ok so i got u8 prob one of the most underated gems of the past after reading quite a few reviews. it was diablo before there was diablo it was pixel violence at its best and it was just all round great. anyhow i saw t and had to get it some decades later. Needless to say im useless with new computers and my issue is a) HOW DO I ZOOM THE SCREEN OUT and b) Can i up the resolution some one HELP ME PLEASE. i have a mac unfortunately .

Can't be done, Ultima VII has a fixed resolution. It doesn't matter what OS you are using, it's a DOS game, o it is running in DOSBox, regardless of whether you're on a PC or Mac.

There is at least a way to technically increase the resolution, but it's pretty pointless because it just fills the extra pixels with a black border:
http://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/anyway_to_get_dosbox_to_run_u8_at_a_higher_res

The only way to play Ultima VII in higher resolution is to use the Pentagram port:
http://pentagram.sourceforge.net

Pentagram is supposedly playable in the latest snapshots, but development is pretty much dead, so it might or might not work better than the original game.

Yeah there's no zoom-out feature for Ultima 8. However, the source port for U8, Pentagram, might have such a feature. I imagine you would just set the screen resolution to something large. I personally like playing with Pentagram, but the designers say that monster combat AI isn't fully implemented. It seems alright, all the same.

And that's odd hearing it being compared to Diablo. It's got the same visual perspective, but is sooooo tame by comparison. In fact, there's not much emphasis on combat in U8. Passing by monsters is frequently better than fighting. And the combat is a lot wonkier, with the weird controls. I still think it's an awesome game.

It's not as if there was much combat AI to begin with, aside from "shuffle slowly toward player" and "forget player ever existed when more than half a screen away." Should be fine.

thanks for your replies. so next question how do i get pentagram to work on mac. ive downloaded it and stuffed around with changing folders, got myself boxer and played around with that. but apperntly im retarded

You're not retarded if you don't magically know things. Anyway, have you had a look at the official documentation?
http://pentagram.sourceforge.net/docs.php#Configuration

I don't own Ultima 8 myself, but usually what you want to do is get the game files from the DOS version (let's say ~/DOS Games/Ultima Collection/Ultima 8.boxer/C Ultima 8 Pagan.harddisk) connected to the program. That pentagram.ini file should contain a path setting which you can then set to your path.

If you have a "Mac" version of a DOS game you don't need Boxer Actually, the "Mac" version is just standalone Boxer copy with the game included. You can right-click the app -> Show Package contents and then try to find the gamebox (file ending with .boxer). You can open the gamebox as well the same way you opened the app and then find the Ultima 8 files in there.

I'm afraid I can't give you a step-by-step guide because I don't own ultima VIII, but I did write a general guide some time ago:
http://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/mac_user_guide_to_ultima