The Elder Scrolls: Arena

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

Developers
	Bethesda Softworks
Release dates
DOS	1994
Windows (DOSBox)	September 10, 2013
Taxonomy
Series	The Elder Scrolls

Key points

Floppy disk version re-released as a free download in 2004 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls series.

ArenaSetup is a pre-packaged installer for Windows, including the CD version of the game.

General information

Official forum

The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages

UESP forum

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Floppy version: requires manual to answer Shift Gate copy protection questions. Use DOSBox.
Retail		CD version: disc check. Use DOSBox.
Official website		This is the CD version pre-packaged with DOSBox.
Official website		The floppy disk version from the official site (without DOSBox).

The GOG.com version is available by purchasing any other game on GOG.com published by Bethesda Softworks.

Version differences

The CD version has voice acting during cutscenes, removes the Shift Gate's copy protection questions, a remastered ending, and small graphical changes to items like shields. The two versions are otherwise identical.

The Elder Scrolls Anthology includes the floppy version.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.06 is the latest patch for the retail floppy version. The CD version and the freeware floppy version are already fully patched.

Run in DOSBox

To play Arena properly under DOSBox, make the following changes to the DOSBox configuration file):

• Change core=auto to core=dynamic
• Change aspect=false to aspect=true
• (OPTIONAL) Change scaler=normal2x to scaler=normal3x
• Change fullresolution=original to fullresolution=desktop
• Change cycles=auto to cycles=max or (OPTIONAL) cycles=fixed 20000
• Change output=surface to output=opengl or output=ddraw (Windows)

If output= isn't changed from surface and the aspect= command is turned to true, the game will become unplayable.

Changing scaler= to "normal3x" will emulate the game in windowed mode at twice the resolution, staying faithful to the original's size. Paired well with aspect=true.

Changing the cycles= command to max will force DOSBox to emulate the game at a higher framerate with high detail settings, but animations will be sped up, making NPCs very hard to talk to, as they move too fast. This also applies to enemies.

Changing the cycles= command to "fixed 20000" will force the game to play as it should on release, but will become unplayable on higher detail levels due to slowdown.

Changing the core= command to "dynamic" will allow the game to run at a higher framerate when using high detail settings, as opposed to "auto."

Enhanced Music

When installing the game under DOSBox, the guide provided by Bethesda recommends SoundBlaster 16 for the music and sound emulation. This provides faithful, but worse musical-quality. For increased musical quality, the Soundcard settings must match these:

• SOUND: Sound Blaster or SB16 (or compatible) - I0:220 IRQ:7 DMA:1
• MUSIC: General Midi or MPU-401 - I0:330 IRQ:2 DMA:1

While improving musical fidelity, GeneralMIDI will make various dungeon tracks sound "awkward" due to the new instrument sounds.

Some dungeon music won't play if GeneralMIDI or SoundBlaster is used, as both modes have special music. GeneralMIDI seems to have the most variation.

When using SoundBlaster, some overworld music, like the snowing music, will have odd, warping-sounding instruments in the background.

Game data

Save game data location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\*.0* <path-to-game>\NAMES.DAT
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)

Each save is comprised of multiple *.0* files, with the extension's number matching the slot it was saved to.

NAMES.DAT stores the save file names (saves can still be loaded without it).

In-game settings are stored in each save rather than shared.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

General settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		320x200 only, see the DOSBox page for more information.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter (when using DOSBox).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS		Capped at 70 FPS.
120+ FPS		Capped at 70 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Key remapping only available while pressing Alt+F1 in DOSBox. Also see the "TES Arena Remapped" mod, which supplies a Dosbox control file enabling modern WASD controls.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		For DOSBox set in the DOSBox configuration file.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Touchscreen optimised		Touchscreen rarely works, and only for menus.
Controller
Controller support		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).

Audio

Supported SoundCards for MIDI

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound and Music.
Surround sound		mono; only one sound can be played at the same time.
Subtitles		All dialogue is text.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

This game supports the MT-32 and General MIDI for music.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Only cutscenes are voiced.
French				Use Projet French Arena or ArenaSetup. Some text is English.
Russian				Fan translation download

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	VGA

OpenTESArena

Reverse engineered fan-made port of the game based on SDL2 which supports Linux and Windows. However, it is still in alpha and the software must be compiled for now. Instructions & requirements are available.

System requirements

DOS

Windows

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	5.0
Processor (CPU)	Intel 386 25 MHz	386/33 MHz (Intel 486/33+)
System memory (RAM)	4 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	25 MB
Video card (GPU)	VGA
Sound (audio device)	General Midi, Roland, SoundBlaster, Ultrasound, Aria, Ensoniq, ESS, Wave Blaster