i was reading another fourm and i found an anwser to why myst was not starting however it was to turn of compatibility things can any body tell me what that is? thanks.

Hi,
Right click the shortcut of the game in quesion, choose properties, switch to the compatibility tab. The compatibility options are in there.

thanks

No problem ;)

i tryed disabling the compatibility and running as admin i get to a "zoomed in" screen (like the ones you see before launching certan games) but i get an error singe please help. P.S sorry about spelling and being so needy

Is this about Myst Masterpiece Edition ?
And what is your OS ? VIsta, Windows 7 ?

my os is vista and it is the masterpece edition

Try with these compatibility settings applied to the game shortcut
- XP SP2
- Disable Visual Themes
- Disable Desktop Composition
- Run as admin

Try a different combination of the compatibility settings.
For instance, keep all the other ones checked but remove the XP SP2 one.
Also, make sure your drivers and DirectX are up to date.

how do i check if my drivers are up to date? sorry again.

Well, it depends on what machine you're on. If you're on a desktop you probably have a Nvidia or ATI based card, so those are the sites you want to check to compare the drivers' current version with the one you have . In any case you'll have to figure out what graphics card you have. If you're on a laptop/netbook i think you may have to check the manufacturer's website.
In any case, you mentioned an error message ? What does it say ?

I tried all of the suggestion and when I try to play it I get a blank black screen with a neverending loading ring thingy. Whatever it's supposed to be in Vista. Whenever I try to use compatibility mode I get that. When I don't use compatibility mode the videos simply don't work. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling Quicktime, using Quicktime alternative, uninstalling and reinstalling Myst, but nothing works. Like with many other users, the videos play fine when I load them from the folder, but in-game I get nothing.

the error mesage says "myst.exe has stopped working a problem has caused the program to stop working correctly. windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is avalible."(sorry for spelling mistacs) i know my drivers are out of date but fairly recent(i am not paying 150$ to update my graphics card for a game my old xp could play easly.)

I assume you know this, but just for the sake of clarity...
Updating the drivers of your current graphics card and updating your graphics card (getting a better/newer one) are two different things.
The drivers are a piece of software that you can download (for free) from the respective site, ie: you can download the latest Nvidia drivers for Nvidia cards and the latest ATI drivers for ATI cards from the respective websites.
Regarding the error message you're getting, unfortunately it's one of those generic ones that doesn't help one bit as to what the problem is exactly.