Still have an old Win Vista desktop HP that plays just about everything I want.
When I installed Myst Exile today (from a set of 4 cd's).. it seemed to install ok and the intro pic showed with options to start the game, install DX8.0 ; etc. I clicked on the selection to install DX8.0 and..nothing. So I went and downloaded a version of DX8.0, and went to try to start the game.
Nope.

A small popup shows very quickly when you click on 'play' that says : "Created with DemoShield" and underneath it says "www.installshield.com"
Then the small popup disappears and the game doesn't exactly crash , it just stops and you can try to click 'play' --but you get the same result.
I tried to use 'add/remove' programs to find and delete the install shield and couldn't locate it.

I'm playing on an old pc with Chrome installed and since we bought the computer-- we've only had a better Nvidia graphics installed and recently switched from Norton 360 to Webroot for the antivirus.
I tried disabling Webroot completely to try to run M.Exile.
So frustrated.

I also downloaded a patch made for M.Exile and that didn't help.
When we bought this pc years ago--I'd played M.Exile on it , and it ran fine ! I'd uninstalled it and just decided to play it again.

Not sure why it won't run now ?

Tia for any help !

The first thing I would suggest would be to uninstall the game and then reinstall. Now and then an installation can get corrupted. You might consider disabling Webroot during the installation this time and see what happens.

The different video card might make a difference in whether the game plays or not.

Besides reinstalling as Draclvr suggested, did you try using compatibility mode? Myst III was originally made for Windows 95/98/ME according to the game box, so try those compatibilities. You might also need to use the checkboxes for disable visual themes, disable desktop composition, and disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

If nothing else works, you could try ResidualVM. Myst II is one of the three games it supports. It works similarly to ScummVM -- you copy game files to a folder on your computer and run the game through ResidualVM instead of a shortcut to the game exe. The first time you run it, you have to browse to the game and add it to ResidualVM menu.
http://wiki.residualvm.org/index.php/Running_ResidualVM

You download it from http://www.residualvm.org/downloads/

The files you need are listed at
http://wiki.residualvm.org/index.php?title=Datafiles#Myst_3

and you have to be careful to maintain the folder structure.
However they say compatibility is only "good" and not "excellent" so it would be better if you could get the game working using compatibility mode.

This was posted in a GOG discussion - this worked for this player for Windows 7, so I am thinking it should work for Vista as well:

Thank you everyone !
Am going to try your suggestions and I'll let everybody here know how it goes.

Had an unpleasant surprise this morning.. turned on my pc and there's a huge windows update--which I didn't do myself.
All of my windows emails are gone and the favorites are changed to something I had last year. Trying to find a way to undo all of this.
My windows email wants me to set up a new account --so I'll be contacting my IP soon.

Tried to download and use the patch at ResidualVM -- my Webroot will not allow it and deletes it.
I'm a bit cautious about turning off Webroot since the last time I did that-- Windows Defender automatically kicked in and erased all of my documents, picture and music folders, etc. Basically my account is corrupted.

Have to add that in the past we had Norton 360 and I'd turned it off temporarily to access a patch for a different old game from some old cd's I had---and my account stayed put.
Bummer.

Also tried to run this game in the compatibility modes -- didn't run (installed ok and when I tried to play , the screen went dark and then I was booted back to the desktop).

Also went and installed DX8 from another old game as when I tried to install it from the Myst Exile start graphic-- nothing happens except the "Install Shield" icon pops up.

Am going to try to install the patch and run M3 on a different laptop tonight.

Last question : When I tried to run this game with admin. privileges --it was greyed out and didn't allow for that option ?

Thanks again for all suggestions.
I'll let everybody know if I get this to run on my hubby's Lenovo Win 7.

It sounds like you've had too many antivirus installed on the computer -- and didn't completely uninstall them before installing another one. That can cause all kinds of trouble.

Not only does an antivirus have to be uninstalled through (Add/Remove) Programs, but you have to run the antivirus' removal tool from the antivirus company's website to completely get rid of it. Only then can you be sure it's not interfering with what you're trying to do. Nearly every other antivirus will also have a specific removal tool that you have to download from the antivirus's website. Then you have to reboot to finish the uninstallation.

The remnants of a previously installed antivirus can fight with your current one, so it's very important to get rid of all traces of your previous one before installing another.

The "Defender" that comes with Windows 8 is an exception since it comes with Windows 8.


Certainly Microsoft's "Defender" antivirus is not supposed to delete anything that isn't infected -- and even then it should "quarantine" it and not delete it permanently.

Instead of turning off your antivirus (whatever your current antivirus is) you should first try adding the program you want to run to the antivirus's exceptions list.

I'm going to assume you either have Windows 8 or Windows 10 since you mention "Defender." XP, Vista, and Windows 7 called their antivirus "Security Essentials." "Defender" was a different scanning program on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 -- not an antivirus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Defender


Windows 8 comes with DirectX 11. DirectX 10 and later are not backwards-compatible with DirectX 9.0c and earlier. Instead of trying to install DirectX 8 you should try DirectX 9.0c. This won't install DirectX 9.0c, but may install parts of DirectX 9.0c that aren't included with DirectX 11.


Well you already said your account was corrupt. I don't know how many antivirus you've had installed on this computer, but you should go to the websites of the antivirus companies and download their uninstallers. Here is the webpage for Norton's Removal Tool:
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us

Just went to install Myst Uru: and also Myst-POTS . It seemed to install correctly, and then went to make my player name and tried to launch the game-- nothing.
Went to change the compatibility mode and got this message : 'The folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\UbiSoft\Cyan Worlds\Uru - Ages Beyond Myst" specified in the Start In box is not valid. Make sure that the folder exists and that the path is correct. '

Thanks for the help, Jenny . I'm playing on an old HP Vista and have already installed DX 8.0 and DX 9.0c. This pc came with DX 11.

This is sad because I've played these games on this very pc a few years ago and just lately got in the mood to replay them.

Never had this problem with Norton and am going to look into your suggestion to remove all leftover anti-virus components.

If I can get both M-Exile and M-Uru to run --I'll update and say what worked for me. (fingers crossed)

As Jenny said, you probably have more going on here. Defender on an old computer was more of an anti-spam program and certainly wouldn't "kick in and delete all your documents, pictures.... "

Went looking for old bits of Norton 360 and found some leftovers....
have to delete them and see if that helps.
We put Webroot on all of our pc's and laptops, etc., and there's no point in having different virus programs.
Also I'm thinking because we updated our graphics card a while back and had to purchase a different tech to run it-- some games may be unplayable.

If you didn't use the removal tool Jenny pointed you to, simply deleting the Norton files might not work.

found a file in my "C" drive called "Norton Support". am going to use the tool from Jenny's link.
Tia !

Deleting Norton files absolutely won't work. Even if you were able to find all the files, deleting them doesn't remove Norton's entries from the Windows registry. Use the Norton removal tool on the page I linked to before and then reboot. The uninstall can't complete until you reboot.


That sounds like a symptom of a corrupt registry.

I could write more, but I want to know if things improve after running the Norton Removal tool (and rebooting).

Finished with the Norton removal tool and only located the support folder, some rgs and dll files.
Seems all of the Norton files are gone.
Going to reinstall M-Exile and see what happens.