I'm playing with a mod that adds music. You can get it here.
The character importing process is a bit tricky to get working on the Ultima Collection and GOG versions of the game, largely because the way the games are packaged prevents the files from being cross-compatible. Fortunately, there is a patch available. As for a step-by-step walkthrough of the conversion process:
- Extract FIXPARTY.EXE from the above link to your Ultima 5 directory.
- Copy the PARTY.SAV file from your Ultima 4 directory to your Ultima 5 directory.
- Run FIXPARTY.EXE to patch the file.
- Start the game, choose "Import a character" and choose drive letter C (or whatever drive letter you are running the game off of).
As for the manuals:
Manual, Spellbook and quick reference guide
Lord British's journey log
Be sure you read both. Not only do these contain some nice backstory (as per series norm), but they also provide you with two very important clues. The song "Stones" and Lord British's journey log are key to locating two items that are absolutely necessary to complete the game.