Moderators: Heimdall G
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I want to complain about the way "Myst IV - Revelation" reacts - or better: doesn´t react - to common Windows settings:
1.) Location of "My Documents" Myst IV creates it´s save-path by simply adding "\myst4-revelation savegames" to the path of "My Documents" - without checking if this is a drive-letter. So the program crashes on my system. I´d have to change this setting if I wanted to play the game. This issue seems to be well known since v1.00 - but noone bothered to change it in 3 patches! Shame on you! 2.) Dual-Screen-Setup On my (not that unusual) setup "GeForce 9600 with 2 screens" I can´t use the game at all because any click in the main-menu will bring me back to my Desktop. I´d have to change this setting if I wanted to play the game. This issue seems to be well known since v1.00 - but noone bothered to change it in 3 patches! Shame on you! I already read how to run the game in Windowed mode and to "simulate" fullscreen by hiding the Taskbar - yet another setting to change. But why should I? 3.) Drive-Emulator Earlier versions complained about installed Drive-Emulators. I´d have to change this setting if I wanted to play the game. At least this seems to be fixed in one of the patches. And at least I can see why you implemented this check - although I still take this as insulting and patronizing. *No* game has the right to dictate what programs to uninstall from my system. How dare you to dictate me to change my system-settings in order to run your game? That´s not acceptable! Why can´t you be bothered to make your game run *with* these settings? That´s lazy programming *and* lazy testing! Why can´t you be bothered to fix any or some of those issues in your patches? You already had three chances to do so. That´s simply rude! And don´t you dare to tell me it was impossible! Any other game-developer could very well do it. I am very well willing to do my part in making a game run (installing patches, keeping the system up-to-date, updating DirectX, ...). But your sheer ignorance of any setup other as your testing-PC, your lazy, shortcutting programming-style and most of all your ignorance towards already known issues make me regret the money I spent on this game. This will be definetly be the last game I purchsed from those Cyan-guys. A *very* unsatisfied customer feeling insulted, frustrated and above all patronized by lazy programming. Harald Dehner |
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Welcome to the myst 4 forums which are taken care for, by unpaid fans.
re: Myst 4 Revelation Development From Wkipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst_4
If you really want to file in a complaint, it would be a good idea to submit a ticket at Ubisoft's support...click here  |
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Oh. Ok. My mistake.
BUT: - the Cyan-logo still appears during the intro-sequence - the Myst-series *is* associated with Cyan - sorry So even if I now know that they are not the people to blame, still the vast majority of people out there doesn´t. I know that this is unfair but, hey, they still gave *their* name for this game from *their* series - no wonder everyone blames *them*... Being treated like this by a game is unfair for me, too. And all *I* did was paying money for it. Now that I finally got it working (in windowed mode) the issues continue: - Why can´t I skip a video by pressing ESC? - Why can´t I resize it to more than 1024x768 (I am using a 22" screen with 1600x1200 - so Myst IV looks like a stamp...) - Why did I have to *create* a file to switch from obligatory fullscreen to Windowed in the first place? - Why isn´t this - at least - integrated to the Configurator-program? - Why isn´t the safe-mode provided there of any help? - Why doesn´t the Updater-program update the game? It just shows an no-version-found-error that one can trace back to the logfile (name is not given nor is a shortcut) and finally to a moved update-site. I could go on. I own literally hundreds of games (yes, I paid for them!) and no single one of them has ever made me that angry. Maybe the developers were rushed. Being a software-developer myself I can understand that. But why on earth weren´t such trivial issues like the Drive-letter-as-My-Documents-path solved? There have been three patches in the meantime and *still* the program simply crashes when "My Documents" points to "D:\". One can identify and trace back that error without even knowing the source-code! There have been three patches in the meantime and *still* there is no simple way to *even start* the game on some dual-head-systems. Is it too much to ask for that option being placed in the Configurator, perhaps in the safe-mode? I would say "no!" since the developers on the other hand seem to be of the opinion that foraging the forums and then creating little code-files isn´t too much to ask from any customer. I don´t really feel like placing the blame fairly after having to endure all this by a game / developer / rights-owner / publisher. A never-having-been-so-p****d-by-any-other-game customer Harald Dehner |
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I am guessing that only our expert Heimdall G could understand all your problems but I find it difficult to see why so many of us did not have so many problems installing and playing Myst 4.
Could it be related to computer setups ? Btw, I beleive that DreamForge has closed down quite a while ago. If you really want to get to the bottom of your problems, I would suggest you add a "DxDiag" report in this thread for Heimdall to have a good look at your computer.
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@TheHori
The complaints you write here are only read by fellow gamers and volunteer help. If you just want to vent, probably this topic, which you can see below yours, would be appropriate: "Do you want to scream and yell at someone? Do it here..." If you really *want* tech help though, Heimdall's the best. Please note that these forums are part of a huge discussion board with many, many forums hosted by Ubisoft. In his first response above, nanoukmetal provided a link for you to the Ubisoft support, where you can lodge a formal complaint. |
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You can skip the intro.
Yes, you can.
It's better than having to modify the .exe.
Because the game is designed to be run in fullscreen. You could have the same complaint about Myst, Riven and Exile.
What safe-mode?
It updates the game. Find something else.
They didn't even integrate everything that was supposed to be in the game. |
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Moderator & Community Assistant |
As with any PC game, if you want to play Revelation, you do what the game wants done - NOT what you think you should be able to do or not do!
All of the above are very much to the point. Especially the suggestion to post a DxDiag report. We can't do anything else to help you. Heimdall Semper ubi sub ubi |
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1.) I´ve read enough posts in this forum to know that all people here are either users or volunteers.
Yet, this does not change the way I feel about this game or the service provided by its developers or publisher - and I don´t see why I should not express these feelings. On the contrary: as this is very likely one of the first places an enraged player will turn to this is *exactly* the right spot to write about how frustrated I am. 2.) I just did a short count: I have currently installed 462 (yes, 462) different games on this very PC I am typing this post. All of them are running - smoothly - fullscreen. I think it may be safe to deduce from that that my system can´t be *that* unusual or mal-configured. And that my DirectX-installation is just fine, thank you. And none of those 462 games - repeat: no single one of them! - gave me nearly as much trouble as Myst IV did. 3.) @realXCV: do you really think I don´t know what I´m talking about, do you?
Yes. But that´s not the point. For example it´s impossible to skip the lengthy monorail-drive directly *after* the intro.
Retried that: Pressing ALT while ingame will freeze the video (sound continues). Then windows´ mouse-cursor will re-appear - but only outside the game-window. This enables me to resize the game-window - but only by pointing blindly since the resize-cursor won´t appear (see previous line). So yes, it actually *is* resizeable, if only in an un-intuitive way. I´m sorry. Still: Why does the slider on the in-game-settings only provide 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768?
I´m sorry!? Do you honestly suggest that creating a file and inserting code into it is *acceptable* in any possible way for a normal user, just because editing the .exe would be even worse!? It´s the developer´s job to provide that feature in the first place or at least to provide a patched window-toggle-enabled exe. If we are talking about the average user - especially the not-so-technophile average Myst-user - then fiddling with *any* game-files directly is an absolute no-go. Oh, and *if* the "Myst IV"-way of entering windowed-mode is really that simple and elegant, then I wonder why any other Windows-application toggles fullscreen simply on Alt-Return...
All my games run in fullscreen. Myst IV doesn´t. And I don´t even *want* to play Myst IV in windowed mode. But since it´s the only way to get past the main-menu on (some) dual-screen-systems I am unfortunately forced to do so. If a game is not capable of running in fullscreen-mode in the first place then a paying customer may expect - no, demand! - that he can at least toggle to windowed-mode by hitting "Alt+Return". Yet this game doesn´t even meet this requirement: conformity to user-interface standards as old as Windows itself. But still there is hope: Didn´t the installer provide me with a link to a separate configurator-program? But no! Not even that provides a convenient way to access a feature neccessary to play the game... Oh, and why *should* I have the same complaint about those other games? *They* work perfectly in fullscreen. Even the 16-year old Myst runs in fullscreen! (Ok, It doesn´t *really* scale but hey, resolutions like mine were undreamt of in 1993.)
Now you´re pulling my leg, aren´t you? Please do start the "configurator"-program. Expand the node "Configuration". Expand the node "Troubleshooting". Although the exact names may vary (I am using another language and can´t be bothered to re-install in English just to verify them) you will certainly find the second entry to read similar to this: "Use minimal (safe) game-configuration" (Yes/No) I for one would most certainly like to call this a safe-mode.
It doesn´t for me. All it does is rising a Windows-scurity-message warning me about an "unknown publisher" and an invalid signature of file "ubi12A.tmp". Allowing to proceed won´t help. The Update fails. Taking a glimpse into the technical log reveals the error-message: "Trying to download version file from http://mystivpatches.ubi.com/versions.cab to C:\WINDOWS\Temp\ubi12A.tmp. Succesfully downloaded version file. Error reading version file. No INI file found in package." So let´s take a look into that file: "<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <TITLE>302 Found</TITLE> </HEAD><BODY> <H1>Found</H1> The document has moved <A HREF="http://www.ubi.com/404.aspx">here</A>.<P> </BODY></HTML>" So perhaps Ubisoft deactivated or moved the update-site in the meantime? When did you last check? I did just now.
That´s really sad (no irony intended!) as the game-content itself is as beautiful and rich as all the other Mysts are. 4.) @heimdall
The attitude behind this statement both scares me and explains a lot. While I grant that *within* the game you have to cope with the rules and limitations put into place by its developers, I couldn´t more disagree if it comes to the system *outside* the game! A game running on a computer simply isn´t "king of the hill" there but just one of many, many applications installed and/or running there, too. As an application it *has to* behave like the respective OS´s rules (as given in the respective guidelines) require. And it has to subordinate to the OS. And to the user´s settings (like where to install, for example). Of course a game *is* a special application: - it´s usually allowed to use as many ressources as it likes - it doesn´t have to really cooperate with any other program - normally a user will close all/most other applications prior to start the game - it´s allowed to change parameters like resolution, colur-depth etc. - if it needs a more recent version of a runtime, lib or the like - it normally gets it - etc. But still it´s *utterly inacceptible* for a game to dictate Windows-setting for *outside* itself like wether I expand my Desktop to a 2nd screen or not. (...or what other software not to have installed on the same system for that matter...) At least not for the time *before* and *after* it´s runtime. Developing Software that requires you to change all or any system-settings merely to be able to start it is simply bad style. And not taking common user-settings (like a moved "My Documents"-folder) into account is a) not conform to MS´s Windows-styleguides (!) and b) just lazy.
Why should I? The *only* issue from my list of complaints that could even possibly be solved by analyzing the DxDiag-report is the "can´t get past the main menu when running in fullscreen" issue. And that one has obviously been known for years without solution (see Google). I don´t believe in the possibility that analysing a DxDiag-report would result in a new patch. The best thing I could hope for is a tip to change some setting to meet one of Myst IV´s requirements. But since all my other games run perfectly well I think that my DX is quite well and healthy. Even if not: Then why are all other 462 games able to cope with that and just Myst IV can´t? 5.) So if I am obviously not seeking help then why all the fuzz? Simple: I wanted to "scream and yell at someone". I wanted to document on how frustrated I am from fiddling with this game. And I want others to read about it. A still-p***** customer Harald Dehner |
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Oh, and I forgot:
@nanoukmetal:
You are right there. But please consider this: I think I read somewhere that the Myst-series is known as "games for non-gamers". So one can assume that many if not most "Myst IV"-players are using their PC as it came out of the box. Perhaps they once replaced teletubby-land with a picture of their family but changed nothing more. That´s perfectly ok, of course. Yet there are others, too, who for example *do* move "My Documents" to another drive for better maintainability and to make backups easier. Or who *do* use 2 (or more) monitors. I am not talking about wildly rumaging within the Registry or about running a virtualized Vista on Linux or about trying to run Myst IV on Windows 7 beta or something like that. Both examples given above are perfectly normal, too - and just one click / one surplus flatscreen away. I can see that taking a factory-settings-Windows for a model-PC to test a game is an option. But thorough testing should check at least some of the more-common settings any user could change at any time, too. And as the internet shows I am not the only who has problems with Myst IV. On the contrary: I consider myself lucky for not being one of the countless poor folks that aren´t able to run Myst IV because of the (silly) copy-protection-issues... My dual-monitor-problem is well-known, too. As is "Myst IV"´s problem with "drive-letter as My Documents folder". All those issues I could find and read about on the web. I am *not* the only one. A not-as-the-only-one-having-problems-with-Myst-IV customer Harald Dehner |
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Moderator & Community Assistant |
As I said above, we can't do anything else to help you.
Perhaps after you're done venting, you'll post a DxDiag report. Heimdall Semper ubi sub ubi |
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Many videos trigger one or more events at some specific time. If the videos are skipped, the events won't happen or not at the correct moment. Example: The Curtains music when entering the dreamworld 1 for the first time. (Many are for starting and stopping sounds)
Because of the resolution of the cube is only 768x768x768 (each face is 768x768).
The game (like many others games) has been made with fullscreen in mind, not windowed. Have you ever played Exile in windowed mode? You are stuck with a 640x480 window that you can't resize and even that you can't move. Do you know that switching between windowed and fullscreen in DirectX isn't simply made by a magic switch?
Alt-Space, then choose Maximize. You will get ALMOST the same result as if you were playing in fullscreen.
Same thing with many others games.
Do you want me to create a special configurator program that will do the same thing than the in-game one just for you?
I don't really use the configurator (except on the first start where its launch is forced) so I forgot about that one.
When it was working. But all it did was to download the latest patch (1.03) and install it. Nothing more.
Because it's the most common suggestion on theses forums. And because that all want to know what you do have on your computer.
Disable your second monitor. Play the game (in fullscreen) Enable your second monitor.
Please, continue... |
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No. There already *is* a configurator program. There already *is* an option to activate a safe-mode there. There already *is* the knowledge at Ubi´s on how to activate Windowed-mode (file "game.dsc"...). There already *is* knowledge on how to create such a file automatically by a program. Mix these *already existing* components and you get...? *Could* have been a new version of the configurator-program to include in one of the patches. And since it is *known* that Myst IV won´t even get past the main menu on some dual... blablabla... in fullscreen-mode I really think that a "safe-mode" should (at least) be able to switch to Windowe-mode, too.
... and rearrange all Icons that are normally placed there (in meaningful groups). ... and place the 2nd (default-windows) quicklaunch-bar there again. ... and adjust the orientation of the two screens to another again. Not an option. Or better: I refuse to do so since every other game was written well enough to not to make such precautions necessary. Why would I have to go through all this to play a specific game if all others run perfectly well on a setup as it is. -> errors must be within the game, not the setup. -> not my problem to fix them but the developer´s. That´s just my point: Myst IV seems to have simply more errors, issues and problems than any other game I own. And instead of requiring every single user who encounters one of these problems (there are quite a few) to "just reconfigure his system according to the developers assumptions" the developers should have been fixing those issues once and for all. I understand that I am complaining about spilt milk as the developer-studio is already closed and it´s unlikely that Ubi will provide another patch for this game ever again. Still I think that customers are entitled to get software that either just runs on a not-quite-but-nearly standard Windows XP system or that gets patched to run - *without* having to create files *themselves* or changing *their* system. - Myst doesn´t seem to run if not *every single detail* matches exactly the developers idea of a standard Windows-system. - Testing the program was done too superficially as to detect problems with, for example, Dual Monitor setups. - These *known* problems haven´t been fixed although there would have been enough time (5 years) and occasions (3 patches). - *Ready-to-use* support from Developer (closed) and Ubi (couldn´t be bothered) is not to be expected any more. - All you can hope for as a user suffering from those problems is hints on how to fix it *yourself*, consuming your own time, changing your own system. - Not everyone is capable of doing so (e. g. create code-files) and not everyone is willing to (e. g. change my whole Desktop-setup). I really appreciate your efforts as volunteers. I really do. But why do I have to get active? Why do I have to create files? Why do I have to change settings? Why do I have to diagnose problems? It´s not my job. I pay I play. That´s how it´s supposed to be. Bugfixing a game or helping bugfixing it isn´t. And as this has already taken decidedly too long I don´t see why we should discuss this further. Why should I? I´ll just play some other game instead. They work. Perhaps "Exile"...? A thinking-that-developers-and-publisher-should-provide-their-customers-with-patches-instead-of-howtos customer Harald Dehner P.S.: Please don´t get me wrong. Thank you very much for you patience and your effort. The outrageous scandal is that all this is even neccessary in the first place... |
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The game was developed by ubisoft. |
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I thought by "DreamForge" (2nd post) which were already closed (4th post)...?
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DreamForge started it originally, but then Ubi took it over and started again from scratch.
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