Jan 22, 2008

New (and somewhat difficult) Activity


Chapter 4 has begun and with it a new activity. Break your way into the chart plotter to.... Well I'd be able to finish that sentance had I actually solved the activity. Unfortunatley I have not yet been able to do so. It seems Lord Talbot has gotten the best of me for now. How are others doing with the game? Any success tips you'd like to share? Use the comments to brag about your 1337 skills and send in evidence so we can post it!

XaRen sent in this screen of the game prior to completion:



Source: Find 815


Thanks Vanessa for clearing this up:


Can you please let everyone know that it is the AMOUNT of red/white dots that corresponds with the AMOUNT of letters/numbers that you have right. A red dot does not necessarily mean that the letter/number in that position is correct, it just means that you DO have one correct.
Source: Find 815


And thanks Heinze75 for this image of what Sam finds after solving the password:



Source: Find 815


UPDATE:



I've finally solved had my hand held through this puzzle. The method I used was none other than that lent by wesh, in the comments of this post. Here is his advice:


Here's how i like to do it, and usually it works out in the first or second try! With pics! :)

* First you enter 1 character
* if you're lucky it's immediatly a red dot!
* since it's only 1 char, you know it's the right one, and the right position too!
* if the first char you enter isnt red, but white, ok, no prob, try another character in the next step
* you continue like this, until your first and only char is red! that way you can take that char to the next level.

I know it sounds complicated and hard to explain. Here are the pics:
metrix.exe
step1
step2
step3
step4

Obviously there's still some luck involved in my technique, but it does narrow it down (in my eyes) :)
good luck!

Source: Find815

105 comments:

Anonymous said...

lo keep trying,worth the vid!

Canucklehead said...

Many Saturdays spent as a kid playing "Mastermind" with my Dad have finally played off!

I managed to solve the activity pretty quickly...but
Sorry,no tricks to share, just method and logic! That's my idea of a good puzzle....

Anonymous said...

it is an interesting vid once you beat it.

.just.the.girl. said...

omg im pretty sure its impossible... why'd they make it so hard??!?? lol =/

Valerie said...

We've been working on this damn thing for a good 20 minutes. Is anyone else having the problem where you get a red confirmation dot on one entry, but when you put that letter back in the same place next time you don't get the red dot??

Hoku said...

It took me 2 tries to solve, and when it gives you the red dots it doesn't tell you which ones are correct. That is why it is so hard! If you get it wrong the first time, it gives you new letters and numbers so I can't help you... just keep plugging and don't let the clock make you stress out!!!

C2IT said...

I just solved it, very difficult as the letters keep resetting. The video afterward shows a set of coordinates in the Sunda Trench. Talbot finds the piece of paper that Sam has the coordinates on and confronts him. Sam admits that The Maxwell Group gave him the coordinates, the same as Talbot's employer. Talbot then tells Sam that "You don't know who you're dealing with..."

Unknown said...

wish i had method and logic...help!

Anonymous said...

the red dots mean that one of the letters or numbers is right, not necesarrily in that position

drewsifer said...

Just started playing this ARG and this one was hard, i got lucky and beat it. I gotta say loving this continuing evolving universe that is lost.

john815 said...

wow...this is much better than their previous efforts....plus, it pretty much kills the trick of looking for cheats to help you solve it....

MaDeRa_ said...

Greetings from Brazil!

I've made it in the second chance, in the tird line. You just have to be lucky in the first line. Then, it's just logic!

He enter the coordinates into the computer and find that point we have already speculate in south of Bali.

After that, they arive and get him in teh PC. Talbot ask him about the coordinates.. Sam tels it was given by the Maxwell Group.

Talbot says for Sam to stay away from teh coordinates and that he won't find what he's looking for.

Sory about my english! it's the best I can do..

Anonymous said...

Here's a tip: instead of starting out with five letters and/or numbers, start with two or three and hit enter to see if you at least get any white or red. Your chances of figuring out which ones go where are better than 5, which makes you switching 5 instead of 2. Once you get that down, do the same process over. I had to use al1 10 bars to figure it out.

Valerie said...

@dtape0467 But it says red dot = "correct input, correct position"

Congested said...

ah. good to know. thanks dtape0467

J Mark Pim said...

My solution is to break the 8 possiblities into pairs and test them in turn, but in different positions. So if you had, say, ABCD1234 try:
AB---, -CD--, --12-, ---34.

For each pair, if you get either 0 or 2 lights (of either colour) you know either both are or are not in the password so move on immediately. If you only get one light, use the next row to try just one character to find out which one it is.

That takes at most 7 turns leaving you 3 to figure out the positions which should be fairly easy as you'll almost certainly have got some reds along the way already.

Hope that helps :)

Anonymous said...

valerie, it means that one of your guesses is in the correct position, not the one that it corresponds too

Sara said...

It helped me to only enter 3 letters at first to get at least 3 in place with red dot confirmation.. 5 was too many to guess at one time. Then when you have those 3 in place, figure out the other 2. I got it almost immediatly using this method. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Did anyone notice that there are symbols at the end of the video, after you finish the activity?

it goes

up arrow, #, down arrow, #, #, down arrow, down arrow, down arrow, #, #,

Igor Moretto said...

oh my god IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Betsy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Try to get 5 white dots and then play around with the combo to get the red dots to appear. A red dot is a correct number in the correct position, but not the position that corresponds to the number of red dots.

druid said...

Got it.

Anyone know what the hidden symbols at the end of the video mean?

They flash really quickly and are as follows:

UP ARROW
#
DOWN ARROW
#
#
DOWN ARROW
DOWN ARROW
DOWN ARROW
#
#

Any ideas?

travis said...

I got it on the second try. I would input the first five digits as they're shown into the display, and start eliminating the digits from there.

Change one of the orginal five digits you input for one of the remaining to determine if the digit you replaced is correct. Say you input your first five, and it says three are correct. Replace one of the orginal five with one of the remaining. If you get two correct on the second try, that means the original digit was correct and the new one isn't. If you get four correct on the second try, that means the orginal digit was incorrect and the new was correct.

Unfortunately the red dots that indicate a successful entry of one of the digits don't correspond with the location that digit in the five spaces. Two red dots and a white dot merely mean 2 of the five are in the correct location and one of the remaining three is correct but located wrong.

It's really a process of elimination. I like the earlier suggestion about input fewer digits at first, because it makes it easier to whittle down which ones are correct.

Unknown said...

congested, did you get my email about the dots?

Unknown said...

Finally got past it! Thank you with the 3 digits tips!

Anonymous said...

We have to wait until Wednesday night for the next step. Any idea why My Progress does not indicate Chapter 4 progress?

travis said...

I saw the arrows, and tried to take a screen capture of it but when I went back they were gone!

Anonymous said...

KXNY2 is one of the options

.just.the.girl. said...

YESSSS i got it =] =] =] and yes the video is totally worth it.. and the best advice.. just start off trying 2 or 3 letters to find out if those are correct or not. good luck ! =]

Unknown said...

I solved it twice in one try both times. I love logic puzzles like this (mastermind-esque) and the vid was worth it.

For those of you that haven't finished: keep trying! It's fun (though sometimes frustrating) and worthwhile.

Also, stego! (not really pertaining to this, but I'm still working on the stego. So much worse than this)

Canucklehead said...

Regarding the confusion about the red dots:
A red dot indicates that ANY ONE of the five variables is fully correct (i.e. character and position), not neccessarily the character in the corresponding position on the board. For example, if you have two fully correct entries and 1 half correct, the "dots" will be displayed as Red, Red, White, Black, Black, regardless of the position of the tiles on the board.

Does that clear that up at all, or make it more confusing?? ;)
Sorry....thought I was more articulate than that!!

travis said...

mandjinberg: the options are chosen at random. The digits I got on the second try were different that the first.

theglowingbriefcase said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

For your troubles: Braille AOE

Unknown said...

i also noticed the symbols at the end of the video but i can't imagine what they're for. maybe a password? has anyone tried them in the maxwell site?

travis said...

braille AOE?

theglowingbriefcase said...

about the code at the end of the video
heres a pic:
http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=24500441pl6.png

took me a while to get
any ideas?

travis said...

Is this the font used to make the Braille puzzle?

travis said...

http://www.dafont.com/braille-aoe.font

Anonymous said...

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i244/CharliesFire/815act4.png
the coordinates

annddd
the arrows
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i244/CharliesFire/arrows815.png

notlost said...

from what talbot says.i think he might not be working for maxwell....the plot thickens

Wesh said...

Here's how i like to do it, and usually it works out in the first or second try! With pics! :)

* First you enter 1 character
* if you're lucky it's immediatly a red dot!
* since it's only 1 char, you know it's the right one, and the right position too!
* if the first char you enter isnt red, but white, ok, no prob, try another character in the next step
* you continue like this, until your first and only char is red! that way you can take that char to the next level.

I know it sounds complicated and hard to explain. Here are the pics:
metrix.exe
step1
step2
step3
step4

Obviously there's still some luck involved in my technique, but it does narrow it down (in my eyes) :)
good luck!

JuliusCaesar108 said...

I'm satisfied no cheats were available for this one - I did it all by myself like a good boy.

notlost said...

no more talk of easy games....i think theyre listening

Wesh said...

about the arrows, wow! nicely seen!
my thought for now: maybe the # stands for the number 5 on the keypad. that would give us this number:
8525522255
does that mean anything? not a clue.
good night.

Unknown said...

Using braille AOE font, I get
Xdxihadfji
Is that what everyone else gets?

McFly123 said...

thanks canucklehead for the clearup!! I was seriously about to smash my computer. been playing for about an hour. Anyway its stupid that the dots dont correspond to the boxes

travis said...

8525522255 is not the stego password.

Unknown said...

Hey... Maybe OURMUTUAL wants to say the password was that braille stuff in the video... What u think...

MIsterymachine

Anonymous said...

wesh, how do you get the up/down arrows to be numbers?

also, try it as the password for the stego picture

gottawatchlost said...

I think it's funny how so many complain that the puzzles/activities are too easy. They give us one that is a little difficult and people still complain.
This was a fun activity. I just wonder what the stuff at the end of the "won" video means.

travis said...

I got:

Xdxihadfji

OR

X4x98a4609

Or any combination of the numbers and letters.

spd said...

If you get desparate trying to hack the course plotter, use this method:

Here's a webpage that will solve the puzzle for you with a little help:
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/grahamlaight/jscript/Super_Mastermind_Solver.htm

(Note: this explanation is kind of confusing since you are switching between two webpages, so for the purpose of this explanating, the code box on the find815 game will be referred to as "game window" and the code box on the the website pasted above will be called "solver page."

Step 1: The webpage uses eight colors (as opposed to the game which uses 8 random numbers and letters) so you'll first need to take the letter/numbers that the game gives you and match up each with the eight colors from the solver page. For example, if you are told in game that HG62 B78N are your choices, assign each of those one of the colors that the solver web page uses. (H=Red, G=Blue, etc). It does not matter what color you match with what letter/number as long as you are consistent. IMPORTANT: Write up a RUBRIC to remind yourself which color you've assigned to which letter.

Step 2: The solver page starts off with a guess of five colors. Take that guess and enter it into the game page (changing the colors back to the numbers of course.) Go back to the solver page and put the number of red balls you see in the game window into the column on the solver page marked "correct colour correct column" and the number of white balls in the pull down box marked "correct colour, in correct column."

Step 3: Then the solver page will give you another guess based on the info you've just given it. Again, take that guess, change the colors to the letters/numbers (making sure you use the same rubric you've made above) and enter that guess into the game window page (on the find815 site). The game window will give you a number of red balls and a number of white balls Return to the solver page and put those numbers in the same spots that you did in step 2.

Repeat step 3 until you have all of them right.

Lisa said...

J Mark Pim - You rock the most... used your tip and got it right off!! Thanks! =)

Unknown said...

X4x981460@

HAVOCMAN74 said...

I got the password and saw the video but the "my progress" page isn't updating. The chapter 4 area won't even open up. Anybody else having this problem?

travis said...

It's not:

X4x9814609

Unknown said...

Press F5 bro... It will solve your problem...

Misterymachine

drewsifer said...

Okay folks, we're down to the nitty gritty here, we know what the purpose of this last video is. And that is those arrows/pound signs, so now we need to figure out if its significant to the stego password or something connected to the next batch of hints. Theres some extremeley smart people here, and i'm not one of them, i wanna know what these arrows are about, TELL ME OH GODS OF MESSAGE BOARDS.!.!.!

Anonymous said...

The password for the image is X4x98adf09.

A text file with a bunch of binary numbers is given from the image

mattcar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Yep... I just saw the little dot off board...

But it's not the password anyway...

Snif... LOL

Misterymachine

P.S. 1 = a in Braille ? Or am i gettin nutz ?

Misterymachine

Anonymous said...

The arrows represent if the character in the Braille AOE font is an upper case letter, lower case letter or number.

travis said...

forget this. They're going to have to give us better clues to break the stego puzzle!

travis said...

North is right!!! X4x98adf09 is the password!!!

this is the text:

00110101 00110110 00100000 00110011 00110010 00100000 00110110 00111000 00100000 00110110 01100011 00100000 00110110 00110010 00100000 00110110 00111001 00100000 00110100 00110010 00100000 00110100 01100001 00100000 00110100 00111001 00100000 00110100 00110101 00100000 00110110 00111000 00100000 00110110 01100011 00100000 00110101 00111001 00100000 00110101 00111000 00100000 00110100 01100001 00100000 00110110 01100010 00100000 00110100 00111001 00100000 00110100 00110110 00100000 00110101 00110010 00100000 00110110 01100110 00100000 00110101 01100001 00100000 00110101 00110011 00100000 00110100 00110010 00100000 00110100 01100100 00100000 00110101 01100001 00100000 00110101 00110111 00100000 00110100 00110110 00100000 00110111 00111001 00100000 00110110 00110010 00100000 00110110 00111001 00100000 00110110 00110100 00100000 00110110 01100010 00100000 00110100 00111001 00100000 00110100 00110101 00100000 00110100 00110110 00100000 00110111 01100001 00100000 00110110 00110100 00100000 00110100 00111000 00100000 00110100 01100001 00100000 00110111 00110110 00100000 00110110 00110010 00100000 00110110 01100100 00100000 00110011 00111001 00100000 00110111 00110100 00100000 00110101 01100001 00100000 00110101 00111000 00100000 00110100 00111001 00100000 00110011 01100100

travis said...

this is the text conversion of the binary:

56 32 68 6c 62 69 42 4a 49 45 68 6c 59 58 4a 6b 49 46 52 6f 5a 53 42 4d 5a 57 46 79 62 69 64 6b 49 45 46 7a 64 48 4a 76 62 6d 39 74 5a 58 49 3d

still gibberish!

Danielxv said...

@Wesh
it really work

Anonymous said...

what number is that in hexidecimal?

drewsifer said...

Holy crap, now the mystery of the binary code, these puzzle's are just like the show, a wild goose hunter one after the other.

travis said...

Hex decoded:

35 36 20 33 32 20 36 38 20 36 63 20 36 32 20 36 39 20 34 32 20 34 61 20 34 39 20 34 35 20 36 38 20 36 63 20 35 39 20 35 38 20 34 61 20 36 62 20 34 39 20 34 36 20 35 32 20 36 66 20 35 61 20 35 33 20 34 32 20 34 64 20 35 61 20 35 37 20 34 36 20 37 39 20 36 32 20 36 39 20 36 34 20 36 62 20 34 39 20 34 35 20 34 36 20 37 61 20 36 34 20 34 38 20 34 61 20 37 36 20 36 32 20 36 64 20 33 39 20 37 34 20 35 61 20 35 38 20 34 39 20 33 64

mattcar said...

You can use this to see translations it shows a few differant translations
http://www.paulschou.com/tools/xlate/

Mandazoid said...

The binary translated to say "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer", which is a poem by Walt Whitman.

travis said...

Wow, I'm amazed with North75 being able to discern that the arrows and #'s directly dealt with the Braille code. Kudos!

Mandazoid said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ewall said...

Amanda, how did you get that?

travis said...

Wow, I'm amazed with North75 being able to discern that the arrows and #'s directly dealt with the Braille code. Kudos!

travis said...

yeah, how??

Thomasriekki said...

I tried to do this game with skill, but 10 tries just isn't enough...so I just guessed until it worked! :P

Mandazoid said...

Actually, Vanessa or someone else in the chat got that. They converted it somehow. I was just passing along the news. :o)

Unknown said...

To use Mr. Whitman's words:
"...I became tired and sick..."...

And i'm going to sleep...
:P

Cheers

Misterymachine

Simon Bourne said...

binary->hex->base64 encoded

Unknown said...

By the way... Is someone having trouble on the chat in Windows Vista as well as I am ??
It keeps on knocking IE down...

Dr. Candle said...

My Daughter is 11 and a puzzle head, she figured it on the first try. Only you all did it hours ago, oh well she still rocks!
Namaste

justashepard23 said...

whats a hexidecimal???
...Nerds

Anonymous said...

I think Vanessa beat me to it by a few minutes.. oh well. It was chance that I even saw the post by ourmutual referencing the Braile AOE font. I was having trouble because some of the braile characters corresponded to both a letter or a number... thats when the code from the video clicked.

Anonymous said...

I think Vanessa beat me to it by a few minutes.. oh well. It was chance that I even saw the post by ourmutual referencing the Braile AOE font. I was having trouble because some of the braile characters corresponded to both a letter or a number... thats when the code from the video clicked.

Unknown said...

I finally got it, but I think it was more due to luck than anything else, but whew, finally!

Anonymous said...

You want to get the white dots as fast as possible, so dont start with only 3 charachters, fill them all out then start rotating ones in and out, it doesn't matter the order. I got this on the 5th entry. Once you get whites, you just change order until you get it. Most likely you will have red ones also, so you will choose the number of red dots and dont change that many charachters, if you get more red, you change the right ones. etc.

Anonymous said...

This is how i did it.
I entered just one character in each line to see which ones were good and which ones were bad. By the 6th or 7th one you should know what characters are needed for the code and at that point you'll have 4 or 3 tries to get it right.

Anonymous said...

the numbers and signs at the end of the vid correspond with the brail we caught on the last tape. The arrows represent if the character is upper case or lower case. This password in end result is suppose to be the password for the steg picture

Congested said...

Thanks all. I've updated the post with a method to solve the puzzle.

J said...

Power of elimination and a bit of luck. Start by searching for letters not in the sequence:

Given letters: BG5J SV4L

Line 1 (BBBGG: 5 blk) Fill in the first letter in the first 3 spots, second in the next two. If you're lucky like I was on this go, you'll eliminate two letters right from the start.

Line 2 (555JJ: 1 red) Fill in the next sequence pair, and so on. In this case I got a single, correct match. For now, I'll assume (incorrectly) it's the "5" in position 1.
Found: nothing
Known: B & G not matched
Assumed: 5 in first pos, J not matched

Line 3 (-VVSS: 2 wht) Assuming we know position 1, we move on to the next pair. Had I put the "5" in there on line 3, I would have seen it was incorrectly positioned sooner. I blanked it because it helped me think, AND making that assumption helps make things clearer along the way.
Found: V & S match
Known: B & G not matched
Assumed: 5 in first pos, J not matched

Line 4 (-SSVV: 2 red) I flip the last pair around to narrow down the correct positioning. I know one of 3 possibilities must be correct.
Found: V & S match, rough positioning
Known: B & G not matched
Assumed: 5 in first pos, J not matched

Line 5 (544LL: 3 wht) I hadn't actually verified that "5" was valid, so now I put it in where I thoought it belongs, as well as test the remaining two letters. Ooops! While I've verified "5" is a match, it's not placed correctly. No matter - the alternative would have confirmed "J", and told me it was in one of two positions.
Found: 5 4 L S V matched, rough positioning of pretty much all, "5" is NOT in position 1 as first assumed
Known: B G J not matched
Assumed: previous assumptions are now gone

Line 6. I now have a puzzle that is much easier to solve. Now let's revisit what we know matched location (red):
12345 positions

LLL44 possibilities (put "L & 4" opposite from row 5)
-SSVV possibilities (shown true row 4)
-55-- possibilities (shown true row 2, nix pos 1 from row 5)

Bingo - we know "L" must be in position 1. Let's redraw with it eliminated from other possibilities:

12345 positions

L5544 possibilities
LSSVV possibilities

Bingo!! Suddenly, we're down to only 4 possible combinations remaining, and still 5 attempts - golden! They are:
L5SV4 <- SOLUTION
LS4V4
LS44V
L5S4V

Anonymous said...

i beat the game on my second try. all i did the second time around was type one letter then hit enter. then did it a second time and that one single letter ended up being a red dot. so i did that letter then a second letter. then a third etc. i had three rows/chances left at the end by the time i got the password. it works trust me, just maybe will take a couple tries.

James D said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dvodvo123 said...

I've mafe it!!! Yes!!

zap800 said...

wow neat game and got on the second try. horay for me!!!

lost saison 4 said...

thanks you darkufo ;)

lost saison 4 said...

Thanks you Darkufo ;)

gunshyne said...

It took me 30 minutes but I got it right...and I got a headache.

Save_The_Hobbit said...

*cries a bit* I'm blonde, I can't do this.

lostlove said...

This is just like the mastermind game! I got it by trying 1 letter/# in the first line, then eliminating it if no dots, then adding another letter/# on the next line. Just keep adding to what you know until you get it. The trouble is they don't give you much time, and then change it the next time. Once you win, you will see the video confrontation of Talbot and Sam. It is clear that Talbot knows exactly where the coordinants are by seeing Sam's paper with the long and lat.

BillKos said...

Here's my walkthrough:

http://billkosloskymd.typepad.com/urbivore/2008/01/chart-plotter-p.html

Unknown said...

I don't know how, but I could do the game at the first try. I also recognized that I've missed to play Mastermind. :D

Dominick said...

Wow took me about 30 minutes but that method would've got me through in no time. I thought you had to put a character in each box, so I was typing 77777 etc until I knew which were used or not, and was usually left with 2-4 guesses by the end.