[ARG] The Pizza Code Mystery

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#2581

Thanks for doing the evaluation of the code, I was working with the same file when I saw your post :thumbup:

#2582

The turned off radio is in JPEG format, but turned on is in PNG format. The addresses (Contact us, that lead to Steam) are in JPEG format.So, is it possible that JPEG format pictures are clickable, because, if that is the case, then there are still few clickable ares on page?

#2583

Good thinking, but no.

I spent the past hour unscrambling the in-line code that adds the click and the morse code.
https://pastebin.com/xfmSnNQw
Only two clickable places: Contact Us, and the radio button.

#2584

There are only two defined hotspots as defined here: https://pastebin.com/W5CSFpk9 (look for the left/right/top/bottom attributes), one which is the radio, and the other which is the contact us in the footer.

#2585

Very strange. If i listen this radio on website https://www.kxbm.net/article/?10360/all-clear-given-for-black-mesa-evacuation-zone it sounds like morse, but if i go to another page or site, it sound different.

#2586

I noticed something more, take a look at these:
https://imgur.com/UzgjXy2 link is https://www.kxbm.net/article/
https://imgur.com/M2vAYCp link is https://www.kxbm.net/article/?10360/all-clear-given-for-black-mesa-evacuation-zone
Notice how they have difirent number of images.

#2587

Could be due to browser not being able to play it when the tab isnā€™t on focus. Thereā€™s no code that says ā€œif itā€™s not in focus do thisā€.

Same amount of images both in Chrome and Firefox: 14.
15 after you click the radio.

#2588

The Classified Ads have to mean something, as in what is for sale in them. Maybe we have to use a HAM Radio?

Also noteworthy: Tim is wearing a pink top hat in his profile image on KXBM.net, like the ones that were found around Black Mesa

#2589

Yeah, it seems to play tones in a variable length sets. The playback doesnā€™t begin at the same time in the series every time so getting the whole series is a bit hard. What I could gather is that there is 109 sets in the series with length of 1-9 tones.

All sets in row:

7 9 9 3 1 2 2 5 4 2 2 2 5 4 2 2 2 5 4 2 4 4 2 4 3 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 4 4 4 2 4 2 4 2 1 4 4 2 3 3 3 2 1 4 2 4 3 6 1 3 2 4 4 1 3 6 2 1 1 3 3 1 3 4 3 1 6 1 4 2 4 4 3 2 1 2 3 1 3 2 4 1 6 2 2 4 2 1 2 3 4 4 3 3 1 2 4 1 5 3

I have no idea what to make of that, however.
Also, did Thomas Leeā€™s localdesertsingles page load earlier? There we can see probably the first footage of Nihilanth in the console(!) and likely some other stuff too.

Edit: Never mind, Those tones are just the same signal as the morse code. All tones are just played back with same length and much slower so you canā€™t differentiate between dots and lines.

#2590

No, it never loaded. Itā€™s a static page, so no matter how many people are browsing it, it will always say excessive server load.

#2591

I edited the javascript on the page so that it logged the morse output as it was playing. Here it be:

 ...---.../...---.../...---.../-.. ./.- .. ..... -... --/.- .. ..... -... --/.- .. ..... -... --/-... .-.. .- -.-. -.-/-- . ... .-/.-. . ... . .- .-. -.-. ..../..-. .- -.-. .. .-.. .. - -.--/-... .. --- -.. --- -- ./.-.. .- -... ... .-.-.-/- .-. .- .--. .--. . -.. --..--/-. . . -../.-. . ... -.-. ..- . .-.-.-/. ...- .- -.-./--.. --- -. ./-. --- -/... .- ..-. . .-.-.-/-- .. .-.. .. - .- .-. -.--/.... --- ... - .. .-.. ./.-.-./-.-//////////////////////////////

DE AI5BM AI5BM AI5BM BLACK MESA RESEARCH FACILITY BIODOME LABS. TRAPPED, NEED RESCUE. EVAC ZONE NOT SAFE. MILITARY HOSTILE K

#2592

Well thatā€™s definitely something. Anyone got any clues as to what AI5BM could be, and also what is ?

Edit: AR is end of message and DE is ā€˜this isā€™

#2593

I got a little excited after noticing that ā€œ_0xf154xcā€ is hex encoded. This provides a baseline from the devs for how to convert hex to morse.

Soā€¦ I decided to see what 752 looks like when played through this page:

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

T T E ?I TI U ?G EE ?W N NR EA E T?E T 6 ? ? BERE T K?? Z T? NDK ?? I? T? N T E S ? N DE KS IOE N?A LR S WEUE ION E EY ?0T ? T 1 5 T F N K? T EE? ? X F ?U E A T T- E D N 6 MN? E?? I??MII? ? =N ?T MT MEE E ?E ?? ? ECKKE U ? K ?M D UO

Unfortunately, itā€™s just jibberish as usual. :frowning:

#2594

I donā€™t know why, but morse does sound different than before, for example, there is a long BEEP, that is most likely line, but I donā€™t see anything like that in your translated codeā€¦

#2595

Itā€™s in hex for no reason. Itā€™s a general trick to make your code as gibberish/hard to read as possible. Here is the unscrambled code.

It will play long beep followed by a long silence if the page isnā€™t visible. Probably a browser limitation as thereā€™s no code that makes this happen.

#2596

Worth noting is that the morse code starts playing immediately when you goto the page, but with the volume off. Clicking on the radio only turns the volume up, so youā€™re probably going to be in a different position in the ā€˜trackā€™ anytime you press play.
Also, the code uses ā€˜requestAnimationFrameā€™ to control the oscillation timing. A side effect of using this is that if the sound is playing ,and you minimize the browser, the browser is going to de-prioritize the thread, kind of like an FPS drop. This will cause the morse to play much slower.

#2597

I swear the HAM radio classified used to work, but now doesnt do anything. It is now no longer a clickable link

#2598

Just occured to me that AI5BM could refer to something like: Artificial Intelligence #5 Black Mesa. Which means that the AI survived and wants to be rescued from the ruins of BMRF.

This would fit nicely with the earlier ARG stuff

#2599

Which could be HALOS?

#2600

I donā€™t think there are 5 AIs, let alone this one being an AI, and even if it was, it has to be mobile (as in, some form of robotics), because the ā€œTRAPPED, NEED RESCUE. EVAC ZONE NOT SAFE. MILITARY HOSTILEā€ part clearly means that this entity managed to get to an evacuation zone before.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valveā€™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.