Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Developer(s)	Troika Games
Publisher(s)	Activision
Engine	Source
First release date	November 16, 2004

Key points

Installing latest version of Unofficial Fan Patch is highly recommended.

General information

Steam forums for game series

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source(s)	Store unlock	Notes
Steam
GameStop
GameFly

Improvements

Patches

Unofficial Patch

The fan-made Unofficial Patch removes many bugs and adds multiple features like widescreen support. It can be downloaded here.

The Unofficial Patch is available in two flavors: Basic and Plus. The Basic version consists of bugfixes that do not dramatically alter Troika's vision for the game. The Plus version makes more significant changes including the reintroduction of cut content and numerous other improvements that go above and beyond what the developers may have intended.

Note: Due to its regular update schedule, not all versions of the Unofficial Patch will be compatible with all mods.

Using Unofficial Patches with Steam Version • Link This solution was submitted by geronimo789 on Steam forums and expendend upon by Reddit user filthster. Install the game from Steam as you would any other game. Run the game once. It's fine if it crashes (this is where an install with a 64 bit OS is likely to give a memory error). Right click on the game entry in Steam, go to properties, and disable Steam Community In-Game and Automatic Updates. Download the latest unofficial patch. Run the executable you've downloaded. Depending on your security settings, you may be required to run as an administrator. When the patch prompts you for an installation folder, point it here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\common\Vampire the masquerade - bloodlines\ You will be asked whether you want the basic or plus patch. The basic patch focuses primarily on bug fixes and some additions to the original game that were disabled in the vanilla installation, but are not game changing. The plus patch adds numerous other tweaks and changes for improving the game. After the Unofficial Patch is installed you will be prompted to run ResPatch which will allow the game to support widescreen monitors in a variety of aspect ratios. It will ask you for the default folder and again point it here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\common\Vampire the masquerade - bloodlines\From there simply select your aspect ratio and click "Patch It" and the program will adjust the in-game resolution options and FOV for you. Click quit and you are done. Should you need to adjust these settings in the future you can find the ResPatch executable here:C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\common\Vampire the masquerade - bloodlines\Extras\ResPatch.exe You're done. Go ahead and run the game. It is normal for the opening cinematics to be broken at this point. Should you want to re-enable them, right click vampire.exe in the default folder and check "Disable visual themes" and "Disable desktop composition." If their absence doesn't bother you just press ESC or click until the main menu appears. Notes Steam will re-enable the automatic updates each time you play the game. This is frustrating, but unfortunately the only solution I have found is go back into the game's properties in Steam and manually disable them each time you exit the game.

True Patch

An alternate to the "Unofficial patch" the "true patch" is a purist patch, meaning that it only makes bugfixes and tries to preserve an experience as close as possible to the original game. It can be downloaded here. LINK IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK

Game data

	Location
Save game location (administrator)	..\Vampire - Bloodlines\Vampire\save
Save game location (user)	%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\%PATH%\Vampire\save
Configuration files location	..\Vampire - Bloodlines\Vampire\cfg\config.cfg

If a game isn't run with administrator's rights, saves will be stored outside of the game's folder.

%PATH% will correspond to an install location on your hard drive. That is - if a game is installed in C:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\Vampire, saves will be stored in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\Vampire\save.

Video settings

Graphics option	Native	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use widescreen patch. Can cause a black screen during intros / movies.
Multi-monitor
Field of view (FOV)		In widescreen patch.
Windowed		Run a game with -sw parameter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Using GameCompanion.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Enabled by default. The only way to disable it is to run a game in window mode.

Input settings

Input Settings	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		An option for Mouse Filtering. Mouse acceleration not present.
Controller support		Even though, it's possible to enable joystick support via console, many of the actions (like feeding or crouching) can not be cancelled by pressing the same key, which makes the game unplayable on the controller.

Issues fixed

Black screen during intros / movies

Black intro screen with sound - no logos • Link Right click on vampire.exe, go to "properties". Flag "disable visual themes" and "disable desktop composition"

Missing Textures

Missing Textures • Link Make sure "Bump Mapping" is checked ON in the game settings. Restart the game

Unable to run, less that 15mb memory available

Unable to run, less that 15mb memory available • Link Install newest version of Unofficial Patch (either Basic or Plus). If this doesn't help, right click vampire.exe and change properties to run as admin and run in compatibility for Windows XP SP3 (also make sure to check the boxes "disable visual themes" and "disable desktop composition").

Voices and Sound Effects have low quality surround/echo

Voices and Sound Effects have low quality surround/echo • Link If any of the audio sounds like they're attempting a reverb effect, but just sounds terrible, go to the options menu and turn off 'Environmental Effects'.

Input Lag

Input Lag • Link If the controls are hitching and unresponsive, particularly when moving and looking at the same time, change the compatibility of the main executable vampire.exe to Windows 98 mode. If this doesn't help, try running a game in Window or Borderless Fullscreen window mode to disable Vsync.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows XP	Windows XP
Processor (CPU)	1.2 GHz	1.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	348 MB	348 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 9.0c Compatible GPU	DirectX 9.0c Compatible GPU
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4.7 GB free	4.7 GB free