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Infopage
The Myst and Riven Unofficial FAQ
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Subject: [5] Myst Technical Information
Date: 12/20/1995
This section relates to topics dealing with hardware and software issues.
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Subject: [5-1] System Requirements
Date: 12/20/1995
Make sure that your computer system fulfills the hardware requirements listed
below before you decide to buy the game.
However, it is always known that someone can install and run the game with
little or without difficulty on a machine which is below the requirements. If
you are one of these people, please share with us your experience by sending
me e-mail.
------------------------------
Subject: [5-1-1] MPC/Windows
Date: 01/12/1996
From the "Getting Started" -> "System Requirements:" section of the User's
Manual (edited):
(1) IBM/Tandy Personal Computer or 100% Compatible
(2) 386DX 33MHz processor or higher (486 recommended)
(3) 4MB RAM (8MB recommend if running Windows 95)
(4) Windows 3.1; MS-DOS/PC-DOS 5.0 or higher
(5) Super VGA Graphics Card (640 x 480, 256 Colors)
(6) MPC compliant sound card
(7) Mouse
(8) Hard Disk with 4 megabytes of free space
(9) Double speed or faster CD-ROM drive
------------------------------
Subject: [5-1-2] Macintosh
Date: 01/12/1996
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
(1) Double speed or faster CD-ROM drive
(2) 256 colors
(3) System 7.0.1 or higher
(4) 4MB RAM (8MB recommended if running System 7.5 or higher)
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2] Troubleshooting
Date: 12/21/1995
This section relates to technical questions and problems commonly asked about
the game.
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-1] General Guide for MPC/Windows
Date: 01/12/1996
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
"
(1) Make sure that you get all the latest drivers for your video board, sound
card and CD-ROM drive.
(2) Disable SmartDrive by placing a "REM" (without the quotes) in front of
the line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or a semi-colon (";") in front of the
line in your CONFIG.SYS file, which contains "SMARTDRV.EXE" and reboot
your computer.
(3) Edit the QTW.INI file in your \MYST directory to add or change the
"OPTIMIZE=" line. If there is no "[video]" line then add it to the end of
the file. If there is no "OPTIMIZE=" line then add the following lines
after the "[video]" section.
[video]
Optimize=driver
If "driver" doesn't work, then try "BMP", "RAW", and "DIB".
(4) Make sure that you have a Virtual Memory space of at least 10,000."
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-2] General Guide for Macintosh
Date: 03/11/1996
Please also refer to the section with the question, "How do I get technical
support from Broderbund?".
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
"
(1) On an 8MB (RAM) PowerMac the only "inits" needed are the Apple CD-ROM,
QuickTime and the QuickTime PowerPlug. The Sound Manager is not needed.
On Macs other than PowerMacs, the only "inits" needed are Apple CD-ROM,
QuickTime and Sound Manager.
(2) The Modern Memory Manger in the Memory control panel should be ON if you
are using System 7.5 or later, and OFF if you're using System 7.1.2.
(3) Beyond the minimum memory requirements for the game, you should leave an
additional 400-800L allocated to handle the processing of sound and other
system functions. You can control the memory requirements for the game by
selecting "File/Get Info" after selecting the Myst icon from your Desktop.
(4) You should not be using any sort of auto-doubling or compression software
with Myst.
(5) Use the latest version QuickTime, as it generally works better than
earlier ones."
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-3] Will Myst run under Windows 3.11?
Date: 12/21/1995
(Quite empty)
In short, it does.
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-4] What does "invalid call to dynamic link" mean?
Date: 03/11/1996
This error message appears when you have more than one version of QuickTime
installed in your hard disk. If you have a newer version of QuickTime already
installed, you should delete the QT*.* files from your \MYST directory.
Also, look at the section with the question, "How do I get technical support
from Broderbund?".
Here are some comments from other people:
(1) (Edited) Article: 73820 of comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
From: vivian_yap@nt.com (Vivian Yap)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc
Subject: Re: Problems with Myst 1.1 in Win 95
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 14:27:07 -0500
"In article <4b9g4v$hnj@crcnis3.unl.edu>, aaf@unlinfo.unl.edu (Andy
Frederick) wrote:
> I can't even get that far. I run the game, the screen goes black,
> then a dialog box comes up telling me "invalid call to dymnamic link"
> or something like that, and that's the end of that. (And this
> apparently causes some "harm" to Windows 95, for when I finally give
> up and try to restart or shut down my computer, the "please wait"
> screen comes up, but the "you may now turn off your computer" screen
> never follows.) The same thing happens when I try to run the
> "Making of" movie, which makes me think that my computer is having
> trouble playing the QuickTime movies.
Yes, you are right. This is a QuickTime problem. It happens when you have
more than one version of QuickTime on your system. When you loaded in Myst,
it installed some QuickTime files in the Myst directory. If you have another
copy of QuickTime in your system, remove the QT files from your Myst
directory and try running Myst again. It should work.
Vivian"
(2) Article: 73937 of comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
From: dmcanady@aol.com (DMCanady)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
Subject: Re: Problems with Myst 1.1 in Win 95
Date: 20 Dec 1995 22:46:44 -0500
"Yes, the version of Myst you have is using an older version of QuickTime
for Windows than you have installed in your system. Look at the QT*.*
files in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and compare them to the files in
your \MYST directory. Back up any duplicates from your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
directory, then nuke the duplicates. Myst should then run. After
finishing the game, remember to restore the files to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
directory."
------------------------------
Subject: !5-2-5! Where can I get a newer version of QuickTime?
Date: 06/13/1998
I had QuickTime for Windows version 2.0.1 installed for Myst and it runs
smoothly without crashing in one of my computers. The files date was
11-30-1994.
The current version is 3.0, as of 06/13/1998.
Apple does provide QuickTime from a web site, the URL being:
(1) QuickTime
<URL:http://www.quicktime.apple.com/>
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
"The current version of QuickTime for Windows is 2.0.3 and the current
version for QuickTime for the Mac is 2.1.
Both of these versions can be downloaded from Apple for free. You can do one
of the following:
(1) Apple QuickTime Web Site
<URL:http://quicktime.apple.com/>
(2) Apple FTP
<URL:ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/apple_sw_updates/US/>
<URL:ftp://ftptoo.support.apple.com/pub/apple_sw_updates/US/>
(3) Download from Compuserve, eWorld and soon from AOL"
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-6] What are the savegame filenames?
Date: 12/21/1995
They are in your \MYST directory, filenames are: *.MYS .
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-7] Why do voices of people in the game stutter?
Date: 01/08/1996
(Quite empty)
This problem can occur when you play the game, or when you watch the "Making
of Myst" video. The voices you hear are stuttering, sometimes the voices can
be so bad that you cannot comprehend what they are saying. This can affect
the music when you watch the "Making of Myst" video too.
If you are running Myst under Windows, there are several causes:
(1) Your CD-ROM drive is connected to the proprietary interface on the sound
card. As opposed to having a IDE or SCSI connection, your CD-ROM
interface is causing a bottleneck in performance. Data transfer is
affected by this interface, thus causes the voices to be affected as well.
If you change the interface to IDE or SCSI, the video or animation
quality should improve.
(2) Your CD-ROM drive is slow, or its buffer size is small. If your drive is
a single or double speed one, then this is a possible cause. Change your
CD-ROM drive if you have tried all other suggested solutions.
(3) You are running Windows programs other than Program Manager and Myst.
Close all other applications while you play Myst, so that more processing
power can be used for the game.
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-8] How do I get technical support from Broderbund?
Date: 03/11/1996
Try this web site at Broderbund's homepage:
(1) Myst Technical FAQ and Troubleshooint Guide
<URL:http://www.broderbund.com/support/faqs.html>
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
"If possible, you can look at the Broderbund home page and follow the path to
the technical support page. There is a problem report form that you can fill
out.
(1) Broderbund Software, Inc.
<URL:http://www.broderbund.com/>
Otherwise, please call the Broderbund technical support at (415) 382-4700."
------------------------------
Subject: [5-2-9] Can I play Myst in more than 256 colors?
Date: 02/22/1996
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
"There is no patch to make Myst run in millions of colors."
However, take a look at:
<URL:http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/powertoy.htm>
You can download "QuickRes" for Windows 95 that will allow you to change
the number of colors without re-booting.
------------------------------
Subject: [5-3] Playing Myst Under Alternate Operating Systems
Date: 02/22/1996
Though Myst is available for Windows (assumed to be Windows 3.1 as stated in
the User's Manual), some adventurers would like to run the game under other
"compatible" operating systems.
QuickTime software technology is used for the animation in Myst. Sometimes,
playback problems can be solved by editing the initialisation file, QTW.INI.
Here is an excerpt of the document from README.EXE of QuickTime for Windows:
"MODIFYING QTW.INI FOR COMPATIBILITY
NOTE: Modification of the QTW.INI file should be done at your own risk.
Typically one does not need to make any modifications to this file. For some
compatibility issues, modifying the file will make video or audio cards work
properly, but with reduced preformance. Be sure to make a backup of the
QTW.INI file before modifying it.
The most common modification to the QTW.INI is to change the [Video] setting
to Optimize = Driver. This may resolve severe compatibility problems with a
specific video card but will also reduce the performance of Movie playback.
Once, again modify at your own risk."
(all possible variables, values, and explanation follow)
------------------------------
Subject: [5-3-1] OS/2
Date: 06/21/1996
There is a World Wide Web site which contains alot of information about
running diskette and CD-ROM games under OS/2, mainly from feedback of OS/2
users. The particular page you should be interested in is:
<URL:http://eyelab.msu.edu/os2games/cdrom/myst.html>
When I was playing Myst, I used to Dual Boot or use Boot Manager to boot to
pure DOS. Even though I miss out on the multitasking advantage of OS/2, I had
no problems running the game. If you insist on playing Myst under OS/2, there
seems to be a general procedure. Please refer to the comment article (1)
below.
Here are some settings you might like to try in the Settings notebook:
WIN_RUN_MODE ENHANCED
AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING REQUIRED
DPMI_DOS_API ENABLED
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT 64
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT 4096
HW_TIMER ON
IDLE_SECONDS 60
IDLE_SENSITIVITY 100
INT_DURING_IO ON
VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP OFF
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT 4096
Here are some comments from other people:
(1) (Edited) Article: 16396 of comp.os.os2.games
From: jhstagem@unmc.edu (James Stageman III)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.games
Subject: Myst/QuickTime Update
Date: 21 Dec 1995 05:54:15 GMT
"These are the changes you need to make to get Myst to work well in Win-OS/2:
1. Install QuickTime 2.0 or newer;
2. Get the file timer.drv from OS/2 2.11;
3. Change TimerMax286Res value to 20 in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI file;
4. In the QTW.INI file, change the "optimize=" line to:
Hardware is the default
driver smooths things a little (2 sec before freeze)
BMP (about the same as driver)
RAW (about 3 sec before freeze)
DIB (goes 30 sec or so; but in 16 colors)
I have mine set to "optimize=RAW". This list is taken from a QuickTime
readme file.
I believe the problem lies with QuickTime itself. Now I can get the first
"blue" video to play all the way through with some mouse movement (as
stated in previous posts). If anybody else has other ideas on improving Myst,
post it or e-mail me."
(2) (Edited) Article: 25366 of comp.os.os2.games
From: bryanw@inland.net (Bryan Whitehead)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.games
Subject: Re: MYST and Error 10200 under OS/2
Date: 19 Jun 1996 16:28:00 GMT
"OS/2 writes a Readme file to your root directory. Depending on the file
system (HPFS or FAT) it's called OS!2 Readme-<something-else>. It has a
detailed description of getting Myst working under OS/2. Here it is:
o Myst and The Making of Myst - Do the following:
1. Edit the SYSTEM.INI file located in the
\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2 directory and change the
following statements from:
SET TIMERMax386Res=10
SET TIMERMax286Res=10
to:
SET TIMERMax386Res=x
SET TIMERMax286Res=x
x is a variable between 8 and 20 depending on your hardware
platform.
2. Save the file. Then shut down and restart your
system.
3. Get Quicktime 2.0, which is located on CompuServe,
as follows (refer to the section "Where can I get a newer
version of QuickTime?"):
a. Log on to CompuServe.
b. Type GO QUICKTIME.
c. Follow the instructions menu to download
Quicktime 2.0.
If you have a partition with native Windows,
you will need to take out references in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file to the Windows directories on
other drives. For example, D:WINDOWS;D:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.
After you install Quicktime** 2.0, you can put the
statements back in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
4. Install Quicktime 2.0 for Myst and the Making of
Myst.
To enable sound for Myst and The Making of Myst, you
must enable the Windows sound drivers. For more
information, see "Adding Windows Audio Support" in
the Multimedia online book, which is located in the
Information folder on your OS/2 Desktop.
To ensure The Making of Myst will work correctly under
OS/2, do the following:
1. Set up a WIN-OS/2 session with the same settings
as Myst.
2. Run The Making of Myst in a WIN-OS/2 full-screen
session."
------------------------------
Subject: [5-3-2] Windows 95
Date: 05/23/1997
(Quite empty)
Broderbund is offering a Windows 95-friendly version of Myst for about $20.
The following text is from Broderbund on America OnLine:
"Myst and UNDEFINED DYNALINK using Windows 95
This error usually occurs if you install another Quicktime program onto your
system which changes the PATH= statement for the Myst Quicktime. The most
common programs that do this is the Power Ranger program, the Star Trek
Technical Manual, and the E-Drive Movie Viewer from CompuServe.
We are aware of this issue and it has been addressed in the Windows 95
friendly version of the program. Please contact Customer Service at
415-382-4700 to order the Windows 95 friendly version of the program.
In the meantime, a quick remedy to this problem currently is to delete ALL
"Q*.*" files from the Myst directory. This is necessary because the third
party programs installed overwrite the Myst Quicktime files thus causing the
error. By deleting the Q*.* files, it will force Myst to use QT 2.0.
After you receive the updated version of Myst, please allow the Myst
installation program to overwrite the current version(s) of Quicktime and
install it's new version.
Transmitted: 95-09-20 12:47:33 EDT (brod416)"
From Mark H. DeForest (edited):
"There is a QuickTime optimization file on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. Look at the
directory \Drivers\Other\Qtwfix on the Windows 95 CD-ROM, and follow the
instructions in the Readme.txt file."
(1) Article: 73820 of comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
From: vivian_yap@nt.com (Vivian Yap)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc
Subject: Re: Problems with Myst 1.1 in Win 95
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 14:27:07 -0500
"Myst does work under Windows 95. I have played Myst under Windows 95
and it works just fine. My copy of Myst is pre-Windows 95."
(2) Article: 129376 of comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
From: "Mark H. DeForest" <markd@cyan.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure
Subject: Re: Myst fails because of an invalid .DLL.
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 09:30:42 -0800
"The newer version of the Myst CD has both the Win 3.1 and the Win95
versions of Myst on the CD. So, if you installed it when you had Win
3.1, then you need to re-install Myst when you upgraded to Win95 (to get
the Win95 version of Myst installed). However, if you bought a older
version of Myst that only had the Win 3.1 version on it then you should
get the upgrade of Myst like Garry suggested."
------------------------------
Subject: *5-3-3* Amiga
Date: 06/13/1998
Mark DeForest confirmed in the Riven Lyst that the Amiga version of Myst
was released in November 1997. It won the CU Amiga "The Best Game of 1997"
Award. [DeForest 1998]
For more information, go to the web site of the company which did the port,
clickBoom:
<URL:http://www.clickboom.com/>
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