Support NeoGAF

[balladofwindfishes]

ENGINEER IS CRACKED

The C++ code outputs: "resistor"

Sniper's file also confirmed to be a midi. Scout's image should be next

 

[Drkirby]

heh, a Google C++ engineer is helping with the Engy code now. This is getting serious.

Until we get more bytes, it is unsolvable IMO. We don't know what any of the integers are initialized at. Q prints out a single character based on what is passed to it from main, if we can even get a single value, we can make an educated guess at the final word.

edit: Damn it ned, making me look bad.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

heh, a Google C++ engineer is helping with the Engy code now. This is getting serious.

Damn!! Loving it!

EDIT: It's cracked? Please tell me it's by the same guy!

P.S. Where are people cracking it besides xkeeper?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

we're out of data. It'll be slow going now, until more data comes in.

Anyway, the Engineer code wasn't truly cracked, they didn't get to compile it (they didn't quite have enough data), they just did the functions out in their heads and found the only possible solution.

These people are too smart.

 

[Forkball]

It seems obvious that the password to the Spy's zip file is all eight words made into a sentence. Also, the Heavy's joke mentions "Book of Forbidden Knowledge and Ancient Wickedness" which is not in the game, but may refer to the secret diary.

 

[Drkirby]

No, it wasn't by the guy. I still find it ammusing that it looks like I really was the one to figure out the Q function.

Book of Forbidden Knowledge and Ancient Wickedness

The Bombinomicon?

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

I love tf2, but find all of this hard to keep up with. I know apart some letter, some guy named grey, some robot faces, and some tank appearing on some maps. If it isnt to much of a bother could someone bring me up to speed on the whole situation?

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I love tf2, but find all of this hard to keep up with. I know apart some letter, some guy named grey, some robot faces, and some tank appearing on some maps. If it isnt to much of a bother could someone bring me up to speed on the whole situation?

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzxpbUeN-eg&feature=g-high-u

2. http://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/y2o54/heres_a_summary_of_what_is_happening_about_the/

3. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B1LLnetwzpWryZbwRqyAH7KtP0Gxsx4udzjyjC6w1lU/edit#

4. http://xkeeper.net/private/portal/tf3.php

 

[jph139]

Huh, look at the TF2 homepage - the Scout, Soldier, and Heavy are giving the Engineer dirty looks. Subtle.

 

[Exuro]

No, it wasn't by the guy. I still find it ammusing that it looks like I really was the one to figure out the Q function.


The Bombinomicon?

I'm just a newby programmer but dont you need stdio.h to use printf? Or does iostream include it as well?

 

[Forkball]

No, it wasn't by the guy. I still find it ammusing that it looks like I really was the one to figure out the Q function.


The Bombinomicon?

Makes sense, but that line is nowhere in the game, not even in the Bombinomicon's description.

 

[Wolf Akela]

heh, a Google C++ engineer is helping with the Engy code now. This is getting serious.

Where are you guys getting news like this?

 

[adg1034]

So, explain it to me like I'm 5.

We have the jokes, each stating a specific class, a four-digit number, then listing off a series of items. I get that the class determines whose file the data is meant to create, I get that the four-digit number determines the place in the file where the data goes, but I don't get how knowing that the first item named for a specific "joke" is Archimedes translates into the code we need to complete each file. And, why does the master chart that people are using for this ARG only contain one item for each entry? For Spy/1002, for example, Huntsman is listed. However, for the Spy/1002 joke (go to almost the very bottom), the entries read "Did you hear the story from 1002 where Huntsman, Homewrecker, Dalokohs Bar, Companion Cube Pin, and the Administrator walked into a bar?"

Why/how did they get just Huntsman from that?

 

[Frankenstrat]

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzxpbUeN-eg&feature=g-high-u

Holy cow. Am definitely hyped.

 

[dekline]

Huh, look at the TF2 homepage - the Scout, Soldier, and Heavy are giving the Engineer dirty looks. Subtle.

The spy doesn't look to happy either...

I love a good ARG

 

[Drkirby]

So, explain it to me like I'm 5.

We have the jokes, each stating a specific class, a four-digit number, then listing off a series of items. I get that the class determines whose file the data is meant to create, I get that the four-digit number determines the place in the file where the data goes, but I don't get how knowing that the first item named for a specific "joke" is Archimedes translates into the code we need to complete each file. And, why does the master chart that people are using for this ARG only contain one item for each entry? For Spy/1002, for example, Huntsman is listed. However, for the Spy/1002 joke (go to almost the very bottom), the entries read "Did you hear the story from 1002 where Huntsman, Homewrecker, Dalokohs Bar, Companion Cube Pin, and the Administrator walked into a bar?"

Why/how did they get just Huntsman from that?

There are 256 items possible for the jokes, each on corresponding to a two digit hexadecimal number, which range from 00 to FF (0 to 255)

 

[adg1034]

There are 256 items possible for the jokes, each on corresponding to a two digit hexadecimal number, which range from 00 to FF (0 to 255)

Got it. How are people determining which hex value corresponds to which item?

 

[theinfinityissue]

Holy shit.

Am I foolish in thinking this could be something bigger than TF2? The Pyromania update has been out for like a month right? It just seems like something they could save for later unless it's...

I shouldn't get my hopes up.

People tend to let the end of the Portal 2 release ARG leave a bad taste in their mouth (which is a shame, because that was fun.) All too frequently, they forget that Portal 2's existence itself was announced in an ARG. There have been more than rumblings. Source 2, endless industry speculation. I don't think a product announcement is out of the realm of possibility. tl;dr believe.

For people wondering where to find emerging info, the very best place is the valvearg IRC chat. Even if you, like myself, can't contribute a lot, you can watch the whole bizarre party go down. There's a cadre of really smart people working on the current step, competing against both the ARG itself and some really dedicated and intelligent trolling on the part of other users in the form of bad info and faked "revelations".

 

[Drkirby]

Got it. How are people determining which hex value corresponds to which item?

I really don't know. I think in the end it turned out they were simply in alphabetical order.

 

[adg1034]

I really don't know. I think in the end it turned out they were simply in alphabetical order.

Hmm.

In the Spy example I put up before, 1002, Huntsman is 1002, Homewrecker is 1003, Dalokohs Bar is 1004, etc. The the joke for 1003 would go Homewrecker, Dalokohs Bar, etc. It's staggered, with built-in error correction, even. Good game, Valve.

And alphabetical order looks to be exactly right. Archimedes is first out of the list of items, alphabetically, and it's in as 00 each place where it's listed.

Now. it seems like a waiting game for people to find new data/jokes.

 

[jph139]

Looks like the PNGs (Scout/Pyro/Heavy/Medic) are QR codes again.

And the Sniper MIDI may or may not be Morse code.

 

[CB3]

I have no interest in TF2 but i love these things. Entertaining all around

I blame ilovebees. Which is still up!

 

[butter_stick]

Looks like the PNGs (Scout/Pyro/Heavy/Medic) are QR codes again.

And the Sniper MIDI may or may not be Morse code.

I was hoping for a MIDI version of some TF2 music.

 

[jph139]

Alright, so the Engineer code produced "resistor," the Demoman's file had "Apollo" in ASCII, Sniper's Morse code spells out "Unicorn," Heavy's QR code leads to "Goldfish."

It's all becoming clear to me.

 

[enzo_gt]

I am now convinced Valve makes ARGs and just does games on the side when they get bored.

 

[Xater]

So this really is the new ARG huh? I better subscribe to this thread to be up to date on it.

So far I am impressed how fast people figured shit out.

 

[demolitio]

So this really is the new ARG huh? I better subscribe to this thread to be up to date on it.

So far I am impressed how fast people figured shit out.

By the time I find out an ARG is going on, half of it's solved.

This time I'll just act like I know what's going on and give my input. You guys need to subtract 3 from each number and multiply that by the number of updates TF2 has received and then divide that by the number of hats in the game. .39485 BOOM! SOLVED.

Alright, I'm tired of carrying the dead weight so I'll let you guys do the rest as I go to bed.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Sniper's codes are looking like they're a MIDI file.

Basically, each class says a "joke" in text chat when a person with the capacitor high fives. Each "joke" is actually lines of binary, with each word in the joke referencing a byte of binary, and the year of the joke is the order for the bytes.

A joke looks like this

It always starts with a year and always ends with the Administrator. Each person has a fairly unique year associated with them (but it does repeat for a number of people)

So far Spy's has been cracked. It was a zip file, but it required a password. Engineer's is straight source code that does some simple math, but it's not fully cracked. Sniper's is a Midi. Demoman is a .txt file. There's also a PNG in there, and an EXE, I don't remember the classes they go with.

This is basically the Banana ARG of last month on steroids. It doesn't help High Fives and Capacitors are rare items.

MY MIND = fucking OBLITERATED

Jesus Christ Valve AM GODS.

 

[Forkball]

So we're missing scout, pyro, medic?

 

[kami_sama]

It seems that pyro's QR spells "baboon"

 

[Jintor]

What in fuck's name is going on

 

[Dmax3901]

That god damn progress bar is driving me nuts. Worst thing is, nothing explosive will happen when it hits 100%.

 

[JaseC]

It seems that pyro's QR spells "baboon"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s0V7yo--pU&t=134

 

[kami_sama]

Aaaaaand scout's been solved! QR translates to "adult"

 

[Datrio]

Medic solved, it's "Goggles".

Adult, Councilman, Baboon, Apollo, Goldfish, Resistor, Goggles, Unicorn

If it's a PGP word list like the ARG guys claim, it's a code for 053B140A6EC56DEC.

 

[Dmax3901]

Spy's all that's left?

 

[Mr Touchdown]

Shit's getting real right now. Holy Cow, subscribing to this.

 

[Chavelo]

http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1200947&p=37194056&viewfull=1#post37194056

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_pluribus_unum

 

[Chavelo]

http://teamfortress.com/crsk9.jpg

 

[Dmax3901]

Saw that happen live, HOLY SHIT!

 

[StayDead]

I'm so confused by all this but so excited and I've not "loved" TF2 in ages. Oh god why do valve make it so easy to get hyped.

 

[Dmax3901]

http://www.teamfortress.com/bloodbrothers/

!!!

 

[Chavelo]

WTF

 

[Thoraxes]

http://teamfortress.com/crsk9.jpg

Fuck, maybe it's time to sacrifice my Beret for the greater good.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

http://www.teamfortress.com/bloodbrothers/

!!!

"A truce... so we can build a machine to make one of us pregnant."

:lol

 

[mclem]

I want a Sentry Gun robot with the ability to create engies

They probably won't bother - it's not something necessary - but it'd be nice if they figure out some way to explain the medigun working on metal (i.e. other robots)... but not working on engineering creations.

Or they could go the whole hog... what they *should* do is have the Engineer take the role of the Medic, since they're robots - and to counter that, make the Medic into a full-on-Frankenstein-style flesh golem creator, effectively acting as the Engineer. Crazy, but just about logical.

 

[speedpop]

http://www.teamfortress.com/bloodbrothers/

!!!

Was crazy to see that pop up in-game.

 

[Chavelo]

Redmond and Blutarch dead. KILLED BY GRAY. D:

 

[kami_sama]

F**k this is just awesome!

 

[Dmax3901]

Best comic yet.

"Liquid gravel". lol.