Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

Developers
	Nihilistic Software
Mac OS (Classic)	Varcon Systems
Publishers
	Activision
Mac OS	MacSoft
Engines
	NOD
Release dates
Windows	June 7, 2000
Mac OS (Classic)	November 1, 2001
Reception
Metacritic	74
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Action, RPG
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Medieval, Supernatural
Series	Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person action and RPG game in the Vampire: The Masquerade series.

General information

Official manual

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GOG.com
Steam

Demo

Demo can be downloaded here.

Essential improvements

Administrator elevation required to update saved games

With Windows Vista to 10, the game may fail to autosave, overwrite past saved games, and fail to save related world events, if it is not run as administrator. This can cause dialogues, items and cutscenes to disappear or be buggy when loading a past saved game.

Running as administrator is not required, nor is any compatibility setting, as long as the Windows Search service is running, read and write access is ensured for the save game data location said directory has "Allow files in this folder to have content indexed..." enabled.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Video\. Delete or rename logo.bik.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\masquerade.ini
Mac OS (Classic)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/559680/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SaveGames
Mac OS (Classic)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/559680/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Advanced Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See the WSGF entry or use this patch. WSGF has some UI errors with 4 chars but the patch does not.
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen			See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD			See the WSGF entry.
Field of view (FOV)		Can be zoomed in and out (default: + and - on the Numpad). For changing FOV in cutscenes, see the WSGF entry.
Windowed		Use the -window parameter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use the -window parameter.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		CSAA/QCSAA can be forced via Nvidia Profile Inspector. The game shares its profile with Bloodlines due to the same executable name (Vampire.exe).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Pause key mapping

On some keyboards, the pause key (which lets the player tactically pause the game and issue commands) might not work in the game. It can be remapped with AutoHotkey.

Map the pause key

Download and install AutoHotkey. Create a script file anywhere on the system by RMB → New → AutoHotkey Script. The script should have the following content: V::SendInput, {Pause} . V can be replaced with any other key. Run the script, preferably as administrator, then launch the game. Use combat pause by pressing the selected key. Terminate the script (in the Windows task bar) once the game is closed. Notes If running the game as administrator, the script has to be run as administrator as well. If it still does not work, look for one of the solutions here. If pause and break are on the same button on the keyboard, use the following script instead: V::SendInput, {break}

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		5.1
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		2.0 via Miles Sound System.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail version, download.
German				Retail version, download.
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian				Retail version, download.
Brazilian Portuguese				Translation.
Russian				Unofficial translation by Fargus Multimedia.
Spanish				Retail version, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play
Online play		The official WON service has been shut down in 2008.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Self-hosting

Issues fixed

Installation on 64-bit systems

On 64-bit systems, the autorun does not work because of an executable error. The game can still be installed by manually running [Drive]\setup\setup.exe.

Torches don't work / game is too dark

If the game seems overall too dark, and light sources like torches don't give off any real light, then that's a common bug. Choose one of the three following fixes.

Use dgVoodoo2

This actually fixes the torches and other dynamic lights, and also fixes the general darkness issue. Download dgVoodoo 2. Ignore virus warnings that might appear, it is known to set off false positives. Unpack dgVoodoo. Copy dgVoodooCpl.exe and dgVoodoo.conf to <path-to-game>. Then do the same with D3D8.dll, D3Dlmm.dll and DDraw.dll under /MS/x86/. Run dgVoodooCpl.exe in <path-to-game>. This opens the dgVoodoo2's menu. Here, custom settings can be set for the game. Click on the symbol on the top right (.\) to set this location as running instance. Under the tab DirectX, the watermark can be unchecked and Force VSync can be checked. Now all light sources like torches will work correctly in the game. If the game is TOO bright now, adjust it in the in-game settings. To customize dgVoodoo2 further, see here.

Use Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit

The steps to get the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) depend on the system. The following is the guide for Windows 10. Download the Windows 10 Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). At installation, just choose the Compatibility Tools. Run the Compatibility Administrator (32-bit). In the side panel, click on the New Database(1) [Untitled_1], then on the top bar, choose Fix. Fill in the following information then press next: Name of the program to be fixed: Vampire the Masquerade - Redemption Name of the vendor for this program: White Wolf Studio Program file location: Browse to <path-to-game> and choose Vampire.exe. Skip the next section (Compatibility Modes). Under Compatiblity Fixes, select and check DXPrimaryEmulation, highlight it with the mouse, and press the button Parameters. Enter -DisableMaxWindowedMode and confirm. If the test run is successful, then choose File → Install in the top bar to make the changes permanent. Notes This doesn't actually fix the torches and other light sources, but it removes the problem of the game being overall too dark, so torches would no longer be necessary.

Try running the game on a dedicated GPU

If a laptop owner, and the system comes with two graphics cards (Nvidia Optimus) - make sure the game isn't running on an integrated (Intel) GPU. Switch to the dedicated GPU via Nvidia Control Panel. Right click on the executable/shortcut and select "Change default graphics processor..." option. Known to work with Nvidia 610M. Videos may start to flicker, removing the Video folder is advised. Notes Will fix ambient lighting/gamma issues. May not work for all card models.

Mouse movement is inconsistent

Use dinputto8

Mods

Age of Redemption

Rebalances the game and adds additional features. It can be downloaded here.

The mod also changes a lot around the gameplay, for example it adds respawning enemies, changes level design, changes the way blood and feeding works, changes the frenzy mechanic, makes traps much deadlier, adds duration for torches and completely alters many Disciplines. Install at the own discretion.

Includes a custom config that allows changing many aspects of the game such as enemy AI behaviour, turn on and off some options from the Age of Redemption mod, overall difficulty of the game and much more.

There are problems and inconsistencies that are present with the mod which do not exist in the original game, such as wrong HUD, logs and sounds taken from the modern ages part of the game, some cutscenes might end early due to the enemies interacting with the player in some cases, a few items placement has been altered that makes their appearance wrong with what the player actually picks up. For example, in the Silver Mines 2, instead of a regular shield that lies on the ground, the player is given a blessed knight shield etc. The new frenzy mechanic can cause a softlock if all of the party members die except for the one that is affected by frenzy and there are no enemies left on the level for the AI party member to seek them out in order to lower the frenzy meter by killing enemies, instead they will stand still and the player will not be able to control that last party member affected by frenzy at all, forcing a previous save file to be loaded (assuming the game was not saved after this happened).

Neural Redemption HD Textures (ModDB mirror)

Original game textures upscaled with neural networks. All game textures are upscaled. Texture depth must be set to 16-bit in display advanced options when this mod is installed.

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	7

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	mss32.dll is version 3.0.0.
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	World Opponent Network

System requirements

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 233 MHz	Intel Pentium III
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	720 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 7 compatible

Mac OS
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	8.6
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC G3 300
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	765 MB
Video card (GPU)	8 MB of VRAM