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General discussionRelease: Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™(795 posts)(795 posts)
(795 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 25, 2016
There will be blood. Delicious blood.



<span class="bold">Vampire&reg;: The Masquerade - Bloodlines&trade;</span>, the timeless RPG masterpiece that has sucked many a gamer's time, is now available, DRM-free on GOG.com.

Intoxicating. Macabre. Vital. These are both traits of blood and of Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™, the RPG that forever changed expectations on how the creatures of the night should be depicted in videogames. Was it the ridiculous replayability? The versatility of our vampiric abilities? The gripping visual and sound design? Perhaps the memorable NPCs and stellar writing. One thing is for certain: much like the daunting Antediluvians, this is a game whose allure only grows stronger with time. No point in resisting it any longer.



Sink your teeth into the definitive bloodsucking experience that is <span class="bold">Vampire&reg;: The Masquerade - Bloodlines&trade;</span>, DRM-free on GOG.com.

Note: This version includes third-party technical fixes, courtesy of Wesp5. The full unofficial patch, which also includes additional content, can be found over at <span class="bold">Patches Scrolls</span>.


Twitch alert
Want to watch some entrancing nightly exsanguinations? Join Memoriesin8Bit as he launches a series of Bloodlines streams on <span class="bold">twitch.tv/gogcom</span>, starting Monday, 6 PM UTC.
Posted April 28, 2016
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omega64: 3 days ago. :P
Still works like a surprise. :D
Posted April 28, 2016
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hyperagathon: I would have hoped that anyone interested would spare me the time necessary to google this again, but oh well.
Thanks a lot for your reply hyperagathon (+1)! Sure, I could have googled it but as I have no experience with the game and you were the one making those comments I was keen on hearing it from you. :)
Besides, I thought it would be in the interest of others as well to know more.

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hyperagathon: Only the first two are actual fixes, widescreen and multiplayer don't interest me, but between those two, we have the two offenders. Or so you might conclude from this. In reality, the first bullet point is not that innocent either - they've "fixed" stuff in there that wasn't broken, such as changing item locations. Arbitrarily. Because wesp5 knows best. Which I assume was the guiding idea when "improving" balance as well.
Hmm... I think I'll try the vanilla version first then (without additional patches).

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aJillSandwich: Thank you both for the info. One last question: How do the Unofficial Patch and the "True Patch" mod compare to just running the official patch for the game (version 1.2)?
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Lucky4LeafClova: You're very welcome. Before you're even able to start a new game both versions 1.0 and 1.2 on modern systems (especially if you're on Windows 7, 8 and 10) are likely to crash at start up for a number of reasons or crash as soon as you click "new game".
I assume GOG have already fixed those issues since they are supporting both versions of the game.
Posted April 28, 2016
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Lemon_Curry: I assume GOG have already fixed those issues since they are supporting both versions of the game.
No, they aren't supporting that. They just provide 1.2 original in case you want to mess with it. I wouldn't have supported that mess as is if I were them.
Post edited April 28, 2016 by shmerl
Posted April 29, 2016
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Lemon_Curry: I assume GOG have already fixed those issues since they are supporting both versions of the game.
As far as I can tell: you've got the unpatched game and the basic patch version of the game to choose from. The unpatched game will have none of those fixes including technical ones.

In this case I highly urge you to look at the Steam guide I linked before to save yourself precious time if you decide not to use the Unofficial Patch.

If you need anything else, let me know.
Posted April 29, 2016
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Lucky4LeafClova: the soundtrack is much better than the mp3 files that are included in the "sound" subfolder of this game's main folder).
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shmerl: I checked all those files - they are at the same quality as game files (128 Kbps mp3). So I don't think they are better.
I'm sorry if I sound rude, but I'm not sure what you've downloaded. The "VTMB - Complete OST Revised" download ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jrdj3ka1mgeezh/VTMB%20-%20Complete%20OST%20Revised.zip?dl=1 ), which is the first link you can click on in this Steam discussion ( http://steamcommunity.com/app/2600/discussions/0/483366528913878730/ ), has the following first 11 tracks:

Main Menu (4.75 mb), bitrate 201kbps
Santa Monica Theme (4.86 mb), bitrate 134kbps
Creepy Ambience 1 (2.92 mb), bitrate 183 kbps
The Asylum (6.03 MB), bitrate 159kbps
Disturbed and Twisted (7.01 mb), bitrate 217kbps
Police Alert (3.61 mb), bitrate 131kbps
Disturbed and Twisted Combat (3.91 mb), bitrate 244kbps
Generic Combat (2.29 mb), bitrate 143 kbps
Short Cutscene 1 (1.04 mb), bitrate 128 kbps
Downtown Theme (6.43 mb), bitrate 208kbps
Creepy Ambience 2 (5.27 mb), bitrate 190kbps

Comparing just those first 11 tracks with the ones found in the game folder:

Main Menu, called vampire theme in sound folder (3.08 mb), bitrate 128kbps
Santa Monica Theme, found in the santa_monica subfolder (4.64 mb), bitrate 128kbps
Creepy Ambience 1 (2.09 mb), bitrate 128 kbps
The Asylum, called chiasm - isolated in licensed subfolder (4.85 mb), bitrate 128kbps
Disturbed and Twisted (4.13 mb), bitrate 128 kbps
Police Alert, found in the music subfolder (2.65 mb), bitrate 96kbps!!
Disturbed and Twisted Combat (2.05 mb), bitrate 128kbps
Generic Combat, called default combat in sound folder (2.12 mb), bitrate 128kbps
Short Cutscene 1, called mid_short_cutscene56 in stems subfolder (802 kb), bitrate 96kbps!!
Downtown Theme, found in the downtown subfolder (3.95 mb), bitrate 128kbps
Creepy Ambience 2 (3.53 mb), bitrate 128kbps

As you can see most of these tracks are vastly superior to their counterparts found in the vanilla game's main folder (I mistakenly thought most of these were 320kbps but a lot are >200 kbps). The only thing I can think of that confused you is "(an alternate download can be found below)" being next to the "VTMB - Complete OST Revised" download. I did not mean that the "NEW! - additional unused VTMB tracks" download, directly beneath the VTMB - Complete OST Revised download, was the alternate download. That download has unfortunately lower quality tracks but they are all unused tracks you might've never heard before. At the bottom of the post however is a "VTMB - raw music files soundtrack" download, which was me reordering and numbering the tracks of the original game in a similar fashion to what was done with the VTMB - Complete OST Revised download. The VTMB - raw music files soundtrack will indeed have the same files you have in your vanilla game folder. I'll edit my post and change "an alternate download can be found below" to "an alternate download can be found towards the bottom of this post".
Post edited April 29, 2016 by Lucky4LeafClova
Posted April 29, 2016
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Lucky4LeafClova: As you can see most of these tracks are vastly superior to their counterparts found in the vanilla game's main folder.
You are right, I wasn't using the most precise tool for it. Here is what I see now with mpv:

____________________
game file:

mpv --term-status-msg='${audio-bitrate}' disturbed_twisted_combat.mp3
Playing: disturbed_twisted_combat.mp3
(+) Audio --aid=1 (mp3)
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz stereo 2ch s16
127 kbps

___________________
revised file:

mpv --term-status-msg='${audio-bitrate}' 07\ -\ Disturbed\ and\ Twisted\ Combat.mp3
Playing: 07 - Disturbed and Twisted Combat.mp3
(+) Audio --aid=1 (mp3)
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz stereo 2ch s16
220 kbps

So revised is indeed better, but it's still not at transparency level. Do you know if original WAVs still exist anywhere or not?
Post edited April 29, 2016 by shmerl
Posted April 29, 2016
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Lucky4LeafClova: As you can see most of these tracks are vastly superior to their counterparts found in the vanilla game's main folder.
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shmerl: You are right, I wasn't using the most precise tool for it. Here is what I see now with mpv:

____________________
game file:

mpv --term-status-msg='${audio-bitrate}' disturbed_twisted_combat.mp3
Playing: disturbed_twisted_combat.mp3
(+) Audio --aid=1 (mp3)
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz stereo 2ch s16
127 kbps

___________________
revised file:

mpv --term-status-msg='${audio-bitrate}' 07\ -\ Disturbed\ and\ Twisted\ Combat.mp3
Playing: 07 - Disturbed and Twisted Combat.mp3
(+) Audio --aid=1 (mp3)
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz stereo 2ch s16
220 kbps

So revised is indeed better, but it's still not at transparency level. Do you know if original WAVs still exist anywhere or not?

Hm, my post disappeared for some reason.
Your post did disappear weirdly. Odd.

I don't know if such WAVS exist, no. Sorry about that.

Wesp knows about this compilation and said he's fairly certain this was sent to him more than a few years back. Wesp also managed to grab some unused tracks from Rik Schaffer himself which is what's included in the Unofficial Patch plus and that "NEW! - additional unused VTMB tracks" download as I said before.

But yeah, I think this is all we have. The only thing I can think of is the official soundtrack CD for this game which has only 9 licensed tracks.
Post edited April 29, 2016 by Lucky4LeafClova
Posted April 29, 2016
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shmerl: No, they aren't supporting that. They just provide 1.2 original in case you want to mess with it. I wouldn't have supported that mess as is if I were them.
Ha! That does make a whole lot of sense considering what I've heard about the state of the unpatched version. How very silly and naive of me to think otherwise. The GOG support team may be wizards but only gods can perform miracles. :)

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Lucky4LeafClova: In this case I highly urge you to look at the Steam guide I linked before to save yourself precious time if you decide not to use the Unofficial Patch.

If you need anything else, let me know.
Sure thing, thanks for the advice. :)
Posted April 29, 2016
Magnificent release and a good move to bundle it with the unofficial fixes. Own it on steam, but this is a gem that deserves a space in my gog catalog. When the price is right, of course. So I'll wait for at least 75% discount.
Posted April 29, 2016
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Venita: There's an option to play that as well, we called it "Legacy". Just choose that and enjoy your vanilla game :)
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Thiev: no need to download anything more, after install you will have two shortcuts in Start Menu and/or Galaxy
How does that work? Does the installer create two directories, one original and one with the UP applied?

If so, is it safe to delete whichever you aren't using?

(I bought the GOG version, but I won't have the opportunity to download and install it until Sunday or later.)
Posted April 29, 2016
Can anyone who's downloaded and installed the GOG version answer my question above?

I'm getting a bad feeling: I examined version 8.6 of the UP (the latest version that I have archived and on-hand), and even the basic option puts a LOT of files into the game directory, so if GOG is just switching between original and UP executables, then a 'vanilla' installation isn't actually being offered... which is bad news for anyone who wants to use True Patch Gold: installing it on top of a UP-modified game directory is asking for trouble.

Hoping I'm wrong about that... ?
Post edited April 29, 2016 by SeduceMePlz
Posted April 29, 2016
Hell's sake.

For all those complaining - here's an offer: If it bugs you so much buy me the GOG version, plus something else to cover postage (depending where you are), and you can have my disk version. English language version including handbook; picked it up used from E-bay several years ago.

Given how glitchy the original game is I'd never play without the patch and much prefer digital versions at this point anyway. $20 is to dear for me to just replace the version I have already, though.
Posted April 29, 2016
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SeduceMePlz: [..]
all content related changes are in Unofficial Patch subfolder and the game is launched with a parameter
all engine related changes (dlls and such) are shared, but official ones are still accessible in game folder (with .12 extension)
Posted April 29, 2016
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SeduceMePlz: [..]
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Thiev: all content related changes are in Unofficial Patch subfolder and the game is launched with a parameter
all engine related changes (dlls and such) are shared, but official ones are still accessible in game folder (with .12 extension)
Okay, I think maybe that can be made to work with TPG. Not sure tho, I'll have to take a look after I'm able to download and install. The original v1.2 exe was modified to remove the CD check, too, right?

Any chance we could get an official TPG GOG version as an alternate download? I don't have strong feelings for or against either patch, but I find the "fixes-only" motto of TPG appealing.
Posted April 29, 2016
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SeduceMePlz: Any chance we could get an official TPG GOG version as an alternate download? I don't have strong feelings for or against either patch, but I find the "fixes-only" motto of TPG appealing.
No. We can support only one version.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™(795 posts)(795 posts)
(795 posts)