Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) General What happened to the post in Unicode?

Hi,

There was a post here a few hours ago that was apparently a string of Unicode. Was it just deleted? Did anybody figure out what it said before it was axed?

Although there was some speculation that it was just spam, it appeared to be in Unicode characters that represented the Cyrillic alphabet. I posted a link to a site that listed the translation of the codes. It looked like somebody may have been using a Russian keyboard, incompatible with this forum? Did anyone confirm or deny that possibility?

Not being a Russian speaker, or familiar with the Cyrillic script I couldn't get any further. But I was hoping that someone might be able to help complete what was becoming quite an interesting quest. More interesting than pulling levers in BD anyway.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Did anybody figure it out?

nope! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Hakea, I posted much the same info you came up with shortly after you did, and included a link to a printout of the resulting Cyrillic text to see if anyone on the boards could read it... Maybe it Wasn't Nice... or was just garbage text? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I have deleted them. They didn't look like Cyrillic...
It's not the first time somebody just posts spamtext.

I've posted some things before taken directly from MS word, and what happens is that things like quotes "" appear as &#8220;I&#8217;m fine,&#8221;

So I'd imagine that trying to post with Cyrillic characters you'd likely get the code appearing.

Could also have something to do with your computers language settings. If you don't have the language fonts installed you can't see the text. All you get is mad gibberish.

Thanks Rincewind. Good to know. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Lynn,

Did you check the Cyrillic links? Those unicode symbols in the post actually did all represent specific Cyrillic symbols - they weren't just random codes. There are many things that unicode can represent, but those particular ones in the message all fell in the part of the range that refers to the Cyrillic alphabet.

Of course they might still have been a rude message, or nonsense. But the inclusion of the Divine Divinity symbol in the message suggests that it was probably not just random key punches.

I don't expect it was any more edifying than most of the posts here but it would have been fun to see if we could all crack the puzzle....

Ups... sorry, too late now <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

If that person really asked a question regarding the game, I suppose he will try again?...

I hope that I didn't scare him away with my reply... maybe he couldn't read what we wrote <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

maybe that person cant understand a word we saying..
mayby he/she is is seeing thing like #12354 #15651, #5685
And thinks, whow! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />
This forum has a lot of spammers out here <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Nice one bean. I like that image <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

I managed to set up my keyboard to type Cyrillic script (which is in XP by default and can be switched on), and also found a small translator program to type the results into.

The first word in his or her post (on its own) apparently meant "play" or "game", so it probably was a genuine post. However, it's slow going trying to figure out what the rest might be, because of not knowing where the word breaks are, or even whether it's Russian or one of several other languages that use Cyrillic script. Also, if there are any spelling mistakes or typos (pretty likely on the net...) then the translator won't work. You'd need someone who speaks the language to pick the error.

I'd kept a copy of the code from the post, so I'll see if I can figure any more out. It's been an interesting learning experience travelling round the web trying to find out more about the Cyrillic alphabet, even if the message turns out to be unreadable. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

hehe thx @Hakea,
That picture is exialy realy me, in my early years.
Bouncing from place to place...
Imagion , i was only 362 years old back then <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

tip <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/exclamation.gif" alt="" />
Has someone got that picture that was printed out with the language?
maybe if you put it true a OCR program like omnipage,
and then search for an online translation engine?

Here is the Cyrillic printout again, if it's of any help...

Great stuff Rincewind! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

How did you manage to do it? I did a much cruder job, just symbol by symbol, which gave me all the characters but not any of the layout or word breaks.

I haven't had time to plough through it all but about half of the words seem translatable so far with the program I found here:

English/Russian translator

I can't vouch for its safety or accuracy, but there are lots of links to it on the net and it passed through my virus checks OK.

Some of the words are easy to translate:

k= to
c = with
Ho = but
N (backwards) = and

But the longer ones take a bit of cracking. The first word in the post title apparently means "on or about" and the third means "fetters or shackles". The second word might be a variation of the word meaning "play or game" and the last word looks like it might be connected to one that means "luck or fortune".

If anybody else wants to have a crack at it there are several steps:

1. Get Rincewind's translation into Cyrillic script
2. Go into Control Panel and set up your keyboard to have the option to type Cyrillic script.
3. Work out an "overlay" for your keyboard. I.e. type in QWERTYUIOP.. etc and see which Cyrillic characters come up. (This takes a while)
4. Type the words into a translator and see if you can make any sense of it!

It probably doesn't say anything all that earth shattering, but it's rather an intriguing puzzle. Just think of it as a more complex version of solving the Ranaar language in Beyond Divinity. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

if only @evilrussiansciensist was here,
he could translate it in a jiffy

Or just be lazy and toddle over to this translation site with handy multi-lingual virtual keyboard .... in haste, and with a less than clear printout in hand, it gave me:

About game fetters of destiny game remarkable and &#1103;&#1074;&#1083;&#1103;&#1077;&#1090;&#1100;&#1089;&#1103; worthy heritage Divine Divinity, but unfortunately some glitches me it is simple &#1091;&#1073;&#1080;&#1074;&#1072;&#1102; for example game takes off at work with a window of skills.

so that's two words that may have been typed in wrongly, and of course the usual problem of the syntax... I don't have the original list of unicodes to check it against, only the Cyrillic printout, so over to you, Hakea!
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

If anyone is inclined to try to translate an answer back, the Russian version of the game will crash when the skill pane is opened. At least in the Polish version this only happens with the hero selected as leader; selecting the DK, opening the skill window and then switching to the hero will avoid the problem.

You're way ahead of me again Rincewind - great work. You're a Wizard... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks again for doing all the actual useful work on what was a most enjoyable quest. Looks like we've proved it wasn't spam and, (with the addition of another of Raze's perceptive observations), more or less worked out what his question was about. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

yeah...too bad we can't answer it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" /> ... although we can hope the poster can read and understand English, hasn't given up on scanning the boards, and comes across Raze's response...

But it was indeed an interesting quest, and fun working with you, Hakea! Thanks!

for all you russian experts <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> there is another post..... In BD English Suggestions. BLYA, KAK YA ZAEBALSYA I briefly tried to translate it, but due to lack of time (and effort), i only got to a few words.... and without the rest it didnt make too much sense....

Have fun on another mission.