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

[Tessera]

This post is intended for all players who own the Steam version of Vampire -- The Masquerade: Bloodlines...


VTMB IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH STEAM. NO WAY -- NO HOW

If you own the Steam version of Bloodlines, then you must MOVE the entire game as far away from your Steam folders as possible. You must do this BEFORE you install any third-party patches or mods... including the True Patch Gold Edition, and any of the "unofficial patches" produced by Werner "Wesp5" Spahl.

You must do this BEFORE you start the game up and attempt to play it for the first time.


This is not an optional procedure, people. I will NOT support the tech problems of ANYONE who fails to perform this very simple task...


(1) Locate your VTMB installation within your Steam folders.

(2) MOVE that entire VTMB folder (and everything that it contains, including all sub-folders) to a new location on your hard drive. I suggest placing it in its own unique directory called "VTMB" or something similar.

(3) Install the True Patch Gold Edition -after- you have moved the entire game away from Steam.

(4) Install any TPG-compatible mods that you might wish to use.

(5) Create a new desktop shortcut to the vampire.exe file within your main VTMB folder. Simply locate the vampire.exe file, highlight and copy it (press Ctrl-C) and then, right-click anywhere on an empty area of your Windows desktop and select "Paste shortcut" from the pop-up menu (or whatever the equivalent command is for Windows 7).

(6) Add any necessary command line switches to the "Target" box of your new VTMB shortcut. Instructions on which switches to use, and how to set them up, may be found all over this board in the various TPG and Mega-Mod related topics. Or just ask, if you are having trouble locating those instructions and we'll point you in the right direction.


Every single VTMB player who owns the Steam version of Bloodlines MUST perform the above tasks BEFORE patching/modding this game. This is one area where both Wesp and myself are in complete agreement. You can not play VTMB from the Steam launcher without encountering all sorts of problems... not the least of which will be corruption of the game's critical files, and serious and severe incompatibility with third-party patches and mods.

[Wormphlegm]

Is this due to steam itself, or the auto-updater?
Some people have suggested turning the auto-updater off before patching.

[Tessera]

Both. Steam interferes with the game in other ways... such as the marketing tool employed by Steam, which polls your games from time to time and collects data about your gaming habits. Ever see a message pop up from Steam, when playing a game that -is- fully Steam compatible..? That's one indication of what I'm talking about. Now, it is not possible for Steam to properly poll Bloodlines, nor is it possible for Steam to send any pop-up messages to the game. But it still TRIES to... because it recognizes Bloodlines as being a generic Source engine game... and this behavior by Steam has been observed to cause occasional crashes when Bloodlines is running under Steam.

The bottom line is this: although it is a Source engine game, the build of the Bloodlines engine pre-dates Steam by at least a year (the alpha Source engine used in Bloodlines was compiled somewhere around 2001-2002). Bloodlines is therefore 100% incompatible with Steam and as such, it should be completely removed from Steam and placed into a new, uniquely named folder on your hard drive.

Furthermore, and even after you have moved the game and created a new desktop shortcut for it, I do not suggest that you allow the Steam service to be running on your computer at all when playing VTMB. So always shut down Steam before playing Bloodlines. You can always start it up again after you have finished with your Bloodlines session.

[yadtu]

You say this must be done before playing it on steam, if I have already been playing it through steam, will I need to delete it all, reinstall it, and then follow these steps before using mods? If so will saved games be corrupted as well?

[Tessera]

The answers to your questions are already contained within my original post.

Bloodlines is not compatible with the Steam service. This is doubly true if you install any third-party patches and/or mods into the game. In order to ensure that your Bloodlines installation functions properly, you must follow the instructions stated within my OP to the letter. Failure to do so will not only screw up your game, but it will also screw you out of receiving any technical support for the True Patch, should the need ever arise. I can not offer support for an unauthorized (by me) version of the game.

As for your game saves, that is immaterial... since you will always need to start over again with a fresh character after installing the True Patch. This is true for every single third-party patch on the web, because all of the patches available for VTMB contain repaired versions of various game maps. And whenever the game maps are updated, the data contained within any prior game save files is effectively obsolete and it WILL malfunction, if you try to keep playing the game with that character. Not if... not maybe... it WILL malfunction FOR CERTAIN. So the rule of thumb is a simple one: whenever the game maps for Bloodlines have been updated or altered in any ways whatsoever, then any prior game save files must be scrapped.

[Robutt]

I'm unclear on what step 6 is talking about?

[Tessera]

It refers to command line switches, which are added to the command line in the "Target" box for your VTMB desktop shortcut.

For example, here is what my command line looks like:

F:\VTM-Bloodlines\vampire.exe -console  -heapsize 960000 -w 1920 -h 1080 -32bit

Note that the above command line is being shown for reference purposes only. DO NOT simply copy/paste my command line into your own shortcut, because it is specific to MY computer.

But here is an explanation of what the above switches do...



-console (enables the in-game debug console, if so desired) (optional)

-heapsize (forces the Source engine to increase its global memory pool to whatever number you specify x 1000. In my example, 960000 means "960 megabytes")

-w (sets the screen width in pixels to whatever number you specify) (mandatory if you used the VTMB ResPatcher utility)
-h (likewise sets the screen height in pixels to whatever number you specify) (mandatory if you used the VTMB ResPatcher utility)

-32bit (not confirmed to actually be working on the VTMB version of the Source engine, but it supposedly tells the Source engine to limit its core usage on multi-core CPU's)



For most True Patch users, the most important switches will be the -heapsize and the -w and -h switches.

The -heapsize switch in particular is very important, for anyone using a third-party mod which significantly increases the memory overhead needed to run the game (my own VTMB Mega-Mod, which is no longer being offered, is a notorious example of a third-party mod which requires TONS of memory). If you find that your game is crashing when using such mods, then keep bumping up the number after the -heapsize switch, until those crashes no longer occur. For modern computers which possess more than 4 GB's of total system RAM, I suggest starting out with a -heapsize parameter of 800000 (800 megabytes).

[Moth]

I've done all the following, but it still refuses to start up for me. If I put the steam.dll file in, it tells me "problem starting up steam," and if I don't, it tells me "problem finding steam." Either way it automatically opens up a web page to steampowered.net, and refuses to run.

-VTMB is in its own folder, not in the steam files
-Steam is off
-I used a freshly downloaded copy that hasn't been started yet

Any other problems you foresee?

[Tessera]

I don't recall anywhere in my instructions where I said to do anything with the steam.dll file. Please follow my instructions exactly as I wrote them.


So let's try this again...

(1) After installing the game from Steam, locate the VTMB folder within your Steam folders. Just look for a folder named "Vampire blah blah blah..." and it will be there.

(2) Highlight that folder and press Ctrl-C on your keyboard to copy it.

(3) Create a new folder on your hard drive. Name it "VTMB" or whatever... just make sure it has a DIFFERENT name from whatever the Steam version was named.

(4) Highlight the new folder that you just created, and then press Ctrl-V to paste the entire game into your newly created folder. Be patient and wait a few moments... it's a big game.

(5) After the entire game has been copied into its new location, DELETE the original Steam installation of VTMB. Just highlight it and zap it out of existence.

(6) Install the True Patch Gold Edition into your newly moved VTMB installation. Be sure to follow all of the included instructions carefully, including using the ResPatcher utility if you need it.

(7) Now locate the game file named "vampire.exe" and copy it.

(8} Then right-click anywhere on your Windows desktop and select "Paste shortcut" from the pop-up menu. Windows 7 words it a little differently, but it's the same operation. We want to create a SHORTCUT to the vampire.exe file ONLY. Do not simply copy the actual file to your desktop. That would be a bad mistake. Just create a SHORTCUT to that file, okay..?

(9) From now on, launch the game from your newly created desktop shortcut. Voila... no more problems and NO MORE STEAM.


After doing all of the above, and verifying that the game is indeed working properly, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND MAKING A FULL BACKUP COPY OF BLOODLINES. That way, you will have a full, patched and pristine backup copy of the game, which you can burn to a couple of DVD's or whatever. Any Steam user who skips this backup procedure is asking for major headaches, if they ever need to re-install the game for some reason. Once you have a patched backup copy, you can just copy/paste it back to your hard drive, if you ever need to do a re-install. Easy peasy... so make sure to BACK UP YOUR PATCHED GAME, PEOPLE..!!!

[Moth]

I don't recall anywhere in my instructions where I said to do anything with the steam.dll file. Please follow my instructions exactly as I wrote them.


So let's try this again...

(1) After installing the game from Steam, locate the VTMB folder within your Steam folders. Just look for a folder named "Vampire blah blah blah..." and it will be there.

(2) Highlight that folder and press Ctrl-C on your keyboard to copy it.

(3) Create a new folder on your hard drive. Name it "VTMB" or whatever... just make sure it has a DIFFERENT name from whatever the Steam version was named.

(4) Highlight the new folder that you just created, and then press Ctrl-V to paste the entire game into your newly created folder. Be patient and wait a few moments... it's a big game.

(5) After the entire game has been copied into its new location, DELETE the original Steam installation of VTMB. Just highlight it and zap it out of existence.

(6) Install the True Patch Gold Edition into your newly moved VTMB installation. Be sure to follow all of the included instructions carefully, including using the ResPatcher utility if you need it.

(7) Now locate the game file named "vampire.exe" and copy it.

(8} Then right-click anywhere on your Windows desktop and select "Paste shortcut" from the pop-up menu. Windows 7 words it a little differently, but it's the same operation. We want to create a SHORTCUT to the vampire.exe file ONLY. Do not simply copy the actual file to your desktop. That would be a bad mistake. Just create a SHORTCUT to that file, okay..?

(9) From now on, launch the game from your newly created desktop shortcut. Voila... no more problems and NO MORE STEAM.


After doing all of the above, and verifying that the game is indeed working properly, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND MAKING A FULL BACKUP COPY OF BLOODLINES. That way, you will have a full, patched and pristine backup copy of the game, which you can burn to a couple of DVD's or whatever. Any Steam user who skips this backup procedure is asking for major headaches, if they ever need to re-install the game for some reason. Once you have a patched backup copy, you can just copy/paste it back to your hard drive, if you ever need to do a re-install. Easy peasy... so make sure to BACK UP YOUR PATCHED GAME, PEOPLE..!!!

Did all of it, carefully and exactly. The steam.dll issue is one fix I'd seen from the steam forums before I came here. I tried it both without and with the .dll file and got the same blockage that I did when I was running it in steam.

[Tessera]

The steam.dll issue is one fix I'd seen from the steam forums before I came here.

Unless the people on the Steam forums know more about my patch than I do,
I would suggest ignoring them and following my instructions to the letter.

[Moth]

The steam.dll issue is one fix I'd seen from the steam forums before I came here.

Unless the people on the Steam forums know more about my patch than I do,
I would suggest ignoring them and following my instructions to the letter.

I did yours first, encountered the same error I had when it was being run in steam, and then added the last step to see if it made a difference, and sure enough it has identical results.

[Tessera]

The there is something wrong with your computer that I do not know about. In which case, I am unable to be of any help in this matter, sorry. The instructions that I gave are working fine for literally thousands of other players. So if it is not working for you, then obviously there is some other factor at work here (user error, a corrupted installation, a corrupted system registry, a virus, a crappy pirated copy of Windows, etc., etc.)

It could be just about anything... and since I am not sitting there at your desk, with your computer in front of me, I am unable to diagnose your problem based upon the information that you have provided.

[Moth]

I'll keep looking around. I've seen a few people with the same issue, but I've got no clue what causes it.

[Robutt]

Moth, you're not still using the same the desktop shortcut that Steam created after initially downloading it right? Because that's simply a shortcut TO Steam that tells it to run Bloodlines, rather than a shortcut directly to the Bloodlines .exe file itself. That's why Tess stresses you need to create a whole new desktop short cut from the Vampire.exe file. I downloaded the game off Steam too, and I haven't gotten this problem. It might also help to make sure Steam is turned off before you try starting the game.

[janthin]

Thanks for posting all this. I gave up on the Steam version way back, and just bought a normal installable version and that's what I use. But I see from this info that I might have been able to detach the Steam version from Steam. Oh well, doesn't matter now I guess. Still I appreciate the info!

[Tessera]

Moth, you're not still using the same the desktop shortcut that Steam created after initially downloading it, right?

This is very likely the source of his problem.

As stated in my original instructions, it is imperative that Steam users create a NEW desktop shortcut to the vampire.exe executable file, AFTER they have moved the entire game away from Steam and into its own, unique game folder on their hard drive.

If you just keep trying to use the original desktop shortcut that was created by Steam itself, then you'll keep getting weird error messages that say something like "Steam blah blah blah dll not found" or some words to that effect.

Once the entire game has been moved, the original desktop shortcut will no longer work. And this is why it is REQUIRED that all Steam users create an entirely new desktop shortcut, after they have successfully moved the entire Bloodlines installation out and away from Steam. Just delete the original desktop shortcut that was created by Steam, as it is no longer relevant after the game has been moved and patched.

So once again...


(1) Move your entire Bloodlines installation to a new, unique folder on your hard drive. When I say "unique," I mean to give the new folder a new name... and it must be DIFFERENT from the name of the original Steam folder. So if Steam installed Bloodlines into a folder named "Vampire -- The Masquerade: Bloodlines," for example, then just name your new folder "VTMB" or "Vampire -- Bloodlines" or any other name of your choosing... just so long as the name is different from the original name. The reason we want the name to be different has to do with the system registry, by the way. It is one more way to prevent Steam from interfering with our newly moved and patched VTMB installation. Steam will be looking for Bloodlines to be located within a folder with a specific name. So by giving our new folder a different name, Steam will effectively be unable to find Bloodlines and so, it will cause no problems for us.

(2) After moving the game into a new and unique folder, install the True Patch Gold Edition BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE and according to the TPG's instructions.

(3) After you have done all of the above, create a new desktop shortcut to VTMB's executable file... the file that actually launches the game. That file is named vampire.exe and it will be found within the root folder of VTMB. It is easy to find. So just highlight that file, copy it, and then right-click on any open area of your Windows desktop and select "Paste shortcut" from the available options in the pop-up menu that will appear.

(4) After creating your new desktop shortcut, you may need to edit its properties, depending upon whether or not you used the VTMB ResPatcher utility (included within the TPG package) to enable true 16:10 or 16:9 widescreen resolutions for Bloodlines. Further instructions on how to do all of that are already included within the TPG package (just look within the sub-folder named "Extras\Utility\VTMB Res-Patcher Utility").


And after you have done all of the above, you're finished. The entire process should take less than 10 minutes. Launch the game from your new desktop shortcut and enjoy. No more bugs... no more Steam... no more copy protection... no more bullshit... no more problems. Just a nice, bug-free gaming experience.  

[Aiken_Drum]

I'm not sure if this is the world's best idea, but here's what I've been doing to keep things convenient while not allowing Steam to interfere.

In Steam, just because I like to have a common launch point for ALL games, I added a 3rd-party-game shortcut to the my patched VTMB.  It points to a batch file that lives next to the executable, rather than the executable itself.  This is what's in the batch file:

Code Select Expand

REM Kill the Steam client.  Note this doesn't kill us, since Steam started us asynchronously.
TASKKILL /F /IM steam.exe

REM Stop the Steam service now that the client won't be trying to use it.
SC STOP "Steam Client Service"

REM Run the actual game and wait for it to exit.
.\Vampire.exe <custom arguments here>

REM Bring back Steam for (near-)seamlessness.  It can restart the service if needed.
start Steam

exit

The only downside is the dos box sitting around waiting for the app to exit so it can restart Steam.  Eh, I don't mind.