So after a couple of failed attempts tonight, I managed to finish the Sibling Rivalry quest by convincing both Therese and Jeanette to coexist. I wrote it down since I know I will forget the next time I play.

To get the two sisters to coexist, you have to be very careful in all of your interactions with them. Be flirty with Jeanette, and subservient with Therese. Basically you have to get a high disposition with each. I believe in the early versions of the game, you need the exact same disposition with each one. But I think later versions patched it so that you only needed them high enough, but not necessarily equal.

But there is a way around that using the console to set your disposition with them before the final confrontation. Save the game before you do, because sometimes it locks up when using the console.

Open the console and type in:
G.Therese_Seduce = 4
G.Jeanette_Seduce = 4

(I am not sure if the commands are case sensitive or not)

You also need a Persuasion of at least 4. (A combination of Charisma and Scholarship) Otherwise you will never get the dialogue prompts you need.

When the final confrontation starts, just select every blue conversation option. There will be a few without them in the latter half. Just go with the neutral ones, that don't goad either one, and continue saying they should both work together. Eventually that will convince them to coexist. Which also gives you the most XP.

I’ve discovered that the Unofficial Patch (which everyone should have) came with a Software Development Kit (SDK)!!! It’s in the Patch Extras folder (GoG Games>VtMB>Patch Extras>Developer Tools>Bloodlines SDK)! I’ve just extracted a whole slew of files (like all of the basic content files) in one fell swoop!!!! Everything is categorized and organized so you know exactly where to go. It’s simply beautiful!!

*Edit: Addendum*
Well maybe not so beautiful. I'm getting some weirdness when I go to play the game. Started a new game as a female Gangrel, whose base clothing texture I altered. When the nasty intro cinematic played, my character was a male Malkavian and the sire was a common thug with a weird rainbow texture. When we got to the courtroom at the theatre, everything was fine except for the sire being the wrong model and messed up texture. When I got outside, i got a warning message about the original python files being messed up. I'm not 100% sure that using the SDK caused this, because I did have some weirdness with GoG several months ago that may have corrupted the game files. More testing is needed.

*Edit: Addendum 2*
Verifying and repairing the game through GoG seems to have cleared up the issues! The intro ran perfectly when I tried it after doing the repair.

I think next I’m going to try turning the Gangrel female base armor into the same one used by the Brujah female. I think that is going to be more involved though since there are more factors to consider than just the texture.

You will need to replace the models as well as the textures. And probably rename them all.

Yeah I figured as much. Sounds like a lot of work actually.

Hmmm...

It appears you can’t just rename Brujah textures and models as Gangrel ones and expect them to work. Curious.

I have been thinking that I am going to have to play a Vampire character named Anne Eemia.


Yeah, you have to change the models too. You might be able to just replace the models. Often the location of the textures is coded into the model files, and the game just says use model x. Then when it does, the model x file tells the game where the texture is. Because of that I have a seen a lot of PC skin mods that are just the model files.

Look at Playable NPCs. It just has the model files of various NPCs renamed for you to paste into your models folder. That is all it takes if you are just copying a vanilla model and texture.

*edit* I didn’t read what you posted fully but now i have so I’ll study those and see if I can figure it out. Thank you!

I am guessing that you should be able to find the relevant Brujah model files, copy them to the Gangrel folders, and rename them the same as the original Gangrel files. It looks like there are only 4 files per Armor outfit.

There might be texture files you have to copy as well. I looked back at the mod I linked to, and it has both models and textures (the latter are the ones under the Materials folder).

Well, I found this video. It is showing you how to change the Malkavian female base armor to look like Jennette. It was a simple thing to just change the Gangrel female base armor to read from the Brujah base armor location, so now in game, the Gangrel base armor is the Brujah base armor. I then put the Gangrel head and hair textures I was using into a Brujah “armor0” folder and renamed them to the appropriate Brujah name. It works but there is a problem with the face texture that I’m going to have to figure out. It’s probably because the game is trying to read the new textures with some of the original Brujah ones. I’ll need to go in and find all of the Gangrel head files and try converting them into Brujah ones.

On a side note, I really don’t like the beanie that the Brujah base model wears, so I might just put it all back the way it was unless I can figure out how to get rid of it.

I just found this and will try it when I get home from work:

“Copy all files into the appropriate model and texture folders for the other clan. And now you need the vpktools. They are part of the patch extras.
Use the model tool, open the model files you just copied and change the texture path accordingly. Otherwise the game would try to use the original Tremere texture.”

Source: https://www.gog.com/forum/vampire_the_masqu...fit_mods_around

This might explain why I was getting an invisible character when I renamed the Brujah files to Gangrel.

Well after all of that, it turned out I just had the model files in the wrong “model” folder. I was putting them in the “vampire” model folder when they should’ve been going into the “Unofficial Patch” model folder. Renaming the Brujah model files to Gangrel worked fine then. My problem now is that there doesn’t appear to be an easy way of sticking the Gangrel head on the Brujah body. I only wanted the base armor from the Brujah but if the faces don’t match up, it’s not worth it. So I just kept everything the way it was originally and just altered the base Gangrel armor’s texture to be less ridiculous (it’s now a nice OD t-shirt with the word “Bitch” removed, black capri pants, and slate gray sneakers.). I may look at the other outfits and alter those a bit, but I’m satisfied for now. New playthrough coming soon.

Ok, here is something weird. I have been trying to change the Brujah female to use the Gangrel female body and face. I am getting tired of the beanie as well. Instead of trying to find all the model files in the packs, I thought I would take the easy route and just edit the clandoc file. But no matter what I changed the models to, it would not work.

I just figured out why. I was being careful and making a backup of the clandoc file before I edited it. Well the game was reading from the backup, even though I changed the name. I moved the backup to another folder, and voila! it worked.

Now I just have to change the gangrel's hair to blonde...

Oh, and if you change a model and the new one is not appearing. Punch something. Even empty air. Sometimes that is what it takes to force the game to update to the new model.

That is weird. It read my new clandoc just fine. Interesting. I must say, with the UP installed, the file system for this game is something of a mess, lol
Then again, it is kind of a messy game.

With the Unofficial Patch, you basically want to install all mods to the UP folder, not the game's base Vampire folder.

Yeah I learned that the hard way, although I will say that it doesn’t seem to matter about textures. They can actually go in the “vampire” folders and still work. Models definitely have to be in the UP folder though.

Now I have a broadsword. Ho! Ho! Ho!

January picked up the broadsword in the Lasombra quest added by the Unofficial Patch. I just tried it out with Potence. Wow! I did not realize it, but Potence adds to both unarmed and melee damage. Jan is just a wrecking machine with this thing.

Oh nice! Did you mod that in or was it added by the UP?

It is added by the full version of the UP. It adds a quest using the Lasombra I mentioned seeing lurking around the first time I played. When you trace him back to his lair and foil his dark ritual, you get the broadsword. I did not try using it for a while since I thought Potence was only for unarmed combat. Turns out I was wrong!

Ah got it. When I start my new playthrough I’ll have to look out for it!

You will see the Lasombra around here and there. He will be watching you from afar, then disappear. Eventually Beckett will send you an email asking you to find an apprentice of his who has gone missing. Follow that quest, and you will get the sword. It starts after you get to Downtown, kill all the plague-bearers, and finish the Carnival of Death quest.

The game just suddenly started having all sorts of issues. Taking forever to start up and load saves, and my hotkeys disappearing. So I bit the bullet and reinstalled. While I was at it I updated to the latest version of the Unofficial Patch. Seems to work ok now.

But now I am having another problem. I am getting a CTD when I try to enter buildings. Seems it is because of save game incompatibility with the new version of the UP.

So now I can either go back to the older version of the UP, which I would rather not do. Or I could start January over. I don't think I want to do that either. I finished delivering the sarcophagus to Lacroix just before the trouble started. So I am mostly through the game. I think I might just call it done.

So I think I will start a new character. I have been wanting to try a Nosferatu for a long time. And a Gangrel. And of course a Malkavian.

I tried a Nossie start, using the Presentable history. I thought that it would let you go out in public without a masquerade violation. Nope. It just gives a +1 to Charisma. Persuasion uses Charisma as a base, so in spite of being a Nosferatu, it is still probably useful. But it also comes with a higher cost to buying Obfuscate. So I am going to re-roll my Toon, with a different history. I think I'll skip the tutorial this time, and try using the console to give myself all the stuff you otherwise lose by doing so.

And it worked just fine. Just paste the following into the console:

give item_g_lockpick; give item_w_tire_iron; give item_w_thirtyeight; give item_w_baseball_bat; giftxp 2


I also noticed something interesting. In the opening sequence where you get Embraced, my character started out using the Brujah skin before she was bit. Then it switched to the Nosferatu one afterward. Then in the theater the first time they showed my sire he was human-looking. I am not sure what base model he was using. Then the screen flashed white, and he was a nosferatu. So interesting how they switch the models out like that.

Neat! As rushed as the game was, I’m kinda surprised they paid that much attention to detail!

Good luck with the Nossie play through. I’ve never had the drive to even attempt that!

Playing the Nos is definitely different. At first I thought you had to take the sewers everywhere, and could never go out in public at all. But that is not quite the case. I have played the first couple of quests into the Medical Clinic and the beach house, and have not taken to the sewers yet.

However, you do have to be careful about getting too close to people. An icon that looks like a theater mask pops up in the upper right corner of the screen when you come near someone who will violate the masquerade by seeing you. It gets more solid the nearer you get to them, and there is even a red arrow in it pointing to the person. So far when those people have gotten too near I have been able to simply crouch and sneak, or scamper away, to avoid the masquerade violation.

Knowing who you can talk to is still confusing. For example, I found I can talk to Trip in the pawnshop with no problem. Same with Bertram's ghoul (I forget the guy's name), and the people on the beach. The bums seem to ignore me, but I do get the masquerade warning icon around them. I think they are just bad at noticing. The hookers and cops definitely go hostile if you get too close to them. I have yet to try to walk into the Asylum (or any other club) to see what happens there.

But you must be able to talk to the side quest givers, or you will miss out on most of the game. So my guess is that they are safe? It is a good thing I have played the game enough to know who is who now. Otherwise I would have no idea who to even try talking to, and who to avoid like the plague.

Yeah I feel like, as with Malks, Nossies are definitely a second or third play through clan. I am glad to hear that being in the open isn’t an automatic Masquerade violation. That actually makes me feel a little better about potentially playing as one at some point.

I found some improved game maps here. I copied the sewer maps for Santa Monica and Downtown to my phone, so I can use them for reference. I still get confused whenever I am in the sewers.


Kalma has woken from the grave

On the prowl

Drinks are on the house



I am using the Less Hideous Nosferatu (Female) mod. I do not like the bondage outfits the vanilla game has the Nosferatu in.

I don’t like the Nossie outfits either. This mod looks like a vast improvement. Looks like it’s using the Gangrel heavy leather outfit as a base.

I took a look at both, and that is basically it. They took the Gangrel Heavy Leather outfit and recolored it to make it darker. So far it is the only outfit I have seen from the mod. I should use the console to get them all to see what they look like. They might all be just that one.


Here is an example of that Masquerade warning in the upper right. It is pointing to the bum right beside Kalma

Here is a safe distance to stand in the open. If they get closer, the Masquerade warning appears. It starts getting brighter the closer they get, until they notice you.

Here is Arthur Kilpatrick's reaction to talking to him

And here is Trip's

OTOH, I tried talking to the lady who runs the cash register in the diner. She screamed, and literally passed out.

I did notice something neat when I did. When I first walked in, a guy was on the phone. It was the serial killer, calling up Muddy to meet him. It is literally the other end of the same phone call you hear on the recording machine at Muddy's girlfriend's apartment. So that was neat. You can talk to him, but he does not have anything to really say, except to leave him alone.

As far as Nossies go, from videos I've seen most quest-givers react as if your character has a mask on, or has been in an accident. They must do it that way I suppose, in order for all quests to be available for Nossies too. Otherwise parts of the game would be unplayable, even parts of the MQ.

It seems that way, but sometimes with some wrinkles. I tried talking to the old lady at the Santa Monica diner. But she screamed and passed out. Instead I had to take Lily's purse and the bail bond, which were on the counter behind her.

When I got to the Ventrue Tower Downtown I went in to talk to Lacroix. But the guard would not buzz me up, and the elevator would not work. Instead I had to leave and go down into the sewers. There is a section that runs under the Ventrue building, which I was able to use to get into the basement, and from there get into the elevator.

I also found that as a Nosferatu you cannot use the cab to get from area to area. Instead you have to go down into the sewer. You need to find a map of the entire city (not one of just the local area). When you mouse over it, it will bring up the area transition map. You also get a book in your inventory about using the sewers.

All around, it is a lot different from playing one of the "normal" clans. It is a lot more challenging. But it also makes the game feel a lot different.



If this guy only knew how near he was to death

Kalma has turned into quite the ninja

As a Nos, she has to use these maps to travel around

Trying to talk to the guard at Ventrue Tower

Fat Larry's reaction to a Nosferatu

Some advice from Jack

Yes, I remember hearing about this in a video. It really is different playing a Nos, but then again it shouldn't be like the other clans and I think all in all they got around the problem pretty well.

Nice set of pics, btw.

I made some more discoveries playing a Nosferatu today.

First is the people who mill around the entrance of the Downtown club Confession will not break the Masquerade or call the cops if they see you. So you don't have to sneak or Obfuscate by them. I went to Santa Monica to try it there at the Asylum. But no one was around to experiment on.

Next is that Obfuscate at rank 4 allows you to stand up and walk/run while still invisible. That makes getting around a lot easier. However, I am getting better at using the sewers since I printed off some maps. Plus, those 3 blood points that Nossies get per rat really is a good deal. That was well done, the game gives you a reason to want to be down there.

Finally, the first time I got to Downtown Heather was no where to be found. I just assumed that if you play a Nosferatu she does not become your ghoul. I just finished the Elizabeth Dane recon mission, and she was there. I am guessing finishing that quest is the trigger for her appearance. Well, I was not expecting her to show up in the sewer! She was at the point where you warp in, right by the Ventrue Tower sewer entrance.

Here's a question for you Bloodliners: How did you solve Fat Larry's briefcase quest first time playing?

I don’t recall this quest.

In Vampire: the Masquerade- Bloodlines 2 news, Paradox has announced that they are delaying the game again due to developers Hardsuit Labs being removed from the project.

My first time I just went in and killed people. Then I found out you get extra XP if you sneak in and take the briefcase instead. So I reloaded my save and did it that way.

I also found in my current Nosferatu run through that making stealth kills on the way in also deprives you of the XP bonus. Even though you are still sneaking. So I had to redo that as well.


I read this a few hours ago. It looks to me like the game is dead. Literally everyone on the project has been fired or quit at this point.

Exactly! I’m a bit surprised they didn’t just cancel the game outright. How good can it be after having a whole different dev team come in and finish it? We’ll see I guess, but I’m not holding out much hope that it’ll be any good. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised? *shrugs*

As far as I can remember, Fat Larry has never offered any of my fledglings a quest. Was it something I said?

Here is what one of the walkthroughs says about Fat Larry:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIDE QUEST: TRAFFIK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OUTCOME: 2-4 XP, +1 Finance [1-5], $500

Fat Larry will give you this quest after you've bought a weapon from him [+: or
talked with him twice]. He wants you to go and steal a suitcase from an Asian
gang. There are two ways of doing this, either a full-front assault or the
sneaky way. Try to get the suitcase without anyone noticing for a bonus (2 XP).

For a full-front assault things are simple, go down the parking levels and kill
everyone until you reach the leaders, then grab the standing SUITCASE (1 XP).
Note that making stealth kills appears to count as doing this.

If you want to take the covert path, you must use the vents in order to move
through the underground parking. There will be ladders on the walls that will
take you to the vents. If you don't have Obfuscate you must note the pattern in
which the guards move in order to avoid them. The last vent will land you right
beside the gang boss and next to the SUITCASE. Grab it and then you're free to
kill everyone if you want. In one of the parking levels you'll also find a CAR
STEREO.

Now go back to Fat Larry (1 XP), if you persuaded him before to get a discount
as reward you'll get +1 to Finance, and finally take your hard earned money
($500). If you haven't talked to Venus yet, or if you are a Nosferatu and Venus
won't talk to you, Larry will point you to her and put in a good word for you.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a weapon from him. That might explain why I never got the quest.

I think just buying ammo from him triggers it? Can't say for certain though.


As for Crow, first couple of times I killed everyone but then I learned about the sneaky approach and subsequently did it that way instead.

Brigitte bought lots of anno from him. Never offered quest.

I wonder what weapon I bought from him that triggered it first time? The world will never know

Brigitte used the combat knife as her w.o.c for a long time. Most of the guns we picked up off of wasted NPCs.

Yeah, same here. I'm a cheapskate so I always got my weapons from fallen foes so I really do wonder what gun I actually bought

You should play again just to see if it’ll jog your memory.

Actually, I was gonna fire it up the other week just to check on my last character but apparently I had uninstalled it for some reason

So did you reinstall it?

Nah.

Lol bird

Playing a Nosferatu has been challenging, but fun. It really does change how the game plays. Obfuscate is really important. You want to raise that as fast as you can. Starting at rank 3, attacks from obfuscation do extra damage, with progressively higher bonus with each rank. At rank 4 you can move around without crouching and remain obfuscated. At rank 5 you can open doors and use computers without breaking obfuscation. At that point you can go anywhere except Elysium spaces with ease.

The sneak missions are almost always simple now. Fat Larry's Traffik quest had always given me problems trying to sneak down to the bottom of the parking garage before. Now I literally just walked past everyone. The same with Metalhead Industries. I had a little trouble with getting in the Giovanni Mansion. Instead of trying to get in the front door, I tried sneaking in the back. But there is a guard at the door, and you cannot just sneak past him to get in. The door won't open with hims standing there. So I tried using an empty sardine can to distract him into moving. But even if I flung it directly into him, he did not react. The problem was I was obfuscated. I had to turn off all my powers for him to notice the can. Then once I went in, all the guards were on alert, and the guests were gone. Not that I had any trouble sneaking past them all.

This is a great clan to play a ninja. I have never made so many sneak attack kills in this game. I picked up Fortitude from Beckett, and now she is a combo ninja/tank in melee.

Getting 3 blood points from each rat you drain really makes a difference too. I rarely even bother trying to hunt above ground. The rats are usually all I need to top off.

Well, I beat the game. P8eR M3 N00b$!! This was my first time doing the Anarch ending. It seemed a little odd, since it showed Lacroix doing what he does with the sarcophagus. Then it cut to a very brief scene of my character walking on the street. Or at least trying to walk. She was stuck in place, with her feet moving, but her body not actually going anywhere. Then it cut to Jack and the Cabbie talking. I recall the Independent ending showing my character walking past Nines and company on the street, and them looking dumbfounded. So I thought there would be some kind of reunion with the Anarchs. But I looked at the Anarch ending on YouTube, and it was the same way as it was for me. So I guess that is normal.