Blacksite

Blacksite
Completed
Following the Danger Zone update, a secret was found within the Blacksite.
Type	Investigation
Creator	Valve
Discovered	2018-12-09

Main Page > List of Investigations > Blacksite

The Broadcast

On December 9, 2018, Reddit user u/vioeugen found a strange broadcast inside Room 3 of the Tourist building on the new Blacksite map. The broadcast was as follows:

[Theme 1 plays 4 times]
papa, golf, papa, whiskey
*small beep*
5, 0
sierra, mike, sierra, 7
*small beep*
5, 7 
[Theme 1 plays 3 times]
eating, hydrolic, keyboard, atlantic, shadow, liberty, transit, orlando, chairlift, maritime, buzzard, document, stopwatch, suspicious, guidance, politeness 
*fairly long break*    
alone, molecule, cobra, positive, cranky, unify, unearth, corrosion, tunnel, cumbersome, mohawk, repellant, bison, voyager, puppy, finicky, afflict, outfielder, spheroid, vagabond, sawdust, atlantic, mural, penetrate, berzerk, Medusa, ragtime, guitarist, indulge, consulting, burbank, distortion, repay, coherence
[Theme 1 plays 4 times, but sped up]

The beginning of this string is in the NATO phonetic alphabet, and reads PGPW50 SMS757. The PGP refers to the PGP Word List, a system similar to the NATO phonetic alphabet for conveying more complex data. The W50 indicates that there are 50 PGP words. When all the words are translated into PGP format they read as such:

54 74 7A 0E
BA 87 E7 A0
30 88 2E 4F
D7 DB 70 B4
*break*
0B 94 3C B5
41 ED F0 3A
ED 3E 83 C2
20 F7 9B 5E
06 A1 CB F2
B2 0E 84 AC
1E 8B A0 69
75 38 2C 4E
A7 2E

This led to the SMS757 string's use. SMS7 indicates that the data is encoded in GSM 7-bit, while the 57 references the number of characters. When decoded, the string read as such:

This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

This is a reference to the song "Still Alive" from the Valve game Portal, leading to speculation that this may tie into a third Portal release.

Potential Clues

The Three Trees

When the chime from the first segment is inverted onto the latter ones (which has the down side of repeating what the voice says under the first chime over the other ones), key words like "there, there and there" and "little rabbit" and "surrounded by three trees" can be heard, seemingly from this song: "The Three Trees" by Nat King Cole

Cleaned-up Version of the Sound file

In-game there are several "three trees" logos that resemble the white forest logo in Half-Life 2: Episode 2.

• 

  The Logo of White Forest in Half-Life 2: Episode 2

• 

  signage_tree_logo_01

• 

  signage_tree_logo_02

The Experiment Decals

These experiment_decals_0X textures are found in Blacksite's texture folder, hr_massive, (hr = hi-resolution, massive = the internal name for Blacksite).

• 

  experiment_decals_01

• 

  experiment_decals_02

• 

  experiment_decals_03

• 

  experiment_decals_04

• 

  experiment_decals_05

Experiment 12

At the bottom of the map overview for dz_blacksite there is the following text:

NOTE REDACTED - CLASSIFIED - BLACKSITE - EXPERIMENT 12 -  ARTILLERY PREP ZONE OBSERVATION

And along the right side:

SUBJECTS INBOUND AUTHORISATION CONFIRM FOR ZERO OUTCOME APPROVED - REGISTERED

There is a wristband model in the update (models\weapons\v_models\arms\wristband) that also bears the text "EXPERIMENT 12"

• 

  dz_blacksite_overview

• 

  wristband.mdl. "EXPERIMENT 12"

Signage: Images and Messages

Throughout the map there is various imagery, some of it quite dark or edgy. Some of it has equivalent weapon skins.

• 

  signage_image_01

• 

  signage_image_02

• 

  signage_message_01: This one is similar to the "Lab Rats" weapon skin and the CS:GO twitter's profile banner art.

• 

  signage_message_02

The Info Kiosk: East End Marina

On Blacksite there is an info kiosk model, however in-game it is empty. Contained within Blacksite's texture folder, there is a texture: survival_info_kiosk_color.

The text in it is blacked out, but brightening the image allows most of it to be revealed.

The kiosk texture with blacked out text restored.

• 

  The kiosk, in game, notably empty.

• 

  The survival_info_kiosk_color texture.

The image links to the website eastendmarina.com among other things mentioned. This site is currently considered a gamejacking attempt, and anything on it should be disregarded in the context of this ARG. The reason it is thought to be a gamejacking attempt is because Valve registers their sites with Network Solutions, while eastendmarina.com was registered with NameCheap. It was also registered on 2018-12-09, after the URL has been found.

Gabe Newell's Email

While further investigation took place, a user emailed Gabe Newell about the discoveries. The response Gabe sent was met with some suspicion, but has since been confirmed to be genuine. The user's name has been edited out to preserve anonymity.

As such, the investigation is considered complete.