Easy guide for "Houdini" achievement

This small guide is available in English and Russian. This is also my first 'guide' here on Steam.

[English] Greetings, everyone. I've been looking for a solution or a guide for obtaining this achievement for a moment. Since I haven't found anything anywhere I decided to write one myself and it turned out to be fairly easy.
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[Русский] Всем доброго времени суток. Однажды мне вздумалось дополучить все достижения для The Guest и, как можно догадаться, среди них было и "Houdini', о методике получении которого далее пойдет речь. Поскольку я не смог найти руководства на форумах и в открытом доступе, постольку решил написать свое, - что в итоге оказалось довольно просто.

Foreword/ Предисловие

[English] In order to obtain this achievement you'll have to consult following screenshots. There is also an example video with process itself in a nutshell. Position of valves is supposed to be random most of the cases (though you could try starting a New Game each time until you get same position as on example).
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[Русский] В данном руководстве вам необходимо будет следовать приведенным ниже скриншотам, так как изначальное положение рычагов при каждом прохождении генерируется заново (либо можно заново начинать Новую Игру, чтобы добиться такого же положения, как на видео и скриншотах). Также, прилагаю видео с примером решения данной головоломки (менее чем за 20 ходов), - для наглядности.

General idea and Screenshots/ Описание и Скриншоты

[English] Position is supposedly random though I only saw 2 different positions despite several restarts. Example of such:
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[Русский] Положение рычагов вероятно генерируется случайно, хотя мне довелось увидеть только 2, не смотря на многократный перезапуск игры заново. Пример расположения:



[English] Despite the position, we have to move all valves to "Point Zero" from which it'll be easy to solve the puzzle. If you already got "Point Zero" from the beginning just proceed to the 2nd part of next section (you don't even have to check screenshots then). This is "Point Zero":
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[Русский] Независимо от положения, нам необходимо привести рычаги в нулевое положение. Если оно у вас изначально, смотрите следующую секцию руководства, вторую часть, - там все просто. Это нулевая позиция:

English - steps

Just in case, don't touch anything without looking here beforehand. First of all find all 3 valves and insert them into the mechanism. As it was mentioned earlier there is a trick - every time the original position varies so our task is to bring all the valves to the "Point Zero" (PZ).

However, then there is another trick which greatly simplifies the process. To achieve the desired result, you must turn every valve correspondingly and thus achieve the PZ.

Check the screenshot. Firstly, set the lower right valve as displayed, then - do the same with the upper valve, after that - return the lower right lever to the previous position (when we turned it the first time) and, finally, set the lower left valve so that the symbol faces downwards. Voila, we reached the PZ and it's going to be piece of cake now.



After you reach "Point Zero" follow next steps to get the achievement (red is valve's number, blue is action):

1) Turn valve 3 once clockwise
2) Turn valve 1 four times clockwise
3) Turn valve 2 two times clockwise

Русский - инструкция

Сразу предупреждаю, лучше почем зря ничего не трогать. После того как вы найдете 3 детали и вставите их в механизм - тут есть хитрость - каждый раз изначальное положение варьируется, поэтому наша задача заключается в приведении всех "рычагов" к нулевой позиции (далее - НП).

Однако, далее есть еще одна хитрость, сильно упрощающая нашу задачу. Чтобы добиться желаемого результата, необходимо поочередно привести каждый "рычаг" в правильное положение и тем самым войти в НП.

Ориентируемся по скриншоту. Поворачиваем нижний правый "рычаг" в указанное на скриншоте НП положение, затем - то же самое проделываем с верхним "рычагом", после этого - возвращаем нижний правый рычаг в предыдущее положение (когда мы повернули его первый раз) и, наконец, поворачиваем нижний левый "рычаг" так, чтобы символ был направлен вниз. Вуаля, мы достигли НП, дальше все просто.



С НП выполните следующие действия для получения достижения (красный - номер "рычага", синий - последовательность):

1) Поверните "рычаг" 3 1 раз по часовой стрелке
2) Поверните "рычаг" 1 4 раза по часовой стрелке
3) Поверните "рычаг" 2 2 раза по часовой стрелке

Video guide/ Видео инструкция

[English] Here you go with the video showing random starting position (described in previous paragraph) and a solution to getting to "Point Zero" and then completing the puzzle in less than 20 steps.
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[Русский] Вашему внимание представляется небольшое видео-пособие, в котором продемонстрировано решение головоломки начиная от 'рандомной' позиции, затем нулевой позиции, и заканчивая выполнением всего паззла менее чем за 20 ходов.

[Jackson]

lol @ Convenient Spider

Yea, they start randomly, so far only the math guide works unless you wanna restart the game. But frankly, math is faster.

[Convenient Spider]

The other guide uses algebra and I never liked algebra. It would take too long to understand it. As for starting a new game, why? Just so I can spend even more time working my way back to the study and then restarting it if the valves are not in the right position? It would be easy to start the game from chapters instead of the beginning. If I made to the study, I should be allowed to start anew from the study. It would save a lot of time and I my patience wouldn't be worn down so much.

[NoelDeirrow]

Or, well, starting the game anew. Should change the position for sure.

[NoelDeirrow]

There is another guide here which works for any position, apparently. Check it out. Maybe devs changed something though, you can also try reloading the game until starting position changes too (unless they removed such thing).

[Convenient Spider]

This isn't working. I don't care about the achievement anymore. I just want this puzzle solved. I'll just tell you what positions their facing and you tell me which ones to turn how many times in what direction.
Top valve facing South.
Left valve facing Northeast.
Right valve facing Southeast.

[Trespassers W]

Unfortunately, this guide works only for 2 initial positions of the valves (apparently the two ones, which the author had encountered — the problem is, restatring the application doesn't make the positions random, but starting a new game does). So I have spent a little time, handled this puzzle mathematically, solved a number of equations and, eventually, have written another guide, which I believe to be working with any possible initial position of the valves. Have fun!

And yes, reloading/relaunching does not reset the number of moves. You will have to start the game from the very beginning once again.

[NoelDeirrow]

It seems you have to start a new game if you didn't manage to solve the puzzle at first attempt without reloading or relaunching. Can't say for sure if it's bugged then, maybe it just tracks your progress in one session and nullifies it when you start anew.

[Psyringe]

I did get the achievement today, but I also had problems. In my first two attempts, I did solve the puzzle within less than 20 turns, but did not get the achievement. Then I started a new game and played without saving and without interruption until I had solved the valve puzzle (which I managed under 20 turns), and this time the achievement dropped.

Perhaps the achievement breaks when we save/reload.

[kris.aalst]

Thank you for your guide. It was very clear and helped me do this puzzle in about 10 moves on my second playthrough... but the achievement didn't pop. I see some other people having the same issue in the discussions forum, so I guess the achievement got bugged with the lastest game update.