Ultima VII auf Deutsch

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Screenshot of the title screen of Ultima VII in German and several menu items.
Title screen

Ultima VII auf Deutsch is a fan patch created by Sir John which fully translates Ultima VII into German, which can be found at Die Heimstatt des Sir John.

The Patch[edit]

While an official translation of Ultima VII into German was released, it is very difficult to find, as it was only published on floppy disks. Additionally, Forge of Virtue was never translated into German. Furthermore, the original German translation has several weaknesses and bugs. Because of this, Sir John decided to completely redo the translation. Also, a new translation of the original manual is available in PDF format (more in its own section). Version 1.6 ironed out many problems that plagued the older versions, thanks to cooperation with Tribun Dragon, who playtested the game to not only find errors but also inaccuracies that did not mesh with established lore. For Version 1.70 a German version of Eureka Dragon's Ultima Hacks has been added, making the more comfortable Serpent Isle controls available for Ultima VII. The newest version of the patch is 2.0.[1]

Installation[edit]

The original CD version of Ultima VII is needed for the patch. The patch files are then simply copied into the game directory, and that is basically all that needs to be done, apart from extra steps for additional content. Other than manually copying the files, a DOS and Windows installer version is available as well. The resulting game can then either be played in DOSBox or Exult.

Features[edit]

Screenshot from Ultima VII in German depicting the player's paper doll and stats.
Looking at the stats
Screenshot from Ultima VII in German depicting the player in conversation with a girl.
Talking with Jaana
Screenshot from Ultima VII in German depicting a conversation between the player and a girl in some kind of stone building.
Buying from Apollonia
Screenshot from Ultima VII in German depicting a large, inset spellbook, which includes runic letters and an icon for each spell.
The spellbook

The following features are part of the patch:

  • Full and complete translation of all text in the game to German. The existing translation was overhauled and greatly improved in the process, while Forge of Virtue received its first translation. Many German names for places and things, which were established with the German translations of Ultima V: Lazarus and The Ultima 6 Project, replaced sub-optimal names from the original translation.
    • In the original translation, the rules of Chuckles’ game were broken because the correct answers also had more than one syllable. Here, the answers are modified to adhere properly to the rules of the game.
  • Redrawing of all English graphics into German graphics (as seen in the title screen); this does include multiple spells with altered names. The text in the introduction also got altered and re-drawn.
  • The German speech files of the Guardian from the original translation, which were rather lackluster, have been replaced with newly-recorded lines for the introduction, conclusion, and in-game speech.
  • Looking at NPCs now provides the correct gender-specific labels (German is more strict about this).
  • Alternate optional Antiqua font for better readability of the text, can be turned on or off.
  • Addition of John Glassmyer's Ultima Hacks in German.

Fixes of Original German Version Bugs[edit]

The originally translated German version of the game from 1992 had some bugs that the English original did not.

  • Fix for a bug in the old German version, in which several keywords had their triggers missing and thus could not be used.
  • Fix for the spacing between the lines, which had caused only three instead of five lines of text (as per original) to be visible in dialogue, which also limited the visible keyword selection to that amount. That severely crippled the shops – especially since German words in general are longer and take up more space.
  • Further fixes for shops that had more than five lines of products visible in the selection, since everything after line 5 could not be selected. Words were shortened to fit everything on five lines.
  • Fix for a bug that causes single reagents in the world (not bought ones) to have a quantity of "0," thus preventing their use for spellcasting and causing them to disappear if one tried to stack them.

Fixes of Bugs of the Original Game[edit]

Some bugs were already in the English original and also got fixed.

  • Fix for the Rankin bug; he can now be forced to confess with the cube.
  • Fix for the Tseramed bug when the player's name is "Avatar".
  • Fix for the broken code when wasting a potion.
  • Fix for the Iskander quest, which in the original was unsolvable due to a bug.
  • Fish now no longer have a size of 0 (bug in the original game). Thus fishing is now possible.
  • Additional fixes for the static in the introduction and the earthquake effect, which previously did not work properly in DOSBox.
  • The bug where Jaana can no longer heal (the five-hour timer was bugged) got fixed.

Correction of Wrong Content[edit]

Many content errors in the dialogues were corrected, and these corrections are also available for the English version through the Ultima VII Nitpickers Delight Patch:

  • Correction of the dungeon confusion; Dungeon Shame (where the Sphere Generator is located) is now labeled correctly in dialogues.
  • Jillian now correctly puts Moonglow on Verity Isle.
  • Penumbra now correctly locates the generator on Dagger Isle.
  • Gorn's god is now correctly spelled "Brohm".
  • Change of Asterellon's logbook to correctly identify the Isle of Fire as being underwater during his stay.
  • Julia now says more logical things about her working as a tinker.
  • Gordon now no longer has a wagon that does not exist.
  • Sam also no longer has an imaginary wagon.
  • Gwenno's scroll was corrected to avoid continuity errors with Serpent Isle.
  • More text when initially meeting Thad (without wearing a medallion).
  • Addom now says correctly that Jhelom is on an island.
  • On Buccaneer's Den, Danag, Gordy, and Sintag now correctly identify Dungeon Hythloth (where the gate is built) and the Buccaneer's Cave (where Hook lives). Both places had remained strangely nameless in the original, despite being in the correct locations.

New Manuals[edit]

Sir John also re-translated both The Book of Fellowship and A Guide to the Isle of Fire, since the original German translation at times was not exactly up to today's standards. However, the layout of that first new translation was somewhat bland and not optimal, and it still contained errors from the original. In 2019, a second translation was completed; this time, Tribun Dragon helped spot the errors while also providing all the illustrations and page borders in high quality to re-create the original layout. This version actually holds more illustrations to compensate for the sometimes lacking original, and both books received new covers – the Guide never having had one in the first place.

The books coming with the patch have the lowest quality due to size issues. Sir John offers higher quality downloads on his page.

  • Cover of a book written in gold German lettering and a dark, faux leather background.

    Cover of the new Book of Fellowship

  • Two pages of a book written in German. Black and white illustrations include two medieval armoured men dueling in the vicinity of a castle, a large gem which appears to be emitting flames, an erect, rectangular slab with a sheen.

    History section

  • Two pages of a book written in German. Black and white illustrations include several icons depicting a variety of products offered in retail shops.

    Shops section

  • Two pages of a book written in German. Black and white illustrations include several people depicting a variety of medieval professions.

    Professions section

  • Two pages of a book written in German, itemizing several things. Each item includes some runic, plus the names of the runic letters in Latin.

    Magic spells section

External Links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Ultima VII German translation patch – Version History
Translations of the Ultima series
Official Translations In General ☥ Ultima VII ☥ Ultima VIII ☥ Ultima IX
Fan Translations
of Ultima VI 		German ☥ Spanish ☥ French
Fan Translations
of Savage Empire (SNES) 		English
Fan Translations
of Ultima Underworld (PSX) 		English
Fan Translations
of Ultima VII 		German ☥ Italian
Fan Translations
of Ultima VII Part Two 		German ☥ French
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