Cheap (UK/Euro) Vampire Masquerade 2: Bloodlines

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http://www.play.com, 7.99ukp/12.99eur. Got to be worth a look at that
price. Though I guess the fact it's been so heavily discounted already
means it didn't sell well.

Andrew McP

 

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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Andrew MacPherson wrote:

> http://www.play.com, 7.99ukp/12.99eur. Got to be worth a look at that
> price. Though I guess the fact it's been so heavily discounted already
> means it didn't sell well.

IMHO the game is much better than HL2, D3 or even RPG shooters like SS2 or
DX, but it was released so buggy that this had to impact sales! Be sure to
apply the official patch 1.2 and any unofficial patches that are released.

I am working to update the unofficial patch myself and while the developer
Troika Games is already out of business, I will never understand, how they
could overlook all these bugs that amateur programers like Dan Upright and
myself can easily fix in our spare time! What a shame for a great game...

--
Werner Spahl (spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships

 

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Werner Spahl wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Andrew MacPherson wrote:
>
>> http://www.play.com, 7.99ukp/12.99eur. Got to be worth a look at that
>> price. Though I guess the fact it's been so heavily discounted
>> already means it didn't sell well.
>
> IMHO the game is much better than HL2, D3 or even RPG shooters like
> SS2 or DX, but it was released so buggy that this had to impact
> sales! Be sure to apply the official patch 1.2 and any unofficial
> patches that are released.

Just curious; can the unofficial patches be applied
on top of the official patch? And is there a list of the
issues these resolve? After you do all that, are there
still any show-stopper bugs left?

I'd like to buy it, but only if I know my progress won't
be stopped half-way through....

P.

 

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Andrew MacPherson wrote:
> http://www.play.com, 7.99ukp/12.99eur.

Actually, 7.99 is ?11.50 at today's price -
so even better for us Eurozoners!

P.

 

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andrew.mcp@DELETETHISdsl.pipex.com (Andrew MacPherson) wrote
in
news:memo.20050318133348.2228A@address_disguised.address_disg
u
ised:

>
> http://www.play.com, 7.99ukp/12.99eur. Got to be worth a
> look at that price. Though I guess the fact it's been so
> heavily discounted already means it didn't sell well.
>
> Andrew McP

Not really, Play have a habit of selling top new releases
(Far Cry £17.99) cheap as pre-order, and rapidly discounting
pretty much any other title a few months after release.

 

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In article <3a0craF600dovU1@individual.net>, paul_moloney@hotmail.com
(Paul Moloney) wrote:

> Actually, 7.99 is ?11.50 at today's price

Ah, but if you click on Play's Euro/Pound button the price is definitely
12.99. It's a retailer not a bureau de change

Andrew McP

 

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In article <Xns961DB58DEF2D6ds34543dsffds@130.133.1.4>,
bogorfspam@btopenworld.com (Lithurge) wrote:

> Not really, Play have a habit of selling top new releases
> (Far Cry £17.99) cheap as pre-order, and rapidly discounting

I use Play quite a lot, and have done for a few years now. So I'm aware of
their buyer-friendly habits. But IME relatively few titles drop to 7.99
ever, let alone so soon after release. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do
with how titles sell or deals with publishers to clear dead stock rather
than an overall generous policy.

Andrew McP

 

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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Andrew MacPherson wrote:

thank you very much for the info
and yet another proof why the retail channel is the best
a 4 month old high quality pc game being sold in such a low price!
and i bet play.com is not the only one and most of us pc gamers can
find bloodline with heavy discounts in our local retail stores
and yes bloodline is totally worth the money we give for it!
so buy your copy!
long live pc games!
long live retail channel!

--
post made in a steam-free computer
i said "NO" to valve and steam

against steam campaign
http://nosteam.afterdarknet.at/

steamwatch - independent observatory about steam
http://www.steamwatch.org/

please sign petition "Say NO! to Steam!" available at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/nosteam/petition.html

 

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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Werner Spahl wrote:

> IMHO the game is much better than HL2, D3 or even RPG shooters like SS2 or
> DX, but it was released so buggy that this had to impact sales! Be sure to
> apply the official patch 1.2 and any unofficial patches that are released.
>
> I am working to update the unofficial patch myself and while the developer
> Troika Games is already out of business, I will never understand, how they
> could overlook all these bugs that amateur programers like Dan Upright and
> myself can easily fix in our spare time! What a shame for a great game...

every pc gamer should thank you for working in fixing a pc game for
no reward except the joy and passion you have for it
you have our true appreciation!
thank you very much and this group should all thank you also
its very sad troika has closed, but fortunately the pc game community
is strong and very united so support for games even when the original
developers are no longer doing it can continue, and does this happen
with any other gaming platform? NO! no it doesn't!
once again another real proof why pc gaming is the best!

this entire group should join me in a big thank you to Werner Spahl

ps: how do you in reality continue supporting the game? do you have
the access to source code? did troika give you bloodline source code?
you can only patch a game with source code right? or can you patch it
by reverse engineering?

--
post made in a steam-free computer
i said "NO" to valve and steam

against steam campaign
http://nosteam.afterdarknet.at/

steamwatch - independent observatory about steam
http://www.steamwatch.org/

please sign petition "Say NO! to Steam!" available at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/nosteam/petition.html

 

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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, "Paul Moloney" wrote:

> I'd like to buy it, but only if I know my progress won't
> be stopped half-way through....

oh come one! buy the game!
have you seen how low it is?
for that price and even if you don't play it's still worthy!
the world is unfair and troika has closed doors so at least
we pc gamers lets now show some appreciation and buy bloodline!

--
post made in a steam-free computer
i said "NO" to valve and steam

against steam campaign
http://nosteam.afterdarknet.at/

steamwatch - independent observatory about steam
http://www.steamwatch.org/

please sign petition "Say NO! to Steam!" available at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/nosteam/petition.html

 

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Andrew MacPherson wrote:

>
> http://www.play.com, 7.99ukp/12.99eur. Got to be worth a look at that
> price. Though I guess the fact it's been so heavily discounted
> already means it didn't sell well.
>
> Andrew McP

i already own that game, but i need a better video card before playing
it again. it lags like hell on the street scenes.

--
DalienX

 

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In article <mN9%d.4576$C7.3338@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
somewhere@earth.com (DalienX) wrote:

> i already own that game, but i need a better video card
> before playing it again.

Interesting. I thought the HL2 engine scaled well to slower vid cards. I
guess Troika pushed the engine pretty hard.

Andrew McP

 

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In article <Pine.LNX.4.58.0503181445250.10798@cicum1.cup.uni-muenchen.de>,
spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de (Werner Spahl) wrote:

> Be sure to apply the official patch 1.2 and any unofficial
> patches that are released.

Thanks for the advice, and for your tweaks to the game.

> I will never understand, how they could overlook all these bugs
> that amateur programers like Dan Upright and myself can easily
> fix in our spare time!

I think with long projects like games it's very easy to lose focus and
miss what can seem obvious to others... especially if a deadline is
looming!

Andrew McP

 

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Andrew MacPherson wrote:

> In article <mN9%d.4576$C7.3338@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> somewhere@earth.com (DalienX) wrote:
>
> > i already own that game, but i need a better video card
> > before playing it again.
>
> Interesting. I thought the HL2 engine scaled well to slower vid
> cards. I guess Troika pushed the engine pretty hard.
>
> Andrew McP

yeah well interesting, considering i can play hl2 with ease.
I didnt know it was the same engine, perhaps its all the people moving
around or maybe its just buggy lol.

--
DalienX

 

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On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 09:06:55 GMT, "DalienX" <somewhere@earth.com> wrote:

>Andrew MacPherson wrote:
>
>> In article <mN9%d.4576$C7.3338@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
>> somewhere@earth.com (DalienX) wrote:
>>
>> > i already own that game, but i need a better video card
>> > before playing it again.
>>
>> Interesting. I thought the HL2 engine scaled well to slower vid
>> cards. I guess Troika pushed the engine pretty hard.
>>
>> Andrew McP
>
>yeah well interesting, considering i can play hl2 with ease.
>I didnt know it was the same engine, perhaps its all the people moving
>around or maybe its just buggy lol.

It's actually an earlier version of Source that is used in Vampire, it
had not been updated to the current Source version as used in the first
release of HL2. Apparently you can take the HL2 Source engine files and
stick them in Vampire (rename the launcher) and it will run, but I have
not tried it yet.

--
Alfie
<http://www.delphia.co.uk/>
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

 

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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005, Paul Moloney wrote:

> Werner Spahl wrote:
> >
> > IMHO the game is much better than HL2, D3 or even RPG shooters like
> > SS2 or DX, but it was released so buggy that this had to impact
> > sales! Be sure to apply the official patch 1.2 and any unofficial
> > patches that are released.
>
> Just curious; can the unofficial patches be applied
> on top of the official patch? And is there a list of the
> issues these resolve? After you do all that, are there
> still any show-stopper bugs left?

The unofficial patches can be applied before, after or without the
official patch 1.2 and the game should work without show-stopper bugs.
There is only one crash left at the end which can be circumvented by
just reloading until it works .

--
Werner Spahl (spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships

 

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Werner Spahl wrote:

> The unofficial patches can be applied before, after or without the
> official patch 1.2 and the game should work without show-stopper bugs.
> There is only one crash left at the end which can be circumvented by
> just reloading until it works .

Werner,

Do you know where the unofficial patches can
be found? I've done a search on Google,
looked on some likely web sites, but can
only find references to the official 1.2 patch.

You mentioned you are working on a new
version of the unofficial patch - any likely
release date? If it's worth it (I'm sure it is!),
I can always hold off on playing the game
'til you release.

P.

 

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On Thu, 24 Mar 2005, Paul Moloney wrote:

> Do you know where the unofficial patches can be found? I've done a
> search on Google, looked on some likely web sites, but can only find

I think there was some trouble lately finding the unofficial 1.2 patch,
but my updated version 1.3 is now available on www.fileplanet.com. I hope
it will work fine, but I'm already working on 1.4 which will fix some
more small bugs and which will place some weapons more logical .

--
Werner Spahl (spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships

 

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Werner Spahl wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Mar 2005, Paul Moloney wrote:
>
>> Do you know where the unofficial patches can be found? I've done a
>> search on Google, looked on some likely web sites, but can only find
>
> I think there was some trouble lately finding the unofficial 1.2
> patch, but my updated version 1.3 is now available on
> www.fileplanet.com.

Cheers - found it at:

http://www.fileplanet.com/151191/download/Vampire-The-Masquerade:-Bloodlines---Unofficial-Patch-1.3

Let us all know when 1.4 comes out! Not that I have my copy
yet; play.com said it shipped last Friday, but still no sign.

I see on their PC chart, the game is at no. 6...

P.

 

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In article <3ag91gF69jr22U1@individual.net>, paul_moloney@hotmail.com
(Paul Moloney) wrote:

> play.com said it shipped last Friday, but still no sign.

Mine shipped the same day but arrived Thursday morning. Given there's no
mail delivery today I guess you might get it tomorrow or Tuesday.

FWIW my first impressions are good. The characters are -- IMO -- much
better than HL2, more believable in context even though they're equally
fictional... if that makes any sense The acting's pretty good and
sometimes, especially in dim lighting, characters can seem very
realistic, and although the choices of conversation tend towards the 'all
roads lead to Rome' school of dialogue, there's enough flexibility to sell
you the illusion of choice even when choices aren't really there. And
successful games are always the ones which sell you the illusion
convincingly.

Plotwise, well, it's a vampire RPG, what do you expect Having said
that, the introduction to the world and your part in it is very well done.
You'd expect that though, it's like page one of a book.. if it's too poor,
nobody's going to reach page two and buy it. If page fifteen;s a bit iffy
it's less important.

Without spoiling anything, I particularly enjoyed listening to the radio
when I first entered my apartment.

Anyway, it'll be a while before I can put a lot of time into this, but so
far I've definitely seen enough to more than justify the price of entry
and more besides. I even enjoyed the rather quirky way your character
class is chosen (you can specify things yourself, but the automatic way is
more entertaining).

Andrew 'Nosferatu' McP

 

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"Andrew MacPherson" <andrew.mcp@DELETETHISdsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:memo.20050320082523.2156B@address_disguised.address_disguised...
> In article <mN9%d.4576$C7.3338@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> somewhere@earth.com (DalienX) wrote:

>> i already own that game, but i need a better video card
>> before playing it again.

> Interesting. I thought the HL2 engine scaled well to slower vid cards. I
> guess Troika pushed the engine pretty hard.

I've just started and found the tutorial level fine (on my
2600+, 9800 Pro, 512MB, I could push it up
to 1024x768, graphical options on full).

However, as soon as I hit a particular street scene (on
the way to Mercurio's apartment), framerates went down
to a crawl). I tried turning down all graphical options, with no
luck. Any help out there?

P.

 

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"sayNO2steam" <sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:nhmn3154l5ihr5t0t1p0ephsqkvqst451e@4ax.com...

> oh come one! buy the game!

Come one - is that as in "come one, come all!"?

>have you seen how low it is?

Yes. Have you seen my bank balance?
You'll be happy to know I did indeed buy
it, not that it helped poor Troika.

P.

 

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On Sat, 26 Mar 2005, Paul Moloney wrote:

> However, as soon as I hit a particular street scene (on the way to
> Mercurio's apartment), framerates went down to a crawl). I tried turning
> down all graphical options, with no luck. Any help out there?

It worked fine on my old Celeron 1 GHz but indeed slowed down on the big
street hubs. I guess this is due to all the NPCs going about their stuff
and not due to anything graphical. Just raw CPU power needed.

--
Werner Spahl (spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships

 

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"Werner Spahl" <spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de> wrote in message
newsine.LNX.4.58.0503291306390.16830@cicum1.cup.uni-muenchen.de...

> It worked fine on my old Celeron 1 GHz but indeed slowed down on the big
> street hubs. I guess this is due to all the NPCs going about their stuff
> and not due to anything graphical. Just raw CPU power needed.

Well, if my Athlon 2600+ still doesn't have enough raw power, Troika
severely overestimated their target audience.

I actually got better results by reducing the resolution to 800x600, but
forcing
on anti-aliasing and anistrophic filtering (using RadLinker). It's now just
about
playable in the street scenes, where luckily you don't spend much time
interacting, just heading from A to B.

Based on tips online, I also did the following, but can't say I noticed much
improvement:

* Using the Bloodlines Tool (vpk-tool.zip), I unpacked all the .VPK files,
then renamed them as .VPK.BAK. Didn't see much improvement here;
also, I notice the unpacking program isn't entirely successful - I can
see missing textures where some lightswitches are meant to be.

* Added "-heapsize 256000 -dxlevel 90" to my shortcut (256000, as
my memory size is 512MB).

There's also a tip that when running Vampires, you should Alt-Tab, and
_lower_ the priority of the task. Sounds contradictory, but some say it
works. I may give this a try too.

P.

 

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On Tue, 29 Mar 2005, Paul Moloney wrote:

> Well, if my Athlon 2600+ still doesn't have enough raw power, Troika
> severely overestimated their target audience.

Setting the pagefile to about 1.5 MB helps and I think the stuttering
sound bug of the Source engine is one reason...

--
Werner Spahl (spahl@cup.uni-muenchen.de) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships