The game is one of my absolute favorites, and so far this version of it is running wonderfully... except when I try to save. Both "Save" and "Save as..." immediately crash the game to the desktop. Help please?
I'm on Windows XP Media Edition.

(Note: This was tested on Windows XP Home on VMWare Fusion (v2, I think, maybe v3))

I tried the copy/paste trick mentioned earlier, and it seems to work. Loading and saving works fine, and the game doesn't seem to have any issues resulting from the change, like reverting to pre-GOG video crashing issues.

UPDATE: I think I know what the problem is. I checked the directory properties, and the "Read-only" thing being referred to is that the Read-Only box in the folder properties has a blue square in it. This just means it inherits a parent's permissions, not that it is Read-only.

Also, from what I can tell, what actually happens is that when changing directories, the compatibility settings aren't being forced, since they target C:\Program Files\GOG.com\Riven\Riven.exe, not any other directory. From what I can tell, the game won't save or load properly when in Win 95 or Win 98/Me Compatibility, and in any other compatibility or no compatilibity it won't start at all.

This last part is most curious, because the game did start the first time I moved it from one folder to another, but after a restart, or maybe a change in VMWare settings, stopped working at all. When it did work after changing folders, the game would experience crashes similar to the ones experienced with old versions of Riven, which is probably quicktime related.

I just installed riven gog version on win7-64 and the game crashed when I tried to save. I noticed that the game installed with win95 compatibility on default and I changed it to winXP sp2 compatibility. This time the save window opened but the game crashed again when i pressed the save button. I finally tried to save on a different folder as I saw on an earlier post and it worked. The save/load seems to be working perfectly now, no additional programs used to run the game, just the winxp sp2 compatibility+change of save folder worked for me (till now at least). (I also unchecked the 640x480 option from the compatibility settings, not really sure if that matters at all though)

I"m having the exact same problem with RealMyst., except it crashes at other times as well. I've never gotten any help for Buried In Time. I've been emailing for help with this one for days now and still nothing. I don't think either of us, or any of the other people needing help will ever get any. People here online shouldn't have to try to help us, these are not their games, if I can call them that. You don't get refunds and you can't get help. Sounds like something I don't want to be a party to. This is my last GOG game, and I will warn everyone I know not to buy any as well..

I just got Riven today, same problem (crash on save and load), tried the changing folder solution, didn't work.

I dug a bit deeper and discovered Microsoft Office Groove was causing the problem. I removed it and restarted the computer. Riven now works perfectly.

If you want the details on how I tracked it down or full instructions for removing Groove see here: http://www.andrewcraigmackenzie.com/2011/01/riven-crash-on-saveload/

I tried what Macka007 mentioned in the above post, and now Riven works perfectly. Now this topic can be truly considered solved.
Excellent work, Macka007. Thank you for posting a real solution. ^_^

Hallo, the solution by McKenzie didn't work. I have no possibily to do anything. The bar on the upper screen disappeared. Thanks GOG to get rid of QuickTime problems, but it created others. I have the Myst 10 th Ad Ed. but was not able to play Myst or Riven, Myst II Exile worked fine.
Greatings, Marianne

Not solved.

Bump.

Putting the game into XP SP3 mode seemed to fix the save issue for me.

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit.

| just got this in the GOG edition and it seems to be running great in XP mode although it did crash back to the desktop suddenly. I would have liked to have saved that game and started a new one but didn't see the menu screens that I recall from many days past when I used to play the originals. What am I missing? Where should I be looking for the menu?
Had the same issue in RealMyst as well.
Running Win7 64 Bit with a GeForce GTS 450 vid card.

This fixed it for me, so thanks.

This worked for me. I was about to start pulling hair out. Thank you so much! (I have windows professional xp 32bit fyi).

The fix is really simple. Just rename the main Riven folder, and everything works perfectly.

wow! i was trying everything but this is all i had to do! probably the stupidest fix i've ever tried but it worked haha! thanks a million!

Alt+F worked for me to bring up the menu. Thank you so much, now I can finally start to play!

renaming the Riven folder in the 'Program files' folder to Riven1 and recreating a desktop shortcut fixed the 'save' problem for me too.

Running a ASUS eeepc with Windows XP SP3.