How to decode the Black Ops Cold war floppy disk and complete Operation Chaos

Knowing how to decode the Black Ops Cold War floppy disk and complete Operation Chaos is just one of the side mission puzzles where you'll have to use brains instead of brawns. Fittingly for this espionage flavored Call of Duty installment, you'll have to do some actual spy work to progress. 

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The floppy disk puzzle appears when you're trying to track down the Soviet spy Perseus and reach one of the two side missions you can undertake - Operation Chaos. It's the more difficult of the two and sees you trying to find Robert Aldrich, a CIA officer who defected to Russians and is setting up a sleeper cell within the US. 

To finish the mission, you'll have to collect pieces of evidence during the main campaign that will help you solve a numerical puzzle to decrypt a floppy disc. If you miss any evidence during your first playthrough remember you can go back and replay any missions you need before the end point.

Assuming you're ready to go, here's how  to decode the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War floppy disk and complete Operation Chaos. 

Black Ops Cold war floppy disk solution

Where to find the Black Ops Cold War Operation Chaos evidence

There are three pieces of evidence to find that will help you decrypt the Cold War floppy disc, scattered throughout three different missions. Here's where to find them:

• A Coded Message: You'll get this from Quasim at the end of the first mission, Nowhere to Run - if you don't throw him over the edge. Interrogate him and get him to tell you more about Arash, and you'll get this piece of evidence.
• Numbers Station Broadcast: During the Brick in the Wall mission, there's an option to free an informant that helped get you information about the Soviet spies. Sneak over to where he's being held inside a warehouse, dispose of the guards, and you'll find an audio reel lying on the table. It's literally got Operation Chaos written on it so you can't miss it.
• Front page of The Observer newspaper: There's a fake bar inside the weird American town the Soviets built inside of a base during the Redlight, Greenlight mission. Upstairs is the last piece of evidence - the front page of The Observer. 

How to get the Black Ops Cold War Operation Chaos code and passphrase

You'll need all three pieces of evidence to obtain both a code and a passphrase that will decrypt the floppy disk. Every player will get a different solution to this puzzle, so you'll need to do some work - there's no set answer to look up. 

When I took the screen above I hadn't got the final piece of evidence yet, so was initially missing some numbers in A Coded Message. This is why you need all three pieces of evidence to get the full set of numbers. When you have all three you'll be able to proceed with the solution. So get ready to do some math as I explain how to get the floppy disk passphrase and the code. 

• Passphrase: Open A Coded Message and examine the piece of paper. You'll find a sequence of red and blue numbers and letters, with a single horizontal line filled with just numbers and question marks. The red numbers and blue numbers follow a pattern, and you'll have to figure that pattern out in order to work out what numbers are missing. Everyone's pattern is different, so there's no quick cheat answer here. Once you've figured out which numbers are missing, you'll get a four-digit sequence that matches a city on the Numbers Station Broadcast. That city is your passphrase.
• Code: Examine the Front Page of the Observer, which will have a random selection of letters written in red (again, these are different for each player). If you check out the Numbers Station Broadcast again, one of the locations can be spelled out from the jumbled red letters on the newspaper. Figure out what city you have, then get the corresponding city code from the Numbers Station Broadcast. That's your code.

How to decode the Black Ops Cold war floppy disk and complete Operation Chaos

Once you have the code and passphrase, all you need to do is select "Decrypt Floppy Disk" and input what you have. If you did it right, you'll crack the code, decrypt the floppy disk, and get the information you need for Operation Chaos.