30-11-2004 00:06									#31
	Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by Trajanus It's pretty **** though that if you shoot at an enemy and your cursor is over the enemy's head you'll miss simply because you don't have the skill points. That's not very realistic isn't it. And it spoils the game. It would be better to give some extras like faster reload, possibility to use heavier weapons and things like that

In an FPS I'd agree, but there is nothing wrong with it in these FPS/RPG hybrids. Your character aims where the crosshair is, and he doesn't always hit it.

	30-11-2004 07:36									#32
	Tired of ads?

I don't know how to update my NVIDIA Geforce 4 4200 Go drivers. I went to the web site and thought I did and installed it but when I checked the settings the last driver update date was still a long time ago.

	30-11-2004 07:42									#33
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Yes, Apocalypse, that is precisely the problem I had. The thing about it is, if you read the list of cards that the driver on nVidia site supports, there are no Go cards there (at least there weren't last I checked, which was August or so), so when you install the driver, nothing actually happens. (Well, I don't know if that is *the* reason, but I found that's what happens.) So, basically, you want to go to the site of the manufacturer of your laptop, and get the drivers from there, if they have them. For instance, my laptop is a Toshiba, and on the toshiba site, there haven't been any updates since like 2001, so I get my drivers from Dell, which is not exactly a good thing, but it works.

	30-11-2004 09:44									#34
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Ok, did that. It worked (though it's kinda choppy) and then I got an error about virtual memory being too low.

	30-11-2004 09:56									#35
	Remove this text

Found a few more reviews that have this classified as a cross between Deus Ex and Morrowind.

I really really really have to get this. Drooling on one's keyboard gets a little embarassing when one has co-workers in close proximity.

	30-11-2004 10:18									#36
	Support Apolyton

Yeah, from what I can tell, it is really fun. It is just taking forever. I just need more RAM and maybe a better processor.

	30-11-2004 11:02									#37
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

To improve performance in Half-Life 2, you can choose to play the game in DX 8.1, DX 8 or even DX 7, instead of DX9. Since both games use the same engine, maybe it works for Vampire: Bloodlines also? For more details, check out the HL2 performance guide on Gamspot. The link is in the HL2 thread. Hope this can help.

	30-11-2004 17:46									#38
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Thanks. I'll look into it once I have some time to sift through that thread.

	30-11-2004 19:28									#39
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Here

You just have to click on directX

	01-12-2004 10:05									#40
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Meh...I ended up messing around today with some Army stuff (looking into branches) instead of messing with this...I'm just busy.

	01-12-2004 23:50									#41
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Sounds fascinating.

	02-12-2004 02:29									#42
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Well, I set the virtual memory higher and that allowed me to load a new section. I didn't do the directX thing right apparently since it's still fairly slow. I accidently killed a guy to instead of talking to him and police started firing. The game slowed down too much so I said screw it for now.

	24-12-2004 22:20									#43
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Well, I am at home now and installed it on a better computer. It works and the game is great. Probably near the level of Fallout and Arcanum in terms of atmosphere. At least so far anyway, I don't think I'm too far along. Combat is fine. Can get a little repetitive, but not nearly as much as KOTOR's so it's all good. There are some really good fights. The quests are pretty varied too. The dialog is just awesome too.

	25-12-2004 01:14									#44
	Increase the size of your Attachments

How does the dialogue works? Is it entirely spoken or are there accompanying subtitles?

	25-12-2004 01:47									#45
	Tired of ads?

Everything is spoken (well, not the player dialogis acc). The subtitles are optional. I have them on, though what they say is very clear. The choices you make can really affect the conversation and some quests might not be open in terms of what you say. There are various social skills to accomplish what you want to in dialog in various ways such as intimidation or persuasion.

	25-12-2004 03:35									#46
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Thanks. I was looking for more of along the lines of whether if everything (at least crucial dialogues) are subtitled (either by options settings or by default, it doesn't matter - as long it's available). I'm profound deaf so games that do not offer subtitling for important dialogues are moot for me.

	25-12-2004 04:17									#47
	Suffering from ads?

Oh, I see. It's a shame, because some of the sound effects are really good and the voice acting is very good much of the time.

	25-12-2004 23:44									#48
	Suffering from ads?

Even though I'm not deaf, I always play with sounds off. Some games rely entirely on sound for some purposes, sometimes things as essential as alerting you when something goes wrong or explaining things in a tutorial, and that's a real pain. And relying on sound effects to give atmosphere makes a game very poor when you have to play it without...

	26-12-2004 09:46									#49
	Suffering from ads?

quote: Originally posted by Apocalypse Oh, I see. It's a shame, because some of the sound effects are really good and the voice acting is very good much of the time.

:shrug: c'est la vie. Thanks for the info, it looks like I will be buying this game.

	28-12-2004 04:21									#50
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

I ended up beating the game...it's really good. The story ended up being fairly unique and rapping up nicely. It's nice to have an RPG not be the same old same old fantasy thing. The story isn't as good as say, Arcanum, but it's still really good.

	30-12-2004 03:31									#51
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Originally posted by LDiCesare Even though I'm not deaf, I always play with sounds off. Some games rely entirely on sound for some purposes, sometimes things as essential as alerting you when something goes wrong or explaining things in a tutorial, and that's a real pain. And relying on sound effects to give atmosphere makes a game very poor when you have to play it without...

Why would you play without sound? It is an integral part of making an immersive game.

	31-12-2004 06:57									#52
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Hmm. Patch is out. Somehow I cleverly managed to miss this. A week old now too.

http://www.vampirebloodlines.com/patch/

quote: Originally posted by LDiCesare Even though I'm not deaf, I always play with sounds off. Some games rely entirely on sound for some purposes, sometimes things as essential as alerting you when something goes wrong or explaining things in a tutorial, and that's a real pain. And relying on sound effects to give atmosphere makes a game very poor when you have to play it without...

I generally tend to regard sound effects as a secondary consideration too - being primarily a strategy gamer at heart.
I do think they have their place though - as long as they're used to enhance or add to an atmosphere rather than having said atmosphere consist of pretty much the sound effects alone.
I also find warning/alert sound effects useful in some situations - particularly when focussing on a complex interface or somesuch when you can alleviate the need for yet another popup with an easily recognizable omnidirectional alert of some sort.
It isn't really so much of a problem in most tbs games (ie: the genre that really matters ) but I can sometimes be a sucker for punishment.
To this day I occasionally fire up 'star wars : rebellion' for yet another attempt to try and like it.

[Mmmm. Perhaps I should've used the , or there instead ... ]

	31-12-2004 07:10									#53
	Full PM-box? Change here!

quote: Originally posted by ravagon Hmm. Patch is out. Somehow I cleverly managed to miss this. A week old now too. http://www.vampirebloodlines.com/patch/

Ah, thanks for the heads-up, ravagon! I missed the patch as well.

Vovan

	31-12-2004 16:04									#54
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Cool. I haven't got around to this yet, but I will, and now it should be relatively bug free.

	01-01-2005 03:14									#55
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

There had actually been a rather good fan made patch for a while...

	01-01-2005 14:37									#56
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

quote: Why would you play without sound? It is an integral part of making an immersive game.

I happen to have a family. I play and have my kids and wife around. If they are watching a silly thing on TV while I play and I switch sound on, do you imagine the result? If my son is doing his homework while I play, I don't want him to be unsettled by sounds from the computer, as there's already his sister who's disturbing him. etc. And I don't want to plug something in my ears either as I want to be able to stop playing if anyone calls me and asks me something, which means I must hear them.

	01-01-2005 19:13									#57
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by LDiCesare I happen to have a family. I play and have my kids and wife around. If they are watching a silly thing on TV while I play and I switch sound on, do you imagine the result? If my son is doing his homework while I play, I don't want him to be unsettled by sounds from the computer, as there's already his sister who's disturbing him. etc. And I don't want to plug something in my ears either as I want to be able to stop playing if anyone calls me and asks me something, which means I must hear them.

Well each to his own I guess. With Civ you can get away with no sound, but for games like Vampires the sound is so integral to the experience. Personally I don't see why you don't use headphones, and keep the volume low enough so you can hear people if necessary.

	01-01-2005 22:24									#58
	Full PM-box? Change here!

If the sounds are needed for the experience, then to me it's a bad game. I just don't like headphones. YMMV.

	02-01-2005 00:06									#59
	Tired of ads?

The sounds aren't needed, but they do add quite a bit.

	02-01-2005 01:11									#60
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

quote: Originally posted by LDiCesare If the sounds are needed for the experience, then to me it's a bad game.

That's just plain wrong, in my opinion anyway.