VtM: Bloodlines 1 Year Anniversary Q&A

[CoM_Solaufein]

P4 2.8 Mhz, 512MB memory, soundblaster sound card and ATI 9500. The only performance issues is loading to start a game or loading to a new area that is usually big and/or has a lot of background sounds. I've never experianced any stuttering in graphics or sound except when I had an ATI 9200 card in it, the graphics stuttered. Otherwise it's just the loading issues with me.

[WITHTEETH]

P4 2.8 Mhz, 512MB memory, soundblaster sound card and ATI 9500. The only performance issues is loading to start a game or loading to a new area that is usually big and/or has a lot of background sounds. I've never experianced any stuttering in graphics or sound except when I had an ATI 9200 card in it, the graphics stuttered. Otherwise it's just the loading issues with me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What resolution did you use?

[CoM_Solaufein]

800*600

[WITHTEETH]

800*600

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought you were going to say that, inthe patch notes it said that this will help performance. I just didn't want to lower the resolution. I guess ill play around will i find the right config...

[LoneWolf16]

P4 HT - Extreme Dual 3.2 Mhz, Radeon X850XT PE 256MB, 2 GB of memory, and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. Game runs fine most of the time, but still, slow downs in rain, and in specific areas, like the beach at Santa Monica. I've got it at 1024x768 with all the highest graphics settings I can find.

 

I don't get it...a memory leak can't be that, bad can it?

 

Oh, and am I the only one who's intro scene constantly screws up...I mean like clipping, scenes not happening at the right time, and basically, the entire opening being screwy?

[213374U]

I don't get it...a memory leak can't be that, bad can it?

The memory leak isn't area-specific. It begins when you fire up the program, and it ends when either you quit the game, or the system runs out of memory to feed the program, at which point a crash usually occurs.

 

 

Oh, and am I the only one who's intro scene constantly screws up...I mean like clipping, scenes not happening at the right time, and basically, the entire opening being screwy?

No. Regardless of your hardware or configuration, the intro sequence is badly scripted.

[Janmanden]

Oh, and am I the only one who's intro scene constantly screws up...I mean like clipping, scenes not happening at the right time, and basically, the entire opening being screwy?

I haven't noticed any such errors, but "clipping" errors also tend to happen more when the system and especially the graphics card runs hot. It's a pretty mean machine you have, could be that cooling was playing a trick on you.

[LoneWolf16]

Oh, and am I the only one who's intro scene constantly screws up...I mean like clipping, scenes not happening at the right time, and basically, the entire opening being screwy?

I haven't noticed any such errors, but "clipping" errors also tend to happen more when the system and especially the graphics card runs hot. It's a pretty mean machine you have, could be that cooling was playing a trick on you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The scene runs fine when I first install, but after I play the game a few times, it just falls apart. My card isn't running hot either.

 

I don't get it. It did this with my last computer too.

[Guest MacLeodCorp]

http://www.forumplanet.com/planetvampire/t...tid=1773542&p=4

 

What is the Bloodlines crew doing now?

 

I am fortunate in that I still work with a good portion of the Bloodlines

Edited December 17, 2005 by MacLeodCorp

[Haitoku]

800*600

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Actually I tried this, things got worse...

 

It couldn't get top speed without a high screen resolution and AA bumb'd up.

[WITHTEETH]

Well i went to Gamespot.com and found some unofficial patches. I installed it right over patch 1.2 and it works great, no more memory leak! It can get a bit choppy while its raining but it is minimal, and other then that its smooth, theres a HUGE (w00t) difference on my machine.

 

Supposedly this newest unofficial patch 1.8 fixes a ton of problems, it weighs in at 26mb i believe. If any of you are intrested in playing this game again or for the first time, id say this patch is a must, atleast in my case.

Edited December 18, 2005 by WITHTEETH

[Surreptishus]

WITHTEETH did you install patch 1.8? If not, could you please tell me which patch fixes the memory leak? THanks.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Surreptishus

[WITHTEETH]

WITHTEETH did you install patch 1.8? If not which patch fixes the memory leak?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes I installed patch 1.8

[WITHTEETH]

Patch 1.9 Heres a newer patch just came out the 1st of december.

[CoM_Solaufein]

Wonderful. I'll have to give that a try.

[Atreides]

ZOMG! I'll try it again. Memory leak was making the game unbearable, which is mostly why I quit.

[Gabrielle]

Well i went to Gamespot.com and found some unofficial patches. I installed it right over patch 1.2  and it works great, no more memory leak! It can get a bit choppy while its raining but it is minimal, and other then that its smooth, theres a HUGE  (w00t) difference on my machine.

 

Supposedly this newest unofficial patch 1.8 fixes a ton of problems, it weighs in at 26mb i believe. If any of you are intrested in playing this game again or for the first time, id say this patch is a must, atleast in my case.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cool I didn't know they made unoffciial patches.

[Yst]

Cool I didn't know they made unoffciial patches. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The unofficial patches are exclusively geared towards fixing quest bugs in level scripts and dialogues, or in the game's plain text configuration files. Engine issues are not their concern. If the unofficial patches fix an engine/rendering/graphical issue anyone's experiencing, it's a sheer fluke.

 

The Source revision which Bloodlines uses is very poorly understood, even by the Bloodlines mod community. Adding to the difficulty of working with it is the fact that Troika has modified some elements of the engine (e.g., both the model and map specs) to suite their needs. Consequently, what is known about and what can be done with Bloodlines' engine and file types is extremely limited. There have not been any successful attempts to make Bloodlines filetypes interoperable with Valve's Source tools. The model and map specs remain pretty much opaque, over a year after release. Though one hacker was successful in extracting model geometry from Bloodlines' MDL files, the depth of Bloodlines mod work is at this point for the most part limited to reskins. Engine mods and tweaks beyond what can be achieved by simply playing around at the console with the Source engine's graphical variables aren't a possibly at this time and presumably never will be.

 

If you want quest and content fixes and mods, get the unofficial patch, but as far as engine bugs and tweaks go, you're no better nor worse without it.

 

I should add, because Gamespot doesn't make it obvious, these unofficial patches are not the work of anyone with any relationship to Troika or Activision whatsoever. They are just the work of individual members of the mod community who modified the scripts that come with the game to fix some things. Unfortunately, because the capacities of any one member of the mod community to playtest a patch are limited, the unofficial patches have been known to introduce as many bugs as they eliminate, for some people. Consequently, I play with 1.2 and Histories added, but without any unofficial patch mods.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Yst

[Janmanden]

Well... I'm still playing unpatched and apart from the Leopold escape bug everything works fine. The latest or last ATi 5.11 has fixed the lack of anti-aliasing I had before.

[WITHTEETH]

My game doesn't stutter anymore, thats all i care about!

[Hell Kitty]

I'm using the latest patch, and the only problem I know that it adds is if you go to the character screen twice in a row it freezes my game.

[Gabrielle]

I just started another game, playing as a Malkavian. I tried this once a long time ago. I forgot how funny their dialogues are.

[Haitoku]

The latest patch seems to be currupted...

 

Anyways, I'm gonna continue the game with 1.8. I hope I can finish this time.

[Judge Hades]

Okay, I found Bloodlines in the bargin bin and now I am installing. I will be playing it soon enough. Got it and Septerra Core at $10 each.

[Haitoku]

Okay, I found Bloodlines in the bargin bin and now I am installing.  I will be playing it soon enough.  Got it and Septerra Core at $10 each.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

A few tips Hades.

 

*Install the latest official patch ASAP and the unofficial patches if you want. People claim they just fix quest bugs. I don't know too much about it, but since I've started using 1.9, memory leaks are gone. (http://www.3dgamers.com/ for patch, you will need to register)

 

*Open up the .cfg file and set "Rate" to 2500.

*Make sure you have atleast 1500 page file.

*Create a .bat file... It should read "start /low vampire.exe -console -heapsize ????"

Yes, the game runs better in low priority, heapsize should be half your ram.

 

*If you have a decent enough graphic card, I would say nVidia 6 series or ATI x800 series don't bother trying to lower graphic settings to get higher FPS. The game will run the same regardless of settings. Force AA (I'd say 4 or 6) through your control panel since it can help performance on some systems.

 

EDIT - Septerra Core

Edited December 23, 2005 by Haitoku