Return to Unfiction unforum
 a.r.g.b.b 
FAQ FAQ   Search Search 
 
Welcome!
New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.
Website Restoration Project
This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.
Announcements
This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.
This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.
  

The time now is Fri Nov 15, 2024 3:18 pm
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)		 View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum
Calendar
 Forum index » Diversions » Perplex City Puzzle Cards » PXC: Silver Puzzle Cards
[PUZZLE] #251 - Silver - The Thirteenth Labour - READ POST#1
Moderators: AnthraX101, bagsbee, BrianEnigma, cassandra, Giskard, lhall, Mikeyj, myf, poozle, RobMagus, xnbomb
View previous topicView next topic
Page 53 of 73 [1087 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, ..., 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, ..., 71, 72, 73  Next
Author Message
hairysocks
Boot


Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 38
Location: Exeter, Devon, England

 		I'm not wanting to spoil the party, but I get the feeling from what I've read in this forum that you all expect the decoded file to be plain text, with a question or a statement. BUT I recall reading in the first #251 discussion that MC contacted the author of rccrypt to ask about encrypting a file that DID NOT contain just text characters - e.g. a series of low ASCII value characters before the actual message. Will this scupper the efforts of the cracking tool you're all using?
_________________
"You never can tell with Heffalumps"

PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:44 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Juxta
Unfettered

Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 675

 		I can find no record of this being the case, could you elaborate and linky please?

J

P.S. The below quote is taken from comments from the author of rccrypt.

Richard wrote:

It's possible that my code might work - the RC5 was 32/12/8, but used long keys - mine uses long long, so it may actually be 64/12/8 - I've always thought of mine as 128/X/X, but it might be that I'm mistaken.

The people at disibuted.net will almost certainly be able to look at my code and tell you.

If it is, then it's quite easy to use my stuff in a script to search though all the keyspace - you'd just need a way to split up the keys to search.

If this is the case, it would make sense as to why they sent you the "rccrypt" clue.

First off, I'm not at all offended or annoyed by your request - I put the form up so people can contact me Smile

You are the first person who has contacted me about this.

I had a request some time ago about using my RC-Crypt software for encoding/decoding a "clue" in a game. I wasn't able to give the people what they wanted, and assumed they had found another way. I don't know if they were connected with Perplexcity or not.

They had asked about encoding a clue that would significantly help in a roleplaying game if people could figure it out. They expected that a group of people with computers would be able to do it, possibly using my code or code from the RC5 group at www.distributed.net.

They wanted my code to be rewritten to use a different number of blocks, but I didn't have the time to do it for them.

My guess (I know nothing about the game, and have only heard about it from you) is that they have used my RC-Crypt program to encode something.

There are 176 characters, which is an integer number (11) of 16 bytes - the block size my code does. If they did use rccrypt, then the first 16 bytes are random data to make decoding harder, then the rest are the real message, with possibly some padding added at the end.

I would guess the 64/12/8 are the parameters, though they are not entirely obvious.
I would have thought 64 was the block size (in bits), but my code does 128 bits art a time.
The 12/8 are probably the size of the key in bytes, and the number of rounds used. Which is which? No idea!

To decode this, you'd need to run through every possible 12/8 byte key and check each result for a valid output - probably in English, but depends on the game.

I suspect that is not what they expect you to do, as an 8 byte key has 64 bits, and it would take a LONG time to find the solution (see www.distributed.net). I would guess there may be another clue giving some of the key to shorten the time period.

_________________
zzzshusoharuxpfrp

PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:14 pm
 View user's profile MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
themandotcom
Veteran


Joined: 28 Apr 2006
Posts: 136
Location: Syosset, New York, USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe

 		I'm wondering, has anybody tried burning, UV light-ing freezing or any other thing like that, maybe that would give us the key.
_________________
13th Labour!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:46 pm
 View user's profile AIM Address
 Back to top 
hairysocks
Boot


Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 38
Location: Exeter, Devon, England

 		You have quoted it yourself:

Richard wrote:

... If they did use rccrypt, then the first 16 bytes are random data to make decoding harder, then the rest are the real message, with possibly some padding added at the end ...

_________________
"You never can tell with Heffalumps"

PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:46 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
chimera245
Decorated

Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 209

 		I'd probably better explain.

The way the RC5 algorithm works is that each Block is combined with the next block as part of the encryption (and obviously decryption process).

The REAL data starts from the second block onwards - the first block is simply used to obfuscate it. Hence the message is 160 characters long (2nd - last block), with the additional block only used in the encryption/decryption process.

This is pretty standard behaviour.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:05 pm
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
Juxta
Unfettered

Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 675
Hairysocks wrote:
You have quoted it yourself:


Yes, thank you Chimera for clearing that up. I know what I was quoting, it just...didn't actually fall under the remit of what you were suggesting was a problem Smile

Juxta scurries away from the topic, to get back to what he's good at here. Running the client Wink

J
_________________
zzzshusoharuxpfrp

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:48 am
 View user's profile MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England

 		Looks like we just hit 50%, 50.04% is what the avatar image is showing right now.

Guess we'll be finding it fairly soon, if it's there. At least, hope we do!

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:31 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
dmatos
Boot

Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 26

 		Mine crashed/locked up the other night. I have uninstalled and reinstalled java and .net framework 1.1 and 2. Windows XP Pro.

I don't have the actual error messages, but this is the gist.

Registered JIT debugger is not available. An attempt to launch a JIT debugger with the following command resulted in an error code of 0x2 (2). Please check computer settings.
cordbg.exe !a 0x55
Click on Retry to have the process wait while attaching a debugger manually.
Click on Cancel to abort he JIT debug request.
--

Details say something about

error code 0x2(2)
--

Any suggestions? I get this error each time I start it up again.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:37 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Austin
Boot

Joined: 28 Feb 2006
Posts: 53
Location: uk
Quote:
Mine crashed/locked up the other night. I have uninstalled and reinstalled java and .net framework 1.1 and 2.


Try just deleting the files "units.txt" and "proc.txt" - if one of these get locked by a virus scanner, this can cause your problem. If that fails, re-install the client.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:33 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
mac_monkey
Decorated

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Posts: 250

 		Here's a little application I uickly knocked up as part of the 50% celebration. Its been up and tested for a few days, there will be constant updates at

http://mikesroom.org/13labour/13thlabour.swf

Current version has a progress bar and simple stats. Leave it open for a few minutes and the details will update and start counting down to 0 keys remaining.

Also does work unit number to key conversion. Check it out! Happy 50% day
_________________
Now Playing: Super-8

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:38 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Carma1313
Boot


Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 59
Location: Gravesend, Kent, England

 		Im having a real problem running the program at work. Now, I am REALLY clueless about programming (dispite being a CAD Technician) so if anyone can help me remedy the problem, preferably in leymans terms, please let me know! I want to help the masses!!!

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:16 am
 View user's profile Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England

 		What exactly is the problem?

If it's just not connecting to the server, I'd guess that the firewall your workplace has up isn't letting it connect through the non-standard port it uses (port 9001). If you ask the network admins to open up this port (if they ask why, give them some PXC cards to play with or something) you might get it working.

If that's not the problem, ignore me Very Happy

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:30 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
Clue
Guest
Carma1313 wrote:
Now, I am REALLY clueless about programming (dispite being a CAD Technician)


On the basis of that statement I think you could have stopped at "I am REALLY clueless."

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:27 am
 Back to top 
Carma1313
Boot


Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 59
Location: Gravesend, Kent, England
Clue wrote:
Carma1313 wrote:
Now, I am REALLY clueless about programming (dispite being a CAD Technician)


On the basis of that statement I think you could have stopped at "I am REALLY clueless."


Not really Clue, as I have had scenarios before where people presume I no nothing of computing, where as I know my way around fairly well. So people dont have to talk to me like a complete idiot... That way no one misunderstands or gets annoyied. People know where I am coming from that way. Although I do feel your comment what some what uncalled for.

And in reply to Agent Lex, when I try to run it I get this box come up.
Window1.JPG
 Description   This is just one of the windows.. I get a series of other prompts, errors etc when pressing ok or cancel.
 Filesize   14.49KB
 Viewed   377 Time(s)

Window1.JPG

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:41 am
 View user's profile Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England

 		Huh, no idea what's up, then. I had only really thought about the port thing.

Sorry!

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:49 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
Display posts from previous:   Sort by:   
Page 53 of 73 [1087 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, ..., 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, ..., 71, 72, 73  Next
View previous topicView next topic
 Forum index » Diversions » Perplex City Puzzle Cards » PXC: Silver Puzzle Cards
Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group