True Patch Gold Edition -- DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK

[Maxim Blackwell]

I see, also I notice when player pick ups phone from phone booth it magicly returns to its original place and the player's hand remains only like he speaks through its hads. I recon that True Patch doesn't fixes this issuedue to the problem Source engine itself ?

[Tessera]

I see, also I notice when player pick ups phone from phone booth it magicly returns to its original place and the player's hand remains only like he speaks through its hads. I recon that True Patch doesn't fixes this issuedue to the problem Source engine itself ?

I'm a bit confused now. Initially, you told us that you are not a True Patch user. If I may quote you:

I haven't played Bloodlines with your patch sadly in my days, and seeing some changes which I saw in UP it kinda baffles me sometimes since I always stick with Basic not with Plus although I played it with Plus once...

So then, why are you asking so many questions about the True Patch..? Seems a bit odd, frankly.

[Maxim Blackwell]

Well even though I have never played VTM Bloodlines with True Patch Gold Edition, well I'm just asking out of curiosity whatever weird it may sound it and since I played a long time ago with Weps5 "unofficial patch" I just decided to find out the difference between your patch and his you know. Besides it's not like I will be playing any games since I decided to called a quit with them, mostly take up reading books, but you know old habits die hard, so yeah I guess I'm kinda a weird person.

[Tessera]

 Fair enough. 

Well then, rather than address every single minute detail of either patch, I'll just give you another generic answer. Keep in mind that while I am certainly biased, I will endeavor to be as honest as I can be:

(1) No matter which version of Wesp's patch you install, there will be numerous and arbitrary changes to the originally intended experience that Troika wanted us all to enjoy. Even Wesp's "Basic" version contains dozens of completely unnecessary changes to the game. About a third of Wesp's patch consists of actual fixes to legitimate bugs... the other two-thirds is nothing but arbitrary mods of various types.

(2) The True Patch Gold Edition is almost 100% comprised of high quality repairs to legitimate bugs which existed in the default, retail version of Bloodlines. My primary concern was with bugs which were very obvious, and also with bugs which might impede your progress in some way (for example: bugs which caused crashes, or which caused scripts to malfunction, etc.) While I am sure there are various tiny little things that we never bothered to fix (your payphone glitch, for example)... the reason we ignored those things is because they are just that: tiny and unimportant little glitches, that most players would probably never, ever notice or encounter. To date, the True Patch fixes more legitimate bugs than any version of Wesp's patch, while making almost no arbitrary changes of any kind to the rest of the game.


So it all comes down to what you want. Some people might prefer a modified game. Those people should use Wesp's patch. Other players might prefer to play the actual game that they paid for, before deciding whether or not they want mods. Those people should install the True Patch. It's nice to have choices, eh..?

[Maxim Blackwell]

Given the nature of True Patch Gold Edition I assume that you also include fixes from other users, if so then what kind of basic rules should users follows if they want include their fixes into your patch ? aside from the fact that only fixes are allow into the patch and also do you plan to include an aforementioned aniti aliansing or is it going against your rules of only including fixes and nothing more ?

[Tessera]

Given the nature of True Patch Gold Edition I assume that you also include fixes from other users

Incorrect. All of the fixes in the True Patch came from me and a programmer named Acrimonious.

Acrimonious retired from the gaming community, following the release of the True Patch version 5.04AT.
All additional repairs beyond that point, including the True Patch Gold Edition, were done by myself.

If you poke around a bit on this board, you will find lots of information regarding the history of the True Patch series.

Regarding your question about anti-aliasing, no... I have no plans to incorporate anything like that into the True Patch, because it isn't necessary. There has been a third-party mod out there for several years called SweetFX, and it does a fine job of adding all sorts of great graphics tweaks to VTMB and to lots of other older games. It includes anti-aliasing, and enhanced shaders, and all sorts of other tricks that help older games look better. It works great with VTMB... just don't expect miracles, because VTMB is a DirectX 8 game and as such, it's graphics capabilities are limited.

If interested, you can obtain SweetFX from the author's web site here:  http://sfx.thelazy.net/downloads/

[Maxim Blackwell]

Ahh I see, then speaking of other users. Do you get any occasinaly request from time to time about incorporating their own fixes into the patch to or you just prefer it to do any maintenance by yourself in fearning that users might incorporated some questionable changes ?

[Tessera]

Do you get any occasinaly request from time to time about incorporating their own fixes into the patch

Nope. It's all just me.

[Maxim Blackwell]

Also Did Troika intentionally didn't add any Xp points to Knox reveal that Bertram Tung is manipulating you into doing his dirty work and in so called Daydream Believer quest where you trick thin-blood into buying blood packs from you and sending him to kill a head vampire ? Cause if they didn't then it makes a lot of sense unlike Wesp5 change....

[Zorchmen]

I'm seriously considering creating a mod that will completely remove Wesp's patch from VTMB and replace it with the True Patch Gold Edition.
That way, people who have been ripped off, and forced to buy a copy of VTMB with the UP pre-installed, will have a way to fix that situation.

Hello Tessera,when will the mod be finished?

Thank you for your hard work and dedication,amigo.

[BazYat]

Anyone know how to get TPG to play nice with Steam on Win 10? I get as far as loading a game and it falls over... what have I done wrong?

[Tessera]

Anyone know how to get TPG to play nice with Steam on Win 10? I get as far as loading a game and it falls over... what have I done wrong?

The True Patch does not work with Windows 10.

[BazYat]

...nuts. OK

[Prisoner416]

...nuts. OK

I know I had the True Patch working under Windows ten, sadly the only way to do so is by liberating a .dll file from Wesp's mod. I believe the issue isn't so much a Windows 10 compatibility issue as it is a Securom or other copy protection scheme, which Microsoft disabled under Windows 10 due to security risks.

I understand the general reluctance to support Windows 10, but I do hope that someday the patch can be updated to fix this minor issue. Sadly, rolling back to Windows 7 isn't an option for everyone. I think it's one of the main barriers right now in getting others to make the leap to switching over from what they thought was a decent patch, only to learn the truth about Wesp's craft.

I have to do more testing anyway, I have to reinstall Windows thanks to an error on my part. I never noticed any ill effects from running the .dll but then again I've been lucky in other aspects as well.

[Bordrunk]

It doesn't work with win 10... it's cool I didn't spend hours uninstalling reinstalling putting wesp "patch" on and off to get the vampire12.dll and trying with every vampire.exe I found, while seeing it work with wesp patch but not playing with it because f his changes... guess either I retrograde to win 7 which I wanted to do since it's my favourite version, never play VtMB again or play with wesp "patch" but not the -plus one hoping the regular version is an actual patch. I'm lost does anyone have an advice? Can I merge the TPG with wesp's blasphemous one? (Sorry Tessera, really :')

edit: nah no way I'm playing a screwed version again (I played it 5 times with gog version) I'll reinstall win 7.

[Tessera]

Well obviously, I'm never going to tell people to use ANY part of Wesp's "patch." 

But if the DLL file is all you really need, then I guess it's up to each of you to decide what to do. I'm going to stay completely removed from that conversation.

Personally, I still advise everyone to install Win 7 as a second operating system and just do all of your gaming from there. You might find a way to get VTMB working on Win 10... and if the only game you ever played in your life was VTMB, then you'd be all set. But what about all of your other older games, folks..? Every single game that ever used SecureROM copy protection simply WILL NOT work under Windows 10.

So you can either throw all of your older, favorite games away and never play them again (dumb idea).... or you can do the smart thing, and run Windows 7 as a separate operating system on the same computer. This is not difficult to do, folks... but it will require a complete re-installation of both operating systems.

For the uninitiated, it goes like this:

(1) First make a backup of everything you want to save from Windows 10 and keep that backup on a separate DVD, or external hard drive, or a thumb drive, or whatever. Just not on your main hard drive.

(2) Now install Windows 7 and tell it to reformat your hard drive during installation. You won't be able to get updates for Win 7 anymore, unless you hunt all over the web... but that's not important right now.

(3) Next, install Windows 10 and during installation, it will detect the presence of Windows 7. It should then ask if you want Win 10 to run as a second operating system. You should also be given the option to decide which OS will be your default OS. Whenever you reboot your machine, which OS should it automatically boot into? I'm sure most of you will want Windows 10 to be your default system, so just be sure to set it up that way.

(4) That's all you gotta do. If you're worried about security whenever you boot into Windows 7 for gaming, then just go into the Win7 control panel and disable its internet access. This is usually as simple as just going into the Win7 Device Manager and permanently disabling your network adapter. No functioning network adapter -- no internet. Simple. Windows 7 then becomes its own little island and it never connects to the web. Updates for Win7 then become unnecessary.

Get the idea..? If Windows 7 can never connect to the internet, then you can never be hacked or infected with a virus while using Windows 7. Pretty simple, right..? You'll just use Windows 7 for gaming and then switch back to Windows 10 for everything else.

I still think this is the "best of both worlds" solution, which is precisely why I have never made any effort to update the True Patch for Windows 10. Why bother..? Win10 sucks for gaming, period. 

Lastly I'll just mention that on my main gaming rig, I continue to use Windows 7 x64 exclusively. I rely upon third-party anti-virus and anti-malware software, to keep the system safe while web surfing. I have not been missing out on anything at all. I can do everything on my Win7 machine that Windows 10 users can do. In other words, Windows 10 is a redundant, unnecessary pile of shit, folks. I have Win 10 on a laptop, so I know what I'm talking about here. There is absolutely NOTHING on that Win 10 machine that I can't do BETTER and FASTER and with LESS BLOATWARE as compared to my Windows 7 rig. That is an absolute fact. So why do we need Windows 10..? I have no idea.

[Tessera]

FOLLOW-UP: Adding secdrv.sys to Windows 10


It's safe to say that this has been an ongoing issue for years. Windows 10 does not support the older SecureROM (aka SafeDisk) form of copy protection, which was used by hundreds of older games (like VTMB) that people still enjoy playing.

I finally decided to seriously look into this issue. I haven't really bothered with it before, because my stance has always been "Just play VTMB on a Windows 7 machine." I still think that's the best solution, but I also realize that most people don't want a dual-boot (Win 10 + Win 7) setup, nor can they afford to build an entirely separate computer, just to play older games like VTMB.

So after doing a bit of snooping around, it appears that there may actually be a way to ADD the old SecureROM driver to Windows 10... thus enabling Windows 10 to play ALL of your other older games. VTMB included.

I think this is a better idea than simply copying a file out of Wesp's mod/patch, because you probably enjoy other games besides VTMB. Wesp's file only fixes VTMB... but it does nothing for any of your older games.

MicroSoft removed the SecureROM driver from Windows 10 and Windows 11, basically telling the fans of vintage PC games to go fuck themselves. Not cool. Microsoft claims that the device driver involved, which is named "secdrv.sys," is some sort of monumental security risk. The actual people who originally created secdrv.sys have stated that Microsoft is full of shit. You can decide for yourselves who to believe.

Because of these concerns, I will not tell anyone what to do, or how to do it. Instead, I will post some links to an article and some software which, supposedly, will allow you to permanently add the secdrv.sys to Windows 10. Hopefully you will be able to read the article and figure out how to do it yourself. I have read it and it appears to be do-able.

Check these links:

https://windowsreport.com/cd-games-windows-10/#5     <--- the actual procedure

https://www.ngohq.com/driver-signature-enforcement-overrider.html  <--- the software that supposedly allows you to override Windows 10 disabling of older drivers

http://www.mediafire.com/file/vqel2rrxnoz3z67/RemoveWatermark_20090509.zip/file   <--- correct download link is on the right side of the page; don't be fooled by the ads


Now then... I have not personally tried this method. That's why I won't tell anyone what to do. I'm just relaying this information, with the customary "Do it at your own risk" disclaimer. 


- Tessera -

[Blonde Guardian]

It looks like this has worked for people, but I couldn't find any way of adding secdrv back that doesn't result in a "this driver has been blocked from loading" error when I try to start it in the command prompt. I also tried booting without driver signature enforcement, and this more involved method: https://github.com/ericwj/PsSecDrv

THAT SAID, I can't discount user error. But I also wonder if my version of secdrv.sys is too old to work. I copied it from my Windows XP virtual machine and the product version is 4.03.086 2006/09/13. I couldn't find any later versions online, so if any of you guys with a Win 7 machine feels like checking, check your secdrv.sys' Details tab in its Properties and let me know if it's any different.

If it's the same, I'll have to assume it's a case of PEBKAC, unless recent Win 10 updates have completely blocked it from loading.