0
(Frequently Asked Questions)
Prepared by R.S. Heuman (rn.1886@rose.com)
[Revised December 16, 1994 to add item 17 - Editing Spells. All following
items renumbered up one. Added a #45 at the end as well. Minor changes
made elsewhere for clarity.]
[NOTE: I cannot put this on a FTP site since I do not have direct
access to the InterNet. Someone who does have such capabilities
is welcome to do so.]
1. What the latest version?
Version 1.06 - patch is named ARUPD6.ZIP
2. Where can I get this update?
It can be downloaded from the Bethesda BBS. The telephone
number is 1-301-990-7552, and is in the US.
It is on BBSes in the satellite transmission system, and on
CompuServe
It can be FTP'd from:
wuarchive.wustl.edu under
/pub/msdos_uploads/games/patches
ftp.uwp.edu under /pub/incoming/games/patches
3. How do I know I have the correct patch?
A.EXE should be 174,021 bytes dated Aug. 4, 1994 @ 11.29AM.
4. I have version 1.03 Do I also need the prior patches?
No, 1.06 contains 1.05, 1.04, etc.
5. Are there any things I need to watch out for when I install
the patch?
This depends on the version you are replacing.
If it is 1.05 then simply copy all of the files out of the
patch into the directory where you have Arena.
If it is 1.04 or earlier, first get out of the dungeon if
you are in one. The requirement is covered in the readme
file included in the update file. ALWAYS read it before
copying the new files into the game directory.
6. Does anyone know how well arena runs on (pick a CPU chip). I
have an ISA video card and X MBytes of ram.
To some extent, the speed of the CPU is more important than
the brand or version. There is a horizontal green bar in
the bottom part of the screen when you are examining your
character. If you move the green to the left the game runs
faster, to the right and it moves slower. This only
impacts DEPTH of FIELD. While in a city during clear
weather play with this and you will see more buildings at a
distance when more of the green is showing, and less when
less is showing. When in a dungeon, the depth makes little
difference, and playing with the minimum amount of green
showing should be fine. If you have a Pentium chip, version
1.06 adds a SLOW DOWN switch for the command line when
starting TES: Arena, and it is needed for the faster CPU
versions.
You must have 4 meg of ram, and that is a bare minimum.
Unless you have 6 or more you will be tight on RAM and not
be able to play at the maximum speed your video card, hard
drive and CPU are capable of permitting. All three are a
factor in the speed at which you can run the game.
7. Is there a walk-through for Arena?
No. Arena is a free form game, and can be played many
different ways. At a minimum you must complete the quests
that make up the storyline. There are 9 in total, one in
each of the eight provinces, and a final one in Imperial
City. In the provinces, each quest has two parts to it.
However, you can also investigate dungeons in the
countryside, break into houses in the cities and towns, and
perform tasks asked of you by NPCs in Taverns and by the
Kings, Queens, Dukes and Dutchesses, etc., in Palaces.
You can also search for various artifacts, which enhance
your abilities in various ways.
In other words, you can do many different things, depending
on your particular preferences.
8. How many different artifacts are there?
There are 16 different artifacts.
9. Which artifact is the best?
This is a matter of opinion. It depends on the type of
character you have chosen, and what you want to do. If you
can wear armour, then the Ebony Mail might be best. There
are rings and other artifacts that improve your armour
class, and one which gives you 50 points to distribute among
your stats. The best answer is to find them and make your
own decision.
Here is what some of the artifacts offer:
Ring of Phynaster - Worth 6 points to your armor class.
Necromancer's Amulet - Worth 9 points to your armor class.
(And artifact rings and amulets can be worn
over other rings and amulets)
10. I have an artifact. I cannot seem to get another artifact
quest. Why?
While you are holding one artifact, you cannot get another
artifact quest. Go to a shop and leave your artifact for
repair. If you are told it does not need repair, use it and
then immediately leave it for repair. Then go out into the
street and get another artifact quest. Once the quest is
noted in your log, you can go back and pick up the repaired
artifact(s) and go on the quest.
11. How do I get an artifact quest?
By asking for a general rumor in the street. Pick a NPC and
ask 10-20 times. If after 3 or 4 requests you get 'I know
nothing' type replies, go to another NPC. Eventually you
will get something like "X is at Inn Y trying to sell a map
to find artifact Z'... Go to the Inn, click on the innkeeper
and negotiate with character X. Either pay the fee asked or
forget that artifact, and try for a different artifact quest
out in the street. Incidently, if you do not want the particular
artifact named, just keep asking the NPC that gave you this
artifact seller's location. Ask until you are given the name
of an artifact you really want. Eventually all of the artifacts
you do not currently possess will be named, if you do not go to
the named tavern to get the location of the map for one of them.
12. When I have an artifact, do I get to keep it forever?
Yes, if you never use it magically; for example, only use it
as a regular weapon or wear it as a ring (but there is one
exception). No otherwise. The higher your character's
level, the more times you can use its magic/spells, but
eventually you will use it up, UNLESS you get it repaired
before it disappears. When you repair an item, it is
restored to its original value and starts as if it were new.
13. If I lose an artifact, can I get it back?
It goes back into the pool of 16 artifacts, less those you
already hold, and can become a quest again.
14. I have been asked to rescue Y from X in dungeon Z. I cannot
find X to kill/capture him/her. Where is he/her?
If on a mission for a ruler, obtained in a Palace, the
dungeon usually has two levels, and X is on the lower level.
You may have to swim under walls, or go through a tunnel
into a room, to find him/her. The only time that X is not
there is if the date and time are LATER than the date and
time the ruler gave you for the end of the mission. You
must complete the mission before the end date you are given!
15. I am looking for an artifact or the map to the dungeon
holding an artifact. Where is it?
If on an artifact quest, the map to the second dungeon will
be in a chest somewhere on the lowest level of the dungeon,
and it will be a 4 level dungeon. The item might be near
the stairs down to the lowest level, or on the opposite side
of the dungeon. It might be in a room or out in a hallway,
in a dark corridor, etc. You may not see it until you are
right on it. It will be there!
16. Is there a hex editor, or some other way I can change my
character's attributes, money, etc.
Stats and gold are located in the saveengn.xx files, where
xx is a value between 00 and 09. When you save a game the
box you use determines this number. You need to edit this
file to make the changes you want. The file is encrypted,
so changes are not obvious. Use a editor such as Norton or
Central Point's DiskEdit. You must be able to HEX edit.
To give a character 1,000,000,000 GP make the following
change:
In file SAVEENGN.0x (all values in HEX)
Offset 41E 18
Offset 41F FA
Offset 420 C4 80
Offset 421 83 F8
Offset 041F (in the above list) is part of the field for
Gold. Change it (without changing the other three) from
what it is to CC to get around 65K gold pieces.
Offset 040C is part of the field for Experience. Change it
from 48 to 4F to get around 1.28 x 10^11 Experience points.
(This will make you in the range of 24-28th level in byte 06)
[Method to use - change 40C to 4F, win fight, distribute points,
then change 40C BACK to the original value, and change 006 back
too. This CAN be repeated. Each time you will have OVER 100
points to distribute. If you want LESS points, change 40B instead.]
Field covers 4 bytes - 409 to 40C (hex) 409 holds the lowest value
and 40C holds the highest value.
Note that you'll get, all at once, the bonus points that
comes with the level you become, including improved
hitpoints, etc, but may have to fight first.
To give a character more attribute points make the following
change: (next fight gives the points)
In file SAVEENGN.0x (all values in HEX)
Offset 006 87 (make character level 1)
at the time of the next fight you will get a bunch of points
to distribute. The number depends on the difference between
level 1 and the character's current level. However, be
certain NOT to go to 100 for each attribute, since that will
hang the game when the character next gains a level and
there is NO place to put the points. Leave at least
(6*(26-current level)) points available for distribution.
The value in offset 006 will then be at the correct value for
the level the character should be at, and the exercise can be
repeated.
You should be able to do anything you want if you do this.
Someone else might have locations for each of the stats,
etc. If the idea is to increase stats, use the offset 006
change until the values you want to increase are high
enough. Allow for normal increases during the game, plus
finding of 50 points via one of the artifacts....
Its much easier to edit the spells, since they're kept in
clear hex. Use Spellmaker to create a spell that does 1-1
pts of damage, +1-1/level, then look the spell up in the
SPELLS.xx file (where xx is the savegame #), and change it to
99-99, + 99-99/level, etc, etc. [see 17 below for details.]
You can also edit the % chance, plus the duration, etc.
You'll also find a couple of new spell effects in here, that
probably never got implemented, CAGE and DEATH SPELL.
Attempting to use them generally results in disharmonious
outcomes... [Advice - Do not try them]
17. How do you patch the spells in the spellbook so that they are
without cost and do more per turn?
The following is extracted from a spellbook to demonstrate the
method used to change the value of a purchased spell. [Each line
below starts with its offset from the beginning of the file (in hex)
and then the 16 hex bytes, followed on the right with the ASCII
equivalents.] The values to change all preceed the name of the spell.
Multiple spells follow on each other and follow the same pattern.
PCTools DiskEdit
Version 9.0
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F 0 4 8 C
000 63 00 63 00 63 00 01 00 01 00 63 00 00 00 00 00 c.c.c...c.....
^^ ^^ ^^ ** ** **
010 01 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 1E 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 ...........
&& && &&
020 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 14 0F 0C 00 00 01 00 .............
030 00 FF 01 00 72 65 67 65 6E 2F 69 6E 76 2F 68 65 ...regen/inv/he
++ ++
040 61 6C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 al..............
050 00 00 00 00 00 .....
Patching spells.....
You must use a hexidecimal editor. Examples include the DiskEdit
from both Central Point's PCTools and Norton/Symantec's Norton
Utilities.
The 63 over each ^^ in the first line above changes the original 01
points to 99 points.
Where the spell has wording such as 1 to 1 points, as heal does, the
63 over the ** in the first line changes it to 99 to 99 points
The values over the &&s is the number of turns between repeats. 1E
is equivalent to 30 turns. Change as desired.
The 01 00 over the ++ changes the cost of the spell to 0 spell
points.
This pattern using 85 bytes repeats for each spell in a spell book.
32 spells can be added to the spells book, requiring 2720 bytes,
which is the size of the SPELLS.xx file, where xx is a value of
between 00 and 09, and depends on the saved character's position
in the list of saved games.
18. I am in a tunnel and cannot get into a room because I keep
getting hit by some monster in the room. I have to get into that
room. What do I do?
Find another way in! Passwall is a valuable spell for this
purpose, and a weapon or armor can be purchased which
carries this spell with it. If you are in a part of the
tunnel where there is no roof, you can also levitate out.
This spell too can be carried with armor or a weapon, but it
can also be purchase at a Mages Guild.
19. What is the best weapon?
Auriel's Bow is a magical artifact, which is excellent AS A
BOW! Even better is an ebony bow, if you can find one in a
shop, and can afford it. The difficulty with a bow is that
you cannot use a shield, but its like taking a machine gun
with unlimited ammo into the dungeon. Just place the cursor
on your victim, hold down the right button, and watch the
fun.
Also good are an ebony di-katanna, which maximizes hit
points, as well as any of the other ebony swords. If you
can afford or find an ebony weapon, it is almost impossible
to break, and will permit you to open chests and doors where
the lock does not open easily, without breaking the sword.
20. Repairing artifacts seems to be awful expensive. Are there
any suggestions to save money?
One person asked: "I checked my Aurelia's Shield into a
shop for repair. I'm quite poor right now, so I selected a
repair price which gave me a 200-day repair period. Then I
checked the status of the job, and the shopkeeper told me to
come back in 17 days! Have I just rolled over some number
in the item's record so that it doesn't read the right
length of time?"
Another person answered: "The number of minutes is kept in
an unsigned short, so you should always offer 13 gold to
repair an artifact. This gets it done in under 15 hours."
Testing shows that this rule still works under version 1.06.
The normal price for a 10 day repair for a artufact is
10,000 GP so the above trick saves you a lot of money, unless
Bethesda gets rid of this bug! If they do, remember that it
takes quite a few days to travel around the different provinces
going after the next artifact, so you can save money by leaving
the artifact for a longer repair period.
21. Spells are expensive. Are there any suggestions to save
money? [See 17 above re editing spells YOU make.]
The Spellmaker also uses (used?) unsigned shorts for spell
cost. The player who suggested spending 13 gold for
repairing artifacts had this to say about spells: "I got
tired of monsters beaming in behind me so I made a
Non-Target (with spells) plus light (lasts a little less
long) plus spell reflection (the monsters still throw things
at a non-target). The spell has a casting cost of zero and
makes dungeon exploration much more relaxing. (Be sure to
save before playing with this, though. The Spellmaker
crashes if too many wraps of the NT spell cost are done.
They don't seem to have debugged this feature very well.
Once the spell is made it seems to work just fine.)"
He continued: "Legitimate spells can also have a casting
cost of zero. For instance, a levitate spell that lasts 1 +
5 per 6 levels has a spell cost of 10, so the casting cost
is 5/lev, or zero for a level 6 character. A free heal
stamina spell can make swimming less tiring, and free cure
spells can be recast until they work. Before I discovered
the spell cost wrap, my main spell was a cheap invisible
spell (casting cost 1 for a level 8 character)."
22. What is the minimum I need to do, and which provinces, etc.,
are involved in each? [You must inquire to get these instructions.]
-----------------------------------------------------------
1st piece;
The ruler of Rihad has marked Stonekeep on your map of the
province of Hammerfell...
The ruler of Rihad has marked your map to show the dwarven mines
of Fang Lair in the province of Hammerfell...
-----------------------------------------------------------
2nd piece;
The Mages Guild of Winterhold has marked the Fortress of Ice on
your map of Skyrim...
The Mages Guild of Winterhold has inscribed your map with the
location of the twisted corridors of the Labyrinthian in the
province of Skyrim...
-----------------------------------------------------------
3rd piece:
The Ruler of Eldenroot has sent you to get a gem called the Heart
of Selene, and has marked your map of Valenwood with the location
of Selene's Web...
The ruler of Eldenroot has inscribed the location of the Elven
forests of Elden Grove on your map of the province of
Valenwood...
-----------------------------------------------------------
4th piece:
According to your map marked by the Mages of Corinth, the Temple
of Agamanus lies in Elsweyr...
According to your continental map, the forgotten Halls of the
Colossus lies in Elsweyr...
-----------------------------------------------------------
5th piece:
The Mages of Lillandril have marked on your Summurset Isle map
the location of the Temple of the Mad God...
Marked on your continental map is the crucible of magic, known as
the Crystal Tower, in the province of Summurset Isle...
-----------------------------------------------------------
6th piece:
Camlorn's Brotherhood of Seth have marked on your High Rock map
the Mines of Khuras...
Marked on your continental map are the halls of the dead, the
Crypt of Hearts, in High Rock...
-----------------------------------------------------------
7th piece:
According to the markings the Conclave of Baal made on your map,
the Vaults of Gemin lie in Black Marsh...
According to your continental map, the dark forest of Murkwood
lies in Black Marsh...
-----------------------------------------------------------
8th piece:
The ruler of Ebonheart marked the entrance to the Black Gate on
your map of Morrowind...
Your continental map shows the entrance to the fire mountain,
Dagoth-Ur, to be in Morrowind...
-----------------------------------------------------------
End of Game:
Enter Imperial Palace in Imperial City. At lowest level, find
what is needed to defeat the BattleMage and get out of palace.
-----------------------------------------------------------
23. I have just started Arena, and am looking for the scroll the
queen needs to find the location of the first staff piece. Can
anyone tell me about where it is in the dungeon, or at least what
it looks like?
You need to look at the continental map, and click on
Hammerfell. It looks like a molehill, and is NE of Rihad.
Ride there, don't try to walk there... Then find what you
are looking for in that dungeon. It will be there, and this
FAQ will not tell you where it is in the dungeon.
24. I can't figure out the answer to this ..... riddle. What is
the answer?
Thanks to Rollin Baker, who posted the following on 12 Jul 1994
15:42 PST
FIRST LINE/COUPLET ANSWER
----------- --------
Crushed beneath trampling feet GRAPE
Elvish Mithril and Argonian Silver, crumble I can. TIME
>From the beginning of Eternity, E
I am the architect of this hall THEODORUS
I am twice as old as three times the age of 108
I come out of the earth, I am sold in the market. ONION
I daily am in Elsweyr, and in Skyrim, SUN
I run smoother than any rhyme, WATER
I tie and hold, capture and bind, LOVE
I touch your face, I'm in your words, AIR/WIND
If Cell 3 holds worthless brass, Cell 2 holds the gold key.
CELL 2
In a marble Hall as white as milk, EGG
More beautiful than the face of your God, NOTHING
My second is performed by my first, FOOTSTEP
There is a thing, which nothing is, SHADOW
Two bodies have I, though both joined in one. HOURGLASS
What flares up, and does a lot of good MATCH/TORCH
What force and strength cannot get through, KEY
What is neither fish nor flesh, GLOVE
What is the thing which comes in sheets, RAIN
25. I've completed several quests with several characters, and
each time I do so, the quest description does not leave my
logbook. But I know I have finished the quest because I have
been rewarded but whoever gave me the quest. What's up with
this.
The logbook keeps the latest 16 entries made into it. After
16 the first scrolls out as a new on is made. If you want to
save your log, print it out occasionally or copy log.0x to
log.100, log.101, etc., then merge them using the DOS
editor, replacing the &* characters with carriage returns
and removing duplicates.
26. What's with the monsters you find hitting you who are in
walls? It's convenient because you can kill them rather easily,
but it seems to me that this may be a bug, no?
Yes, This is a bug, and it is one that Bethesda has not
managed to get rid of, although they must have tried, since
they suggest they did so in one of the patch read.me files.
If you get at a certain angle to them, they will move out of
the wall and towards you. Otherwise, they stay there, and
you can kill them while they are in the wall.
27. Any general comments on whether or not the game is any good?
I personally enjoy the game and the freedom to approach it
the way I want to. Other player have hated this freedom.
On a 486DX2-66 it runs very nicely, and is NOT at all slow
or clunky. On a 486DX-33 the level of detail in the
distance must be reduced or it does run less smoothly.
I use an OPTICAL mouse and find that works best - no dirty
or jumpy mouse ball to foul things up. I also use a
trackball when NOT in a dungeon, for convenience with the
notebook.
Boring is a state of mind, and depends on what you want from
a computer game. I do NOT find it boring at all.
There is one overall mission (see #22 above) that has a
target and will feed into the sequel planned for 1995,
but one can also play for random quests, etc.
It is definitely a game that can be replayed with different
types of characters, again and again, to see if one CAN
succeed with each of the different types. [Cheating is NOT
required - one can win with each type of character, if the
correct province is selected, the correct sex is selected,
and the required attributes are maximized in the correct order.]
The action is satisfactory, if a bit repetitive, and I would
appreciate some refinements here and there, but on the whole
I rather like the game....
To each his own....
28. Has anyone gotten both sound and music to work in xxxxx mode?
I've finally reverted to SoundBlaster emulation, but do the
effects really sound that BAD? I have NO IDEA what sound the wolf
is actually using! Also, the music keeps hanging in some places
and then shuts off completely!
You need more free lower RAM - at least 610K out of the
lower 640K - the more the better. If using QEMM or
something similar, you should be able to get this much. I have
over 636,000 bytes free when I start the game.
There is a sample config.cpy=config.sys and
bootauto.cpy=autoexec.bat in the arena directory - add your
soundboard driver(s) loaded high into this, make sure your
mouse driver is there and put on a boot disk for drive A
unless you have MSDos 6.22 and can include a specific
configuration for this.
Increase the EMS to 2.5 meg or more. It WILL help
Get ARUPD6.ZIP if you are not running version 1.06. When you
exit the game it tells you the exact version if you are
running one of the newer versions.
29. After the crystal tower, I had to go to the Brotherhood of
Seth, but couldn't find them, ditto the next piece. Should you go
to another town?
This was a bug in one of two issued versions of patch 1.04.
The buggy version results in the failure to find the
Brotherhood of Seth. Version 1.04 was fixed and reissued
under the same version number. Then version 1.05 was issued,
which fixed a bunch of other problems as well. It also
eliminated the bug that permitted the return to a location
to get an additional staff piece from it. If you are asked
to go to the Brotherhood of Seth and cannot find it, get the
current version, 1.06
30. After I got the first piece of the staff and got the dream
telling me where the next piece was, I couldn't see the entire
message. Part of the message appeared, but nothing I tried
brought up the rest of the message. What key do I have to hit to
see the whole message?
Just left click your mouse.
31. Right at the beginning, it says to go west, then south to
find the shift gate. What and where is it?
Its the way OUT of the dungeon, it is a shimmering blue hole
that you need to enter to get out, and you will know you
have found it when you get to it. It IS in the
south-western corner of the dungeon. This is also the
location for the doc check. I recommend searching the entire
dungeon, however, since it gives you a rapid way to advance in
levels, and find artifacts to use or sell once you are out of
the dungeon. Incidently, the city you exit to depends on the
province you chose for your character. You will be in his/her
home province.
32. I just purchased Arena version 4 last week and I'm hooked. I am
wondering if it is necessary to "run errands" for the various
townspeople or if I should just stick to getting the staff pieces
and defeating Fusil. I have been running off to do errands at
least one per town. A friend has been playing and he found some
parchment that gave him 50 points to distribute any way he
wanted! I wish I could find that one!
You need to raise money to get better weapons, armour,
potions, etc.
You do not need to run errands to do this. You can wander
the countryside outside of the city walls, finding dungeons
in the wilderness, and make money that way, by finding it
and weapons, armor, etc., and sell these back in the city.
Your friend completed an artifact quest. Ask general rumors
in the street until someone mentions one of the 16
artifacts, and tells you who to find and where to find
him/her. Then go for it, but have enough money to buy the
map. If you keep asking for general rumors after the
mention of an artifact, eventually a different one will be
mentioned. If you do not have any artifacts, and want a
specific one, keep asking until it is named. It will NOT be
named in at least one province, no matter what you do. Just
hope you are not in that province.
If the version in the box is NOT version 1.06, GET THE UPDATE.
The CD version, issued in November 1994, may be a higher version,
incidently. As I do not have it, I do not know.
33. I can't find the xxxxx.
If a staff piece, there are two searches - first for the
map, and then for the artifact. The map is always in the
first dungeon, and the artifact is always in the second.
Both are in the same province.
If searching for an artifact, there are two searches. The
log will show you where the NPC in the tavern wants you to
go to find the map. It will be on the lowest level of the
dungeon in whatever province you are sent to. Then your log
will show you what the map held, and you will need to go to a
different province to find the artifact. It too will be in
the lowest level of the dungeon you are told to go to.
34a. I was told to go to a place called Y to get this artifact,
but my friend was told to go to a place called X. Is this
correct?
34b. I was told to defeat mage X in dungeon Y, but my friend was
told the mage's name was Z and the dungeon's name was W. Is this
possible?
The names for every dungeon except those involved in the
search for the staff are randomly generated, and the
dungeons themselves are also randomly generated. Dungeons
are constructed out of pieces which match up for openings
and therefore its a little like a construction set, and you
can have very different layouts, or the same layout repeated
on a floor. Certain levels never have some patterns,
however, so that eventually you will figure out what might
be the pattern for dungeon level 3 or 1 or 4... The next
time you play the game, it will be with different dungeon
names, and with the artifacts found in different provinces.
The same applies to missions assigned by rulers. The
dungeon names change, and the names of the monsters, crooks,
Mages, etc., are also randomly generated.
35. How do I get out of the original dungeon? I can't answer the
question I get asked.
You need the User's Guide, which comes with the Game when
you purchase it.
36. What are the differences between the different types of
characters that can be chosen.
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
37. What are the differences between the different weapons, and
the different materials they are made out of?
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
38. What are the differences between the different spells?
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
39. What dates are holidays?
All listed in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
40. Does the province I pick for my character make a difference
to the character type I pick?
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
41. How do I use my sword?
Move the mouse in different directions to get different
strokes.
42. Which is east and west? It seems to be reversed!
You are not on Earth! Why should the compass be the same as
Earth's?
43. Sometimes I sell an item in a store, and can buy it back for
far less than I got for selling it. Is this right?
Yes, it is. It is also, in my view, a bug. Do not count on
it, however, since it only happens with a small group of
items.
44. End of the game:
One player said: "I feel quite proud of my bug-beating
achievement of getting to the final part of Arena, but now
that has got me stumped! After getting the 8th staff piece,
you have to fight the evil BattleMage bloke (I cant remember
his name), under the Imperial City. However, none of my
weapons damage him, and to make matters worse, once you
enter his domain, you cant get out. Does anyone know what it
takes to kill this guy? Has anyone out there finished this
game?
The simple answer is that you do NOT need to fight the
BattleMage. There are four cells around the space he
occupies. You need to get into two of them to succeed. You
also have to get out of one of them, and the BattleMage will
make it difficult. If you do not have the required spells
on hand, he might make it impossible! However, the
important point is that you do NOT have to fight him. If
you are successful, you will exit the Imperial Palace and
can save your character for the sequel, due out in 1995.
45. My inventory is filled. Where can I store excess items, so that
I can retrieve and use them later?
While you are in a dungeon and remain on one level you can
drop items and go back and retrieve them. That is the only
situation in which you can 'store' items. Otherwise, you can
NOT store excess items. If you drop an item and then go to
a different level in a dungeon, or leave a building, etc. the
items disappear. You can leave, go to a store, and sell the
items you don't want to keep, but the limit on the number of
items you can carry is fixed and you cannot exceed it. If your
inventory is full, you must drop items you do not want to keep
if you want to pick up other items. Generally, drop the items
worth the least and pick up the items you want to inspect, look
them over, drop those that are worthless, pick up from the first
group dropped, and then continue on.
21:20 Wed 21-Dec-94
R.S. (Bob) Heuman
Willowdale, ON, Canada
--
.-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------,
| Matthias Rauhut > mail: mr2@irz.inf.tu-dresden.de /
| Maintainer of > WWW: http://www.inf.tu-dresden.de/~mr2 /
| The > IRC: st-guru /
| Patches Scrolls > real life:huh? /
+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Anclish dickjoenarry fur selllelling. /
| Will sale sheep! /
`---------------------------------------------------------------'
Prepared by R.S. Heuman (rn.1886@rose.com)
[Revised December 16, 1994 to add item 17 - Editing Spells. All following
items renumbered up one. Added a #45 at the end as well. Minor changes
made elsewhere for clarity.]
[NOTE: I cannot put this on a FTP site since I do not have direct
access to the InterNet. Someone who does have such capabilities
is welcome to do so.]
1. What the latest version?
Version 1.06 - patch is named ARUPD6.ZIP
2. Where can I get this update?
It can be downloaded from the Bethesda BBS. The telephone
number is 1-301-990-7552, and is in the US.
It is on BBSes in the satellite transmission system, and on
CompuServe
It can be FTP'd from:
wuarchive.wustl.edu under
/pub/msdos_uploads/games/patches
ftp.uwp.edu under /pub/incoming/games/patches
3. How do I know I have the correct patch?
A.EXE should be 174,021 bytes dated Aug. 4, 1994 @ 11.29AM.
4. I have version 1.03 Do I also need the prior patches?
No, 1.06 contains 1.05, 1.04, etc.
5. Are there any things I need to watch out for when I install
the patch?
This depends on the version you are replacing.
If it is 1.05 then simply copy all of the files out of the
patch into the directory where you have Arena.
If it is 1.04 or earlier, first get out of the dungeon if
you are in one. The requirement is covered in the readme
file included in the update file. ALWAYS read it before
copying the new files into the game directory.
6. Does anyone know how well arena runs on (pick a CPU chip). I
have an ISA video card and X MBytes of ram.
To some extent, the speed of the CPU is more important than
the brand or version. There is a horizontal green bar in
the bottom part of the screen when you are examining your
character. If you move the green to the left the game runs
faster, to the right and it moves slower. This only
impacts DEPTH of FIELD. While in a city during clear
weather play with this and you will see more buildings at a
distance when more of the green is showing, and less when
less is showing. When in a dungeon, the depth makes little
difference, and playing with the minimum amount of green
showing should be fine. If you have a Pentium chip, version
1.06 adds a SLOW DOWN switch for the command line when
starting TES: Arena, and it is needed for the faster CPU
versions.
You must have 4 meg of ram, and that is a bare minimum.
Unless you have 6 or more you will be tight on RAM and not
be able to play at the maximum speed your video card, hard
drive and CPU are capable of permitting. All three are a
factor in the speed at which you can run the game.
7. Is there a walk-through for Arena?
No. Arena is a free form game, and can be played many
different ways. At a minimum you must complete the quests
that make up the storyline. There are 9 in total, one in
each of the eight provinces, and a final one in Imperial
City. In the provinces, each quest has two parts to it.
However, you can also investigate dungeons in the
countryside, break into houses in the cities and towns, and
perform tasks asked of you by NPCs in Taverns and by the
Kings, Queens, Dukes and Dutchesses, etc., in Palaces.
You can also search for various artifacts, which enhance
your abilities in various ways.
In other words, you can do many different things, depending
on your particular preferences.
8. How many different artifacts are there?
There are 16 different artifacts.
9. Which artifact is the best?
This is a matter of opinion. It depends on the type of
character you have chosen, and what you want to do. If you
can wear armour, then the Ebony Mail might be best. There
are rings and other artifacts that improve your armour
class, and one which gives you 50 points to distribute among
your stats. The best answer is to find them and make your
own decision.
Here is what some of the artifacts offer:
Ring of Phynaster - Worth 6 points to your armor class.
Necromancer's Amulet - Worth 9 points to your armor class.
(And artifact rings and amulets can be worn
over other rings and amulets)
10. I have an artifact. I cannot seem to get another artifact
quest. Why?
While you are holding one artifact, you cannot get another
artifact quest. Go to a shop and leave your artifact for
repair. If you are told it does not need repair, use it and
then immediately leave it for repair. Then go out into the
street and get another artifact quest. Once the quest is
noted in your log, you can go back and pick up the repaired
artifact(s) and go on the quest.
11. How do I get an artifact quest?
By asking for a general rumor in the street. Pick a NPC and
ask 10-20 times. If after 3 or 4 requests you get 'I know
nothing' type replies, go to another NPC. Eventually you
will get something like "X is at Inn Y trying to sell a map
to find artifact Z'... Go to the Inn, click on the innkeeper
and negotiate with character X. Either pay the fee asked or
forget that artifact, and try for a different artifact quest
out in the street. Incidently, if you do not want the particular
artifact named, just keep asking the NPC that gave you this
artifact seller's location. Ask until you are given the name
of an artifact you really want. Eventually all of the artifacts
you do not currently possess will be named, if you do not go to
the named tavern to get the location of the map for one of them.
12. When I have an artifact, do I get to keep it forever?
Yes, if you never use it magically; for example, only use it
as a regular weapon or wear it as a ring (but there is one
exception). No otherwise. The higher your character's
level, the more times you can use its magic/spells, but
eventually you will use it up, UNLESS you get it repaired
before it disappears. When you repair an item, it is
restored to its original value and starts as if it were new.
13. If I lose an artifact, can I get it back?
It goes back into the pool of 16 artifacts, less those you
already hold, and can become a quest again.
14. I have been asked to rescue Y from X in dungeon Z. I cannot
find X to kill/capture him/her. Where is he/her?
If on a mission for a ruler, obtained in a Palace, the
dungeon usually has two levels, and X is on the lower level.
You may have to swim under walls, or go through a tunnel
into a room, to find him/her. The only time that X is not
there is if the date and time are LATER than the date and
time the ruler gave you for the end of the mission. You
must complete the mission before the end date you are given!
15. I am looking for an artifact or the map to the dungeon
holding an artifact. Where is it?
If on an artifact quest, the map to the second dungeon will
be in a chest somewhere on the lowest level of the dungeon,
and it will be a 4 level dungeon. The item might be near
the stairs down to the lowest level, or on the opposite side
of the dungeon. It might be in a room or out in a hallway,
in a dark corridor, etc. You may not see it until you are
right on it. It will be there!
16. Is there a hex editor, or some other way I can change my
character's attributes, money, etc.
Stats and gold are located in the saveengn.xx files, where
xx is a value between 00 and 09. When you save a game the
box you use determines this number. You need to edit this
file to make the changes you want. The file is encrypted,
so changes are not obvious. Use a editor such as Norton or
Central Point's DiskEdit. You must be able to HEX edit.
To give a character 1,000,000,000 GP make the following
change:
In file SAVEENGN.0x (all values in HEX)
Offset 41E 18
Offset 41F FA
Offset 420 C4 80
Offset 421 83 F8
Offset 041F (in the above list) is part of the field for
Gold. Change it (without changing the other three) from
what it is to CC to get around 65K gold pieces.
Offset 040C is part of the field for Experience. Change it
from 48 to 4F to get around 1.28 x 10^11 Experience points.
(This will make you in the range of 24-28th level in byte 06)
[Method to use - change 40C to 4F, win fight, distribute points,
then change 40C BACK to the original value, and change 006 back
too. This CAN be repeated. Each time you will have OVER 100
points to distribute. If you want LESS points, change 40B instead.]
Field covers 4 bytes - 409 to 40C (hex) 409 holds the lowest value
and 40C holds the highest value.
Note that you'll get, all at once, the bonus points that
comes with the level you become, including improved
hitpoints, etc, but may have to fight first.
To give a character more attribute points make the following
change: (next fight gives the points)
In file SAVEENGN.0x (all values in HEX)
Offset 006 87 (make character level 1)
at the time of the next fight you will get a bunch of points
to distribute. The number depends on the difference between
level 1 and the character's current level. However, be
certain NOT to go to 100 for each attribute, since that will
hang the game when the character next gains a level and
there is NO place to put the points. Leave at least
(6*(26-current level)) points available for distribution.
The value in offset 006 will then be at the correct value for
the level the character should be at, and the exercise can be
repeated.
You should be able to do anything you want if you do this.
Someone else might have locations for each of the stats,
etc. If the idea is to increase stats, use the offset 006
change until the values you want to increase are high
enough. Allow for normal increases during the game, plus
finding of 50 points via one of the artifacts....
Its much easier to edit the spells, since they're kept in
clear hex. Use Spellmaker to create a spell that does 1-1
pts of damage, +1-1/level, then look the spell up in the
SPELLS.xx file (where xx is the savegame #), and change it to
99-99, + 99-99/level, etc, etc. [see 17 below for details.]
You can also edit the % chance, plus the duration, etc.
You'll also find a couple of new spell effects in here, that
probably never got implemented, CAGE and DEATH SPELL.
Attempting to use them generally results in disharmonious
outcomes... [Advice - Do not try them]
17. How do you patch the spells in the spellbook so that they are
without cost and do more per turn?
The following is extracted from a spellbook to demonstrate the
method used to change the value of a purchased spell. [Each line
below starts with its offset from the beginning of the file (in hex)
and then the 16 hex bytes, followed on the right with the ASCII
equivalents.] The values to change all preceed the name of the spell.
Multiple spells follow on each other and follow the same pattern.
PCTools DiskEdit
Version 9.0
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F 0 4 8 C
000 63 00 63 00 63 00 01 00 01 00 63 00 00 00 00 00 c.c.c...c.....
^^ ^^ ^^ ** ** **
010 01 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 1E 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 ...........
&& && &&
020 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 14 0F 0C 00 00 01 00 .............
030 00 FF 01 00 72 65 67 65 6E 2F 69 6E 76 2F 68 65 ...regen/inv/he
++ ++
040 61 6C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 al..............
050 00 00 00 00 00 .....
Patching spells.....
You must use a hexidecimal editor. Examples include the DiskEdit
from both Central Point's PCTools and Norton/Symantec's Norton
Utilities.
The 63 over each ^^ in the first line above changes the original 01
points to 99 points.
Where the spell has wording such as 1 to 1 points, as heal does, the
63 over the ** in the first line changes it to 99 to 99 points
The values over the &&s is the number of turns between repeats. 1E
is equivalent to 30 turns. Change as desired.
The 01 00 over the ++ changes the cost of the spell to 0 spell
points.
This pattern using 85 bytes repeats for each spell in a spell book.
32 spells can be added to the spells book, requiring 2720 bytes,
which is the size of the SPELLS.xx file, where xx is a value of
between 00 and 09, and depends on the saved character's position
in the list of saved games.
18. I am in a tunnel and cannot get into a room because I keep
getting hit by some monster in the room. I have to get into that
room. What do I do?
Find another way in! Passwall is a valuable spell for this
purpose, and a weapon or armor can be purchased which
carries this spell with it. If you are in a part of the
tunnel where there is no roof, you can also levitate out.
This spell too can be carried with armor or a weapon, but it
can also be purchase at a Mages Guild.
19. What is the best weapon?
Auriel's Bow is a magical artifact, which is excellent AS A
BOW! Even better is an ebony bow, if you can find one in a
shop, and can afford it. The difficulty with a bow is that
you cannot use a shield, but its like taking a machine gun
with unlimited ammo into the dungeon. Just place the cursor
on your victim, hold down the right button, and watch the
fun.
Also good are an ebony di-katanna, which maximizes hit
points, as well as any of the other ebony swords. If you
can afford or find an ebony weapon, it is almost impossible
to break, and will permit you to open chests and doors where
the lock does not open easily, without breaking the sword.
20. Repairing artifacts seems to be awful expensive. Are there
any suggestions to save money?
One person asked: "I checked my Aurelia's Shield into a
shop for repair. I'm quite poor right now, so I selected a
repair price which gave me a 200-day repair period. Then I
checked the status of the job, and the shopkeeper told me to
come back in 17 days! Have I just rolled over some number
in the item's record so that it doesn't read the right
length of time?"
Another person answered: "The number of minutes is kept in
an unsigned short, so you should always offer 13 gold to
repair an artifact. This gets it done in under 15 hours."
Testing shows that this rule still works under version 1.06.
The normal price for a 10 day repair for a artufact is
10,000 GP so the above trick saves you a lot of money, unless
Bethesda gets rid of this bug! If they do, remember that it
takes quite a few days to travel around the different provinces
going after the next artifact, so you can save money by leaving
the artifact for a longer repair period.
21. Spells are expensive. Are there any suggestions to save
money? [See 17 above re editing spells YOU make.]
The Spellmaker also uses (used?) unsigned shorts for spell
cost. The player who suggested spending 13 gold for
repairing artifacts had this to say about spells: "I got
tired of monsters beaming in behind me so I made a
Non-Target (with spells) plus light (lasts a little less
long) plus spell reflection (the monsters still throw things
at a non-target). The spell has a casting cost of zero and
makes dungeon exploration much more relaxing. (Be sure to
save before playing with this, though. The Spellmaker
crashes if too many wraps of the NT spell cost are done.
They don't seem to have debugged this feature very well.
Once the spell is made it seems to work just fine.)"
He continued: "Legitimate spells can also have a casting
cost of zero. For instance, a levitate spell that lasts 1 +
5 per 6 levels has a spell cost of 10, so the casting cost
is 5/lev, or zero for a level 6 character. A free heal
stamina spell can make swimming less tiring, and free cure
spells can be recast until they work. Before I discovered
the spell cost wrap, my main spell was a cheap invisible
spell (casting cost 1 for a level 8 character)."
22. What is the minimum I need to do, and which provinces, etc.,
are involved in each? [You must inquire to get these instructions.]
-----------------------------------------------------------
1st piece;
The ruler of Rihad has marked Stonekeep on your map of the
province of Hammerfell...
The ruler of Rihad has marked your map to show the dwarven mines
of Fang Lair in the province of Hammerfell...
-----------------------------------------------------------
2nd piece;
The Mages Guild of Winterhold has marked the Fortress of Ice on
your map of Skyrim...
The Mages Guild of Winterhold has inscribed your map with the
location of the twisted corridors of the Labyrinthian in the
province of Skyrim...
-----------------------------------------------------------
3rd piece:
The Ruler of Eldenroot has sent you to get a gem called the Heart
of Selene, and has marked your map of Valenwood with the location
of Selene's Web...
The ruler of Eldenroot has inscribed the location of the Elven
forests of Elden Grove on your map of the province of
Valenwood...
-----------------------------------------------------------
4th piece:
According to your map marked by the Mages of Corinth, the Temple
of Agamanus lies in Elsweyr...
According to your continental map, the forgotten Halls of the
Colossus lies in Elsweyr...
-----------------------------------------------------------
5th piece:
The Mages of Lillandril have marked on your Summurset Isle map
the location of the Temple of the Mad God...
Marked on your continental map is the crucible of magic, known as
the Crystal Tower, in the province of Summurset Isle...
-----------------------------------------------------------
6th piece:
Camlorn's Brotherhood of Seth have marked on your High Rock map
the Mines of Khuras...
Marked on your continental map are the halls of the dead, the
Crypt of Hearts, in High Rock...
-----------------------------------------------------------
7th piece:
According to the markings the Conclave of Baal made on your map,
the Vaults of Gemin lie in Black Marsh...
According to your continental map, the dark forest of Murkwood
lies in Black Marsh...
-----------------------------------------------------------
8th piece:
The ruler of Ebonheart marked the entrance to the Black Gate on
your map of Morrowind...
Your continental map shows the entrance to the fire mountain,
Dagoth-Ur, to be in Morrowind...
-----------------------------------------------------------
End of Game:
Enter Imperial Palace in Imperial City. At lowest level, find
what is needed to defeat the BattleMage and get out of palace.
-----------------------------------------------------------
23. I have just started Arena, and am looking for the scroll the
queen needs to find the location of the first staff piece. Can
anyone tell me about where it is in the dungeon, or at least what
it looks like?
You need to look at the continental map, and click on
Hammerfell. It looks like a molehill, and is NE of Rihad.
Ride there, don't try to walk there... Then find what you
are looking for in that dungeon. It will be there, and this
FAQ will not tell you where it is in the dungeon.
24. I can't figure out the answer to this ..... riddle. What is
the answer?
Thanks to Rollin Baker, who posted the following on 12 Jul 1994
15:42 PST
FIRST LINE/COUPLET ANSWER
----------- --------
Crushed beneath trampling feet GRAPE
Elvish Mithril and Argonian Silver, crumble I can. TIME
>From the beginning of Eternity, E
I am the architect of this hall THEODORUS
I am twice as old as three times the age of 108
I come out of the earth, I am sold in the market. ONION
I daily am in Elsweyr, and in Skyrim, SUN
I run smoother than any rhyme, WATER
I tie and hold, capture and bind, LOVE
I touch your face, I'm in your words, AIR/WIND
If Cell 3 holds worthless brass, Cell 2 holds the gold key.
CELL 2
In a marble Hall as white as milk, EGG
More beautiful than the face of your God, NOTHING
My second is performed by my first, FOOTSTEP
There is a thing, which nothing is, SHADOW
Two bodies have I, though both joined in one. HOURGLASS
What flares up, and does a lot of good MATCH/TORCH
What force and strength cannot get through, KEY
What is neither fish nor flesh, GLOVE
What is the thing which comes in sheets, RAIN
25. I've completed several quests with several characters, and
each time I do so, the quest description does not leave my
logbook. But I know I have finished the quest because I have
been rewarded but whoever gave me the quest. What's up with
this.
The logbook keeps the latest 16 entries made into it. After
16 the first scrolls out as a new on is made. If you want to
save your log, print it out occasionally or copy log.0x to
log.100, log.101, etc., then merge them using the DOS
editor, replacing the &* characters with carriage returns
and removing duplicates.
26. What's with the monsters you find hitting you who are in
walls? It's convenient because you can kill them rather easily,
but it seems to me that this may be a bug, no?
Yes, This is a bug, and it is one that Bethesda has not
managed to get rid of, although they must have tried, since
they suggest they did so in one of the patch read.me files.
If you get at a certain angle to them, they will move out of
the wall and towards you. Otherwise, they stay there, and
you can kill them while they are in the wall.
27. Any general comments on whether or not the game is any good?
I personally enjoy the game and the freedom to approach it
the way I want to. Other player have hated this freedom.
On a 486DX2-66 it runs very nicely, and is NOT at all slow
or clunky. On a 486DX-33 the level of detail in the
distance must be reduced or it does run less smoothly.
I use an OPTICAL mouse and find that works best - no dirty
or jumpy mouse ball to foul things up. I also use a
trackball when NOT in a dungeon, for convenience with the
notebook.
Boring is a state of mind, and depends on what you want from
a computer game. I do NOT find it boring at all.
There is one overall mission (see #22 above) that has a
target and will feed into the sequel planned for 1995,
but one can also play for random quests, etc.
It is definitely a game that can be replayed with different
types of characters, again and again, to see if one CAN
succeed with each of the different types. [Cheating is NOT
required - one can win with each type of character, if the
correct province is selected, the correct sex is selected,
and the required attributes are maximized in the correct order.]
The action is satisfactory, if a bit repetitive, and I would
appreciate some refinements here and there, but on the whole
I rather like the game....
To each his own....
28. Has anyone gotten both sound and music to work in xxxxx mode?
I've finally reverted to SoundBlaster emulation, but do the
effects really sound that BAD? I have NO IDEA what sound the wolf
is actually using! Also, the music keeps hanging in some places
and then shuts off completely!
You need more free lower RAM - at least 610K out of the
lower 640K - the more the better. If using QEMM or
something similar, you should be able to get this much. I have
over 636,000 bytes free when I start the game.
There is a sample config.cpy=config.sys and
bootauto.cpy=autoexec.bat in the arena directory - add your
soundboard driver(s) loaded high into this, make sure your
mouse driver is there and put on a boot disk for drive A
unless you have MSDos 6.22 and can include a specific
configuration for this.
Increase the EMS to 2.5 meg or more. It WILL help
Get ARUPD6.ZIP if you are not running version 1.06. When you
exit the game it tells you the exact version if you are
running one of the newer versions.
29. After the crystal tower, I had to go to the Brotherhood of
Seth, but couldn't find them, ditto the next piece. Should you go
to another town?
This was a bug in one of two issued versions of patch 1.04.
The buggy version results in the failure to find the
Brotherhood of Seth. Version 1.04 was fixed and reissued
under the same version number. Then version 1.05 was issued,
which fixed a bunch of other problems as well. It also
eliminated the bug that permitted the return to a location
to get an additional staff piece from it. If you are asked
to go to the Brotherhood of Seth and cannot find it, get the
current version, 1.06
30. After I got the first piece of the staff and got the dream
telling me where the next piece was, I couldn't see the entire
message. Part of the message appeared, but nothing I tried
brought up the rest of the message. What key do I have to hit to
see the whole message?
Just left click your mouse.
31. Right at the beginning, it says to go west, then south to
find the shift gate. What and where is it?
Its the way OUT of the dungeon, it is a shimmering blue hole
that you need to enter to get out, and you will know you
have found it when you get to it. It IS in the
south-western corner of the dungeon. This is also the
location for the doc check. I recommend searching the entire
dungeon, however, since it gives you a rapid way to advance in
levels, and find artifacts to use or sell once you are out of
the dungeon. Incidently, the city you exit to depends on the
province you chose for your character. You will be in his/her
home province.
32. I just purchased Arena version 4 last week and I'm hooked. I am
wondering if it is necessary to "run errands" for the various
townspeople or if I should just stick to getting the staff pieces
and defeating Fusil. I have been running off to do errands at
least one per town. A friend has been playing and he found some
parchment that gave him 50 points to distribute any way he
wanted! I wish I could find that one!
You need to raise money to get better weapons, armour,
potions, etc.
You do not need to run errands to do this. You can wander
the countryside outside of the city walls, finding dungeons
in the wilderness, and make money that way, by finding it
and weapons, armor, etc., and sell these back in the city.
Your friend completed an artifact quest. Ask general rumors
in the street until someone mentions one of the 16
artifacts, and tells you who to find and where to find
him/her. Then go for it, but have enough money to buy the
map. If you keep asking for general rumors after the
mention of an artifact, eventually a different one will be
mentioned. If you do not have any artifacts, and want a
specific one, keep asking until it is named. It will NOT be
named in at least one province, no matter what you do. Just
hope you are not in that province.
If the version in the box is NOT version 1.06, GET THE UPDATE.
The CD version, issued in November 1994, may be a higher version,
incidently. As I do not have it, I do not know.
33. I can't find the xxxxx.
If a staff piece, there are two searches - first for the
map, and then for the artifact. The map is always in the
first dungeon, and the artifact is always in the second.
Both are in the same province.
If searching for an artifact, there are two searches. The
log will show you where the NPC in the tavern wants you to
go to find the map. It will be on the lowest level of the
dungeon in whatever province you are sent to. Then your log
will show you what the map held, and you will need to go to a
different province to find the artifact. It too will be in
the lowest level of the dungeon you are told to go to.
34a. I was told to go to a place called Y to get this artifact,
but my friend was told to go to a place called X. Is this
correct?
34b. I was told to defeat mage X in dungeon Y, but my friend was
told the mage's name was Z and the dungeon's name was W. Is this
possible?
The names for every dungeon except those involved in the
search for the staff are randomly generated, and the
dungeons themselves are also randomly generated. Dungeons
are constructed out of pieces which match up for openings
and therefore its a little like a construction set, and you
can have very different layouts, or the same layout repeated
on a floor. Certain levels never have some patterns,
however, so that eventually you will figure out what might
be the pattern for dungeon level 3 or 1 or 4... The next
time you play the game, it will be with different dungeon
names, and with the artifacts found in different provinces.
The same applies to missions assigned by rulers. The
dungeon names change, and the names of the monsters, crooks,
Mages, etc., are also randomly generated.
35. How do I get out of the original dungeon? I can't answer the
question I get asked.
You need the User's Guide, which comes with the Game when
you purchase it.
36. What are the differences between the different types of
characters that can be chosen.
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
37. What are the differences between the different weapons, and
the different materials they are made out of?
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
38. What are the differences between the different spells?
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
39. What dates are holidays?
All listed in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
40. Does the province I pick for my character make a difference
to the character type I pick?
All explained in the User's Guide, which comes with the Game
when you purchase it.
41. How do I use my sword?
Move the mouse in different directions to get different
strokes.
42. Which is east and west? It seems to be reversed!
You are not on Earth! Why should the compass be the same as
Earth's?
43. Sometimes I sell an item in a store, and can buy it back for
far less than I got for selling it. Is this right?
Yes, it is. It is also, in my view, a bug. Do not count on
it, however, since it only happens with a small group of
items.
44. End of the game:
One player said: "I feel quite proud of my bug-beating
achievement of getting to the final part of Arena, but now
that has got me stumped! After getting the 8th staff piece,
you have to fight the evil BattleMage bloke (I cant remember
his name), under the Imperial City. However, none of my
weapons damage him, and to make matters worse, once you
enter his domain, you cant get out. Does anyone know what it
takes to kill this guy? Has anyone out there finished this
game?
The simple answer is that you do NOT need to fight the
BattleMage. There are four cells around the space he
occupies. You need to get into two of them to succeed. You
also have to get out of one of them, and the BattleMage will
make it difficult. If you do not have the required spells
on hand, he might make it impossible! However, the
important point is that you do NOT have to fight him. If
you are successful, you will exit the Imperial Palace and
can save your character for the sequel, due out in 1995.
45. My inventory is filled. Where can I store excess items, so that
I can retrieve and use them later?
While you are in a dungeon and remain on one level you can
drop items and go back and retrieve them. That is the only
situation in which you can 'store' items. Otherwise, you can
NOT store excess items. If you drop an item and then go to
a different level in a dungeon, or leave a building, etc. the
items disappear. You can leave, go to a store, and sell the
items you don't want to keep, but the limit on the number of
items you can carry is fixed and you cannot exceed it. If your
inventory is full, you must drop items you do not want to keep
if you want to pick up other items. Generally, drop the items
worth the least and pick up the items you want to inspect, look
them over, drop those that are worthless, pick up from the first
group dropped, and then continue on.
21:20 Wed 21-Dec-94
R.S. (Bob) Heuman
Willowdale, ON, Canada
--
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| Patches Scrolls > real life:huh? /
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