Arena:Patch

Upgrading Arena to the latest patch is recommended, as many bugs and glitches are fixed by the patches.

Please note that installing a patch after playing the game without it will not guarantee that the issue it was supposed to fix will be fixed. As such it may be necessary to start a new game file for the patches to have an effect.    

Version 1.07
This is the CD version of the game. It is inclusive of all previous patches, and features speech in cutscenes and additional rendered sequences. This version was never released as freeware.

Version 1.06
A Pentium slowdown has been included in the patch. To slow down game play for a Pentium, type:
: 
:at the DOS prompt, where # is an integer between 1 and 9. 1 causes the least delay, 9 causes the most delay. We recommend 4 as a good speed. If, after starting the game on your Pentium using this feature, you find the speed still is not right, you may adjust the delay using the + and - keys. 

Two lockups, one related to Travelling, and the other related to Wilderness Inns, have been fixed.
A problem arose where you shot a bow across water, and every other weapon in your inventory became unequippable. It has been corrected.
Some users found that they could not drop any items. This has been fixed.
Getting stuck in a wall: if this happens, check the automap - if there is an open tile adjacent to you, then just save your game, exit, and start up again, restoring the game. You will find yourself out of the wall. If there are no open tiles nearby, you will have to restore a previous game. We recommend that you do not Passwall into a stairwell, or you will almost certainly get stuck.
Can't get an Artifact Quest: This seems to be related to picking the Start New Game option while in the middle of another game. We recommend that you do not choose this option. If you do find that you have reached at least level 5, and you still get no Artifact Quest when asking townsfolk for Rumors - General, then you may enable these quests by hitting:   in combination. (a message should appear)
:NOTE: This will _not_ enable another quest if you already possess an artifact, and it could potentially ruin an Artifact Quest if you are currently on one. This fix is only intended to be used once, if at all.
Other bugs in various quests and major dungeons related to memory problems have been fixed, as well as various minor bugs. Many problems have been solved simply using the boot disk option from the install.

Patch 1.05
THE AUTOMAP:
The 1.05 patch fixes a number of bugs from all previous versions of Arena, and has a number of features, but one of the most important is that your automap will no longer disappear on you. The bad news is that when the patch 1.05 is first added to your existing Arena game, all current automaps will be wiped clean, so BE CERTAIN to get your character out of any dungeon before adding the patch. From that moment on, the last sixteen locations visited will be saved as automaps (each dungeon level counts as one location). 

Light spell's duration has been fixed
Buying magic items has been fixed
Holiday features have been fixed
Transfer spells have been fixed
Key problems in dungeons have been fixed
Weapon damage has been fixed 
Player can now rename spells (left-click on the spell name)
Spellbooks are alphabetically arranged		 			
Heal spells have been fixed
ESC now takes you out of the automap and logbook
The color of the cursor stands out now
The color of the text stands out now
Fire-based spells have been fixed
New characters created from within the game will work
Monsters will no longer trap you when you swim under them (they may attempt to block you)
Traveling estimated time closer to actual traveling time
Magic items that add points to attributes have been fixed
Identifying potions fixed
Encumberance caused by the artifacts, the Skeleton's Key and King Orghum's Coffer has been fixed.
Various artifact quest bugs have been fixed                            
Memory problems associated with traveling has been fixed.                
Various noble quest bugs have been fixed
Diseases have been fixed
All stats maxxed to 100 bug has been fixed.

Patches 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04
Multiple 'Fortify' on a single spell now fortify all stats that are in the spell. Therefore a spell that fortifies STR, INT, and WIL will now fortify all those stats rather than changing your gender, for example. It will NOT fix your gender if you're already changed. (sorry)
Not able to complete certain quests: 
:We found a bug in the quest generator and fixed it. It should correct the problem where quests that went to a city had no end point. 
New hot keys:
:  = Recast spell
: Ctrl + left arrow or right arrow   = Slide left or right
:  and   = scroll inventory up or down in charsheet.
:  = Standing long jump. (it actually was implemented in patch 3)
The travel routine was rewritten:
:Those of you with bugs involving travel times should find the new routine to work much better.
The problem with people losing stats when equipping / de-equiping certain items: 
:We found a problem in the way the code calculated fortified stats due to spells vs. items such as a sword of strength. It is now fixed.
Lost or missing keys: 
:We fixed the problem with keys being gone or 'worthless', but for the fix to take effect, you must reload a game BEFORE you have gotten any of the keys in question. Simply reloading the current game will NOT work.
Related but not the same, if you leave a dungeon after having unlocked some doors, those doors will now stay unlocked when you return. Any keys associated with those doors will be marked 'worthless'.
Witches Festival is now fixed so that you can now ID items for free.
Not being charged for a room at an inn is now fixed.
The F4 key now toggles message pixellation. If you would prefer messages to pop on to the screen rather than pixellate in, click the F4 key. Clicking the key again will toggle the messages back to pixellation.
Due to popular demand, spellcasters can now delete spells from their spellbooks. Simply go to the second page of your character sheet, click on spellbook, double-click on the spell you wish to delete, and when the spell description appears choose the new "delete" option.
Also due to popular demand, it is now possible to sell most all magic items in equipment stores, including torcs, crystals, rings, and bracelets.
Mouse movement has been improved.
It is now possible to lower the detail level even more for slower machines.
The F3 key now toggles damage response. There are three choices available: "Normal Roll", "Severe Roll", and "Cross Hatch". This is in response to the "Quadrant Jerk" complaint.
Reported problems with negotiation, character inventory, and other minor glitches have also been fixed.
Knights repair at 10x their level instead of 3x their level for items.
Random encounters in city at night have been reduced a bit.
Automapping in the interior (it used to garble up) has been fixed.
People who saved games in interiors experienced problems when exiting the interior in patch #1. This has been remedied.
:Note: If you are one of these people, you will not get any music until you exit the interior or climb up or down a level inside. This is not a bug. The system needs to reread a file.
To aid us in tracking bugs, a version number will be displayed when exiting the game. Please take note of it. The most current version is 1.06.
The standing long jump (shift+j) has been fixed.
There is no spell that will allow a caster to heal a drained attribute. This was a mistake in the manual.