Topics

121

SGP Task Force: 7 / Task Force 7: Summary of Confirmed Findings

« on: October 08, 2009, 20:04:12 »

Source Key
BOX-S: Halo 3: ODST Xbox360 game box (standard edition)
BWP:  Bungie Wallpaper Images, released on Bungie.net  (e.g. Wallpaper 01)
FOG: "ONI Field Operations Guide" aka the Instruction Manual which comes packaged with the Halo 3: ODST Xbox360 game (standard edition).
IGI: In Game Image.  This number appears during gameplay.  This may include (but is not limited to) objects such as signs, vehicles, stray papers, cinematics, your HUD, UNSC barriers, and doors.
LEC: Halo 3:ODST Limited Edition Controller.

Glossary of Number References

035
Number seen on Dare's helmet as the Rookie examines it after the Tayari Plaza mission.
[IGI,CM:"Tayari Plaza"-ending cinematic]

006182
ONI reference number for Dr. Endesha. From an assertion by Captain Dare:

>> He checks out.  Endesha, zero-zero-six-one-eight-two.

[FOG, pg 2]

1.3442.9390.10
Appears on the extended "access denied" sign.
[IGI] | SGP Gallery
[link] 

23:03:28:30
[BOX-S, LEC] | Discussion Topic

55.6992.3840
A number of unknown significance which appears prolifically both in-game and in ODST-related material.  List of known appearances:

• On the Bungie.net wallpapers released prior to ODST's launch.
• On the odd-numbered pages of the FOG's Multiplayer section (pgs. 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23).  (The number is included as part of each page's background image.)
• On district door overhead vid displays (e.g. "Route Open")
• On the overheard vid displays on the Coastal Highway campaign mission.
• In a "glitch" when trying to take Theater Mode snapshots of cinematic scenes that include the Superintendent's console view
• On the Halo 3: ODST limited edition Xbox360 game controller.
• On the mission loading screen (it briefly appears along with other numbers which display in succession)
• In the image found on the in-game VISR COMM menu.

An ongoing discussion of this number is here.
[link]

55.7759.7736
Appears in the upper right hand corner of the loading screen when "Resume Game" is chosen from the main menu.
[link]

8903.877.22
This number appears as part of the "SYNC NOMIN" Data Element (DE:SN)  (See this discussion topic for a detailed list of appearances and source images.)
[IGI, BWP]
[link]

AA8200.  0000.  0000337
This alphanumeric string appears as part of the "SYNC NOMIN" Data Element (DE:SN)  (See this discussion topic for a detailed list of appearances and source images.)
[IGI, BWP]
[link]

BUCK.E.492712(E7)
Associated with Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck.  Possibly his personal designation for use in military communication.  The E7 probably refers to his rank of Gunnery Sergeant, as Gunnys in the real-life marine corps are the seventh enlisted rank with a pay grade of E7.
[IGI, CM:"Prepare to Drop"-overlay on Buck's video image]

DARE.V.500341(S1)
Associated with Captain Veronica Dare.  Possibly her personal designation for use in military communication.  The S1 probably refers to her position in ONI Section 1.
[FOG, pg 2], [IGI, CM:"Prepare to Drop"-overlay on Dare's video image]

KIKOWANI.4481
Appears in lower right hand corner of Superintendent View screen overlay during Kikowani Station's opening cinematic.  Possibly the designation of the security camera through which the Superintendent is monitoring the scene.
[IGI,CM:"Kikowani Station"-opening cinematic]

ODST BIOS A29.817941B.01 / ODST BIOS A29.8179418.01 / ODST BIOS A29.B179418.01
From BNET:

In addition, every current issue helmet is equipped with low-light vision enhancement [ODST BIOS A29.817941B.01 or later].

One of these versions of the BIOS designation can be seen at the bottom of the in-game viewfinder for weapons which do not have scopes.
[BNET, ODST Field Guide/Ordnance/VISR Mode],[IGI] | SGP Topic | SGP Gallery

Tayari.0094
Appears in lower right hand corner of Superintendent View screen overlay during Tayari Plaza's ending cinematic.  Possibly the designation of the security camera through which the Superintendent is monitoring the scene.
[IGI,CM:"Tayari Plaza"-ending cinematic]

>>SENT: [COLDGLIDER.ADMIN.SGP] >> Transmission confirmed incomplete.  Resume Progress?

122

Intel / SGP: Task Force 7 / Librarians - ODST BIOS number known back in June?

« on: October 08, 2009, 00:10:50 »

Did one of the books cover this?  Because over here (scroll down to the VISR section) there is a post from June 22nd that lists the number we see in the game (with the common 8 and B transposition error... based on the game, anyhow).

123

SGP Task Force: The Cartographers / SGP: Request - Map of Super Y-Glyphs

« on: October 07, 2009, 21:42:55 »

I know the Carts have been very busy on awesome super mega maps... but would it be a quick and easy turnaround on a map of just the few Super Y-Glyphs?  After my previous post, I'd like people to be able to take a holistic view of their placement in the game.

124

SGP Task Force: Marty / SGP: Request - The Sounds of Squidhenge

« on: October 07, 2009, 05:35:15 »

The big board folks have often mentioned that shooting the stone slabs of Squidhenge produces musical notes.  The Covenant Carbine is the oft-mentioned instrument of choice.

Sure, the idea holds water given IWHBYD, but isn't that just too obvious?  The only way we'll know is if we try it and record the sonic results.

Task Force Marty!  Please refute/confirm these claims of musical squiddery!

125

SGP Task Force: Marty / SGP: Admin - Marty Needs a Mod

« on: October 07, 2009, 05:31:10 »

Looking to carve out your own little home in the SGP?  This Task Force needs a leader!  A new request is coming in soon and yours truly has been ultra swamped over at Arkive and Ghost Chasers.  

Are you up on audio editing and processing sound files?  And you're a huge fan of Halo and ODST in particular?  What are you waiting for?  Send me a PM!  Your little home is waiting for you to move in!

126

SGP Task Force: Arkive / Task Force Arkive: Summary of Confirmed Findings and Submissions

« on: October 07, 2009, 05:13:35 »

December 18, 2009
This log is apparently no longer needed, as there hasn't been an update since October 19.  To see what is in the gallery, click here and explore!

October 19, 2009
05:54:52 PM > ColdGlider posts 14 photos to the "City Streets" gallery album.  These include many theater mode snapshots of Data Hive entry doors as well as two photos of the "Stone Triptych" outside of Squidhenge in D06.

October 16, 2009
11:02:02 AM > Apollo Doom sent two images of the entry to Data Hive from District 03.  A new "City Streets" album was created to contain submissions such as these.
Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.17.

October 13, 2009
06:31:00 PM > ColdGlider provides a clear in-game image of the Simple Circle Glyph located in the Data Hive.
Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.15.

06:41:00 PM > ColdGlider provides an Theater Mode image of the Sad Super Monoglyph.
Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.15.

October 12, 2009
09:20:04 AM > EnigmaBiz2 tests the "7th Column Theory" and posts two photos of his efforts in Squidhenge.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.12.

03:21:06 PM > ColdGlider digs up another old image he captured from 2009.09.30.  The photo is of an "unknown device" from the Data Hive level.
Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.12.

October 11, 2009
07:38:23 PM > EnigmaBiz2 posts two in-game images of Mombasa Street litter, including one ID badge. 
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.17

October 09, 2009
06:11:34 PM > EnigmaBiz2 posts an in-game image of the Armistice Newspaper.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.17

07:03:55 PM > EnigmaBiz2 posts an in-game images of the Covenant Weapons Scrap.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.17

October 06, 2009
01:12:13 PM > Apollo Doom posts eight company-related images for the following New Mombasa companies: Vyrant Telecom, Traxus, Hinos, Optican, Technique Electronics, African Trust, Jotun, and New Mombasa Uplift.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.06.

03:44:37 PM > ColdGlider scrapes up four old Super Glyph B photos from the 2009.09.09 article.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.06.

October 05, 2009
08:46:52 AM > Kenji posts two photos of the Glyph B found on the rock at the ONI Site.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.07.

12:35:52 PM > Apollo Doom posts six photos containing images of glyphs and city litter.
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.11.

09:40:04 PM > Kenji posts four images of District 01 banners found on the Campaign Mission "Coastal Highway".  Three of these are different forms, dubbed "Domino Banners" and "Domino Placards".
[source post] | Transmitted to gallery 2009.10.17

October 04, 2009
05:45:21 AM > ColdGlider discovers an ODST BIOS string in the "binocular" viewfinder overlay.  Image transmitted to gallery.  [source post]

01:55:48 PM > Kenji posts two photos related to the Magic Walls:  D04 with the Super TriGlyph and D05 showing the banner only.  [source post]

06:06:12 PM > mob legndkiller discovers the Super Monoglyph in-game on the Magic Wall in D04. Transmitted to gallery.  [source post]

07:17:14 PM > Kenji posts six in-game photos containing glyphs.  Three images of simple glyphs, two of Glyph A, and one of a Super Glyph B in D03.  Transmitted to gallery.  [source post]

08:32:24 PM > jag4191 posts two photos of Glyph B.  Transmitted to gallery.  [source post]

10:33:33 PM > Kenji posts two images: one of the Simple Circular Glyph in D06, one of the Subway Entrance found within a Dark Area.  Transmitted to gallery.  [source post]

October 01, 2009
12:15:28 AM > ColdGlider discovers two additional Superintendent  facial expression icons in the Data Hive cinematic.  All eight icons from the cinematic are posted.  [source post]

01:41:38 AM > ColdGlider posts three photos from the Data Hive cinematic which contain the Simple Circle glyph.  The detail of the lit circle reveals a hexagonal pattern. Images transmitted to gallery 2009.10.06.  [source post]

September 30, 2009
05:49:22 PM > ColdGlider posts an image of "hex patterns" from the Data Hive cinematic.[source post]

127

Intel / SGP: Ghost Chasers - Gothi's Skepticism

« on: October 06, 2009, 23:34:17 »

SGP member Gothi has used his blog to post criticism of our work here.  Please don't view this as the beginning of some wicked feud.  His blog entry is dated October 6th, 2009 at 5:05 pm.  I'm assuming this is GMT since his site is hosted at a UK domain.  This would have placed his post at 12:05 pm EST and he continued his criticism and exploration into the matter here in this thread at 12:46 EST.

As the producer and poster of the video titled "Glyph Unlock" which stirred the community into more action in this direction, I stand to be the most taken aback by this turn of events.  It's true that I wish the glyph connection to the disappearing door in D08 was more definitive... but I go with the facts.  Without healthy criticism (and testing!) of others' ideas as well as our own, we won't prove anything.

For the sake of accurate nomenclature, we may wish to rename "Glyph Unlock" to something else.  But what?  Possible Unsubstantiated Loading Glitch If Indeed Loading Glitches Exist Unlock?  Well, we'll needed something.  At the time, the glyph was staring me in the face marking the location where I could stand and begin a walk into D08 to find an open pathway into a previously locked off area.  No doubt, the Ghost Chasers will address the naming issue.

Going back to the facts... it is a fact that the community discovered a disappearing door or perhaps even a door which could be "unlocked".  I came along to disprove the idea that brutalizing poor Elite corpses resulted in the "unlock".  That's a fact, as shown by my video.  Gothi is merely refining the process a little... by reducing the glyphs from the equation.  It's no different than what I did in regard to the Elite bashing.

The fact remains that passage into the area previously secured by the door is now possible, whether it is a loading error or intentional game behavior or some other manner of unintentional glitch.  The aim of the SGP is primarily to explore the glyphs, and disproving connections is as crucial as proving them.  Again, I commend Gothi on his critical approach.

If there is anything about this affair that is even the least bit irksome, it's the notion that Gothi's criticism was spun in a slightly negative manner:

The Secret Glyph Project got on the wagon and produced a video demonstrating the effect and a whole slew of sub-forums were created to track this phenomenon.

What really happened was that the Secret Glyph Project got on the case and produced a video which demonstrated a repeatable method of causing the behavior.  A whole slew of sub-boards (not entire forums) were created and only one of them (Ghost Chasers) was created to track this phenomenon... among many others.  

Those are just the facts.

Gothi's conclusion in his blog post is based on another hypothesis.  Namely, that since loading occurs between the districts

it's my belief that this is just fall out to the way the game engine loads the levels

Essentially, he presents no more evidence that it is a loading error than I produced of it being glyph-induced.  What we need are more facts.  Multiple people are reporting that they can unlock the door without looking at the glyphs.  This is quickly approaching fact (we need another video).  Assuming these reports are factual, we're left with only the proof that looking at a glyph is not the cause.  There is no extant demonstrable proof that the cause of the behavior is a coding glitch.

For me, the behavior documented in the video was an exciting find.  I could have sat around for hours or even days carefully retesting before I posted the video... while the entire thread on Bungie.net unknowingly kept beating up corpses to get blood on them.  In retrospect, I probably should have.  Instead, I posted what I found and many people stopped their Elite abuse, joined the SGP, and broadened our scope of investigation into other areas.  In my excitement, I may have made the same mistake that the Elite bashers did by associating the wrong trigger with the event.  I use the word "may" because all of the facts aren't in yet.  Rest assured we'll get to the bottom of this and I'll personally grind my own theory into the dust if it turns out to be misleading.

My initial response in the aforelinked Ghost Chasers thread was to organize three specific efforts in the direction of disproving my original theory.  When the data comes in, we'll simply have more facts to use in our assessment of the game's behavior so that we can get closer to determining a definitive trigger... or at least a hypothesis with a wealth of supporting data.

The lesson learned here is something I have chimed in with many times in SGP circles... expectations are dangerous.  Perhaps deep down I expected the glyphs to be the trigger and not the corpses.  If so, then I am my own cautionary tale.  It was never my intention to mislead a single person.  This should be abundantly clear by now, as I have beaten this subject like a dead Elite.

Now to supper, and then to collect some facts.

Love,
ColdGlider

128

SGP Task Force: Arkive / SGP: Update - Super Glyph B Versions Now in Gallery

« on: October 06, 2009, 19:44:37 »

I finally created an album in the image gallery which contains Super Glyph B images.  I have begun with the four from my SubLife article. 

129

SGP Task Force: The Librarians / SGP: Search - Forerunner or "Universal" Symbol

« on: October 06, 2009, 18:47:35 »

This thread in the Arkive is also relevant here.

130

SGP Task Force: Arkive / SGP: Search - Forerunner or "Universal" Symbol

« on: October 06, 2009, 18:46:06 »

It would almost be a travesty if we cannot find this image in ODST: http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/File:Fr_universal_symbol.png

Since it is linked with Forerunner structures, perhaps we should look on the Data Hive level at the SI construct.  If we found it, we'd also have more confidence that the SI is the byproduct of the forerunners; furthermore, it would be more support of the concept that ONI was aware of the Forerunners prior to the discovery of the first Halo ring (which I think is implied or stated in the books somewhere.)

131

SGP Task Force: Ghost Chasers / SGP: Test Plan - CG003-Halo3Hunt

« on: October 06, 2009, 18:14:42 »

Attached is and Excel spreadsheet containing a plan described in a previous thread as:

Test Plan 03- The Great Halo 3 Overlay TM Hunt
The purpose of this plan is to find overlay TMs in Halo 3's campaign mode which also disappear.  If any are found (especially if they are otherwise unassuming images) then we can probably conclude that what we're seeing in ODST is behavior inherent in campaign mode of the Halo 3 engine.

The spreadsheet was designed for printing as well as for data entry.  The yellow cells indicate data entry points and should appear with a readable light gray tone when printed in black and white.

If you take part, please make a copy of the spreadsheet and change the file name to include your user name.  If you run through the plan in multiple session, please provide separate spreadsheets for each session as opposed to continually updating and reposting the same one.  This will make data aggregation much easier.

Thanks in advance for your help!  You can use this thread to upload your plans and for questions/discussion.  If you are not taking part in this Test Plan, please do not post in this thread!

132

SGP Task Force: Ghost Chasers / SGP: Test Plan - CG002-DoorTM

« on: October 06, 2009, 18:12:43 »

Attached is and Excel spreadsheet containing a plan described in a previous thread as:

Test Plan 02- Test the disappearance of each Secret Door
The purpose of this plan is collect images of the secret doors in both of their states (open and closed) so that we can analyze whether or not it is a simple object that is missing or if the door object has been replaced with a new one.  My plan lists only two doors (I am referring to the dark gray recessed security doors.  My video shows the one in D08.  The same door exists in D03.)

The spreadsheet was designed for printing as well as for data entry.  The yellow cells indicate data entry points and should appear with a readable light gray tone when printed in black and white.  Use the data points to indicate a link to the photos you collect in this plan.

If you take part, please make a copy of the spreadsheet and change the file name to include your user name.  If you run through the plan in multiple session, please provide separate spreadsheets for each session as opposed to continually updating and reposting the same one.  This will make data aggregation much easier.

Thanks in advance for your help!  You can use this thread to upload your plans and for questions/discussion.  If you are not taking part in this Test Plan, please do not post in this thread!

133

SGP Task Force: Ghost Chasers / SGP: Test Plan - CG001-GlyphTM

« on: October 06, 2009, 18:10:01 »

Attached is and Excel spreadsheet containing a plan described in a previous thread as:

Test Plan 01- Test the disappearance of each Glyph TM
The purpose of this plan is to ascertain two data values for each each of the glyph TMs: whether you can see it without VISR mode and in which districts is disappears in, if any.

The spreadsheet was designed for printing as well as for data entry.  The yellow cells indicate data entry points and should appear with a readable light gray tone when printed in black and white.

If you take part, please make a copy of the spreadsheet and change the file name to include your user name.  If you run through the plan in multiple session, please provide separate spreadsheets for each session as opposed to continually updating and reposting the same one.  This will make data aggregation much easier.

Thanks in advance for your help!  You can use this thread to upload your plans and for questions/discussion.  If you are not taking part in this Test Plan, please do not post in this thread!

134

Theorizers / SGP: Theory - Squidhenge and the 7th Column

« on: October 06, 2009, 08:30:06 »

All you would need to make the 7th Column logo out of a Squidhenge is a 7th column.  One item that springs to mind is a piece of the broken Space Tether.  The POGG actually plots these fallen items on its maps.  I suspected there was a reason they would track them.  This is my best guess as to why.

135

SGP Task Force: The Librarians / SGP: Request- Vergil vs. The Superintendent

« on: October 06, 2009, 06:46:57 »

Dear Librarians:

I know from the COMM Data entries that Vergil is described as a subroutine of the Superintendent built by Dr. Endesha for the purposes of looking after Sadie.

After reaching the Engineer in the Data Hive level, I was very surprised to see his combat overlay text appear as "VRGL" (or similar).

Would you please explain the connection between Vergil the subroutine and Vergil the engineer?