I recently purchased Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines on disc (3 CDs) and learned how to run the game on Windows 7 64-bit. Finding a lot of what seems to be misinformation, I decided to write this short guide for the benefit of other players.

I've only just started a game of VTMB on my Win7 laptop, and so there could be crashes or other issues that occur during the course of the game, but so far the following has worked without problem.

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1. Install the game (to "C:/Games/Vampire - Bloodlines" or another custom location outside of the default Program Files directory).

2. Install the official patch v1.2 (http://www.patches-scrolls.com/vampire_bloodlines.php).

3. Right-click the desktop shortcut (or 'vampire.exe' in the game directory), click Properties, and select the Compatibility tab.

3a. Check the box for "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" from the dropdown menu.

3b. Check the box for "Disable desktop composition". Click "Apply", then click "OK".

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That seems to be *all* that is *required* to run VTM:B on Win7 64-bit. Step 3a fixes the startup crash that produces the error message "Available memory less than 15MB!!!!" Step 3b allows the opening videos (company logos) to display properly (instead of playing with sound-only).

Neither running the game as administrator nor disabling visual themes seems to be required.

You can also install one of the two fan-made patches/fixpacks:

Unofficial Patch
OR
True Patch Gold Edition (link NSFW; adult mod site)

for (a LOT of) additional bugfixes, but these do *not* seem to be required. (See below for details.)

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Unofficial Patch (also applies to True Patch Gold Edition):

The Unofficial Patch includes the official patch (thus you do not need to install the official patch if you choose to use the UP). The UP can be installed over an installation already patched with the official patch.

The UP does not set compatibility mode. Instead, it seems to alter games files to fix the startup crash that produces the error message "Available memory less than 15MB!!!!" This means that you can skip step 3a if you use the UP.

The UP does not disable desktop composition and does not allow the opening videos to display properly (instead of playing with sound-only). This means that you cannot skip step 3b if you want to view the videos (a spinning Activision logo; a white wolf walking in snow followed by the White Wolf paw imprint logo; a female vampire caressing and then biting the NVIDIA logo).

So, the procedure for installation using the Unofficial Patch (or True Patch Gold Edition) is:

1. Install the game.
2. Install the unofficial patch (which includes the official patch).
3. "Disable desktop composition" (can be skipped if you do not care about seeing the opening videos).

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Other Tips:

To use ‎Xpadder with VTMB on Win7 64-bit, run Xpadder as administrator (otherwise the game does not accept input from Xpadder; it will seem that Xpadder stops working when the game is started).

To profile VTMB with Game Jackal, run Game Jackal as administrator.

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Anything to add? Experiences to share? Passionate demands that GOG get this game NOW? ;)

Vote!
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/vampire_the_masquerade_bloodlines

Putting this on my stickied thread list. +1 to you for posting this. I won the game but haven't gotten to it yet. This will help immensely.

That may be all you need.. but you're really doing yourself a disservice IMO not running the community patch - which (I believe... its been a little while) fixes compatibility as well as restoring content.. has official patch 1.2 integrated into it...

Unofficial English Patch 8.6 - http://www.patches-scrolls.com/dl.php?file=VTMBup86.exe

Do the fan patches and everything work with the Steam version, or retail only? I was just curious because I only have the Steam version (sadly I cannot find my old Retail copy).

The Unofficial Patch works with the Steam version, as well as retail

If I remember correctly they'll work on any version - just have to point the installer to the required location - pretty sure I had the patch working on my Steam copy a while ago without any problems.

Awesome, I'll give it a go when I have a few days off then :D.

If the game works without the unofficial patch there's no reason not to use it even if it's one's first play through as they've tried hard (of what I know) to not add or remove any content that was already there (they may have added some content that were supposed to be there but developers didn't have time).

Yep, I can double confirm this. And the game does play much better with it.

Or, you could just:

1. Install the game through Steam.
2. Install the unofficial patch. That's it.

+1 to this. I've played through the game both vanilla and patched, and the patched was superior in every way I could perceive.

But there's no reason at all to play VTMB at vanilla 1.2, as it's full of bugs (some gamebreaking). Hell the game itself shipped in an incomplete state.

I finally bought a copy from Steam, since my disc-copy won't work at all under Ubuntu 12.04, and I can play the game with no problems, vs. spending hours trying and failing to get it to run.

The stupid game breaking bug at the monastery was so lovely. It only happens with certain clans, like the Tremere that I was playing at first, the game will keep on crashing no matter what you do.

Yeah I remember that one, I think it was the main one. Not sure if it was patched out by 1.2 or if got fixed by the UP.