I can't get Vampire: Bloodlines to run - unable to display videos

[Vexing Vision]

Knowledgable people of the Rock!

After everyone and their dead mothers recommended Vampire: Bloodlines to me, I decided to purchase it on last Steam sale, despite my major aversion against anything containing Vampires, Werewolves and other games that contains people looking like Berlin nightlife.

However, despite some research into this, I just don't get the videos to run and have no idea how to fix that. I don't even know if the game plays, because I figure that I'd kind of lose half the story without them. Running Windows 7 with an ATI Radeon, compatibility tricks don't seem to do anything (unless I haven't found the correct one), and I got no issues playing Bink-videos from older games such as Final Liberation.

Any ideas?

[Ignorant Texan]

Try this patch - http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php#77

Make sure you read the 'Read Me' file. Along with Wesp5's modding of VtM:B,
there are a number of utilities included. I used an earlier version of this patch,
and not only did everything run well, I did not have a single crash.

Some people prefer the 'True Patch'. Not having used this one, I don't have an opinion either way.
http://www.gamefront.com/files/17202358/Tr...old_FINAL.rar/

Here's a link to the Steam forum stickie titled " How To: What you need to know to get this game running [Win7 x64]" - http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2025035

[thegooseking]

I don't remember there being any videos in Vampire: Bloodlines apart from the opening logos. All the cutscenes are rendered in-engine as far as I'm aware. If you can disable the splash logos (though I don't know off the top of my head how to do that), you should be fine.

[Maykael]

I've got Windows 7 x64 and what worked for me was selecting these two options in the compatibility tab in Properties: Disable visual themes and Disable desktop composition. It essentially turns off Aero while you play the game. Hope this helps.

[Quirk]

I also had some issues playing the opening videos.

I can confirm that the in-game cutscenes are rendered in engine, and the lack of the videos of the opening logos did not impede me later in any way at all.

[Wolfenswan]

Some people prefer the 'True Patch'. Not having used this one, I don't have an opinion either way.
http://www.gamefront.com/files/17202...old_FINAL.rar/ (http://www.gamefront.com/files/17202358/Tr...old_FINAL.rar/)don't. it's basically an old version of Wesp's with some minor chances. The only thing noticable about it is the internet drama that revolved around it.


that said, i recently played it on Win 7 64bit and used Wesp's patch straight from the beginning without any issues.