How to get a working version of Vampire: The Masquerade

Again, a great game has gone on sale and may need some fixing up before getting into it. When Vampire was first released it was a broken mess, and still is. It’s well worth buying though so here’s a copy/paste from the Reddit user filthster on how to get everything in order.

“1) Install the game from Steam as you would any other game.

2) Run the game once. It’s fine if it crashes (this is where an install with a 64 bit OS is likely to give a memory error).

3) Right click on the game entry in Steam, go to properties, and disable Steam Community In-Game and Automatic Updates.

4) Download the unofficial patch (the latest version is 7.6b) [2] here.

5) Run the executable you’ve downloaded. Depending on your security settings, you may be required to run as an administrator. When the patch prompts you for an installation folder, point it here:

DISK://Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steamapps/common/Vampire the masquerade bloodlines

6) You will be asked whether you want the basic or plus patch. The basic patch focuses primarily on bug fixes and some additions to the original game that were disabled in the vanilla installation, but are not game changing. The plus patch adds numerous other tweaks and changes for improving the game.

7) If you have a widescreen monitor or an unsupported resolution go to the following directory and run the ResPatch executable. Again, you may need to run this as an administrator. It will ask you for the default folder (the same as you selected for the unofficial patch above). From there simply select your aspect ratio and click “Patch It” and the program will adjust the in-game resolution options and FOV for you.

DISK://Program Files (x86)/Steam/Steamapps/common/Vampire the masquerade bloodlines/Extras/ResPatch.exe

You’re done. Go ahead and run the game. It is normal for the opening cinematics to be broken at this point. Just press ESC or click until the main menu appears.

Enjoy!”