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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Iris (Halo 3)
The Server Keys
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AngriBuddhist
Entrenched


Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 778
Location: Wa.

 		If you had a 24 character string that consisted of both Cap and lower case letters as well as numbers can you think of a reason that it would end with "=="?

I think the codes that I saw (along with mine) all ended this way.

ZQXvo0oRYGrC*********==

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:37 pm
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Schmeck
Boot

Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 27
Location: St. Louis, MO
AngriBuddhist wrote:
If you had a 24 character string that consisted of both Cap and lower case letters as well as numbers can you think of a reason that it would end with "=="?

I think the codes that I saw (along with mine) all ended this way.

ZQXvo0oRYGrC*********==


From Wikipedia - Base64:

Quote:
After encoding padded data, if two octets were remaining to encode, one "=" character is appended to the output; if one octet was remaining, two "=" characters are appended. This signals the decoder that the zero bits added due to padding should not be emitted in the reconstructed data. This also guarantees that the encoded output length is a multiple of 4 bytes.


PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:40 pm
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AngriBuddhist
Entrenched


Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 778
Location: Wa.

 		Umm...

Quote:
After encoding padded data, if two octets were remaining to encode, one "=" character is appended to the output; if one octet was remaining, two "=" characters are appended. This signals the decoder that the zero bits added due to padding should not be emitted in the reconstructed data. This also guarantees that the encoded output length is a multiple of 4 bytes.


An octet is a group consisting of 8 elements. (wikipedia)

So the "==" tells me that for my "key", one group of 8 elements (characters) is what? missing?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:48 pm
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AngriBuddhist
Entrenched


Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 778
Location: Wa.

 		That 8 more digits go where my Zero is???

ZQXvo0(<---Zero)oRYGrC*********==

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:05 pm
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Schmeck
Boot

Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 27
Location: St. Louis, MO

 		Yeah...I'm not sure. That stuff hurts my head. I just know it is related to encoding a value.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:10 pm
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AngriBuddhist
Entrenched


Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 778
Location: Wa.

 		Going to work be back.

Does everyone have a 0 (ZERO) in their key?

Does anyone have a portion of a key that matches any mine?

ZQXvo0oRYGrC*********==

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:27 pm
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sorerutenshi
Greenhorn

Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Herndon, VA

 		Re: base64?
sorerutenshi wrote:
I wasn't on in time to get one of they keys, but if they all end with "==" then it sounds like they might be base64 encoded. I think it might be worth it if everyone who was fortunate enough to receive one would try to decode it. A quick google search turned up www.opinionatedgeek.com/dotnet/tools/Base64Decode/

Looking forward to seeing the results. ^_^


So I guess no one noticed when I posted this earlier in the thread? *sigh* Oh well.

If you want to try the decoder, I think it could be very interesting.

As for the zero bits it's talking about in the base64 description, those are added at the end, but they don't necessarily show up since they're zero bits, not characters.

Also, trying to decode part of a key may not work quite right, and it certainly won't give anything complete.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:40 pm
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DiscipleN2k
Veteran


Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 113
Location: Oklahoma City
Urk wrote:
http://args.bungie.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=485

Moderator at args.bungie.org is asking for keys to test a theory out. He thinks he can translate them, but wants to verify.


Those of you that haven't already, don't worry about sending your keys. He was just trying to do the base64 decoding, but didn't seem to lead anywhere. Still may be worth trying on your own keys just for the heck of it, but he's no longer requesting keys.

EDIT: Go HERE to decode your key. Credit goes to AMarine88 for the link.
_________________
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes, that way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

-Jack Handey

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:55 pm
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AngriBuddhist
Entrenched


Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 778
Location: Wa.

 		I took my key on over to some crazy forum where everybody speaks techo-jargon and slapped it down on the table. It's late so only one guy was even interested in talking to me. He confirmed what that args.bungie.org guy and some here said. Base 64.

But...looky.

Quote:
its a base64 encoded string, the algorithm takes 3 bytes of data and encodes it to 4 bytes of printable characters, when it gets to the end and only has 1 byte left it encodes it to two printable characters and ==, when there are only 2 bytes at the end it encodes it to 3 printable bytes and a =


What does it mean? Well the most important thing is that whoever made these keys didn't just sit down and write 100 (probably more like 25 assuming redundancy in case anyone lost them) keys pulling random numbers out of their head.

They made a probably 16 character string and then base64 encoded it.
Not only that but they left the "==" on the end of it, telling us that it is an encoded string in base64.

Why go through all of that trouble?
Are the ARG people so worried that their own employees might steal a key that they were running a script to make up keys on the fly?

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:15 am
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Shiningfist
Unfettered

Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Posts: 316

 		i've the decoder but im not getting anything

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:30 am
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Snooper_1989
Boot


Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 31

 		'tis not exactly Base 64, I think someone else in another thread pointed out that it was a GUID, which is what Microsoft love.

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

Code:
When printing fewer characters is desired, GUIDs are sometimes encoded into a base64 string of 22 to 24 characters (depending on padding). For instance:

    7QDBkvCA1+B9K/U0vrQx1A
    7QDBkvCA1+B9K/U0vrQx1A==


Pretty much unencoding your Keys will result in you getting a GUID...

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:31 am
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