CRITICAL INFO: VTMB Is NOT Compatible With Steam..!!!

[Sieg]

Yipes.
Thanks for the heads up. In fact the Steam boards list a fix for the "less than 15MB" solution which links to this site, but it does NOT mention moving it from the Steam folder. So thanks for that.
Now I'l reinstalling it and then moving it.

[Tessera]

Reinstall the game... move it... and then install the True Patch Gold Edition.

Everything will be fine after that.

[krazymalk78]

Steam did it. Not because they're trying to get rid of nude mods, though. It's because as I have repeatedly said, the Steam service tries to automatically update all of your Steam games. Even when you tell Steam NOT to update Bloodlines, it still does it anyway from time to time. And since it doesn't recognize any third-party patches or mods, it simply overwrites them with whatever Steam considers to be the "correct" files. The inevitable result is a completely corrupted and virtually un-playable Bloodlines installation.

Yeah I kinda figured that too.

VTMB is especially vulnerable because, as you've said, the game was made before Steam existed.
Just not compatible at all.

[stevehino56]

Crap.. I didn't see this til wsy later lol

I guess I'll just re-install it again. Thanks for letting me know, I had no idea.

[Tessera]

If the game is currently working, then you don't need to completely re-install it.

Just move the game out and away from Steam, and into its own folder. Then re-install the current version of the True Patch Gold Edition, just to make sure that Steam didn't screw up the patch. After that, create a new desktop shortcut to the "vampire.exe" file (the main executable file that actually launches the game) and you're all set.

[includeh]

Hey there! First thanks for continuing to do (what I hear is) great work on this patch. I followed the instructions and I'm getting a consistent error that I've not seen anyone else here mention, so I thought I'd post this up and see if anyone can provide any insight.

The steps I followed (I own the game through Steam):
1. Deleted Local Files via Steam
2. Entirely deleted the Steam/steamapps/common/Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines folder, since Steam leaves it there after deleting the local content
3. Installed/downloaded game via Steam
4. When the download completed I grabbed the new Steam/steamapps/common/Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines folder and copied it straight to D:\ as VTMB
5. Copied the contents of True_Patch_Gold_FINAL_with_Hotfix8/TRUE_PATCH_MAIN (i.e., vampire.exe, /bin, and /Vampire) into D:\VTMB, overwriting all existing files when prompted
6. Created a shortcut on the desktop to D:\VTMB\vampire.exe with -console -heapsize 960000 -w 1920 -h 1080 -32bit switches set
7. Launched the game from the shortcut

On first launch I received a dialog box saying I needed to run the game as Admin, although the game does still load in the background. I closed it all down and added the "Run as Administrator" option to the shortcut and the game launched fine. The problem is that every time I hit New Game I get the loading screen and then immediately, boom!, a dialog saying that vampire.exe has stopped working.

I can click into Options and Load Game from the menu. The only time I get the error is when it tries to launch the engine. I've included some info below from both the console at startup and the crashlog I get. Thanks again!

P.S. - I have Windows 10 installed and I have tried running the game in compatibility mode for Windows 7 and Windows XP SP3, all with the same results :-(


Info from the console upon load:
   'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
   Python 2.1.2 (#31, Oct  6 2004, 21:53:24) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
   Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Python Software Foundation.
   All Rights Reserved.

   Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
   All Rights Reserved.

   Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
   All Rights Reserved.

   Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam.
   All Rights Reserved.
   Failed to load D:\VTMB\vampire\dlls\vampire.dll
   Unabled to load game dll
   Material "debug/debuglightmap":
      No render states in shader "LightmappedGeneric_DX8"
   Material "debug/debuglightmapzbuffer":
      No render states in shader "LightmappedGeneric_DX8"
   Unable to open data file for: vdata\system\TraitEffects001.txt
   Unable to open Trait Effect List data file for: vdata\system\TraitEffects001.txt
   Unable to open history data file for: vdata\system\Histories001.txt
   Unable to open History List data file for: vdata\system\Histories001.txt
   Unable to load data for: vdata\quotes.txt
   Unable to open data file for: vdata\system\TraitEffects001.txt
   Unable to open Trait Effect List data file for: vdata\system\TraitEffects001.txt
   Unable to open history data file for: vdata\system\Histories001.txt
   Unable to open History List data file for: vdata\system\Histories001.txt
   Error: Material "engine/rendermodelshadow" : proxy "ShadowModel" unable to initialize!
   SSE code is enabled
   SSE2 code is enabled
   3DNow code is disabled
   MMX code is enabled
   Exe version 0.27.0 (protocol 1)
   Build: Dec  2 2004 16:11:45 (466)
   couldn't exec user.cfg


Top of the crashlog file:
   * * * Vampire Crash Data Log, Generated From Exe Built On: Oct  6 2004 * * *

   vampire caused an Access Violation (0xc0000005)
   in module engine.dll at 0023:200f5a77.

   Read from location 00000000 caused an access violation.

   Context:
   EDI:    0x00000008  ESI: 0x04cf9384  EAX:   0x8068ac00
   EBX:    0xffffffff  ECX: 0x00000000  EDX:   0x00000073
   EIP:    0x200f5a77  EBP: 0x20d5e0b8  SegCs: 0x00000023
   EFlags: 0x00010206  ESP: 0x0019e678  SegSs: 0x0000002b

   Bytes at CS:EIP:
   8b 11 a3 48 09 2b 21 a1 3c 09 2b 21 83 c4 14 50

   -----[ SysInfo ]-----
   Error occurred at 1/25/2016 23:41:34.
   8 processor(s), type 586.
   45% memory in use.
   1024 MBytes physical memory.
   1024 MBytes physical memory free.
   2048 MBytes paging file.
   1024 MBytes paging file free.
   0 MBytes user address space.
   2606 MBytes user address space free.

   -----[ StackTrace ]-----
   0x73656E65 : <unknown symbol> in <unknown module>

   -----[ ScopeTrace ]-----
   SCOPE_TRACE data, stack depth = 3
   02. RunListenServer ()
   01. CEngineAPI::Run ()
   00. LauncherMain ()

[Tessera]

P.S. - I have Windows 10 installed and I have tried running the game in compatibility mode for Windows 7 and Windows XP SP3, all with the same results :-(

I've already stated this quite a few times, but let me say it again... in big letters this time:


VTMB WILL NOT RUN ON WINDOWS 10


Neither will lots of other pre-DirectX 11 games. MicroSlop, in their never-ending attempt to force PC gamers to buy X-Box gaming consoles, has seen fit to sabotage backward-compatibility support for older DirectX games in Windows 10.

Therefore, if you wish to play VTMB or ANY OTHER pre-DirectX 11 PC game, then you will have to UNINSTALL Windows 10 and roll your system back to an earlier, more gamer-friendly operating system (such as Windows 7 or Windows XP).

There are no other viable options at this time for Windows 10 users. If you are angry about this, then I suggest writing several hundred nasty letters to Microsoft.

[includeh]

Hmm... I must have missed that message earlier in the post - my bad. Thanks for the answer though.

The be clear, VTMB does run in Windows 10 just fine either from Steam, or launched from a non-steam folder, both with and without the Unofficial Patch - I just applied the VTMBup94 patch and it's running right now. It just doesn't run in Windows 10 using the TrueGold patch it seems. Which is too bad for me as I do hear really great things about your patch. Though I guess it saves me all those nasty emails to Microsoft :-)

Thanks again!

[Cylnar]

The be clear, VTMB does run in Windows 10 just fine either from Steam, or launched from a non-steam folder, both with and without the Unofficial Patch - I just applied the VTMBup94 patch and it's running right now. It just doesn't run in Windows 10 using the TrueGold patch it seems. Which is too bad for me as I do hear really great things about your patch. Though I guess it saves me all those nasty emails to Microsoft :-)

LOL...

Just wait until Steamingpile does its little update thing like it does randomly. It WILL bork your VTMB installation. Actually that's just about the only thing Tessera and Wesp agree on...VTMB is not compatible with Steam. Move it away into its own folder. And you should try playing for several hours before you say it runs fine. Anything can run for five minutes on Win10. If it runs for five hours, then you may claim it works. At least until it doesn't.

[includeh]

Yeah, I've moved it to an isolated, non-steam folder to run it with the unofficial patch just in case Steam gets it in mind to reset the files. I've been playing it just fine today for several hours and I've played the game fully to completion before on Windows 10 (using the same setup). I was just wanting to replay it again, and I read great things about the TrueGold patch so was hoping to apply that for this play through.

[Tessera]

Someone needs to explain to me how a DirectX 8 game runs on an operating system which does not include support for DirectX9 or earlier versions of DirectX.

Technically, that should not be possible. Without the proper DirectX dll files present in the Windows system folders, the game shouldn't even launch at all... let alone run.

In any case, I'm sure there must be some sort of work-around that I don't know anything about (such as a forced install of the DX9 SDK, for example). But I don't pay any attention to Windows 10. Why..? Because absolutely everything that I have read about that "free" OS paints a very dismal picture for hard-core PC gamers like myself. Hence I have not installed Win 10 on any of my computers -- nor am I likely to in the future. And without a working Win 10 installation for me to experiment with, there's really no sensible way for me to produce any Win 10 updates for the True Patch.

In any case, my advice to gamers remains unchanged: if you enjoy PC games... especially older PC games... then you are advised to play those games on a more gamer-friendly version of Windows (Win7 or WinXP).

Windows 10 offers absolutely NOTHING new that would be of any interest to PC gamers. Everything that I have read about Win 10 makes this fact abundantly clear. PC gamers would be wise to wait a year or two before installing Win 10... so as to make sure that they can continue to play their favorite games, without having to jump through a new bunch of hoops and hassles.

Was VTMB running fine for you on Windows 7..? Yes..? Then why did you change it..? It's as simple as that, so far as I am concerned. Newer isn't always better.

As for anyone who plays VTMB using one of Wesp's horrible "patches," well... you aren't playing VTMB. You're playing Wesp's bastardized version of VTMB, complete with numerous (and poorly conceived) content changes and dozens of new bugs created by Wesp. If you're okay with that, then by all means... have fun.  

[kmjzknzd]

Hello! I was hoping to get some help, but first let me say thank you Tessera and everyone here for the work you've done to get VTMB working for people like me, who bought it on Steam and had it promptly crash.

I'm running Windows 7. I followed the instructions from this thread (download, remove from the Steam folder - I put it on my desktop - install the Gold patch by moving the files into the Vampire folder) and the TPGE thread. And I followed the other instructions from the Steam site: Run in admin mode, with Windows XP SP3 compatability mode, "disable visual themes", and "disable desktop composition"

So I can start up the game, and click "New Game", but then it crashes without a message. The crash report looks like this:

Code Select Expand

* * * Vampire Crash Data Log, Generated From Exe Built On: Oct  6 2004 * * *

vampire caused an Access Violation (0xc0000005)
in module engine.dll at 0023:200f5a77.

Read from location 00000000 caused an access violation.

Context:
EDI:    0x00000008  ESI: 0x09d86f4c  EAX:   0x106b9c00
EBX:    0xffffffff  ECX: 0x00000000  EDX:   0x00000073
EIP:    0x200f5a77  EBP: 0x20d5e0b8  SegCs: 0x00000023
EFlags: 0x00210202  ESP: 0x0018e680  SegSs: 0x0000002b

Bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 11 a3 48 09 2b 21 a1 3c 09 2b 21 83 c4 14 50

Is there anything I can do?

[Tessera]

With the True Patch installed, you do not need to run VTMB in any sort of compatibility mode under Windows 7. The people who are telling you to do that over on the Steam boards are simply wrong.

I run VTMB under Windows 7 Ultimate x64 all the time... and I never have to run it as an admin, nor do I have to activate compatibility mode. That was the whole idea behind the latest build of the True Patch Gold Edition... to ensure that VTMB would run perfectly under all versions of Windows... up to and including Windows 7. This will be true for both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.

I have not optimized the TPG for Windows 8 or the new Windows 10, simply because both of those versions of Windows are HORRIBLE for gaming... especially when we're talking about older games like VTMB.

If you are experiencing crashes, then in almost every instance it's because the TPG was not installed properly. Carefully read the installation instructions, and try again. And be sure to run the VTMB ResPatcher utility after installing the TPG and BEFORE you actually start up the game for the first time. Your readout shows an engine.dll error... and it may very well be due to a failure on your part to use the ResPatcher correctly.

[kmjzknzd]

If you are experiencing crashes, then in almost every instance it's because the TPG was not installed properly. Carefully read the installation instructions, and try again. And be sure to run the VTMB ResPatcher utility after installing the TPG and BEFORE you actually start up the game for the first time. Your readout shows an engine.dll error... and it may very well be due to a failure on your part to use the ResPatcher correctly.

Thank you so much for replying!

I am confused about this instruction though. I don't want VTMB to run in widescreen, so I ignored that. However, the truth is that it does OPEN in widescreen before I can change it to regular screen. That means I need to follow the widescreen instructions anyway? Is there no way to force it to open in regular screen instead of wide-screen? And once I follow the widescreen instructions, can I change it back to fullscreen without harm?

Also, the res_patcher instructions appear to be contradictory. In "ReadMe_NOW_Utility.txt", it says to run res_patcher, but in "ReadMe_RES-PATCHER.txt", it says "IMPORTANT... BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, OPEN UP THE FILE NAMED "config.cfg"
LOCATED WITHIN YOUR VTMB\Vampire\cfg sub-folder. "

Also I can't find config.cfg in the Vampire/cfg sub-folder. What can I do?

Thanks again!

Update: I followed the instructions as well as I could (meaning everything in ReadMe_NOW_Utility.txt but the config.cfg instruction), and tried to run the VTMB without admin privileges. The command in "target" was:
"C:\Users\Me\Desktop\Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines\vampire.exe" -w 1440 -h 900 -heapsize 800000

The game started, gave me 2 errors of "you need admin privileges", and crashed at the same spot. So I'm definitely misunderstanding something =(

Any advice would help.

[Tessera]

I'm gonna need the answers to a few questions, before I can give you any advice:

(1) What kind of monitor are you using, exactly..?

(2) You mentioned a forced screen resolution of 1440x900. Are you trying to run VTMB on a laptop computer..? If so, you should be advised that this particular game does not run very well (if at all) on most laptops... even laptops which are supposedly made for gaming. The old alpha Source engine that VTMB uses simply doesn't know how to properly address laptop hardware. The reason is because, back at the time that VTMB was released, there was no such thing as a "gaming laptop." There still isn't any such thing, in my opinion. At any rate, this is not a game for laptop users.

(3) Certain built-in, onboard (motherboard) audio hardware does not work with VTMB. Some do... and some don't. Again... this is an older game and it expects to find a dedicated audio card in the system. Failing to find one, it often crashes. Or else the audio misbehaves. Or both.


Regarding the VTMB ResPatcher utility, you need to run it REGARDLESS of whether or not you are using a widescreen monitor. I suppose I should have been a bit more clear about that, back when I wrote the TPG instructions. If you do not intend to run the game in widescreen mode, then do the following:

(1) Open up VTMB's config.cfg file, find the line that says "r_anamorphic=" and make sure that it says "r_anamorphic=0" (I repeat -- this is ONLY if you DO NOT want to run the game in widescreen mode).

(2) Run the VTMB ResPatcher utility and click on the button that says "Reset to default values" and then click on the button that says "Patch It!"

(3) Play the game. Do not add any switches to the command line in this case... only the people who need to force widescreen modes need to do that. Simply run the game and select your preferred resolution via the game's own Options menu.

[kmjzknzd]

Thanks for replying again! I'm happy to answer.

> (1) What kind of monitor are you using, exactly..?
Dell E198WFP

> (2) You mentioned a forced screen resolution of 1440x900. Are you trying to run VTMB on a laptop computer..?
No, desktop

> (3) Certain built-in, onboard (motherboard) audio hardware does not work with VTMB. Some do... and some don't. Again... this is an older game and it expects to find a dedicated audio card in the system. Failing to find one, it often crashes. Or else the audio misbehaves. Or both.
I'm not quite sure what you're asking here, but I'll try to answer. Here are my audio devices, as listed in the device manager:
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Realtek High Definition Audio
(And if it matters, I use external speakers)

> Regarding the VTMB ResPatcher utility, you need to run it REGARDLESS of whether or not you are using a widescreen monitor. <snip> If you do not intend to run the game in widescreen mode, then do the following: <snip>
I followed your instructions (which is to say, I deleted all VTMB content from my computer, reinstalled from Steam, moved it to my desktop, reinstalled TPG, and then followed the instructions in this post). It opened in regular-screen instead of widescreen, which was great! Unfortunately, I got the same result - it crashed when I tried to start a new game.

The weird thing is how, after I click "New Game", it gets to the loading screen and shows a little bit of the loading bar filled in, then goes black and Windows tells me "vampire.exe has stopped working."

[Tessera]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking here, but I'll try to answer. Here are my audio devices, as listed in the device manager:
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Realtek High Definition Audio
(And if it matters, I use external speakers)

"AMD High Definition Audio Device" refers to your video card's built-in audio device, which is usually used to send an audio signal (via an HDMI cable) to an HDTV (or monitor) that has built-in speakers. If you do not use that type of monitor, then I recommend disabling "AMD High Definition Audio Device" in your Windows Device Manager, as it has been known to cause conflicts with other types of audio hardware.  

"Realtek High Definition Audio" refers to on-board (built into your motherboard) audio hardware. This is precisely what I was referring to in my previous post. VTMB has been known to crash on systems which employ on-board Realtek sound. You're just plugging your desktop speakers into an audio jack that is a part of your motherboard, yes..? This means that you are not using a separate, dedicated sound card.

--------

Having said all of that, I suspect that the problem you are having with VTMB is actually coming from somewhere else. Either you did not install the game properly, or else you did not install and configure the True Patch properly. It's possible that you could be having an audio or other hardware conflict... but in your case, I don't think so.

You've said that you're running Windows 7, so I don't think it's a problem with your OS. At least -- not exactly. The TPG has been thoroughly tested on all versions of Windows XP and Windows 7... both 32-bit and 64-bit.

So something else must be wrong with your setup. And I think I know what it might be...

LAST TRY: I just remembered that a recent Microsoft update to Windows 7 disabled the Windows SafeDisk drivers. Microsoft claimed that they did this for "security reasons," which is a fat load of paranoid horseshit.

It is entirely possible that this is what is causing your problem: no Safedisk driver being loaded by WIndows 7. In fact, it is very likely the culprit in this situation. There are instructions on this board (and all over the web) which will explain how to edit your Windows system registry and re-enable the Safedisk driver in Windows 7. I strongly recommend that you pursue this. The fix is very simple: MS didn't remove the Safedisk driver from Windows 7, they simply released an update which edits the system registry and disables it.

So the fix is actually very simple. You just open up the registry using Regedit, find the entry for the Safedisk/SecureRom driver (I forget exactly where it is located in the registry -- just Google it) and then change the value of that entry in order to re-enable the driver. Then reboot Windows, so that the driver will be loaded properly.

The True Patch removes the need for the Safedisk copy protection system from VTMB -- that is a fact. BUT... the game engine itself still expects to find the Safedisk driver loaded, even though it is not actually going to use it (thanks to the TPG). So if I were you, that is the first thing that I would try: go find the information, and then open up your Windows 7 registry and re-enable the Safedisk driver. This may very well fix your problem with getting VTMB to finish loading.

[Tessera]

FOLLOW UP:

To re-enable the SafeDisc/SecureROM driver in Windows 7, follow these steps (courtesy of Microsoft):



(To re-enable the driver), you can edit the registry directly. To do this, follow these steps:

(1) Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following subkey in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\secdrv

(2) Right-click the item named Start, and then click Modify.

(3) In the Value data box, do one of the following:
Type 4 to disable the driver's service, and then click OK.
Type 3 to set the driver's service to manual, and then click OK.
Type 2 to set the driver's service to automatic, and then click OK. (THIS IS WHAT VTMB REQUIRES)

(4) Exit Registry Editor.



The VTMB version of the Source engine expects the secdrv.sys driver to be loaded... even if the game isn't actually going to make use of it. While it is true that the True Patch Gold Edition has effectively removed any copy protection from VTMB, the game engine STILL EXPECTS THE DRIVER TO BE LOADED PRIOR TO LAUNCHING THE GAME. So for all of you Windows 7 users who can't get VTMB to load... even when it used to load up and run just fine in the past... this is most likely the answer to your problem.

A recent Windows update deliberately disabled the secdrv.sys driver in Windows 7, claiming that the driver was "a security risk." Whether or not you want to believe that is up to you... but the fact remains that older PC games produced between 2003 and 2008 rely upon the secdrv.sys driver in order to launch. So if ANY of your older games are not working properly (if at all) under Windows 7, then I strongly advise everyone to follow the above steps to re-enable the secdrv.sys driver in Windows 7.