The Dark Complex

help!!!!
I don't find the solution in the yellow room with 6 circle on each face.

Same for the room with RGBYPC tetris bloc and the room with breakage-brick

I find for tetris and breakout room.
But I couldn't find the solution for yellow room with 6 circles on each faces,and the blue room with blue parts of circle(I don't understand the explains)

I finished all color room.
But,how to know the beams direction???
And how to use the orbits picture,appear after having solved the room???

hmm.. beginning to wonder if the walkthrough exists.. *tear*

well i just got started on it and im already stuck on the first rooms.

Blue room: Each wall has one floating triangle on it. and the wall itself has a pic of a triangle as well. and i see that u click on them and they start flying around then um.. im lost. any help?

wow nvm.. solved what was wrong.. for some reason most computers i try that game from dont work. the thing starts up fine, but then I dont see all the shapes, or it doesnt work properly. for instance, the triangle one is supposed to slide to the empty space, when instead it goes haywire and the triangles start to fly around. lol. anyone else have this problem?

oh my, i think i'm really stupid. i don't even know how to get to these rooms. i'm stuck in first location...

Hi all!

You will find a HUGE spoiler here:

When visiting my homepage

how to find it will be the least of all problems

never mind the language. There is a hidden link in the largest main frame,

which is actually a javascript code. When clicked it gives You a new window with

spoilers to some games I have been through

After this spoiler I won't write any more spoilers. This should really be satisfactory for anyone. A small drawback for people using Konqueror is that

these javascript codes don't always work.

Cheers, Doc.

Dr_Xem@cs
can give the direct link to the walktrough???
I don't find this in your swedish site,I clik in all links on pricipale webpage without find the good link.

Help me.

how to use,the RGB planets orbit on the resolved room????????

Internet is an expensive habbit... is there a downloadable, exe version??? Flashget and flash saver won't work!

Hi NeurOmancer.

Try this trick: Suppose You use WinXP or Win2K and You are a user called "User" Open the folder "C:/Documents and Settings/User/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files" (Replace "User" with your login ID). Search for "TheDarkComplex.swf". Now drag this file to the Desktop, or a folder of Your desire, doubleclick it, and enjoy!

There is a small hitch though, with this method You won't be able to enter any fancy comment when You're done, since the Flash object looks for the HOF (Hall Of Fame) at the swf domain, and unless You have a HOF of Your own which I doubt the only joy You will have of this is that You save the artwork for Yourself.

A more complete way is to empty the Temp folder before reloading TDC, and then save all files appearing alongside with the swf, and thus get the complete environment, as format document etc. This will also erase all cookies and other cache stuff You might want to keep, since I guess You have a modem connection. The HOF will still remain on the Internet though...
This the most basic main stream ripping method should not be any offense to anyone when published. I sometimes meet the opinion that this is illegal, but I cannot see why it should be illegal to copy a file from one location at my hard drive to another of my choice.

Cheers, Doc.

Thanks Dr_Xem@cs.

Could i please have a link to the walkthrough also? I've only got about4 rooms left but Ive tried everything i can think of an i just cant do it.

so far I havn't been able to do the starfield. The directions have been very bad. Look again. If you go from the button, the first screen does not match up with the next screen, going counter clockwise. The Upper Middle star (in the screen to the left of the button) does not match the screen to the left of it.

Well, I have no idea how to solve 2nd green room (with stars).

On each face two stars spinning in different directions than others. Each face have similar one. So, there are tree different face types.

Hey DmD,

Here's the answer...

Each star/cog/gear-thing should be spinning in the same direction as all the other cogs in the same position in the pyramids on all the other walls. Click the ones that aren't.
Huh? Explained another way...look at the cog at the top of the pyramid... it should be spinning in the same direction as all the other "top" cogs on all the other walls... except for one! Click the one that's going the other way. Repeat for all other cogs.

i solved the starvied

its a 3d starchart and you have to color all stars differently to solve it.

if when looking at a corner 3 stars meet it means its the same star so color it in the same color.

smaller stars are further from your current view.

OK, the "map" room. Or the "sphere faces" room. Or the "two arrows" room. Or rg0 (the closest yellow room to the start).

This is the only one I haven't completed so far. Please help me. I just don't get it.

OK, I've lined up the faces, and have them laid out as a cube. Next step?

OK. Had a couple of days off to do Return to Archipelago (oh, and work and exams) and I came back to the map room and finished it in 5 minutes.

I actually made a paper cube with the faces drawn on in the corrected order/orientations and used 6 colours of drawing pins to simulate the arrows.
Makes it a whole lot easier

Tomorrow I'll do the metapuzzle.

For those who may be struggling with the yellow 'planet and arrows' room:

Pay very close attention to the edges of each globe picture. They are key to figuring out which ones are 'side by side'.

No, I haven't solved it, but one previous hint about the arrows and what I just figured out, I'll be well on the way to solving it once I finish sketching.

Hi Jay,

First-time poster here.

Initially, I'd like to say: thanks.

Thanks for such a wonderful site.
Thanks for doing the leg work and bringing such wonderful games together on one site
..and finally thanks for taking my life away! May I have it back? =)

As far as TDC goes...I have spent three days on it and still have not finished. Perspective is everything! It is interesting how some of us see it as a 'cube' and some see 'the inside of a room'..much like that old 2D-cube-optical illusion-thingy we used to draw as kids.
Likewise, some people breeze through rooms/cubes which others find incredibly difficult and then stumble on those that others consider childs' play...

Which brings me to the point of my post. =)

My pea-sized brain can't muddle through the following rooms:

(Assuming 0 is blank; 1 is half; and 2 is filled)

1B 0R 1G (Cyan) room with green semi-circles
2B 1R 2G (Cyan) room with red dots and half squares

Both rooms seem to be similar in that a click will re-orientate the shapes on that particular facet but may/may not affect neighbouring facets...

Are they 'mazes' like the 'eye' puzzles or more of a match game??

Any help is appreciated!

I just beat the yellow map room with the globes and pairs of colored arrows. If you're stuck or confused, this should help:

First thing, I have a nearly photographic memory and I still had to draw this one out. So... if you haven't done that yet, do it. Second, I was very confused by people talking about the "faces of a sphere," and each pair of arrows needing to point to one face. I don't see how anyone could understand that, as there is no such thing as a face of a sphere. A sphere has a continuous surface and therefore has only one face... its entire surface.

Look at it like this, each circular background image is a 2D representation of a hemisphere. There are 6 images of hemispheres with their centers on 6 evenly spaced points on the globe (i.e. north pole, south pole and 4 points on the equator with 90 degrees separation between them). With this in mind, it should be relatively easy to form a picture of the entire globe. Once you've got the globe down and can identify the positions of each hemisphere with respect to each of the other hemispheres you are ready to solve the puzzle.

If this proves difficult, first remember that each of the hemispheres has an opposite (since they are evenly spaced)... so, the correct set of two pictures of opposite sides of the globe will give you the best full image of the globe.

Also, notice that the curved continent outlines only appear curved (or the straight lines only appear straight, depending on how you look at it). Each continent is actually a very simple shape drawn by straight lines on the curved surface of the sphere (two are triangles and one is the shape drawn by two line lines of longitude or latitude).
There are only three continents!

You must have the image of the full globe in your head or on paper somewhere to solve this puzzle... unless you have REALLY good luck. With that:

Forget about where the arrows are on the cube, instead remember the 6 evenly spaced points. Each set of arrows should aim at one point. Each hemisphere shows 5 points total (center, top, bottom, left and right) and you can aim the arrows on any one hemisphere at any of the 4 outer points. Each of the 4 outer points of each hemisphere is actually the center point for another of the hemispheres.

Now, just work one color at a time and make sure each set of arrows has its own point to look at. If you have two sets looking at the same point it won't work.
Good luck guys!

So, take Amor's example where each red arrow points to the right. Then each red arrow is pointing at the center point of the blue/green hemishere. So, the points on the right of both hemisperes with red arrows are actually the same point as the center point of the blue/green hemishphere. And so the top point of the red/green is actually the same as the bottom point of the red/purple.

So, start with the reds and then aim the other pairs of arrows at whatever OUTER point they have in common. If two same-colored arrows are on opposite sides of the globe (not necessarily opposite sides of the cube), they will have ALL 4 outer points in common. Just do those last and use the points that haven't been used yet.

I hope this has been helpful.

oinasia - thanks for the kind words! You're very sweet.

Jonathan certainly has a way with puzzles! I love his work. But it's been so long since I played this game, that I simply can't remember(!). Maybe I should play it again someday soon, I would enjoy it as much as I did the first time! =)

What? No help Jay?!
:)

You mean I have to muddle through them myself?
Two rooms/cubes to go ( I think)...I am leaning towards a maze/specific order for the above mentioned rooms just can't seem to find a sequence!

The room/cube starts off with a red dot surrrounded by two red ' brackets'. Clicking swings the 'brackets' around the dot into various configurations..too many clicks and it resets to the default state...ring any bells?

Hi guys,

I must say I get a sadistic kick out of watching people struggle with my puzzles - bwahahaha!

But here's a spoiler for oinasia...

Both of the puzzles you mention are simple "memory" puzzles. Ie. click two of the same shapes in a row to get them to "stick". Click a wrong/mis-matched shape, and you'll have to start all over again. The twist is that with the second room you mention, each wall cycles through 3 shapes, so you have to "prime" them first, so that the matching shapes are all accessible with only 1 click apart. Does that help?

Cheers,
Jon :-)

Dear Sadist...er I mean Jon! :)

Thanks for the hint. Here's to another night without sleep!

Cheers and thanks for the game!

oinaisa

Wow!

It took me about 90s with your hint Jon - thanks!
Typically I couldn't see the forest through the trees and was trying to

see a patern through all 6 facets rather than three pairs!

Thanks again
oinasia

I just solved the 3D starfield puzzle in about 15 minutes and I saw some folks still needed help, so:

I just read the other hints, they are very good. They may be a bit confusing if you haven't solved it yet, though. There appear to only be six stars which are not so much reflected but are shown from 6 different perspectives from outside the field. If you look closely, you'll be able to tell which is which and match up stars from face to face.

This only makes sense if the faces aren't reflections but external views. So when you look at the bottom face you are looking up through the starfield (or down depending on how you look at it) from outside. So, each of the 6 stars simply needs to be a unique color. Obviously then you'll need one star of each color on each face as each face is a view of all 6 stars from different perspectives. Now just pay attention to positioning and notice that some stars carry across multiple(3) faces. If a star carries across faces, what does that tell us? With this, and possibly some of the other guys hints, the starfield puzzle should be yours for the taking. Have fun!

156!

I don’t think I have ever even finished in the top 10000 on a game before! =)
Jon, if your goal was to make TDC harder than TDR…well done.

By my calculation it takes a little over a day on average to get a new hero!

I must say, though, I couldn’t have done it without some helpful hints from here and a mountain of paper cut into cubes!

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming:
i.e. my life! =p

Cheers,
oinasia

Sean:

The most helpful hint I got on the 'starfield' was to imagine you are inside a room with the walls and floor/ceiling covered in mirrors.

The starfield casts reflections but is invisible in the room - kind of a reverse dracula...

Does that make sense?
oinasia

oinasia-

the mirror idea just doesn't work in my head because of the fact that I mentioned about which stars pass in front of the others. Also, the mirrors would have to only reflect the invisible stars and not the other mirrors or else you'd get the wierd never-ending mirror reflecting off a mirror back and forth. If the mirrors don't show the other mirrors, then when you look at a hard angle at one of the faces you should see nothing on it as the reflection would have to bounce off two mirrors to get to your eyes. Either 1)the mirrors are very selective about what they reflect and how they reflect it, or 2)these are simply six external perspectives of the same starfield (much like the map/globe puzzle). I think number two is more elegant and accurate for what I see... but it doesn't really matter what the room is a representation of, but that you can solve it with however you interpret it.

sean

i thought i had just finished the game, but I realized I had lenses the wrong colors. if you are stuck on the last puzzle and the white room, here is a BIG hint:

Use Satirus's map, it is excellent and super helpful to get a full image of the cube in your head. Kudos Satirus! BEFORE you start making pathways for the light, check out the dark room (1/2, 1/2, 1/2) from the different lens rooms (1/2, 1/2, x; in all combinations). The dark room will show you what color the lens should be in each room (for example the lens in the red room should be yellow). I'm not working on it anymore tonight, cause I spent way too long "finishing" it incorrectly already. Tommorow I will have it solved for sure, though!

sean

I was completely wrong about the last puzzle.

The symbols in the dark room change color depending on what color the lens is... I'm stuck again.

Yippee! Solved it, couldn't wait till tomorrow. So, I was in fact COMPLETELY WRONG about the lenses in my hint. This will probably be my last post unless anybody wants to ask or tell me something (I'll check this page for a few weeks, I guess). I just have a final spoiler correction cause I can't stand that my last hint was wrong :p

For the final puzzle, the symbols in the dark room seem to appear once a light beam passes through the lens on the opposite side. They are a reflection or something and didn't matter for me. I ended up just basically guessing and checking to see when the planet/circle thing in the dark room filled. So when the planet/circle of a color is filled, the light beam of that color is passing through the correct lens. I just worked that out and pushed through short segments of each path back and forth until all the planets were lit. I'm sure there is a more elegant way to solve this one, or I imagine there is, but I couldn't figure it out; though, my light rays did take very similar paths around the cube. Maybe they were even the same path. I don't know, maybe when I go through again I'll figure this one out.

sean

You're right (about the mirror room) Sean.

It goes back to my earlier post about perspective aand how different people can view the same thing in different ways...

Anyway, I choose to think of them as "magic mirrors" and that was enough to wrap MY head around the puzzle - might not work for everyone..

Good luck with the beams - not long now!

oinasia

I'm REALLY stuck with the

starfield

I just don't get it at all!!
I had two sides. I tried the mirror effect. I got two white stars on the same wall, yet i need different colours. I applied the "three-way-star-system" (one star is coloured, and when you rotate you see that star jump, it must also be the same colour there)

Doc, could you please post your walkthrough, or just give us more hints, cause i'm really dumb at these figuring-out things. (i completed about half the puzzles on my own, the other half have me completley stumped...not to meantion the fact that i'm lost in the maze of rooms lol)

Fishy Boy,

For the starfield...

Ignore hints about the "mirrors" - that is totally incorrect. Here's the solution: - Each wall shows the same constellation of 6 stars, but shown from 6 different points of view. (Ie Looking up, looking down, from the left, right, front and back) - The constellation is roughly in 3 layers: 1 star at the top, 2 in the middle, 3 at the bottom. - Choose a colour for each of the 6 stars, and make the same star the same colour on each wall. Hope that helps!

Jon.

Thanks Jon, but

Do the same rules of the 3 star rule still apply? (That is, when you turn, and the same star is there but on a different wall, its the same colour)

Great game by the way lol :D

Or could you just tell me one of the sides so i can try (try lol) to understand the logic, and i would have something to work from, instead of randomly guessing and confusing myself :D

FishyBoy,

Ummm... I can't remember the solution and I've lost my notes, so you'll have to work it out.

But...

- When you turn, and some of the stars appear to "travel" to the next wall, that is just a coincidence... It doesn't necessarily mean it's the same star.

- The best way to solve this would be to make a map of the 6 stars in the constellation (draw a 3d cube, and map the star inside it). If your cube were sliced into 3 layers, then there would be 1 star in the top layer, 2 in the middle layer, 3 at the bottom in an L-shape something like...

       *
------------
   *
     *
------------
*       *
    *
When you've got a map, work out which wall is looking at the constellation from which direction and colour the stars accordingly. Try to isolate the star by itself at the top first, and its the easiest to identify from all the different views.

Jon :-)

Thank you Jon!
I'll try that later on, hope it works. It's the only puzzle I have left to do.

Did Jon change something in the Dark Complex? I just loaded up TDC here at work to check on a flash of inspiration regarding the first room...

Specifically how the wall colors in that first 'puzzle' relate to the lenses and the white room...

I've figured out the mapping for the game (big spoiler).

For each room there is an identification based on red, green, and blue. It is either 0/.5/or full circle in each color. (I'll call it 0/1/2 in each, ordered r-g-b) Each room (except the special rooms) has a corner with a puzzle that it activates. Once you solve the puzzle, clicking it will show the name of each room thai it is connected to (+/- 1 for 1 color). Also, solving the puzzle opens some doors and triangles (for directing light). The sides with triangles have arrows on them. (I assume it is a guide for directing the light.) The lights start at 100,010,001. You need to press the buttons to activate the light. There are 27 rooms using the math. If you organise the rooms using the method above, you don't need a map, only a chart.

I reccomend using the identification above to say which room you are stuck on (with th puzzle).

Here is the solution to the eye problem at r1g2b1

green eye, left red eye, blue eye, right red eye, left blue eye, top white eye

Here is a hint for the clock room (r2g0b1)

The direction the red clock hand on the top goes depends on how you are looking at it.

Here is the solution for the dot/triangle at r2g0b2

on the top face, select a triangle, then the diagonal to it, then an adjacent, then the diagonal to that. Do the same for the bottom

A question about the lens / lights:

Has anyone tried to get the 6 lens lit in the color opposite of each room? (lens in magenta room [red/blue] - green, yellow room [red/green] - blue, red room - cyan [green/blue] etc.)
I'm wondering if that is the "right" solution hinted at by Jon / the "beautiful" solution DrXem believes exists?

There are 2 ways to approach the lense problem:

1. Trial and error until you get them all right, or

2. (The intended solution)...

- You can change the colour of each lense, but not its shape.

- The 6 lenses are on the outside of the cube, projecting an "orbit" shape onto one of the walls of the inner room.

- You can see the "orbit" shape from the same room as the lense (obviously!), but you can ALSO see it on the other side of the wall by going around to the opposite side of the whole complex and looking through the little pinhole.

- So, light up a lense, then go to the OPPOSITE side of the complex, and look through the pinhole. The SHAPE of the orbit being projected by the lense will match one (and only one) "planet" orbiting the white sun in the centre room.

- Make that lense the same colour as the planet whose orbit it matches, and the planet will light up.
Repeat for all 6 planets.
Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Jon.

Jon: OK - I understand the lens setup better, but now I have a good question:

Does the DIRECTION the light is pushed through the lens affect the SHAPE of the orbit?

Help me!!!!!

I solved all room, but I don't khnow to place the beams.

What is the orbit with sphere blue, red and green. The orbit appear when you solve a room.

HELLPPP

Dave,

No - you can't change the shape of the orbit... it's fixed per projector. You have to work out which projector is projecting the orbit of which planet, then change the COLOUR of the projector to match the planet's colour. Direct the light paths around the entire complex to the right projectors.

The Red Green Blue things that orbit over the doors when you've solved a puzzle just tell you the co-ordinates of the room beyond the door. Ie. instead of X-Y-Z co-ordinates, you've got R-G-B co-ordinates.

Jon.

OK can somebody PLEASE help me on the green room with the red slider pieces. For some reason, there's not enough pieces to match the back ground. Please help!!!

:(

And any help on the Simon? What type of pattern are you suppose to put it in?

Never mind, for the simon, you just make sure that connecting sides have matching colors. That pic that somebody submitted made it look much more complicated. Sorry for posting so much.

OK i just found out how to do the red clock room.

Basically, the point is to have all the hands match up. The small green hands represent the position of the other green hands on the three adjacent faces. When you click the red arrow on top, the small red arrows on each of the walls move in varying degrees. When you click the green hands, they align with the red arrow in the background.

If you try this, you will probably be able to get all the green hands relatively close to each other. The trick of this puzzle is that when you click the red hand on top, it points towards you. So move around the cube and click the red arrow and it will follow you. In this way, you should be able to control the movement of the red hand.

With those hints, you should be able to do this puzzle. Write me if you need more help.

Ok, I think somebody already said this, but just to clear it up:
About the light-blue room with white pixel-clouds floating around...

Each of the clouds cast a shadow. There are three or four shadows, however, that aren't the same as their clouds. Click those and you will win.

wow I just found this forum!!

I must say I solved all rooms, which takes me few weeks...
but now I have no idea what to do with the white room
I dont want to look at spoilers yet
But I have to say that I never played such a difficult game before

question:

is there any way to find out how should I lead on the ligts? I suppose I need to fill those "planets" in the white room and also in the center of the complex, but I have no idea how to do that...

Please forgive me my bad english, Im not a native speaker..

Amaroid,

Look up the page about 10 posts ago for my solution to the "lense problem".

Jon.

I just can't figure out the first red room with the four circles on each panel, each having a different design around them. I've done the first blue and green and some of the rooms attaching to those just fine. Can I get a hint?

I've tried getting a differently patterned circle on each panel and I've also tried matching circles on opposite panels, but that just doesn't work (unless I'm missing something).

Nevermind. No hint needed. I was making it harder than it was.

first time poster!

ok i've read through the entire page, read through all dr's spoilers about his walkthrough, and i still can't figure it out! its so infuriating! i've done exactly what he said to. can you please just post the URL?

Hey guys,
Jay, awesome website!!! Came in handy with both archipelago games and a little bit with this one.

Jon, you the man. can't wait to see the next one. keep up the good work.

Ok guys, i'm doing really well, almost at the end game, but i need a hint with the satellite room. Yellow background on the ground floor. Don't want a solution, just an idea about what i'm meant to do.
cheers,
Monster

Ok, now I have went through most of the cube on my own, because there are some simple puzzles. I have read the hints when I got stuck, but now I am just at a huge freaken brick wall. The yellow room with the 'globe' and satalites---I made two 3D models, and have put each satalite with respected colors at only place I could figure out that they would actually be there. I am aparently not doing something right, so could some one please tell me what the secret is. Thanks...

Feeling your pain Carrie!!!

Hey monster, there are a couple of guidences already posted. one main one that got me further but still stuck was by Sean McKenna | June 19, 2006 6:21 PM. Hope that helps!!

Thanks Carrie,
i wasn't sure if the clues about globes, continents and arrows was the same puzzle.

I'm having trouble working out the shape of these "continents", it seems like they don't join up. I read in an earlier post that there are only three continents and two are triangles. The satellites, or arrows, are supposed to point to the centre point of the continents, but the satellites rotate on the spot as well as round the globe, which is confusing me.

This is the only puzzle still holding me back, i've solved all the others. I'm pulling my hair out!!!

Anyway, can only keep trying. Will let you know if i get any further.

Thanks

Hey monster,

I changed the arrows to satellites, and coloured the continents to make it easier, but it's still the same solution...

There are 3 continents: 2 are semi-circle-like and 1 is triangle-like.

There are only 6 satellites (1 of each colour, but each one is shown from 2 different angles to make 12). Make each satellite of the same colour hover above the planet at the same location (but remember you're viewing from different angles).

If that's too hard, then don't bother because you don't actually need to solve this room to complete the whole cube puzzle.

Cheers,
Jon.

Hi Jon, the man at the root of my frustration. :-)

Thanks for the hint. I realised that

there were 6 satellites, six centre points, and three continents but i didn't realise there were two semi-circulars, and one triangle. I thought there was one rectangle (ish) and two triangles (red and green).
On the basis of this i tried assinging numbers to centre points then, a colour to a centre point i.e. red = 1, purple = 4 etc. This didn't work because i had three colours competing for two numbers.
I think i got the layout of the globe wrong.

I will persevere, it's annoying me too much now!
Thanks again for the advice and all your hair tugging, mind-boggling games. You have some imagination!!!!

When is your next one coming out?

Thanks
Monster

Solved the planet puzzle!
WOOHOO!!!
unlocks a lens

First i

drew out every side of the room, and what colours of sattelite were on the wall.

numbered the points on one of the walls. Then numbered the points on the other walls by working out how they relate to each other. For example, the wall with all three colours is rotated 90 degrees to the right to get the wall with yellow across the top and the red on the bottom right.

the six walls represent the views of a globe taken from six different centres. Imagine a sphere. There is a point on the top, and a point on the bottom. The other four points are equally spaced (90degrees apart)points on the equator (or round the middle).
As you look at one wall you can only see five of the six points, as one is on the other side of the globe. There is a top, bottom, left, right, and centre. There is one view for each centre point. Imagine that you are in orbit round the earth. The point imediately in front of you is the centre point (closest to you). If you drew a line through this point there is a point you can't see on the other side of the planet. Now look at the extents of the planet. You can see the North Pole and the south pole (top and bottom points) and you can see to the left and right. The planet, although a sphere, only looks like a circle. The puzzle is the same.

Once you have worked out how the views on the walls relate to one another, you will have a mental picture of the globe. You now must work out how to position the satellites.

there are only 6 satellites. However, because of the views, you can see each one from two different views, making it appear like there are 12.

assign a colour of satellites to each of the six points on the globe. There are only two possible solutions for each satelite. Now position the satelite at this point. For example red points to point one in both views, both green satelites point to point 2 and so on...
This should be you.

Use paper, it helps a lot

Good luck

OK... so three different people have asked for help on the first red room only to immediatly post a "nevermind, I got it." So obviously the secret is to ask for help and then it comes to you. So... help?

Hahaha, that's usually the way it works around here Keith. ;)

Hooray for monster, but people, I still don't get the satelites. And, if there are two possible solutions for the satalights, then how do you know which is the right one? Im still lost....

Ha, I finally got it (room with the red spirals). I just had to write it all down and take a look at it on paper. Piece of cake, after a little time off.

I also got the satellite room.

Carrie -

copy the satellite room down on paper. Then cut it up, and piece together the puzzle (think three-dimensionally). That should help.

Actually, there should be 8 possible solutions, but any will work. Don't worry about that, though, you'll see what I mean when you solve it.

Now I just need to hack through the stupid slider in room GGB, and I've ready to deal with the colored tubes.

Done! Excellent game! Can't wait for another one like it! Now I just need to avoid thinking about how much time I spent doing it.

...for some reason the scoreboard lost my name & comments, and just changed them to "undefined," but I'm #172.

I got # 174 and I am so happy that I finially got the hint I needed. So, to help all those who come along and have my problem here is the true hint no one botherd to put up for the satalites

the satalites connect at a place in commen but its not on thier screen. so look for an edge point that would have the same face as the same color satalite you are working on.

I'm having so much difficulty figuring out the blue room with the partial circles on it. I've read all the previous posts, but I can't get it! Could anyone please help me!?!?

read everything about the yellow puzzle (globe and arrows) Still can't make it! Anyone can help? Clearly not vaguely. Been working on it for 3 days. A lot of comments but if you're not willing to share how to work it just don't post anything. Can't take anymore riddles! Yes I'm totally frustrated. This game has been released over a year ago I'd like to finish it. Totally stuck! Be clear please! Don't want to read that if this arrow is the opposite side from this other colour arrrow.... or if the line is suddenly vertical... On the edge of giving up which would be sad at this point. 2 more puzzles to go. Stuck on this stupid one!

Can anyone help me with the room about the globe and the continents? I got the satellites in the correct position but the game was not solved. Please help me.

I found doc's walkthrough

Luis, how did you found it?

wow, this is def. more complicated than Dark Room, it didn't take long for me to beat that one, any tips for me before I get to far into it? I've only beat one of the blue ones so far, that one with the triangles, and I'm working on the one with the funny shaped pieces right now. I don't want to miss doing something right at the beginning and not know it or whatever later.

ok, I'm in this pink room and there are little eye looking things and I click on a color oval-ish shape and more pop up I've been doing a sequence until it "starts over" (I think it starts over that's why the "") but I don't think my idea is working, am I on the right track? I need a hint! please!

ok so I def figured that room out already so you can ignore that, although it doesn't look like anyone's been posting anything anyway so I guess it probably doesn't matter...

Hi fantastic game, took about two weeks on and off to complete, unfortunately got an undefined message on the hall of fame so I'm not quite immortalised but I am #260 on the scoreboard. More please!!

Off to complete Return to Archipelago wish me luck.

can someone help me on the eye room? i have no idea what to do, and im not really sure what the other hints meant

Ok, so I only have the satellite room to solve, then the big puzzle.

Was I right to

draw out the "globe" onto a cube such that the continents are not all chopped up, and then put the satellites at the points on the edges of the cube where each would meet up with its pair?

points on a globe technique

I can't solve the tetris room for the life of me (r2g1b2).

How do you even start this game? Can someone help. I haven't even finished the prequel to this yet!!

Bummer, looks like this game is offline now. :( Really wanted to check it out!

Are there mirrors anywhere?

Does anyone know what happened to Jonathan May? His BlueHost domain is suspended.

Here's a place to play Dark Complex, but can't find Dark Room. Too sad.

http://www.nothingtodo.co.uk/view/1528/the-dark-complex.html

Here is the solution to the eyes puzzle at r1g0b1

Upper left pink eye / Lower right green eye / Lower left pink eye / Upper right lightblue eye / Lower left lightblue eye / Top white eye

Can anybody help with the yellow room with the blobs floating around? I've tried making them one color per side, and then i made each side the same as the one across from it, and nothing seems to work.
please help!

Haven't seen any walkthrough around, so i guess I'll post mine:

::A First off, the layout:

You start facing this high-tech dark environment which you may consider either a cube from the outside or a cubic room from the inside; I started thinking they were boxes as seen from the outside but eventually I realized that in order to solve the final puzzle its better to see it as a room.
There are a total of 27 rooms (cubes) arranged in a 3x3x3 grid connected through spiral spining sort of doors. You can access all but one room as you solve different puzzles.
The goal consists in breaking your way through the maze and reach the white room (opposite corner from where you start, the black one), and be able to solve the dark room (the one you cannot enter, placed in the very middle of the complex) along the way.

Each room consists of 6 squared walls. Each wall can take different shapes:
1 The circle with a wavy line crossing through the middle: thats a closed wall and it means that the room hasn't been solved yet
2 The spiral door: those are doors that lead to other rooms
3 Spining stop sign: those are the walls that enclose the whole set of rooms. They play their role once you start to solve the final puzzle. (There are 48 of them.)
4 Circular lens: those are also walls enclosing the rubick-like structure. Only difference with the spining signs is they are placed in the center of every face of the "big cube", that makes six of them.
5 Peepholes: the room in the middle of the set cannot be entered, but you can see whats going on inside through these holes. If you have mastered already the geometry involved in this thing you can easily gess that there will be 6 of them, always facing the corresponding lens.
6 Circular source of light: those are bottons that you can activate and a source of light will come out of them; where it goes has to do with the final puzzle along with the spining walls, the lenses and the peepholes. There are three of them (red green and yellow) placed in 3 corner rooms


Also in every room there's a button placed where three of the walls intersed (namely a vertex). They are always oriented in the same direction so they can be usefull when trying to orientate throug the maze.
These bottons (total 26 as the middle room cannot be accesed) can activate two different things:
1 puzzle mode: you'll be solving these all along the way and when you do the room can be considered solved (closed walls become doors or spining sign or whatever and the vertex button can be accesed in the second mode)
2 orientation mode: when a room is solved the button activates different signs on each wall. if the wall faces the "outside world" the sign is a circle with two arrows meaning the direction light beams can go. If the wall faces the inside world the sign is an orbit with 3 coloured (red green and blue) disks either full, half or blank.

As stated before, the vertex button always faces the same direction (the one that would connect the black room to the white one, passing through the dark one), but as this may be difficult to follow, the navigating system can be accessed through it:
The orbit in every inner wall tells you which room you'll find yourself into once the door is opened. The circles orbiting can be read as a RGB color pattern. Say you have three blank circles, thats 0red, 0green and 0blue, the room you are accessing will be black. Half-full disks will be half coloured rooms while the full disk will indicate a full color. This way a half-full red disk (and the other two blank) will lead to a red room but to a not so red as the one with a full red disk.
Now, as you progress through the maze, it's handy to draw a map with every room. Some people do it as three maps each featuring a different "floor", some others will go for sketches drawing lines in between adjacent rooms... either way, at the end, you'll recognize every room just by the colors and the stuff in the walls, but for starters, it good to have it.
The way the different rooms are connected corresponds to a color-mix. If you face the corner button, every time you go up you'll be adding half a tone of green, right is half a tone of red and left half a tone of blue; if you go down it'll mean you'll be having half a tone less of green and so forth.
Now it's easy to see that the rooms called black, dark and white correspond to the all blanks, all halfs and all full. Those three correspond to special rooms, the black one is where you start, the dark one is the one placed in the middle of the complex (and the one you cannot enter) and the white one is the final one).

In this walkthrough i'll be naming the rooms according to their RGB color, having the black room called 000, the dark room 111 and the white room 222. The source of light beams will be in rooms 002, 020 and 200. And the lenses-peepholes rooms will be placed in 011, 101, 110, 112, 121 and 211.
It's interesting to note that people usually face this game organizing the rooms in layers, having the bottom layer a 0green value, the middle one 1green and the top one 2green. Draw a map if you feel like it because the order i'm providing corresponds to slices in the red direction as thats the order the numbers are following.
000 (The black room)

Easy one, just puss the center of every wall and you're free to go.

001

You have to match the 5 flying triangles whit the shapes in the background; to do so just puss a triangle and it will move to the next wall if its empty. To rotate triangles just make them flip arround a corner of the room.

002 (The blue light beam source)

You have to form the same shape in every wall with two non-overlaping disks. This one is tricky and sometimes won't work, so come back later for it, it will eventually crack.

010

Slide puzzle: four shapes go to each wall. Theres one shape with only three copies, leave that one for the last wall.

011 (One of the lens-peepholes pairs)

memory game: three pairs of shapes to match. The look identical when you start, but turn into the shape to match once you click on them.

012

You have three cells casting three shadows in every wall. Make the cells in one wall different colors and match each color with each shadow in every other wall.

020 (The green light beam source)

There are 6 cogs on each wall. You have to detect the one spinning odd compared to the other walls. That means every corresponding cog spins left or right in every wall but one: puss all those six.

021

Slide puzzle: The hardest of the three around the complex. You have to place identical shapes in each wall and orient them so they make a circle. To do so find the one shape with only three individuals and leave that for the last wall. Star working on a corner and keep going from there until you reach the other corner where you'll place the empty spot (the one you'll use to rotate shapes). To rotate a shape simply make it go through the three walls in a corner. Its easy at the beginning, as you dont have many oriented shapes; when you reach the corner where you should finish you have to move around the pieces in order so they dont break the order. End up in the wall with three shapes and move them around till the form an almost circle.

022

You have six "fishes" of 3 different kinds; you only control where they stop. Make a fish of each kind stop in each wall. Thats 3 fishes per wall.

100

Selec in every wall the shape that repeats in every wall

101 (One of the lens-peepholes pairs)

This is sort of a combination-memory kind of game. You have to find the correct sequence to activate the white eye on top. The sequence is: magenta, green (bottom one), magenta, cyan, cyan, and white.

102

Don't take this as a simon says as it will make your head spin. It's as easy as making colors match side by side. that makes three pairs of each color arranged on different axis. Draw an unfolded cube if it helps. To make colors cycle just press them: once you click two in the same wall, the will switch.

110 (One of the lens-peepholes pairs)

This is the "map room" and is probably the one causing more trouble around. You'll have to draw this and even build a 3d model.
The thing we are facing is a sphere seen from 6 different sides (it it were the earth it would be seen from top, or north hemisphere, bottom, or south, and another four arranged all along the equator). From those 6 points you see half a sphere. Thing is the views are not arranged correctly, and you'll have to find what's the exact layout (this is the only puzzle I actually built in 3d). YOu'll find it has 3 "continents"; one will be a small triangle, another a full octant of the sphere and a third one spaing through 4 different views in a long slize of the sphere.
When you have that figured start with the arrows. There are 12 projections of them (2 each colour). You can think every two pair is representing the same arrow satellite or whatever or not but the thing is they should both be facing the same place (not to each other as i though or long). The fact that they have to face the same place is what makes the easy to be though as two different projections o the same thing.
Either way, arrange the arrows so each pair is facing the same point (this will be a point placed in another "face"). In this way two arrows placed in the ecuator could be both facing south or both facing north. Actually you'll find that every pair of arrows (or pair of proyections of the same arrow) is paired with another pair, so a pair can be facing one point while the other is facing the opposite (2 pairs of arrows in the ecuator facing one north and one south sort of a thing).
If you are still having trouble you can go for the trial and error mode: there are 12 diferent possitions for every face keeping in mind that arrows should face either up, down, right, or left (not diagonaly) and the cannot overlap. 12 for each wall makes zillions of combinations, but i've been told some people did so (or at least tried).
Also there's no need to solve every room to exit the complex, but as this is one of the lens ones it will make it harder at the end.

111 (The dark room)

This one room consist in 6 coloured orbs orbiting a white "sun". It cannot be accesed, but you can see through the peepholes whats going on. As the solution to the room makes you get to the end of the game along with the white room and the light beams, i'll be discussing it in the final spoiler.

112 (One of the lens-peepholes pairs)

You have about 12 clouds in the sky casting their shadows. Shadows usually correspond to their clouds, but when they don't (and this will happen 3 timess) they shoud be clicked and sent to the bottom.

120

This is the "starfield room". Some people solve it easily, but the ones who don't usually despair trying to figure it out.
The puzzle consist of 6 projections of the same 6 stars in different wals. You have to paint each star each color, keeping in mind that all six projections of the same star should be painted equally.
Sometimes you'll see a star passing from one wall to another, but that's just the trick of the game, they usually are different stars that share she same distance to some walls.
The projections are actually refections if you preffer it to be like that, just figure the way to tell wherr exactly the stars are in a 3d kind of way.
To make it easy star with the one on top, it's uaually the easiest to spot as it will be placed on to of every lateral wall. You may see it small or big, but that depends on where it is exactly: stars farther away look smaller so figure out which corner it is closer to in order to find it in the top and bottom walls. Once you have that figured do the same thing with the other stars.
The second and third stars appear to be in the middle slice of the cube if you are slizing it from top to bottom, but one of them is slightly closer to the top, thats the key to tell one from the other; paint them and figure out where they are exactly in 3d just like you did with the top star so that you can find them in the top and bottom walls.
The other 3 are a little harder: two of them are at the same altitude, so start with the other one. The last two stars will be overlapping in two of the walls, but you can tell wich is which by looking at their bigness: small porjection means farther away from the wall.

121 (One of the lens-peepholes pairs)

This is sort of a combination-memory kind of game. You have to find the correct secuence to activate the white eye on top. The secuence is: green, red on the left, blue, red on the right,blue on the left, and white on the top wall.

122

Memory puzzle: this time you'll be facing 6 equal shapes wich turn into two others as you click. You have to get 3 pairs out of the first and second click on each shape. trick is the pairs are arranged in a way that makes the first-clik shape match a second-click shape, so you cave to make 3 second-click shapes be firs when clicked.

200 (The red light beam source)

You have six "fishes"; you only controll where they stop. Make a fish stop in each wall.

201

The "clocks room" not a so difficult one but some people experience trouble with it.
Your goal is to align every green arrow in each wall. To do so you can use the red arrow on top.
Every green arrow cast a shadow in each other wall, but in a different angle.
Start on one wall and see if the red shadow overlaps with any of the shadow greens. If it does so, click the green arrow and it will align with them. If it doesn't click the red arrow ad you see it spining until it faces down, now the red shadow has changed; keep moving the red arrow until its shadow overlaps with any of the green shadows, then click the green arrow, watch it moving till it aligns with the shadows.
Change wall and make the green arrow overlap the two already aligned shadows (they will not be aligned with the red one nor they will be pointing in the same direction, but two green shadows will be aligned).
Keep doing the same thing until every arrow is overlaping in each wall.

202

You see 4 triangles in each of the 6 walls, if you click one it changes itself and the triangles sorrounding it into circles. If you click a circle it changes itself into a black triangle and the ones sorrounding into white triangles. If you click a black triangle it changes itself into a white normal one. YOu alse have a limited number of clicks.
The goal is to have circles everywhere (4 per wall makes 24circles).
An easy way to do it is avoiding two opposite walls (say top and bottom) and click on the same two opposite corner shapes of the remaining walls. In our example (top and bottom out) it would be clicking on each top-right triangle, and then each bottom left. 8 clicks and you are free to go (and you didnt bother with black triangles either)

210

Slide puzzle: you have identical shapes everywhere. They should be forming a circle in every wall. Read the gide to 021 for help, but this time no different shapes arround, only orientating problems.

211 (One of the lens-peepholes pairs)

You have 18 "fishes"; you only controll where they stop. Make 3 fishes stop in each wall.

212

This is the "tetris room"; sadly nothing to do with tetris, this one is hard to spot.
Colours are not important at the begining, only the pink lines.
You'll have to rearrange the walls so they form a cube where the pink lines match with the sorrounding walls. Its easier if you draw it or even make a model in 3d.
To rearrange start with the wall with a closed rectangle; it has a pink line running along the edge and there's only one other wall like that, so put them together. Keep going with the only one line along the edge, there are two, but with different orientations and are easy to place in the correct possition. The other two will be easy to figure once you have the other 4. Now you see 5 different areas. You only have to paint them in 5 diferent colours in the corresponding not arranged room.

220

This one is not very hard, you have to turn the walls so the line divides the whole cube into two different areas one each colour.

221

You have three cells casting their three shadows in each wall. The shadows contain shapes, 6 different ones total (18 cells, 18 shadows, 3 individuals of each 6 shadows). You'll have to match a colour to each shadow, keeping in mind that each wall can have only 3 different colours.
You'll probably will havve to make a sketch ot this and figure which shadows repeat in which walls along with which colours repeat in each wall. Once youve done that put together eache shadow with its colour.

222 (the white room)

This was your goal since the begining. There's nothing to do here, you only observe circles going arround (full or blank deppending on how close you are to the solution), and a stack of six spiky circles.
The goal is to make every circle full, and to do so you'll have to make the orbs in the dark room full as well.
You cave to conduct the light beams to the correct lense so it will project an orbit in tne dark room and light up an orb.
Start by lighting up one of the three sources and redirect the light through the maze untill you reach a lense (now is when you should be considering the maze a set of rooms and not a set of cubes seen from the outside).
To redirect light press the spining stop signs; you'll see in each room light can come from onli two adjacet rooms and leave through the other two, to figure out which way a room can go, light up the vertex buttons and the circles with two arrows will tell you the direction in which light flows. You don't have to igure out every room direction since every side of the "big cube" follows the same two directions.
Once youve hit one of the lenses look through the peephole and see if any orb has been activated if it hasn't it means you light up a wrong lense.
Every time you hit a lense, an orbit will be displayed in two different places: one is the wall with the peephole in the same room; the other place is right inside the 111 room, the dark room.
Once an orbit is porjected inside the dark room, it can be seen through the peephole in the opposite room from the dark room: say you lighted up an orbit in 021, youll see it from the peephole in 221.
The orbs follow the orbits pojected in the dark room, only, they will be seen following the correct orbit from one room if the correct light is hitting the lense in the opposite room.
Now, if you have pictured the whole thing, you can start messing arround with lights and figuring which lenses should be hit witch which lights. Keep in mind that when two different colours hit the same lense, the mix to form a third colour (it's impossible for the three colours to cross a lense at the same time givven the design of the complex). You have RGB (additive mode): red, green, blue, megenta (red and blue), cyan (green and blue) and yellow (red and green).
Once you find out the correct light for each of the lenses, satart drawing a path for the 3 lights to light up the correct lenses and no other, and ding ding! you're done: all of the orbs will be lit and all of the circles in the white room will be full, click the stack and enter the hall of fame.

First post here !!!

First, I have to say that's a really great game. I solved "The Dark Room" but here there's some rooms that I don't catch...

1 : a red room with a weird puzzle :something that looks like little "living" forms, much more like viruses or amoebas, that float around...

2 : a blue room with some things like parts of circles that I seem to reconstruct :?

3 : another blue room, with weird shaped things hat float around, which resembles sliced fruits or somewhat (kiwis, lemons...). I don't even catch the point of this (???)

4 : a green rom with piles of cogwheels on each walls (I don't catch the point too)

(and sorry for the froggy english, I'm french...)

Hello everybody! Long time no see!

I have been busy doing other things, for instance I now have a son 18 months old.

Here comes an explanation and the link to my coveted Walkthrough.

The link to my walkthrough was hidden in a javascript code piece in one of my frames of my homepage. Looking at the left when first loaded there is a menu. Looking at the source code of this menu frame one can see that there are two invisible links, of which one is leading to a page where I have some spoilers/walkthroughs. So, You have to find the right frame to show the source code for, and then you have to read the links in the js-code. Not very hard... or?

The link to the walkthrough will be on this page, and it is as follows: Complete walkthrough to The Dark Complex

I'm so sorry, the link didn't appear as it was meant to, so I'll put it in chars here:

http://hem.fyristorg.com/dr_xemacs/aux/wt.pdf

Another thing I also forgot to mention: when I helped a friend in completing TDC I noticed some of the rooms have swapped place, but are still the same rooms. i.e. the nomenclature does not always fit the present TDC.

The solutions still work though!

Greetings doc.

A thousand thanks ! Wonderful walktrough !

Is this game scary? I just don't want any random monsters popping out at me.