Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[Cael]

It's not bullshit. The changes are usually pretty inconsequential (some discipline powers got renamed, some clans have different hand textures in first person, Jack has a new line in the tutorial, just stuff like that), but they are definitely there. The only gameplay change I noticed is that you don't lose humanity for stealing the charity money in the art gallery anymore, as long as you've asked Jeanette about it and she's claimed it won't really be going to charity anyway. I probably missed a bunch more though, since it's been a long time since I've played it vanilla.

Discipline powers getting renamed is a pretty big thing. I can't imagine yelling "FIREBALL!" only to have my sword Cleaving into the next enemy, for example.

:D:D:D

 

[Wesp5]

I've read people claiming that even your Basic patch has some changes that go beyond mere bug fixing. Safe to assume it's bullshit?

When I was testing this earlier I noticed lower music volume overall compared to an earlier patch, and a muffled version of Isolated playing in front of The Asylum entrance (like with Vesuvius in Hollywood).

I don't think I ever changed the overall music volume, but I fixed DSP issues some time ago and this might have had an affect. I consider the muffled music now audible in front of the Asylum a fix as it was already there in the original game only so muted you couldn't hear it. There are probably a lot of similar things in the basic patch, but nothing as obvious as e.g. making Jeanette and Therese moving around in their room. Doing this would indeed be a lot of work as I would like to do it for all stationay NPCs and in some way it clashes with Troika's intention, because maybe due to the lighting as you said, they choose to not do this in the orginal game.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Discipline powers getting renamed is a pretty big thing. I can't imagine yelling "FIREBALL!" only to have my sword Cleaving into the next enemy, for example.

:D:D:D

Yeah, that doesn't happen. Now it's just Thaumaturgy level 2 is called Blood Purge instead of Purge, and Animalism 4 is Bat's Communion instead of Bloodsucker's Communion. You won't even realise they've been changed unless you already knew the old names.

 

[Delterius]

It's not bullshit. The changes are usually pretty inconsequential (some discipline powers got renamed, some clans have different hand textures in first person, Jack has a new line in the tutorial, just stuff like that), but they are definitely there. The only gameplay change I noticed is that you don't lose humanity for stealing the charity money in the art gallery anymore, as long as you've asked Jeanette about it and she's claimed it won't really be going to charity anyway. I probably missed a bunch more though, since it's been a long time since I've played it vanilla.

Discipline powers getting renamed is a pretty big thing. I can't imagine yelling "FIREBALL!" only to have my sword Cleaving into the next enemy, for example.

:D:D:D

So you really haven't played this game.

 

[Cael]

So you really haven't played this game.

I see that :D:D:D is wasted on the stupid.

And no, while I do have the game, due to the absolutely psychotic fanboi-ism, I won't be going anywhere near WESP's mod.

 

[Delterius]

And no, while I do have the game,

Oh, I see. So you haven't played the game.

That explains all the virulent shitposting.

Carry on.

 

[HansDampf]

I don't think I ever changed the overall music volume, but I fixed DSP issues some time ago and this might have had an affect. I consider the muffled music now audible in front of the Asylum a fix as it was already there in the original game only so muted you couldn't hear it. There are probably a lot of similar things in the basic patch, but nothing as obvious as e.g. making Jeanette and Therese moving around in their room. Doing this would indeed be a lot of work as I would like to do it for all stationay NPCs and in some way it clashes with Troika's intention, because maybe due to the lighting as you said, they choose to not do this in the orginal game.

What was this DSP issue? The volume is noticeably lower, and even with headphones and max volume it feels like it's supposed to be higher. Could be my crappy headphones though.

 

[SCO]

Holy shit, the volume of the clubs songs is already obnoxious (especially Last Round and the fucking awful character sheet song), don't increase it more.

As for the 'gya' discussion, the only thing really 'wrong' is that it's a history presumably without gameplay effect, so all those gay powergamers will always go blunt fangs Nosferatu girl (without a doubt, the least popular/ uglier option, but gives you 1/3 more xp) and feel discriminated against. If wesp wants to wrangle animation errors (female model where male model was expect) that's his problem.

 

[Cael]

Oh, I see. So you haven't played the game.

That explains all the virulent shitposting.

Carry on.

If that is what you want to believe, go for it. You've been trying to play split-hair-and-gotcha troll with me for days now, and frankly, I am not at all interested in your attempts at lovebites.

 

[Delterius]

Oh, I see. So you haven't played the game.

That explains all the virulent shitposting.

Carry on.

If that is what you want to believe, go for it. You've been trying to play split-hair-and-gotcha troll with me for days now, and frankly, I am not at all interested in your attempts at lovebites.

I see, you don't even deny it.

Here's yet another thing you didn't know about this game you didn't play.

You can act gay in the first 10 minutes of vanilla Santa Monica.

Not gay lesbian, mind you.

 

[Wesp5]

The changes are usually pretty inconsequential (some discipline powers got renamed, some clans have different hand textures in first person, Jack has a new line in the tutorial, just stuff like that), but they are definitely there.

I admit that changes might still be there because I had to downgrade from plus to basic at some point and may have overlooked a thing or two. But then I have been working on the basic patch too and reverted things whenever they were reported. As for your issues, the hand textures are bug fixes to me because seeing your hand suddenly change appearance while lockpicking is a bug. I only renamed one discipline namely "Bloodsucker's communion" to "Bat's communion" because it produced a nasty line break and didn't fit on the screen on lower resolutions, if I remember correctly. Which is a bug fix in my opion too! I have to confess though that a lot of restored dialogue lines are in the basic patch as long as they have no gameplay effect as I just couldn't find the nerve and time to go through all the dialogues just to remove them.

The only gameplay change I noticed is that you don't lose humanity for stealing the charity money in the art gallery anymore, as long as you've asked Jeanette about it and she's claimed it won't really be going to charity anyway.

Found and fixed! P.S.: Overlooked the "Purge" to "Blood Purge" change, but as all other Thaumaturgy disciplines start with "Blood" this name really stood out and had to be fixed !

 

[Cael]

I see, you don't even deny it.

Here's yet another thing you didn't know about this game you didn't play.

You can act gay in the first 10 minutes of vanilla Santa Monica.

Not gay lesbian, mind you.

How tedious. You actually believe that you have the right to scream questions at me and I must answer or, I don't know, face your impotent wrath, perhaps?

Well, you know what? Rage all you want. Scream, shout, rant, make wild accusations without a shred of proof. I am sure it makes you look the better person.

And the best part of it all? I won't have to see your psychosis.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Found and fixed!

Oh, cool. I was just providing some minor examples for that guy, I didn't expect you to actually change anything. I get to feel helpful now.

 

[Wesp5]

What was this DSP issue? The volume is noticeably lower, and even with headphones and max volume it feels like it's supposed to be higher.

Some people experience stuttering during dialogue and enabling the DSP and setting it to a certain value was claimed to fix that. I never had this problem myself so I just included it with the patch without noticing a difference. You can check if it is connected to the volume by playing around with these two lines in the autoexec.cfg file:

dsp_stereo "1"
dsp_spatial "42"

 

[Wesp5]

Oh, cool. I was just providing some minor examples for that guy, I didn't expect you to actually change anything. I get to feel helpful now.

If you or anyone else notices something, just report it and I will look into it. I don't play the game over and over again to find possible issues! I just read a lot of boards and fix what is reported. This is probable the reason why the whole patching thing takes so long. Due to your post I also just discovered that a lot of extra lines that were not in the original game can easily disabled by a Python script so I did this as well...

 

[gaussgunner]

I don't play the game over and over again to find possible issues! I just read a lot of boards and fix what is reported.

That explains a lot. Those could be Codex shitposters with alts on those boards feeding you misinformation just to have a laugh.

I don't know how (or if) Troika tested this game, but they should have had some kind of shortcuts to jump anywhere in the game, with every relevant combination of variables.

 

[Wesp5]

That explains a lot. Those could be Codex shitposters with alts on those boards feeding you misinformation just to have a laugh.

I wouldn't say it as hard as that , but when I was new to this people could convince me of changes some of which I had to revert later. I still listen to suggestions which made me add the gay history which kicked the whole discussion here into gear, also as most people play the plus patch nowadays I rarely get feedback about things in the basic patch ...

I don't know how (or if) Troika tested this game, but they should have had some kind of shortcuts to jump anywhere in the game, with every relevant combination of variables.

That's how I do the patching myself !

 

[gaussgunner]

That's how I do the patching myself !

Oh ok. You had me worried.

 

[Goral]

If you or anyone else notices something, just report it and I will look into it.

I've noticed that you've added faggot history for all clans and adjusted intro scene. Fix it to how it was please.

Spoiler

 

[warcrimes666]

Wesp, thank you for your work on the UP. I last played in the 7 or early 8 versions and the 9.9 is a definite improvement as well as the time saving nature of the one stop shop installer. I fired it up around the beginning of Nov and was going to post a quick thanks around pg 71 but I lost the will when the thread became a no holds barred oiled wrestling match between barely repressed faggots.

Two bugs to mention, in my game the power lines and police caution tape in santa monica are wildly flailing around like Caels genitals in a turkish bath house and it's persistent across reloading or reentering the area. The second one was fixed by a reload but the full model of the ghost tv show guy was attached to the edge of every door in the level although thankfully his dick was attached to the door and not lacroix's sparkling asshole, so there's that.

Another thing I wasn't sure about is if the high res npc mod was part of the plus patch. I installed it over the patch before I started so it wasn't clear but it's such an improvement that it should be and I assume that it is. I also didn't even register the gay backround as is normal and expected for heterosexual men who regularly have sex with women. Its an option amongst many competing non-queer options and has no bearing on the game outside of personal larping and so is as the world of ants, beneath notice unless you're specifically looking for it. Rather than crying while masturbating I would suggest grindr for those that are predisposed as we've seen ample evidence of in just a few short days. It's important to remember that there is nothing gayer in the game than the last 10 pages of this thread.

Now, I am someone who changed my bank accounts and transferred my investments to another bank this year after every atm proudly presented to me the rainbow pride flag for an entire month. When you're forced without an opt-out, it is absolutely an issue worthy of pitchforks and death by fire however that is not the case here. If Wesp had removed all of the substantial choices in the game and left us only with the background of Cael, forcing everyone to play the game as an insufferable cocksucker then you'd still have the option of not installing the plus portion, case thankfully closed for any right thinking individuals.

Again, thanks for your work Wesp.

 

[SCO]

The 'flailing' is a Malkavian effect. A restoration probably. I honestly like it (the power/phonelines at least, not so much some of the others). For the phonelines it kind of makes some thematic sense, malkavian madness network --> phones --> metaphor --> profit. For other things not so much.

The skyline haven is bugged and was always bugged (occasionally). And it's completely random too, you'll see different things floating there. Only real 'solution' is to quit the game and reload.

IF these shit companies didn't C&D project vaulderie, maybe there would be hope that this would be fixed - now, you have to wait (a long loooong while) until a project like scummvm/residual braches out to 3d rpgs and decides in a fit of madness to reimplement source, or more likely a greedy publisher (eg: paradox) releases a 'enchanted edition'.

 

[warcrimes666]

Thanks for clarifying SCO, I was playing malkavian. That's actually a nice little detail within the context and fits with stark raving madness, appreciate it.

 

[Wesp5]

That's actually a nice little detail within the context and fits with stark raving madness, appreciate it.

That's what I thought when I added it to the plus patch . If you encounter some lines or ropes that are behaving too strange though, like moving through walls or similar, please tell me as I can disable this effect for any map where it looks too stupid...

 

[Wesp5]

If you or anyone else notices something, just report it and I will look into it.

I've noticed that you've added faggot history for all clans and adjusted intro scene. Fix it to how it was please.

Done! Just don't select the history menu .

 

[SCO]

I think it should be disabled in everything but the power/phonelines. Too much, not enough significance. And it looks kind of stupid in nearly every other case. It was probably disabled because it slightly decreased performance in the hubs - though honestly, rain is much worse - if indeed it was created for that and not just a planned/not done 'windy' scene.