Stuck at the barricaded door in the Ming Must Die quest. :( It looks like a lot of other people got stuck here to. Guess I'll call it a night and see if I can push the silly bar tomorrow.

I've been that guy :)

Stuck at the barricaded door in the Ming Must Die quest. :( It looks like a lot of other people got stuck here to. Guess I'll call it a night and see if I can push the silly bar tomorrow.yeah, i never could figure out that one, either. however, i did figure out that using noclip mode just for that moment won't harm anything. ;)

To open the door you simply need to walk sideways, in order to literally push the wooden plank that's blocking them. The plank has a small handle, so simply walk toward it and keep walking until you have pushed the lever completely off the door. To make it even more clear - the plank slides to the right, so look for the handle on its right end.

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate the sympathy. :p Believe me though, I tried just about every angle of walking using 'w' or 'e' or both. I'll probably resort to the noclip option if I can't get it in the first 5 minutes of gameplay tonight.

Pretty silly that Troika didn't just have it respond to the 'e' button like every other object in the game. If they meant for some other criteria to be met first, have a dull thud sound indicating so... :rolleyes:

I'm heading off for the Society of Leopold. Got me a ton of ammo, a katana, a flamethrower, some Diet Pepsi and some snacks, life is good. I'll take care to search the area for the special katana, stoffe, since that looks like a great weapon, and my melee skill seems to be far better than my ranged skill, at least with the Tooth and Claw brothers, or whatever they're called.

I liked how you got bonus xp for clearing out Zhao's place--wish that had been the case for the Glaze. :D

Do you guys ever read the newspapers? I noticed when I told Wong to be careful not to trust Ming he got a little upset, but the newspapers sitll had the Ash Rivers article. The next time I spoke to him I said something favorable about Ming, and the next thing I know the newspapers had an article about him and his daughter....

I'm heading off for the Society of Leopold. Got me a ton of ammo, a katana, a flamethrower, some Diet Pepsi and some snacks, life is good. I'll take care to search the area for the special katana, stoffe, since that looks like a great weapon, and my melee skill seems to be far better than my ranged skill

The Tal'Mahe'Ra blade is found in the Hallowbrook Hotel though, and not at the Society of Leopold, so you should look for it there instead. I think that's your next stop after you have rescued Dr. Johansen.

As for Soc. Leopold, if you got a sniper rifle you can pick of the majority of the guards from the top of the cliff if you can manage to sneak around to there unseen. I think there's a back entrance down the mountainside across from the main entrance as well. I usually settle the score with the Hunters rather than just sneak in though. :)

If you have decent computer skill you can reprogram the laser trip wire boobytraps inside to make them blow up when the hunters patrol across them instead, though it might be hard to do so while remaining undetected if you don't have Obfuscate.

Be sure to pick up Grunfeld Bach's diary on the ground floor of the monastery before you proceed down into the basement; it casts some light on his past history and obsession with Lacroix. :)

^^^^
oh, that is one heck of a fun level. by the way, its more fun if you try to stealth kill everybody. ;)

^^^ Suicide is a handy thaumaturgical Dominate feat for that I've found.

(Edit: vvv thanks stoffe, I'm zoned out today)

^^^ Suicide is a handy thaumaturgical feat for that I've found.

Or Obfuscate + Dementation:Berserk... always useful for starting civil wars in areas with many armed enemies while you watch the fight from a safe distance. :)

(Suicide is part of the Dominate discipline though... Dementation has an equivalent in "Visions of Death" as well if you play as a Malkavian.)

Since we're discussing favorite abilities, I'd say:
Ventrue: Mass Suicide and Suicide, if there's still someone left
Tremere: Blood Boil, it repaints the area in the color of the enemy's insides :devburn: and I enjoyed using it on Johnny at the Glaze
Gangrel: Summon Wolf (or whatever it's called) and that swarm of insects (again, can't remember the name), yet two more things I enjoyed killing Johnny with.

I just like my katana, thank you. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the flamethrower goes. :D

Trance + 'f' key = blood points and that's a pretty stealthy kill too.

Nosferatu stealth (Obfuscate) kills with bare hand or bush hook, ftw :evil6:

I just like my katana, thank you. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the flamethrower goes. :D

You probably want to bring a gun with good range for when you run into Grunfeld Bach though, since he can be pretty annoying to try to fight in melee sometimes. He rarely lets you stay close for very long before using his cross to blind you and zip away. And he's not possible to feed on (probably tastes too bad) so there's no point trying to get close for that. :)

With the flamethrower make sure you don't fire against the floor too close to you or you will set yourself on fire as well, and that thing really hurts. :)

The only fight I use the flamethrower for is Andrei. He lasts for about 5 seconds (apparently the flames stun him and he can't bounce off into one of his holes).

@Jae - if you read the spoiler, not that fight. The other one that you haven't gotten to yet...but will very soon. :D

Spoilers are irresistible. :D

The hunters definitely don't last long against a flame thrower, but you don't get too many charges with that weapon.

Yeah, I used a rifle on Bach for about 3/4 of the fight, then got annoyed at how long it was taking and how much blood I was having to use for auspex since my ranged skill is only 6. I finally ran up the stairs, caught him on the landing, and used the katana on him. He blinded me, but I could still hit him since I had him sort of caught in a corner. That's a very handy technique against the Kuei-jin, too, btw. If they can't get out of a corner, they're screwed.

Oh, and if you feed on 3 or 4 rats, it gives you 1 point in your little blood-bladder that you get from Pisha. Never hurts to have at least a couple points there.

OK, I officially hate werewolves.

OK, I officially hate werewolves.

Did you kill it or just avoid it? You can kill it by crushing it with the telescope dome doors. There is a control panel on the platform where you can close the door just as the werewolf passes through it. You'll need to turn on the power outside with the breaker on the small shed first though.

Requires some maneuvering to make the werewolf follow you in through the dome doors though.

OK, I officially hate werewolves. Yeah, that's probably my least favorite part of the game. Either that or hearing Jezebel use the word "morsel" 27 million times during her little monologue.

Did you kill it or just avoid it?
I died horribly and quickly. And since my frustration level was a tad high because I had absolutely no idea what to do and didn't feel like running around like a maniac for 3 or 5 minutes or whatever the countdown is, I decided to save that battle for the next day. :) Of course, then I was an idiot and visited the Senate because I didn't have enough masochism in my diet today, apparently. What can I say, other than I'll return to the game and hopefully beat the darn thing sometime this century.

I must say the devs were very accommodating putting all those blood-dolls in Hollowbrook hotel. The flamethrower is sweet, though I did notice the devs also left you some handy torches to use on Andrei if you so chose.

You can kill it by crushing it with the telescope dome doors. There is a control panel on the platform where you can close the door just as the werewolf passes through it. You'll need to turn on the power outside with the breaker on the small shed first though.This is one of the very few times where I've been really tempted to use god-mode just to learn the mechanics of getting through that battle without dying 30 million times, and then go back and replay it the 'official' way.

Requires some maneuvering to make the werewolf follow you in through the dome doors though.
Wolf-whistles don't work, eh? :D

Did you kill it or just avoid it? You can kill it by crushing it with the telescope dome doors. There is a control panel on the platform where you can close the door just as the werewolf passes through it. You'll need to turn on the power outside with the breaker on the small shed first though.
You're kidding me? I finished the game with every clan and didn't know that???? I can't believe it!!! :headbump

Well, I tried to catch the werewolf in the door and failed. When all else fails, there's God mode....
I've sided with Strauss because I'm a little ticked off that LaCroix called a blood hunt on me....of course now this means I have to fight the Sheriff on top of Ming. I'm working my way through the Chinatown temple right now.

Oh, the lever thing--on the right side is that little rod for you to push to move the bar off the door. Face the rod instead of the door (your left shoulder will be against the door). Push E, and then push W at the same time. It could be that you only have to push E and then W instead of both, but this is what worked for me. You should be walking forward now, pushing the bar. Once it's out of the way enough, the door will be unlocked. I might actually make it through the rest of the game today. :)
And here's a thread on gamebanshee about the problem (http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/vampire-tm-bloodlines-47/think-i-found-the-answer-ming-door-problem-57833-p2.html).

Here's a good walkthrough (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/711/711280p1.html) by vampyri_lestat, and gamebanshee has a decent one, too. lestat's guide has some powerbuilding tips. I didn't know you could sell a book and then buy it twice to boost your stats instead of using it just once. I'll have to remember that for next game. :D

There's really no solution to the door thing except saving and reloading. I was just about to try the noclip when the door decided to work. Heck, maybe just enabling the console was enough to scare the door unstuck. I took the same path that you're taking because hey I'm a Tremere and Max is my main man. He doesn't seem to treat me any more special though aside from letting me shack up in the Chantry. Which, by the way, is elegant... but because it's in an Elysium area, you can't feed on Heather. :(

I found the 3Dgamer site a little frustrating to use for d/ling the 3.5 patch (Hey, we can let you d/l the patch for free! Oh, wait--1 server's too busy and the other lost the file! But, we'll let you d/l it for 10 bucks for a year membership!!--No, thanks).
worthdownloading VtM page (http://www.worthdownloading.com/game.php?page=0&gid=196) has the 3.5 patch, along with 1.2 official patch and unofficial patches 2.8 thru 3.4 in case you don't want everything in 3.5. The 3.5 patch is 185.4 MB.

There's really no solution to the door thing except saving and reloading. I was just about to try the noclip when the door decided to work. Heck, maybe just enabling the console was enough to scare the door unstuck. I took the same path that you're taking because hey I'm a Tremere and Max is my main man. He doesn't seem to treat me any more special though aside from letting me shack up in the Chantry. Which, by the way, is elegant... but because it's in an Elysium area, you can't feed on Heather. :(
You didn't get Skyline Apartments #4 from LaCroix?

@jmac--we're talking about the bar that is in the waterwheel room in Ming's temple.

You didn't get Skyline Apartments #4 from LaCroix?
You don`t get that if you`re playing a Tremere or Nosferatu (or was it Gangrel?) or if you piss-off Lacroix (which I did all the time :p ).

@jmac--we're talking about the bar that is in the waterwheel room in Ming's temple.
DId you not read the spoiler in tk's post?

@D333-
:/

I didn't know you could sell a book and then buy it twice to boost your stats instead of using it just once. I'll have to remember that for next game. :DYou have to be careful because you could inadvertently screw yourself out of some free ability/skill points. Most of the books will do a check before giving you the point, so if you sell/buy an extra point, your skill might be too high to get another freebie later on. Hope that helps.

DId you not read the spoiler in tk's post?
/
I thought you were replying to the non-spoiler part. :D

OK, idiot patch question--you just extract the files into the
program files\activision\Vampire-Bloodlines\Vampire file, right? The instructions in the readme are not as clear to my relatively n00bish self, or I'm making it harder than it needs to be. I was hoping not to have to manually put 7k files into their specific subfolders.

I found the 3Dgamer site a little frustrating to use for d/ling the 3.5 patch (Hey, we can let you d/l the patch for free! Oh, wait--1 server's too busy and the other lost the file! But, we'll let you d/l it for 10 bucks for a year membership!!--No, thanks).
worthdownloading VtM page (http://www.worthdownloading.com/game.php?page=0&gid=196) has the 3.5 patch, along with 1.2 official patch and unofficial patches 2.8 thru 3.4 in case you don't want everything in 3.5. The 3.5 patch is 185.4 MB.
I dl that patch from filefront (http://browse.files.filefront.com/Unofficial_Patches/;1323939;/browsefiles.html) and it was a somehow faster than worthdownloading. Thanks to stoffe we have a changelog so we can choise what patch we want.
Win XP can open zip files and you will see a directory called "vampire". Take that and drop into program files\activision\Vampire-Bloodlines\ directory (folder). To check if the patch is installed right start a new game (any vamp clan) and first thing when you have control call for console, use "giftxp 500", spend all points then talk to jack. That should trigger a new lines in dialog. And a disable console side effect. :) (do this at your own risk!)
Also, is anyone who's finish the game using patch v3.5? I don't like the idea to get stuck somewhere in game (I already got 2 times "AI-disable" error message). Also I really like to use that patch. getting replica katana in Santa Monica is a good thing for me

I'm d/l'd the 3.5 patch and I seemed to have put it in the right spot since I got histories enabled when I started up a new game. I got an AI-disable message in Gimble's office, but it didn't do anything to game play, so I don't know how significant it is.

I'm d/l'd the 3.5 patch and I seemed to have put it in the right spot since I got histories enabled when I started up a new game. I got an AI-disable message in Gimble's office, but it didn't do anything to game play, so I don't know how significant it is.
That was first message and the only effect I know is that the dialog doesn't start automaticaly. I forgot where was the second.
I suppose you already finish first play so what clan did you pick now?
sample of malkavian dialog (http://oldflash.125mb.com/vtmb/sm_asylum_10006.html)

That was first message and the only effect I know is that the dialog doesn't start automaticaly. I forgot where was the second.
I suppose you already finish first play so what clan did you pick now?
sample of malkavian dialog (http://oldflash.125mb.com/vtmb/sm_asylum_10006.html)
Heh, the Malkavians are definitely my favorite just because of the dialog lines they get.

Just beat the game for the first time last night and boy, was it fun. :D

I sided with the anarchs and at the end, told LaCroix to go smurf himself after he set me up and tried to Dominate the sarcophagus key out of me. Then I left it on the floor after I slit his throat and kneed him in the nads. He crawls over and opens it and discovers the little present Jack left him. I about laughed my head off when I saw it.

Playing through a second time as a Malkavian. :joy:

Niner--if you haven't started too far--chose a female--the light leather outfit I picked up in Hollywood at the Red Spot is hilarious. Also, pick the dementation choices. The one with Samantha (the human girl who thinks you're still alive when you first get to Hollywood) and your dement choice about a pet turtle had me rolling laughing.

Think il tryed the game three times, all times i stoped play when i got to China Town. It was to long loading times, and way to many of them, and i dont know if i played unpatched and they fixed this problem or if it was just my computer that was crazy but all my controlls frezzed and the characther just runned or jumped or fight or whatever i was doing when the frezze starded. But the story was good, and the RPG aspects was good, but i had way to many other problems/bugs to enjoy the game for to long

The walkthrough (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/711/711280p1.html) by vampyri_lestat explains how to turn off the autosave function. I did notice an increase in load times as I progressed in the game, too. The Planet Vampire Bloodlines tech support (http://www.forumplanet.com/planetvampire/forum.asp?fid=9643) may have some help for your problems.


I've had such a good time playing this game I wondered if anyone might be interested in the PnP version. I'm not sure how feasible it is to do online or in the chatbox/IRC, but it might be doable.

Weird. Life imitating art:
Fire At Griffith Park, threatens observatory (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire9may09,0,532284.story?coll=la-home-headlines)

:lol: Very very weird.

Wonder if we'll find Nines there? I wouldn't mind a little more of him. :)

VTM Bloodlines is one of the best games made, the level of detail is staggering. I have beaten this game 4 times. I give it a 5 star rating, there are also some really cool mods out there for it.

The walkthrough (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/711/711280p1.html) by vampyri_lestat explains how to turn off the autosave function. I did notice an increase in load times as I progressed in the game, too. The Planet Vampire Bloodlines tech support (http://www.forumplanet.com/planetvampire/forum.asp?fid=9643) may have some help for your problems.

There are only two ways to fix the load times of this game. Most of the solutions on planet vampire won't work for most people. The only two that work are to set your windows scratch disk to a separate physical drive on a separate IDE or sata channel than the drive VtM:B is installed on and fix the size to twice your physical RAM, and also to give it at least 1gb of physical ram in xp or 2gb ram in vista. The areas in this game are large and highly detailed, and in most systems the game has to load most of it's data to the windows scratch disk rather than into ram, hence extreme lag in load times. While VALVE did fix this problem in SOURCE, Activision only authorized the 1.2 patch for VtM:B,which did not include this fix. Hope this helps anyone trying to eliminate the 3 minute load times found in some of the later levels.


I've had such a good time playing this game I wondered if anyone might be interested in the PnP version. I'm not sure how feasible it is to do online or in the chatbox/IRC, but it might be doable.

White Wolf no longer publishes Vampire the Masquerade. It has been replaced by Vampire the Requiem, which is still World of Darkness, so it is mostly the same. Check out the introductory rule set at http://www.white-wolf.com/downloads.php?category_id=15) so you can decide how feasible it would be to play by IRC.

This might help some, along with zinervadonella's suggestions (and I have a feeling a lot of us wouldn't know how to accomplish what you suggested, though--you might need to give more detailed instructions for us non-techy-types). I haven't tried them, because I finally have a computer with good graphics and I wanted to play the game with those maxed out. It does look cool. :D

My save times, while noticeably increasing in Chinatown, didn't approach anything close to 3 minutes, thank goodness, but I have 2 GB of Ram on my laptop so that likely was a big factor in keeping the times down. I keep autosave on and live with the lag myself since it saved my butt more than once. :D

1.Enable the console. To do this, right-click on the game shortcut and choose
properties.Then add the " -console" command (without the quotes) where it
says "target" , so it will look something like this:
"c:\...\Vampire - Bloodlines\vampire.exe" -console
You can then push the "~" key while in the menu to bring down the console
and add your commands there if you like, though I would recommend you to edit
the config files as I say below and not add manually the commands each time.
The in-game console should be used mostly for testing.

2.The game needs a page file of at least 1.5GB. If you have 1GB of RAM or
higher your page file will probably be just right, If you have lower than
1GB of RAM you should change it to at least 1.5GB.To change the page file go
to : properties-> advanced-> performance-> settings-> advanced-> virtual
memory-> change.

3.To make the game manage the memory better you need to add the command:
[ -heapsize xxxxxx] to your game shortcut.
Where xxxxx stands for half of your current ram in kb. So if you currently
have 1GB of ram you should put : 512000
Open the properties of the shortcut and add the command so that it looks like
this: "C:\...\Vampire - Bloodlines\vampire.exe" -console -heapsize 500000

4.GO to : [installation folder]...\Vampire\cfg\ and you'll find the config.cfg
file. Open it using notepad and change the following commands to:

particles_enable_precipitation "0" [to disable the rain]
dsp_dist_max "440" [to lower distance of object render]
muzzleflash_light "0" [disables a smooth lighting effect]
cl_showfps 1 [shows fps]

5.Your next step is to create an autoexec file in the same folder as the
config.cfg to add some more useful commands.All you have to do is open
notepad , type the commands and save it as autoexec.cfg (beware not
autoexec.cfg.txt !). The game will automatically find the autoexec.cfg file
and run it.So the commands are the following:

autosave_on "0" [disables autosave and speeds up loading time]
cl_smooth "0" [disables a smoothing texture effect]
mat_drawwater "0" [disables water animation]
r_3dsky "0" [gets rid of sky animation and upper buildings]
cl_obfuscate_daylight "0" [Obfuscate discipline runs much better]

Note: IMO the 3 first commands in the config file and the disabling of the
autosave are a must. Also if your character has the Obfuscate discipline,
you should put in the above command also.

It's a highly entertaining choice (Malks I mean), I believe the Malkavian and the Nosferatu "should" have the most unique gameplay experiences, though, for different reasons. And it didn't necessarily come through in the actual game, especially in the Nosferatu aspect.

The Tremere are actually another good one. My first three choices, in order were Malkavian, Tremere, and then Nosferatu. All three are well worth playing.

And, I must say, Malk's rule. Have an argument with a stop sign. Talk weird (sometimes I had no clue what my character was saying, but it was hilarious). And drive people insane.

Nothing in the game beats Bedlam for sheer random laughs.

Well I've seen this game at the local PC store, but its quite expensive - roughly two times the price of kotor 2.
I don't have anything against WoD, but I'm no big fan either. Therefore I was wondering if the game is really worth all that cash.

And before anyone suggests it - no I'm not gonna download illegal software. Let others suffer at the mountain of knives ;)

@Crahsystor: I guess it depends on how much you value having cash vs. having a PC game that is markedly different from most RPGs out there. You can see this thread has run for 4 pages now after all of us jumped on the VtM bandwagon, so you can tell what we think about it. :D I think if the idea of playing a powerful vampire in a dark, modern underworld intrigues you at all, you will *not* be disappointed with this game. If you are easily offended by blood/gore, bad language, and other M-rated aspects, you might want to steer clear.

There's plenty of replay value in this game too with different powers and allegiances. Lots of dialog options and plenty of combat. So you'll get good bang for your buck in that regard.

Edit: And great soundtrack! :D

Definitely worth the cost. :) I love the game, working on my second playthrough. You can pick it up off Steam (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=search&genre=&cc=US&term=Vampire) and other download sites for about $20, and I imagine some of the retail sites have it for a reasonable price. I picked mine up off Amazon for $29 but I noticed the price has gone up substantially--I suspect with all the traffic stoffe drove their way, they thought they'd up the price. :D

Have installed the game for like the fifth time now, and this time im gonna finish it ^^

The cause i havent done it before is that my comp have been acting really weird when i played it, with like 3min load times and some other bugs, but now i have got a new computer and it runs smoth.

Im playing as a Malkavian and are at Hollywood, but now to my question. I read somewhere that there is a mod that do so you activate more of the Malkavians "whispers", and i wonder if anyone here know where i can get it. The mod should activate whispers more often

Edit: Found it