Veterans of the Call of Duty franchise usually look forward to the next title for the multiplayer game mode and other improvements regarding the game’s atmosphere. Though the franchise’s primary focus hasn’t been on the campaign in recent years, Black Ops Cold War went against the narrative.
Black Ops Cold War offers an immense campaign experience with multiple endings and a thriller of a storyline. Side missions are generally ignored by players looking to complete the main storyline as soon as possible, but the ones in Black Ops Cold War will be worth your time.
We should warn you, though: These side quests are quite different from your regular Black Ops Cold War missions since you’ll need to rely more on your puzzle-solving skills rather than your aim. One of these side quests, Operation Chaos, will send you on a scavenger hunt and require you to decrypt a floppy disk.
Before you can crack the floppy disk, you’ll need to collect three pieces of evidence. The code you’ll use to decrypt the floppy disk will depend on the evidence you get, meaning there isn’t a single code that works for all players. We’ll help guide you to the right answer regardless of your circumstances, though.
Black Ops Cold War Operation Chaos floppy disk intel
Intel one: Nowhere to Run
The first piece of intel is hidden inside the Nowhere to Run mission. You’ll need to make Quasim talk to receive this evidence, but that’s tougher than it sounds. Intimidating him is the key to getting him to spill the beans, but hurting him will cause you to miss out on the information.
Drawing a fine line between being a good cop and a bad cop will be the key to assure your success to claim the first intel.
Intel two: Brick in the Wall
You’ll need to go through the Brick in the Wall mission to collect the second piece of intel. After you free the informant, check the top of all the desks you can find in the room. The second piece of intel is an audio reel labeled “Numbers Station Broadcast.”
The clue will be unlocked automatically after you pick up the audio reel.
Intel three: Redlight, Greenlight
The Redlight, Greenlight mission will be your last stop before you can encrypt the floppy disk. You’ll find yourself in an ’80s bar at some point in the mission. Head over to the upstairs portion of the bar when you’re inside and look for the front page of the Observer.
How to decrypt the floppy disk in CoD Black Ops Cold War Operation Chaos
After you collect all the clues, all that’s left will be looking for the hidden messages inside them. Starting with the Coded Message, you should notice the shapes on the paper will slowly turn into numbers.
You’ll want to focus on the red numbers since they form the more notable sequence. The numbers you’ll see will most likely be different than the ones mentioned below.
The red numbers, in this case, were “60, 62, 66, ?, and 80.” You can get 62 by adding two to the second number and you’ll need to add four to find the next. By following this sequence, you’ll need to add six to 66, meaning the missing number is 72.
For the blue numbers, going from right to left revealed the sequence in this example. The blue numbers were “44, 37, 30, ?, and 16.” You’ll need to subtract seven to get the next number in the sequence, indicating that the mystery number is 23.
Once you find out both missing numbers, you’ll need to place them together to form the passcode, “7-2-2-3.”
Moving over to the newspaper, write down all the red highlighted letters. You’ll need to form an anagram with the random letter you receive. “N, U, S, T, A, I” were the letters in this example and they formed “Austin.”
After finding out your city, you’ll need to find the numbers that correspond to it. Austin equaled “4-6-0-9,” the password you’ll use in the final step.
While you’re at the Numbers Station Broadcast, you’ll also need to run the first code you received since it’ll correspond to a city. “7-2-2-3” turned out to be Memphis.
4609 was our password, and Memphis was the passphrase. You’ll use these to unlock the floppy disk.
Navigate back to the Disk with Spy Ring information and enter the password and passphrase you found to unlock it.
Considering there are more than a few series of numbers you’ll need to remember throughout this quest, using a pen and paper can drastically help you during the mission. Alternatively, you can also tab out of Black Ops Cold War if you’re on PC and open a notepad to write down all the important details.
In addition to Operation Chaos, there’s also a second side mission in Black Ops Cold War that will send you after pieces of intel scattered around selected missions. You won’t need to deal with numbers in Operation Red Circus, however. You’ll be busier with detective work, making the mission slightly more fun for fans who aren’t that keen on doing quick math.
