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Myst III: Exile Hints

How do I solve the puzzle with the large metal channel?

  • 1 of 13: First, walk up to the controls in front of the balance and pull the lever on the ground to your left.  This will raise the platform and activate the controls.
  • 2 of 13: When you start the puzzle, a crystal ball will drop from the sky.  Watch what happens after that.
  • 3 of 13: The crystal ball also knocks the ball that's resting in the upper-right part of the tracks.
  • 4 of 13: That ball will fall in a basket on the right side of the channel just as the crystal ball is about to reach the channel.
  • 5 of 13: But the channel will tip to one side when the red ball reaches that basket.
  • 6 of 13: The channel is basically a balance -- your goal is to make sure that the channel stays flat when the crystal ball rolls towards it.
  • 7 of 13: It is possible to solve this puzzle by something close to trial and error, but there's also a more mathematical way to solve this.
  • 8 of 13: The control panel isn't the only part of this puzzle -- you can also adjust the weight on the left side.
  • 9 of 13: You should notice that there are three kinds of weights on the left side -- 2 crystal pieces, 2 lighter wood pieces, and 2 darker stone pieces.
  • 10 of 13: If you explore carefully, you can figure out exactly how those three weights compare.
  • 11 of 13: The questions above give you the solution, but if you want to skip ahead to the solution without reading those questions, see the next hint.
  • 12 of 13: You need to put one stone (dark) piece and two wood (light) pieces on top of the hemisphere.  Then, go to the control panel, raise it with the lever on the floor, and click on the top lever in the set of three to move the wheel to the left.  Pull the lever on the right side of the panel to start the puzzle, and the crystal ball should cross the channel unharmed.
  • 13 of 13: A cover will appear on the control panel, giving you a pattern of hexagons and showing you that you've solved the puzzle.