there is a full arena download at www.elderscrolls.com, but when i downloaded it and it appeared in my c drive, it was just a folder with a bunch of wierdly named files in it. how do i run the game?

You need to use Dosbox if you want to play arena. Read the sticky thread "how to get past games to run"

i already have dosbox and the tutorial doesn't work. its confusing and it doesn't make any sense.

I think many people have found the "how to install the old games" sticky tutorial very helpful, so I wouldn't say it doesn't work.

download and install DOSBox (C:\Program Files\DOSBox-072 seems to be a good place). Inside that folder, create a new folder, Games. Download Arena somewhere (C:\Download ?) and extract it. Move or copy the Arena file that is created into C:\Program Files|DOSBox-072\Games and follow the rest of the instructions in the sticky.

You don't have to make a new folder in the DOSbox directory. Why not just install it to C:\Arena?

Mostly because, following the directions, you'd first have to mount the root of C: under DOSBox, which they don't recommend. It's simply easier and safer to install Arena in a sub-directory of a Games folder, which I admit doesn't have to be in the DOSBox folder.

I'm running Arena CD under C:\Arena. Works OK so far. I can see where things can go wrong, but a scenario where something goes wrong is a possibility, not an inevitability. Whatever works, I guess.

From the DOSBox readme:



That's good enough for me!

I know I'll sound retarded for this, but I can't even have the boot floppy made. I've got both the actual cd AND the download from elderscrolls.com and i can get the install to run with and without DOSbox but i keep getting the same ERROR message when I try to make the boot floppy. What the hell, man? For the love of Nirn, help me out!

If you go back to the arena download page on elderscrolls.com you will find a readme link just underneath the download link. Read it, save it to your desktop, and use it.

Above and beyond telling you how to install and get the game running, the game's copywrite protection requires you to, at certain points of the game, tell the game how much certain spells cost. These costs were printed on the game manual, but in the readme there is a list of all spells and cost points so you can continue to play.