I know nothing about the GameTap version although I suppose it suffers from the same problem. When you start the game realMYST on Windows Vista, it is very likely that it'll briefly show a black screen and then immediately terminate again. The reason why it does that is simple. It has nothing to do with Windows services, drivers, compatibility settings or other things some people suggest.
It is because of a stupid mistake in realMYST's programming. That mistake had no severe consequences on previous Windows versions, but even there the game sometimes failed to start. As you might know, realMYST uses three custom "dni" archive files to hold much of its data — mara. The first two contain only music and sound effects whereas sho. If realMYST can't access that data, it obviously won't be able to run, and that's precisely what's happening when it terminates right after starting.
So, what is going wrong, why can't realMYST read from sho. That's where the programming mistake comes in. To understand what's going on you have to know that realMYST employs a technique called memory-mapped file to access those dni archives, by utilizing certain functions the operating system provides.
The former makes a part or all of a file visible at a certain memory address while the latter removes that view from memory again. Call MapViewOfFile to map the first 28 bytes into memory that's the header of the dni file. For technical reasons, more than just 28 bytes will be mapped, but that is irrelevant. Remember the memory address at which the file is visible for later use.
Check if the file actually is a dni file by examining the first 8 bytes of the file header. If it's no dni file then quit. Call UnmapViewOfFile to close the view. Call MapViewOfFile again and this time map the entire file into memory, not just its first 28 bytes. Continue doing other stuff Did you spot the error? It's step 3! The programmer who did this either wrongly assumed that the complete file will be mapped to the same memory address in step 7 as its first 28 bytes were in step 2, or he forgot to insert step 3 after step 7.
By chance, or by internal design, in older Windows versions MapViewOfFile really did use the same memory address both times. This can be easily done by modifying a few bytes in realMYST.
However, there is a problem — realMYST uses a copy protection scheme that encrypted the program code, namely SafeDisc v1. ICD, a file of 1. Therefore, the first thing you have to do is to obtain the real realMYST. A search for "realmyst nocd" or "realmyst fixed exe" with your favorite search engine should turn up some results. Second, you need a hex editor, a program that'll let you view and modify binary files.
I recommend HxD, a nice and free program. Make sure that you have write access to the file, of course. If necessary run HxD as administrator. You should find one occurence of this sequence at file offset DC40, normally. If it can't be found, then you don't have the proper unencrypted realMYST.
The file view in hex editors basically consists of three columns: the offset on the left, the hex view in the middle and the text view on the right. Make sure that the hex view is selected. You can press the tabulator key to jump between hex view and text view columns.
The file size must not be changed. Maybe you have tried to paste while the text view column was active. Save the changes and move your newly patched realMYST.
You might also have to enable compatibility settings to run realMYST. The other settings like "Disable visual themes" etc. On my system, realMYST runs just fine on Vista x64 64 bit without any compatibility settings enabled.
On Vista x86 32 bit I had to enable compatibility mode for Windows Windows XP worked too because otherwise the game would run very slowly. No update done since file contents do not match.
You need to reinstall the game. Anyone have any ideas as to what steps I need to take? Reply Share this post. Cart before the horse? You cannot install a patch until after the un-patched game is correctly installed.
Good point. Welcome to the Forums! Questions: 1. What problems with realMyst on Windows 7 cause you to want to apply the patch? If realMyst won't run, have you looked at Make older programs run in this version of Windows , especially the video? Have you manually tried Compatibility Mode with various operating systems and different combinations of settings?
Answer to Question 1: Every time I click on the realMYST desktop shortcut, I get a "User Account Control" window that reads: "Do you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer? Program name: realMYST. Answer to Question 2: Yes, I have used the "Troubleshoot program" tool as shown in the video.
And Yes, I have tried running the program in every compatibility mode listed in the Compatibility tab but nothing has worked. In general, -- a. Install realMyst to your C: drive. If you have a very small C: that's reserved for system files only, install realMyst to D:. Start realMyst from a fresh boot. Reboot, log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, and close all open applications. Do NOT run any other programs before starting realMyst.
If the realMyst disc autostarts when you insert it into the drive, cancel back to the Desktop. Initial suggestions: 1. Always do the above "in general" items b through e when starting realMyst. Re-install realMyst from a clean boot. Reboot, log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, and close all open programs. Do step 1 in How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista.
Install realMyst. Do step 7 in How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker.
Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Real Myst Item Preview. EMBED for wordpress. Want more?
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