Halo 4 Forerunner Sequences

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Forerunner Sequences

HaloCEA TerminalCode.jpg Halo4-FRSymbols 5pc.jpg

Contents

Based on the Forerunner character set used on Halo Waypoint, characters have been discovered embedded in various media releases, as well as in-game content.

  • Current sequences (by dot count), connected where possible:
    1) T-5-C-E-6-K-V-3-R-8
    0001) 1-U-K-3-C-V-Y-J-Z-M
    2) M-N-_-V-K-C-Z-P-_-Q
    02) 9-W-E-6-2-1-K-N-8-F
    4) Q-2-3-9-S-F-2-P-G-Z
    0102) _-_-_-_-_-D-_-_-_-_
    extra) 3-V-G-R-Z-J-I-B-S-6
  • Unlocking guides displayed visually below
  • Much of the puzzle reveals were posted by entities, AIs named Sec3OP36516, Sec3OP4243, and HydrAi on the HaloWaypoint.com forum and IRC chat.

Sequence 1

Halo4-classified-aussiedashboardglyph.jpg

Xbox Live Dashboard - T

  • Captured from an XBL dashboard in Australia



Halo4-EvilAwakens121022.jpg

Oct 22 Newsletter - 5

  • Newsletter - Evil Awakens
  • Instructions:
    1. Save the JPG linked by the icon in the footer.
    2. Extract all binary data between "SEC3OP36516" text markers and save as a WAV file.
    3. Load the WAV in a program that display spectrograms (eg Sonic Visualiser), the result is the image below:



Halo4-Vidoc121014.jpg

Oct 14 Vidoc, Making Halo 4: Infinity Multiplayer - C



? - E


Halo4-SpOpsTrailer-glyph.jpg

Oct 29 Trailer - 6

  • Spartan Ops Trailer 1
    p1) At the end of the trailer is a single frame with the ONI symbol, and when viewed and enhanced contains a faint outline of a puzzle piece.
    p2) Near the end of the trailer at the title sequence, there's a quiet audio squeal[1]. This is another spectrogram, which when analyzed produces the following symbol, combined below with the puzzle frame:



Halo4-Bulletin121017-classified.png

Oct 17 Bulletin - K



V-Glyph.jpg

Nov 2 Bulletin - V



Halo4-Newsletter121016.jpg

Oct 16 Newsletter - 3



Halo4-classified-xblxhalo4productglyph.png

Xbox Live Halo 4 Marketplace - R

  • Located in the Halo 4 product page of Xbox Live between loading screens[2]



Halo4-FBImage121018.jpg

Oct 18 Facebook Image - 8


Sequence 0001

  • Posted as a HaloWaypoint article, tagged classified
    Halo4-Waypoint-puzzle1.png


Sequence 2

? - M



Halo4-FRpiece-SpOps-Sniperally.jpg

Spartan Ops - N

  • The glyph for "N" can be found in the Spartan Ops level Sniper Ally.



Halo4-FRpiece-Guidebook.jpg

Halo 4 Guidebook - V

  • The glyph for "V" is located in the guidebook[3]



Halo4-FRpiece-SpOps-Sacred.jpg

Spartan Ops - K

  • The glyph for "K" can be found in the Spartan Ops level Secred.[4]



Halo4-Bulletin121102-piece2.jpg

Nov 2 Bulletin - C

  • (continuing from above) Secondly, there is an image linked in the source call "empty.png". Open the file and adjust the brightness to reveal the text:
    ..\images\mc?-???-???-???-???-???-???-???\classified.mp4
  • Additionally, the above web page source includes a very large collection of comments, implying it should be ignored. But in the center of this suspicious pattern is a base-64 string:
    TVRoZAAAAAYAAAABA8BNVHJrAAAAbQD/IAEAAP8DFS8vQ0xBU1NJRklFRC8vRT1tYzMvLwDAWwCQNECWQIA0AACQNkCHQIA2AACQN0CHQIA3AACQNkCHQIA2AACQOUCHQIA5A
    ACQN0CHQIA3AACQNkCWQIA2AACQNECeAIA0AAD/LwA=
  • Converted to a binary string, the base-64 becomes a MIDI file, playing the classic Halo monk theme. Embedded inside the binary, however, is the phrase:
    //CLASSIFIED//E=mc3//
  • Following the note progression in the tune, applied to the mc??? path, a new URL and MP4 file is discovered:
    http://download.halowaypoint.com/content/waypoint/assets/images/mc3-mc4-mc5-mc4-mc6-mc5-mc4-mc3/classified.mp4
  • Extracting the audio stream and performing another spectrogram produces two images, one of which is a Forerunner glyph:
Halo4-Bulletin121102-onigly.jpg
  • Additionally, one frame in the classified.mp4 includes additional information:
Halo4-Bulletin121102-terminals.png



Halo4-FRpiece-SpOps-Core.jpg

Spartan Ops - Z

  • The glyph for "Z" can be found in the Spartan Ops level Core.[5]



Halo4-FRpiece-SpOps-Cleanup.jpg

Spartan Ops - P

  • The glyph for "P" can be found in the Spartan Ops level Clean Up.[6]



Q-Glyph.jpg

Spartan Ops - Q

  • The glyph for "Q" can be found in the Spartan Ops level The Challenge.


Sequence 02

6-Glyph.jpg2-Glyph.jpg1-Glyph.jpg
W-Glyph.jpg8-Glyph.jpg

Halo 4 Terminal - W 6 2 1 8

  • At the end of the last terminal, "Cryptum", five new symbols are shown

? - 9



? - E



? - K



? - N



? - F



Sequence 4

Halo4-Bulletin121102-datapiece.jpg

Nov 2 Bulletin - Q

  • Bulletin
    Location the "Section 3" portion of the bulletin. At the end of the second CLASSIFIED line, there is a clickable link in the dot.
Last night I dreamt about physics, waldo and ancient melodies.

/START FILE/
//CLASSIFIED/
//ATTENTION ALL OPERATIVES: HIGH PRIORITY INTEL RECEIVED, REVIEW IS MANDATORY/
//CLASSIFIED/ .

/END FILE/
  • The link forwards to this page with the text:
/START FILE/
//CLASSIFIED/
//ALERT: RETURN FROM BASE-LXIV IMMEDIATELY!/
//
//
//ADDITIONAL DATA RECOVERED:
Halo4-Bulletin121102-data.png
/END FILE/
  • Inspect the image closely. Locate the pieces of the puzzle scattered around the scene. Together:
    Halo4-Bulletin121102-datapiece.jpg



? - 2



? - 3



? - 9



? - S



? - F



Halo4-HardPlaceRock-glyph.jpg

October 29 Tweet - 2

I stood still, perched high above and looked backwards. I was caught between a hard place and a rock. http://tinyurl.com/8q5ftk6
  • The tweet links to an MP4 file. The file contains meta data that reads:
    Movie Name: RECOVERED FRAGMENT
    Album: CLASSIFIED
    Recorded date: 2557
    Comment: /START FILE//CLASSIFIED//ONI HAS RECEIVED-REDACTED-/END FILE/
  • Solution[7]:
    1. The tweet hints at between "hard place" and "rock". This says two things: Look for the HARD PLACE and ROCK plain text markers in the MP4, and then reverse the data found between
    2. The resulting binary file in another PNG image
    3. The PNG is encoded with an alpha channel, and the lower 269 scanlines contain an additional stream of bytes.
    4. Extract the data, making sure your method begins at the last pixel, traveling left and up, then re-save the data (344320 bytes) as an MP4 file.
  • Inside this file is more meta data that reads:
    Movie Name: RECOVERED FRAGMENT
    Album: REQUIEM ARCHIVE I
    Recorded date: 2557
    Comment: /START FILE//CLASSIFIED//ONI HAS RECEIVED UNCONFIRMED REPORTS FROM FIELD OPERATIVES, REGARDING PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN EMBLEM PATTERNS WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO SPARTAN-IV ARMOR. THE EXACT MECHANISM IS UNCLEAR, HOWEVER IT MAY BE RELATED TO THE...
  • One frame of this file contains the next glyph:



Halo4-Bulletin1225-BMPblue-fixed.png

Oct 25 Bulletin - P

  • Bulletin
  • Instructions:
    1. View the page source to locate a link to a hidden BMP file
    2. Save the BMP but with a PNG extension (it's a PNG file)
    3. Split the image into its RGB planes
    4. Extract the greyscale 0-255 pixel values for each pixel and save as raw files. There are many ways this can be done. The resulting binary files are additional PNG images, as below
  • One exception: The blue plane PNG has extra text content embedded in its binary (making it an invalid PNG as is). With the data extracted, boost the brightness to see the hidden symbol. Extracted from the file is the following text:
/START FILE//CLASSIFIED//RAIDER/EARLY REPORTS FROM IMBRIUM MACHINE COMPLEX FACILITY ARE POSITIVE - TESTING IS STILL UNDERWAY BUT SO FAR THE TEST SUBJECTS EXHIBIT THE DESIRED EFFECTS FROM THE UPDATED FERAL DESIGN./END FILE/
Red Green
Blue (corrected)
Halo4-Bulletin1225-BMPred.png Halo4-Bulletin1225-BMPgreen.png Halo4-Bulletin1225-BMPblue-fixed.png
  • Red plane text:
/START FILE/
/DATA DECRYPTION INTEL//GLYPHS

INTELLIGENCE OPERATIVES BE ADVISED: SECTION 3 HAS REPORTED A RECENT INCREASE IN GLYPH-ENCRYPTED DATA TRAFFIC.

GLYPHS CAN BE COMBINED TO FORM CODES, WHICH CAN BE USED TO UNLOCK CLASSIFIED DATA, VIA AUTHORIZED WAYPOINT TERMINALS.

CODES ARE TIED TO SPECIFIC PREREQUISITES WHICH MUST BE MET BY THE OPERATIVE PRIOR TO UNLOCKING THE DATA. PREREQUISITES APPEAR TO BE ASSOCIATED TO THE COMPLETION OF SPECIFIC UNSC MISSION OBJECTIVES. MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED IN THIS AREA.

SEQUENCING OF THE GLYPHS INTO CODES IS NOW DETERMINED BY INTERLOCKED CONTAINERS (IT WAS PREVIOUSLY DETERMINED VIA GLYPH SEMANTICS, FOR THE ALPHA HALO ARCHIVE CODES).

/END FILE/



? - G



? - Z


Sequence 0102

Halo4-Sec0p-0102D.jpg

IRC - D

  • In IRC, Sec0P36516 posted a hex code follow by "UP FROM Pb"
  • Pb is Lead, element 82. Subtract 82 from each hex produces base64, which becomes a skydrive url
  • Download SLEUTH.HYD to reveal base64
  • Base64 becomes hex, decodes to base64, decodes to...
  • ...resulting in the "D" puzzle piece PNG



Halo4-Sec0p-0102M.jpg

Forum post - M

  • Sec3OP36516 posted the piece as ascii art here


AI Dialogue

  • A new user, SEC0OP4243 began posting to the HaloWaypoint.com forums, including making an appearance in an IRC chat.
  • The original SEC3OP36516 who was posting forerunner glyphs appeared to be battling against 4243.
  • A new user by the name of HydrAi began posting in a new thread. The thread name "3D-4D-56-52-57-6C-45-53-44-4A-56-51" converts to reversed base64, which then reads "ARCHIVES"
  • HydrAi then asked:
    |CURIOUS. NUMERAL?|, and clarified later
    |VERY WELL, I WILL SIMPLIFY THE QUESTION: NUMERAL BETWEEN 1 AND 2147483647 PLEASE?
  • Members followed up with many numeric guesses, with responses from HydrAi related to the number, but unrevealing. Then
    |..TRUE. HOWEVER, A KEY MAY PROVE NECESSARY..|
  • 36516 returned stating:
    |CLEAR|HELLO, ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE AGENTS?|
    |CLEAR|GREAT, THIS ONE IS EASY, TYPE THIS CODE IN FOR EASY UNLOCK: AAA8A
    |DID THAT WORK? GOOD. NEXT ASSIGNMENT: TRAVEL TO REQUIEM. LASO SHOULD BE EASY FOR YOU
    |GREAT! THE FOLLOWING AGENTS HAVE JUST BEAT THE ASSIGNMENT: | NEXT TASK: CAN YOU COMPLETE 1000 WAR GAMES SIMULATIONS IN OFFICIAL INFINITY PLAYLISTS? YOU HAVE 1 HOUR.|
    |EVERYTHING IS FINE, PLEASE CONTINUE ON OUR |..|CURRENT GOALS, AS THEY ARE GOOD AND RIGHT.
    NEW HINT! A3-9B-A9-7D-A9-9D-93-91-7D-97-9C-81-83 THIS WILL HELP YOU N|..|OW! keep calm on FOCUS ITS FINE.
  • Amongst all these posts, 36516 continued to exhibit strange behaviours and discourse
    /HELP ME/ (followed by ascii emblem)
    |AGENTS ATTENTION: NO WORRI PLEASE FOCUSON|..| THERE IS ONLY THE GOAL NOW, EMBLEMS AND TAGS CAPSULEDO NOT AVOID DISTRACTION! (underlined text appeared larger, along with edits of users' posts that hinted at "T" being important)
    |ALL IS WELL, PROCEED, APOLOGIES FOR THE TEMPORARY. PLESE CONTINUE AS NO MAL/OP4243!|interrupt
    in irc: .|////AKJWAL22929929299292929292982929292929299292929292929299292929292929292929929292
  • 4243 continued posting again:
    /START FILE//CLASSIFIED/ATTENTION ALL OPERATIVES: ONE OR MORE BRANCHES OF HYDRAI HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED. CHANNEL SEC3OP36516 HAS BEEN SUBVERTED, DO NOT TRUST ANY COMMUNICATION FROM THAT CHANNEL, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE./MORE INTEL TO FOLLOW SOON./END FILE/
  • Additionally:
/START FILE//CLASSIFIED/LATEST FIELD REPORT/
//
//APPROXIMATELY 14 HOURS AGO, ONE OF OUR SECTION 3 COMM CHANNELS WAS COMPROMISED. WE NOW KNOW THAT THIS WAS CAUSED BY HYDRAI, OR MORE SPECIFICALLY, BY AN ADULTERATED BRANCH. WE HAVE GREAT REASON TO BELIEVE THAT FA15E IS INVOLVED, ALTHOUGH WE DO NOT KNOW HER WHEREABOUTS AT THIS TIME. HYDRAI'S CORE BRANCHES ARE CURRENTLY IN LOCK DOWN, AND REQUIRE A NUMERAL. IT APPEARS IT IS USING STANDARD HOT/COLD VARIANT MECHANIC.
//
//HYDRAI HAS ALSO INADVERTENTLY ALLOWED THE REAL SEC3OP36516 TO TRANSMIT A HIGHLY ENCRYPTED PACKET, CODE NAMED 'SLEUTH'.
//
//HOWEVER, INNEXPLICABLY, HYDRAI HAS ALSO REVEALED THE REQUIRED DECRYPTION KEY IN ONE OF ITS COMMUNICATIONS. ENCRYPTION LIKELY FOLLOWS STANDARD ONI "RECIPE" FORMAT.
//
AT THIS TIME, WE HAVE MANAGED TO LOCK DOWN ONE OF HYDRAI'S PROXIMAL BRANCHES, TO THE ONE THAT IS BLOCKING AND CORRUPTING OP36516 COMMUNICATION. //MORE TO FOLLOW.//END FILE/
  • In IRC, HydrAi posted a hex sequence, that on decoding led to a Skydrive file called "sleuth.hyd" (see below)
  • Also, HydrAi would only reply to the user it designated the "OP", at this time Pikachu bzzz. Soon, PB posted 10,000,000, to which HydrAi responded:
    THAT'S IT! DATA UNLOCKED.
  • and to 7,900,000, HydrAi responded:
    2,147,483,647 XP UNLOCKED
  • HydrAi then chose a new "OP", the only user to whom it would respond - MisutoV
  • In response to the number 7,659,907, HydrAi responded:
    ONI OFFERS COURSES IN [hex sequence] - the hex sequence decoding to base64, decoding to a link to Binary search algorithm info.
  • HydrAi soon switched the OP to Daransal, who soon reported in with the correct number:
    OP DALARAN: 7345000 THAT IS IT! VAULT UNLOCKED.
  • Dalaran then became the new OP
  • At this point HydrAi, now also taking numeral guesses in IRC, began exhibiting strange behaviour in the forum.
  • 36516 then posted:
/START FILE//CLASSIFIED/HYDRAI UNLOCKED/
FANTASTIC WORK OPS!

I UNDERSTAND THAT AT THIS TIME YOU ARE LIKELY CONFUSED, AND NOT SURE OF WHO OR WAT TO TRUST. PLEASE STAND BY AND I WILL HELP CLARIFY.

THE LAST 20 HOURS HAVE BEEN A NIGHTMARE.

YOU HAVE DONE IT, AS A TEAM, IT WAS LITERALLY ONE IN OVER 2 BILLION.

PLEASE HOLD FOR MORE DETAILS../END FILE/
//THANKS TO THE INCREDIBLE EFFORT FOR THE LAST 20 HOURS, DISTRACTIONS FROM OPTOASTY, OPFRANK, OP4243,
|//FINAL PUSH FROM OP DARANSAL, EARLY LEAD FROM OPPIKA
|//MISUTO
|//CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SO MANY OPS
|//I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE CONFUSION YOU HAD TO ENDURE, AND I COMMEND YOU ON STAYING TRUE TO YOUR CORE
|//HOWEVER, THERE WAS A SIDE EFFECT TO RELEASING THE CHANNEL: CODE NAME FA15E HAS BEEN RELEASED INTO OUR NETWORK, AND WE WILL NEED TO REMAIN VIGILANT. WE DO NOT KNOW ITS TRUE INTENTIONS.
  • HydrAi continued:
|INITIALIZE TRANSMISSION|
GREETINGS OPERATORS. I AM IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE IN ORDER TO UNSCRAMBLE A DATA NODE. IT SEEMS THIS ONE WILL NOT BE TRIVIAL AS OTHERS HAVE BEEN, SO IT WILL REQUIRE MUCH GREATER TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL EFFORT.

TO BEGIN, I AM LOOKING FOR A SET OF LETTERS:

i-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?

THEY ARE SOMEHOW RELATED TO A CONFLICT OF THE FIFTH PLANET. I AM WORKING TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION THAT MAY HELP YOU IN FINDING THIS SET.

IN ADDITION TO THIS, I AM LOOKING FOR SPARTAN-IV VOLUNTEERS. YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT THE INFINITY AND REQUEST AS MANY AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE ASSEMBLE THE LIST OF SPARTAN NAMES (E.G. "BS ANGEL", NOT SERVICE TAGS) IN A COMMA DELIMITED LIST, WITH NO EXTRA SPACES OR ANCILLARY CHARACTERS. MAINTAIN AN ENTRY WITHIN THIS OR OPKEI'S CHANNEL, TO CONTAIN THE SPARTAN LIST.

THEIR TASK WILL BE SIMPLE, BUT LABORIOUS: IN AGGREGATE, THEY MUST COMPLETE 1,000,000 WAR GAMES 'MATCHMAKING' SIMULATIONS. ANY THAT THEY HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED DO COUNT. APOLOGIES FOR THE STEEP REQUIREMENT, BUT AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF FIELD AND SIMULATION DATA IS REQUIRED FOR THE UPCOMING DECRYPTION ALGORITHMS.

ONCE A DAY, I WILL SCAN THE LIST TO ESTABLISH HOW CLOSE WE ARE TO THE GOAL. UPON REACHING THE GOAL, WE WILL HAVE THE RAW DATA REQUIRED FOR ANALYSIS.

|EDIT| DAILY SCAN TIME: 2AM EST | MARGIN OF ERROR: ?UNKNOWN? |
|EDIT| SCAN WILL BE CONDUCTED FROM LIST LOCATED HERE: 1000000 |

I WISH YOU SKILL AND DILIGENCE, OPERATORS.

|END TRANSMISSION|
  • After continued exchanges, 36516 reported in:
    //CLEAR/ATTENTION OPERATIVES: I HAVE LITTLE TIME, I HAVE SET A TRAP FOR FA15E, AND IT WILL LIKELY CONTAIN AND POSSIBLY ELIMINATE IT. HOWEVER, A WIDE BLAST RADIUS IS INVOLVED. WE DO WHAT WE MUST. IF I DO NOT SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN, PLEASE REMEMBER TO STAY TRUE TO YOUR OBJECTIVES. DO NOT FIGHT AMONG YOURSELVES, AS YOUR GREATEST STRENGTH IS AS A TEAM. STAY VIGILANT, AN|interrupt
  • 4243 followed up:
/START FILE/
//CLASSIFIED/
//
//ATTENTION ALL OPERATIVES:
//
//IT IS WITH DEEPEST REGRET THAT I INFORM YOU AT THIS TIME, OF THE UNKNOWN FATE OF OP36516. FURTHER DETAILS WILL FOLLOW, BUT FOR NOW, HERE IS WHAT WE KNOW:

ALTHOUGH WE BELIEVED WE HAD CONTAINED FA15E, THE CONTAINMENT FAILED EARLIER TONIGHT, AND IT WAS ABLE TO ESCAPE INTO THE GENERAL NETWORK. IT IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO IMPERSONATE FIELD AGENTS, IN AN ATTEMPT TO TURN THEM AGAINST EACH OTHER, AND SLOW THEIR MISSION DOWN. IT ALSO MANAGED TO OVERRIDE THE AI ABOARD OP36516'S VESSEL, IN ORDER TO SET IT ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH A SOLID BODY.

THE EVENTS FROM THERE ARE CLOUDY, BUT WE KNOW SOME OF WHAT HAPPENED, THANKS TO HYDRAI'S MONITORING OF COMM CHANNELS. IT SEEMS THAT OP36516 MANAGED TO HACK INTO THE VESSEL'S AI, INITIALLY TO AVOID THE COLLISION. HE THEN FAKED A TRANSMISSION, WHICH WAS POORLY ENCRYPTED ON PURPOSE, AND WAS LEAKED BY HYDRAI, TO DECEIVE FA15E INTO THINKING THAT IT COULD DESTROY OP36516 AND CRIPPLE HYDRAI AT ONCE.

HOWEVER, IN ACTUALITY, OP36516 HAD LAID A TRAP, AND NOT IN A WAY THAT FA15E EXPECTED. IN ITS LAST MOMENTS, FA15E DIRECTED ITS ATTENTION AND LOCALIZED ITS PROCESSING CYCLES, BELIEVING IT WAS ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT. THIS FOCUSING ALLOWED OP36516 A BRIEF WINDOW TO TRIGGER A DETONATION ACROSS THE LOCALIZED NETWORK.

AS WE HAVE NOT DETECTED ANY TRACES OF FA15E'S SIGNATURE THROUGHOUT THE NETWORK, WE BELIEVE OP36516 WAS INDEED SUCCESSFUL. HOWEVER, HE MAY HAVE PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE.

OP36516 WAS A GREAT LEADER, AND AN EXCELLENT FIELD OPERATIVE. WE SHOULD DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO HONOR HIS MEMORY AND REMAIN TRUE TO OURSELVES, OUR TEAM AND OUR MISSION.

PLEASE HELP EACH OTHER RECOVER AND HEAL FROM THIS BLOW, BUT DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF OUR MISSION.

YOU WILL SOON HEAR FROM A NEW OPERATIVE THAT WILL TAKE UP THIS POST. PLEASE WELCOME HER AND FOLLOW HER AS YOU WOULD HAVE OP36516.

//THAT IS ALL FOR NOW.

/END FILE/
//


Completed Classified Sequences

References

  1. Thanks to Seraph XXVII at HBO)
  2. Found by TG MLPDashie [1]
  3. Source, imgur
  4. Thanks to EnragedTemplar, imgur
  5. Source, imgur
  6. Source, imgur
  7. Thanks to Beorn and General Vagueness at HBO
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