It keeps saying it can't open a certain gog file. I herd this may have somting to do with have save data from the game but I can't delete the auto save and there dosen't seem to be a work around.

What 'certain' GOG file?

Did you by any chance install the game to Program Files?

Old saves are not compatible with the unofficial patch.

Uninstall, install outside of Program Files (on another drive if possible) as admin, run the unofficial patch as admin.

how do I run the unoffical patch as administrator

Note: it says can't open file for writing:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Arcanum\Arcanum.exe

So, Starmaker seems to be correct. Because you installed to Program Files the patcher isn't able to install into the game correctly.

So reinstall the game to C:\Arcanum (or wherever you want), and to be doubly sure install as an administrator (before you click the GOG exe to install the game right click on it and chose "run as administrator"). Then install the UAP as an administrator (the same way as installing the game).

Right-click the file. Choose "Run as administrator".

Since you will be starting a new game anyway (old saves are incompatible with the unofficial patch), what you should do is uninstall Arcanum, reinstall it elsewhere (it's currently installed in one of your two Program Files folders - install it to D:\Arcanum instead if possible or to C:\Arcanum if not) and install the patches.

edit: ninja'd

I tihink that might work but i'll play the game all the way through unpatched once just for giggiles

Good luck! You might run into some game breaking bugs without the patch. But hopefully not! Have fun.

Are there any risks to running it in administrator

There shouldn't be, as far as I know.

do you think running in administrater is a good idea? won't that effect my settings?

I installed it but how do I know if the patch is working

If you have never played unpatched Arcanum, you won't - that's the point of the patch, it only fixes bugs / inconsistencies. Here's the list of fixes [SPOILERS].

To see whether it's installed, create two characters - a human male and a half-elf male. If the character sprites are different, then this particular component and presumably the whole patch are installed correctly.

The patch works. But the game crashed after I tried to save? Clearly Arcanum still has some rough edges.