projectbritannia.com

You can play two full games built on the Project Britannia engine: Ultima V: Lazarus and The Ultima 6 Project. Both are fan-made recreations of the classic Origin Systems Ultima titles, running on the Dungeon Siege engine so they work on modern hardware with enhanced gameplay and graphics. The Project Britannia site hosts download links for both games, along with the engine itself and the tools needed to build your own mods.

The two playable games

Project Britannia is the shared engine and asset base behind two separate, complete games developed by different teams working together:

According to the site, these were "built by Team Lazarus and Team Archon collaboratively." Both take the world of Britannia from Origin Systems' Ultima series and implement it in Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege engine.

What "running on Project Britannia" means for you

The practical benefit is hardware and quality-of-life: you can play Ultima V and Ultima VI on modern hardware with enhanced gameplay and graphics, rather than fighting with the original releases. The engine is the same Dungeon Siege engine, extended with a custom scripting API called Skrit used to customize behavior.

What else the site gives you

Beyond the two games, the site is set up as a resource hub for the modding community:

• Download links to both games (Ultima V: Lazarus and The Ultima 6 Project)
• The game engine itself, which you can install in your own development environment for use with the Siege Editor
• The Siege Tools development toolset for creating your own mods
• A wiki recording the Project Britannia featureset plus historical details
• Documentation for the custom "Skrit" API used to customize the Dungeon Siege engine
• A forum where you can connect with other modders, post about your experiences with either game, and get help

Getting help and staying current

The forum is the main place to go for troubleshooting and community support. The site also notes that new mods are still being written, with links to them posted in the forum. One caveat worth knowing: the development blog is described as mostly filled with links that no longer work and announcements that no longer matter — it stands as a timeline of the project rather than a live resource, so don't rely on it for working downloads.

If you're looking for a quick-start guide to setting up Dungeon Siege for either mod, or an FAQ for installation problems, the site's author mentions these as possible future additions rather than existing pages — so for now, the forum is your best bet for installation help.

Project Britannia hosts two things you can actually use: the Project Britannia game engine (installable in your own development environment for use with the Siege Editor) and the Siege Tools development toolset for building your own mods. Both are available as downloads from the site, alongside a wiki, Skrit API documentation, and a forum. There is no pricing information on the site, so treat download and access terms as unconfirmed until you check the pages yourself.

What you can get from the site

The site also links to the two finished games built on this engine by Team Lazarus and Team Archon: Ultima V: Lazarus and The Ultima 6 Project. If your goal is playing rather than modding, those are the downloads you want.

Setting up the engine for modding

The site describes the engine as installable "in your own development environment for use with the Siege Editor," but it does not publish a step-by-step setup guide. The site's own author notes that how-tos, an installation FAQ, and a modder setup guide are things that "may" be added at some point — meaning you should not expect them to be there now.

That leaves you with this practical sequence:

1. Download the game engine from the site.
2. Install it into your development environment.
3. Open it with the Siege Editor.
4. Download Siege Tools for mod creation.
5. Keep the Skrit API documentation open while customizing the engine — Skrit is the scripting layer used to modify Dungeon Siege behavior.

Expected result: a working engine install you can open in the Siege Editor, with Siege Tools available for building mods.

Where people get stuck: the missing setup guide. Because the site does not document the exact install path, environment requirements, or Dungeon Siege version handling, the forum is your realistic fallback for installation problems — it is described as the place to "get help with the games" and connect with other modders.

Before you start

• You need Dungeon Siege 1. The engine is built on Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege engine, and the project's purpose is running Britannia content on that engine.
• Expect an old toolchain. Work on the project began around 2005, and the development blog is described as mostly dead links and stale announcements. Modern-hardware compatibility is claimed for the games, not guaranteed for the modding toolchain.
• Check the wiki first. It records the engine's featureset, which tells you what you can and cannot build before you invest time in setup.

If you only want to play

Skip the engine and tools. Download Ultima V: Lazarus or The Ultima 6 Project — the two games built on this engine — and use the forum for help with either. The site's stated goal is that you can play Ultima V and Ultima VI on modern hardware with enhanced gameplay and graphics.

Project Britannia is a fan-made project that recreated the world of Origin Systems' Britannia inside Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege engine. According to the project's own site, it represents "the culmination of almost a decade of work," beginning around 2005, and lets players run Ultima V and Ultima VI on modern hardware with enhanced gameplay and graphics. The same page describes it in the past tense — "is, or perhaps was" — which tells you the core effort has wound down, even though modding activity continues.

Origins and timeline

The project started in roughly 2005. Dozens of contributors put in thousands of hours over the following years. The website hosts a development blog that, in the site's own words, is "mostly filled with links that no longer work, and announcements that no longer matter," but it still stands as a timeline and record of the team's work. If you want to trace how the project evolved, that blog is the closest thing to an official history.

A global volunteer team

The Project Britannia team drew people "from all walks of life, all across the world" — the site specifically names America, New Zealand, Finland, and Hong Kong. The project describes itself as "truly a global effort" and "a labor of love," and thanks everyone who contributed. This matters if you're trying to understand why the project exists at all: it was a volunteer collaboration, not a commercial release, which explains both its scope and its eventual slowdown.

What the project produced

Two complete games were built on the Project Britannia engine, created collaboratively by Team Lazarus and Team Archon:

• Ultima V: Lazarus
• The Ultima 6 Project

Beyond the games, the site distributes the engine itself (installable in your own development environment for use with the Siege Editor), the Siege Tools development toolset for building mods, a wiki recording the engine's featureset and history, and documentation for the custom "Skrit" API used to customize the Dungeon Siege engine.

Is it still active?

Partly. The site notes that "there are still people writing mods," with links to them in the forum, and the forum remains the place to connect with other modders or get help with the two games. The core team effort, however, is framed as finished. The site also mentions possible future additions — how-tos, an installation FAQ, and a setup guide for new modders — but presents these as intentions rather than existing resources.

Why the background matters to you

If you're deciding whether to invest time here, the history sets expectations: this is a long-running volunteer project with a finished engine and two playable games, plus tools and documentation for making your own content. Support comes from a community forum rather than an active studio, and some older links on the blog are dead. The practical resources — engine, tools, wiki, Skrit API docs, and forum — are what remain useful today.

Project Britannia is a fan-made project that ports the world of Origin Systems' Britannia into the Dungeon Siege 1 engine, letting you play Ultima V and Ultima VI on modern hardware with enhanced gameplay and graphics. It began around 2005 and grew into a nearly decade-long, globally distributed effort. The site itself now functions as a resource hub for the two games built on the engine, the engine and modding tools themselves, documentation, a wiki, and a forum.

What the project actually is

The core idea is a game engine and asset base, not a single game. The Project Britannia team built the foundation, and two separate teams then used it to produce playable titles:

• Ultima V: Lazarus — built by Team Lazarus
• The Ultima 6 Project — built by Team Archon

Both were developed collaboratively on top of the Project Britannia engine. If your goal is simply to play, you want one of these two games rather than the engine itself.

What you can get from the site

The site is organized around a few distinct resources, and which one matters depends on whether you want to play or to build.

The Skrit API documentation is the essential reference if you intend to modify engine behavior — Skrit is the custom scripting API used to customize the Dungeon Siege engine.

A few things worth knowing before you dive in

• The project is described as "is, or perhaps was" — the site's own framing suggests active development has wound down, even though people were still writing mods at the time of writing.
• The development blog is largely historical. It's mostly filled with links that no longer work and announcements that no longer matter. It's kept as a timeline and testament to the team rather than as a working resource.
• The forum is the live part. For help with either game, or to find current mods, that's where to go.
• Setup guides may not exist yet. The site notes that how-tos, an installation FAQ, and a modder setup guide were things the author might add later — so don't assume a quick-start guide is waiting for you.

Who this is for

If you have nostalgia for Ultima V or VI and want to replay them with modern conveniences, start with the two game links. If you want to build on or extend the Dungeon Siege engine, the engine download, Siege Tools, wiki, and Skrit documentation are your entry points — and the forum is where you'll find the people who can actually answer questions.

Project Britannia hosts the two completed games built on its engine, the engine itself for use with the Siege Editor, the Siege Tools development toolset, a feature wiki, Skrit API documentation, and a community forum. The site is aimed at two audiences: players who want to run Ultima V: Lazarus and The Ultima 6 Project on modern hardware, and modders who want to build on the same engine. Everything below comes from the site's own description of its contents.

Games you can download

The site links to the two games built with the Project Britannia engine, developed collaboratively by Team Lazarus and Team Archon:

• Ultima V: Lazarus — a remake of Ultima V using the Dungeon Siege engine.
• The Ultima 6 Project — the equivalent treatment of Ultima VI.

According to the site, these let you play both games on modern hardware with enhanced gameplay and graphics. The games are the finished products of the project; the rest of the site exists to support them and the people still modding them.

Engine and development tools

If you want to build rather than just play, the site provides:

The site notes that people are still writing mods, and points to the forum for links to them. So the toolset is not a historical artifact — it's presented as usable for ongoing work.

Documentation and reference material

• Wiki — records the featureset contained in Project Britannia along with some historical details.
• Skrit API documentation — an "essential link" for the custom Skrit API used to customize the Dungeon Siege game engine. If you're writing mods against this engine, this is the reference you'll need.

Community and support

The forum is where you connect with other modders, post about your experiences with Ultima V: Lazarus and The Ultima 6 Project, and get help with the games. It's also where current mod links live, since the site says new mods are still being written and posted there.

What the site does not currently provide

Worth knowing before you go looking:

• The site's author states that how-to guides, an installation FAQ, and a modder setup guide are things that may be added "at some point" — they are not described as present.
• The development blog is described as mostly filled with dead links and outdated announcements. It's kept as a timeline and record of the team, not as a working resource.
• Some screenshots from the old website are noted as not yet moved over.

So if you hit an installation problem, the forum is the practical route rather than a written FAQ.

Background, briefly

Project Britannia took the world of Origin Systems' Britannia and implemented it in Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege engine. It began around 2005 and involved dozens of contributors across America, New Zealand, Finland, and Hong Kong. The site frames itself as both a resource for continuing that work and a record of the effort.