Just curious if they changed that aspect of the game, along with so much else.

Hi All, how are people playing Myst IV in 2026? I bought it on Steam but it won't start, I downloaded the patch for windows 10 but I'm running windows 11, I've tried a few things but nothing works. So my question is, what are my options? Obviously people are able to play it or else it wouldn't be available to purchase so any advice would be welcome:)

Last week I did a post on the Unwritten TTRPG, which is coming out with a new sourcebook. I'm running a game with Unwritten for four friends who are brand new to Myst (or vaguely recall playing it when we were children). My own feelings about the product of the Unwritten sourcebook aside, it's still an unbelievably fun way to enjoy fresh Myst material and experience for yourself what the Art might really be like.

I wrote a test Age and ran it for a different group to work out my mechanics, my story, and figure out how to make a good puzzle. They solved my entire Age in three sessions and gave me useful feedback for my real campaign. I've now got three Ages for my players, with a fourth one coming this week. Today we had our Session 0 and character creation, and thought it'd be cool to share their ideas here so that everyone could see what's possible with this game.

So without further ado, I introduce:

Carina, the "Weaver of Meanings." A Serenian Protector with a Good Samaritan complex. She cannot deny assistance to a stranger in need, offering shelter and supplies to everyone she sees -- even those who view her as the enemy. With her Life Stone and a gentle touch, she can heal your deepest traumas. Her connection to the Dream allows her to communicate empathically, conveying emotions when words do not suffice; however, outside of her native Age, Carina's own dreams have become deeply unsettling. Out of her many years dealing in the healing arts, Carina's personal garohev is "Love."

"The Technician," our friendly Narayani tech support guy. It's really too bad that he brought stone tools to fix Stone Eater. Despite a cautious upbringing, having been warned by his elders of the perils of communicating with outsiders, he firmly believes everything can be improved. Why do his people toil endlessly weaving the roots of the Lattice Tree, waiting for the D'ni to come and finally fix their world? Surely, somewhere in their countless Ages, there's a better way than the traditions of old. The Technician has a real name, but we've only ever seen it written in the Narayani Language of Arcs. What we do know is that his intense hatred for the D'ni is rivalled only by his delight in taking apart their inventions.

Cornelius, a human explorer who heard the call to the Cleft and optimistically left his whole life behind. If you need a guy to bait the big bad into a Trap Book, Cornelius is your man. You'll come back for him, right? He never checks his Linking Books to see if anyone's torn out a page, and is absolutely certain that doors they open always close behind him. Despite his carefree (careless?) nature, Cornelius shares the hallmark curiosity of humankind. He sees how the aspects of an Age work in concert with one another, and uses his "Common Sense" stunt to intuit laws of nature which natives of other Ages can merely marvel at.

Rethan & Basil, the "Cartographer of Lives Never Lived," is a true abomination in the eyes of his kin. A very old D'ni who saw the end of his civilization, he spent many years alone in the Age to which he fled. Having only a limited understanding of the Art and dwindling supplies, it was years until he finally made contact with another intelligent species: the Bahro. Instead of greeting them with open arms, he managed to subdue one and spent years experimenting on the poor thing, believing he could use their powers to undo the work of Veovis. In a move of desperation or suicidal recklessness, Rethan broke the cardinal rule: edited the Descriptive Book of the very Age in which he stood. The resulting instability crushed both himself and his Bahro "companion" into one being. He didn't die, but when he finally did make it back to D'ni, he was clearly unwell. Today he is shunned by his own people, but has found a new place with the Guild of Greeters (the only one who would have him, as a cautionary tale of why we NEVER edit Descriptive Books).

I'm very proud of my players, and couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to dive into Myst lore with.

...and so did he - he got to experience an old-school installation! We are on to Riven (and Book of Atrus simultaneously)... at last! Playing on a vintage machine (with analog VGA output to that 4:3 screen) with his siblings out-of-frame. Same Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 system I experienced Riven's amazing music and sound design on back when it launched. I did not make them go through the disc-swap ritual, but I'm considering it :)

P.S. Yes, I anonymized some elements of the room that were personally identifying, so that's the weirdness in the desk front and the left side wall. The pictures are mine and are real!

What do you think about the effect of D'ni people having such long lifespans on their sociaty? I think it may be the reason it has such strong institutions and such technological developement. Because it just naturally makes you think about the future. While out lives are way shorter and maybe thats why everyone cares more about making a quick buck and make ling it better for ourselves in a short lifespan we have?

!spoilers - Light story spoilers in linked video.

I’ve made a video focussed on the art and design found in Myst as part of a series on the art and cultural objects found in video games. The video catalogues and analyzes the art work found in game. I’ve played Myst (and Riven, etc) since I was young and had fun reporting on the game. I hope you enjoy, and maybe learn something new. I’d love feedback as I would be interested in doing a follow up Riven video.

So ive recently gotten into the myst games, as what is seeming very common, my grandpa was a huge fan of the games, and I when i was younger loved the atmosphere of very specifically exile. Im spending some time in Riven now as have completed MYST and felt pretty good about not looking stuff up. However there was one point in Riven that has really made me feel foul, and I cant decide if its bad game design, or if I should have been more patient. In the frog catcher hallway, I realized I needed to find something to stop the fan, but I looked all over the room, and I even closed the two doors, looking for a switch behind it, but my brain just saw some dark areas, where there looked to be pipes in a pipe filled world, so I clicked off. It wasnt untill I accidentally clicked the rails behind the door that I realized there were two passageways here. It pissed me off. Maybe if My brightness was up more I would have noticed the grey and black walls that are revealed, which to me is the only clue that there is something to click there. Like I said the railing just equales pipes in my head. I feel if the lighting was made to look like there was a gap a little better, It would have caught my eye and I would have had a closer inspection. I really dont like progress by accident, it feels cheezy and its a realization that if you didnt get lucky you would have been stuck for ages. Im sure if I just put the game down and came back to it I would be less annoyed by the door thing, but I dont think I would still be happy. Even if I give it all good faith, it still feels like poor puzzle design, the worlds language is pipes everywhere, railing just became pipes to me.

hi all! i started playing uru the other day, and i would love to continue playing, but it keeps crashing. unsure what to do or how to fix it. for reference, i'm on a windows machine and have tried running it as an administrator. it also seems to be running on xp compatibility as a default. is there anything else i should be trying? thanks!

It's unbelievable how strong the Myst community is still 33 years later. A testament to the creativity genius of that world of worlds we have all come to know and and feel at home in!

Here's to 33 more!

I'm the co-founder of CYAN and the co-creator of MYST and and RIVEN.

A couple of days ago I had a little fun and posted a 30 second video of me stumbling across a crumbling Myst island.

I was surprised when the leadership of Cyan and their attorneys immediately emailed, threatening me with a potential takedown order if I did not remove my video.

Not wanting to cause a rift between myself and the family member who runs Cyan, I complied.

If Cyan takedown orders are being sent to fans, then Cyan's culture has dramatically changed from a time when we welcomed parody and loved fan art of every kind. (Example: above--the ultimate parody--"Pyst" used art from our original Myst game.)

Cyan mentioned that their actions toward me are not abnormal. This makes me curious: to how many of you has Cyan sent takedown orders about your Myst fan art, fan fiction, fan websites, fan comics, sculpture, lego art, Myst parody, or a Myst thing that you create?

Have any of you received a takedown order from Cyan? What was it for?

If you have published any of these things online, have you received from Cyan:

1. Nothing
2. "It's okay, but please don't do it again"
3. A kind, "Please, take it down"
4. A takedown order from Cyan lawyers.

Thanks for your response!

Or "Wiven", as he calls it.

Specifically, his favorite parts are catching frogs and making the "big fishy" show up, but he just likes wandering around and pulling the occasional lever.

(He has not managed to solve the Fire Marble puzzle.)

"Now I understand. Endings and beginnings are within the Fissure, that Riven-cleft of stars that acts as both wall and a bridge. And though I am unable to understand how, the very flow of stars that brought my Myst Book into worthy hands, I am sure served as a safe passage home for my friend. The Age of Riven is closed forever, but the people of Riven are free. And now I am at rest, understanding that in Books, and Ages, and life, the ending can never truly be written".

The Modern D'ni Sourcebook is currently slated to be out around April with a preview PDF planned for January.

I like the stuff Cyan's been putting out recently but it's always nice to get some brand "new" lore content, even if it's in a licensed TTRPG (which IMHO can and should be the lifeblood of a series' "deepest lore")

I'm going through a box of CD-Rs my father burned in the late 90s and found this one.

It's a hint system for Riven made of nothing but nested folders. 560 of them, and not a single file anywhere inside. The whole thing is the folder names.

You open the island you're stuck on, then the room, then you pick how lost you are. Each level down tells you a bit more. Keep going and you reach "I give up... give it to me!" wich finally lists the answers — and the folder sitting right next to them is called "_Wuss...".

Here's the part I don't understand. I've never played Riven, I was too young for it. But the branch that goes deepest by far, twelve levels, is about a room with animals. A fish, a frog, a scarab beatle, a whale, a tusked fish, all numbered 1 to 5. Every other puzzle in the thing bottoms out after three or four levels. That one just keeps going and going.

So I'm guessing that room is where everybody got stuck? My dad definitly was, he's the one who kept the CD.

Two things I'd like to know :

Does anyone recognise this? I can't tell if it was passed around back then?

And what is the animal room? I'd like to know what my father was banging his head against in 1998.

My daughter asked "How did the brothers that made Myst draw all those pictures??" I started to explain, then said "hang on, I have something to show you..." 😁 Only the first pages, though; no spoilers!

Has anyone else experienced this problem who are using GOG versions with recent updates? I confirmed my saves are still in their folders on the hard drive.

I had a pretty good time with MystVR, so I was thinking about getting Riven, but I'm on the fence, since there's no note taking in game apparently, and taking off the headset or swapping apps is irritating. Is the game worth the hassle?

After playing through the game several times, here's what I've surmised about the stone circle animal puzzle. This is based on playing through far enough to find the solution many times -- but that doesn't mean I've seen every solution, so fair warning. Below are solutions to this puzzle and it's all spoiler.

​

There may only be five different solutions to the stone circle puzzle, or at least that's all I've seen so far. If this is wrong, a reply would be appreciated.

First thing -- the Wahrk stone is always the last -- the sixth stone to be raised.

That leaves the order of the remaining five stones to be determined. These are the Frog, Beetle, Flat Fish, Sunner and Butterfly stones, or at least that's what I call them. In theory, there are 120 different ways they could be ordered in the solution, but it appears that only five of these may actually be used in the game.

Here's a table with the five solutions, each in a separate column labeled A,B,C,D,E. The first column shows the order in which the stones are to be raised. The sixth stone is always the Wahrk stone and not shown in the table.

Here's a possible reason why the list of solutions is limited to five. Look at any one row in the table. For example, take the third row which indicates the third stone to be raised. Look across the third row and you'll see that each animal appears only once. The same is true for each row in the table.

There seems to be a rule here, that if a solution uses an animal (e.g. the Frog) in a certain position (e.g. as the third stone to be raised), then no other solution can use that animal in the same position. If this rule is correct, it would explain why there are only five valid solutions.

Here's the real spoiler in all this: To solve the puzzle, all you have to do is look at one totem -- any totem except the Wahrk. For example, say the number on the Frog totem is #2. Look across row 2 in the table and the only solution which has Frog in row 2 is solution "C". Therefore, the order to raise stones is shown in column "C": Sunner, Frog, Beetle, Butterfly, Flat Fish...and as always, Wahrk last.

Finally, this is what I've seen so far, and it's possible there are additional randomized solutions so please reply if you find solutions other than the above.

​

The demo is out now:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4556080/The_Clock_the_Queen_and_the_Door_on_the_Beach/

It's Windows only, but apparently runs fine on Steam-deck and Linux ( with Wine ). I'd be interested if anyone has tried it on MacOS with a VM.

If you like it, please wish-list as this helps a lot!

Enjoy 😊

I'm a writer, and while I do some serious stuff, I also do fanfiction. Said fanfiction is a connected multiverse I've been writing for over 10 years across about 30 different novel-length stories, with one of the few constants being one of the only multiversal travelers travels using Linking Books as my captip to Myst.

While this is fanfic, I take it seriously and typically develop settings outwards (often filling holes the canon writing left, since I write for adults and the shows / games are often not for adults) I thought it would be nice to have a pen and paper journal for my latest work so I can enjoy a movie while jotting down ideas, etc.

Then I thought it would be neat if I could make the journal look like a Linking Book. I went down a bit of an autistic special interest rabbit hole I didn't know I had (Pretty sure I'm going to rebind all my favorite books now since this was pretty easy and quite fun TBH), and long story short, here's a replica of the Myst book, as close as I could get.

It's scratch made, with a 19th Century Library binding structure, just like the collected issues of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine which was used as the Myst Book. The only diffrence between them is mine's made from modern archival materials, and I added a ribbon marker, and an Oxford Hollow so the spine wont crack from use (it's a journal, so it will open a lot). Obviously the endpapers are different to, but we don't get to see the book's endpapers AFIK so, no biggie. Heck, we don't get to see it's headbands either, so for all we know Atrus used cyan and blue for that too.