Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[Wesp5]

Unless it's possible to just give Blood Guardian aggravated damage?

Sadly this is not possible as we can't add new weapons and if I would edit the existing file it would give aggravated damage back to the ghouls which annoyed PnP players so much I changed it in the first place. Also while this is still the same in the basic patch, the plus patch changes several things to get closer to the PnP game which overall made the game harder, like adding Bloodheal or making Bloodbuff not the overpowered discipline it is in the original game. But then most people think Bloodlines is too easy anyway !

 

[Wesp5]

Wesp demonstrate clearly why I have big problems with his work~

And this is? Because I can provide reasons for what I am doing ?

 

[Multidirectional]

I don't think making combat harder in this game is doing it any favors though. The only real pleasure it provides is the feeling of being a bad ass vampire.

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think anyone plays Bloodlines for the combat. It's beyond unsalvageable anyway. Btw Wesp5, thanks for fixing the game :p

 

[laclongquan]

Wesp demonstrate clearly why I have big problems with his work~

And this is? Because I can provide reasons for what I am doing ?

Yes. Because if I express that myself it might come across as too agressive and foaming at the mouth. Let you express it and people like myself, if never play your mod before, will know the problem. Win-win for me.

Let me speak it clearly for other like-minded: To play a VTMB as developers intended, install the Tessera's True Patch instead of Wesp's Unofficial "Patch". Not even the basic version.

Dont listen to others who recommened the basic version. After all, they even suggest leaving Malkavian to second run. Remember, there're only two kind of players: the one who lost virginity with Malkavian, the ones who dont.

Spoiler

EDIT: I totally agree that Tessera is a prima donna of first order. But that is neither here nor there. We use his work, not associate with him.

 

[Sitra Achara]

Hey Wesp, will your bugfixing EVER be done?

I don't know. I had high hopes that 9.5 would be some kind of final but already people are sending me new reports of things to fix or improve. Most are minor ones

That's good news, it means you can soon move on, and start to reverse engineer and improve the engine.

 

[Delterius]

Let me speak it clearly for other like-minded: To play a VTMB as developers intended, install the Tessera's True Patch instead of Wesp's Unofficial "Patch". Not even the basic version.

I'm going to report you. This is an odd numbered month and you don't have permission to use Tessera's patch anymore.

Sadly this is not possible as we can't add new weapons

Is there no way to edit some unavaiable weapon like, say, the SWAT rifle to fit the bill?

 

[Grunker]

Is there anything besides 9.5 one needs for a replay these days? Like a HD mod or something

 

[duchU]

Is there anything besides 9.5 one needs for a replay these days? Like a HD mod or something

1. SweetFX (it's with the patch: ...\Vampire - Bloodlines\Patch_Extras\Player Mods\SweetFX)

2. Force anisotropic filtering x16 for the game

3. Put these lines into autoexec.cfg (...\Unofficial_Patch\cfg):

// [Sound Patch]

snd_surround 1
dsp_on 1
dsp_spatial 41
dsp_stereo 1
dsp_dist_max 9999
hisound 1

4. You may want to try Bloodlines Audio Overhaul v2.0 mod

 

[Wesp5]

I'm going to report you. This is an odd numbered month and you don't have permission to use Tessera's patch anymore.

LOL Yeah, I should have guessed he is a TPG fanatic! Probably hasn't played the basic patch for years which has become more basic all the time...

Is there no way to edit some unavaiable weapon like, say, the SWAT rifle to fit the bill?

Sadly no. The SWAT rifle is already available in the plus patch and it wouldn't work as a melee weapon anyway because the weapon effects are hard-coded. But I am willing to reverse this change if someone could explain to me why external claw weapons like the ones used by Grout's ghouls or by the Chang brother can do aggravated damage! I never played the PnP game myself so I rely on suggestions by other people here. Could they be poisoned or something similar?

 

[Old One]

I managed to finish the game. There's a moment near the end, just before Jack disappears from The Last Round, when you can talk to him as a Malkavian and essentially reveal his entire scheme with the sarcophagus. It disturbs him, to say the least. He implies that he would have to kill you if he thought you actually understood what you were saying.

Not sure what you mean here. Malkavians are supposed to see things like those. Grout was killed because of it if I remember correct.

Just to clarify, I wasn't complaining about anything here. I was just commenting on what I experienced in my Malkavian playthrough.

I used ReShade in my last game of Bloodlines, and I recommend it. I had to spend some time tweaking it to suit my taste, but when I was done it looked really good with zero noticeable performance hit.

I will caution that you can completely mangle your performance if you use some of more exotic shaders, however.

 

[Wesp5]

Some more comment while I read this interesting thread :

But why can't you side with Andrei :<

You can side with him and the Sabbat in the plus patch, but it's little more than a proof of concept. The Clan Quest Mod wants to expand on this in it's next release!

I didn't realise how much unused music there was in this game (and that it's great).

Yeah, I restored about twenty unused music tracks into the plus patch. Rik Schaffer is a great guy who gave them to the community for free after I asked him for it !

Wasn't he the guy that turned out to be an evil Vampire in the library section, added in the unofficial patch.

Not really. I just used the SM rich guy body model with an early skin for Jack. His voice acting possibly was a test screening for Andrei without the eastern accent...

Great writing, great voice acting, great buildup to the seriously spooky part at the end where those mannequins kept gaslighting me.

If you are referring to the mannequins in the restored maze section, this was a spontanous idea of mine to make the chateau section of that somewhat interesting .

 

[Prime Junta]

If you are referring to the mannequins in the restored maze section, this was a spontanous idea of mine to make the chateau section of that somewhat interesting .

Well, that one was a bull's-eye! I liked the rest of the restored wing as well. Pity it was entirely optional though, so there was really no reason to go there other than sightseeing.

 

[Puukko]

I'm going to need footage of these mannequins.

 

[ghostdog]

Is there a mod that allows area music to be continued from where you last left it? It's especially jarring in clubs where you always listen to the same song from the start. It's pretty easy to add multiple songs for each club (just make an mp3 with 3-4 songs), but you're always listening the first song from the start when you enter.

 

[Grunker]

4. You may want to try Bloodlines Audio Overhaul v2.0 mod

Thanks! This looks good - I assume it doesn't touch the absolutely perfect music?

 

[duchU]

I'm going to need footage of these mannequins.

Spoiler

http://imgur.com/a/nvLZq

Thanks! This looks good - I assume it doesn't touch the absolutely perfect music?

Nope. Sounds only mod. In general those sounds are much better but I would recommend to use original Auspex sounds cos new ones give a headache. I also don't like Dominate - they are too much 'complicated' in comparison to original ones. Also they have this stupid 'tap' sound which ruins them for me. But Thaumaturgy is cool - especially the Blood Boil hehe. New bloodheal sound is also much better. Have not tried other Disciplines cos I always play as Tremere. I think that Malkavian whisperers with this 'surround' effect are also pretty cool. Other sounds like for weapons etc. are a way better than original ones.

 

[Puukko]

I'm going to need footage of these mannequins.

Spoiler

http://imgur.com/a/nvLZq

Now I'm spooked.

 

[Xathrodox86]

I'm going to need footage of these mannequins.

Spoiler

http://imgur.com/a/nvLZq

Now I'm spooked.

Yeah, that's pretty creepy.

 

[Wesp5]

Yeah, that's pretty creepy.

I'm glad you guys like it: ! Here is how this area was created: We already had done the basic maze around some beta screenshots when I noticed unused stuff like the daylight mausoleum hall model or many models and textures for the cut chateau, which according to Brian Mitsoda probably was a prototype of the Malkavian Mansion itself. So I build the latter around the models and ended up with a big area with nothing in it. Thinking that it should be weird because it's Malkavian I somehow got the idea with the mannequins!

 

[Wesp5]

Some more comments:

The sewers weren't anywhere near as bad as I remembered, possibly because I stumbled on a shortcut.

Yes, my idea after I read the following from Leonard Boyarsky about the sewers while talking about a possible Bloodlines remake: "I hope they shorten the sewers; those things go on forever, unfortunately."

Even the weird npc blowjob that (I think) was added by wesp's patch.

He is speaking about Chinatown here. Amazingly this was not added by me, I just activated it! It's all original Troika stuff, as were the others, but Activision probably told them to censor it...

Also the ending where the juggernaut your PC has become is brought to its knees by a couple of mooks with guns (that can barely hurt you at that point even if you're not playing a clan with Fortitude) is beyond stupid, completely inconsistent with the feats player achieved throughout the game.

He is speaking of the Ming ending. I agree! This is a joke: my Celerity maxed Toreador would've killed her goons before she would have the time to transform and then he'd killed her too!

As for the werewolf, I remember there being an easy way to kill it with the observatory gates. There was some space on the walkway near the doors that the werewolf could not hit you, if you crouched down correctly. Eventually the werewolf just walks away, which allows you to easily go to the control panel. I am not sure wesp's patch fixed it.

I don't think I did...

 

[Old One]

The maze at Grout's mansion is the best part of the UP Plus. Very nice.

You still need an editor for the newspaper though.

iirc, "renowned" is the correct form of the word.

 

[Harpsichord]

But I am willing to reverse this change if someone could explain to me why external claw weapons like the ones used by Grout's ghouls or by the Chang brother can do aggravated damage! I never played the PnP game myself so I rely on suggestions by other people here. Could they be poisoned or something similar?

Aggravated damage is always linked to some sort of a supernatural effect in WoD. It indicates that the damage isn't merely physical and it can't be healed through any mundane means.

In order for the claws to deal aggravated damage consistent with the PnP lore they would either have to be enchanted(quite powerfully in WoD standards) or be made of something like vampire teeth, werewolf claws, etc.

 

[Wesp5]

iirc, "renowned" is the correct form of the word.

Thanks and fixed! Anything else to change in texts there or elsewhere?

 

[Wesp5]

In order for the claws to deal aggravated damage consistent with the PnP lore they would either have to be enchanted(quite powerfully in WoD standards) or be made of something like vampire teeth, werewolf claws, etc.

That is basically what the people explained to me back when I changed it. And I see no way for Grout to get something like this as he knew very little of the supernatural world anyway...