Bloodlines fan patch - alpha testing

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:47 pm

I spotted this at RPG Codex and thought I'd bring it up here since I hadn't heard about it before.

It's a labor of love by a Bloodline's fan, dan_upright, and you can find it at Planet Vampire. (man I hate that naming convention.)

According to the author, this is a semi-tested work-in-progress and should be considered an alpha stage project. The readme (which is essential) has an asterisk next to items which haven't been tested yet and the author would appreciate feedback on them.

I don't have Bloodlines yet so I can't give it any sort of personal endorsement. Submitted for you consideration, as they say. I would think that if you haven't finished the game once it might be best to hold off on this.

If you have finished the game once, you might want to lend a hand, if you enjoy testing stuff.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:25 pm

I think that's fantastic for Dan to do. But why hasn't an official patch been released? Why hasn't Troika done a patch (or Activision given them permission)?
I bought this a few weeks ago on sale at Best Buy, and it's still sitting unopened on my game shelf. I was waiting for an official patch, but at this rate I'll simply sell it on Ebay. Which is a real shame, because from everything I hear, I'd like the game quite a bit.

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:06 pm

Why would you sell it without even trying it? It does have some rough edges but it's the best RPG in absolutely ages, even as it stands, IMO.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:18 pm

Seriously. Other than a few CTDs, I'm not having any showstopping issues.

Which is more than I can say for Morrowind back in the day. Hardware conflics caused it to crash right after you'd exit the boat at the start of the game!

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:29 pm

Selling without playing the precious would be a mistake. It's true there are some bugs. But listen to your 8 legged brethren: The good far outweighs the bad, and the bad might get fixed, maybe even soon.

noun · Post by **noun** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:33 pm

But why hasn't an official patch been released? Why hasn't Troika done a patch (or Activision given them permission)?

As with ToEE, they're probably waiting for a stable fan patch to be released so they can build from that.

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:36 pm

My understanding is that Troika is working on a patch but I haven't heard anything about specifics or dates. That news (also curtesy of Codex) is gleaned from a couple of German sites so really, pretty tentative.

I would guess that dan_upright is doing this because he enjoys it.

I agree that not playing the game at all is silly but I too am willing to wait before I buy. As much as I loved Arcanum and enjoyed ToEE, Troika is now solidly on my "wait for the patch" list. I just don't enjoy buggy games, even when they're not showstopping bugs.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:29 am

I wasn't even planning on buying it at first, but when I saw it on sale at Bestbuy for $39.99, my willpower failed. I'll probably wait at least a few more weeks before I do sell it. But yeah, I would feel guilty selling a great RPG without playing it, even if it has bugs.
As I recall, even the super duper fantastic game, Planescape: Torment, had a few bugs and I'm glad I played that!

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:13 am

Tony wrote:But why hasn't an official patch been released? Why hasn't Troika done a patch (or Activision given them permission)?

You're right, they're just sitting on the patch, waiting for you to get rid of the game. Don't you think maybe it hasn't be released because they are still working on it? Nah, that would be too simple.

I bought this a few weeks ago on sale at Best Buy, and it's still sitting unopened on my game shelf. I was waiting for an official patch, but at this rate I'll simply sell it on Ebay. Which is a real shame, because from everything I hear, I'd like the game quite a bit.

Your loss. But what's the rush? Is the CD going to melt if you don't play it in the next couple of weeks?

Grifman

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:33 am

I've long suspected they didn't want me to play the game.

The reason I'm venting is because these were some obvious bugs that IMO should have been dealt with before the game was released. And considering the game has been out a while I would think at least some of the minor patches should have been done quickly.
No, I'm not a programmer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once, and that makes me qualified to say that.

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:24 pm

My guess is that Troika is waiting on Valve for source engine fixes and on activision for a check.

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:54 pm

All the reviews I've read talk about how great the story is and how the game could be a classic if the bugs were worked out. That puts it squarely in the "wait until it's patched" category.

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:36 pm

People obviously see things differently but a patch is unlikely to substantially change the experience for me. I get a little clipping and the in-engine cutscenes were pretty badly produced but neither of those changes the gameplay, so I really don't care. I've had one or two quests that completed fine but the reward (or recognition from the quest giver) seemed off ( although the log responded fine), so perhaps there's a couple of experience points or a line of dialogue that might change...no big deal, and possibly a little better than the quest errors in the average RPG. I'm sure the frame-rate could be better but it's smooth enough on my system...certainly no worse than Morrowind was at the time.

There are a number of things I'd like to see changed, like the combat balance in the latter sections of the game but I'd be surprised if that sort of thing is addressed in a patch.

Terrified · Post by **Terrified** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:45 pm

The Mad Hatter wrote:All the reviews I've read talk about how great the story is and how the game could be a classic if the bugs were worked out. That puts it squarely in the "wait until it's patched" category.

I have the game. I have played through the game successfully once. (Ending rocked, btw.) And I still suggest to my wife that she wait for the patch before playing. Because I know things that annoyed me will frustrate her. And that's what I suggest for everyone who hasn't bought it yet. Wait for the patch.

Marik · Post by **Marik** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:51 pm

I dont know why Troika is so bizarre about patching their games, but they pulled the same trick on TOEE. While every other game company can release patches days after release, Troika always blames delays on their big bad publisher and will neither release quick-fix packs nor even hint about when/if they intend to patch their games. You'd think they would have figured out how annoying this is by now...

Both TOEE and Vampire were hacked by customers to create patches for scripting errors long before Troika could be bothered to do anything. Honestly, if a customer can do it in a week, why the heck couldn't a single programer look at obvious errors and make a small patch? Deciphering some other guy's code is difficult enough, but to actually go on to *fix* it is crazy. Troika needs to get its act together. At the very least they could reimburse the people who do the technical support they themselves are incapable of providing. TOEE never did get fixed. Vampire isn't in quite as bad shape, but when scripting errors can prevent you from finishing the game, you've got to wonder what they were thinking.

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:00 pm

If I understand correctly, Troika's contract with Atari was such that they were forbidden to release anything for ToEE & DD products unless Atari approved it. If they made changes to the D&D liscensed game that Atari didn't see first, then they had willfully broken their contract and were in deep doo-doo (a legal term.) OTOH, unofficial random people are of course free to release whatever they want.

I don't know what the situation is here. I'm sympathetic to Troika's position as the small fish in the pond. At the same time, I wouldn't gamble my money on a first day purchase. But I think the situation is more complicated than just that they can't or won't make a patch.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:43 pm

Meghan wrote:But I think the situation is more complicated than just that they can't or won't make a patch.

I never got the impression from Troika that they were a fire and forget type company.

Granted, they do take their sweet time with patches, but like you pointed out it might be a relationship with the publisher that's slowing this one up.

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 12:28 am

Marik wrote:...Troika always blames delays on their big bad publisher ...

Noone knows anything about the contract but -- and just for the sake of discussion (

) -- why isn't it Activision's responsibility?

This isn't a case where Troika developed a property and shopped it around for publisher. This is a case where Activision specifically approached Troika and contracted them to work on a property they licensed, with an engine they licensed.

Activision accepted the product as "completed" (insert your own interpretation) because they provided the major QA services and obviously they accepted a gold candidate and sent it off to the shops, so there can be no question that Activision was the ultimate arbiter that the game was "ready".

OK, complete conjecture here...since Troika didn't bring the game concept (or property or engine) to the table originally it seems likely that Activision would keep the biggest slice of the profits. So, they picked the project, decided when it was ready to ship and (probably) made the most money -- why isn't their responsibility?

Ripstar · Post by **Ripstar** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:45 am

From reading the forums I expected a lot of bugs with this game, but the lure of something different in an rpg caused me to pick it up, regardless.

Compared to the rest of you high teck trekkers, I have a rather modest machine and yet the game runs very well and I have only experienced a few minor clipping issues, no other bugs to report on.

Two Sheds · Post by **Two Sheds** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:48 am

Same here, Ripstar. Actually I had been planning on buying the game, was put off by all the bug talk, and then thought "what the hell" and bought it anyway. I'm glad I did. From forum talk (some here, mostly elsewhere) I was expecting a glitchy mess with unfinishable, gamestopping quest bugs. What I got was a fantastic RPG with a few minor, easly-overlooked bugs that haven't lessened my enjoyment one bit.

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:56 am

Troika doesn't have substantial amounts of funding, and hasn't had a hit to fill their coffers. So they're payed X amount for Y months of development by their publisher. Then they're done, unless the publisher agrees to pay them more. Otherwise they go broke and all the little deathclaws go hungry.

I'm surprised by how few bugs I've run into, honestly. There are clearly a lot there, but they haven't impacted me. I got stuck in a door once, which is stupid. And the game's performance definitely degrades after a couple of hours of play. Otherwise, no crashes, less stuttering that HL2. I had one quest not work, and thought I saw a typo once. Turns out I'm just not familiar with graple juice.

It looks like all the game's scripting is in python, so it's not too surprising that fans could fix bugs. Hell, I could probably fix some of the bugs once I knew what they were. Finding them is the tough part.

I find the lack of quality and diversity of placed objects more distracting than bugs. I'm sick of seeing that dentist's chair, and I'm not sure that I've ever seen less convincing clothes in a closet.

Head · Post by **Head** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 12:13 pm

I'm surprised by how few bugs I've run into, honestly. There are clearly a lot there, but they haven't impacted me. I got stuck in a door once, which is stupid. And the game's performance definitely degrades after a couple of hours of play. Otherwise, no crashes, less stuttering that HL2. I had one quest not work, and thought I saw a typo once. Turns out I'm just not familiar with graple juice.

Just started playing last night -- I have a P4 2.8 with 1Gig of memory, the game stutters for me every now and then. The voices also stutter now and then. The game does seem to degrade after playing a couple of hours (does that mean a memory leak?). Maybe I'm underpowered in the video and sound department. I have a ATI 9600 PRO 128 and a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card. What has really buged me is the crappy sound of your character's foot falls don't match when walking or running. Seems like such an easy thing to get right.

Post by **godhugh** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 12:27 pm

Try turning off High Quality Audio. It doesn't seem to change the sounds much and I got a huge boost in performance. I was able to bump the resolution up to 1280x1024 and got higher frame rates then I did at 1024x768 with HQA on.

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:07 pm

I ended up having to turn off "environmental" audio because all of the voices sounded like they were coming from the extreme right or left. Odd, because I only have 2.1 sound.

Head · Post by **Head** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:29 pm

You think all those play testers listed in my manual played the game all the way through without bugs and performance issues?

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:57 pm

Head wrote:You think all those play testers listed in my manual played the game all the way through without bugs and performance issues?

Oh, you mean Jack Meoff or Amanda Huginkiss or Mike Hunt?

Head · Post by **Head** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:31 pm

$iljanus wrote:
Head wrote:You think all those play testers listed in my manual played the game all the way through without bugs and performance issues?
Oh, you mean Jack Meoff or Amanda Huginkiss or Mike Hunt?

Yeah, all of them...

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:53 pm

Head wrote:
$iljanus wrote:
Head wrote:You think all those play testers listed in my manual played the game all the way through without bugs and performance issues?
Oh, you mean Jack Meoff or Amanda Huginkiss or Mike Hunt?
Yeah, all of them...

Here's some "real" names listed in the CS/QA Special Thanks section of the manual (UK version of game):

Tyler Rivers
Nick Favazza
Barb Lemaire
Willie Bolton
Nadine Theuzillot

Aliases I say!

(or they really have a high threshold for bugs. But I'm still enjoying the game so that counts for something)

Beer Goggles · Post by **Beer Goggles** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 12:47 pm

Fan Patch version 1.1

http://www.planetvampire.com/bloodlines/files/patches/