Ive searched the forums before asking but I was unable to find anything, so forgive me if Im not the first person that asked...

Im revisiting old gaming days and recently purchased Myst. I was overwhelmed with excitement to play and the first time I started the game I got a good 45 minutes before I crashed. On occasion Ill be lucky enough now to get 20 minutes before I crash but they are usually pretty frequent. I dont get any specific error message aside from myst.exe has stopped working. My system is more than capable of handling the game, am I crashing because Im using Vista? Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I tried contacting customer support but the online help is unavailable.

I apologize...I asked for tech support

...
Pro - AMD Turion 64 X2 1.6GHz
Vid - Nvidia something, haha still lookin havent found it yet, its factory w/an HP Pavillion dv2000
RAM - 1 Gb
OS - Vista Home Premium

Welcome to the Forums!

This is the tech support (among other things) Forum for Myst and realMyst, so you're in the right place. My condolences for being afflicted with Vista, BTW.

The Myst series should run properly under Vista, with the following caveats:

1. Vista apparently doesn't like many "legacy" (aka older) applications, and most of the Myst series qualify. Some programs run in Vista only if you run them with full Administrator privileges. See How to use User Account Control (UAC) in Windows Vista.

2. Take a look at The Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update.

3. Try running the Program Compatibility Wizard. For details, see How to start the Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows Vista. Or, if you don't want to run the Wizard, you can just try Compatibility Mode, which is invoked as with Win XP.

4. You may need to try what's called out in:
-- How to troubleshoot application compatibility issues in Windows Vista
-- How to troubleshoot issues that may prevent a program from being installed correctly on a Windows Vista-based computer
-- Advanced methods to troubleshoot a program that does not run as expected after it is installed on Windows Vista

As a further comment, whether you play any of the Myst-series games or not, you should very strongly consider downloading and installing these Four Must-Have Vista Updates.

Heimdall
Semper ubi sub ubi

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Heimdall G,

Ive looked at the options you provided and now Im headed to try them out. Fingers crossed, I love this game, and the memories of the hours spent playing it with old friends. Thanks so much for the help!

I'm running Vista on a Sony Vaio F series with Crapsta (aka Vista) as the OS. Its using a typical Intel Chipset video processor, I have 2gb of ram, etc. I've been trying to get realMYST to work on my machine for a couple hours now and I'm getting no where fast. I've tried most everything suggested in the forums here to no avail, and I have another oddity that I have not seen mentioned: When I try to install the realMYST patch I get an error: "Original files do not exist!" When I try to run realMYST it get the black screen followed by the crash to desktop. The same thing is happening on my XP box in the other room. Any ideas at least about the patch not working?

Cross or not, welcome to the Forums!

When doing any of the following or before starting realMyst, log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, and close all open applications. Before installing drivers or DirectX, disable all anti-virus/adware/spyware/pop-up software running in the background. Do NOT boot up with a CD or DVD in any drive.

Suggestions:

1. Before installing any drivers or DirectX 9.0c, or re-installing realMyst, it’s a very good idea to do *all* of the following. These instructions are specifically for Win XP, but Vista should have analogs for all.

Use your anti-virus software to do a complete, in-depth scan of your hard disk(s). This is the 'start it and let it crank' type of scan, not the bootup quickie!

Do complete, in-depth spyware and adware scans of your hard disk(s). I regularly use and recommend all of:
-- Spybot - Search & Destroy - free version available
-- Ad-aware SE - free version available
-- Spyware Doctor - free scan available
-- PestPatrol - free scan available

Be aware that these anti-spyware and adware programs do NOT protect against viruses!

Check all of your hard disks and partitions for errors. Refer to How to Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows XP. Close all running programs before starting the error check, and tell Windows to automatically fix file system errors. Another option is Symantec's Norton SystemWorks - Norton Utilities Disk Doctor.

Clear your Internet Explorer caches.
-- a. Close all open applications.
-- b. Open a single Internet Explorer session.
-- c. Click on Tools > Internet Options.
-- d. Click on Delete Cookies > OK.
-- e. Click on Delete Files (check the 'Delete all offline content' box) > OK.
-- f. Click on Clear History > Yes.
-- g. Click on OK to exit.

Use Windows (not Internet) Explorer to search all hard disks for \temp, \tmp, and \temporary folders, and delete any files in these folders that aren't currently in use. If you can delete a file in a temp folder, it's not in use - if it's in use, Windows won't let you delete it.
-- a. Close all open applications, and open a Windows Explorer session. (Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.)
-- b. Click on Search > All files and folders.
-- c. Type temp in the All or part of the file name: box.
-- d. Click on Search to start the search.
-- e. Click on the temp folders found to open them.
-- f. Delete any files in these folders that aren't currently in use.
-- g. Repeat for tmp and temporary folders.
-- h. Close Windows Explorer back to the Desktop.

Empty the Recycle Bin.
-- a. From the Desktop, right-click on the Recycle Bin.
-- b. Click on Open to view the Bin's contents.
-- c. Click on any file that was deleted by mistake.
-- d. Click on File > Restore.
-- e. Repeat as necessary.
-- f. Click on File > Close.
-- g. Right-click on the Recycle Bin.
-- h. Click on Empty Recycle Bin.
-- i. Click on Yes to confirm file deletion.

Defragment your hard disk(s). To speed up the process, reboot, close all open applications, and immediately begin defragging. Refer to How To Analyze and Defragment a Disk in Windows XP and How to Defragment Your Disk Drive Volumes in Windows XP for details. Executive Software's Diskeeper is another option.

2. Re-install realMyst as follows:
-- a. Uninstall realMyst using Control Panel’s Add or Remove Programs.
----- 1. Click on Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.
----- 2. In the Currently installed programs box, click on the realMYST Interactive 3D Edition entry.
----- 3. Click on Remove (or Change/Remove).
----- 4. If prompted to confirm the removal of the program, click on Yes.
----- 5. When realMyst removal is complete, close Control Panel back to the Desktop.
-- b. Using Windows Explorer, browse to \Program Files\Mattel Interactive\realMYST Interactive 3D Edition. Delete the \Mattel Interactive and \realMYST Interactive 3D Edition folders.
-- c. Reboot, log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, and close all open applications.
-- d. Place the realMyst CD in the drive, and allow it to spin up to speed.
-- e. Click on Start > Run, browse to autorun.exe on the CD, and double-click on the file to put it in the Open: box.
-- f. Click on OK, then install realMyst. Accept the install defaults whenever possible.
-- g. When installation is complete, reboot.
-- h. Log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, close all open applications, and start realMyst.

3. For your Sony, presumably having "tried most everything suggested in the forums here" means in particular the Vista suggestions in my post of Sun July 01 2007 14:59, above. If not, try ‘em.

4. Black screens and crashing are what happens when you try to run realMyst with a non-compatible video chipset, and/or with an old video driver. For your laptop, update the video driver to the latest from Sony. You don't mention whether your XP machine also has its video chipset integrated on the motherboard, but if so, update the driver to the latest from the PC or motherboard manufacturer, or (second choice) from the video chipset manufacturer. Also, for both machines and before installing the drivers, install the latest end-user runtime release of DirectX 9.0c, available here. Reboot when DirectX installation is complete.

See Myst Masterpiece Edition and realMyst: Installing Video Drivers With Win XP under Installing INTEL Drivers for Intel Win XP drivers for their most common video chipsets. For Vista drivers for various Intel chipsets, see Intel Graphics Media Accelerator for Windows Vista. Also check out the Vista FAQs page.

Again, try the PC or motherboard manufacturers' drivers first.

5. What appears to be a video problem can actually be sound-related. So, also update your sound drivers to the latest from the PC or motherboard manufacturers.

6. Somewhat down the list but still a possibility are the motherboard chipset drivers. If you've never updated these drivers for either machine, install the latest from the PC or motherboard manufacturers. Note that Sony has a nasty habit of not issuing updated motherboard chipset drivers, so you may not find anything starting here for your Vaio.

7. For your Win XP machine, try running realMyst in Windows Compatibility Mode. See Description of the Application Compatibility Tool, How to use the Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows XP, and How to Use Windows Application Compatibility Mode for details. As a first pass, select “Windows 98 / Windows Me” mode, then in sequence:
-- a. 'Run in 256 colors', and start realMyst.
-- b. 'Run in 256 colors', 'Run in 640x480 screen resolution', and start realMyst.
-- c. 'Run in 256 colors', 'Run in 640x480 screen resolution', and 'Disable visual themes' and start realMyst.

If Win 98/Me mode doesn't help, try the Windows 95 and Windows 2000 modes with the above options.

8. You may not be able to apply the patch if realMyst is installed on a drive other than C: (especially on an external drive), if the drive doesn’t have sufficient free space available after realMyst installation, or if the original installation was corrupted somehow.

The version 1.11 patch is available here or here from Ubisoft. Note that the this patch does NOT fix any bugs that might cause black screens/crashing when starting the game, so therefore isn’t likely to help you.

If you must apply it, download the patch again from one of the above sites to a folder on the disk to which you’ve installed realMyst. Then apply as follows
-- a. Click on Start > Run.
-- b. Browse to the folder containing the patch executable, then double click on the file to put it in the Open: box.
-- c. Click on OK to begin patch application.

If you continue to get "Original files do not exist!" or other error messages, re-install realMyst as per suggestions 1 and 2, above.

Heimdall
Semper ubi sub ubi

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Heimdall G,

As a further comment, whether you play any of the Myst-series games or not, you should very strongly consider downloading and installing these Four Must-Have Vista Updates.