[ARG] The Pizza Code Mystery

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#2721

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My bad. Glad I left that comment (even though Wiki shows all changes).

#2722

Ive been thinking about that message and i think its just a added piece of audio just to get people looking, it has no other information in that we already don’t know, and the morse code is very easy to decode as well. The other audio sample if you could clear it up might hold something, has anyone changed the pitch/reversed it?

#2723

I already reversed it and no luck. Changing pitch up didn’t do much either. The beginning sounds like hes saying “88 0 9”. It also sounds like hes on a respirator, but that’s probably not true.

Edit: So when StormSeeker said that someone was already close (752 hex code), who was he talking about?

#2724

God damn, this it feels like this ARG just keeps running circles around our head.

Let’s focus in on something here: The 752 Hex code. How does it all relate to KXBM.net if at all? It’s still honestly our biggest priority.

Also on a side note, anyone got any idea of what KXBM means? I think BM means Black Mesa obviously but what about the KX?

#2725

No hidden agenda or secret hiding somewhere.
‘K’ and ‘W’ were the initial call signals assigned to the U.S and ‘X’ is a standard connotation for ‘transmit’. KXBM is the most generic name you would come up with in relation to the BM facility.

#2726

I’m pretty sure most TV and radio stations in the US have “K” in front of their names. As for the X, I don’t know, I’d go with CPU’s suggestion.

#2727

I have tried to make a list of things and aspects about the all the latest BMRF.us and KXBM.net stuff that could possibly relate to the previous clues or the hex code puzzle:

  • The TV test patterns.[list][*]The TV test pattern in the Emergency Broadcast Message earlier on bmrf.us.
  • The TV test pattern in the Live Video News Feed on kxbm.net (background.mp4).
  • “SET FOR FINAL TEST PATTERN” in HALOS.txt.
    [/:m][]Bad or corrupted transmissions.* The degraded TV signal on kxbm.net.
  • The scrambled/distorted/noisy audio.
  • The message in IRC clue 1 that looked like it was corrupted.
  • The “LOL Cannon” message was corrupted (or interrupted by noise) and sort of flatlined at the end of the message.
    [/:m][]In general things that have to do with wireless transmissions, broadcasting and communications.* “ComLabs Test Initiative” (Tempus clue).
  • The attempt to triangulate the source of the IRC clue 1 transmission (Tempus clue).
  • The satellite dishes on Dr. Horn’s shack.
  • The SSTV transmission on a radio in the QE chapter (Code C).
  • The morse code transmission on the ham/cb radio on kxbm.net.
    [/:m][]Possible references to HALOS.
  • The AI in the AI5BM call sign.
  • Thomas Lee is an anagram of “Meet Halos.” (discovered by JohnNotJohn)
    [/:m][]Sites reporting unusually high or excessive server loads.
  • Both kxbm.net and localdesertsingles.com are reporting unusually high or excessive server loads (noted by JohnNotJohn).
  • “{Primary Servers Overloaded}” in HALOS.txt.
    [/:m][]The reference to the Biodome Labs in the morse code transmission.[/:m][]The presumed scrambled military voice transmission could possibly be linked to the location clues in the IRC clues which were located at military sites: White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base (suggested by Gunsrequiem).[/:m]
    [    ]There seems to be at least two references to the number three, but these are spotty at best and could just be coincidences (the number three could perhaps be a hint towards TripleDES (3DES) or a triple cascaded cipher).* They used a Javascript WebGL library called three.js to render the “bad TV” effect.
  • The frequency 7023.20KHz on the turned on ham radio is in the 40-meter amateur radio frequency band. To operate on this frequency in the US, you will need an Amateur Extra Class License, which is the third and top US license class. It’s called “LEVEL 3: Extra Class License” by the ARRL (The national association for Amateur Radio).
    [/:m][]We have seen how morse code can be encoded in an unusual way in hex form. However, faed tried to decode the 752 hex code using the same method, but only got gibberish. It’s possible this was just part of the Javascript obfuscation.
  • pointless suggested that the hex encoded morse code might be a hint that we are dealing with steganography with regards to the 752 hex code.
    [/:m][]Mysterious numbers.* The 2000ms interval on the “…aren’t you alone…” printed in the browser console on the localdesertsingles.com site is defined in code as [tt]21.3216/129.52+1997.37[/tt] (discovered by faed)
    [/    :m][/list:u]
    It’s entirely possible, though, that the things related to TV/radio transmissions and wireless communications are all just part of a recurring motif and not something that specifically relates to the solving of the hex code puzzle.

EDIT: Added a few more points.

#2728

how has this not been brought up before? this makes me really wonder if there isn’t something to the (seemingly novel?) test pattern of the background.mp4.

and also, if we were told to expect ‘final test pattern’, do we have any of the earlier ones?

#2729

A while back I tried to decrypt the hex code using a key made from the RGB values of the color bars of the test pattern found on various security console screens in the game. In the SMPTE color bars test pattern, there are 7 color bars. Taking the RGB values of those gives us 3*7 = 21 bytes, which can be used as a Triple DES key. It didn’t work. I tried both the color values from the texture in the game, and the reference image on Wikipedia.

The test pattern in the Emergency Broadcast Message was found to be taken from a youtube thumbnail, so nothing was hidden there.

I haven’t looked into the test pattern in background.mp4 yet, so I don’t know.

There haven’t been any references to “test patterns” before HALOS.txt.

On a side note, also in HALOS.txt, there was something that looked a reference to the Portal 2 Lab Rat comic: “SUBJECT ANALYSIS: TENACIOUS”. In Portal 2, “Test Chamber 21” is where you escape into the maintenance areas. Could it possibly be related to “21 into 1”?

#2730

I dont know if it was mentioned before but maybe we have to find a time and date for when this site “https://terminal.bmrf.us/” will be unlocked so we can login with a username and a pass.

Was this site used before for something ? I just joined the ARG today and I didnt find anything related to that site.

#2731

I doubt something would be based on a specific date because we would probably be too slow to catch it.

#2732

Use the search function and type in “terminal.bmrf.us”. You will get somewhere close to 300 results

#2733

Have you read the wiki page about bmrf.us and terminal.bmrf.us? Most of what we know about it should be covered there. I believe the general consensus about the site is that it won’t unlock until we’ve solved the 752 Hex Code (HALOS FILE).

#2734

So I just started following the thread recently, so If anything I mentioned here has been gone over already I apologize. Anywho, me and my cousin were messing around, trying to find something interesting. So, we inspected the source code for the https://terminal.blackmesasource.com/ website, and find that the letters “D”, “O”, “R”, and “N” were surrounded by the tag. DORN could stand for Dr.Horn? I figured you guys had discovered that already, but then, there’s more.

So after finding no other clues on THAT site, we moved over to the infamous “https://kxbm.net/” site. I was curious if the video playing was a simple MP4 clip, or if it was layered. So, I saved the complete page as an HTML document, and examined some of the code. The more interesting thing I found was on the 9th line of code. This -

“”

Hmm… Cochiti New Mexico… I figured you guys must have noticed this already, so I kinda shrugged it off. But after searching through the Wiki, and through this thread, I discovered that only one person had mentioned it anywhere. And he incorrectly mentioned that Cochiti was in Michigan, not in New Mexico where it actually is. Regardless of all of that, we know that Black Mesa is in New Mexico, right? Well, after doing a bit of research into this “Cochiti” place, I discovered that there is a Golf Course near this small town that is called “Black Mesa Gold Club”. Could this be a clue? Is this a coincidence? Or is this something more…

Again, if any of this was gone over and I missed it, I apologize.

#2735

The capital letters () on the “terminal.blackmesasource.com” site spell DR Horn, not Dorn.

Please refer to this wiki if you think you found something: https://thepizzaisalie.wikia.com/wiki/The_Pizza_Code_Mystery_ARG_Wiki

Chances are it has already been discovered :frowning:
#2736

I figured as much. My bad about the Dr.Horn thing. But the wiki mentions nothing of Cochiti New Mexico. Any idea there?
#2737

Hello, long-time reader, first-time poster here.
A strange thought occurred to me, and I felt like I should share it.

If kxbm.net is supposed to be a local news site for the area around Black Mesa, and if localdesertsingles.com is supposed to be a dating site for the same area, isn’t it odd that both sites are reporting unusually high server loads?

Also, I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet, but Thomas Lee is an anagram of “Meet Halos.”

#2738

^ This is the kind of examination we need if we are ever going to solve this thing. Just like the SECOM hint was hidden in a message from Storm, so too can we expect to find other hidden messages in “plain sight”. Well played, good sir!

#2739

Hmm, interesting.

Is Tim Evan an anagram of anything?

#2740

“Tim Evans” = “TV in Mesa”

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.