What's the nuance of ordinary ~ると and ~てみると here?


> 重みがあって、 **振ると** 音がする未開封のクッキーの箱が、開け **てみると** 空っぽだったみたいに。

Hello there. I'm in the process of reading a complex text now, and I myself am
not really good at Japanese right now (around N5, maybe a bit less skillful
even), but I'd like to tackle complex topics, because I believe it'll help me
learn the language faster.

Anyway, what I'd like to ask here in regards to this question, is going to
follow after my attempt at translation:

> Having some weight, it made sounds when I shook it: an unopened cookie jar
> that, when opened, seemed empty.

I'd like to point out that the context of this sentence is essentially a
description of some magical box that can grant wishes. And it also seems
unnaturally empty.

I'd like to ask you about the parts in bold. 「振ると」 here is essentially "when
you shake it", this is not really difficult. However, the other "~と" part in
the sentence, 「開けてみると」, bugs me a bit. It seems I don't understand the nuance
in what the 「～てみる」part does here specifically. I'd translate it as " **When I
opened it** , ...[it seemed empty]". However, I've translated this just as I
would an ordinary 「~ると」 clause, and I don't think that's right. Also, almost
all the examples on Tatoeba list the 「～てみると」 clause as either "When you do X,
you find that..." or "If you did X, you'd find that...", and I can't shake a
feeling that I'm not seeing some nuance here. Is there more to the last part
of the sentence then just "When I opened it, it seemed empty"?

EDIT: Also yes, I should have mentioned that I've researched the fact that
「Vてみる」is "try and see what comes of it", but I'm not really getting how I can
use that in my sentence. Also, both 「~ると」 and 「～てみると」are "When I did one
thing, another thing followed" or "When you do one thing, another thing
follows"? Essentially I may be off here on the point if the main character
talks about things he already did (When I opened the box,...), or he describes
what could have happened if that was done (When/if the box is opened, ...). No
clarity yet on those fronts. Does the と part here include the **completeness**
of the action or stating the fact about what **could** happen?

Does the last part become

> "When I tried to open it, it seemed empty",

or

> "If you try to open it, it seems empty"?

And if second option is true, how does 「だった」(past tense) fit here?

Thanks for all the help.




Verb in て-form + みる = try doing verb (to see what happens).

> 開けてみると When I tried opening it

This makes logical sense because みる is 'to see'. So you are doing the verb and
**seeing** (the result), which is exactly what 'trying' means.

