Steam Community :: Guide :: [SPOILERS] All the "secret" files and HEX codes (I found)

Store Page

When the Darkness comes

All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

When the Darkness comes > Guides > mn2014's Guides

251 ratings

[SPOILERS] All the "secret" files and HEX codes (I found)

By mn2014

I tried to find as much hidden messages as I could and will present my findings here.

Award

Created by

mn2014
Offline

Category: Maps or Levels, Secrets

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

4 Mar, 2019 @ 10:46am

11 Oct, 2022 @ 3:43pm

9,708	Unique Visitors
187	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Introduction

How to find these files

.t Files

.m Files

File endings possible meanings

Some other files

The blackboard HEX code

Cheater Ending

Good Ending

Bad Ending

Map contents

The .dll digging

Programms used / Credits

Closing statement

"Changelog"

Comments

Introduction

Note: Heavy spoilers for the game

Note: This guide does probably not contain every secret the game has to offer and I highly encourage you to look for all the secrets yourself before you continue to read this guide.

I tried to only reference each file once. Because of that you may find files in a section you would not have expected to see them. I just put the files where I thought they would fit best.

And I want to apologize for every grammar and spelling mistake (Not a native speaker).

Hope you enjoy!

Edit:
Sirhaian just made a stream with developer commentary, where he showed a bunch of the secrets and played through the game himself.

So... I'm guessing this makes this guide kind of useless?
But yeah, check the video out, it's pretty cool if you're interested in the game and the games secrets.

Also, I've been mentioned :3

How to find these files

All saves are saved (...) in your local Documents folder in the "Darkness" sub directory

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Documents\Darkness
(You need to replace %USERNAME% with your local windows username)

Different files will appear at different points in the game. (Deleting this folder restarts the game manually)

WARNING: Be cautious when changing these files, I would suggest copying the folder and only then editing the files.

.t Files

You can change the ending from ".t" to ".jpg" (or open the files with a image manipulation programm) to get the pictures yourself, but here they are:

..lookfurther.t

despair.t

escape.t

fear.t

hope.t

none.t

.m Files

All .m files you can gain (Chapter XIII - Meaning):

creation.m

"The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." Charles Dickens

fame.m

Aaah, fame. As Clive James said: "A life without fame can be a good life, but fame without a life is no life at all."

happiness.m

Happiness might be the best meaning to life. As Dr. Seuss said: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

knowledge.m

"Unless we learn to know ourselves, we run the danger of destroying ourselves." Ja A. Jahannes

money.m

"A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart." Jonathan Swift

none.m

None? Really? You must have a goal in life. If not, maybe it would be good to find one. A life without a light is filled with darkness.

In the final end screen there are messages for the different meanings (thanks to Kohr-Ah for bringing them to my attention):

Happiness - "Happiness was a good choice" Fame - "So you want to be famous?" (placed just above "I'm glad") Money - "Money does not buy happiness." Creation - "Creation is beautiful" Knowledge - "Knowledge can be dangerous" None - "No meaning? Really?"

File endings possible meanings

Since the file endings do not contain stuff you would actually expect for these extensions, I concluded that these do probably have a extra meaning, if you can think of any word these endings might fit, please tell me.
These are the ones I came up with:

.m
Probable meaning:
".m" might translate to ".meaning"

Usual contents:
Quotes from people

Actual RL usage:
Objective-C source code

.t
Probable meaning:
".t" might translate to ".truth"
(Although that's a bit of a stretch)

Usual contents:
Pictures in ".jpg" format

Actual RL usage:
Like a .tar archive but without compression

.c
Probable meaning:
".c" might translate to ???

Usual contents:
Some Text

Actual RL usage:
C source code file

Note: There are also other reallife uses of these file extensions, but I found these to be the most interesting ones so I chose them.
Source for the RL usages[en.wikipedia.org]

Some other files

Like the title says, some other files I found:

light.txt
String:

Hope prevails. I wish you the best in your life. And I hope you have enjoyed this experience and that it opened doors for you. I truly do. Thanks for playing.

Information:
You will gain this after completing the "true ending".

%USERNAME%.txt
String:

We are but dust and shadows. - %USERNAME%

Information:
Is created after you "write" the poem in the classroom in the school level (Probably a philosophy lesson)

Origins.txt
String:

Thanks for trying When the Darkness comes, and congratulations on finding the first secret of this Experience. Once again. If you suffer from depression or epilepsy, you may want to avoid playing. Thanks for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy the Experience as much as I enjoyed working on it!

Information:
Is created at first launch.

The blackboard HEX code

In the school level you will find a blackboard displaying this message:

HEX:

44 65 61 74 68 20 77 61 69 74 73 20 66 6f 72 20 6e 6f 20 6f 6e 65 2e

ASCII:

Death waits for no one.

Cheater Ending

You get these files when the game finds multiple "Meanings of Life" (Can happen if you forget to delete the ".m" files in your "_meaning" folder.

This is the desktop wallpaper you will get if you "cheat":

And the lvl you will be thrown in:

(I obviously did not cheat myself *cough* *cough*)

Good Ending

The files you will get with the good ending:

These files contain, as far as I can tell, the same content:

01-DO 02-NOT 03-RELAUNCH 04-THE 05-EXPERIENCE 06-AND 07-DO 08-NOT 09-LISTEN 10-TO 11-HER

String:

DO NOT RELAUNCH THIS EXECUTABLE. NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OUT OF THIS. DO NOT LISTEN TO HER. ..............................

courage.txt
String:

You are brave and courageous. Going through all of this and still keeping your head high. This is truly incredible. You are incredible. Never forget it. And never forget your light.

finale.txt
String:

Against all odds, you have finished this experience. There shouldn't be anything more for you to discover. Get some rest. Think about it all. Create something. Talk to someone. And if you ever see someone in need of help. Lend your hand. Help them find their light. Help them follow it. And never become the darkness in anyone's life.

restart_again.r
Binary:

01000001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110100 01110010 01111001 00101110 00100000 01000010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01110000 01100001 01101001 01110010 00101110 00100000 01001110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110010 01101011 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110011 00101110 00100000 01000110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110010 01101011 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100001 01101100 01110111 01100001 01111001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01001100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00101110

ASCII:

Again and again and again you try. But there is nothing to find. Nothing but despair. Nothing but Darkness. For Darkness shall always be there, as long as Light shines through.

restart_finale.r
Binary:

01010100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101100 01110111 01100001 01111001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101110 00100000 01000001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110001 01110101 01101111 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01100101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01101110 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01101001 01100100 01100100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101100 01101111 01110101 01100100 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101110 00100000 01000101 01110110 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110100 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101110 00100000 01000110 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00101110 00100000 01000100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01100111 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110101 01110000 00101110 00100000 01000010 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 01100101 00101110 00100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01110111 01100001 01110010 01100100 00101110

ASCII:

There is always a light somewhere. As the quote goes, it's not because the sun is hidden behind the clouds that it isn't there. Even if you can't see it, your light is there. Find it. Don't give up. Breathe. And move forward.

thanks.t
(Converted to .jpg)

Bad Ending

These are the files found if you choose the bad ending (When you Hang yourself):

darkness.c
Darkness has come.

deathdeathdeathdeathdeathdeath.d
HEX:

59 6f 75 20 68 61 76 65 20 63 68 6f 73 65 6e 20 44 45 41 54 48 20 61 6e 64 20 68 61 76 65 20 6e 6f 77 20 6c 65 66 74 20 74 68 65 20 57 6f 72 6c 64 20 74 68 61 74 20 68 61 64 20 62 65 65 6e 20 6d 61 64 65 20 66 6f 72 20 79 6f 75 2e 0a 0a 48 6f 77 65 76 65 72 2e 20 4c 69 66 65 20 69 73 20 6e 6f 74 20 61 20 67 61 6d 65 2e 20 4c 69 67 68 74 20 6d 61 79 20 73 65 65 6d 20 74 6f 20 68 61 76 65 20 76 61 6e 69 73 68 65 64 2c 20 62 75 74 20 69 74 20 69 73 20 61 6c 77 61 79 73 20 74 68 65 72 65 2e 20 45 76 65 6e 20 74 68 65 20 64 61 72 6b 65 73 74 20 6f 66 20 6e 69 67 68 74 73 20 77 69 6c 6c 20 62 65 20 64 65 66 65 61 74 65 64 20 62 79 20 74 68 65 20 6d 6f 72 6e 69 6e 67 2e

ASCII:

You have chosen DEATH and have now left the World that had been made for you. However. Life is not a game. Light may seem to have vanished, but it is always there. Even the darkest of nights will be defeated by the morning.

Wallpaper you will get:

Map contents

So I did some digging today, I looked around in the games level files.
(This is my first time doing this so take everything with a grain of salt)

In total I found 31 levels (level 0 - 30). I looked through all of them and sadly did not find anything of real interest. No secret level, no secret parts or alike.

But here are some impressions anyway:

The bed you are lying in near the end from outside:

The cheater level from far away:

The walking on a line level from above:

The .dll digging

So I looked a bit at some of the .dll files, and have, again, not found anything special, but if you are interested in how some of the stuff ingame looks as a bunch of code, here ya go.
(I'll probably add more in the future, but as this is my first time looking at Unity C# code I have to look up some stuff to comment and explain it)

This is C# code and the comments with "//" were already there, the "///" comments were added by me to explain the code a bit.

GetTime Method:
Info: This bit was pretty standard C# code with "DateTime.Now" for example.

Here are the methods used to create this clock on the blackboard:

The code used for the clock in the corner:

// GetTime using System; using TMPro; using UnityEngine; public class GetTime : MonoBehaviour { /// The text put in front of the "DateTime" public string beforeText; /// The text put in front of the "DateTime" public string afterText; /// This is probably the updating of the "DateTime" (Making it count up ingame) public bool isRealTime; /// This whole method gets the local system date and time /// then adds the text in front and the text after the clock /// and puts it onto the ingame "gameObject" private void Start() { /// Explanation: /// The gameObject the clock is attached to . GetsTheComponent . converts it to text base.gameObject.GetComponent<TextMeshPro>().text = beforeText + DateTime.Now + afterText; } /// This method updates the ingame object to make the clock tick up in real time private void FixedUpdate() { /// If "isRealTime" == true, the clock ticks up if not it does not if (isRealTime) { /// Same as above, but this method is used for realtime clock ticking, /// so it is probably called every second base.gameObject.GetComponent<TextMeshPro>().text = beforeText + DateTime.Now + afterText; } } }

How the game knows your name:
Info: Also pretty standard C# code

An example image from ingame:

The code used for the marked part:

using System; using TMPro; using UnityEngine; public class GetUserName : MonoBehaviour { /// You know the drill by now, this is the stuff put in front /// of your name on for example a blackboard: public string beforeText; /// The stuff after your name: public string afterText; private void Start() { /// This one creates the ingame object, with the text and your name: base.gameObject.GetComponent<TextMeshPro>().text = this.beforeText + Environment.UserName + this.afterText; } private void Update() { } }

Programms used / Credits

Programms used:

Notepad++
MS Paint
http://rapidtables.com (For ASCII / HEX Conversions)
Visual Studio 2017 (Because I thought darkness.c was an actual C code file and some of the commenting for the code explanations)
DB Browser for SQLite 3.11.1
ILSpy (for the decompiling)
uTinyRipper_x64
Unity

Credits:

Sirhaian (For making such a great game)

Contributors (suggestions to change / add stuff):

Kohr-Ah - For bringing the endscreen meaning messages to my attention
Nith - For noticing the error in "money.m"
Nothing.chr - For bringing the "none" endscreen meaning to my attention

Closing statement

This is the first guide I have ever created, so please criticize the heck out of it. If I have forgotten something, tell me, if there are any errors I have to correct, tell me.

I will add anyone who tells me things to correct in the Credits part of this guide. (If you do not want this tell me, I will remove you asap.

Ok, if you have actually read through the mess that is this guide, thank you, I mean this guide was not meant to be read, just like the game was not meant to be played.

I am gonna end on this note:
The game pretty much told me to make something with my life (Based on my interpretation (and trust me I am really bad at interpretations) at least), and now I am sitting here 07:30 in the evening, having spent 2 hours with this guide and 2 with the game have spent way too much time on this game, reading into the game files and looking at the maps, both for multiple hours, sometimes entire afternoons.
Looks like my head did not get the message that clearly...

Good life and make the best out of it everyone. Because I probably wont!
(If you want to, for some odd reason, contact me just try 'n message me on Steam)

"Changelog"

V1.2.9
Added the end screen meanings that Kohr-Ah brought to my attention

V1.2.8
Added "origins.txt" to "Some other files"

V1.2.7
Added some more code into the "The .dll digging" section

V1.2.6
Added a few things to the "File endings possible meanings" section

V1.2.5
Added explanations for the "GetTime" method
Added a few used programms
Corrected some weird grammar in the "The .dll digging" section

V1.2.4
Corrected "money.m" - thanks to user Nith

V1.2.3
Some minor formating changes

V1.2.2
Added contact info in "Closing statement" section

V1.2.1
Added section "Map contents"
Added section "The .dll digging"

V1.2.0
Corrected a few grammar / spelling mistakes in these sections:

"Introduction"
"How to find these files"
".t Files"
"Some other files"
"The blackboard HEX code"
"File endings possible meanings"

Added code tags to most of the strings and ASCII Strings for better reading
Added picture of the "Cheater level" to the "Cheater Ending" section

V1.1.7
Added to "File endings possible meanings" a few reallife usages for these file endings

V1.1.6
Added "creation.m" file content
Added some information to "Some other files" section
Changed the binary sections to be code sections
Changed the HEX sections to be code sections

V1.1.5
changed section name to "The blackboard HEX code"
rewrote part of that section because it was a blackboard not a TV (Saw that on a replay...)

V1.1.4
added "How to find these files" section and a short tutorial on how to find them

V1.1.3
added "File endings possible meanings" section
changed section name to ".m Files"

V1.1.2
Added further spoiler warning in the "Introduction" section

V1.1.1
Added some spacing for the ".t Files" section
Changed Phrasing in the "Bad Ending" section

V1.0
The first version of the guide.

57 Comments

< >

Café 4 Mar @ 6:50am

[h1] Two more files [/h1]

There are two more files: patience.t and finale.r

patience.t:

Is an image that says "True Patience". Unfortunately I don't know how to show images in the comments.

You probably gain this doing one (or both) achievements that require waiting:

"You're a patient one, aren't you?"
Wait a long time for that first red door.

"Just press the button!"
Wait a long time before pressing the first button

finale.r:

I don't know in what ending you get this, I was just saving every file I encounter in a backup folder and when I was looking this post I realized that this file was missing from the list.

Binary

01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01101101 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101001 01110011 01110100 00111111

ASCII

Why must you persist?

arsaja92 14 Jul, 2024 @ 4:36pm

"The game pretty much told me to make something with my life" and you made this fantastic and in-depth guide/info dump for other players who were mesmerized by this game. I'd say you did just that :)

mn2014 [author] 21 Nov, 2020 @ 4:36am

@Convolution223
Delete the "Darkness" subdirectory under your "Documents" folder.
If this does not work you can try uninstalling the game, then delete the remaining files in the installation folder and after that reinstall the game.

TheyKilledMe 20 Nov, 2020 @ 10:01pm

I got the bad ending. I read in one of the reviews you're supposed to play through it 3 times? When I launch the game again it's locked me out. Can't start it again because I'm dead.

BeeLzebub 20 Nov, 2020 @ 8:56am

I only did the good ending, I'll try the bad ending soon

Speed711 8 Oct, 2020 @ 12:39pm

You mean when you.png is stored when it uses your wallpaper in-game for the secret room monitor display?

KILL 14 Sep, 2020 @ 8:05pm

I remember that if you get the bad ending, it stores your (original) wallpaper somewhere. I forgot where but I know it does.

Cytosphere 3 Sep, 2020 @ 10:16am

Thx alot for the guide and secrets ^^

c0ttntail 16 Aug, 2020 @ 11:14pm

hm when you convert the image files try messing with the brightness and contrast, theres got to be some hidden text somewhere

Baileyface 6 Jun, 2020 @ 10:35pm

Great guide, thanks a lot.
To add though "The game pretty much told me to make something with my life" I don't personally think that was it's message, but that's my interpretation. More what I got was, Live your life and find your light, whatever that means for you. If combing through this made you happy and was enjoyable, then you did fantastic! Great job

< >