I'm still laughing at the fact that they read you a list of SEVEN supported cards. That cracks me up. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!? I mean, c'mon, the Myst series is one of the best-selling computer games of all time. They dumbed the video down so it would run 640x480 "for compatibility" and then only officially support 7 cards. But then I'm still miffed that it's not compatible with my Voodoo3 card--which a LOT of gamers own.

Well if it's any consolation, ClarkKentKY, I actually went out and bought a new video card to get this thing to work (I was wanting one anyway, this was the perfect excuse). NOW I discover the ATI Radeon video card I got is unstable when connected to my KA7 motherboard. I've found all kinds of fixes I'm trying, but I'm going into my fifth hour of trouble-shooting. My entire computer freezes upon bootup--even in safe mode! UGGGGGGGGGG!!!! So, hey, it could be worse...

Oh jeez! Yeah, I feel better now, unfortunatly at your expense.

That message board you linked me to is crazy. Everyone is having problems. Alot of them found that if they looked up in the air or down at the ground it wouldn't lock up, when it was making some sort of transition between static and video modes. Tried it... Nope. Still kicks me out. I hate Catherine this is all her fault.

You know what the real kicker is. We have two computers, The one i'm trying it on so far. And the one in the study. So i think Hey, i'll try it in the study, but before i even get to i look on the myst 3 site... "Intel video chipsets are not supported" D'OH! Good god. Do you know how many people have intel chipset video. Okay lets try anyone with a laptop (that isn't AMD based). So my only chance now is in june when my sister comes in town, she has a laptop thats a AMD compaq. Maybe i could get it to work on her machine. I was anticipating this game like crazy, but right now I think the best way to beat the game is with a hammer.

This is so ridiculous. I'm glad I don't own stock in Ubisoft.

So out of curiousity, can you remember which video cards ARE supported (other than the HAL-8000)? May be helpful to those still thinking about buying it.

Well, here's to your 10 hours of gameplay in June...



P.S. They have a new Tech Support FAQ up that states Myst isn't supported on Intel chipsets, S3 chipsets, Voodoo cards or Windows NT or Windows 2000. Anyone wanna bet more will be added by tomorrow??

[Edited by JuryDuty on 05-10-01 at 11:08 AM]

I am guessing GeForce2 related cards are one as I have an MX video card and it works fine for me.

Jury:

They said VooDoo 4 and 5 are supported, and ATI 128 Pro (but not the rage pro turbo that i have.. um... yeah i'm betting it wouldn't work either) Then he said some other cards i had never heard of and stopped. And said that was it. I said that was ridiculous and they shoudl be ashamed for releasing something that doesn't qualify as even beta level. Then he started acting like a richard so i asked to tlak to his supervisor. I was more irritated than angry so I just hung up.

Look at that rivenguild forum. Everyone is having problems related to thier video cards. THATS A HUGE BUG. HUUUUUGE. If it doesn't support 80% of the cards out there, What is the more likely scenario: That 80% of all video cards are crap, or that your game's code is crap.

I just tied it on the intel chipset downstairs, like i expected i couldn't even get the game to run on it (i got the M3.exe error, so i was better off up here on this computer.)

And dont' toast to my 10 hours in june yet. Its a laptop, so i'm guessing it isn't too strong on the video card side either. Its just the only other 300 mhz+ computer that i have access to. I doubt i'll have any more luck with it that I would this machine. Those cards i mentioned up top are all $100+ cards. you've already gone a further distance than i'm willing to go. Anyone thats been watching the thread that was thinking about buying.. Don't. Imagine how pissed retailers are going to be!!! I mean Ubisoft blatantly lied on the system requirements!!

I had no problems getting Myst III to run on my 5 year old gaming system.

Intel Pentium II 300mhz
128 megs RAM
Win98SE
Viper V550 AGP
Two Monster 3D II in SLI Mode

Game runs very smooth and no problems during install or play.



[Edited by Zork on 05-10-01 at 11:29 PM]

I won't get to play it for a little over a week from now even though it'll get to my house sooner than that because I gotta stick around here for graduation but I'm hoping I won't have any problems running it on my system below

700 Mhz Athlon
Asus K7V
128 MB PC133 Ram
ATI Radeon 32MB DDR
Pioneer 10x/40x DVD-ROM
Maxtor 20.5 GB 7200 rpm Diamondmax Plus
Running Win2k

From the readme file:

nVidia Riva TNT
nVidia Riva TNT2
nVidia GeForce
nVidia GeForce 256
nVidia GeForce2
nVidia GeForce2 GTS
nVidia GeForce2 Pro
Guillemot Vanta
ATI Rage 128
ATI Rage Pro 128 VR
ATI Rage Pro 128
ATI Rage Pro M3
ATI Rage Mobility M12X
ATI Radeon
Matrox G200
Matrox G450
Voodoo 4 4500
Voodoo 5 5500

And lets face it, more than a few of those only differ by very slight differences. I mean we're talking model number only on a couple of the ATI and Nvidia ones. So it looks like the Radeon isn't supported. Although you might be able to squeak it by in software mode (which looks crappy from the 30 seconds of the game that would actually play on my system.) Also, some of the folks over at rivenguild said they couldn't get it to run on their radeon cards. So i'm guessing you won't be able to work it. Best of luck.

My only hope at this point... THey say on the webpage that there will be a fix for the intel chipset. So if they get out a patch accomadating an intel chipset, I can play it downstairs on the celeron I have.

Hey Jury, any luck yet?

Clark: That's a list of video cards they don't support???? If it's not, then the Radeon is on there. It seems like Ubisoft has outdone themselves if that's a list of cards that don't work because some of those are very common high-end cards

No, thats the list of cards that ARE supported. But unfortunatly this game is VERRRRRRRRY selective!!!

I have an ATI Rage Pro Turbo, which is almost identical to the ATI cards listed. There are different types of Radeon cards, so it wouldn't surprise me if your's isn't covered. I sincerely hope it works though!

EDIT: I see that I said the radeon wasn't supported, Honest mistake. But nevertheless there are people over on rivenguild complaining that their radeon card isn't giving them much luck! So that's what I was trying to say.

[Edited by ClarkKentKY on 05-11-01 at 04:42 PM]

HEY GUYS!

I just saw this hidden within the thousands of posts on Rivenguild. Ubisoft finally tucked their tail between their legs and Acknowledged the need for a Fix on some of the "bugs" Not sure which bugs will be fixed by the disk, but every little bit helps when you can't get the damn thing to run in the first place! Let's pray this CD-fix addresses more than just the drive letter problem. I hope that it will fix the intel chipsets and ATI and VooDoo problems as well. We'll know soon enough.

MYST III: EXILE TECHNICAL SUPPORT
DISK 1 REPLACEMENT ORDER FORM

Dear Customer:

We have a new Disc 1 CD that fixes the majority of known 'bugs' on Myst III: EXILE. To receive this CD, please fill out the following form completely. (The update CD is currently in production and will be mailed out in the coming days.)

http://www.ubisoft.com/support/myst3cd1.php

Thank you for registering to receive your free Myst III: Exile update CD. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause as it is our goal to provide high quality customer service as well as a high quality game experience.

The update CD is currently in production and will be mailed out in the coming days. Again, thank you and welcome to the world of Myst III: Exile.

Thanks man, even though I've had no problems (so far), it's still great to have.

Clark: Thanks for the link. You're a lifesaver

Clark, thanks for the link. Hopefully this disk will come soon!

I ended up taking the Radeon I got back--it crashed my system (a conflict with my VIA chipset). Ended up getting a Winfast GeForce2 MX DH Pro with dual monitor capability. Got a great deal on it and now Myst 3 runs GREAT on all accounts. Plus I can watch DVDs on my TV while I work on my computer! I'll sell my Voodoo3 on ebay and make back half the cost of my new card. I'm glad this mess is about over!

i wonder why they don't just release a patch? this seems like a very inefficient way to do things.

Grrrrr. Now i'm jealous of you jury! I'm going to be a hardass about this and not buy a new video card just out of spite to Ubisoft. I'll figure out something....

Perhaps they had to put SO many fixes, the download would be almost 650 or 700 megs.

Hahahaha... I wish.

The only fixes on the "patch" Are the drive letter problem, which any moron can temp-fix himself. And an issue regarding choppy video in parts. They'll release it for download tomorrow when it is complete. THe Cd is just a nicety for peopel with slow connections, and because the game was buggy from its original retail release. From what i'm reading on the other boards it wont' fix the intel, or the ATI problem. Or the countless other video bugs out there. This is basically a placebo so people wont' return their game. If it doesn't fix mine i guarantee amazon is getting a call from me.


Hey guess what, just downloaded Patch one, and guess what, I was right. It did nothing. Fixes the drive letter problem, big wooop.

As I said over at rivenguild:

Ubisoft, You are the weakest link.... Goodbye!

[Edited by ClarkKentKY on 05-14-01 at 09:27 PM]

Geez, now that my Exile is working, I don't think I'll be downloading that patch. If all it does is fix the drive letter, I don't want to risk installing it and having something go wrong. I've wasted too much time trying to get this to work. I can live with it being on the wrong drive letter until I beat it.

On another note, I'm getting more than 10 hours gameplay out of this. I may just be mentally-challenged, but I find it at least as hard as Myst was. I'm not using any help or cheats and just slowly making my way through. Anyone else getting a lot of gameplay out of it??

Well, thats somehwat encouraging that you're getting alot of gameply out of it. It would be too much to expect another riven out of it. Riven i thought was perfect. I loved the complexity of it. Rumor has it another patch fixing the intel problem will come out friday. But i'm debating whether or not i should bother. Even if i can get it to run downstairs, it will Have to be in software mode on the intel chipset i think. And that will equall a really crappy picture. Oh well.

Well, it's worth a shot. When I ran it in software mode, it wasn't great, but it was "playable." It may differ based on your setup. Can't hurt to try. I still can't believe it doesn't support the same video cards as Riven, at least. It's not THAT much different, is it?

You know what, It looks no different, but this 3d engine works on a completely differnt level than riven ever worked. And ubisoft or presto just bit it when building this engine. Like other people have said they should have gone with an engine similar to the journeyman(?) or Halflife engines. But i guess in order to keep the artistic and realistic views, they had to start from scratch. It basically comes down to not testing this software enough. I mean the "drive letter bug" obviously shows that this game was hardly tested at all. And the intel chipset and SiS chipset bugs just add fuel to the fire.

Well, after all is said and done, after I got the thing to work, I completed Exile in about 15 hours--which isn't a lot considering I only sat down about 5 times, for 3 hours each. It basically lasted me a week!

While I loved the gameplay, my advice is that if you haven't bought this game yet, don't. Wait until it's down to about $20. Then buy it, beat it and ebay it for $10. It's fun, but clearly not worth $40-$60 out of pocket.

Well, after much time of moaning, I have the game working. The 1.2 patch fixed the problem downstairs on the intel chipset HP i have, and i am running in software mode. I find the game to be as visually nice as riven, even in software mode.

Partly because of my discontent with Ubi-suck, and partly because i want the game to last a while, i am pacing myself. Playing it a little bit at a time. Reading everything i can, and avoiding any hints or tips. I'm determined to get my 25 dollars worth out of this game, So i'll space it out over the next few weeks.

Also as a side note, i noticed today that rivenguild shutdown. The webmaster seemed kinda bitter about some bad blood between him and the makers of exile, so i doubt it will be back up anytime soon.

Wow, didn't see that one coming. Well, post when you finish and let us know how long it took you to complete. I was at about 15 hours. I agree--avoid any hints. You shouldn't need them.