Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[Black]

Wesp could something be done to balance out the sewers and endgame enemies there? If you don’t have at least a mid tier combat skill (let alone firearms) your chatty vamp gets owned there...

Well, there's a shortcut through the sewers.

 

[Prime Junta]

Wesp could something be done to balance out the sewers and endgame enemies there? If you don’t have at least a mid tier combat skill (let alone firearms) your chatty vamp gets owned there...

Sucks to be a chatty vamp.

srsly... as games go, VtM:B is piss-easy. If you've managed to screw up your build that bad, start over. You can very easily make a chatty vamp who also pwns at combat.

 

[Wesp5]

Wesp could something be done to balance out the sewers and endgame enemies there? If you don’t have at least a mid tier combat skill (let alone firearms) your chatty vamp gets owned there...

Well, there's a shortcut through the sewers.

... and I recently added shortcuts for all major endgame areas in the plus patch too. Just check the walkthrough that is included with the patch.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I liked how skills doubled in use. I played Ventrue. The Dominate power was incredibly useful. Dialogue, combat, and even allowed me to beat most stealth missions pacifistically without any investment in the stealth skill. Presence was good for dialogue and very powerful in combat. I really felt like these powers were fleshed out the way it should be. I didn’t invest in any combat skills/stats/powers until like mid-game. By late game I might as well have been Cain himself.

 

[laclongquan]

I just finished VtmB for the first time a couple weeks ago. Used the patch, but none of the restored or added content. Played as a Malkavian hottie.

This game is an absolute gem. The feeling I got playing it reminded me of when I played Deus Ex for the first time, which is pretty high praise since Deus Ex might be the best game ever made. I've never played a game this atmospheric and immersive before, to the point that when I finished I just wanted to start over immediately with a different clan. A vampire underworld RPG set in modern L.A. seemed like kind of a faggy idea but they crushed the delivery.

The funny thing is the combat in this game is terrible, the sewer sequence getting to the Nosferatu lair dragged and generally sucked balls, and obv the endgame was shit pure shit. Despite its glaring flaws (maybe because of them) this was a masterpiece of game design. I'm honestly a little pissed off how good it was, because it doesn't feel like anyone is interested in making games like this anymore. Hopefully they don't rape the sequel too badly.

Should I replay it with Clan Quest mod? If so, which clan to play next?

I suggest playing next run as Nosferatu. The feel is pretty different what with everyone being horrified of you.

If you hate that Nos look (like me), you can add a few command line to change your model into another clan look.

Tremere is like playing a mage, so the difference is actually not as strong as Nos compared to Malk.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

I loved the Nosferatu dialogues more than any gameplay changes (which are minimal).

 

[Arthandas]

How do you force MSAA? Back in the day all I had to do was set it in the nvidia control panel but now I can't force it even through nvidia inspector (AF works fine though).

 

[Multidirectional]

How do you force MSAA? Back in the day all I had to do was set it in the nvidia control panel but now I can't force it even through nvidia inspector (AF works fine though).

You can force it just fine. And if you are using Nvidia Inspector you should go for superior option like "16xS [Combined: 2x2 SS + 4x MS]". Just make sure "Antialiasing - Mode" is set to "Override" and "Antialiasing - Behaviour Flags" is set to "None".
I've been forcing that stuff on pretty much every older game that I can, and even some later DX9 games that don't officially support proper AA can have it forced on them via compatibility flags. Nvidia Inspector is just that awesome.

 

[Arthandas]

You can force it just fine.

Well, I can't. Neither msaa or ssaa works, only af. I know it should work because I forced it before during my previous playthrough like 2-3 years ago but it just doesn't. I'm not using reshade or any other software, just the unofficial patch...

 

[Multidirectional]

You can force it just fine.

Well, I can't. Neither msaa or ssaa works, only af. I know it should work because I forced it before during my previous playthrough like 2-3 years ago but it just doesn't. I'm not using reshade or any other software, just the unofficial patch...

Never had this problem. The only thing I can think of is you might be forcing it on wrong executable somehow. Or the path to executable is wrong. Sorry, out of ideas. Guess you can still use downsampling combined with FXAA or SMAA if nothing else works, just add resolutions via Nvidia DSR setting (and lower default "smoothness" setting to something like 18-20%, default one is too soft).

 

[Arthandas]

The only thing I can think of is you might be forcing it on wrong executable somehow. Or the path to executable is wrong.

This can't be it because I'm successfully forcing AF.

Guess you can still use downsampling

Yeah, at least this still works as intended.

Btw, do you know any good Reshade presets? I tried some ENB based packs but they look hilariously bad.

 

[Multidirectional]

I don't know anything about that, the only things from Reshade I ever use is SMAA and sometimes a little bit of Lumasharpen, to counter TAA blur. Never messed around with any presets and I don't know why anyone would.

 

[mushaden]

Just bought a fancy 10-keyless bluetooth keyboard (for bed) and gonna begin this for the first time tomorrow.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Found this puppy in the mailbox today

 

[Goral]

Today is 15th anniversary of Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines:

Congrats to Boyarsky and co for creating such timeless masterpiece.

Also thanks to Wesp5 for fixing (and breaking) it.

 

[Swigen]

Funny coincidence, I felt like giving this one another go just this morning. I just can not wait to kill peasants and charm the pants off whores with my new CHAD Ventrue!

 

[Wesp5]

Hm, maybe I should make the final 10.5 UP ready next week...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

final

 

[Swigen]

Does the unofficial patch fix the low res textures on the HUD and inventory and whatnot? Playing on steam and that’s the only thing that bugs me.

 

[HansDampf]

Would be nice to have a custom widescreen menu.

 

[Wesp5]

Does the unofficial patch fix the low res textures on the HUD and inventory and whatnot? Playing on steam and that’s the only thing that bugs me.

The UP fixes the HUD and UI positions to work with widescreen, but I never did anything about the textures and I don't plan to. It looks good enough to me and as far as I know some people are working on AI assisted HR texures, so I'll leave it up to them...

 

[Swigen]

Does the unofficial patch fix the low res textures on the HUD and inventory and whatnot? Playing on steam and that’s the only thing that bugs me.

The UP fixes the HUD and UI positions to work with widescreen, but I never did anything about the textures and I don't plan to. It looks good enough to me and as far as I know some people are working on AI assisted HR texures, so I'll leave it up to them...

On my pc the inventory icons are so blurry I can’t tell what they are and stuff on walls like posters or newspapers are the same. Doesn’t really matter to me, just weird is all. I’m downloading your patch now for the Plus content. Thanks for making something like that available!

 

[Background Character]

Happy birthday VTMB, I love you

 

[Swigen]

That “unofficial patch plus” fixed the blurry textures for me.

 

[HansDampf]

Does the unofficial patch fix the low res textures on the HUD and inventory and whatnot? Playing on steam and that’s the only thing that bugs me.

The UP fixes the HUD and UI positions to work with widescreen, but I never did anything about the textures and I don't plan to. It looks good enough to me and as far as I know some people are working on AI assisted HR texures, so I'll leave it up to them...

I'm talking about this having stretched graphics and icons (text is correctly displayed).

Can you fix that?