True Patch Gold Edition -- DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK

[Tessera]

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.

That's because your driver wasn't signed.

If Windows encounters a driver that isn't properly "signed" and entered into its catalog of approved drivers, it simply skips it at boot-up.

Supposedly, one of those utilities that I linked in my previous post deals with the driver signing issue, effectively making secdrv.sys a permanent part of Win 10.

But once again... I have not personally tested this. I do have Win 10 installed on a laptop... maybe one day I'll give it a try and see if I can make it work.

I suspect that, even after installing the driver, one would probably have to do something or other in the registry. I remember that when MS quietly disabled the driver in Windows 7, we had to go into the registry and undo their sabotage. I remember posting an article about it in this forum, way back when.

[Happy]

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 -

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.

I tried both and I have got it working and here is my Story:

I tried the solution mentioned by Tessera using the "Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider" tool without any success.
Then I tried the Tutorial mentioned by Blonde Guardian (https://github.com/ericwj/PsSecDrv) which worked for me!
I followed it by the letter downloaded the secdrv.sys data mentioned in the link and it works like a charm. I am using Win10 Pro 64-bit Version 21H2 Build 19044.1706 which should be the up to date build.
The Watermark Removal Tool mentioned by Tessera did not work for me either. I have used the "Universal Watermark Disabler" created by Winaero.
I am running VTMB using the True Gold Patch with the Mega-Mod Package and it runs great on my Win10 Machine.

@Blonde Guardian maybe it could help to edit the Registry:
Press win+r and type "regedit"
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServices (you can paste it into the navigation line at the top of the Reg Editor)
Add here a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named "secdrv" with hexadecimal value "2"
Reboot and look if it helped otherwise check again if you followed the tutorial you mentioned correctly.

It is also possible that you still have "Secure Boot" in your Bios activated which does not work. I had it deactivated by Default. This is also mentioned in the Tutorial.

[Blonde Guardian]

Glad to hear it, Happy. I did do the registry edit by then, and my BIOS is legacy mode, so the secure boot issue presumably doesn't apply. It's entirely possible that I just bungled something while following that tutorial. Maybe I'll give it another try one of these days.

[highphy]

Hey there. Been playing the 10th anniversary megamod and everything was honky-dory until I got downtown. Fat Larry didn't appeared. I tried reloading, I tried closing the game, restarting the pc and running it again, reinstalling, using the gold patch instead, using the gold patch over the 10 anniversary version and removing the UP folder. Couldn't find any way to spawn npcs via console (and it would be great to know how to do that so I can test mods more efficiently). I am srsly considering buying the steam version to get the vanilla dlls, as my gog version cane with the UP, but I would prefer not to, if I can avoid it.

Im using windows 7, a phenom 2 x4 cpu, amd 550 GPU and 8 gb of 800 ddr2 ram.

And im fairly sure I followed the instructions to a t, but everybody is fallible, I guess. Not sure if I left out info needed for the troubleshooting and I would appreciate ppl pointing out if I did.

Thanks in advance!

[Tessera]

It sounds to me like you tried to install the Mega-Mod on top of an UP version of VTMB. I guarantee the game will stop working if you do that.

Both the True Patch and the Mega-Mod expect you to start with the original, plain-vanilla version of VTMB. Anything having to do with the UP will be totally incompatible.

Plain vanilla VTMB ---> patch it with the True Patch ---> install the Mega-Mod  ---> play the game. That's the ONLY way to make it work.

[Blonde Guardian]

(and it would be great to know how to do that so I can test mods more efficiently). I am srsly considering buying the steam version to get the vanilla dlls, as my gog version cane with the UP, but I would prefer not to, if I can avoid it.

That sucks, but that's probably what you're gonna have to do. I hate that GOG doesn't sell the un-modded version of the game; it's just silly.

[highphy]

Oh well, thank you both for your answers, at least now I know what I have to do.

[highphy]

Took advantage of the Steam sales this holiday season, delete, reinstall, apply patch AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND still no fat larry.

The textures are nice, the variety of meshes is GREAT and I specially like the previously empty spaces being populated, but incompatibility with other mods and no fat larry are a deal breaker for me. Thanks anyway.

[Tessera]

Took advantage of the Steam sales this holiday season, delete, reinstall, apply patch AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND still no fat larry.

The textures are nice, the variety of meshes is GREAT and I specially like the previously empty spaces being, but incompatibility with other mods and no fat larry are a deal breaker for me. Thanks anyway.

Read:   http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php?topic=59301.0

[ODQ1]

I scanned the vampire.exe in virus total and it popped up 2 warnings. Are these false positives?

[Blonde Guardian]

I scanned the vampire.exe in virus total and it popped up 2 warnings. Are these false positives?

I can say from experience that there won't be viruses in anything you download from this website. That would require a very motivated and particular hacker. Some things make antiviruses hock up a lot of false positives for whatever reason. I once made an image file of a genuine car CD manual and it made my antivirus program go nuts.

[Drazgar]

I scanned the vampire.exe in virus total and it popped up 2 warnings. Are these false positives?

As far as this thing goes, many cracks, hacks, and other types of "non-certified" software tend to return false positives in everything (including VirusTotal). The vampire.exe included in TPG is just an ordinary no-cd exe for VTMB, it was there for ages now.

[Tessera]

I scanned the vampire.exe in virus total and it popped up 2 warnings. Are these false positives?

Hello... I'm the one of the authors of the True Patch. 

Blonde Guardian and Drazgar are correct.


There are no viruses in anything that I have created. Never ever. You are indeed getting a false positive.

The false positive is caused by modifications I made to the vampire.exe file. The reason for the modifications was to allow the game to run, without the need for any type of copy protection. Sort of like a built-in "nocd" hack. The original release of VTMB, which is what this patch was made for, required the player to insert the game CD's into the drive from time to time, as a means of copy protection. My modification simply removes that requirement. Unfortunately, it also sets off the alarm (so to speak) of some AV programs.

I should also mention that the True Patch is more than a decade old at this point (18 years, to be exact), therefore it will not run on any version of Windows greater than Windows 7. It won't run at all on Windows 10 or Windows 11, sorry.