Riven Pre-Release Screenshot CD | The Myst Collection

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Riven Pre-Release Screenshot CD

This is a CD containing pre-release Riven screenshots.

This is a CD that was distributed by Brøderbund Software before the release of Riven. The CD itself is dated 16 September 1997 on both the case and the disk itself. The CD is a CD-R that is labeled only with a paper sticker on the center hub, inside a generic jewel case with a generic Brøderbund label that has some inventory information.

The case and disk label contain little information. Besides the date, the product is only described as "Riven:The Sequel to Myst - Screen Shots". Most of the rest of the label is not filled out. The CD itself is only labeled as "Riven: ScreenShots" as well as the date, along with a number that matches the product code on the case insert. The backside of the insert is a form labeled "For Internal Use Only" that has not been filled out.

Front and back of the case insert (1599 x 800, 0.78 MiB)

Front of disk (2848 x 2134, 2.31 MiB)

Unfortunately, reading the files off of the CD is rather difficult. As far as I can tell, the disk was burned using Mac OS 8. Reading the disk on Windows presents several problems: many of the filenames have trailing spaces, and one filename contains a character that appears to be a "©" (but is interpreted incorrectly by many operating systems). Complicating things further, the files are not saved in a modern format; about half of the pictures are Macintosh PICT files, and the other half are Scitex SCT files. Due to the fact that your browser won't recognize either of these formats, and to prevent issues caused by the odd filenames, I'll be providing these files with altered filenames, converted into PNG files. However, if you wish to explore the disk with the original filenames and formats, I've mirrored the entire disk as an ISO here:

"RIVENSHOTS.ISO" (Disk image)

I converted the files from this disk in two ways: the Scitex SCT files were converted using Photoshop, and the PICT files were converted using ffmpeg. (If you're curious why, see this article). Most of these files are also darker than they should be, probably due to the fact that Mac computers at the time used a gamma of 1.8 rather than a gamma of 2.2 that is now standard. The images have last modified dates ranging from 4 Dec 1996 to 1 Jul 1997. The images are mostly divided into three folders, along with two images in the root directory that appear to belong to the first folder.

'New Riven Screens 8-97'

The folder 'New Riven Screens 8-97' contains 3 files. The two pictures in root also appear to belong here, since one of them is a duplicate of tSuperBridge and the other is a wireframe companion to jVillageWired.3125.

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.22 MiB)

"jVillageWired.3125" has added a chimney to the centermost hut, increased the polygon count of several huts, and changed some rock textures. There also appears to have been a walkway added or altered in front of the rightmost hut. The wireframe seems to show the low-poly versions of the huts, but all the other detail is obscured.

"jVillageWired.3125" (2286 x 1568, 5.65 MiB)

"jVillage3125WFCT" (1500 x 967, 2.19 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.21 MiB)

"tSuperBridge" is lacking the waffle iron in the center of the dome. The pipe on the right extends higher into the dome base. The entire image is also stretched vertically.

"tSuperBridge" (3328 x 2416, 10.73 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.17 MiB)

'official released 5-1'

This folder contains 7 screenshots and their wireframe counterparts. In most cases, these screenshots (and the wireframes) are the same resolution that they appear in Riven. Many of these filenames have trailing spaces, making them hard for Windows to deal with. All of them are darker than they appear in Riven, and there are some differences between these screenshots and the final Riven renders. These renders were published on Cyan.com in the past, and are still visible via the Internet Archive. Some of these preproduction renders also appear in the book "From Myst to Riven", but in much higher resolution than they appear on this disk.

"bedside table ": The Gehn crest on the journal is rotated, and the corner of the journal appears to be damaged.

"bedside table " (608 x 392, 0.29 MiB)

"bedside table wireframe" (608 x 392, 0.02 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.17 MiB)

"gate room ": Nothing is visible through the metal gate, and the pillars are thinner and rougher. The wireframe reveals that nothing beyond the gate is present in the scene, but the blocked-off cave on the right is still present.

"gate room " (608 x 392, 0.34 MiB)

"gate room wireframe" (608 x 392, 0.01 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.18 MiB)

"maglev ": The call buttons on both sides of the maglev are just reflective black spheres with no actual buttons on them. There also appears to be a light source inside the maglev itself. Rendered from a position that doesn't have a node in the final release. Oddly, in the wireframe version, several things are moved slightly, and there appears to be a lamp inside of the cliff face on the right.

"maglev " (608 x 392, 0.26 MiB)

"maglev wireframe" (608 x 392, 0.01 MiB)

Closest node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.13 MiB)

"northwest path ": The plant has less detailed leaves. In the wireframe, the plant and the small island on the left have been moved slightly.

"northwest path " (607 x 391, 0.42 MiB)

"northewest path wireframe" (608 x 391, 0.01 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.22 MiB)

"prison pathway" has slightly different water, and the rock on the right side has been altered.

"prison pathway" (608 x 392, 0.35 MiB)

"prison wireframe" (608 x 392, 0.01 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.16 MiB)

"subdome ": The plaque on the railing is missing. Nothing is visible through the doorway on the other side of the dome. The path leading to the left has a raised grating, and a section of the right-hand railing is off-center. There are also some small differences in the water. In the wireframe, there are structures visible inside the central machine that are not visible in-game, and the bridge has not been extended.

"subdome" (608 x 392, 0.25 MiB)

"subdome wireframe" (608 x 392, 0.02 MiB)

Equivalent node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.14 MiB)

"elevator ": This is the only render that is a higher resolution than its Riven equivalent. This room was famously hard to render due to the number of reflections and effects that are present here. This node is also in a slightly different position than it appears in the final game. Furthermore, the elevator is present but isn't open, which isn't possible in-game. It's possible that this was rendered in a higher resolution in order to reduce the aliasing of the edges in the scene, which is especially visible on the lighting reflections on the left side. Downscaling the image after render would have made these much less visible.

"elevator " (760 x 490, 0.54 MiB)

"elevator wireframe" (608 x 392, 0.01 MiB)

Closest node in Riven (608 x 392, 0.19 MiB)

'official to be released by e-3'

This folder contains a wider variety of shots. The wireframes in this folder are higher resolution, and some of them contain splines rather than simple polygons. Some of these files also have trailing spaces in the filenames. There are no differences between these renders, the wireframes, and the release renders present in Riven (except these are darker).

These files do not have Riven equivalent nodes: