Firstly, I have two icons/versions of the game. The regular and legacy- what is the difference?

Secondly, if I wanted the full (ie. non-basic) UP 9.5 how would I go about that?

Lastly, Is there anything I need to do to actually activate UP 9.5 because I am playing and so far it just seem normal. Should UP 9.5 have the Histories feature in character creation?

Much thanks to any who can help me. Very excited to play this game again after many, many years!

From what I've read, the GOG version comes with the basic version of the 9.5 unofficial patch, so fixes but not extra content. If you want the full plus version of the 9.5 unofficial patch, it can be downloaded from the Patches Scrolls website and you just install it over the top of the existing GOG installation, as it just overwrites the basic patch files anyway.

Legacy is a pure version 1.2 for those who want it, the last "official" patch cobbled together without pay by dedicated developers. It still has some problems, which is why the "unofficial patch" with more bug fixes is included in the GOG installation.

If you want the Unofficial Patch Plus, you have to download it from elsewhere.

"Histories" was an incomplete feature that was implemented in the original game but hidden as the game balance had not been tested by the time the game was released. You can re-enable it on any version of the game by editing the line vchar_edit_histories "0" in VtMB\Unofficial_Patch\cfg\user.cfg. Change the "0" to "1". I believe that the original Histories are left intact in the Basic mod, but tweaked in the Plus mod.