Asking for a hint on safe codes

[atmaks]

I've collected most letters from the letter difference puzzle and this is the message I got: if we count small gates eight dates crack eight safes . So far I have no clue what " gates " this is referring to, and what " dates " i'm supposed to use. I've already found serveral meaningful ones, like foreman logs, Mary's birth date, Mary's fake birth date etc. , are these the ones?

Well, I guess I'm just asking for a spoiler-free hint on where to look next for those codes. Any tips appreciated.

[ioan]

Word 'Gates' has multiple meanings and refers to many different things in this game. 'Dates' is referring to a date format in general more than some specific date you find in myriad of documents. Meaning every safe code consists of a digits that represent a valid date at the same time.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Have you found anything with a number 1 to 8 ?
When you have at least one, you could start thinking about it in context of that message.
I made a list in my notes and filled it in as I found more, to help me see what else was left still to find.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Another way that might help contextualise the message is that this is telling us how: If we count small gates, eight dates,

and this is telling us what: crack eight safes.

So you might want to find the what first and then work on the how.

[atmaks]

Originally posted by ioan:

Word 'Gates' has multiple meanings and refers to many different things in this game. 'Dates' is referring to a date format in general more than some specific date you find in myriad of documents. Meaning every safe code consists of a digits that represent a valid date at the same time.

Thanks. Could you elaborate on the date format? Specifically, does the game expect DDMMYYYY or DDMMYY or MMDD or whatever?

Also, I'm rather disappointed that "Gates" is an allegory or something. Now I have to guess what the hell the developers were thinking when they came up with the puzzle and needed a 4-letter word to fit. Oh well.

[atmaks]

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Have you found anything with a number 1 to 8 ?
When you have at least one, you could start thinking about it in context of that message.
I made a list in my notes and filled it in as I found more, to help me see what else was left still to find.

Are you talking about the red letters? Then yes, I got the one in the time safe in the Shelter.

[atmaks]

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Another way that might help contextualise the message is that this is telling us how: If we count small gates, eight dates,

and this is telling us what: crack eight safes.

So you might want to find the what first and then work on the how.

Not sure I understand any of this, but thanks anyway.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Originally posted by atmaks:

Not sure I understand any of this, but thanks anyway.

Ah sorry, I wasn't sure how direct to be.
What I mean is you first need to find a safe or combination lock, and only then does the message become useful.
It's telling you how to solve them. But how exactly you do that varies for each one you find.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Originally posted by atmaks:

Are you talking about the red letters? Then yes, I got the one in the time safe in the Shelter.

Yes. And see how you had to enter a date to unlock it? It fits the message, as do the others you will find. But they don't necessarily all fit the message in exactly the same way. So the message is like an overarching theme, not a precise instruction.

[ioan]

Originally posted by atmaks:

Originally posted by ioan:

Word 'Gates' has multiple meanings and refers to many different things in this game. 'Dates' is referring to a date format in general more than some specific date you find in myriad of documents. Meaning every safe code consists of a digits that represent a valid date at the same time.

Thanks. Could you elaborate on the date format? Specifically, does the game expect DDMMYYYY or DDMMYY or MMDD or whatever?

Also, I'm rather disappointed that "Gates" is an allegory or something. Now I have to guess what the hell the developers were thinking when they came up with the puzzle and needed a 4-letter word to fit. Oh well.

The game expects MMDD or DDMM formats. That is if the solution is 0123, the 2301 will open the safe too.

"Gates" is used not as an allegory, more like as a word play. Kinda like a word "Bat" that can be an animal, or the equipment to play baseball depending on a context.

[atmaks]

Alright, thanks again guys, I'll try to figure it out.

[JWRM22]

Thanks for the suggestions, but except for brute forcing the ~300 options for each safe, I have yet to find a solution for any of the safes except the bombshelter safe
(Day 100+). I expect the values are hidden in plane sight, but I have no luck with finding the dates. The following attempts were unsuccessful: the stairs in the observatory and clock tower have different colors, similarly the runnel towards the room 46 lever has a pattern of missing screws. The in game hints give several incorrect codes, but none are dates. Also it excludes several digits similar to the clock puzzle. Lastly the note D8 penned by hand on a red card was included. Thus it's the correct date 14th of November, day eight. Counting Christmas lights, or apples on a calendar didn't help either. The safe depositboxes are kinda gates, but none of those numbers/dates helped.

Furthermore, having to test all candidate codes on all safes is rather a time consuming task. Thus far I've notes on a couple hundred attempts. So a question may be, is the answer in the room where the safe is located, or are they all over the place.

[ioan]

Originally posted by JWRM22:

Thanks for the suggestions, but except for brute forcing the ~300 options for each safe, I have yet to find a solution for any of the safes except the bombshelter safe
(Day 100+). I expect the values are hidden in plane sight, but I have no luck with finding the dates. The following attempts were unsuccessful: the stairs in the observatory and clock tower have different colors, similarly the runnel towards the room 46 lever has a pattern of missing screws. The in game hints give several incorrect codes, but none are dates. Also it excludes several digits similar to the clock puzzle. Lastly the note D8 penned by hand on a red card was included. Thus it's the correct date 14th of November, day eight. Counting Christmas lights, or apples on a calendar didn't help either. The safe depositboxes are kinda gates, but none of those numbers/dates helped.

Furthermore, having to test all candidate codes on all safes is rather a time consuming task. Thus far I've notes on a couple hundred attempts. So a question may be, is the answer in the room where the safe is located, or are they all over the place.

The answers are in the room where the safes are. Although one of them is tricky and requires a clue from other room before you can get to the answer.

[Sir Waddles D. Waddlesworth III]

Originally posted by JWRM22:

Thanks for the suggestions, but except for brute forcing the ~300 options for each safe, I have yet to find a solution for any of the safes except the bombshelter safe
(Day 100+). I expect the values are hidden in plane sight, but I have no luck with finding the dates. The following attempts were unsuccessful: the stairs in the observatory and clock tower have different colors, similarly the runnel towards the room 46 lever has a pattern of missing screws. The in game hints give several incorrect codes, but none are dates. Also it excludes several digits similar to the clock puzzle. Lastly the note D8 penned by hand on a red card was included. Thus it's the correct date 14th of November, day eight. Counting Christmas lights, or apples on a calendar didn't help either. The safe depositboxes are kinda gates, but none of those numbers/dates helped.

Furthermore, having to test all candidate codes on all safes is rather a time consuming task. Thus far I've notes on a couple hundred attempts. So a question may be, is the answer in the room where the safe is located, or are they all over the place.

Hard to give advice without spoiling, but basically you're overthinking it and the clues pointing to the answer of 2 safes are in this post.

[Wendel]

Originally posted by JWRM22:

Thanks for the suggestions, but except for brute forcing the ~300 options for each safe, I have yet to find a solution for any of the safes except the bombshelter safe
(Day 100+). I expect the values are hidden in plane sight, but I have no luck with finding the dates. The following attempts were unsuccessful: the stairs in the observatory and clock tower have different colors, similarly the runnel towards the room 46 lever has a pattern of missing screws. The in game hints give several incorrect codes, but none are dates. Also it excludes several digits similar to the clock puzzle. Lastly the note D8 penned by hand on a red card was included. Thus it's the correct date 14th of November, day eight. Counting Christmas lights, or apples on a calendar didn't help either. The safe depositboxes are kinda gates, but none of those numbers/dates helped.

Furthermore, having to test all candidate codes on all safes is rather a time consuming task. Thus far I've notes on a couple hundred attempts. So a question may be, is the answer in the room where the safe is located, or are they all over the place.

Usually the safe clue is on its own room. Sometimes there are more hints elsewhere that help with them, but the main clue is in there, somewhere, and an interpretation of the painting puzzle phrase is always involved - except sometimes it's a pun (like in the Drawing Room; if you need a hint for its pun, it can be found in the Study)

Looking at some of the things you tried, you seemed to almost get some hints:

When you said "Counting Christmas lights", there's no need to count anything there; remember that ...dates...crack...safes....

When you said "Counting ... apples on a calendar", remember that "if we count *small gates*...".

[rainbowtrout07]

Originally posted by Wendel:

When you said "Counting ... apples on a calendar", remember that "if we count *small gates*...".

So more specific spoiler to this puzzle: counting apples also works! there are two independent hints on the calendar that both lead to the same date