by Cyan Productions and Red Orb Entertainment.

Solution by Mike Marcelais: Version 1.0, November 1997

Thanks to Andrew Becker for helping with the image maps and Julie Pickhardt for
help with the HTML.

Introduction
Maps of the Realms
Riven
Tay
233'rd Age
Solution
Generator Island
Forest Island
Experiment Island
Generator Island
Experiment Island
Map Island
Forest Island
Tay
Generator Island
Age 233
Catherine's Island
Generator Island
Introduction
Riven, like Myst, is a very open game. The puzzles to be solved are scattered
around the world and are often integrated very naturally into the environment.
Often, there is a lot of area that you can explore with access to lots of
devices that seem like puzzles. Usually, you cannot solve, or even decipher the
meaning, of a device when you first see it and many devices are places to
provide atmosphere to the game and are not part of any puzzle at all.

Part of the enjoyment of games like Riven is to walk around and take in the
local scenery. Enjoy the fruits of someone else's imagination. Try to figure out
what is important and relavant to your situation. Overuse of walktrhoughs like
this will ruin this sense of discovery; lost in the rush to get through the game
as quickly as possible.

But enough about that. Here is a brief overview of how this solution is
organized. The maps section gives a line-drawing map of all of the important
locations in the game and all of the walkways that link these locations. The
solution section actually talks about the different locations, what you need to
accomplish in each location (and sometimes why you need to accomplish it), and
gives you the order that you need to do stuff in. Because of the way the
`damaging' information in the maps is hidden in hyperlinks, the map section is
generally spoiler-free and can be used like a trail guide is used in a National
Park. The solution section is not so safe.

Maps
Riven (also known as the Fifth Age) is spread out over five islands. Names I
have asigned the islands are based on what I think is the most important feature
of the island. The major islands can also be identified by the CD that the
island is located on. There is also a small section of the game set outside
Riven, one part in Ghen' 233rd Age and another part in Tay.

All of the maps share a common legend: Paths are indicated in either red, green
or black -- the different colors are used to represent paths of differing
altitudes. If two paths cross, they actually meet if they are the same color,
and pass over or under each other if they are different colors. Where possible,
black paths are above the red paths but beneath the green paths.

Important locations are drawn with a number in a black circle. Clicking on that
circle will bring up a thumbnail view of that location, to better orient
yourself. The numbers are assigned arbitrarily and are used in the solution
section of the game to describe locations more easily. Some locations may have
paths of different colors entering and leaving the location. Sometimes, it is
possible to go from one height to another in a location -- usually visiting the
section in question makes this obvious.

All shorelines (including the edges of islands) are drawn in blue, often with a
blue border (or solid area) to indicate the direction that the water extends.
Dashed black lines indicate borders between the CDs. Paths which you travel
along, but have no direct control over (such as minecar paths) will be shown in
purple.

Riven
 

You start the game at location 1.

Tay
 

The 233'rd Age
 

Solution
All numbers refer to map locations in the general maps. Location numbers will
always be written in arabic numbers (ie: 17) while all other numbers will be
written in english (ie: seventeen).

Don't be afraid to explore areas that are open. There are many areas of the game
that are accesable much earlier in the game then when they are visited in this
solution. As far as I can tell, it is impossible to lose anything, break
anything, or make a puzzle unsolvable, nor is it possible to get stuck anywhere
(physically) and not be able to return to a location you have been previously.
There is one way to lose the game, but it is hard to do and not possible until
near the end of the game.

Part I: Generator Island
Generator Island is the island that you start the game on. Atrus sends you here
with a Prison book and his journal and tells you that you need to trick Ghen
into using the Prison book so that he can imprison Ghen and rescue Catherine and
all of the natives of Riven from the world before it disintegrates. He sends you
here (to location 1) where you promply arrive in a cage. A native arrives, talks
in a strange language to you and takes the prison book. He is then ambushed by a
rebel who takes the book but frees you.

Start by heading up the stairs towards 3. (You can look over the edge of the
cliff to see the ambushed native if you like.) Ignore the telescope at 2 since
you can't do anything with it for a long time. When you get to 3, you can look
into the room at 4. This room rotates: it has five entrances with two doorways.
The button next to the door rotates the room: click it four times so that the
doorways open to the entrances to your left and right. Then continue straight
along the path.

At 5 you arrive at a gate. You can get around the gate by clicking underneath
it. Enter to room and cross over to 8. At 8, there is a steam switch with an
icon of the telescope above it. You will see many of these kinds of switches in
the game: most devices in Riven are steam powered. This switch directs the steam
from the ground beneath you to either the device (if the switches is lowered) or
to the vent above you. Flip the switch. Head back to the doorway and pull the
lever on the right. This opens up the gate that would block access to 6. Then
push the button twice to rotate the room so that the openings are at 6 and 8.
Cross the room to 6.

At 6, there is a door blocking access. Turn around and pull the lever here. This
opens the gate that blocks access to 7. Now, push the button twice to rotate the
room so that you can cross back to 3; then at 3 push the button twice to allow
access to 7. Then cross the room to 7.

At 7, walk across the bridge and enter the large domed building directly ahead
at 9. This building is the main power generator for all of the devices on Riven.
You can see pipes extending from this building to all of the other islands on
Riven. This is why I named this island the Generator Island. Walk around the
building and down the ramp until you get back outside. Here, there are two more
switches, both of which control bridges, at 14 and 12 that you should flip. Then
head back down the path and return to the bridge at 3.

Cross the bridge and head down the cavern tunnel. On the left there is a door
that opens into 16. In 16, there is a chair which I never figured out a use for,
although I believe it to be a communication device (based on several similar
devices you will see later). If you enter the room and turn back around, there
is a porthole thing on the left of the door. This displays a view of 17 and the
lever attached to the device opens and closes the door there. Open the door.
(The porthole on the right displays a view of 18.)

Return to the tunnel and head to 17. Head out the door to 18 where there is a
suspended tram station. Push the blue button to call the car and hop on board.
The controls are fairly easy to understand: the lever that looks like it turns
circularly will turn the car around and the push lever in the middle causes the
tram to move forward. Enjoy the ride -- the animation here is very well done.
You arrive at the other end at 19.

Part II: Forest Island
You are now on Forest Island; so named for the forests that grow (and in some
places, used to grow) here. At 20, there is a small marble in the stone that
rotates. When rotated, you hear an animal sound and also see a Riven numeral.
These Riven numbers are discussed in more detail when you arrive at 38 a little
later in the solution.

Head through the caves to 21, and turn right heading up the stairs. (The button
at 21 will call the tram if you find that it isn't at 19 when you need it.) Head
through the gate when you get to 22. Off the path in the jungle to your right,
there is a path that leads to another marble (at 23). There is a large Riven
dagger stuck in the ground here to let you know where this is.

Continuing along the path through 25 to 30, you will arrive at a walkway where a
sentry in a watchtower above you will sound an alarm. When you go down the
walkway to 43, you will see villagers here flee from you as quickly as they can.
(I thought this, plus the language barrier, was a nice way of minimizing
interaction with others while avoiding the appearance of a wasteland like Myst
was.)

Continue along the walkway. At 41, there is a dock, but nothing docked here.
Near 39, you will start climbing ladders and walking across elevated walks
through the village. At 39, there is something that looks very much like an
altar or a shrine and a submarine. Pull the lever next to the submarine and it
will lower into the water (down to location 40). Now return down through the
walkways and go to location 24.

At 24, there is a minecar. Jump into the minecar and pull the lever. The car
will go through earthen tunnels, under water, and through elevated tracks all of
the way to 44.

Part III: Experiment Island
You arrive in the central bay area of this island, so named because Ghen does
most of his experimenting on this island. You arrive at location 44, but quickly
slide down a chute to 45.

From here, walk out to 46. There is a three way switch here that controls the
power to this island. Currently it is set to deliver power to 50; move the
switch to the middle setting so that power goes to 47. Then return to the shore
and go to 47.

At 47, flip the side lever to turn off the heat in the tank. This will cause the
water to stop boiling. Then turn the wheel to drain the water away. Now, turn to
your left and flip the small lever there on the pair of pipes. This will cause
power to flow to the third control: the switch that raises and lowers the
platform inside the building. Go around and go inside (at 48). Go down the
ladder and crawl through the pipe. There will be several screens where it is
pitch blank, but eventually you will emerge at 49.

When you come out of the pipe, head down the path towards 50. On the balcony,
there is a ladder leading down. Open the hatch to the ladder, since it can only
be opened from this side. Then open the pair of double doors and go through
them. Now close the doors, since the passages leading to 51 and 53 are blocked
when the doors are open. Head towards 53. Along the way, there will be a lever
on the right side of the path. Pull that lever, then return to 52.

If this area has power, the device at 52 can be used. You can open the steel
sphere to reveal a bear-trap like mechanism. Drag a piece of food from the dish
on the right and put it in the center of the trap. Use the lever to lower the
sphere into the water far below. After a few minutes, you will hear the trap
snap shut. Raise the trap back up and open it and you will have a frog.

However, this is completely unnecessary. If you look up, there is a ventilation
shaft. The switch you pulled near 53 turns off the fan blades so that you can
crawl safely through the vent and into 54. When you arrive, you will see that 54
is Ghen' laboratory. The most important thing in this library is the journal
laying on the desk beneath the vent. Inside, you will find the access code to
the linking book domes. It will look like five symbols, inside squares in a row.
The code is different every game, so you have to copy down those symbols (or
skip ahead to the section on Riven numbers and just note down the numbers).

Now, go to the door with the blue button and open it. This leads back out to 53.
Now head across the long bridge back towards the Generator Island. Right before
you get to the end of the bridge, there is a section raised up. Use the lever
there to lower the bridge so you can re-enter the generator.

Part IV: Generator Island
Head inside the building and follow the catwalk around to 10. The wheel here,
when turned, will extend the catwalk across to connect with 9. Now, go to 13. A
section of the walkway is missing here. Turn around and push the button -- this
will raise the walkway and allow you to cross over to 6. The lever here will
open the door. Return to location 9 and face out towards 7. To your right is a
lever. Pull the lever and this raises the stairs up. This causes the stairs to
go from 7 up to 11 instead of to 9. However, you don"t know what to do at 11
yet, so lets leave. Return to 53 via the bridge.

Part V: Experiment Island
Head into the building at 54 and exit out the other door to 55. There is another
tram car. (If the car is't here, you can call it by pushing the blue button back
at 54.) Get in the tram and take it across to 56.

Part VI: Map Island
At 56, take the left exit from the tram car and head out the door to 62 and up
the stairs to 61. Here, there is a button that will raise you up to the next
level. From here, you can look back towards 56 and see a map of the Riven
islands. Pushing one of the buttons on the keypad will cause water to form on
one of the land masses corresponding to its topographical shape.

You can continue around to 60 if you like; this shows the location of another of
the linking spheres. When you are done looking around, head back down to 56 via
62, go through the tram until you are on the other platform and head down the
passage to 57.

At 57, pull the lever to call the elevator. Inside, push the button to descend.
When you exit, you will surprise Ghen in the passageway and he will run to 59.
If you follow him, you can see him leave in the tram. Don't follow him, but head
back to 58 instead.
 

There is a chair here which offers a view of the undersea life. The left dial
offers a view of the underwater area (by pushing the right button) and a view of
Catherine's cell (by pushing the left button). The right dial allows you to turn
on various undersea lights. This allows you to associate each of the colors with
each of the Riven symbols for that color. Note that the purple light is burned
out. Alas. Now, return to 59 and take the tram across to the Forest Isle at 29.

Part VII: Forest Island
At 29, take the corridor to 28. This is an elevator. You are currently on the
ground floor. The middle floor leads to a secret exit through the mouth of a
fish at 27. The button to call the tram is also located here. Taking the
elevator all of the way to the top leads to the treetop walkway. This is where
you want to go.

Once up here, head past the linking dome at 47 to the building at 48. Sit in the
chair in this building. The lever on the left will raise the chair up to a very
high altitude and let you get a view of the entire village. If you look down,
you will see this teepee like structure. The lever on the right will close and
open the floor of this structure. Leave the floor closed. Now lower the chair
and head back towards the elevator. Take the middle exit, down through 27, and
make your way across the island to 21 continuing down the stairs to 35.

At 35, there are a pair of beached seal like creatures. Around the backside of
the rocks where they are sitting is another marble. Continue along the passage
to 34, there is a pool with another marble in it. If you turn the dial on the
bottom-right of the pool, water will flow into the pool to make the silhouette
of an animal.

Continue down the ladders to get to 40. The sub that you lowered from 39 should
be here. The controls in the sub are identical to those of the tram, except that
the go level is to the right and there is a slider along the bottom of the
controls. This slider determines whether you will go left or right when you get
to a junction.

Follow the tracks to location 33. Climb the stairs here and you will get to a
room that has five levers. These levers control whether the docking rings are
extended or not. If the rings are not extended, then the you cannot get to that
dock with your sub. You will want to raise all of the levers. Now return to the
sub.

Take the sub to 38. This is a schoolhouse. Along the walls are the letters of
the Riven alphabet. The important thing here is just to the left of the door. It
is a nifty game: there are two men dangling from ropes and a shark waiting below
to eat them. Every time you turn the crank, a random number is spun in the
window below and the man whose turn it is drops that many notches on the rope.
First one to twenty loses.

This game lets you learn Riven numbers. You can easily pick up the values of the
first ten numbers.
 
 

Now, notice that the multiples of five are just the values one through four
rotated by ninety degrees. Riven numbers are base five: The first digit is
placed in a square normally, the second digit is placed at right angles to that
number. Subsequent digits are placed in new squares to the left. To read the
numbers, you take the rotated number, multiply it by five, and then add it to
the non-rotated number. See the example for seventeen above. If you have more
than one digit, then you multiply the left total by twenty-five and add it to
the right total. For example, Ghen's world he called:  The left value is nine,
the right value is eight. The total is (9*25+8) which is two hundred thirty-
three. Now that you know Riven numbers, you can translate the numbers you found
in Ghen's journal.

Anyway, now that you can count, return to the sub and head to 42. When you exit
the sub, walk into the teepee area and pull the handle on the far side. This
will lower a bar down to the ground. You can step into the middle of the area
and grab the bar and ride up to the top. Once up here, use the button to the
right of the door to open the cell. Once inside the cell at 32, lift up the
drain in the floor and click there. This will raise a hidden switch that opens a
secret door in the wall. Go through this door.

The passageway you enter is completely dark. Eventually, you will get to a
seaview at 36. There is a light here that you can turn on by clicking it. As you
walk back along the passage, there are more lights that you can turn on -- they
were hidden by the darkness. Turn around again and you will see the side door
that leads to 37 this time down. Head towards 37.

37 contains a circle of stones that need to be lowered in exactly the right
order. Each of the marbles that you saw earlier in the game were associated with
one of the animals depicted on the stones. The number of the back of the marble
determines the order to push the tablets in. Here are the pictures of the five
stones that you need to push:
 
 

These stones are located in the following locations: Facing the exit door, the
6th stone from the left, the 1st stone from the left; turn to the right, 2nd
stone from the left, turn to the right, 7th stone from the left, 4th stone from
the left. This will open a shelf straight ahead that contains a linking book.
Use the book to link to Tay.

Part VIII: Tay
You arrive in Tay at 64. This is the cover picture for the Riven box, in case
you hadn't noticed. There doesn't seem to be anything to do here, so return to
the linking boot at 63. You will be ambushed and imprisoned by the rebels here.
They will take you to a room at 65 where you will meet someone that brings you
back the prison book and Catherine's journal. The important piece of information
in the journal is the combination to the telescope that you saw back at the
start of the game in location 2. It is a series of five Riven numbers and the
combination is different every game. After you have taken the journal, your
captor returns with a linking book to return to to 37.

(Side note: Now that you have the combination to the telescope, you can go to it
and break the fissure. Doing so before you have captured Ghen will cause Atrus
to be summoned and captured and Ghen will escape Riven.)

When you have returned to 37, head towards location 4. Note that to get through
the secret door at 32 you will have to lift the lever on the right side of the
screen. You can also exit this upper area by going towards 43 where you can
lower a ladder to have permanent access between the upper and lower levels of
the village area.

Part IX: Generator Island
You are now back in the rotating room at 4. Rotate the room so that an exit
towards 7 is available. You should have raised the stairs by now (using the
lever at 9) so you have access to the generator's roof at 11 now. Head up to 11.

At 11, head towards the device in the center of the dome. There is a grid,
twenty-five holes square and six marbles along the right side. The grid is
divided up into five regions that are the same regions depicted on the Map
Island map. What you need to do is locate the five linking domes; use the Map
Island map to determine where on the grid the dome is located; determine what
the color of the dome is by using the viewfinder located near each dome and then
place the marble for that dome in the grid.

Or just look at the diagram below for the proper placement of the gems. Using
text mode coordinates, assuming that the lower-left corner is (0,0), then the
red marble goes at (8,8), the orange at (5,3), the green at (15,24), the blue at
(21,24) and the purple at (1,21). Now head back, pull the lever down and push
the white button. You know you've done it right if you hear a drilling like
sound after pushing the white button. This now gives power to all of the linking
book domes.
 
 

Now, return to the inside of the dome (via location 6), head to the lower level
of the dome and exit (heading towards 14) and go to location 13. Push the button
against the wall and the floor will descend to the lowest level. This will allow
you to get to the linking book dome at 15.

To use the linking book domes. Nearby each dome is a dome viewer. For the dome
at 15, the viewer is right in front of the dome. For other domes, it is always
nearby. (The dome at 51 deserves special mention; the viewer is hidden in a
passage that is blocked when the door to the room containing the dome is open.)
To get access to the dome, you need to hit the button on the viewer just before
the dome' color symbol appears. You can always tell what that symbol is by
watching the pictures in the viewer. There is always a short pause on the dome's
color symbol and it is always highlighted. You will have to anticipate the
symbol some. Now, head to the dome and set the five sliders to the five numbers
that you found in Ghen's journal and push the button. Then use the book to link.
You can push the button at the base of the bookstand to exit the dome.

Go into the dome at 40 and link to Age 233; where Ghen is hiding.

Part X: Age 233
You arrive here, at location 66, in a cage. (Side note: locations 66 through 76
are all in this room.) Turn around until you see a button just outside the cage.
This button is located in the direction of 75. This will call Ghen to the
chamber. He gives you a long speech about how he has changed; takes the prison
book from you when he notices that you have recovered it; is about to use it
when he gets suspicious and then asks that you go first.

If you remember from reading Atrus's journal, the prison book is a one man
prison; if a second person uses the book, then the first is released. So go
ahead and enter the prison book. Ghen will quickly follow releasing you from the
prison and entrapping himself in. You are now free to explore the room.

Locations 67 through 71 are linking books that link to the following locations
(respectively): 60, 25, 57, 15, and 51. Location 72 is a generator for making
power to these linking books. The slider turns it on and off. The power is on if
the red window below the lever glows. 73 is a writing table with Ghen's newest
book. 74 is a doorway leading outside. Unfortunately, there is no way to open
it. 75 is a lever that opens the cage. 76 is a stairwell that descends down to
Ghen's bedroom at 77. Take that stairwell down.

Inside his bedroom, on the nightstand, is Ghen's personal journal. More
importantly, next to the journal is a sphere that when clicked will play five
tones that are either `dings', `cranks' (like a wrench), or `clanks' and this
combination is different every game. Make a note of the tones that you hear from
the device.

Return to 69 and link through that book. (The linking book has but one square on
the cover.)

Part XI: Catherine's Island
You arrive at Catherin's Island, at 78. Head down the path to the building where
there is an elevator. The device against the back wall is the lock for the cage.
Click on the pedals to duplicate the five tones that the device at 77 made and
flip the lever. This will open the cage. You will rise up to the top level where
Catherine will greet you and congradulate you. She will tell you to return to
the telescope and open the fissure.

Head back to the linking globe at 57, link back to Ghen's world and then link to
15 using the book at 70 (the book with five squares on the cover).

Part XII: Generator Island
Head to location 2. Look at the left leg of the telescope. There is a device in
the support that prevents the telescope from dropping beneath a certain level.
Remove that support. Then click on the cover in the center of the telescope. Key
in the combination from Catherine's journal (numbering the buttons from one to
five, left to right), then click on the handle to open the cover. Now look at
the button on the right side of the telescope railing. Twist the handle around
the button until it is pointing down, and then push the button until the
telescope breaks through the glass covering the fissure.

The fissure breaks, Catherine and Atrus are reunited, and in a fit of madness,
they throw you into the fissure. (It makes much more sense when you watch the
ending.)
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Riven: The Sequel to Myst solution Copyright c 1997 by Mike Marcelais. All
commercial rights reserved. This document may be distributed, so long as no
content is changed and no fee is charged. All screen captures are from the game
and are copyright c 1997 by Cyan and Red Orb, used without permission.

If you have any suggestions, additions, or corrections, send me a note at
michmarc@microsoft.com. Contributions will be appreciated and credited.

Mike