==Game Information==



Big thanks to the Cranky Hermit for help in deciding the optimal widescreen solution.


Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines


Developed by Troika, Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines takes the Source engine to the world of bloodsucking.


Starting out as a recently sired vamp-baby, you get to make your way around the LA area looking for some meaning to your now pointless existence. While you are dragging your undead behind throughout the city you may also get lucky and avert the vampire Apocalypse. Or not. It's your call bloodsucker.


Lead your character in first or third-person perspectives as you stalk the streets, feed on some hookers, and chat up the normals. You have several vampire clans to choose from which will determine your characters abilities and tendencies. Skill points can be assigned for character development allowing you to become such wonderful things as a gun-toting psychopath or a perky chatterbox. Or both.


Just remember that you have to retain some shred of your tattered beliefs in humanity or you won't amount to undead crap. Will you be the nice hero that can sleep at day? Or give in to the voracious beast that festers within your dead flesh?


Remember to floss.



==Version==



Retail with patch 1.2 installed. Please note that this game has many unofficial patches. To the best of my knowledge none of the unofficial patches touch the changed file so you should be OK.



==Method==



No native support. There is a resolution patcher located at http://www.fileplanet.com/156598/150000/fileinfo/Vampire-The-Masquerade:-Bloodlines---Resolution-Patcher that will allow you to use custom widescreen resolutions for Bloodlines. If the patcher works skip down to Method Section #2 for the rest of the solution. If you cannot find or cannot get the patcher to work the manual solution is listed below.


Resolution tweak posted by pirapira at the Planet Vampire Forums.


We need to open up the "engine.dll" file with a HEX editor. The file is located in the "Bin" folder that is in the root game directory. We are going to search for the following HEX values. Take a chunk and search for it. You do not have to select everything just make sure there is only one found instance in the HEX value search.



80 02 00 00 E0 01 00 00 20 03 00 00 58 02 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 04 00 00 40 06 00 00 B0 04 00 00



HEX Values







Now look at this..



80 02 00 00 E0 01 00 00 20 03 00 00 58 02 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 04 00 00 40 06 00 00 B0 04 00 00



The bolded values are the selectable in game resolutions that appear in the dropdown options menu. They are read in pairs of two. The first value is horizontal and the second is vertical. We are going to change one of these values to our desired widescreen resolution. Do not use the first pair they do not appear in game.



BACK UP THE FILE FIRST!



As always we need to flip flop the four hexadecimal digits before we enter them into the file. For example..



1200 in hexadecimal is 04B0...



We flip flop and get B004...



We enter B0 04 as our HEX value.



Look at the last bolded pair in the file...



40 06
B0 04



1600x1200 HEX Values







From the example above we know that B0 04 is actually 04B0 which is 1200, our horizontal value. 40 06 is actually 0640 which is 1600 in hexadecimal. This last bolded pair is the 1600x1200 resolution. You can change these values or use another bolded pair. I recommend using the last pair as it is easiest to find and troubleshoot.


I want to use the widescreen resolution 1920x1200. Looking at the last bolded pair I only need to change the horizontal resolution. The hexadecimal value of 1920 is 0780. I need to flip flop this value and get 80 07. This is what I will enter in place of the original 40 06.



Section #2



The resolution has been changed. Now go in game and the resolution will be listed in the dropdown menu. Select the resolution and then exit and the game. Now right-click on the shortcut that launches the Vampire game executable and select properties. Look in the "Documents and Settings" folder if you cannot locate the shortcut.


In the target box we are going to add the "-console" option to the end of the target location. We will need the in game console later. Load up the game.



Console switch







You should now have a working widescreen resolution in game. But you may have noticed some problems. Everything is stretched. Things are transparent on the edges of the screen. We can fix these problems. Do this when you have control of your character so you can see what is happening. Press the tilde key to bring up the console. We are going to type "r_anamorphic 1" to enable anamorphic display mode. Now type "FOV 69" to offset the anamorphic zoom.


The anamorphic switch is global and needs to be changed only once. The FOV switch needs to be changed with every new game. Once you have saved a game with the FOV switch you can load it up and the FOV will remained changed. Congrats.


- A more detailed version is listed in a post further down -



==Screen change==



Using all the tweaks we get Hor + in game using a 16:9 aspect ratio. 16:10 aspect ratios are also Hor + with some Vert stretching because of the anamorphic mode (16:9). The in game camera positions (fixed, adjustable) are zoomed out as compared to the 4:3 aspect ratio camera positions. Cutscenes add Vert + in both aspect ratios.



4:3




16:9




16:10




4:3




16:9




16:10




==Supported resolutions==



List of widescreen resolutions the game successfully ran at:


1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200.



List of widescreen resolutions that were not tested:

None.



==Singleplayer anomalies==



Two-dimensional game elements stretch.



4:3




16:9




16:10




4:3




16:9




16:10




4:3




16:9




16:10




==Multiplayer support==



No multiplayer in this game.



==Aspect ratio support==



4:3 and 16:9 are supported. 15:9 and 16:10 are supported with some vertical stretching.



4:3




16:9




16:10




==HUD stretch==



The HUD is stretched.



==Cut-scenes==



Only rendered cut-scenes which are Hor + and Vert +. 16:10 has the slight Vert stretching because of the anamorphic switch.



4:3




16:9




16:10





==Grading==



D+



Major unresolved issues:


None.



Minor unresolved issues:


None.



Summary of widescreen-related flaws:


16:10 aspect ratios have slight Vert stretching. The fixed and adjustable camera positions are zoomed farther out then in a 4:3 aspect ratio. All two-dimensional elements stretch.



----------------------------

The "screen change" section is *way* overcomplicated. Please reduce it, and by a lot. The sole purpose of this section is to instruct widescreen users who own the game on how to best run the game in widescreen. You can briefly explain what the purpose of each step is, but don't digress by posting tons of screenshots that illustrate what happens before and after intermediate steps.

If I understand it correctly, there are three steps. Step one, hack engine.dll to enable your resolution. Step two, add the console and anamorphic switches to the shortcut. Step three, reduce the FOV to 69. Please keep the method section focused on explaining how to perform these three things. Thanks.

If you look, you can see that the hud strech a bit ingame, look to the Blood meter blood heal round thing

I think you meant the "Method" section Cranky.

I posted the HUD stretching in the HUD section.

We can fix these problems.



Roof





No Roof





Toilet





No Toilet





Do this when you have control of your character so you can see what is happening. Press the tilde key to bring up the console. We are going to type "r_anamorphic 1" to enable anamorphic display mode.


You should see that everything is no longer stretched in a 16:9 aspect ratio. In a 16:10 aspect ratio you should see no horizontal stretching but some slight vertical stretching. This cannot be fixed in 16:10 but is much better than the original stretching. The transparent texture problem is now gone from both aspect ratios.


We now have another problem. The camera position has been pushed back. We are going to lessen the change as much as possible. Go back into the console and type "FOV 69". This will bring the view closer in to offset the anamorphic zoom.



Default FOV 75 with Anamorphic





FOV 69 with Anamorphic





The anamorphic switch is global and needs to be changed only once. The FOV switch needs to be changed with every new game. Once you have saved a game with the FOV switch you can load it up and the FOV will remained changed. Congrats.



Original 4:3





16:9





16:9 with Anamorphic





16:9 with Anamorphic and FOV 69

whoops did miss that section, sorry about that

Hey with a screen name like that I am not going to mess with you.

Note that by the looks of this hex edit, it should be something the UniWS patcher can handle merely by adding a new entry to the patches.ini file.

I finally figured out Wogg's syntax the other week. In fact I'd write the entry myself, but I don't have the game to test with (bought it, played it, and traded it in a long time ago).

However, if someone sends me a copy of just the engine.dll file I should be able to do it and make sure it's right just be inspecting the file.

==Screen change==

I have two questions.

Were the screens of the laptop taken at a "fixed camera position"?
Also, is it possible to decrease the FOV when the camera is "fixed?"


==Singleplayer anomalies==

I'd take the 2D screens and bring them up here instead of putting them under HUD stretch.


==Aspect ratio support==

It's incorrect to say that all three aspect ratios are supported, because 16:10 is not supported. A 16:10 resolution just uses the 16:9 aspect ratio.


==Grading==

Calculated grade: D+

Major unresolved issues: None
Minor unresolved issues: None

Summary of widescreen-related flaws:
Complicated solution.
16:10 is not supported properly.
2D screens stretch.
HUD stretches.

Cranky's coverage estimate: 100%

The laptop camera is fixed and does not change with FOV adjustments. Anamorphic mode does move the camera back which is what is posted.

Stuff moved around and reworded 16:10 ratio. Thanks.

How? Or do I not have those rights?

FYI, the camera is "zoomed out," which is actually not the same thing as being moved back.

Fixed boss.

You wouldn't update it directly. You'd make the changes locally and then ask one of the site mods to add the entry to the patches.ini file in the official download.

At the moment I'm not up for explaining the UniWS syntax, I will do a write up for it one day though, it's not complex, it's just not immediately obvious what the settings are.

In any case, offer still stands to try my hand at the patch myself. If anyone wants to send me the file, please PM me.

I meant how do I send you the file.