subroutine_hello

Pasted image 20251103204629.png

  • Appearances
    • First seen in IL4 in Portal RTX
      - "right key" side
      • Pasted image 20251105173535.png
    • Map available on the tf server during kulcs
      • Before Phase 3, the server would always start on this map before going to 2fort.
    • Runs locally after partial activation of Sourcebox
    • After Tadzy killed the cone, Anomidae found his way to this map with the "Sourcebox" program running on his PC. When he went through the door, he was seemingly able to execute the server configs locally on his machine.
  • Physical layout
    • Floor texture is tilefloor001b the same as int_menu
    • Large checkboard square with a Doorway on a hill. Players face the right-key side.
    • Has invalid entities info_player_counterterrorist, info_player_allies, info_player_axis, info_player_start. (TF2 only uses info_player_teamspawn)
      • #theory Designed to work in many different source games?
      • This is the same behavior as int_menu, where multiple games could all connect to the same map
    • Large trigger executes subroutine when players load in
    • player.mdl prop by doorway
    • Key named kjeglvaekyu sitting on the right-key side ("outside")
      - Pasted image 20251127235058.png
    • Doorway with black light and sprites/640hud2.vmt sprite above it
    • Box with key that executes invoke once key is inserted.
    • Text KEY ACCEPTED, PLEASE CONTINUE is primed to be activated by server config.
  • Behavior
  • Sides

Ask code: "KJEGLV(AE)(GEN)" (discovered using the overlays in the recovered Eida Machinima videos.

subroutine_hello

Left-key side

Left-key side, "inside"

Right-key side, "outside"

wrong_turn

Irregular but closest to a Type 4

Generated map contains Mazes

On crossing the threshold, converts to a Mechanics/Source Canvas and renders the checkerboard.
After rendering, Ordinance is hosted in administrative mode.
In IL4Vod, we see the network usage is maxed out during this

Portal type 4 synchronized with Red Room pawn, now walking on subroutine_hello.

Building cubemaps turns RTX into a render

  • later revealed in ILF to connect to Ordinance, when then renders a bitmap

Source Sample Tool visible in cubemaps

Figure in the checkboard void visible after

wrong_turn

Red Room

Appearances

In Portal and Portal RTX After Umbrella Man "breaks" the portal installation in the Portal Event

Pasted image 20251106213758.png

Pasted image 20251106213649.png

Pasted image 20251106213807.png

Can this be int_menu?

  • For
    • int_menu is a server hosted by portal and connects the runtimes, but isn't actually physically in the Source Void. This is why Demo Void expeditions are required to explore.
    • The red room pawn is able to jump off the map and land in another map because it was in the source void. int_menu as a map has an edge that can be jumped off, but this crashes the game (so presumably the connected clients aren't voidside yet)
    • Both connected to Portal RTX's modified state
  • Against

Appearance

Red illuminated checkerboard circle.

Behavior

  • In Portal and Portal RTX
    • During red room state, Portal opens directly to red room with node graph out of date, then crashes. Portal RTX does not crash.
    • No local map file available in Portal RTX.
    • Can't open the console, can't noclip, etc.
  • Passive behavior

With Whiteroom

Server behavior changes several demos prior to Whiteroom:

Pasted image 20251105175554.png

server_cvar 'sv_cheats' changed to 1
: Connecting to socket.fsky.org:27015...
: Connection successful!
: WARNING: No serial key detected! please enter a valid sourceBox serial key!
: authenticating key...
: connected to sourceBox
: Launching NULL

Console output references Sourcebox and its Key

Red room pawn moves back as whiteroom starts. When whiteroom begins to move, red pawn moves back into spotlight and demo ends.

With Ellisfloor

Pawn moves backward prior to INTERLOPE command, then falls off and into another map, either subroutine_hello or Bedrock.

Pasted image 20251105174300.png

With wrong_turn

(Note: this takes place on a different map, but with the same pawn)

Synchronizes with the portal type 4 demo and appears to be Kulcs Ouija > subroutine_hello?

Console output for Whiteroom demo generation references Sourcebox and the need for a serial Key

Pasted image 20251124222428.png

Red Room

coneconeconecone

coneconeconecone_v1

A maze with the same layout as mazemazemazemaze, but a different spawn point. The walls and floor are transparent, and there is a water texture beneath the floor. The original spawn point now contains a giant cone. The cone is named "cge7-193", shooting it shows it taking damage and upon death it screams.
In Hammer, the cone has multiple sounds, named "they_programmed_me_to_die", which is the zombie scream, "myvoice", which is canals/windchime5.wav, and "hurts", which is warningbell1.
When debating on sparing or killing the cone, the server changed to "pleasekill".bsp which wasn't on the server at the time.

Contains what seems to be the "intelligence" of Entities/CGE7-193. Upon killing the cone, the server shut down for an extended period, and Anomidae's Xemu HL2 was "unlocked".

ILE

Discovered by completing mazemazemazemaze.

coneconeconecone_v2

The same as coneconeconecone, but there is no cone and the spawnpoint is where the cone used to be. There is now a trigger and a torus on the side of the map for "cone.cfg".

Anomidae's TF2 was on this map and his screen is completely blank. This map led Anomidae to subroutine_hello.

After Tadzy killed the cone, the server shut down and changed to this map.

coneconeconecone

ask

ask_v1

A map with a Ouija board. It contains the standard Roman alphabet, along with some Japanese characters. Each character has a unique texture beneath it. A trigger surrounds the map that when crossed tries to make the player say "goodnight" in chat, however it doesn't work due to the player not being the one running the server.

The letters of the Ouija board are breakable. If the correct codes are entered, breaking the door will lead to a unique map (all currently known maps are shown on this page). Incorrect codes will lead to noaccess_v1.

N/A

The board includes the English alphabet (A-Z), the characters Ø, Æ, Å, N̄, an underline and 源 ("source"). Each character has a different graffiti texture from Half-Life 2 underneath. During this stage players on the server can attempt to input a phrase by breaking the characters on the ground, meaning each character can only be used once per phrase. Breaking a character attempts to make the player say the letter in chat, though this only works locally, with Ø being OS, Æ being AE, Å being AO, N̄ being EN, the underline being SPAVE and 源 being GEN. Breaking the door "enters" the phrase, and attempts to make the player say the word BREAK. Breaking more than 8 characters causes the map to reset.

ask_v2

Similar to ask, but now includes a trigger_hurt box called "dill". A new door is also included, which executes "answer2.cfg". Server motd changed from "GO INTO DOOR GAME" to "PLAYER TO DOOR AND KILL GAME"

New door is direct access to quiz; all future ask iterations include the dill box.

Replaced the original ask after the dill incident.

ask_v3

New iteration of ask, now with 3 doors. The new door has a brick texture and 65,000 health; breaking it takes you to mazemazemazemaze.

Adds a portal to mazemazemazemaze.

New iteration of ask after going to subroutine_hello.

ask

Sourcebox

Extended footage seen in SourceboxVod

  • Discovery
  • Provenance
    • The Red Room console output lists connecting to socket.fsky.org:27015 ... connected to sourceBox, implying Sourcebox is hosted on FSKY
  • Activation
    • Opening Sourcebox shows Anomidae as present in the TF2. Inputs to sourcebox move an anomi player in coneconeconecone.
    • After walking the scout through the new torus portal in the invisible maze, Anomi is sent to Kulcs Ouija > subroutine_hello
    • Sourcebox running in black screen "auth mode" allows server config to run for Anomi, allowing him to run subroutine_hello in HL2VR and use the Key
    • Physically moving the Key activates Sourcebox ( ILE )
      - Window title becomes sourcebox [REGISTERED]
  • Passive effects
    • Allows Ordinance connections which unlocks the ordinance maps
    • Allows Kulcs Ouija server configuration files to run locally (and in other games)
    • Causes void anomalies (metal barrel noises) in running source games
    • Since Sourcebox, white cubes spawn in all source games

Pasted image 20251103205210.png

  • Interface
    • Cursor
    • Cube
      • When clicked, turns blue and activates an "active state" where it's blue and rotates
      • No visible effect within sourcebox
      • Spawns a second White Cube in running source games
    • Sphere
    • Cone
      • Activates the Tracker, Source Void locator
      • Tracking something called "interlope" inside the void
      • Shows #coordinates in decimal
      • Interloper teleports around
      • Pasted image 20251103205758.png
  • Other functions
    • Has an aimbot labeled "PICKER", showing "PICKER ON" text on screen
    • Locks onto cubes and players and things
  • Mechanics/Cube Capture
  • Pull
    • When the interloper command is run to generate a demo, it switches to the "PULL" state. ILF 43:30
    • Pull seems to last slightly longer than demo playback.
  • Portal trap incident
    • After a long pull a White Cube comes into view and Drownings the tracked dme
    • The large cube in sourcebox is revealed to be a clickable UI element, but it blinks red with no effect or spin several times. (Maybe this is a hover effect?)
    • Eventually the cube activates, filling the entire screen with the blue "active" sourcebox color

#todo https://interloper.miraheze.org/wiki/SourceBox

Connected to by the Red Room during IL4Vod

Highlighted in ILE as the prize of Kulcs Ouija

Shows "Located WFA3Y-A" (a Namegen name?) as INTERLOPE.DME. DME is a kind of SFM container.

Cut message VALIDATORS HAVE NOT BEEN VERIFIED. PLEASE
Shows very large XYZ coordinates in decimal notation. #coordinates

METAL_REG loops through a series of states

A red CONE blinks pointing to the focal point

View tracks a point through coordinate space. Point occasionally "lags".

Occasionally the text "PULL" appears. METAL_REG continues cycling, but music and movement pause during "pull"

At the end of the video a cube with a Gizmo collides with the focused point, causing a Drowning. The cube intersects with a blue volume.

Interesting moments:

  • 58:08, cursor visible

Present in the void are:

  • Orange and red coordinate lines
  • Large blue volumes
  • Gizmos

Pasted image 20251102221502.pngPasted image 20251102222014.png
Pasted image 20251102222325.png

#TODO plot points

Causes metal barrel noises in the void in source games in ILF

#todo important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVnbeVAqheM

"all contextual evidence implies that sourceBox is the ontological source of the Interloper mystery"

Sourcebox

kulcs

kulcs is a duplicate of d1_trainstation_02 from Half-Life 2, but with strange shadows, entities, and brush entities.

The shadows of map brush entities formed the phrase "cge7-193", which was the name of the DMNPC from "cstrike.dem", and is also the name of a TF2 server (of which the rest of these maps are from). from cstrike
Server was found by Yarkane on SteamServerBrowser, Taco (cthulhutacos) was the first one to join the server.

Generated by Half-Life 2 Xbox VRAD in INTERLOPER C: The Sky Crash Incident while crossing the Cone Chomsky Doorway at Bedrock.
Doorway itself seemed to cause the VRAD.

Shadows are visible when standing at locations marked by Traffic CONEs, named OBJ1.

kulcs

Umbrella Man

Depicted as Shadow Men in Interloper 1 thumbnail

2025-10-31 22_24_06-Parsec.png

Called "interlopers" by anomi (IL3)

Behavior:

  • Appearances
    • Attacks the Portal character model with Model Mutilation in SKYCRASH
    • cstrike: Spawns mid-demo, drags POV out of map area after POV fires on UM.
    • spookycoast: Six UM watch as POV is drowned by a non-UM Shadow Men
    • Portal Event: Captures the DM Editor POV, breaking portal and portal RTX and forcing it into the Red Room state.
      • UM was able to spawn in and move around even after Anomi was fully disconnected, so UM is not a live network agent. Closer to an autonomous thing that can be on a computer, and possibly move through source games? (Eida)
  • Model
    • Dynamic props named "CAPTURE" in fortress
    • Dynamic props named "DMNPC-" in higuy (dmnpc_8roias1.mdl), indicating this is a type of DMNPC
    • Uses corpse1 material which is slightly green
    • Mesh named Olive
    • #theory Model kitbash is non-diegetic, based on similar kitbashing notes in element-viewer
  • Behavior
  • Patterns
    • Seem to operate in groups
      • Two UM in cstrike, one hidden
      • Multiple in spookycoast
      • One spawns in with a chime in Portal Event, but one (possibly another, possibly the same one) is visible hiding in a window before that
  • Chime may represent spawning (cstrike) or attention/activation (spookycoast)

#theory Umbrella men don't kill cones, they relocate them (as see in [[ILF#Final Transmission)

Model file is weird

thank you sarahbirbwrangler

Olive/"SERVICE" connection

#todo

Umbrella Man

INTERLOPE command

  • Typical usage: get s.interlope.pull:27015
    • Faulty "INTERLOPE" command is required
    • Message replies
      • getting socket for s.interlope.pull...
      • extracting data from terminal
      • submitting envelope
      • received
      • request from archive submitted
      • message from server administrator : CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME PLEASE ENTER WITH CAUTION YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE
    • GET command creates a data.dem demo file (additional demos increment)
      • Demos sometime save custom maps as data.bsp
    • Demo plays immediately
    • Worked briefly during IL1, then stopped working at 6 AM. Commands exit with no response.
  • Eida's removed commands (removed 2012?)
    • get s.interlope.pull:27016
    • connect s.interlope.pop:27015
    • send test.dme Mechanics/DME
    • Could be the mechanism used to generate demos on specific (custom) maps
  • Tuesday Manifest
    • New commands logged in SFM sessions
      • com_pull_request
      • hook s.interlope.pull:27016 is noted as a back door
] INTERLOPE
Unknown Command: INTERLOPE
] get s.interlope.pull:27015

This isn't valve ConCommand syntax, instead seems reminiscent of property access.

#theory s.interlope.pull represents a hierarchy of objects: s (sourcebox?) > interlope (The Interloper?) > pull (pull function called with a port argument)
Anomi knows what concommands look like and chose this to communicate something specific

Have Mechanics/Commit Numbers

In ILD Anomi speculates that it may have been affected/broken by the HL2 20th anniversary update, but this seems to have been a red herring.

We know demos must be recordings because we've had repeats

INTERLOPE command

Cone Chomsky

52:55

Pasted image 20251109233243.png

An amalgamation of The Bust and a CONE with missing-texture spheres floating around its cone. It's turned into a Doorway by Skyghost in ILC.

Unlike subroutine_hello its Doorway has an actual door that swings open
Pasted image 20251109233445.png

Cone Chomsky

Skyghost

https://interloper.miraheze.org/wiki/Skyghost

  • Entity in the "presenter" model

  • Captured in the projectskybox runtime during IL8, hides it but tracks Anomi

  • IL9: starts dormant, gets activated with sound

  • ILA: Starts floating around

  • Interloper A Behavior

    • "Comes from the same server as the demo files"
    • Starts in "map float" mode 00:41
      • Hovering and pointing
      • Occasionally plays a sound or spawns a model
    • Active effects (activity while active)
      • Bursts of activity
      • Makes a noise, points, spawns and positions a combine elite prop 03:02
      • Sits contorted at a fixed position relative to the POV, then jumps back 03:45
      • Plays sound
    • Passive effects (activity while dormant)
      • Teleports to a location, then plays three different sounds (Three-sound code)
      • "slinks" in a contorted ragdoll ball
      • Goes back to t-posing

  • Cubemap exams
    • Building cubemaps while skyghost is slinking renders video to SFM
    • The missing-asset fortress demo rendered the original fortress animation

  • Probably not an Umbrella Man, since there's a fear reaction to the windchime

  • May have learned about Umbrella Men from "watching the demos"

  • Skyghost has many properties unique to umbrella men and not processed by dmnpcs

    • Able to teleport
    • Able to spawn props (like higuy)

  • How is skyghost related to the interloper command?

    • Determines when demos can be generated
    • Can't be The Interloper because they're separate in ILF

#todo verify While anomi is flashnuking skyghost, she plays the same SFX inputs that anomi also uses to go into the castle map, meaning she knows about his past

Skyghost

2fort

2fort_v1

The default map for the TF2 server. The same as normal 2Fort, except the door in RED sewers is breakable.

The breakable door in RED sewers leads to a map switch trigger, which led to ask_v1.

Discovered at the same time as the TF2 server.

2fort_v2

A modified version of 2fort with no skybox. There's a logic_timer that executes dill.cfg every 6 seconds, making it hard to join. After this map appeared, saying certain swears in chat would kick you.

Unknown.

Went here after the subroutine_hello map changed.

2fort

Xemu

#todo need to figure out #portaltrap

Xemu can't run portal.

INTERLOPE command may work in HL2X according to the forum thread. How?

#159 Unknown User
but how is that possible if this works on hl2x?

#160 <s.t>Jman Expert
wait this works on hl2x????? since when

In SKYCRASH XEMU is called out as running with the software renderer (not directx)

Alpha State

Pasted image 20251103195650.png

  • Appearances
  • Appearance
    • There is a Key pointing up and rotating.
      • Anomi: "I'm assuming that's referring to the serial Key"
    • There is a fixed Gizmo. The POV is facing west (negative x), towards the doorway
    • A player.mdl is standing in the doorway
      • At some time between ILD and Kulcs this figure stopped being visible
      • Pasted image 20251127234638.png
    • The Sourcebox theme plays
    • This is the "left-key" side of subroutine_hello
  • Behavior
    • Movement is impossible
    • The game is lagging.
    • Despite running HL2X, the player is a scout
      • (the default player in SFM)
  • Shooting the gun
    • Pasted image 20251127232638.png
    • Crashes the game a second later
    • Gizmo has been rotated around the X axis, no longer correctly tracking world geometry
    • Key rotation stops and key angles toward door
    • Black box is visible

Beta State

Pasted image 20251103200253.png

  • Appearances
  • Appearance
    • Still on the left-key side, still facing west
    • Key no longer rotates, now points towards Doorway
    • Fog turns black, focus is now on the lighting from the door
  • Behavior
    • New figure, less lag
    • The key needs to be inserted into the box, but there's no mechanic for that in TF2

Gamma

On completing coneconecone, HL2 reaches gamma state

Pasted image 20251127235427.png
Pasted image 20251103202742.png

Reconnect Screen

With Sourcebox running, unplugging the controller leans the camera in and spawns a White Cube used for Cube Capture

Pasted image 20251103215602.png

Xemu

Cone Chomsky

52:55

Pasted image 20251109233243.png

An amalgamation of The Bust and a CONE with missing-texture spheres floating around its cone. It's turned into a Doorway by Skyghost in ILC.

Unlike subroutine_hello its Doorway has an actual door that swings open
Pasted image 20251109233445.png

Cone Chomsky

Bedrock

Pasted image 20251105172610.png

Pasted image 20251105172622.png

49:49

Checkboard floor that expands outward

There's a traffic CONE there 50:29

Cone Chomsky 53:04

Large unidentified floating object in the background 53:05

#theory Can't be int_menu because the texture is different and doesn't have an edge to fall off.

Bedrock