It is possible to fly around in all the Ages of realMYST. On this page it is explained how do you do this for the Windows and MacOS version of the game.

How to do it

So how do you fly in realMYST? You have to put the text file game_init.dat into the folder Init of your realMYST installation folder. If you used the defaults during installation, this should be C:\Program Files\Mattel Interactive\realMYST Interactive 3D Edition\Init for Windows. For MacOS, go starting from the realMYST application folder to folder Game Data and then to the folder named init.
In the same folder you should be able to find a file named WIN_INIT.DAT. Make a backup copy of this file for easy recovery. Open the file with a text editor and find the line saying "RealTimeMin=4". Change the value 4 to 100 and save the file.
That's all! Just load a previously saved game of the place where you would like to fly, and there you go... uhm, FLY!

To control your flight, you have to look up to go down and to look down to go up. To move, look into a direction and press the mouse button as usual. According to A'Reandal, navigation could get easier or more difficult depending on your actual location and direction of view.

To return to normal mode after your flying session, simply remove or rename the game_init.dat file in the Init directory.

I have to admit that I haven't tried this by myself yet. Although I own a copy of realMYST, my current computer is only able to run this game with a frame rate of 1 to 2 fps (that's no joke, it's a Cyrix P166 with 96 MB RAM and a 3DFX Voodoo3 PCI graphics card!), so I did not bother with trying the fly mode.

Please keep in mind: This is a hack! Fly mode is not endorsed by Cyan Worlds, Ubisoft, myself or anybody else. If something goes wrong, you maybe have to re-install realMYST ;-)

Background

The flying is achieved by manipulating the Gravity entry found in the file game_init.dat. By setting this entry to Gravity 0.0 0.0 90, the gravity of the game engine is inverted (the original value is -90). Depending on your actual hardware, you have to change the value 90, in order to be able to fly at all or to make flying easier. You may even find different gravity values suited best for different Ages. By increasing this value, for example to 100 or 110, the upward thrust is increased, i.e. the gravity is lowered.

The game_init.dat file can be found within the file mara.dni in the realMYST installation directory. The contents of all the files with extension DNI can be extracted with the tool dniExtract or with the program Dragon Unpacker. See the credits section below for links to these programs.

By placing a file in the game installation directory, it takes precedence over the file with the same name contained in a DNI file. Thus you are able to return to normal mode by simply removing or renaming the game_init.dat file.

Credits

All the information on this page was found by other people. This page just summerizes all the pieces found in various places on the web for your convenience. The real work was done by these people:

• Aloys and A'Reandal, who examined the effects of the game_init.dat parameters and created the fly mode version referred to on this page. Perhaps you want to have a look at their respective homepages, Aloys' Island and MYST Journals.
• Ken Taylor, who analysed the DNI file format and created the dniExtract program. You can get the executable and the source directly from Ken's site.
  Ken provided the source of his program to Alex Devilliers, the author of the Dragon Unpacker. This freeware can handle the DNI format since version 4.14 and also supports many other game file formats.
• Ro Bana for the first successful flying in the MacOS version, and Danny R for the detailed instructions. (See the according thread from the old MYSTcommunity boards, or its local copy.)
• Many others at the now gone Rivenguild Bulletin Boards, who contributed to the exploration of the features of realMYST. Many of them gather now at MYSTcommunity.com.
• And of course Cyan, who gave to us this incredible game in the first place.

Other resources

More extensive instructions on how to fly in realMYST can be found at lonelyto25.com in the realMYST stuff section. There you can also find downloads of the mentioned configuration files for the realMYST demo (available for Windows and MacOS) or for special tricks once you mastered the basics of flying.

If you want to know where others flew in the ages, visit the following sites:

Lots of screenshots from flying in all the ages can be seen at A'Reandal's site in the realMYST section.

Advanced flying experiences with screenshots are documented at Zardoz' site in the section Float Like a Butterfly.

If you feel that I should add or change something at this page, or if you want to make any comments, please send me an email.