Myst Guide - Guide for Myst

Myst Guide

How do I operate the holographic projection device? 

One thing a lot of people miss is the location of the controls.  They are to the 
left of the staircase as you're facing out, on the wall. Look at the note with the 
instructions.  The green thing in the corner is a control button. Press it and 
you'll see two numbers with arrows on them.  Setting these numbers will control what 
the device will project.  Just press the button on the control panel first, and if 
necessary, press the button below the projector itself. Any of the three numbers on 
the instruction sheet will work, but there is another option. The note told you to 
enter the number of marker switches into the device.  If you don't know what a 
marker switch is, then look at the projection of one that you can get from the 
device. The number is 8.  Enter a leading 0 -- as in "08" to view a 
message.              

How does the tower rotation device in the library work? 

If you press the dot towards the right of the picture, a beam will sweep out over 
the picture of the island. It would be nice if there were something for the beam to 
lock on to. Have you seen anything that might help mark important locations? Flip 
all marker switches on the island to the on position.  By default, all of them are 
turned off. Now, when you rotate the beam so that it hits one of four targets, it 
will turn red to tell you've rotated the tower to the proper location. All you need 
to do now is find the tower. It’s accessible from the library. Look at the two 
paintings next to the bookcase. Click on the one that shows the bookcase.  When you 
do, the bookcase will slide down, and you can reach an elevator to the tower. If 
you've selected the proper target, you should be able to do two things from the 
tower: view the target and get an access code (look for the key icon to tell you 
where the codes are stored). These codes will help you get to the various ages of 
Myst -- see the section of the file called "Finding the Books" for more help.

What should I make of the note from Atrus? 

Read it. The room mentioned in the note is the holographic projector room. If you 
need any help with the projector, see a previous question in this section. The 
proper number of marker switches is "08".

How do I use the red and blue books in the library? 

If you put the pages of the corresponding colours in the books, you'll learn that 
you need to get more pages. Each of these pages will come from other areas of the 
game -- in specific, you should get one of each colour per age that you visit. 
Eventually, the people in the books will tell you their stories and give you some 
more useful information.

What general information should I know about the devices? 

Before you read the hints below, make sure that you've found the access keys in the 
library.  Questions above tell you how to get them.  Whatever you do, don't try 
guessing, because you're not going to succeed. Try to match the keys to the devices 
you see.  Process of elimination will let you rule out a lot of the access codes and 
devices -- obviously, a two digit number is not going to work on a device with space 
for three digits. Also, look in the library for a few hints on how to use some of 
the devices.

Channelwood

How do I open the safe in the cabin? 
If you have the access code, there's really not much to this puzzle. Just use the 
buttons under each number to enter the code, and then pull the lever down. If you 
really must know, the code is 724.

What do I do next? 

Did you see what's inside the safe? There are matches.  Perhaps you can find 
something that needs to be lit. Take one and look around. There’s a furnace on the 
other side of the room. Look in the lower left corner of the furnace for the pilot 
light. Just click the match on it, and a fire will start. Don’t forget to light the 
match by striking it against the box in the safe!

So what do I do with the working furnace?  

First, read the previous question if the furnace isn't on. The painting to the left 
of the furnace might suggest what the furnace is supposed to control. It controls 
the tree just outside that cabin. It might help to know that the tree is really an 
elevator. And the more power you give the elevator, the higher it goes. Turning the 
dial either clockwise or counter clockwise changes the output of the furnace.  
Depending on where you put your cursor, you can turn the dial either way. Don’t 
forget about gravity. If you turn the elevator off, it will fall. As a bit of a 
timesaving hint, you first want to go *down* in the elevator. You can go up also, 
but it's easier to do so from the basement. So you'll need to power the elevator 
until it's fairly high up.  A good way to do this is to turn the dial up as far as 
it will go.  Once the elevator has reached the top, the indicator on the furnace 
will start shaking back and forth a bit, and you'll hear a crashing sound. Then turn 
the dial all the way off.  The elevator will start to fall, so go outside and hop in 
the car once it's come down to your level.  It will eventually take you down to the 
basement.

How do I get out of the basement?  

There's a dial to the left of the elevator.  It works the same way as the one in the 
furnace room did. Turn the dial up, and hop in the car.  You can either go back to 
ground level or ride the tree all the way to the top.
Is there any way down from the top of the tree?  
Look at the button next to the elevator door as you're facing out. If you press and 
hold this, the car will slowly descend.  Keep it pressed until you've reached ground 
level.

Where exactly is the book to Channelwood?  

It's in the "basement" that you can reach through the elevator.

Mechanical age

How do I reach the clock tower?  
Do you see any access key that looks appropriate for a clock? There’s one that's a 
time of day. It’s 2:40, to be exact. You need to set the time on the clock to 
2:40.You can set the time with the controls near the edge of the water. Turning the 
right dial sets the hour hand, and the left dial, the minutes. Once you've set the 
clock to the proper time, press the red button to get across to the water.
What do I do with the gears inside the tower?  
You need to pull the levers to change the three counters. If you pull the left 
lever, the bottom two counters will increment by one each (and they wrap around from 
3 to 1). The right lever bumps up the top two counters. And the centre lever resets 
everything -- use it when the other two levers have stopped working. If you think 
about it long enough, you may realize that the information I've given you here is 
not enough to enter the access code of "2, 2, and 1."There's something else you can 
do with the levers. If you hold a lever (keep the mouse button down to do so), only 
the middle number will change. Try pulling the left lever once and pull the right 
lever twice.  But don't let go of the lever the second time you pull it -- keep it 
held until all three counters have been set properly.
Where is the linking book to this age?  
It's in the giant gear next to the dock. Once you've entered the two access codes as 
mentioned in the previous hints, the gear will open, and you can reach the book.

Selenitic age

How do I get into the spaceship?  

The spaceship requires electric power to open. There’s a power plant that you need 
to turn on first. And set it to the proper voltage. That’s 59 volts. If you go down 
to the power plant, you'll notice that each of the buttons will add a different 
voltage to the total.  See the next hint to figure out what those voltages are. 
First column (reading down): 10, 7, 8, 16, 5.Second column (again, reading down): 1, 
2, 22, 19, 9.Try clicking the switches for 2, 16, 19, and 22 volts.  (Fourth down on 
the first column and the middle three on the second.)
The power at the power station has cut off!  
You've probably blown a circuit breaker. There are two along the edge of the island, 
on towers that support the power cables.  Flip the switch of the breaker that's set 
to "off" and try again at the power station.

What should I do in the spaceship?  

Have you been reading the books in the library? The one for this age has a picture 
of a keyboard that's remarkably similar to the one in the spaceship. Start by 
playing each of the notes in the order given to you in the book. Then look at the 
five sliders on the other side of the ship. You need to copy these notes in order 
(first note on the left, etc.) Position these sliders so they play the tones that 
correspond to what you found in the book, and pull the lever on the controls.  A 
linking book should appear in the window above the controls.

I'm too tone deaf to solve the puzzle in the spaceship! 
 
Something that helped me get through this puzzle was realizing that the bottom 
position on each slider corresponded to the lowest note on the keyboard. Each step 
up on the sliders is equivalent to one key to the right on the keyboard, up to the 
top, which is the right-most note. If you move the sliders very slowly (hold your 
mouse button down and drag them), you should be able to tell when you've gone up one 
key. Just count the position of each note on the keyboard, and you should be able 
copy the notes onto the sliders.

Where is the book to the Selenitic Age?  

You'll find it in the spaceship.  Once you've followed the instructions for what to 
do in there, the book should appear on the monitor above the control panel.

Stoneship Age

What do these access keys mean? 
 
Have you read the book on the age in the library? Then you probably know that the 
constellations play a bit role in this age. Go to the planetarium-type room next to 
the library and sit in the viewing chair. Stars are best seen at night. So turn off 
the lights in the room and take a look at the sky. Specifically, look at the sky on 
the dates and times given in the codes.  I don't think you have to be exact to the 
nearest minute, but you certainly should try to view the sky to a time as close as 
possible. Once you've entered the dates, press the flashing button, and the sky as 
it was then will appear on your monitor.

What good does that information do for me?  

If you've entered the proper dates, you should see skies that look remarkably 
similar to what's in the book in the library. Notice that there are also pictures 
underneath each of the corresponding constellations in the book. And those symbols 
can be found elsewhere on the island. Try the columns outside the library.  When you 
turn a symbol on, it will appear green any time the cursor is over it; otherwise, it 
will turn red. The three symbols you need are the maple leaf, the snake, and the 
bug. The ship in the well should rise now that you've entered the proper symbols.

Where is the linking book to the Stoneship Age? 
 
If you've done what's described in the previous questions, the ship on the dock 
should now be out of the water. Climb on board, and you'll find the book inside a 
room on the ship.