Having solved this with some hints, this doesn't feel like a satisfying solve.
It turns out, I was on the right track all along. But even being on the right track for hours, there was no indication that it was the right track, no way to tell if it was another rabbit hole. And why didn't it work? Because of ambiguity in the key. And again, there was no indication when you finished the first step, to even know that you should do another step. And that second step itself feels very random. You would only ever think to do it because of the knowledge about the format. And then there's a last step, just "fixing" the code, which doesn't seem to be based on anything except knowledge about the format again.
While the first part, finding the code and the images, was a fun challenge, everything after that was not. In my opinion, a solve should have obvious checkpoints, some way to tell if you did something right, and not rely on hacking together the required format.
I hate to say it...if I was Rene, I would keep my mouth shut for 24 hours knowing I was in #26 for total solve time and could really bump up in ranking.
Since it has already been commented on where the step 1 letters are...I'm really disappointed in the ability for mobile users to "sharpen" the picture.
It's 60% incomplete so I'm not giving anything away but this is the best I could do on my iPhone X.
I dont have photoshop so I had to figure out how to use G.I.M.P. (free) to pull the rest of the letters. I feel for all the mobile only users...
If you were able to pull the letters on an iPhone, I'd be interested to know how.
so the images lead to a key, which when applied to the 19 letters gives you a version of the final passcode that needs to be “fixed” (which I assume means re interpreted for numbers) to get the actual code?
In addition to my last comment, some further elaboration which also contains some (small) hints.
The 19 characters are quite obvious. But the other parts of the image are also significant. They lead to both the alphabet and the key that you will need to decode the 19 characters. The decoding itself is quite straightforward. This is the method that I had for hours, but didn't know that it was correct.
There is no clear indication that your decoding is correct. Usually this is indicated by the result having an expected length or character set, but this is not quite true here. It's easy to get part of the key wrong and still end up with a result that looks just as plausible.
After that first decoding step, you need to do some substitutions, for which you need the format again to be able to guess the key. They follow the same "theme" as the previous steps.
The last step is pretty easy, but it only makes sense if you know why you have to do it from previous challenges.
I was not the first to solve it, I still got hints from someone else. Even though it turns out I already knew everything from that hint and just got some small detail wrong. Just that the small detail was the difference between "this looks right" and "I have no idea if anything I'm doing is even remotely correct", which is the frustrating part.
California, central coast. it is monotonously pleasant here. You have a fair point, Ingress tells me i walked 16 km in those 2 days. i could not have done that easily in -20C.
Probably...but I already have the letters from using my computer instead so I'm moving forward...I'm looking for proof that the letters can be pulled on an iPhone using a free photo editing app or free mobile friendly website...
hit me up on telegram (same name) if you want to prove me wrong...
Well I have already tried using facts from the image as a "key" to decode the string, but my main problem is I don't know a cipher that uses accented letters.
I’m getting somewhere with what was getting me “nula” before (made a mistake in my spreadsheet algorithm) .. now I have a partial key that gives me a form of 13ar that can be derived from the image ... but I’m having an awful time trying to figure out the rest of the key
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Username NanoApe Joined 8:49PM Last Active 9:15PM
we'll be able to tell for sure when the leaderboard gets updated, but right now i smell a troll.
(joined at 8:49 PM, made their first post of "done" at 8:51 PM)
I think I'm "done" for today too. I have no idea how to solve this, but I have a number of interesting ideas for new puzzles.
yeah I came up with a wild idea that I have never seen before in a puzzle that is inspired by making google translate beatbox
made a Czech tabla recta ... trying to reverse engineer Vigenere cipher but getting “nula“
You mean this?
shrug not the first time i'd been wrong. Got any clues for us still struggling?
This is also not exactly helping me build 800 fields ...
thats how nemesis gets you
luckily, the girlfriend and I finished this on the weekend. after doing 2000 fields for EXO5 in 2017, this was easy.
Having solved this with some hints, this doesn't feel like a satisfying solve.
It turns out, I was on the right track all along. But even being on the right track for hours, there was no indication that it was the right track, no way to tell if it was another rabbit hole. And why didn't it work? Because of ambiguity in the key. And again, there was no indication when you finished the first step, to even know that you should do another step. And that second step itself feels very random. You would only ever think to do it because of the knowledge about the format. And then there's a last step, just "fixing" the code, which doesn't seem to be based on anything except knowledge about the format again.
While the first part, finding the code and the images, was a fun challenge, everything after that was not. In my opinion, a solve should have obvious checkpoints, some way to tell if you did something right, and not rely on hacking together the required format.
Well that’s disheartening
Congrats, anyway :)
Could you share some hints with the rest of us that are still stuck with the 19 string?
I hate to say it...if I was Rene, I would keep my mouth shut for 24 hours knowing I was in #26 for total solve time and could really bump up in ranking.
Since it has already been commented on where the step 1 letters are...I'm really disappointed in the ability for mobile users to "sharpen" the picture.
It's 60% incomplete so I'm not giving anything away but this is the best I could do on my iPhone X.
I dont have photoshop so I had to figure out how to use G.I.M.P. (free) to pull the rest of the letters. I feel for all the mobile only users...
If you were able to pull the letters on an iPhone, I'd be interested to know how.
so the images lead to a key, which when applied to the 19 letters gives you a version of the final passcode that needs to be “fixed” (which I assume means re interpreted for numbers) to get the actual code?
took me from 11AM Friday to about 1AM Sunday. As another poster mentions, EXO-5 really drove home what is needed to get this done.
In addition to my last comment, some further elaboration which also contains some (small) hints.
The 19 characters are quite obvious. But the other parts of the image are also significant. They lead to both the alphabet and the key that you will need to decode the 19 characters. The decoding itself is quite straightforward. This is the method that I had for hours, but didn't know that it was correct.
There is no clear indication that your decoding is correct. Usually this is indicated by the result having an expected length or character set, but this is not quite true here. It's easy to get part of the key wrong and still end up with a result that looks just as plausible.
After that first decoding step, you need to do some substitutions, for which you need the format again to be able to guess the key. They follow the same "theme" as the previous steps.
The last step is pretty easy, but it only makes sense if you know why you have to do it from previous challenges.
I’m going to assume it has not been -20 C where you are
I use photo editor for android.
@ReneZ11 just 2 languages or maybe 3 (key)?
I was not the first to solve it, I still got hints from someone else. Even though it turns out I already knew everything from that hint and just got some small detail wrong. Just that the small detail was the difference between "this looks right" and "I have no idea if anything I'm doing is even remotely correct", which is the frustrating part.
California, central coast. it is monotonously pleasant here. You have a fair point, Ingress tells me i walked 16 km in those 2 days. i could not have done that easily in -20C.
There is another way to get to it! Keep thinking of other image related options :)
Probably...but I already have the letters from using my computer instead so I'm moving forward...I'm looking for proof that the letters can be pulled on an iPhone using a free photo editing app or free mobile friendly website...
hit me up on telegram (same name) if you want to prove me wrong...
I knew a great many tricksters in my life but I doubt they are high calibre enough. Altho I think HBomb and Olly Thorn
Well I have already tried using facts from the image as a "key" to decode the string, but my main problem is I don't know a cipher that uses accented letters.
I’m getting somewhere with what was getting me “nula” before (made a mistake in my spreadsheet algorithm) .. now I have a partial key that gives me a form of 13ar that can be derived from the image ... but I’m having an awful time trying to figure out the rest of the key
I have been proven wrong and I'm happy to admit it 😅😊.
I have a theory about which decoder to use on the 2nd step, could an agent that has solved entertain my theory on telegram?
Using any smartphone, google steganography and incoherency. One of the top hits will be a site for that method.
- Chooses unhide image
- Upload the image
- Set hidden bits to 3
- Tap to download/save the image BUT do not save it
- Zoom in at the bottom center to see the letters
- Get a screenshot / write it down whatever
You're welcome (to those who have no idea). Be stuck with the majority of decoders on this part.
Can anyone confirm or refute that the final keyword has 9 letters and/or the opening prefix is of the form #xxx#x?
got em solved. after much prodding and nudging...
got to say, this one stumped me so hard.