KLHarmon: I have downloaded, installed, and played RIVEN and MYST MATERPIECE EDITION without issues, till now. When I try to open a saved game in RIVEN, the OPEN FILE is greyed out. I cannot start where I left off.
Installation was to an E:\ drive as I am running out of space on C:\. The saved game files resides within the game directory.

Namur: Hi,
If you click once on one of the savegame files to highlight it, does the 'Open' button remains greyed out ? What does it say on the 'type of file' field ?
Have you tried double clicking one of the savegame files from within the browser window ?
Edit:
Or is it the 'open file' option in the top menu that's greyed out ?

KLHarmon: I tried to open the save game file from the SAVEAS option under RIVEN. t did not open the game, but contimued to start a new game
I also double clicked the saved game file but WIndows did not have a program associated with the file type *.RVN. I forced windows to associate *.RVN files to RIVEN.EXE, and then doubleclicked, but I received an error message that it could not continue with the saved game, and started a new game
The OPEN is reyed out in the File pull down menu. NEW, SAVE, and SAVE AS are working fine.

Namur: Yeah, about that double click suggestion, i assumed it was the 'Open' button on the browser window that was greyed out, but that's not the case.
Weird, seeing as it was working and now it's not working anymore. That's what happened, right ?
Have you changed any of the compatibility settings on the shortcut ?

KLHarmon: Well the game was working fine. I bought it, installed it, played for a few hours, and saved games as I went along, then quit. When I came back, I tried to open a saved game. Thats when I realized the OPEN command under file was greyed out. It was the first time I tried to open a saved game.
Compatability settings were not changed on the shortcut. I did some research online which led me to check to see if compatablility settings were actually already enabled (especially checkmark for Disable Visual Themes)
PC is a 4 year old AMD 2600+ based WinXP based machine, so I am not running anything especially new here..
I just uninstalled from the E:\ drive and reinstalled to the c:\ drive with default settings.
OPEN is still greyed out.

KLHarmon: OK, This is NUTS ! !
When you start the game and you want to open a saved game, do not click on PLAY RIVEN. Instead, press ALT, then click on FILE and then OPEN (which is not greyed out), the open your saved game file
If you click on PLAY RIVEN (which is the only on screen option I have) the game will start from the beginning, and the OPEN option will be greyed out. At this point you can click on NEW, get back to the beginning, and then click OPEN.
Stupid interface !

Namur: AH, now i get what was going on.

You were trying to load a game while a cutscene was playing, and that you can't do.

But if you press 'Play Riven' then press space a couple of times to skip the early logo and intro cutscenes then you'll be able to load just fine.

Anyway, you got it working and that's what really matters. Have fun.

KLHarmon: OK, This is NUTS ! !

When you start the game and you want to open a saved game, do not click on PLAY RIVEN. Instead, press ALT, then click on FILE and then OPEN (which is not greyed out), the open your saved game file

If you click on PLAY RIVEN (which is the only on screen option I have) the game will start from the beginning, and the OPEN option will be greyed out. At this point you can click on NEW, get back to the beginning, and then click OPEN.

Stupid interface !

KLHarmon: OK, This is NUTS ! !

When you start the game and you want to open a saved game, do not click on PLAY RIVEN. Instead, press ALT, then click on FILE and then OPEN (which is not greyed out), the open your saved game file

If you click on PLAY RIVEN (which is the only on screen option I have) the game will start from the beginning, and the OPEN option will be greyed out. At this point you can click on NEW, get back to the beginning, and then click OPEN.

Stupid interface !

Namur: I'm new in here (this is my first post) having recently downloaded the three Myst games. I've been having problems with Riven freezing up and cannot seem to find a fix. I've been living with it and saving quite frequently. When I initially saved the game, I did "save as" and named the file "1.RVN". Whenever I quit the game and resume later, I open Riven, then go to the top of the screen and click to get the menu and say Open, then click my 1.RVN file. It's been working fine. But now it won't load. I tried doing what was suggested in this post (starting a new game, pressing Space bar to get past the opening, and then trying to open my game, but it still won't open. Did it somehow get corrupted? I guess I'll have to start over ;-(

I have Win 7, 64.

AH, now i get what was going on.

You were trying to load a game while a cutscene was playing, and that you can't do.

But if you press 'Play Riven' then press space a couple of times to skip the early logo and intro cutscenes then you'll be able to load just fine.

Anyway, you got it working and that's what really matters. Have fun.

orrery66: I'm new in here (this is my first post) having recently downloaded the three Myst games. I've been having problems with Riven freezing up and cannot seem to find a fix. I've been living with it and saving quite frequently. When I initially saved the game, I did "save as" and named the file "1.RVN". Whenever I quit the game and resume later, I open Riven, then go to the top of the screen and click to get the menu and say Open, then click my 1.RVN file. It's been working fine. But now it won't load. I tried doing what was suggested in this post (starting a new game, pressing Space bar to get past the opening, and then trying to open my game, but it still won't open. Did it somehow get corrupted? I guess I'll have to start over ;-(

Namur: It's posiible the file became somehow corrupted, yes, that's why you shouldn't save your progress always on the same save, you should always keep multiple saves.

In regards to the freezes, if you haven't already, try apllying these compatibility settings to Riven's shortcut:

-Run this program in compatibility mode - try XPSP3, XPSP2 and Win98 and see which one works best for you
-Disable visual themes
-Diasble desktop Composition
-Run as admnistrator