Box Crack Script Macro

[tangoking]

Although some have said that the dials look different, and that somehow they look a certain way, I can't see it. So, I wrote a brute-force attack macro to open it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hobgr2Rv3Y

BTW hi all! I can't w8 4 multiplayer!
~ tk

[japester]

I guess this is an interesting programming exercise, but:
1) using cheats like this ruins the spirit of the mystery, and
2) it's completely unnecessary since the code was broken days ago and reposted a dozen times in both the summary thread and the main discussion thread

You probably would have been a hero if you'd presented this a week ago, while people were still trying to crack the code. Then again, in their attempts to crack this they also figured out the alphabet and translated the message scrawled on the box itself....

[tangoking]

I guess this is an interesting programming exercise, but:
1) using cheats like this ruins the spirit of the mystery, and
2) it's completely unnecessary since the code was broken days ago and reposted a dozen times in both the summary thread and the main discussion thread

You probably would have been a hero if you'd presented this a week ago, while people were still trying to crack the code. Then again, in their attempts to crack this they also figured out the alphabet and translated the message scrawled on the box itself....
Most of this I would agree with, except that I wouldn't call it a "cheat" in the sense that I decompiled the programming and found the combination or used a cheat code. It's a brute-force attack; Meltzer could very well use this method, or I could have done it by hand.

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

IMNSHO, it's more of a cheat to look up the combination on a forum where it's been "reposted a dozen times in both the summary thread and the main discussion thread." :P At least I did it myself.

Has anyone found a logical path that would lead one to a combination of upside-down triangle, double-diamond, and trapezoid with a transversal? From everything I've read, basically one guy got lucky, posted it, and then the cat was out of the bag.

Anyway, I took away some good skills from this one: I implemented a brute force attack, recorded my desktop, scripted a macro, recorded the audio track separately in Audacity, and put all the pieces together in a video. In addition, I loved the mathematics and computer science involved.

What other game gives you all this?

[ADAMJUNKIE]

The guy who originally cracked it said he did it by turning the two side gears so the broken parts faced downward and in the middle one he turned it until the waves were horizontal.

To me his method sounds easier. He just looked for a pattern. There is no significance in the three symbols used to open the box in relation to the decoded message (so far) :p

[japester]

You do have a point, tangoking. :)

The viral site has been carefully crafted, and my own personal definition of a cheat would be anything that breaks the fourth wall and takes advantage of the fact that the items are composed of code rather than being physical objects.

So if I handed you the box, what could you do? Well, you can look at the scribble and search for it online. You could google things. Etc. Then you'd have to physically manipulate the box to figure it out.

I'm not a programmer, so I can't say I understand exactly what you did. But it appears that it took advantage of the virtual nature of the box to crack it. Impressive? Yes. In the spirit of things? No.

A real brute force attack on the physical object would have taken weeks or months, right? ;)

You did achieve more personally than those of use who heard the answer from someone else, but that was part of a group discussion all about the box, the code, the meaning of the messages, and the meaning (if any) of the symbols used to open the box. In other words, it all flows and builds on itself. You have to step outside of that completely for a solution like yours.

And yes, we have had people pull code and time stamps and file descriptions out of the site...and that is much worse. :cool:

[tangoking]

The guy who originally cracked it said he did it by turning the two side gears so the broken parts faced downward and in the middle one he turned it until the waves were horizontal.
Yeah that seems kinda lucky.


To me his method sounds easier. He just looked for a pattern. There is no significance in the three symbols used to open the box in relation to the decoded message (so far) :p
From what I've read the three letters translate to "ICF;" e.g.,

Upside-down triangle = "I"
Double-diamond = "C"
Slashed trapezoid = "F"

Someone suggested "I Chose Freedom" but it's a bit of a stretch.

[tangoking]

I'm not a programmer, so I can't say I understand exactly what you did. But it appears that it took advantage of the virtual nature of the box to crack it. Impressive? Yes. In the spirit of things? No.
No no no! I could have done the same thing with the physical box in my hand, and that's my point. Meltzer would probably use this technique to open it, unless there's a clue that we've missed somewhere.

My "cheat" was using a macro to do it; I just didn't want to spend five hours spinning dials. In Warcraft that would get me banned, but we're not here to mine ore :)


A real brute force attack on the physical object would have taken weeks or months, right? ;)
No. There are 17,576 possible combinations (26x26x26). Assuming 1 second per try, that's about five hours at worst; two-and-a-half on average.

Thanks for your comments!

[japester]

And thanks for discussing it with us. :)

I look forward to more input from you on the forums.

FYI, in regards to the viral site, anything found by peeking at raw code or hacking things--like the aforementioned time stamps and file names--is acceptable but should be spoiler tagged when placed in the appropriate discussion threads. That way people who want to stick to the spirit of the mystery won't have anything spoiled. Finding the code like you did would probably be okay because it was a shortcut to the same solution others would have reached.

[rootbeertapper]

The guy who originally cracked it said he did it by turning the two side gears so the broken parts faced downward and in the middle one he turned it until the waves were horizontal.

To me his method sounds easier. He just looked for a pattern. There is no significance in the three symbols used to open the box in relation to the decoded message (so far) :p

Yes, this was the original proposed solution but everybody dismissed it. The letters of the alphabet would decode a message but nobody could understand what the message was trying to say. The next 'attack' plan was to look for a pattern. The Dials 'appeared' to have a pattern that just happened to work. To this day not one person has come forward with evidence to suggest 'ICF' means something. 10's of pages of posts were created that left no outcome to the ICF debacle and then people started 'seeing things in the clouds'.

[kypz]

Yes, this was the original proposed solution but everybody dismissed it. The letters of the alphabet would decode a message but nobody could understand what the message was trying to say. The next 'attack' plan was to look for a pattern. The Dials 'appeared' to have a pattern that just happened to work. To this day not one person has come forward with evidence to suggest 'ICF' means something. 10's of pages of posts were created that left no outcome to the ICF debacle and then people started 'seeing things in the clouds'.

It has to mean something, or else why would the big sister break into marks office and leave that box there?. With the items in the box also peicing together bits of the story, wouldn't you give it a meaningful code?.

[MrSpitfire]

It has to mean something, or else why would the big sister break into marks office and leave that box there?. With the items in the box also peicing together bits of the story, wouldn't you give it a meaningful code?.

It's weird because I didn't mention it before but if if a-z was 0-25, ICF translates as 825. Cindy (Mark's daughter)'s birthday is 8/25.

[japester]

It's weird because I didn't mention it before but if if a-z was 0-25, ICF translates as 825. Cindy (Mark's daughter)'s birthday is 8/25.

HMMM. And the coded message was about her forgetting her own birthday.....

[BucketBot]

I'm confused. All this stuff about her birthday was mentioned in the SITS thread days and days ago. Why is everyone, including Jape who I am pretty sure was involved in the original discussions, acting like this is new info...

[Darksider13]

It has to mean something, or else why would the big sister break into marks office and leave that box there?. With the items in the box also peicing together bits of the story, wouldn't you give it a meaningful code?.



We already know what it means, we just dunno why she used it. And about digging for code, I was actually thinking of doing that when nobody would cough up the code for the box. It's just my luck that I didn't have Notepad++ or Google Chrome lol. Yeah, I don't really intend on "Cheating" anymore because japester is right. It kills the spirit of the ARG.

A method I was thinking of using was that same combo method of the right and left nobs looking mirrored on the box with the middle knob having the middle letter of the alphabet showing. Obviously that wouldn't work lol. So yeah, I think we should start looking into this guy from the phone message. I think he's going to be VERRY important to Mark in his discovery of Rapture or something related to it.

[MrSpitfire]

I'm confused. All this stuff about her birthday was mentioned in the SITS thread days and days ago. Why is everyone, including Jape who I am pretty sure was involved in the original discussions, acting like this is new info...

We cracked the code and opened the box ages ago, in the few days after the box came out, but I'm pretty sure no one realised the significance of ICF until now.

[japester]

I'm confused. All this stuff about her birthday was mentioned in the SITS thread days and days ago. Why is everyone, including Jape who I am pretty sure was involved in the original discussions, acting like this is new info...

Jape scans thousands of posts on this forum every few days....he doesn't remember every little detail. ;)

I remember hearing it was "ICF", but I didn't recall the numbers being her birthday. Even if it was already discussed, it was worth mentioning the coded scribble again since it directly related to what Mr. Spitfire was saying (the other half of that particular clue, as it were).

[chocolatesbetterthangrape]

Hey everybody, what about this?

"Founded by Professor T. Yokobori in 1965, the International Congress on Fracture (ICF) is today the premier international body for promoting worldwide cooperation among scientists and engineers dealing with mechanics and mechanisms of fracture, fatigue and strength of solids. Over the years, ICF has made considerable progresses in providing an international forum for highlighting individual and national accomplishments in the general fields of Fracture Mechanics, Material Strength and Structural Integrity."

"Fracture mechanics". Isn't Rapture pretty leaky right about now?:D

[rootbeertapper]

It's weird because I didn't mention it before but if if a-z was 0-25, ICF translates as 825. Cindy (Mark's daughter)'s birthday is 8/25.

This was discovered ages ago but what contradicts that is what the box translates to "I HAVE A NEW BIRTHDAY"... so 8/25 although it fits the puzzle does not fit the translation. This is what people were talking about for 10+ pages.

[ADAMJUNKIE]

Actually it does. If you remember the box says "do you remember my birthday?..." so cindy's birthday (8/25) does make sense because its the answer to the first question.

[rootbeertapper]

Actually it does. If you remember the box says "do you remember my birthday?..." so cindy's birthday (8/25) does make sense because its the answer to the first question.

I CANT REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

DO YOU REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

I HAVE A NEW BIRTHDAY

(REPEATS)

so 8/25 although it fits the puzzle does not fit the translation. This is what people were talking about for 10+ pages.

[ADAMJUNKIE]

I CANT REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

DO YOU REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

I HAVE A NEW BIRTHDAY

(REPEATS)

so 8/25 although it fits the puzzle does not fit the translation.

Why doesnt it?

As you and i have said: part of the question on the box is: "do you remember my birthday?". ICF=8/25=august 25=cindys birthday. Cindy wrote the messsage and in it she asks her father if he remembers her birthday. Meltzer knows her birthday is august 25=8/25=ICF (if A=1). So he puts in ICF and presto!

[MrSpitfire]

Why doesnt it?

As you and i have said: part of the question on the box is: "do you remember my birthday?". ICF=8/25=august 25=cindys birthday. Cindy wrote the messsage and in it she asks her father if he remembers her birthday. Meltzer knows her birthday is august 25=8/25=ICF (if A=1). So he puts in ICF and presto!

But that means she does remember her birthday because she must have programmed the box to open for that date. I though it was maybe the Big Sister taunting Mark by stealing his daughter's birthday.

[rootbeertapper]

Why doesnt it?

As you and i have said: part of the question on the box is: "do you remember my birthday?". ICF=8/25=august 25=cindys birthday. Cindy wrote the messsage and in it she asks her father if he remembers her birthday. Meltzer knows her birthday is august 25=8/25=ICF (if A=1). So he puts in ICF and presto!

I CANT REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

DO YOU REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

I HAVE A NEW BIRTHDAY

(REPEATS)

so 8/25 although it fits the puzzle does not fit the translation.

The key to opening the box 8/25 is a contradiction to the 3rd line of the coded message "I HAVE A NEW BIRTHDAY" if she or what has a new birthday then that would make 8/25 obsolete.

I understand what your saying but the 3rd line complicates that theory a bit. It does not 100% logically solve the puzzle.

[ADAMJUNKIE]

I know what you mean. Heres my interpretation

I CANT REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

DO YOU REMEMBER MY BIRTHDAY

(FOR YOUR INFORMATION/JUST SO YOU KNOW/IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING) I HAVE A NEW BIRTHDAY

(repeats)
Imo the last line is just a hint at what Cindy is becoming. After all its not a question, so how can anything answer it?

[deviledeggs736]

Why doesnt it?

As you and i have said: part of the question on the box is: "do you remember my birthday?". ICF=8/25=august 25=cindys birthday. Cindy wrote the messsage and in it she asks her father if he remembers her birthday. Meltzer knows her birthday is august 25=8/25=ICF (if A=1). So he puts in ICF and presto!

how is it 825 if A=1? wouldnt it be 936? i guess it could work with A=0

[ADAMJUNKIE]

^O sorry i miscounted