Playing VTMB with Intel G31/G33 chipsets

[Zeebs]

As stated in my previous thread; I had been encountering an issue which would prevent me from playing VTMB without using the -dxlevel 80 parameter in the command line. This would allow the game to run, however textures from any object that wasn't a floor, wall, ceiling, or door would render so dark they'd almost appear black.

Scouring the internet while simultaneously seeking help here, I discovered two important things; the Intel G31/G33 graphics chipset isn't among Intel's list of compatible games (despite much more graphically advanced games' presence), and almost every thread on every forum I found, nearly everyone who's copy of VTMB would crash on startup also had Intel G31 or G33 graphics cards.

I was never able to determine the source of the incompatibility, but I did find a solution. 3D Analyze is a powerful tool that tricks your games into thinking your graphics card is something it's not. According to various sources (most reliably, the GameSpy Network forums), the best version of 3D Analyze to use with this particular issue is version 2.26.

Once you've installed the tool, your setup should appear as such:



Obviously, steps 1. and 2. should match your own VTMB install directory.

If you want to play with the console enabled, create a batch file for 3D Analyze to run:

1. Create a new text file in the same directory as vampire.exe
2. In the text file, type "X:\vampire.exe -console," where "X" is your specific install path (default is "C:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines")
3. Save the file as "vampire.bat"
4. Keep everything else in the above image the same, but click the "Select" button for step 1., switch "Executables" to "Batch Files," and select your newly made vampire.bat
5. Launch the game and enjoy your console!

[Malkav]

Seems like 3D Analyze creates a batch anyway. So why not just add the -console option to the launch path in this batch?

[Zeebs]

For some reason, saving the configuration as a batch file then trying to run the game from that caused errors that prevented the game from launching. It might work that way for others, though; for all I know that could simply be a Vista compatibility issue.

[Mako Ruu]

I used to use this back when I had an 8 MB Rage Pro. It let me play games that required at least 32 MBs of Video RAM. But I've never tried using it for VTMB.

I have now, a GeForce FX 5200 (128MB AGP4x) graphics card. And on 1024x768 with the LoD turned all the way down I get about 30 Frames per second.

I play on 800x600 cause the game likes to glitch terribly with the LoD turned to 1.0 So I keep it at 2.5 and I get about 40 - 60 FPS.

Another thing you can do, because you're using an onboard graphics card, is increase the amount of RAM that you have for your PC. The Onboard graphics controller uses the same memory as your computer itself. So the more you allocate toward video graphics, the less there is for system graphics.

Unfortunately, RAM Is expensive and your PC may not have any available slots to upgrade it with. However, since you have Windows Vista (Or Ubuntu 10.0 or greater) you can use a Flash Drive as available system memory.

Insert your flash drive into a USB port. If you have auto play enabled, there should be an option in the menu that appears that says, "Speed Up My System" that will allow you to enable ReadyBoost and skip to the final step.

Open the My Computer tab.

Find the drive letter that your flash drive is occupying. Your computer will automatically assign the next available letter in the list when you plug it in. If you have one hard drive, and two disc drives, this means that your next drive letter is F. However, if you have multiple drives or partitions, the letter will be further down the list.

Right click the drive letter, and choose properties.

Look for the ReadyBoost Tab, and select it.

Look for the option to enable the flash drive as RAM, and allocate the amount of space on the drive you wish to use as RAM. Remember, most systems max out at 4GB RAM. So if you have a drive larger than that, or 2GB RAM already, you need to remember this limitation so as to prevent damage to your system.

[Mamita]

From what I've read, this can destroy a flash drive after a while. Do this at your own risk.