Myst III: Exile Hints

How do I solve the puzzle at the set of four red wheels?

  • 1 of 18: Those red wheels open and close steam valves.
  • 2 of 18: It might help if you first turned on the steam generator.
  • 3 of 18: You need to heat the water by bringing hot air in from another part of the island.
  • 4 of 18: The lava room on the other side of the island should help here -- it's on the other side of the locked rectangular door.
  • 5 of 18: If you've set those correctly, then steam should now be coming out of some of those valves.
  • 6 of 18: Notice the dotted red line on the dial below the wheels?
  • 7 of 18: You're trying to set the needle to the position indicated by that dotted red line.
  • 8 of 18: Try turning the red wheels to see what happens.
  • 9 of 18: The dial is a pressure gauge.
  • 10 of 18: But the indicated level is 19, and the four wheels in front of you only change the pressure in increments of 10 -- getting to 20 isn't good enough.
  • 11 of 18: There's more to the puzzle than just those four dials.
  • 12 of 18: In fact, the platform you're standing on is an elevator.
  • 13 of 18: Find the two levels above the initial one and play with the dials to see how they effect the pressure.
  • 14 of 18: The valves on the middle level each raise the pressure by 4, and the valves on the upper level each raise the pressure by 1.
  • 15 of 18: There's only one way to get 19 with those combinations of values.
  • 16 of 18: Go all the way to the top and leave just one valve closed.
  • 17 of 18: Then go down one level and leave exactly two valves closed.
  • 18 of 18: Open all of the valves on the bottom level except the one that's stuck shut (on the right).  This gives you 1+4+4+10=19.