Myst resources

This page contains or will contain a comprehensive analysis of the 8 resources in Myst (and the two added in Myst ME).

Both Myst and Myst ME use little-endian byte order in the files (by contrast to the big-endian byte order used in Riven and the Mohawk format), although the data itself is stored in properly formatted Mohawk format (don't let the .dni or .dat file extension fool you). The packages in Myst ME are:

• CHANNEL
• CREDITS
• DUNNY
• HELP (Myst ME only)
• INTRO
• MECHAN
• MYST
• SELEN
• STONE
• SYSTEM (Does not exist in all versions and only contains the RSFL resource)

The resources are on the left (MJMP, HELP, and PICT are new in ME). None of the resources are named except for the MSND/MJMP resources.

EXIT

I think these are variables, although that seems unlikely because SELEN has no EXIT resources.

Case studies (all of them)

Note: these are presented as resource_index.length short... where the data is broken into shorts and displayed in decimal.

CHANNEL

• 0.12 1 0 300 0 0 1

DUNNY

• 0.22 2 0 300 0 0 1 0 100 0 0 1

INTRO

• 0.22 2 0 300 0 0 1 0 38 0 0 1
• 1.12 1 0 38 0 0 1

MECHAN

• 0.24 2 0 27 0 1 7044 1 0 4 0 0 1
• 1.12 1 0 300 0 0 1
• 2.12 1 0 32 0 0 1

MYST

• 0.12 1 0 301 0 0 1
• 1.12 1 0 301 0 0 1
• 2.12 1 0 301 0 0 1
• 3.12 1 0 301 0 0 1
• 4.12 1 0 301 0 0 1
• 5.12 1 1 306 0 0 1
• 6.12 1 1 306 0 0 1
• 7.12 1 0 302 0 0 1
• 8.12 1 0 303 0 0 1
• 9.12 1 0 303 0 0 1
• 10.36 3 [0 1 302 1 1 1] [0 309 0 0 1 0] [1 309 1 0 1]
• 11.12 1 0 307 0 0 1
• 12.24 2 [0 300 100 0 2 0] [1 309 1 0 1]
• 13.24 2 [0 300 101 0 2 0] [1 309 1 0 1]
• 14.12 1 [0 303 0 0 1]
• 15.14 1 0 308 0 0 1 0
• 16.12 1 [0 304 0 0 1]
• 17.12 1 [0 304 0 0 1]
• 18.22 2 [0 304 0 0 1] [0 305 0 0 1]
• 19.12 1 [1 304 0 0 1]
• 20.22 2 [0 304 0 0 1] [0 305 0 0 1]
• 21.12 1 [0 304 0 0 1]
• 22.22 2 [0 304 0 0 1] [0 305 0 0 1]
• 23.12 1 [0 304 0 0 1]
• 24.12 1 [0 312 0 0 1]
• 25.66

3 0 29 0 7 8708 0 0 152 165 198 107
1 0 42 0 9 8707 10 6 216 129 368 294
5 50 1 0 24 0 1 9707 1

STONE

• 0.14 1 0 125 21 1 14 1
• 1.14 1 0 125 21 1 13 1
• 2.12 1 0 300 0 0 1

INIT

These are more likely variables. They do not have names like in Riven.

Case studies

CHANNEL

• 0.12 1 0 1 30 1 0
• 1.10 1 6 201 0 0

DUNNY

• 1.18 2 0 26 0 0 0 200 0 0

MYST

• 2.30 2 1 209 0 0 0 206 0 6 6044 7044 8044 9044 10044 11044
• 4.18 1 0 205 0 4 6156 7156 8156 9156
• 5.16 1 0 201 0 3 0 4 5
• 6.12 1 0 204 0 1 6180

HINT

short

rc

record count

• rc is wrong in:
  • CHANNEL 78 231
  • MECHAN 109
  • MYST 2 28 38 43 45 49 106 109 149 150 173 175 206 231
  • SELEN 172
  • STONE 10 12 18 59 89 91 106

records are

short	rid	record index
short	u1

• the rid's start at zero and go up, but there are exceptions.
  • CHANNEL 78 144 231
  • DUNNY all minus 1 5 7 18 19
  • MECHAN 109
  • Myst 2 28 43 45 49 78 111 171 173 175 184 206 229 235
  • STONE 10 12 18 59 89 91 106
• the u1's all appear to be one of 0, 2, 3, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 904, 905, 999, or FFFF (-1)

MSND

It is interesting to note that all MSND resources in the whole game are named except for INTRO 1 (the linking sound). In all the other packages, this sound is labeled "transprt7" (in MYST) or "transprt1" and "transprt2" (which all appear to be the same, although transprt1 and transprt2 are separate resources in the package).

RLST and VIEW

There are the same number of RLST and VIEW resources in all packages, which leads me to believe that they are locked together by index like HSPT and CARD resources in Riven.

RLST

I think these contain hotspot data (i.e. HSPT).

short

count_of_records

record type 1

8 1 < 31 276 163 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3006 <0 0 132 57> 3005 FFFF
8 1 <417 260 544 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3004 <0 0 127 73> 3003 FFFF

• this replaces part of the image (in this case <417 260 544 333>) with part of another image (in this case 3004 <0 0 127 73>) based on a variable (103 2 plays in here somewhere)

record type 2: (simple hotspot)

clone2727 says: This does not seem to match everything. I don't think the second short represents type.

short	dir 1=left, 2=right, 5=forward
short	type=2
short	left
short	top
short	right
short	bottom
short	destination

Case studies

(Note: these are simply the data in (little-endian) shorts and line-broken where I saw patterns. <l t b r> are (I think) areas on-screen. count [entry]... are guesses at when there are lists of entries. The number in parentheses before the data is the card number (not the resource number).)

(CHANNEL 3001) 2
1 2   <1 0 110 332> 3002
2 2 <455 2 544 332> 3003

(CHANNEL 3002) 2
1 2   <0 1 100 332> 3005
2 2 <431 0 544 332> 3001

(CHANNEL 3003) 4
5 2 <213 90 343 290> 3494 (the door)
2 6 0 0 24 0 1 3494
1 2 <0 0 81 332> 3001 (left)
2 2 <463 0 544 332> 3005 (right)
8 1 <417 260 544 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3004 <0 0 127 73> 3003 FFFF

(CHANNEL 3005) 4
0 2 <76 152 196 330> 3012
1 2  <0   0 106 332> 3003
2 2 <438  0 544 332> 3002
8 1 <31 276 163 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3006 <0 0 132 57> 3005 FFFF

(CHANNEL 3012) 8
8 3 <101 243 214 343> 0 FFFF 1 5
1 3 <103   1 802 103> 2 3013 <0 0 113 100> 3012 FFFF
5 2 <255 193 269 208> 0 1 117 0 1 0
5 2 <268 193 282 208> 0 1 117 0 1 1
5 2 <281 193 295 208> 0 1 117 0 1 2
5 2 <294 193 308 208> 0 1 117 0 1 3
8 1 <252 190 310 210> 0 FFFF 0 17 4
  [3008 <0 0 58 20>]
  [3009 <0 0 58 20>]
  [3010 <0 0 58 20>]
  [3011 <0 0 58 20>]
0 4
<180 31 379 305> 0 5 2
<0 0 544 332> 0 1 34
0 2 3005 0

(MYST 4368) 3
8 3 <305 148 375 238> 0 FFFF 1 [5 1 3 103 1 802] 103 2 FFFF FFFF 4369 <0 0 70 90>
7 2 <216 110 304 235> 0 106 5 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
0 0 2 0 0 544 332 4345

Video Case Study

Now, for a more interesting one:

(INTRO 3) 2
0 2 0x8300 0x8300 0x7D00 0x7D00 5
6 0 <312 70 441 159> "\qtw\intro\intro2" 0x2848 0x2756 0 1 0 0 0

Note that this one has a string for the video (null-terminated). This obviously calls that video which is the Myst fly-by for the linking book. And, that rect perfectly matches where the video should be displayed on screen. However, this also clearly breaks the format specified above for "type 2 hotspots".

WDIB 3 is the cover of the Myst linking book. But, this doesn't match up with the video mentioned here which should be for WDIB 10 (the open linking book with the water image) and eventually ending at WDIB 12 (the open linking book with the dock image). The 5 after the very large numbers is the target card for the open linking book which seems correct.

The 0x8300 is 33,536 and the 0x7D00 is 32,000. The playing time for that movie is 33,130 ms. I'm not sure if this has any correlation. 0x2848 is 10,312 and 0x2756 is 10,070. The rate of the audio is 11,025. Not sure if this has any correlation either.

For comparison, here is another:

(INTRO 1) 1
0 2 0x8300 0x8300 0x7D00 0x7D00 5

This is the same as the first record of INTRO 3. My guess is that this is some sort of call to an external command. INTRO 1 is supposed to be the card which shows the opening movies and then switches to card 2.

VIEW

image name and sub-images (akin to Riven PLSTs)

0	0	3001	-1	0/0	3001	3001	0	0
		name	neg.	bytes	(name name 0 0)

0	0	3002	-2	0/144	0		3002	3002	0	0
0	0	3003	-2	0/144	1	[1 3004]	3003	3003	0	0
		name	?		count	entry	(name name 0 0)

• I think 3004 is the name of a sub-image (small image to be placed in another) of 3003 here.

0	0	3005	3005	0/144	1	[1 3006]	3005	3005	0	0
		name twice				(name name 0 0)

0	0	3012	-2	0/50	5	[1 3013]	[1 3008]	[1 3009]	[1 3010]	[1 3011]	3012	0	0	3012
		name	?		count	entries					(name 0 0 name)

14	1	1	5	2	3030	3031	FFFC 3 2 3031 00_A0	4031	x00A0	2	2 4030	1 3030			3031	3031	0	0
44	1	1	2	2	3095	3096	FFFC 15 2 3095 00_A0	4095	x00A0	4	2 4095	1 3562	1 3097	2 5095	3095	3095	3095	0
348	1	1	16	2	3536	3535		3535	x0060	0					3535	3535	0	0
359	1	1	5	2	3550	3552	FFFC 3 2 6552 00_80	3552	x0080	4	4 3550	4 3552	2 4552	2 5552	3552	3552	0	0
47	1	1	10	2	4140	4141		5141	x0090	1	2 4141				4141	4141	4141	4141
50	1	1	10	2	4148	4149		4149	x0090	0					4149	4149	4149	0
51	1	1	10	2	4150	4151		FFFE	x0070	0					4150	4150	0	0
94	1	1	10	2	4243	4244		4244	x0050	0					4244	4244	0	0
116	1	1	40	2	4292	4294	FFFC 40 2 4292 00_50	4292	x0060	2	1 4293	2 5292			4292	4292	0	0
145	1	1	0	2	4358	4357		FFFE	x0030	0					4357	4357	0	0
287	1	1	34	3	4698	4701		4702	xFFFD	4	1 4699	2 4698	2 5698	2 6698	4698	4698	4698	4698
295	1	1	10	2	4717	4719		4717	x0040	1	1 4718				4717	4717	0	0