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[TRAILHEAD?] Sorry we destroyed the universe
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lorgenn
Greenhorn

Joined: 24 May 2016
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow

 		So here is another one picture with comment
Quote:
It's not hard. Really.




Sizes of pictures are 270x270 -> 220x220 -> 200x200
Still no idea what could be the hint.

EDIT: I've just noticed that first 3 squares aren't changing.
EDIT2: Actually first one is changing a bit but shade is the same.

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2016 6:22 pm
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technologenesis
Kilroy


Joined: 23 May 2016
Posts: 2
Location: Austin, Texas

 		Seems like we may not be getting any farther till we get these pictures sorted out. The RGB values exceed the standard ascii range as was pointed out but the way the first few pixels remain fairly constant and the last few are always black seem to indicate that some kind of data is contained within these images.

It may be worthwhile to try and reverse engineer the oroginal RGB values of the pixels before compression, e.g. by averaging each 10x10 pixel into a uniform color? I'm not sure how accurate that would be as I don't know the details of JPEG compression.

If we could find a reliable way to get the original colors of the pixels then we may be able to find a file format that fits the RGB values and figure out what these things mean.

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2016 7:21 pm
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lorgenn
Greenhorn

Joined: 24 May 2016
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow
Quote:
It may be worthwhile to try and reverse engineer the oroginal RGB values of the pixels before compression, e.g. by averaging each 10x10 pixel into a uniform color?


So you gave me an idea and I tried to use GIMP for that.
There is a filter named Pixelize which can do such averaging to some extent. Maybe PS can do it better.
Still I have no clear idea what to do with this

EDIT: So it seems that averaging color resulted in some clear shifts of RGB values so it not really reliable way. But again, maybe PS could do better job.
Also it could be that "It's not hard. Really." hits that solution should be much simpler than trying to correctly restore original color codes. Though that's just suggestion.
pic1_pix.png
 Description   
 Filesize   4.12KB
    412 Time(s)

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pic2_pix.png
 Description   
 Filesize   2.82KB
    411 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.
pic3_pix.png
 Description   
 Filesize   2.4KB
    411 Time(s)

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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2016 8:36 pm
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ArchEnder
Greenhorn

Joined: 28 May 2016
Posts: 6

 		New tweets, drawings, and pixel pictures in .PNG
A whole lot of new info has dropped. For one, they appear to have created an imgur upload with the pixel photos in .png format whilst making a comment about our compression formats being less than up to snuff -- I'd say this is a strong hint that we were on the right track when running down RGB values.

They also posted a link to download of a zipped folder containing some images. If you download the folder all the files are locked,
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
but as they tell us in their tweet, the key really is persistence.


In some of the drawings we can make out what appears to be some sort of coded writing writing. I'll post the relevant images (the other images just appear to be smaller versions of the large ones, as well as a few data files I wasn't sure what to do with -- I think they might pertain to locking the files.) below. If you want to check the rest of the files download the folder from their twitter link and use the code
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
persistence

^bedroom^large.png
 Description   Bedroom.
 Filesize   1.82MB
    52 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.
^device^large.png
 Description   Device.
 Filesize   2.01MB
    48 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.
^office^large.png
 Description   Office.
 Filesize   2.01MB
    48 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.
^workspace^large.png
 Description   Workspace.
 Filesize   2.4MB
    40 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.

PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 10:33 pm
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ArchEnder
Greenhorn

Joined: 28 May 2016
Posts: 6

 		Strange language cracked.
I've mostly cracked whatever that strange lettering is -- each symbol corresponds one to one with a letter in the alphabet.

The "Bedroom" reads,
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"We're scared. We think something bad is happening, but he won't admit it."



The "Office" reads,
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"This is a secret alphabet my dad invented."


The "Workspace" message reads,
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"I want to ask for help but don't know how."


I've since used the alphabet to translate the writing in the twitter profile pictures. The first readable one looks to say
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"Testing."


The current pictures says,
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"Hello."
(photo below)

I'll edit this post with the other messages after I finish translating them, and I'll attach a photo of the known alphabet.
IMG_20160528_220127.jpg
 Description   Alphabet
 Filesize   843.11KB
    41 Time(s)

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Hello.jpg
 Description   Hello.
 Filesize   24.29KB
    373 Time(s)

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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:33 pm
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lorgenn
Greenhorn

Joined: 24 May 2016
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow

 		So I've quickly extracted RGB values of three pixelized png images with python.
Zip file contains 3 images and corresponding txt files with RGB values and hex codes.
Don't have time for now to figure out message so I'm leaving it there.
pixels.zip
 Description   
 Filesize   20.71KB
    39 Time(s)

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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 4:32 am
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ArchEnder
Greenhorn

Joined: 28 May 2016
Posts: 6

 		Something bad has happened
Still no progress on the pixel photos, but something has happened. New tweets claim
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"We're sorry, but we can no longer continue with these posts. As it stands, we messed up when we wanted to show you something and included things we ought not have included, but we were in a hurry and excited to bring actual illustrations to the label instead of just text. We really would like to continue telling this story, but we cannot as our anonymity is no longer guaranteed. We have concluded that, for our own protection, we will remove the files and end this story here. We retreat. Bye."


There is also another encoded pastebin message, in case they do remove it, encoded text goes as follows: (line breaks were added by me to unbreak the forum)
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"CDIRDFDHTDEFANAELNRNKIWGUMUFMRSRAUYCGBDVAANOPUOO
WTITAIRNEIIOLTOORENWGHLAMMCRAHCUCTTHEDRWWIUHWMINCORAHRO
EAOTCTENUDHSTVTNRMLFUTNIEVHEETSHTROLOWNIGEULSEBMSEEEEAEST
RTTCLIMGINEHGULOHEIOTLSHREIECTGUOGLNMOKYLNSEENTFEERNASEIW
OILEROCESTTLCWTIERWDHUDAOFGYATNHVMLOCGONODBRNOTEIHTTPYNE
AHYOTEIOTHUSDSIFDSNGGEOIAEMFLGTIUWILKSAAUHFTEOTSRWEGHNLTT
XTCDHVENSLTGWBOEFTWRUMQQRNOIYREBETERHMYEEITAOTOWSERAHAH
NAEOINGHUOSOERAYWHOLADEIAFHIHSOHYETLINDEITTWEOSWTONEONTE
TDUPAEEEDEDNRVOEDETOYSHINMHTHCDROSTNPDTEARDTEHSGRHELIMEW
LYEWRCHTOPLETOEFEUNRSSRDTUIIOEECXAOTELOWLEFSDHEAEIEMOBITPB
BYTSOWMTIHRTUINEAUHNLNHERIWOODEOTHIACDTBPEEEERPETOWECCTA
OALMTTLEWAEYDBWAIKBAEHOHARTOAKSEEEINAUUAORROEXUAOTOEYTC
TEDATTNNFDECLROMDBTELETNIASWNTAUUNEIAESEEKAISNEOOTTENRRETY
TEWFNEFNRDMWTNDHBOECNGNNSTWEUEEHTWTRSIAHHYSEWRWGYECRAL
NNIWARAHRBABLRFVICIISIMSUNPTDKHNFGOK"


Finally, I sent an encoded message to their twitter before they went dark, asking what they were afraid of. Their newest profile picture contains the answer:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"@Jacob, the Noise."


This actually brings me to one thing of note about the new encrypted text; the letter J has zero occurrences. Might be nothing, but the two pieces of info seem worth remark when combined.

Edit: Well shit guys, I'm an idiot: found a huge message log in the files I downloaded with the sketches in included. I'll attach it below, lots of new information.
-5plkun6_400x400.jpg
 Description   New profile picture.
 Filesize   23.7KB
    311 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.
Messages.txt
 Description   Text message conversation.
 Filesize   17.13KB
    39 Time(s)

Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.

PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 6:22 pm
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lorgenn
Greenhorn

Joined: 24 May 2016
Posts: 4
Location: Moscow

 		You're not the only one who is idiot Laughing
I completely ignored that directory in archive.

About latest encrypted message. I'm not confused by letter J zero occurrences.
If you analyse frequency of letters you will notice that letters in this message appears almost like in normal text.
Wiki page
Analyser
So it's most likely not a cipher but encoded message in some way. Currently I only tried to do something with ASCII codes.

About their answer. If you remember there was a message "about background noise".
It contains lots of stuff about colours and lines. It feels like there is a clue to pixels puzzle.

Also I've just noticed something.
If timestamps mean anything then message "Bye" was sent between messageIDs 86dec6fd66ea499c046f and c8a863e4788fb2b37ca4. Means it was sent even before images with secret alphabet were sent.

PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:58 pm
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moonshaft
Greenhorn


Joined: 20 May 2016
Posts: 5
Location: Adelaide, Australia

 		Wow you guys have been busy the last couple of days! (I was at the Australian premiere of TMNT 2 woo hoo!)

Why do I get the impression that the PMs are getting super frustrated at us? ... LOL. We have to do something about these images. Especially since they got PO-ed at me for uploading them to imgur (which seemed to have wrecked them).
Is their last tweet in game or are they actually quitting? (Or am I dumb?)

PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:50 pm
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ArchEnder
Greenhorn

Joined: 28 May 2016
Posts: 6

 		Profile picture updated.
Pretty clear the PMs aren't totally done with us yet, as they've updated their profile picture with a new, ominous, message.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
"Help
bee
337575
@gmail"


I've sent an email to bee337575SPLATgmail.com, we'll see if they respond. Until then, I'll keep pulling my hair over those pictures xD.
0YjppWs9_400x400.jpg
 Description   New Profile
 Filesize   24.29KB
    269 Time(s)

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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 7:54 pm
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Xkeeper
Veteran


Joined: 12 Dec 2012
Posts: 87

 		Small observation: The colors in the images seem random. There may be some silliness going on behind the scenes, but dumping them to a file as a simple r,g,b,r,g,b bytestream and run through ent suggests that they're pretty much just random noise.

The first red value is shared but that's the only thing that's the same between them.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:37 pm
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ArchEnder
Greenhorn

Joined: 28 May 2016
Posts: 6

 		Got a reply!
Looks like the email panned out, and I've received a reply. Looks like we're talking to Sam, and Alan doesn't know about it, more info will supposedly drop tomorrow.
Email 1.png
 Description   
 Filesize   20.42KB
    86 Time(s)

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:54 pm
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booba
Unfictologist


Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 1433

 		Flogging a dead horse department.
This one appears to be truly dead, but just to clear up that last cipher http://pastebin.com/raw/R3xqNCuu

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
It is a columnar transposition with key length 11

Using the drag and drop feature here http://bionsgadgets.appspot.com/gadget_forms/mysz5.html you can rearrange the last row to spell out "checksum" and use partial words from there to get:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
postidbcece
acreatoridb
eeddebeatim
estampchars
etutfencode
dtitlegutfe
elingencode
dcontentwhe
nwefirststa
rtedupthede
viceweweres
oexcitedaft
erallourhar
dworkwewant
edtoseewhat
themachinec
ouldactuall
ydobutwheni
sawthatworm
holeforming
ifeltasinki
ngfeelingin
mystomachwe
hadntthough
tthisthroug
hnearlyasmu
chasweshoul
dvewewerefo
rmingawormh
olethereare
somanywaysi
tcouldgowro
ngbutbythat
pointwecoul
dntexactlys
topitireach
edbackandgr
abbedbluebe
rryshandidi
dntevenhave
toseehisfac
etoknowthat
hewashaving
similarthou
ghtstranspo
rtingthroug
hthewormhol
eprobablyon
lytookafewm
inutesbutto
meitfeltlik
eaneternity
whenwefinal
lyarrivedin
yourunivers
ethemachine
wentquietee
rilyquietin
contrastwit
hthenoiseof
thewormhole
ourfirstste
psinyourwor
ldwerenoton
esofexplora
tionbutones
ofdreadwene
ededtoknowi
fsomethingw
entwrongtho
ughthefeeli
nginmygutal
readytoldme
sochecksumr


key: GDHJEIKBFAC


PostPosted: Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:12 pm
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