Bunker computer code

Revision as of 17:02, 10 June 2024 by Stoplight25 (talk | contribs) (added analysis of pre-decoding table layout)

This page is about the infamous bunker computer code, the code found on the computer in the side room in Bunker.

This is an exact transcription of the text on the computer, extracted directly from the game files.

. Underground     . Trees        . Lead        . Message
. Knowledge       . Research     . Body        . Question
. UGU             . Us           . Diving      . People
. Raven           . Tunnel       . Open        . Machine
. Inventor        . Homeless     . Omitted     . Mask
. Suit            . Institute    . Right       . Man
. God             . Show         . Truth       . Mines
. Organization    . AH           . Guard       . City
. Death           . Legend       . Meaning     . Sewer
. Green           . Blue         . Water       . World



.. C3.1 F1.2 F4.1 B2.1 A3.2 E4.2 F4.2 G2.6 G3.2 A3.2 ..
.. G1.5 F1.1 F4.1 G3.3 G3.4 B2.1 G1.4 B2.3 G2.4 H4.5 ..



.. 1.3 1.1 4.10 1.7 4.7          1.5 2.8 2.5 4.3 4.4 ..

.. 4.5 4.6 2.4 3.8 1.2           3.2 4.1 4.2 2.7 3.7 ..

.. 1.4 2.2 2.6 3.1 1.8         1.10 1.9 2.10 3.6 3.9 ..

.. 3.10 2.1 3.3 1.6 2.9          4.8 2.4 4.9 2.3 3.5 ..

Table of words

The first section is a table of words. If you read the first letters of each word starting for the top left word and going down column by column you get UKURISGODG, TRUTHISALB, LBDOORTGMW, MQPMMMMCSW Adding spaces reveals the following: UKUR IS GOD G, TRUTH IS ALB, LB DOOR TGMW, MQPMMMMCSW.

The first columns message seemingly has an extra G at the end. in the second column, 'ALB' likely refers to albert hartman. The last column has seemingly been arranged so all but 1 M's are consecutive.

some rows of words as a whole also seem to form parts of messages when re-arranged:

  • mines god show truth - a 'god of mines' is referred to in the wasteland codes, likely morko or ugu. if the former, this would refer to the theory that morko is leading people like mark to uncover the truth.
  • AH guard city organization / city organization guard AH - either that albert hartman worked as a guard for a 'city organization' (fits with him being found in the building with gate controls), or that this 'city organization' was meant to guard AH
  • sewer legend meaning death - referring to the legend of the open sewer, which is implied to be fabricated by stalburg underground as a way to lure the poor to their death via the 'headless raven' machine
  • raven machine open tunnel - either that the headless raven machines purpose is to open a tunnel, or referring to the 'tunnel' into it that its victims ride though
  • world green water blue - self explanatory, likely just a 'demo' to show decoders that words are out of order, thus being placed at the bottom
  • omitted homeless mask inventor - referring to Andrew hertz, or one of his masked associates, the inventors of the headless raven, the machine run by the masked stalburg underground cult. He is a very obscure figure, mentioned only twice (counting his grave), making his 'omitted'.
  • underground trees lead message / message lead underground trees - either that 'underground trees', which likely has something to do with the tunnel of the water trees book, lead to a message, or that this message leads to said underground trees.
  • research body question knowledge - refers to the body code, which mentions a question. research may refer to the ARG solving itself, or raven research. knowledge being the result of the endeavor. this leaves row 3 and 6 without comprehensible re-arrangements

Notes:

  • UKUR IS GOD is a reference to ancient Mesopotamian god/spirit named Ukur, the god of the ancient Mesopotamian underworld.
  • Truth is alb(ert)?
  • One can observe that in the first column, GOD is also a whole word. Following the idea that a column's words are terminated by a whole word instead of the first letter only, this leads to the possibility that in the second column TRUTH IS ALB is not the correct answer, but instead TRUTH IS A LEGEND or TRUTH IS AH is, and the third column would then be LB DOOR TRUTH or just LEAD, and the fourth column would then only consist of the word MESSAGE.

First reference table decoded

The second section is a smaller table of "relational codes" which refer to the same codes as the body message. The dotted number after the word codes refer to the index of the letter in the word specified.

  The word for A3 is currently confirmed to be TO, of which the second letter is clearly O , although the code requires it to be C (A3.2=C). A possible answer to this is that the body message code doesn't contain a C, and the O was the only appropriate substition for it because of its circular shape. Another one is that the 3rd word of the Office monitor code is "accident", of which the second letter is "C"; also, the Tunnel of Water Trees Book Code has C.2 as one of its codes.

Using the codes from the body message, we get this text:

C3.1 = W F1.2 = H F4.1 = A B2.1 = T A3.2 = C E4.2 = O F4.2 = N G2.6 = N G3.2 = E A3.2 = C
G1.5 = T F1.1 = S F4.1 = A G3.3 = L G3.4 = L B2.1 = T G1.4 = H B2.3 = E G2.4 = S H4.5 = E

This results in the ARG-related question 🔑 WHATCONNECTSALLTHESE, which is also used as a key in the reactor lights code and the Wasteland notes.   It is the only key used twice as it is known so far.

Second reference table decoded

The third section is a grid-reference to the words in the first section (the table of words). The first number refers to the horizontal index and the second to the vertical index.

  The references to the words are mostly unique. The only exception is that "Tunnel" (2.4, emphasized in the table below) is referenced twice, while "Open" (3.4) has no reference.

Using the references we get this text:

UGU Underground World God Mines               Inventor AH Homeless People Machine
Mask Man Tunnel Guard Knowledge               Body Message Question Show Truth
Raven Research Institute Lead Organization    Green Death Blue Right Meaning
Water Trees Diving Suit Legend                City Tunnel Sewer Us Omitted

We can translate this a bit:

UGU (is) the underground world god (of the) mines.
Inventor (is) Andrew Herts, Homeless People (made) the machine.
Mask(ed) Man (in the) tunnel guard(s) knowledge
Body Message Question Show(s) truth
Water Trees Diving Suit Legend (???)
City, tunnel, sewer, us: omitted.

This code is heavily connected to the Body message through its use of the similar letter-number codes.

Row-wise interpretation attempt

  This section contains speculative content.

If read in rows it says: (Bold text is explanation of line, italic text is original line)

Underground trees lead message (Underground trees lead to the message. Reference to mines/metro accident/SMV? SMV Reference: SMV: Green like a tree and a mushroom shaped like a tree, Underground SMV leads to message?)

Knowledge Research bodies question (Knowledge: Research SMV/Metro accident bodies and question? Related to metro accident??)

UGU Us diving people (UGU are the people in diving suits?)

Raven tunnel open machine (Ravens mine tunnel leads to the machine in NW?)

Inventor homeless, omitted, mask (Inventor is homeless, omitted and masked. Andrew Herts is now homeless left out and has a mask (Andrew Herts is Mörkö?))

Suit institute right man (Diver? Suit is a symbol of institutes right man? Diver suit is a symbol of RAVEN researches right man? Connection to "Right Person Tell"?)

God show truth mines (God shows the truth in mines. Reference to statue in abandoned mine after coal power plant in Act 3? Statue is the truth?)

Organization AH guard city (Organization AH guards the city. Andrew Herts is guarding the city?)

Death legend meaning sewer (Legend says meaning of death is sewer?)

Green blue water world (Green water, Contaminated/radioactive? Blue world, Two gorges dam floods the world/Flood?)

Zuntti reference table

  This is a coded message from Zuntti, when decoded it gives the word "maybe". The message was seemingly deleted a short time after it was posted.

How to decode:
Write each NUM down AMOUNT times: 01101101 01100001 01111001 01100010 01100101
Decode from binary using ASCII: maybe

NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 3 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 5 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 4 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 7 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 1

NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 7 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 5 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 8 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 4
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 1

NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 9 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 4
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 8 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 1

NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 5 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 3
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 7 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 2 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1

NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 4 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 7 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 2
NUM: 6 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 0 AMOUNT: 1
NUM: 8 AMOUNT: 0
NUM: 1 AMOUNT: 1