IIRC, DosBox doesn't support ALT + 255 or other uncommon ASCII characters.

hmm, works fine for me. Make sure that your Ultima 7 has no corrupted files by installing it again.
I'm attaching my batch file I use to start the game (renamed to txt, so this forum allows me to post it) with debug mode enabled.

Nope, the Alt+255 works fine. That's not the issue.

I'll try re-downloading U7

ah, you downloaded it, seems I have to remember that for future questions and ignoring them.

Well, I COULD go to my file cabinet and get the original version on 3.5" floppy disks, the original cloth map, the instruction manual, and even that little plastic triangle coin that came with it. Wait, the coin might've come with 9.

Yes, I downloaded it, because I own it and my disks no longer function. As 3.5" floppies are apt to do after a few years.

I don't care whether you own it or not, in regards to Ultima 7 I'm very strict in my views.
AND troubleshooting a downloaded game more often than not proves to be a waste of time, unless you compare checksums and so forth.

So the issue is that it's been downloaded, or the issue is that you thought I didn't own it? Because if it was because it was downloaded, then I can see you saying "I'm not going to bother helping, because it was downloaded and could be corrupt." But at least to me, your statement implied that you would ignore all posts by me because I'd downloaded the game. If I was incorrect in that assumption, then I apologize.

> So the issue is that it's been downloaded

It's simply annoying to try to figure out some bug when it turns out that
some files were simply missing. Thus use the original version, if that
shows the same bug feel free to post again.
Abandonware/"downloaded" games are not supported here, threads will
be closed without any further notice.

So the issue is that it's been downloaded, or the issue is that you thought I didn't own it?

As my big "AND" more than implied it's both.

Come on. Don't start a flame war for a subjective reason. If you want to discuss that matter, use PM. 😐

fiordhraoi:

Downloaded software is not supported here. Don't be surprised if some people doesn't want to help.

Well, some of us are against abandonware. More of us are against downloading of games that aren't even truly abandoned. And officially, we don't support any kind of software piracy here at VOGONS. However, if a piece of software runs fine under real DOS but has issues under Dosbox, regardless of the source, that's good to know, and is something that may need fixing. People need to mention that it's not the original version right at the start though, as cracks can have side-effects causing a game not to function properly.

Lofty
Great post.

I got the same problem with getting the Ultima 7 cheat/debug mode to work. I figured out that the DosBox which I got [0.63, running under Suse 10.1] doesn't support the alt+255 [or am I wrong??] and I'm almost sure that it's the reason for that weird error message, it happened also on my older machine with DOS 6.22 when I forgot about this hidden ascii symbol.
So the question is - how can I type this invisible symbol into the command line, when alt+numbers combination is not functioning?

sorry for two posts one after another, but I just found the solution - when using the main keypad the 255 code won't work, but when using numeric keypad with the NumLock on it does the trick. In original Dos both ways worked afaik, so maybe that's the reason fiordhraoi had problems with typing the parameter for ultima7.com
Lofty - there are no cracks for Ultima 7 I think, the copy protection is provided by in-game questions referring to the documentation, so the
'side effect' seems to be rather impossible...

By the way - Dominus, it's nice to meet a fellow Ultima Dragon here 😉

> In original Dos both ways worked afaik

Nope, unless you had some odd keyboard driver loaded.
But glad to hear that it works finally 😀

Yeah, I always had to use numpad.

> Nope, unless you had some odd keyboard driver loaded.

Well, throughout the years I used to have various Polish (as I'm from Poland) keyboard drivers installed, so maybe that's the point why it worked for me both ways...

Welcome alagner!
yeah, numpad versus normal keys, this easyly solved problem always gets forgotten!