Just got Myst:ME and Riven. I actually have the DVD-ROM versions of both, but it would be nice to have DRM-free versions that don't require Quicktime (especially Myst ME and its reliance on obsolete versions of Quicktime).
Anyway, I played Riven a bit, and when I pressed the button in front of that rotating room with five doors, the button made a sound but did not move. The room's rotation animation was just fine, but I distinctly remember the button is supposed to move into the wall, and that didn't happen.
I also looked at the files in the "data" folder of the GoG version and the DVD-ROM version, and GoG's files are a bit smaller (2.67 GB vs 2.73 GB).
So, is GoG's version missing animations? If not, why don't certain ones work for me?
Also, I'm going to try a bit of a Frankenstein experiment. I'll post the results if I get any.

Nope, but my ticket went in around the time a bug hit the support system and many tickets were mistankely marked as solved, so that might explain it.

Thanks for the reply. So are you still experiencing the problem?

I don't have Riven installed right now, but since nothing has really changed i'm guessing the issue would still be there if i were to install the game again.
It's not a game breaking bug or anything like that, just two buttons that don't display the animation even though they still trigger the events they're supposed to trigger.

Has this been solved? I just bought Riven as my first GOG game, and none of the animations work. This absolutely ruins the experience and renders the game near unplayable. I'm really disappointed :(

Did you try kroc's suggestion about installing QuickTime Player Alternative 2.6.2 version? i think it's easy to find (that specific) with a google search, although of course a permanent fix for the gog.com would be more preferable.

I've had the same problem, I tried installing 2.6.2 Quicktime alternative and still nothing. It's not just a few buttons but pretty much everything, which based on an hour or two of play means I'm going to have a tough time playing without just stepping through a walkthrough, and that kinda defeats the purpose.

I'm on Windows 8 so I'll try it on one of my Windows 7 machines and see if it works better there, but so far definitely seems like a real problem for some of us and not just a few button animations.

I could do nothing with Riven on CD because windows 8 refuses apple QT for dos or win 95. So I bought it from GOG but there are NO animations. The dead man doesn't appear, the railway trucks don't move so it gets confusing. You don't see anything happen, but have to find out if it did. Not at all happy

Update, I installed the latest version of QT and then Riven on my Windows 7 machine and so far everything looks good, so may just be an issue with Windows 8. I wasn't too far into the game and in the first 5 minutes realized how much I missed from the QT stuff not working so just going to start from scratch.

I'm dumb. There was a post in the support area that solved my problem:

http://www.gog.com/forum/myst_series/windows_7_64_bit_quicktime_videos_dont_play

Enabling XP SP3 compatibility mode seems to make QT happy and videos are now playing in Windows 8.

Non of these solutions work for the missing button animations nor the book pages bug. Also, this bugs are not present in the steam edition of the game.

I too had no animations using Windows 8 64 bit. I did fix it however by simply running it as Administrator (right-click the file and select Run as Administrator). Problem gone!

I don't know if that will work for everyone, but it is certainly one fix to try before taking more drastic measures. Consider it an extra puzzle GOG was awesome enough to add to the Riven experience!

(Note: the issue of the journal pages flipping 2 at a time still exists. Best bet for that is to read it online. It's easy to find.)

I run the game on vista 32 bit, as an administrator, in win95 compatibilitymode. Minor issues mentioned here did occur for me too, though I could swear that the rotationroom worked fine first 15 minutes I played. I had a crash during a save, which corrupted the file, and then I noticed the button not working, and the visuals and sounds being slightly out of sync. I could swear it wasn't there before, so I reïnstalled the game. That didn't work, so I continued the game and had a blast. The only thing I noticed was a button here and there that might not have played properly, and sound and film not lining up perfectly all over the place. Nothing too aggrevating, but still noticable.

Also, IIRC there's a QT version that installs with the game. Deinstall anything you have before installing the game and ye might be good? Not too sure on this advice though.

I had to make it compatible with Windows 97, I think for mine to work.