Overview

Released on November 16, 2004 by the ill-fated Troika Games, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is an RPG based on White Wolf's World of Darkness universe (which is in turn based on a million nerdy goth fantasies.) Like Activision's Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, Bloodlines is set in White Wolf, Inc.'s Vampire: The Masquerade universe, but it is not a sequel to the earlier game. The game allows the player to choose one of several different vampire clans and progress through the game according to the different strengths and weaknesses of the player's character, as in its paper and pencil role-playing origins. Bloodlines is notable for being the first game along with Half-Life 2 to use Valve's Source engine, which allows the game to be played from either the first-person or third-person shooter perspective. You play a recently turned vampire who, through no fault of your own, becomes embroiled in a bloody power struggle over an ancient sarcophagus.

Engine Notes

Since VTMB uses an early early beta version of Valve's Source engine, it's definitely buggy. The good thing is that many of the same physics bugs/tricks you'd expect from a Half-Life game are present (minus accelerated-back-hopping). Many of these tricks are inherited from the original Quake (the engine which was the basis for Half-Life). All numbers are shown as Units-Per-Second (a unit being the measured distance of 1 in the game engine). As with Half-Life, higher framerates can heavily affect certain tricks.

Player Velocity

Unlike most games, the key you're using to move can greatly affect how fast you move. Another interesting aspect, is that male characters do NOT move the same speed as female characters. F=forward, B=backward, L=left, R=Right, J=jump.

• Male

F=188, B=205, L=207, R=207.99, FR=201.53, FL=203.69, BL=179.01, BR=203.65

• Female

F=193, B=126, L=156, R=156.01, FR=218.50, FL=209.35, BL=109.81, BR=125.16

• Male Crouched

F=65, B=62, L=69, R=68, FR=64.07, FL=65.22, BL=70.72, BR=64.07

• Female Crouched

F=67, B=64, L=71, R=70, FR=65.46, FL=63.81, BL=72.86, BR=70

• Jump (male/female standing/crouched)

J=175.40 (subject to acceleration ramp)

Basic Tricks

Air Control

While in the air, you have a lot more control over your character's velocity direction than most games. The easiest is by using the strafe (sidestep) keys, while other (flashier) methods combine other movement keys. The basic idea is that your movement keys always point to the center of a circle, and your mouse is used to turn in the direction of that circle. Just remember that this only works while your character is off of the ground.

• Strafe only - When holding only a strafe key, turn the mouse in the same direction. If you're holding left strafe, turn the mouse left. Same goes for turning right. If done correctly, you can steer your character in the air while moving forward.
• Other key combos (forward/backward+strafe, only forward/backward, etc) - This is where things can get tricky. Remember that whatever combination of keys you're holding HAVE to point towards the center of your circle and your mouse movements will steer your character around that circle. Your screen may be looking at something completely different, but as long as you turn at the correct angle you will steer yourself in that circular motion.

A side effect of being able to turn in the air is acceleration. The simple act of turning can increase your forward velocity, but once your feet hit the ground friction takes over and slows you down to normal running speeds. The longer your character is airborne, the more potential you have to speed up. Slower speeds allow for sharper turning to accelerate, but faster speeds require slower turning. Turning too sharp will slow you down, as will not turning in a smooth motion.

Wallstrafing

By walking forward and holding strafe to push along a wall you can be accelerated. But like normal walking speeds, male and female characters will have different speeds. Turning towards the wall will increase your velocity but the angle can't be higher than roughly 15 degrees. At the perfect mouse angle, males can achieve up to 300 both on the left and right sides. Females can average 310 on the left and 320 on the right.

This trick can also be used in the circular sewer tunnels that lead to/from the exit ladders. Males can achieve a max speed of about 95 (average about 88), while females can easily get 95. An alternate method to get a hair more speed is to just use one of the strafe keys alone and looking away from the wall at about a 50 degree angle. Males can achieve 100 while females can achieve 105.

Zig-Zagging

This is achieved by walking forward and rapidly tapping the left and right strafe keys in succession. Males can achieve an average range of 230-250 while females can achieve an average range of 250-260.

Vent Boosting

While crawling through a vent angled upwards, press and hold jump while at full forward speed to get a burst of speed. This appears to be a side effect of the way jumping is handled. In most games, the jump action gives your character an immediate push upwards, and bumping into a ceiling brings your speed to 0. In VTMB, the jump command gives your character a constant upwards push for a given amount of time (about 500ms) so long as the key is pressed. Once the jump timer runs out, gravity takes over. In a vent, holding jump has the same effect as wallstrafing, except the wall happens to be the ceiling and the boost is a lot stronger. This effect is calculated per frame until the jump timer runs out, so the boost is stronger at higher framerates. At 60fps, your speed has the potential to average around 230, but at 300fps the boost can get as high as 850.

Fast Ladder Climbing

The normal way to climb a ladder is to look straight up and hold forward, which results in a speed of 101. If you lower your viewing angle to about 45 degrees, your speed will increase to 141. If you use forward and a strafe key AND aim at a 45 degree angle (on the up/down axis) your speed will be further increased to 157. This applies to both male and female characters. The only problem to avoid is walking off of the ladder itself, which is easily corrected by aiming to about 15 degrees to the opposite side of your chosen strafe key (look left if holding strafe right, etc).

Quick Dialog

To skip dialog, simply press a number key or jump. If jump is held as soon as dialog begins it will instantly skip the first conversation piece and go onto the next set or your first dialog choice. Note that only the very first line of dialog can be entirely skipped, as every other line following can only be skipped after a certain amount of time. Spamming an input key is the fastest method to speed through conversations, and using the key you need for your dialog choice is the fastest method.

Hitbox Shifting

When playing the game in first person, your point-of-view doesn't always represent exactly where your character's model/hitbox are. If you're in the air and try to duck, you see your pov moved lower to the ground, indicating that your feet have been pulled up and appearing as if your hitbox has been shrunk. This is not really true. On the ground your model/hitbox are smaller, but in the air the engine shifts your model/hitbox up higher to simulate the effects of pulling your feet up into a ducked position. This can allow you to activate level triggers that are located through floors and other objects. Currently the only known location to abuse this is on the Santa Monica pier. It is possible to jump against the last set of stairs and press duck just as your head hits the top of the stairs to set off the level change trigger and proceed to the drug dealer's house.

Advanced Tricks

Bunny Hopping

By combining the speed gains from air control acceleration and repeatedly jumping, it's possible to move at speeds averaging between 350 and 400. Jumping just as you land serves two purposes:

• Friction - This is used by the engine to keep your character from moving faster than his/her max speed, but can only occur while standing on a solid object.
• Speed Boost - By jumping as soon as you land, the game gives your character a small surge of speed forward.

To simplify, jumping as soon as you land avoids the slowdown from friction and also gives your character a small surge of forward velocity. This also presents a bit of a catch-22, since you gain speed from staying in the air longer BUT get multiple speed boosts from jumping more often. To get the best results, it's best to use a full jump for the first jump (or two), then keep the hopping pattern with smaller jumps after that. Binding jump to both the spacebar and the mousewheel will allow you to easily perform both style of jumps.

Normal bunny hopping runs will consist of your player moving in a constant S-pattern, with smooth transitions between turning left and right. This doesn't always have to happen, as switching between left and right is only limited based on how fast you can change strafes and move the mouse. The best acceleration comes from sharp turning at the start and then long sweeping turns as speed builds up. Being able to balance moving in a controlled S-pattern and still moving in as straight a line as possible will take practice, since moving faster means nothing if you're not moving towards your goal.

Another factor to take into consideration is your framerate. Unlike the original Quake, all jumping has to be timed manually. There is no way (without scripting) to automate jumping, nor can you prime a jump (Quake allowed players to hold jump before touching the ground) to get perfect timing. Higher framerates not only allow for faster acceleration in the air (due to speed being calculated on a per-frame basis) but also makes timing the jump upon landing much easier (less control lag, larger window for error). Using the mousewheel to jump and rolling it just before landing can increase the success of proper timing, but even at framerates as low as 60 it's easy to mess up.

Bunny hopping can also be performed while ducking. The only difference is you must turn slower (resulting in a wider circular arc) or all speed will be lost in an instant.

Circle Jump

By adding in forward to standard air control concepts while on the ground, you're able to get a burst of acceleration before attempting either a distance jump or a bunny hopping run.

1. Start walking forward
2. Hold a strafe key
3. Turn the mouse in the same direction as your strafe key
4. Jump

While it may sound difficult, performing a circle jump is a lot easier after a little practice. To start off, your target destination should be at a 90 degree angle to your crosshair (to your direct left or right). After pressing and holding forward, press/hold the strafe key that will move you towards your destination, then rapidly turn in the same direction. Timing the jump is probably the hardest step, but nearly every time you'll be about 20-30 degrees BEFORE aiming directly at your target.

• Single landing point - If you're doing a circle jump to extend your jump to a certain spot, continue to hold the forward/strafe keys and turn in a slower, more controlled motion after jumping. This will give a smooth acceleration and minimize your chances of skewing too far to the side.
• Starting a Bunny Hopping Run - The key here is to let go of the forward key just after jumping. This will allow you to keep looking forward while building up speed. Letting go of forward isn't entirely necessary, but keeping circular motion will require you to maneuver your aim much more chaotic. Remember that your movement keys always have to point towards the center of your circle, so if you hold forward AND use a strafe key, you will have to look at a 45 degree angle INTO the circle before acceleration can begin, then turn in a controlled manner. Switching directions while still holding forward will then require you to flick the mouse quickly to a 45 degree angle in the other direction. The chaotic nature of flicking the mouse back and forth while holding forward for bunny hopping runs makes getting enough speed and keeping it a huge hassle.

Players adept at performing circle jumps will find that the trick can be performed without having to be at a full 90 degree angle to start. Once you can perform a circle jump, it is possible to walk straight at something, then flick the mouse either left or right about 45 degrees, then quickly flick in the opposite direction and do a circle jump that gets almost the same speed results as doing it from a standstill at 90 degrees.

Sequence Breaks

Why can't I skip you, Mercurio?

The very first mission you're given is to find Mercurio, who you see stumbling into his apartment in the beginning of the game. The normal way to complete this mission is to visit him once to find out about the Astrolite and where to find it, then visit him again once you've obtained it. It is possible to get to the drug dealer's house without talking to Mercurio first.

1. Go to the beach
2. Stand against the rocky cliff to the right. Make sure you're at the highest point in the sand.
3. Do a circle jump to the left, duck as quickly as possible. If done correctly you'll land on the light just above the locked gate.
4. Drop down past the gate and continue on to get the Astrolite
5. Return to Mercurio to finish 2 quests at once

You'll still have to listen to both sets of dialog (the initial meeting and returning with the Astrolite) which will waste some time. The good thing is you won't lose out on the experience for not going to him first, you only have to see him once (instead of twice the normal way), AND you skip the forced dialog scene with the Malkavian at the beach (since the trigger for that dialog doesn't become active until you've talked to Mercurio).

Skipping the Sewers

After fighting Andrei for the first time, you're introduced to the most annoying section of the game: navigating the abandoned sewers. As soon as you get to the sewers, you'll come across 2 doors, one locked and one unlocked. The unlocked door will take you to the Hollywood sewer section, allowing you to restock on supplies before venturing further in the quest. One of the doors in the Hollywood sewers is locked and normally can't be opened until much later in the quest. By standing to the left side and pressing the use key on the right spot, you can open the door. Doing so tricks the game into thinking you've progressed further than you're supposed to and immediately jumps to a cutscene where you're dropped out of a sewer pipe in the second to last section of the sewers before finally finding the Nosteratu.

Chinatown shortened

Once you finally get to Chinatown, the first stop is Ming Xiao's temple. Once inside the courtyard, find the rocks to the right of the temple steps. Jump on that, then onto the tree to the right, and finally onto the roof of the building next to the rocks. This will allow you to get over the wall and proceed inside the temple to complete the game. The difficulty is that the game still thinks you're in an Elysium: you cannot attack, use weapons, or use disciplines while everyone else can attack you at free will. If you can survive and make it to the inner temple entrances the game will proceed as normal.

Once you make it to Ming Xiao's chamber the dialog will not match the scene. Since you never played through the normal missions, Ming Xiao will have the same dialog sequence as if you were meeting her in the Downtown streets. Once you finish speaking with her, the fight will commence as normal. After killing her and grabbing the key for the sarcophagus, the next scene will be your initial cab sequence where you're supposed to choose which side you will fight for. If you choose anything BUT siding with Lacroix, you will be sent back to Chinatown to fight Ming Xiao again. Siding with Lacroix will immediately start the game's ending cutscene.