes can be used during the game.
POKE | Effect |
---|---|
POKE 22504,255 | Maximal Hit Points 1st character |
POKE 22505,255 | Maximal Hit Points 2nd character |
POKE 22506,255 | Maximal Hit Points 3rd character |
POKE 22507,255 | Maximal Hit Points 4th character |
POKE 22596,255 | Maximal Mana 1st character |
POKE 22597,255 | Maximal Mana 2nd character |
POKE 22598,255 | Maximal Mana 3rd character |
POKE 22599,255 | Maximal Mana 4th character |
POKE 22412,50 | Maximal strength 1st character |
POKE 22413,50 | Maximal strength 2nd character |
POKE 22414,50 | Maximal strength 3rd character |
POKE 22415,50 | Maximal strength 4th character |
POKE 222435,50 | Maximal dexterity 1st character |
POKE 222436,50 | Maximal dexterity 2nd character |
POKE 222437,50 | Maximal dexterity 3rd character |
POKE 222438,50 | Maximal dexterity 4th character |
POKE 22481,50 | Maximal intelligence 1st character |
POKE 22482,50 | Maximal intelligence 2nd character |
POKE 22483,50 | Maximal intelligence 3rd character |
POKE 22484,50 | Maximal intelligence 4th character |
External Links[edit]
- ITHE's list of more cool stuff to do in Ultima VI
- Ultima VI Development Kit - contains some useful cheating utilities