Apparently, when the Myst 25th Anniversary Collection was released, Cyan replaced the Riven exe on Steam with ScummVM version. So this guide may be obsolete, but I'll leave it up in case people run into issues with that version, want to run on a non-standard platform etc. Also, this may still be necessary to run Riven on macOS 10.15 Catalina and up unless Cyan updates the bundled ScummVM binary to be 64-bit compatible.

ScummVM now officially supports Riven!

To get started, please install ScummVM 2.0.0 or higher.[scummvm.org]

On macOS, you may need to right click ScummVM.app, click "Open", then click "Open" again to get around gatekeeper warnings.

Install Riven normally from the Steam Client. Take note of the install location by right clicking the game in your library and selecting Properties -> Local Files -> Browse Local Files...

If you have access to a Windows machine, you can download the game there and then copy the game files over. Otherwise, you must use SteamCMD[gist.github.com] to install Riven since the GUI client will prevent you from downloading it.

You can use this script I wrote to invoke SteamCMD.[gist.github.com] Follow the instructions at the top of the script to install and configure it. At the very least, you must insert your own username into the config section. Then you can invoke it like so:

It will download Riven to the specified download folder (by default, this will be inside the working directory, under download/Riven_The_Sequel_to_MYST_63610)

If you want, you can move the files after they have been successfully downloaded.

If you have never used the command line (or Terminal as it's called on macOS) please google for a tutorial; teaching that skill is outside the scope of this guide.

Once you have both Riven and ScummVM installed:

1. Launch ScummVM
   
2. Select "Add Game"
   
3. Navigate to the location you downloaded Riven to in the previous section (the one that contains Riven.exe.) ScummVM should autodetect that you are trying to add Riven.
   
4. Press Start!

• Control-F5 = ScummVM Menu (Save/Load/Options)
  
• Alt-F5/Option-F5 = Original Game Menu
  
• Esc = Skip Animation/Cutscene
  
• Alt+Enter = Toggle fullscreen[www.scummvm.org]

If you are on a MacBook, you can access the function keys by holding Fn and then pressing the corresponding special key.

For more information, please see the ScummVM Manual.[wiki.scummvm.org]

If you already had ScummVM installed and you are having trouble getting the development build to start up, try booting up your other version and selecting "Normal" or "2x" graphics mode. Then quit and try starting the development version again. As of this time of writing, my mac development build doesn't seem to work in "3x" graphics mode.

Remember, this is still under development so I recommend saving frequently! Check out the manual for quick-save hotkeys.

I played all the way through Riven with ScummVM on my Mac to test it. I also checked it on Windows, but not Linux. It only crashed once (as I recall this was an improvement over the last time I tried to play using Windows 7, even with compatibility mode enabled.) Right now the only major issue I noticed was that if you skip a video, the video appears to pause instead of skipping. Looking away and then looking back fixes the issue (or just don't skip it in the first place.)

Also, there is a gameplay bug in the Steam version when in the tunnels to the moiety cave,
you are teleported back outside, this is also present when playing the game in ScummVM. The workaround is to light the first light, then after being teleported, return to the end of the tunnel but stop one frame short of the end, then turn around and complete the puzzle.

I don't think normal Riven saves are compatible with ScummVM. Also, until it becomes officially supported, there is no guarantee that future versions of ScummVM will be compatible with the current version's save files. So if you decide to try upgrading ScummVM later, make a backup of your current ScummVM version and your save files first, just in case. However, your save files should be portable between the same version of ScummVM running on different host platforms!

You can find the list of remaining To-dos/Known Issues for Riven support on the ScummVM wiki.[wiki.scummvm.org]

If you encounter new bugs and want to help them get fixed, you can file them in the ScummVM bug tracker.[bugs.scummvm.org] Here is an example of a bug filed for Riven.[bugs.scummvm.org] Please remember that ScummVM is developed entirely by passionate volunteers out of the goodness of their hearts, so be nice!