well, this makes me want to mod a 3D mode into U7. and maybe into U6.
shouldn't be too hard, right?

3D as in first person perspective where you can turn on a granular basis that is not just L, R, forward, and reverse? Only those.

You could argue that Ultima 7, 7.5, and 8 are 3D in that they have height in addition to width and length. You can stack items and build your own staircases out of items and whatnot. But they're played from the 3rd person perspective, not he first person perspective. Ultima 6 APPEARS to be an angled 3rd person perspective as well, but there isn't really any height. You can't stack items on top of one another and walk up and down them like staircase the way you can do in Ultimas 7, 7.5, and 8.

Funny, but that does remind me of something. There used to be an Exult mod that rotated everything 45 degrees to create a convincing isometric view. It looked great but it wasn't maintained and I doubt it's supported anymore.

well, i mean, as bliznik mentioned U7 does model a 3D space in a way. it knows how large each object is in 3 dimensions and keeps track of which cube shaped units of space are occupied vs free. it would be more of a novelty than anything but it might be possible with serious hacks to transform the textures of objects into a 3D view to match the 3D space..

Perhaps. Doesn't sound easy to me but by all means, have at it.

please don't...
would be better for all of us! you are not missing much.
I thought about remaking Ulitma IX with Ultima VII graphics engine, but I am not a computer programmer, only a player. The story is what bothers me, not really the graphics. it stinks! and the avatar is a half-baked flake. not like he was in prior ultimas!

U9 is the worst of them all. If you wanting to experience the story, world, etc., I recommend getting Dungeon Siege and running the U5:Lazarus and U6 Project mods. They're 3-D, far more modern (though 20+ years old at this point) and an absolute joy to play

How so?

After all, the original Ultima VII would still be available for those who prefer it--but a 3D version would also be available for those who prefer that!

(Personally, I think that a 3D Ultima VII could be excellent! ^_^)