On OS X you want to move the game files into /Library/Application Support/Exult/blackgate (or serpentisle for U7 Part 2). Where are the game files? It's explained in this thread:
http://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/mac_user_guide_to_ultima

Note that this is the global Library on the root of your hard drive, not the user Library (which would start with a squiggly line ~/Library). if you use those folders you will not have to edit the Exult config file. And always name your operating system when asking for help. You must help people to help you.

Thanks for the help Arkose. i do have windos 7. when i download exult i tried copying and pasting the two c:\ comand u posted and i still get a thing that says it no valid game. i did go to my own files under the gog files i have and linked the ones i have for u7 and u7 serp also and i get the same result. im not very good at theys things but i love this game and really want to try it on exult. any more advise would be great

Run the Exult installer again. When you get to the step for the paths use the Browse button and dig to wherever you installed the game to, then choose the folder within it with the matching game: ULTIMA7 for the first box, SERPENT for the second box. Complete the installer and it will update the Exult settings.

Does the latest snapshot include the fix for the disappearing bug? Crashes I can handle but in-game or save corruption is not much of an option with a progress-saving kind of game.

Yes it does.

Nice! Thanks.

Glad to be of help! :D

Hello everybody!

I've got some questions concerning Exult. I just cannot play U VII in Dosbox with the extremely bad performance (was it the same in the days when it came out?).

I'm playing the game with very much pleasure the last days. There haven't been serious issues, but two strange effects or bugs I encountered:

- Timeskipping: When I was wandering around in Cove, I entered the cave north of the village, killed some cyclopses and got out on the other exit. I entered in the early night - but when I left the cave it was late morning. Another time I encountered the same issue while traveling east of Britain. It's not reproducable however.

- Healing bug: Jaana isn't able to heal me. Both ways don't work - the book and the "direct" method in dialogue just "fizzle" and have no effect (it's not because she has to rest, it uses mana but with no effect). Same problems with Lord British: To heal a single person is impossible, to heal the whole party functions however. Same thing with resurrection: I put a corpse in front of him, he isn't able to resurrect him, but he performs the spell itself.

- Other minor and more cosmetic issues are the wrong functioning light-effects in the night (there are not as much different light levels as in the original and transitions between them are sometimes broken). Another thing is that sometimes sounds are missing: The blacksmith in Minoc for example makes no sounds if he produces his sword (if I use the same apparatus, the sounds work), same thing for the sewer woman in Britain and others.

I can live with all of these (there are many other healing possibilities after all), and I'll play further with the other problems - I just hope it isn't something that's able to break the game at some point. Does anybody have experiences with these issues?

Thank you for your help!

I've completed the game using Exult a few months ago - including Isle of Fire - without hitting any game-breaking bugs (actually I can't remember running into any bugs at all). However, I didn't do all the quests and I didn't get Jaana.

Great to hear! :) I talked with the team of Exult and they solved the healing-bug very fast and efficiently. In the recent Exult snapshot the problems are gone - there is also a new version of the Keyring mod.

Wow, that's excellent - thanks Exult team! I was under the impression that Exult was not actively maintained any more. It's so polished that there seems very little that needs to be finished off. A huge success story from the Ultima / open source community.

Developing is still very active - there's just no new "official" version out but regular svn-builds. If you discover bugs, you can post them in the forum http://exult.sourceforge.net/forum/list.php?f=1 or, even better, in the bug tracker with a savegame if possible (you'll need a free sourceforge-account for that) https://sourceforge.net/projects/exult/?source=directory
Don't hesitate to write them about it, as they are dependent from feedbacks for their development.

However, you should download the latest svn-builds on the Exult-homepage (the one in the sourceforge seems to be obsolete).
The only things I found are more cosmetic: The lights don't work as the do in UVII (their radius, the different grades of brightness) and there are still some schedules not working perfectly (the blacksmith in Minoc for example doesn't get the water at the well). But overall, it's a very stable, comfortable and pleasant experience.

Does the new version of the Keyring mod allow you to just add the keyring? I tried the mod once, but you don't get the keyring until pretty far into the game.

No, you still have to accomplish Zauriel's quest. But it's a cool quest with nice rewards imho (I just love the firedoom staff) and you can do it at any time you want.

Unless he's changed it, while yes you can start it at any time, its got pretty hard combat and you won't succeed until your party is reasonably high level.