Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[ntonystinson]

Wesp5, do you think it's possible to port the game to the latest version of Source?

No. There was a guy trying to port Bloodlines to the Alien Swarm engine and right a the start of it, at the time copyright owner, CCP stopped the project with a C&D letter. I think he contacted Paradox after they bought the IP, but nothing ever came out of it. Besides the legal issues I doubt that any fan could do something like this in a reasonable time. I'm still patching the game after 12 years and there are things we just can't fix...

How do you see VTMB in a Crusader Kings 2 sort of engine/setting or Mount snd Blade?

 

[Wesp5]

Although I grabbed the newest version from the ReShade site.

Ah, there is a new version out not needing Sweet FX anymore! Still I'm not sure I'm doing it correctly, 3.0.6 always takes several minutes to load the shaders when it was much faster with SweetFX. Also how do you load the old presets or do you need to create new ones?

As for a Crusader Kings 2 or Mount and Blade setting, I'm coming from the FPS side of things to Bloodlines, so this isn't interesting to me !

 

[HansDampf]

OK, I've fixed it.

Wow, that was quick ! Many thanks, I'll include it in the next beta and will credit you as Drog Black Tooth in the readme.

Who knows what else can be fixed with a few lines of code? You need someone like Drog to help you patching.

 

[Wesp5]

Who knows what else can be fixed with a few lines of code? You need someone like Drog to help you patching.

There is a whole list of unsolvable issues at the end of the patch readme, maybe Drog can fix some of these. But then it probably isn't always as obvious as with the LOD, where knowledge from other Source games was at hand. Like I know that several variables and game states are obviously not saved correctly in the save game files, but I wouldn't even know where and how to start looking for them...

 

[Jazz_]

I think I've found a microissue with the unofficial patch, npcs in the unofficial patch trigger the same conversation line multiple times , what I mean is that they will repeat the same phrase if you go close to them/bump into them even if they just uttered it while in vanilla they don't, did you change something about that Wesp? It kinda makes the npcs behave like retarded drones, in vanilla they don't do that, you can test for yourself.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Like I know that several variables and game states are obviously not saved correctly in the save game files, but I wouldn't even know where and how to start looking for them...

Well, that's the thing. A good question is already half of the answer.

 

[makiavelli747]

I think I've found a microissue with the unofficial patch, npcs in the unofficial patch trigger the same conversation line multiple times , what I mean is that they will repeat the same phrase if you go close to them/bump into them even if they just uttered it while in vanilla they don't, did you change something about that Wesp? It kinda makes the npcs behave like retarded drones, in vanilla they don't do that, you can test for yourself.

This easily can be fixed.

 

[Wesp5]

I think I've found a microissue with the unofficial patch, npcs in the unofficial patch trigger the same conversation line multiple times...

I did a quick check with the prostitutes and can't reproduce this, but then most random NPCs on the streets have only four responces they swap randomly if they have any at all. Miracle.flame and Psycho-A added subtitles to these and restored some broken ones, so this might be more obvious in the last UP! Do you remember which NPCs showed this behaviour?

 

[Wesp5]

Well, that's the thing. A good question is already half of the answer.

I posted a list of unsolved issues in your other thread, but I doubt this would be as easy as with the LOD. As an example for the save file problem, when fighting against Bach, he blinds you with a bright light effect. When you save during the fight and reload, this white effect will be gone! Unless there is a very obvious fault in how Troika handled the save games, I wouldn't know how this could happen...

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

I think I've found a microissue with the unofficial patch, npcs in the unofficial patch trigger the same conversation line multiple times , what I mean is that they will repeat the same phrase if you go close to them/bump into them even if they just uttered it while in vanilla they don't, did you change something about that Wesp? It kinda makes the npcs behave like retarded drones, in vanilla they don't do that, you can test for yourself.

I've noticed that too! E.g. with Jeanette, if I stand right next to her she just repeats that kitty line over and over, like it's on loop.

And another thing. Sometimes when I use the left mouse button instead of the space bar to skip an NPC's line it turns off subtitles for the rest of the conversation. Reloading fixes the issue.

 

[Jazz_]

I did a quick check with the prostitutes and can't reproduce this, but then most random NPCs on the streets have only four responces they swap randomly if they have any at all. Miracle.flame and Psycho-A added subtitles to these and restored some broken ones, so this might be more obvious in the last UP! Do you remember which NPCs showed this behaviour?

You can test it on the first npc you meet, the uppity guy with the broken car, this guy:

By the way, by doing a google search about this I see that this is an issue that your ''arch-enemy'' noticed as well a long time ago.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Wesp5 Bro, I love your dedication to VtM:B. You still pumping out our mod for that game? I am gonna try the latest version then :D

And might I suggest that you take a look into modding Divinity: Original Sin? It has very powerful tools and I suck at it.

 

[Wesp5]

You can test it on the first npc you meet, the uppity guy with the broken car, this guy:

Hm, he switches between several random lines when I bump into him.

 

[Wesp5]

And might I suggest that you take a look into modding Divinity: Original Sin? It has very powerful tools and I suck at it.

You should ask Drog about this, he seems to have some free time on his hands ! I'm going to help work on the Bloodlines Prelude once I have time away from the patch...

 

[Jazz_]

Hm, he switches between several random lines when I bump into him.

look, just recorded 2 brief videos with fraps:

vanilla: (30 seconds just 1 line, the npcs lines don't get triggered easily, they deliver it once in a while and they don't repeat the same ones)



unofficial patch (16 seconds and the npc delivers lines constantly as you can see, sometimes they deliver the same line 3-4 times in a row, clearly something must have been altered in the patch)

 

[Wesp5]

unofficial patch (16 seconds and the npc delivers lines constantly as you can see, sometimes they deliver the same line 3-4 times in a row, clearly something must have been altered in the patch)

Ah, I thought you claimed they always speak only one line. The explanation is simple, already years ago I noticed that important NPC like the blueblood have 12 possible floats from which only like half existed. So I copied them over which makes the floats appear more often! Which might be strange if you bump him over and over, but otherwise you won't hear them at all.

 

[Jazz_]

You don't need to bump into them, if you just stand in close proximity they keep droning on the same lines, it's clearly something that was better in vanilla, having npcs acting like mindless drones repeating the same 3-4 lines over and over again is dull and immersion-breaking. But if you like it better this way, oh well.

 

[Old One]

Ah, there is a new version out not needing Sweet FX anymore! Still I'm not sure I'm doing it correctly, 3.0.6 always takes several minutes to load the shaders when it was much faster with SweetFX. Also how do you load the old presets or do you need to create new ones?

The new version appears more complicated at first, but it works very well once you figure it out. I never tried importing an old preset because I created a new one and worked from there.

If you want the shaders to load much, much faster, comment out the ones you won't be using (I don't remember the name of the file, but it's obvious).

I only used three. One of the AA ones (FXAA?), HDR, and Lumasharpen. They load up almost instantly.

In addition to the increased AA, I used HDR to make the shadows dark enough so they're not quite black. I can see objects in the dark, but just barely. I used Lumasharpen to tweak the color balance slightly.

Darkening the shadows makes Auspex, Obfuscate, and Protean even more desirable just for the night-vision.

 

[Wesp5]

You don't need to bump into them, if you just stand in close proximity they keep droning on the same lines...

Weird, the SM blueblood had 7 floats in the original game and I copied the 5 missing ones. I'm not sure why the difference would be so large as in your videos...

 

[Wesp5]

A new second beta of 9.7 has been released and can be downloaded from The Patches Scrolls. Beside recompilation of all new maps with the updated SDK which might change the lighting a bit, only very minor issues have been fixed except for:

Made Santa Monica blueblood return after Domination, thanks Malkav.
Corrected and improved Linux Wine loader script, thanks Wrzlprmft.
Disabled low poly model LOD in engine.dll, thanks Drog Black Tooth.
Fixed weird camera after endgame Cabbie discussion and a cut line.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Wesp5, do you need/want an engine mod to disable the starting movies? This one is p easy to do.

Also, Malks suck a lot of cock in combat, guess Obfuscate is the only way, but what about the late game bosses? Should I go full strength/melee? I already have some points there. Don't wanna go ranged, can't stand the gunplay (or the lack of thereof) in this game.

 

[Prime Junta]

Guns make late game much easier, but you should do fine focusing on melee also, with judiciously used Bloodbuff for extra oomph.

(Malks do better with guns though. The +3 from Auspex is lulzy.)

 

[laclongquan]

I think there's one female blueblood in the SM Elysium.

 

[Wesp5]

Wesp5, do you need/want an engine mod to disable the starting movies?

No. There is one already build in when you start the game from the SDK launcher and just renaming the movie folder works fine for everyone else too !

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

So, that reporter dude in Downtown, Milligan. You find him hiding in his closet and you get a couple of dialog options to get rid of him. And guess what, the cutscene hangs up. Don't remember it being broken in vanilla.

Now, I've done a fair bit of googling, and all these shitty bugs I'm constantly coming across, it's all the same, they're all widely known unofficial patch specific bugs. You google the problem, and sure enough on some forum there's Wesp5 coming out of the woodwork and saying "oh, it's nothing, just add this line to that file" or "just use this console command to push thru". Well fuck you Wesp5, you've been patching this game for over a decade and this is the state it is in now? I guess the stories about you fixing the bugs you've introduced yourself are true. This is such a mess, I mean there's not enough dialogs and scripts in the game to keep releasing a new patch version like every couple of months for over 10 years. You just keep on intentionally fucking it up. I've played the game at release and I don't remember fucking vanilla being this broken.

You're an insane individual, Werner Spahl, who keeps on breaking things just so that you can fix them later and get some internet cool points for that.