Vampire; The Masquerade

[Dark Elf]

I do not know if this is the right place to ask for these things, but please bear with me.

So, I bought Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines today, and happily installed it on my computer. Then, I proceeded to download and install the latest official patch (vers. 1.2). Then I tried actually playing the damn game.

Nothing on the screen. It's black. Sound works just great though.

If I press Alt + Esc and then go back into the game again I *might* be lucky enough to see the Activision/Troika logos come and go but the menu remains black no matter what I do.

Computer Specs? Yeah, thought you'd want them.

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+ (2,21 GHz)
512 MB RAM
Nvidia Geforce 6800 GT (Direct X 9.0c + latest drivers)

Looks like I'm well above minimum specs, heh? Just at a loss for what to do...

 

[Major_Blackhart]

check forumplanet.com/planetvampire and go to the tech problems. they might be able to help you there. You might have to update your video drive.

 

[Dark Elf]

Only that I've already got a topic there already. :D
I reckon fishing at different forums would yield the best results.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Surlent]

I have similar specs, but A64 3000+ and 1024 RAM. The game works smoothly.
I presume you've tried running BL with safe mode and minimum graphics/effects ?
Just for quick comparison, does Half Life 2 run on your computer ?

 

[Dark Elf]

I presume you've tried running BL with safe mode and minimum graphics/effects ?

Yup, but it didn't help, unfortunately.

Just for quick comparison, does Half Life 2 run on your computer ?

If I wasn't such a cheap bastard I'd bought HL2 today too, but as it happens I've never tried running HL2 on this machine.

HL2 engine trouble?

 

[jiujitsu]

It's a buggy piece of shit. Pretty fun, though.

Hope you get it to work.

 

[Surlent]

HL2 and BL has same base engine, though HL2 is further developed. So I figured if you can run HL2 you might run BL too, but since BL is known for compatibility problems it wouldn't necessary help you.

So you don't see anything on screen but sounds work ? So the music plays on background ? This might sound funny and little moronic question, but have your tried to put your monitor's gamma and contrast high ? So it definitely isn't just dark computer screen that prevents to see the picture ?

 

[Dark Elf]

The little lamp on my computer goes yellow instead of green and there's a clicking sound when what I believe should be the menu appears, so what you describe can't be the problem. Wish it were, though.

 

[ElastiZombie]

The little lamp on my computer goes yellow instead of green and there's a clicking sound when what I believe should be the menu appears, so what you describe can't be the problem. Wish it were, though.

Sounds like the screen resolution or refresh rate is set too high for your monitor to display. I don't know how you would change that for the game unless it was set in a configuration file somewhere. I'd have to check my computer when I get home.

 

[Greatatlantic]

Dang, I once knew how to solve this problem for some people. Be sure to check out Activision's support page. They have a list of many common problems and their fixes. I think Zombie is on the right track, though.

 

[Dhruin]

As mentioned, the refresh rate is too high. This is because you either don't have a monitor selected in Windows (you are using the default/ 'plug & play monitor') or you have the wrong one selected.

Click Start, Run and type 'dxdiag' <enter>
Hit the 'More Help' tab - last on the right
Hit 'Override'
Select 'Override Value'. Enter 60 if you don't know a suitable refresh rate for your monitor at the resolution you have chosen for Vampire.
Click OK, Save All Information, etc

This will fix the problem but note that it will override all dx games, so at some point you may want to load the correct settings for your monitor or figure out the best override. Or not. Whatever.

 

[Dark Elf]

Dhruin - I did just that (got the tip from some guy at Planet Vampire). Anyway, I followed the prescription and the game worked just fine, until the computer decided it wanted to shut itself off just like that. So now it doesn't work, I've tried reviving it of course but the fucker simply won't start, so I guess I'll have to let professionals check up on it (why is it that expensive things always seem to happen to me?). Right now, I'm on my brother's machine - which, of course, manages to run Vampire just fine, it being a slower machine than mine...

The curse of the vampire is upon me.

 

[oherror]

looks like it wasn't vampire's that was the issue...could of been a mobo problem or several other issues.

also if you have emulation software running disable it before you play. it likes to bitch about that.

 

[Atrokkus]

Yeah, seems like refresh rate to me...

What about other games? How are they doing? Which games did you try?

You specs, of course, are out of question: they are great. BL runs pretty smoothly on 1ghz and geforce 3 machines.

I still think your videocard settings are to blame, or the BL engine...
ANyways, get RivaTuner - it's one of the best video-tuning programs out there, and it's freeware (just google it).
There, you can force many setting that nVidia drivers won't allow you to.
You can force refreshrate, and try playing with other settings, too.
I can't really tell you what exactly to do, because i can't really see the full picture. Just play with the settings (of course, avoid those you have totally no clue of). RivaTuner has a lot of help material, so just click "what's that" button and point on an unkown setting.

Good luck.

 

[Rulion]

What's the wattage of your power supply, Elf? A 6800 GT takes quite a bit of juice. I had this same problem whenever I tried to play CS:S for more than five minutes. I changed my 350W for a 500W and now it works fine.

For that card, I'd recommend 450 at the minimum, 500 just to be safe.

 

[Avé]

What's the wattage of your power supply, Elf? A 6800 GT takes quite a bit of juice. I had this same problem whenever I tried to play CS:S for more than five minutes. I changed my 350W for a 500W and now it works fine.

For that card, I'd recommend 450 at the minimum, 500 just to be safe.

wattage is useless, it's what amps you get on what rails that matters.

For example, the 200/250w PSU's used in shuttles could handle 6800GT's easily, along with high end Athlon 64's, while a 400w Q-Tec or similarly shit brand has trouble.