SoulStorm ARG - Spirit of 1029 - Photo 1

[Manco]

Oh, my mistake I totally missed that.

I’m trying to decode the morse by ear; it’s tough, but if you use VLC to slow the audio down and isolate the right channel, it’s barely possible to hear it when the background audio gets quiet.

This isn’t complete and likely isn’t all correct, but after a couple of attempts I have:

... .-- .- --. .- ... --. .- ---. -. -.-- .-. . ... . ..- -- --.- -.-- -- .. ..- .. -.-- --. .--. ... .-.- .--. ... .-- .--. .-. .- ... --. .- ---. -. --.- .- ---. -.-- ..- .-...

Trouble is, it doesn’t translate to anything immediately meaningful:

SWAGASGATGNYRESEUMQYMIUIYGPS<AA>PSWPRASGATGNQATGYU<AS>

Of note is the angle brackets; I’ve seen them appear in translations a couple of times, which leads me to think they are intentional and not a transcript error on my part. I can’t work out the text’s meaning though – it doesn’t seem to be a caesar cipher, forward or reversed.

[HOMINIX]

Nice Manco, is this your transcript of the reversed and cleaned up version, or the original?

[Manco]

This is a transcript of the original – reversed might also be worth a try, but I wasn’t able to clearly hear the dots in the cleaned version as clearly as I could in the original.

e: Apparently, AA and SA stand for “new line” and “wait” in morse. Those are the letters in the angle brackets – not sure if it’s a coincidence.

[edmudokon]

If you just reverse what you already transcripted it says "DQJNYAJNWSNRPGSPCSPWQIDIMQYMDESERQAJNWSNWNGS" which still doesn't really mean much
edit: there's "VE" between brackets at the beginning but idk why it won't show

[Xavier]

It's catch-up time

I've summarized all the findings we're sure of in the wikia:
http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Souls...e_second_phase

[brechtos]

It's catch-up time

I've summarized all the findings we're sure of in the wikia:
http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Souls...e_second_phase

Nice one Xavier

[Guineapiglet]

Damn it, I've been waiting for some image jobs I could help with, but it was all so early in the morning for me that I didn't get the chance!

[HOMINIX]

A bit rushed, but here ya go.

In the mean time, just want to put this up as a refresher so we can think about it more.

I believe the code is:
↖ ↖ ← ↙ ↘ - ↓ ↘ ↙ - ↓ ↑ ↖ ← - ↖ ↖ ↑ ↓ ↓ ↖ ↙ - ↓ ↘ ↙ - ↓ ↙ ↖ - ← ↙ ↙ ↙
_ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _

Note the second and fifth group of arrows are the same. Also, the last group wasn't as clear to read, so that may be wrong

I came across a method of coding called 8-directional Chain Coding that assigns numbers to the 8 directions, and they seem to almost always use this convention:



Using those numbers, we get: 33457 675 6234 3326635 675 4555

I don't know if that gets us anywhere, but hey

[STM]

Has anyone worked out that the runes at the top mean 'Ed' in futharc? Finally my runic tattoo has come in handy.

Also, oh. my. fucking. GODDDDD. Those sirens, man. Those. Sirens.

e: ok you did it already, good work guys.

[brechtos]

I believe the code is:
↖ ↖ ← ↙ ↘ - ↓ ↘ ↙ - ↓ ↑ ↖ ← - ↖ ↖ ↑ ↓ ↓ ↖ ↙ - ↓ ↘ ↙ - ↓ ↙ ↖ - ← ↙ ↙ ↙
_ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _

Wondering about what should be considered as "up" when reading them. My first instinct was to tilt the piece of paper sideways and interpret them like that.

[Manco]

No matter how many times I try to transcribe the morse code by ear, I end up with gibberish that doesn’t work with a Caesar cipher. Here’s another attempt:

MUVHURPSWPRASGUK<AA>SUMQYMIUIYMPPS<AA>PSWPRASGANQAYITA

The angle brackets are added automatically by the translator, so they’re not a part of the code. The AA and AS could be there intentionally, but it’s difficult to say; I do seem to consistently catch them when listening, so I believe they are correctly transcribed.

My theory is that the text is partially or fully encrypted with a method other than a Caesar cipher. Perhaps something from the image acts as a key for it?

But without a clearer audio file I don’t know how much more I’ll be able to get out of this – if someone could clear out the background noise and keep the morse clear, I’d have more success, but it’s tough as-is.

[Havoc]

It's catch-up time

I've summarized all the findings we're sure of in the wikia:
http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Souls...e_second_phase

Thanks for saving me a ton of work! Hm, I should really find some better way to show those Twitter quotes, they really stretch the page.

[Connell]

The fact it's turning up gibberish when transcribed shows there's almost certainly something else at play with the morse. If it's encrypted with something further like a caeser cipher, bear in mind that the pigpen clue was "YOU ARE THE KEY YOU KNOW IT IF YOU LISTEN". If this were another layer of encryption, perhaps "you" or "u" could literally be the key to use in the cipher.
It could also be reversed as people have mentioned. Apologies we didn't find anything quite as concrete as we'd hoped. They gave it a really good thrashing

[Nicky Ali]

Okay, at risk of getting a reputation as that guy who messes with Photoshop for no reason, I decided to take a look at that video of Abe frame-by-frame. Yeah, all 650+ of them. I figured there must be something hidden in this, so I decided to increase the saturation just to see if there was anything and I ended up finding these weird coloured squares localised around Abe's eye.



Do you think this could've been intentional, or am I basically stupid and reading into this way too much? 🙄

[Mr. Molluck]

The fact it's turning up gibberish when transcribed shows there's almost certainly something else at play with the morse. If it's encrypted with something further like a caeser cipher, bear in mind that the pigpen clue was "YOU ARE THE KEY YOU KNOW IT IF YOU LISTEN". If this were another layer of encryption, perhaps "you" or "u" could literally be the key to use in the cipher.
It could also be reversed as people have mentioned. Apologies that my pals didn't provide anything quite as concrete as we'd hoped. They gave it a good thrashing

I think "YOU ARE THE KEY YOU KNOW IT IF YOU LISTEN" may apply to any dialogue and sound effects within the audio clip. Maybe that could lead us to a clue for solving this.

[Connell]

I think the best course of action for tomorrow would be:

1. Keep trying to decipher the morse code, and any other messages in the .mp3
2. Figure out which cipher, if any, the arrows down the side of the page use
3. Find out how the numbers "12" and "20" that derived from the source code maths problems fit into the puzzle
4. Try and fit it all together and hope for some hints from Ed

Well done on everything so far guys, you da best

[HOMINIX]

Okay, at risk of getting a reputation as that guy who messes with Photoshop for no reason, I decided to take a look at that video of Abe frame-by-frame. Yeah, all 650+ of them. I figured there must be something hidden in this, so I decided to increase the saturation just to see if there was anything and I ended up finding these weird coloured squares localised around Abe's eye.



Do you think this could've been intentional, or am I basically stupid and reading into this way too much? 🙄

You might be onto something there - Pirfsich found something similar on a picture of Abe's eye last year:



You can find the post here: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showpo...postcount=1134
And the thread here: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showth...=22164&page=38

I don't think we ever found out what it meant though, so maybe that'll be useful to us at some point

[seniormeatbox]

Pretty sure the Morse is reversed. It sounds more like actual Morse code, it doesn't have the weird "slip" noise reversed sounds have.

[RyuuFox]

I reversed the main audio and I could hear mudokons saying
"help me, somebody help me" over and over again. :x

[mlg man]

You might be onto something there - Pirfsich found something similar on a picture of Abe's eye last year:



You can find the post here: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showpo...postcount=1134
And the thread here: http://www.oddworldforums.net/showth...=22164&page=38

I don't think we ever found out what it meant though, so maybe that'll be useful to us at some point

When you up the saturation on a black and white compressed image you're just revealing artifacts of JPEG, gif or what ever it's encoded with.

[V_O_T]

Can't wait to see what slogs look like in soulstorm holy cow :•

[Sybil Ant]

I reversed the main audio and I could hear mudokons saying
"help me, somebody help me" over and over again. :x

I think I heard that in the original MP3 as well actually.

[Xavier]

Oh guys, looks like there is more than just the .gif version of AbeRT!

https://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/AbeRT.gif
https://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/AbeRT.jpg

but even better:

https://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/AbeRT.mp4

Thanks for saving me a ton of work! Hm, I should really find some better way to show those Twitter quotes, they really stretch the page.

You're welcome

Yes I agree the twitter formatting isn't ideal, also wikia automatically added some weird spaces.

EDIT:

Looks like Ed is lost again :

http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/

W̨͚̬̮̖h͎͍̼̪̻ȩ͙͙̜̘̖̺r҉̳͚̙̫͓̙̞e͉͔̱̘̟ͅ ̦̻̹͢a͏̥̪̭̻͖̠̦M̖̲͖̻ ̮͍̤̰̗̣͟ị̦̮̝́?̴̦̦̝̯

[ndvr]

Good to see ARG alive again
Considering there's puzzles with numbers and "20", "12", which we don't know where to use, wanted to remind you that we still haven't got why there's numbers in SO1029 logo and why some parts of it is highlighted.
Plus, as I told, SO1029 logo was changed on 404 page of 1029.io
http://www.1029.io/404.php
with adding new numbers like "0" and two "4"s.

Here's my old post with notes about old logo on 1029.io.
http://www.oddworldforums.net/showpo...5&postcount=37

Logo isn't simmetrical, btw - there's asimmetry here and there, at edges of logo.

Hope this will help

BTW, and ideas what "RT" in "AbeRT" stands for? Real-time? Return?

Another AbeRT file
https://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/AbeRT.webm

In the mean time, just want to put this up as a refresher so we can think about it more.

I believe the code is:
↖ ↖ ← ↙ ↘ - ↓ ↘ ↙ - ↓ ↑ ↖ ← - ↖ ↖ ↑ ↓ ↓ ↖ ↙ - ↓ ↘ ↙ - ↓ ↙ ↖ - ← ↙ ↙ ↙
_ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _

Note the second and fifth group of arrows are the same. Also, the last group wasn't as clear to read, so that may be wrong

I came across a method of coding called 8-directional Chain Coding that assigns numbers to the 8 directions, and they seem to almost always use this convention:

I'm afraid you're wrong - first and second arrows, as well as many others seems different to me, while you list them as same.
The way arrows pointing reminds me of clock - like first arrow (counting from top) at 22:00, second - 23:00, third - 21:00, fourth - 19:00 etc.
Or it could be minutes/seconds - like 50, 55, 45, 35 etc.
Or compass/directions (NW, NNW, W, SSW, SE etc).

[Xavier]

Oooh nicely found.

I'm willing to bet "RT" stands for Real Time.

[OWI_Alex]

Oooh nicely found.

I'm willing to bet "RT" stands for Real Time.

Come on guys - I can feel you're getting closer.

[ndvr]

My version of arrows (notice awful quality!)
Arrows with same colors are, IMO, have same directions.
The ones in which I not sure are marked with "?".

Fragments #2 and #5 are, indeed, look same ("AND"? "ARE"? "OUR"? "LOW"?)
Because of fragments #5 and #6, I think we should look for something like this cipher
http://great-jones.com/files/1813/09...erRing0012.jpg
meaning that same direction can be different letters depending on situation.

[Connell]

I thought I'd share this here; My friend gave decoding the morse fully a whirl and it's pretty much accurately transcribed I believe (ignore the workings out above). It was done from the original file, but 1 or 2 letters may be cut off from the start and end as the morse was a bit muffled, but the main body of it is almost definitely accurately transcribed from the original audio file. The problem is, like everyone else's attempts it returns gibberish, and some of the shapes don't quite make sense. It doesn't make any sense when following it through backwards from the end either. So we have to wonder if it's a variation of morse or something along those lines, or perhaps the gibberish does need to be further decrypted. If anyone has an ideas with it feel free to use it and have a go; he apologises for the handwriting but not for the badass D.C comics notepad paper

Here's the transcript: http://i.imgur.com/CWtBFJb.jpg

EDIT: So the OWI Twitter seems to think we've cracked the picture, does that potentially mean the arrows aren't relevant?

So you guys have decrypted the image (thanks!) but there's still the terrifying audio to crack - to help, start at https://t.co/6eit1hQAIs pic.twitter.com/fvjAMm2R8h

— Oddworld Inhabitants (@OddworldInc) January 20, 2017

They also just linked directly to this thread and the Wikia. Hopefully that means more help incoming

[Xavier]

Morse code

I see people here have tried to reverse the gibberish gotten out of the decoded morse code without luck.

Just curious, would the morse code interpreted in reverse give a different output? I would think so, no?

Arrows

ndvr, the fact the paper is scrambled makes me think we're not supposed to look for too much nuances in the directions here.

[mlg man]

Looking at the audio there is a morse code looking beep on the right channel at 500 Hertz. Currently figuring out how to isolate and decode it.