+GrateBear Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 I'm setting up a mystery cache, and instead of using a cipher that uses letters or numbers, I want to use one that uses symbols for the code. But, every time I try to opt/paste the symbol, all I end up with is the URL. How do I go about just getting a copy of each symbol? Thanks. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 I take it that these symbols are actually images, hosted somewhere? If so, what you really want to do is build the needed ones into a single image, and let gc.com host that. You can do that by picking them out individually with a screen capture program of some sort, and pasting them all together after the fact. Please provide a little more information on the symbol source. It may turn out to be easier than the brute force method I've described. Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 I've tried both Geocaching Toolbox.com and CacheSleuth.com. Entering the coords gives the string of symbols. But, when I copy and paste them, it either gives the URL, or just one of the symbols. I've tried saving them as a photo, in another tab, as a picture. So, those show the string, but I cannot figure out how to separate each symbol by it self. For example, when I highlight the entire string of figures, only the first one shows, like this When I paste it into the description for the cache setting up the hide, it shows the URL. Not sure if that helps. Quote Link to comment
+kunarion Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 3 hours ago, GrateBear said: I've tried both Geocaching Toolbox.com and CacheSleuth.com. Entering the coords gives the string of symbols. But, when I copy and paste them, it either gives the URL, or just one of the symbols. I've tried saving them as a photo, in another tab, as a picture. So, those show the string, but I cannot figure out how to separate each symbol by it self. For example, when I highlight the entire string of figures, only the first one shows, like this When I paste it into the description for the cache setting up the hide, it shows the URL. Not sure if that helps. Can you right-click an image and save it? If not, or if it's an image in a weird format, I sometimes just use screen capture (PRINT SCRN in Windows) and then crop it in Photoshop Elements. Most any photo editor can do the job. As ecanderson mentioned, paste all symbols together into one image if possible. It's much less of a headache to display one image than to try to format a bunch of little images correctly on a cache page. 1 Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 15 hours ago, kunarion said: Can you right-click an image and save it? If not, or if it's an image in a weird format, I sometimes just use screen capture (PRINT SCRN in Windows) and then crop it in Photoshop Elements. Most any photo editor can do the job. As ecanderson mentioned, paste all symbols together into one image if possible. It's much less of a headache to display one image than to try to format a bunch of little images correctly on a cache page. Thanks--I'll try that. Quote Link to comment
+Mausebiber Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 21 hours ago, GrateBear said: I'm setting up a mystery cache, and instead of using a cipher that uses letters or numbers, I want to use one that uses symbols for the code. Please keep in mind, that this is OK for the web-page based puzzles. If it is required to solve a stage or something like this in the field, only smartphone users will see the symbols, for Garmin GPSr users, symbols will not be displayed on the screen. 1 Quote Link to comment
+kunarion Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 1 hour ago, GrateBear said: Thanks--I'll try that. Here’s a cache with cryptic images as an example of one way to do it. https://coord.info/GC1MF3A As Mausebiber said, not everyone will see images in their device. I solved it on my desktop PC. Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 Update--well, apparently I found a cipher that was more difficult than I imagined it would be. 10 days and no find yet. Funny thing is, the first time I saw a cache with this cipher, I Googled it and found the correct cipher right off. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Looks like you gave up and just went with straight ASCII text. Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 19 hours ago, ecanderson said: Looks like you gave up and just went with straight ASCII text. Haven't given up. Wanted to get it published, so went with another one I wanted to try. Still am going to work with symbols--I mostly use a MacBook, but haven't tried on a Lenovo laptop yet. As for ciphers, I'm still trying to find a way to encode using Turtle. There's a local cache that used that, and I found a decoder. Can't find one to go the other way. Quote Link to comment
+GeoTrekker26 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 On 1/28/2021 at 5:38 PM, GrateBear said: Update--well, apparently I found a cipher that was more difficult than I imagined it would be. 10 days and no find yet. Funny thing is, the first time I saw a cache with this cipher, I Googled it and found the correct cipher right off. I just glanced at the cache and have a question: are there clues on the page as to what type cipher you are presenting or is it just a guessing game? I ask only for consideration and discussion, not for you to answer, I don’t want you to spoil your puzzle. My limited experience is more solvers prefer a logical path to a solution rather than a “what it is?” puzzle. Maybe this is a factor in slow FTF? Quote Link to comment
+mustakorppi Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 On 1/29/2021 at 3:38 AM, GrateBear said: apparently I found a cipher that was more difficult than I imagined it would be. 10 days and no find yet. This wouldn’t have lasted an hour where I live. Quote Link to comment
+TmdAndGG Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 11 hours ago, GrateBear said: As for ciphers, I'm still trying to find a way to encode using Turtle. There's a local cache that used that, and I found a decoder. Can't find one to go the other way. I'm still not exactly sure what you mean by Turtle. My best guess is the Python Turtle. Could you please tell me if the code looked something like this? import turtle pendown() turtle.forward(50) turtle.right(90) turtle.left(50) turtle.backwards(90) penup() goto(50,50) stamp() Or used any of those lines of code? Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 On 1/30/2021 at 12:46 AM, GeoTrekker26 said: I just glanced at the cache and have a question: are there clues on the page as to what type cipher you are presenting or is it just a guessing game? I ask only for consideration and discussion, not for you to answer, I don’t want you to spoil your puzzle. My limited experience is more solvers prefer a logical path to a solution rather than a “what it is?” puzzle. Maybe this is a factor in slow FTF? No, but appreciate you asking. Most caches like this in my area do not give any hints as to what cipher to use. There are a couple that are totally baffling to me. A couple have said "maybe later". But, I'm thinking I might have to. Just not sure what to say so I don't totally give it away. If you have a suggestion, that would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 On 1/30/2021 at 2:06 AM, mustakorppi said: This wouldn’t have lasted an hour where I live. That's exactly what I thought! There are some very clever cachers here who have solved ones much more difficult than this one. The fact that I was able to solve one using this cipher made me think it would be fairly easy. I am not very good at these....... Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 On 1/30/2021 at 6:11 AM, TmdAndGG said: I'm still not exactly sure what you mean by Turtle. My best guess is the Python Turtle. Could you please tell me if the code looked something like this? import turtle pendown() turtle.forward(50) turtle.right(90) turtle.left(50) turtle.backwards(90) penup() goto(50,50) stamp() Or used any of those lines of code? The cache is GCYF01. At least he gave a hint! If you can tell me what it is, I would appreciate it. Quote Link to comment
+arisoft Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, GrateBear said: That's exactly what I thought! There are some very clever cachers here who have solved ones much more difficult than this one. The fact that I was able to solve one using this cipher made me think it would be fairly easy. I am not very good at these....... Without knowing the right method, this cipher is pretty hard to solve. After analyzing the data, I made a sophisticated guess and used a tool made for this cipher. The whole process took about 15 minutes. I was lucky because I knew this cipher already. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to solve it at all. Edited February 1, 2021 by arisoft Quote Link to comment
Blue Square Thing Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) If you can find the symbols on this list: https://www.rapidtables.com/web/html/html-codes.html (there are buttons at the top to get more sets of symbols) Then you can use the HTML codes in the cache description. (btw, I like the Turtle idea. Nice) Edited February 1, 2021 by Blue Square Thing Quote Link to comment
+HHL Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 14 hours ago, GrateBear said: If you can tell me what it is, I would appreciate it. Start here: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/logo/logo_quick_guide.htm Hans 1 Quote Link to comment
+mustakorppi Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 9 hours ago, arisoft said: Without knowing the right method, this cipher is pretty hard to solve. While you are right of course, there’s an online tool that guesses the correct cipher from the encrypted text of this particular puzzle. Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 9 hours ago, mustakorppi said: While you are right of course, there’s an online tool that guesses the correct cipher from the encrypted text of this particular puzzle. Haven't run across an online tool like that. There's a standalone *.exe called CryptoCrack that does a half decent job of ranking the most likely possibilities for cypher type. What is this online tool? Quote Link to comment
+mustakorppi Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 14 hours ago, ecanderson said: Haven't run across an online tool like that. There's a standalone *.exe called CryptoCrack that does a half decent job of ranking the most likely possibilities for cypher type. What is this online tool? Remind me when the FTF has been claimed Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 PM me with it, if you like. I won't be going after that specific cache in any case. A little outside of my caching territory! Quote Link to comment
+TmdAndGG Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 On 2/1/2021 at 11:03 AM, HHL said: Start here: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/logo/logo_quick_guide.htm Hans Thanks, I was on the wrong track with solving it On 1/31/2021 at 8:44 PM, GrateBear said: The cache is GCYF01. At least he gave a hint! If you can tell me what it is, I would appreciate it. So basically what you would have to do is program it for every move to spell out the coordinates. RT 90 FD 30 RT 90 FD 90 RT 90 FD 30 PU RT 90 FD 45 RT 90 PD FD 30 This code for a really simple number 3. Basically, this is giving the turtle super specific instructions on how to move the right ways to draw the number 3. Turn RighT 90 Degrees, Go ForwarDs 30 steps, RighT 90 Degrees, etc. What I'm trying to say, is that you can't really have an Encoder for it (I'm sure there's one out there somewhere, but I'd think the chances of finding it are pretty slim) , you have to act as the encoder yourself. 1 Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 17 hours ago, TmdAndGG said: Thanks, I was on the wrong track with solving it So basically what you would have to do is program it for every move to spell out the coordinates. RT 90 FD 30 RT 90 FD 90 RT 90 FD 30 PU RT 90 FD 45 RT 90 PD FD 30 This code for a really simple number 3. Basically, this is giving the turtle super specific instructions on how to move the right ways to draw the number 3. Turn RighT 90 Degrees, Go ForwarDs 30 steps, RighT 90 Degrees, etc. What I'm trying to say, is that you can't really have an Encoder for it (I'm sure there's one out there somewhere, but I'd think the chances of finding it are pretty slim) , you have to act as the encoder yourself. Ah, got it! Thanks for the explanation. Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 18 hours ago, ecanderson said: PM me with it, if you like. I won't be going after that specific cache in any case. A little outside of my caching territory! When I entered the cipher in Google, it let me to this site: https://www.dcode.fr/en The cipher I used was Rail Fence. Quote Link to comment
+mustakorppi Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 On 2/3/2021 at 3:10 AM, ecanderson said: PM me with it, if you like. I won't be going after that specific cache in any case. A little outside of my caching territory! Well since the op already posted the cipher name I guess it doesn’t matter. https://www.boxentriq.com/code-breaking/cipher-identifier 1 Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 Problem appears to be solved. I've been trying on a MacBook, which has not worked. I have a backup Lenovo that I use 95% of the time for GSAK. And using that, I can copy/paste the symbols. Quote Link to comment
+frostengel Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 Offtopic: Your mystery cache (GC956T8) hasn't been found three weeks after the publish date. Are you sure difficulty 2.5 is correct here? Perhaps that's more of a difficulty 4 (plus) cache? I published a D4 rated cache once and after two weeks without founds I made it diffculty 5 as usually in our area the cachers will solve any hard riddle very quickly. Sometimes you have to notice that your feeling how easy/hard it is to solve a cache is wrong - it may be some kind of easy (to you) but hard for the solvers and in this case D2.5 is surely a little low!? Best wishes Jochen 1 Quote Link to comment
+Kalkendotters Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 Solved the puzzle in about 5 minutes with the help of a nice website. Without any further information in the cachedescription I would rate it a 3 or higher. And I don't like this kind of mysteries where you have to guess the encryption and all the parameters for it. I think there should be hints for the used encryption and parameters in the description. 1 Quote Link to comment
+arisoft Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 2 hours ago, Kalkendotters said: I think there should be hints for the used encryption and parameters in the description. Hints are in the code. The problem is to know what to do with that knowledge. Quote Link to comment
+Kalkendotters Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 2 minutes ago, arisoft said: Hints are in the code. The problem is to know what to do with that knowledge. Quote Cache is not at the listed coordinates. Solve the code, and there you'll find it. Rather busy area, so be stealthy. Also, please don't close the container too tightly--might make it difficult for the next cacher. I dont see any refrence to an encryption system, but it might be me ... Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 On 2/8/2021 at 7:40 AM, frostengel said: Offtopic: Your mystery cache (GC956T8) hasn't been found three weeks after the publish date. Are you sure difficulty 2.5 is correct here? Perhaps that's more of a difficulty 4 (plus) cache? I published a D4 rated cache once and after two weeks without founds I made it diffculty 5 as usually in our area the cachers will solve any hard riddle very quickly. Sometimes you have to notice that your feeling how easy/hard it is to solve a cache is wrong - it may be some kind of easy (to you) but hard for the solvers and in this case D2.5 is surely a little low!? Best wishes Jochen I'm thinking the same about the difficulty. I put it at 2.5 as I had solved one using the same cipher by using Google. And, I am not very good at all solving these. Thanks for the input! Quote Link to comment
+GrateBear Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 You're right--there is no reference. I have to add a hint, but have to come up with something other than straight out telling what to use. Quote Link to comment
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