Wesp and other modders restored more content for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines:

Unofficial Patch Library Quest

A small video with infos about the creation of the Library Quest, created with OBS Studio and Shotcut. Download the Unofficial Patch from ModDB, Nexus Mods or The Patches Scrolls!

Thanks Couchpotato!

Wesp5 is still patching VtM: Bloodlines:

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Unofficial Patch

Thanks Couchpotato!

Tim Cain talks a little bit about two proposed VtM: Bloodlines exapnsions:

Proposed Expansions to Vampire Bloodlines

Thanks Couchpotato!

NeverKnowsBest looks back at Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines:

Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines Retrospective

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A look back at Troika Game's final title: the cult classic rpg Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines. A game full of good looking goth girls, succulent sewer rats and general depravity, but most important of all... good rpg design.

PC Gamer reports that EntenSchreck, Hareishan and Wesp5 have developed an unofficial prequel for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines:

The modders behind Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines' Unofficial Patch are making an unofficial prequel

The first chapter of Bloodlines Prelude is playable now.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is one of those games that's remembered so fondly, it's easy to forget what a mess it was when it launched. Developer Troika wasn't able to rectify those issues because sales were not good, forcing it to lay off virtually all its employees before closing down a few months later. But the underlying game was so excellent that fans got involved, releasing unofficial patches that fix bugs and restore cut content.

[...]

I love that modders are still finding ways to fix and improve a 15-year-old RPG, but what's even more interesting here is the release of Bloodlines Prelude 1. Developed by Werner Spahl, aka Unofficial Patch maker Wesp5, along with modders EntenSchreck and Hareishan, it's the first part of an episodic prequel that will lead into the events of the original game. The opening chapter casts the player as a human member of the Society of Leopold, an ancient organization dedicated to hunting and killing supernatural creatures; Wesp5 said that players will be vampires through the rest of the prequel chapters.

[...]

Thanks Zloth!

DSOGaming reports on a new unoffical patch for Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

Version 10.3 improves Sabbat ending and choice dialogues, restores beachhouse PC difficulty and locked Tung’s tank in basic, fixes map holes outside Ocean House and lowered ghost music there, fixes warrens door, restores whispers and removes rats for basic, and more.

Those interested can download the mod from here, and below you can find its complete changelog.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Rock Paper Shotgun speculates that a sequel to Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines will be announced on March 21st:

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines sequel might be sneaking up on us at GDC

The blood moon rises. The elders at RPS have reported feeling twinges in their necks and a mild taste of iron in their mouths. In other words, a sequel to early 2000s neckbiter RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines might be announced at the Game Developers Conference next month. The heavy teasing of an alternate reality game has been traced back to Paradox Interactive (the folks who own White Wolf, the publisher of the vampire RPG) and some clues have popped up. The company haven’t officially announced anything but players of the ARG discovered a date and city being mentioned by one of its characters. The 21st of March and San Francisco. And would you look at that. GDC is happening on the 21st of March. I’ve tried to calm the elders down by feeding them blood sausage and black pudding, but they won’t be contained. They’re convinced Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is finally getting a sequel.

Alec told you about this ARG before. Basically, it’s a pretend dating app called Tender, and the more you fiddle with it, the more you learn about its fictional tech company. It is heavily implied they are soulless bloodsucking immortals. That’s Silicon Valley types for you. But among the references to vampirism and documents from the fictional company, players have discovered an internal memo from its CEO, Malcolm Chandler.

“We must be ready for San Francisco on March 21st,” he says. “Mark that date. This will be the biggest announcement in the history of my company.”

[...]

@DSOGaming Paradox Interactive are looking into a sequel for Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is considered nowadays a classic PC RPG. Created by Troika Games, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines was plagued by a number of bugs and issues that were resolved by its community. And according to Paradox’s CEO, the team is looking into a sequel.

[...]

PCGamesN pennend down an interesting article about Werner Spahl - the man behind the unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.

One man's endless quest to fix Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has grown into something of a legend among PC gamers. You will hear whispers on subreddits about its troubled development and what a technical disaster it was upon release in 2004, even though relatively few people actually played it back then. You will read declarations on RPG forums that it is a masterpiece, perhaps even one of the best games ever made - with unforgettable quests, excellent writing, and diverse character customisation. But are they praising the game as it was or the game as it is now?

The truth is that Bloodlines was lacking when it launched. It was full of unfinished quests, bugs, unbalanced abilities, and missing areas. Still, something at its heart was able to bewitch a small group of players; they saw in it a foundation on which to build. This band of acolytes devoted themselves to improving the game, and one devotee in particular - chemistry professor Werner Spahl - has spent the past 12 years stitching together Bloodlines with his unofficial patch.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

A new unofficial patch for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines has been released.

A retrospective from Indigo Gaming on Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

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In the third and final chapter of a 3-part Troika Games retrospective, I will take a look at Leonard Boyarsky, Jason Anderson and Tim Cain's RPG classic, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. This series will cover all three games they developed, how they innovated, what didn't succeed and and attempt at the age-old question: "What happened to Troika Games?"

In Vampire: Bloodlines, you play a fledgling vampire caught in a complex power play between the Camarilla, the rebellious Anarchs and the dangerous Sabbat; in a World of Darkness, filled with betrayal, ambition and politics of the night. Based on the beloved pen and paper game. Let's take an in-depth look at what made this game great but also what destroyed its chances of success in this Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines retrospective.

@rpgcodex Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines now has a new patch which fixs a LOD (level of detail) issue in the game. With the patch the game will always use high poly models.

Anyway, I just re-installed Bloodlines a couple of days back after watching that cringy love letter video on YouTube. It's still the best shit game, I love it. However, there's a jarring issue all too apparent on modern systems. It has a Half-Life 2 style LOD (level of detail) system in place, basically models (both NPC and static) start rapidly losing polygons as you move a few steps away from them. Everything constantly switches between low poly and high poly (each model has 5 versions in total). Like that cop going down the road starts with a buttonless shirt and then his shirt suddenly has buttons as he moves closer to you.

[...]

tl;dr HOW TO INSTALL

DIY:
Open engine.dll in a hex editor. Change 0x01 to 0x00 at 0xA6791. (OR you can do it in memory with Cheat Engine or something, the address is 0x200A6791)

Download:
This is a pre-patched engine.dll from Wesp5 patch 9.6. Put it to your \bin folder.

The RPGCodex has Master Spies, too:

Last October Vampire: the Masquerade was trademarked for computer games. Now White Wolf Publishing AB filed a trademark for Vampire Bloodlines as well.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is available now @GOG.

There will be blood. Delicious blood.
Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines^TM, the timeless RPG masterpiece that has sucked many a gamer's time, is now available, DRM-free on GOG.com.
Intoxicating. Macabre. Vital. These are both traits of blood and of Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines^TM, the RPG that forever changed expectations on how the creatures of the night should be depicted in videogames. Was it the ridiculous replayability? The versatility of our vampiric abilities? The gripping visual and sound design? Perhaps the memorable NPCs and stellar writing. One thing is for certain: much like the daunting Antediluvians, this is a game whose allure only grows stronger with time. No point in resisting it any longer.
Sink your teeth into the definitive bloodsucking experience that is Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines^TM, DRM-free on GOG.com.

Note: This version includes third-party technical fixes, courtesy of Wesp5. The full unofficial patch, which also includes additional content, can be found over at Patches Scrolls.

GaminGHD.ro looks back at Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines and talks about its atmosphere and style.

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Some would Bloodlines a flawed masterpiece, but that really does it a disservice, because its greatest achievement can not be overshadowed by bugs. You wouldn’t fault Venus for not having arms.

Wesp5 is still working on Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Patch 9.5 beta is out:

Changelog:

v9.5 20.03.2016

• Recreated Smoke Shop in SM and integrated it into the libray quest.
• Created Coffee Shop in SM and integrated it into the libray quest.
• Restored nine random sounds to Giovanni Mansion and Malkavian Maze.
• Added two new Malkavian Maze areas and riddle, thanks to Psycho-A.
• Improved cook model, oilrig reflection and SDK, thanks to Psycho-A.
• Fixed Patty-turnstile-issue and many map details, thanks Psycho-A.
• Restored four muffled sounds to downtown and two to Hollywood hubs.
• Fixed SPAS secondary fire spread and made Chastity biteable again.
• Added skulls to ritual chamber and fixed Red Spot storage door bug.
• Fixed delayed identification of occult powerups and infobar icons.
• Added new notes to museum outside and to the two Santa Monica hubs.
• Made Edward's theme play only after the Ocean House has been left.
• Restored two newspaper headers and fixed whispers, thanks Psycho-A.
• Fixed library guard sound group and added post-installation-infos.
• Made male blood doll bi and fixed some other minor dialogue issues.
• Fixed Ming temple clipping columns and improved notes readability.
• Removed basic maze note, plus emails and ignitions on Fu explosion.
• Disabled bad downtown hospital sounds and illogical debris vanish.
• Added infos about Auspex auras, Numina and more to the walkthrough.
• Removed Malkavian whispers of other clans in tutorial and warrens.
• Changed name of combination hunter shield Numina to "Faith Shield".
• Restored Sin Bin machine breaking and adjusted Giovanni door lock.
• Corrected netcafe sound schemes switch and fixed many streetlights.
• Fixed SM schrecknet door lock and disabled a Venture Tower button.

@NicheGamer reports that an audio overhaul mod has been released for this classic game. Its available now from Moddb.

The mod does not (currently) change the voice acting, but nearly everything else is being replaced, with emphasis on the weapon effects. Guns are louder and reverberate more, knives make slicing sounds when connecting with flesh, and even stealth kills get their own sounds effects as well. Hybrid V has also shared his roadmap for the mod's progress:

- 1st Release (Current Build) Combat Overhaul. Replacing most if not all combat related audio such as guns and melee weapons along with impact sounds, shell casings and stealth kill SFX.

- 2nd Release (Coming Soon!) Magic Overhaul. Reworking all Magic SFX within VTMB with new high detailed versions, including new sounds for clan magic as well as NPC magic.

- 3rd Release (Coming Soon!) World and Atmosphere Overhaul. Revisiting a lot of the audio that populates the world including interior audio, new weather SFX as new atmospheric sounds to give more immersion to the locations within VTMB.

Possible future additions may include new dialog options, different mod versions for those who only want certain features, and partnerships with other mod makers to work on their audio files as well.

A new patch for VtM: Bloodlines is out:

Unofficial Patch 9.4 by Wesp5 and The Bloodlines Community

Thank you Couch!

Wesp has released the next update of his unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Some of the new changes/fixes are listed below.

+Recreated Malkavian Maze and Warrens Shortcut, thanks EntenSchreck.
+All four new levels optimized, thanks to atrblizzard and Psycho-A.
+Improved library quest emails and restored big moon to Ocean House.
+Made tutorial guard and Luckee Star easter egg vanish after scene.
+Fixed blood pack appearing in SM haven and Skelter blocking stairs.
+Improved library and atrium maps and removed Giovanni well spirit.
+Made it possible to do the cemetery quest after getting Romero fun.
+Included eye replacer mod, but made it deselectable, thanks Nivea.
+Added installer option to deselect casting and changed disciplines.
+Corrected beachhouse dog vanishing and dealing damage after death.
+Made auto-move and walk/run toggles be definable, thanks to Malkav.
+Fixed Johansen always following you and Romero's whore trying too.
+Made it possible to freely select one of Beckett's new disciplines.
+Corrected cabbie sewer animation and Venture Tower elevator issue.

A mod for VtM: Bloodlines called Antitribu was released this week on ModDB, and adds a ton of new content to the game. So lets get the description out of the way first.

Bloodlines Antitribu is mod/expansion developed for Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines – a classic game based on the PnP world of darkness. Here you can find a full list of changes.

Added over seven new clans each with completely new character models and unique traits. Each clan also comes with a signature Discipline, all of which are completely unique and special with new mechanics unknown to the game such as summoning Zombies and Shadow Tentacles, turning into an actual Cobra that spits venomous acid or a true horrid form which only nightmares are made of. To get a glimpse of what clans are included see “About the Clans“.

Unique mechanics are also introduced in the mod, such as kicking and blocking with shields which makes combat even more complex and exciting than before. However do note that the enemies have also grown smarter and now have new powers and abilities, some of which can be devastating to the inexperienced neonate.

Another unique mechanics added to the game are the NPC Disciplines. In the original game, some enemies possessed only passive effects and auras, now they have active disciplines. This means that the enemy can cast powerful spells and disciplines that can change the tide of the battle.

Over 600 new friendly and not so friendly characters were added, which vary from humanoids like hunters, vampires, mages and zombies to more complex creatures such as new monster bosses which can be discovered in the game.

You find can more information and videos on the mods webpage.

The creators of Project Vaulderie, a remake of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines in the Unity engine with multiplayer support, have received a cease and decist letter from CCP Games and have now canceled the project.

As of now, you may be wondering why we haven’t been sharing any updates on the behalf of the project as of late. We are aware that all of you wait patiently for our news as always.
 
We’re very sad to report that we received a Cease & Desist e-mail from CCP Games, asking us to cease game development, remove any materials that might contain Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, names, locations or related elements from the sites we control, and cease any further use of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines property, and in a disappointment shared among our team we are complying with that request. All of this invalidates our effort and the meaning of the entire project: as a remake of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines cannot be a remake without its original contents.
 
Over the course, you have fought with us and been patient. You have trusted us when we were silent and listened when we spoke. Many of you have done what you could to help us. And for that we would like to thank you. You’re a wonderful group of fans and have been very supportive. It goes without saying that your interest was far greater than our team would have even anticipated.
We have been deeply honored by the support we have received from you all and we believe that the best relationship we can have with you is that of honesty and transparency.
 
Along with your support, we’ve received a lot of sympathies from former developers on Bloodlines and former White Wolf employees along the way. Our contact told us that the copyrights were with Activision, Inc., so we pursued there instead, with a pitch being prepared for the company to discuss what we were going to do with the property. This contact we knew from CCP has since left the company.
 
We made it quite clear that this is a fan re-imagining of the game. We simply want to do this to keep the game, the story, and the world it lives in, alive and re-imagined for a new generation. Both the game and the idea behind the project was made sorely with out of passion.
 
Since support of the game dropped long ago, ever since the fall of Troika Games, Inc., and it’s almost impossible to play without patches or bug fixes, sponsored by the community, and there is so much left that could be finished that hasn’t been touched. We want to see this game thrive, in a time and industry where games with deep lore and storylines like Bloodlines simply are hard to come by. Project Vaulderie would help revive interest in a game that was forgotten with time, and I believe all parties could have benefit from its creation.
 
But that will not be the case anymore, and it’s clear that there won’t be any newer titles created under the Vampire the Masquerade brand, as this project was the only hope for Bloodlines to reborn from the ashes they were left to cease.
 
We are avidly seeking a resolute course to continue working on a future game, but we cannot at this time discuss this publicly and with that I urge you to please be patient and hopeful that we will find a way.

Thanks M00nlight!

Wesp has released the next update of his unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Some of the changes are listed below as I usually do on these posts.

Unofficial Patch 9.2

+Fixed issue with cleaned appartment and removed some cable shaking.
+Added more Trip and turnstile lines and unknown Occult item infos.
+Corrected Obfuscator aura and one missing halo for tutorial wolves.
+Restored missing Ocean House newspaper and made photos look sepia.
+Added quest state for warehouse bonus and fixed minor text details.
+Restored generators to Leopold Society and improved warehouse one.
+Added toiletries to Skyeline haven and fixed SM victim standing up.
+Changed library boss teleport behaviour and fixed his cover nodes.
+Moved Braid Talisman into the Hallowbrook atrium and removed blade.
+Restored Copper Masquerade violation and added a line about Nines.
+Added Combat to feat names, restored Soak and called Social Public.
Repaired dialogues of Knox, Heather, Therese, Vandal and Dane cop.
Fixed some dirt floating inside of holes and more minor map issues.
Made only Chunk use the Gallery Noir entrance to hide during rain.
Repaired popping Ocean House sounds and getting stuck with witness.
Hid Ocean House and Grout's mansion blocks and a downtown texture.
Doubled distance in which detail models fade away, thanks to QUAKE.
Fixed Skyeline elevator issue and VPK packing, thanks vladdmaster.
Added updated fileutil.py into Python 2.7.2 folder, thanks Hasimir.
Fixed Jack not replying due to Python vamputil.py, thanks Hasimir.

Cara Ellison of Rock, Paper, Shotgun posted the second part of her retrospective article for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines that focus on the quests with Jeanette. 

This is the second part of my Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines Diary. You can read the first part here. All of this is huge spoilers so it’s only your OWN fault if you read any of this and then ruin your whole life because you spoilered this wonderful game and then you will never like anything again, and love will seem hollow.

Wesp has released the next version of his unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Some of the changes are listed below as I usually do on these posts.

Added Nines' gesture and improved Wong Ho one, thanks vladdmaster.

Removed Beckett warehouse stealth message and sleepers standing up.

Removed visible Pisha victim and improved scary Ocean House sounds.

Fixed tutorial invisible-popups-teleporting and minor text issues.

Fixed sewer sound transitions on SM, Hollywood and Chinatown hubs.

Fixed map holes at Skyeline vent top and Leopold Society sea cave.

Fixed Christopher, Damsel, Gary, Johansen and McFly dialogue bugs.

Repaired possible Ming after Hallowbrook bug and warrens doorblock.

Corrected syntax errors using VTMBedit and fatguys not using claws.

Corrected tilted Hollywood streetlights and removed Asphole block.

Made Steam default folder and added numbers to Empire Hotel floors.

Repaired Grout's candles and Heather's clothes, thanks vladdmaster.

Adjusted health bar frame and weapon/discpline highlight graphics.

Hid Blood Hunt flickering with dumpsters and removed sewer copcars.

Restored Giovanni meeting guys and fixed Ocean House model details.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Cara Ellison has written a new article for Vampire The Masquerade:Bloodlines as part of her S.EXE columns , and posted the first part.

Bloodlines treats characters as much more complex than we have a right to expect from games, though I think there could be huge improvement in its treatment of women and sexuality, and its treatment of people of colour is very poor. It still manages to stand out from other games in the way it welcomes sexual themes, and doesn’t end up being hamfisted about the negotiations spurred on by them. The grimy, murky environmental art only serves to make the world somehow smokier, sexier too. The mood is an important reason you indulge the cartoonish character models. It’s hard to make NPCs into real, live people. It’s hard to make a player feel like they are a sexual being. Somehow Troika did it, by preserving a particular mood, by making characters bluster in with all their id and ego and a charming rapport. They made you understand that although the game wants you to fetishise others (namely goth chicks), that those goth chicks have agendas. And yes, the next time we visit, perhaps when my laptop is not so broken, we will talk more about Jeanette and her brash seduction techniques.

Matt dives into Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines to share with us why this remains to be one fo the best vampire themed role playing games.

Eurogamer's Rick Lane dusts off an old article for Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines he posted a few years back. So if you missed the article here is your chance to read it.

On November 16, 2004, two games powered by the Source engine were released for the PC. The first was quickly heralded as a modern classic, leading to its creators becoming one of the most influential companies in the games industry. The second was largely ignored, resulting in the closure of its developer and the scattering of its designers to the winds.

"It was dumped on the market at the worst possible time - most people didn't even know we were out," says Brian Mitsoda, the former lead writer on Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines "Both fans and the Troika devs are always going to wonder what the game could have been like with another six months."

Bloodlines was sent out to die. An unfinished game released prematurely by its publishers Activision, it didn't stand a chance on the shelves, especially alongside the hotly anticipated Half Life 2. But the commercial death of Bloodlines wasn't the end for the game. Thanks to a German analytical chemist with a passion for fixing broken things, Bloodlines has received not six months of additional work, but nine full years.

This is the story of two men who breathed life into the same game - one before it was born, the other after it died.

Pixel Critique has new article in their ten years later column that takes a look at Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Here is a small sample of the retrospectivearticle,

Bloodlines is cursed to experience immortality as the horrifying, yet undeniably intriguing, king of the fringe. What more appropriate legacy could a game about vampires have? 10 years later, you can be guaranteed that somebody, somewhere is re-installing Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines, whenever it is mentioned.

Wesp has released the next version of his unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Some of the changes are listed below.

Unofficial Patch 9.0

+Added Heather to sewers for Nosferatu and improved new idle sounds.
+Made stealth killing Johnny possible when using Obfuscate level 5.
+Added possibility to keep the quick Nosferatu in the warrens alive.
+Cleaned Mercurio's apartment after a time and fixed a SM map hole.
+Added seven missing infobar sounds and created seven infobar icons.
+Restored drug stealing quest of Trip for one XP and Finance bonus.
+Removed Blood Guardian waterspray and made Lily's purse unsellable.
+Fixed bug with casting Bloodbuff breaking off lockpicking attempt.
+Raised high firearms book requirement to 9 and updated travel maps.
+Made Hallowbrook atrium barrels solid and enemies navigate better.
+Restored Justicar to Camarilla ending and Jack's face for LaSombra.
+Moved fire axe to crashing elevator top and fatguy to atrium exit.
+Restored unused models to Society of Leopold, warehouse and Zhao's.
+Changed library to combat zone and fixed rotunda decal flickering.
+Repaired hearing warehouse boss conversation twice and some floats.
+Made Nadia react to zombies damaging player and removed fake door.
+Gave Occult Nut a Scholarship bonus and fixed new discipline lines.
+Fixed icons at Giovanni mansion and made Bruno react to feed-kill.
Added modified trackerscheme into Extras to change Malkavian fonts.
Repaired Carson, Knox, Damsel, Yukie, Regent and Hatter dialogues.
Fixed two inverted textures and renamed Sheriff's warform Behemoth.
Restored three King's Way headrunner for Nosferatu and Malkavians.
Lowered McFly's float rate and fixed references to missing Heather.
Added documents to Extras to reveal where restorations originated.
Attached floor number to Empire Arms suite names in hotel computer.
Fixed three wrong loop sounds and moved a Mandarin line elsewhere.
Corrected some bug fixes that were lost in 8.9, thanks vladdmaster.
Restored blast door to Giovanni crypt and fixed tutorial door bug.
Improved Nosferatu Nines intro and map details, thanks vladdmaster.
Fixed sewer sound transitions on SM, Hollywood and Chinatown hubs.
Corrected two bad Lotus Blossom icons and lowered Skyeline humming.

Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines delivers a new type of RPG experience-one that blends all the core elements of a traditional RPG with the graphical richness, immediacy and brutal combat of a first-person action game. The game plunges players into the dark and gritty vampire underworld of modern-day L.A. as a creature of the night. Players will develop their character's powers, interact with other characters and embark on story-driven quests as they battle mortals and other vampires with an incredible array of vampire powers and weapons. Powered by Valve's Source Technology, the game is based on White Wolf's popular Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper RPG series and its official clans.

Project Vaulderie is a new mod project for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines with the goal of recreating the entire game using the unity game engine.

What is Project Vaulderie?

Project Vaulderie is a non-commercial project that aims to recreate the Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines game to Unity. The goals we try to achieve with this tremendous effort are many. First and foremost is fixing a lot of bugs and glitches which can’t be fixed by normal fan made patches simply because they are caused by the protected executables and the Alpha state of Source Engine used by the game. Secondly, taking advantage of new features available in Unity engine as well of the new SDK tools planned along with it that allows anyone to mod it. Third, updating the game to up to date graphics and technology.

What is Bloodlines Resurgence then?

Bloodlines Resurgence was originally the project that aimed to recreate the game in Source engine. It has always suffered from progressive development, mainly because of the nature on how Source engine works. Source was built based on Half-Life and Quake code, also sharing their similarities on their pipeline. As for modding, the Source SDK always suffered enormous issues, not being updated for years, outdated engine branches and so on. Comparing Source with other modern engines, it’s rather limited in design and pipeline. Support is dropped in favor of the Unity port.

Why Unity?

The reason why we decided to go with Unity is because it’s the closest to get to Source. While there are already tools in development that make porting from Source transparent, minimizing the time for development and pipeline. The key is to develop a game that can take advantage of today’s technology in not only rendering but also in development tools. Unity is well known for its extensive scripting, plugin support and a high vast of tutorials praised by its consumers. Why Unity stands solid grounds Last year we had a small prototype test whether UDK would be more suitable or not. From the time we’ve experimented on it, their pipeline was drastically better than Source’s but it was rather limited when it came to their scripting and art pipeline. Scripting was done only via UnrealScript which is more or less based on C++ and you have little control over replacing parts of the engine since UDK doesn’t provide access to the engine code. That has to be done via licensing the engine itself. Importing the art assets was pretty straightforward, because it is similar to Unity’s, being able to import raw textures and models. But all of them had to be packaged in separate package files which also had its own limitations. On the other hand, in Unity everything is done loosely on the development part. As mentioned earlier, Unity is very expandable and flexible, can support editor extensions and plugins, Importing maps is almost effortless, with an few amount of reconstruction, faster prototyping, in-game preview of the whole scene without leaving the editor and more.

Sounds to ambitious to me, but I hope the team succeeds. If you want to help the team in making the project you can. They are looking for the following help.

Any way we can help?

Right now we’re still trying to set up the framework for most game feature and mechanics. While it’s still in early stages, we’re more than welcome to hear from anyone interested in shaping this classic into the great game it deserves.

We are looking for programmers experienced either with C# or JavaScript, including Unity which would be ideal. We are also looking for texture artists and modelers to improve game assets.

Wesp has released the next version of his unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The changes are described below.

+Recreated missing Hallowbrook atrium level, thanks to EntenSchreck.
+Moved Sabbat choice into Hallowbrook atrium and added missing XPs.
+Restored male blood doll at Red Dragon by using former Tong mugger.
+Recreated "maze" room at Grout's Mansion and restored three icons.
+Fixed some minor discipline issues and restored the basic versions.
+Restored ten decals, moved others and removed restored from basic.
+Fixed warform using occult items issue and improved Bloodheal rate.
+Added two inspections, warehouse boss talk trigger and moved Yugo.
+Increased flamethrower ammo and provided Desert Eagle ammo earlier.
+Disarmed Dominated guard bomb on taking and fixed one sound there.
+Avoided crashing when testing out too many histories, thanks to AJ.
+Added Intimidating Milligan for Nosferatu and fixed armor effects.
+Made it possible to give redundant items to LaCroix and other NPCs.
+Unleaked and improved library and atrium maps, thanks to Psycho-A.
+Restored discipline or weapon selection toggle and Flynn as vendor.
+Moved crying girl near cops at pier and changed her to unique NPC.
+Restored Ocean House boiler model and animated warehouse generator.
+Fixed details of thug, Andrei, Ox, LaCroix, VV and Lily dialogues.
+Made spooky cover sound once and plus only and added steam to Yugo.
+Removed thugs from diner after quest if you avoided fighting them.
+Fixed warrens mist issue and made fatguys use the claws more often.
+Restored or fixed fourty NPC gestures and fixed Confession blocks.
+Made Braid Talisman raise Wits and restored SM Chunk avoiding rain.
+Added Empire Hotel and ending dance spots and made Glaze one plus.

Wesp has released his unofficial patch v8.8 update for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The changes are described below.

Pixels Or Death has posted part one of their retrospective of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines were a group of different editors play the game.

Now that it’s October, the RPG Club finds themselves playing Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines because that’s as close as we’ll likely ever come to a “theme” for anything and colons are pretty great. The first week sees the gang pushing their way through the seedy underbelly of Santa Monica, learning a lot about vampires along the way, like the fact that vampires can actually be pretty nice folks (considering). Oh, and some obligatory thing about John DiMaggio.

GamingLives takes a look back at Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines in this new retrospective.

In 2004, Activision seemed to want the project over. They brought the game out as soon as was legally possible and, in the process, took the sales-killing decision to release it on the same day as Half-Life 2 (due to a contract with Valve not to release it before theirs). The original plan had been to release Bloodlines in the spring in 2005 to avoid competition with Half-Life 2, Halo 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, yet Bloodlines was condemned to be out-competed and rushed in a release that lead writer Brian Mitsoda said “felt one step up from being sold at a yard sale.”

The notoriously-overambitious developer was left without an assigned producer from Activision for over a year, meaning that the project went off on tangents and was allowed to bloat. The resulting crunch to meet the new release date must have been like receiving a thousand sit-ups via electrical stimulation in a single minute; a kill or cure remedy. David Mullich, the producer, described it as “a very gruelling project,” while Brian Mitsoda said that the “the worst” part of the game had been its “scope [...] burning me out for a couple of months after the project was over.” Although he did add that, as bad as that was, it was on par with “realizing that, for the rest of your career, you probably won’t get to write anything like Bloodlines.”

With all these problems, the question becomes not ‘how did Bloodlines fail?’ but ‘how did it become so popular in the first instance?’ How did a game so unfinished and so overambitious secure its place in the hearts and minds of so many gamers? Because it was everything other than finished. It may not have had polish, but it had soul; an atmospheric world with great characters and voicing created the perfect feel for the game. While clearly an early commercial failure, I cannot help but feel that commercial success could have come with time as, in all these years, the reviews and popularity has not waned. Even with such glaring flaws, Bloodlines is a success. No doubt the business side of Troika Games had some faults (as Leonard Boyarsky admitted) but the decision of Activision to release Bloodlines some six months earlier than planned was brave at best.

Wesp has released his unofficial patch v8.7 update for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The changes are described below.

v8.7
----
+Added a Sabbat option to endgame and improved library level details.
+Turned library boss to LaSombra and made him appear at SM junkyard.
+Improved restored broadsword damage and made Dane items undroppable.
+Added dialogue to diner trap and moved Obfuscator to original spot.
+Set eight occult powerups to be unknown unless Research stat is met.
+Removed girl body from King's Way again and two Ash sewer switches.
+Made turnstile turn and restored Empire TV news, thanks vladdmaster.
+Fixed downtown elevators and added five arrows, thanks vladdmaster.
+Added credits to easter egg ending and moved Yugo near SM blueblood.
+Removed a Gangrel animation and fixed idle howling during dialogue.
+Fixed Mandarin dialogue not starting if Obfuscated and a Carson bug.
+Made Strauss give Fae Charm and Isaac Pearl or money when in basic.
+Placed two patrons into Lotus Blossom and lowered perceptions there.
+Restored several unused doors to tattoo shop and Hallowbrook lobby.
+Increased durations of level 3 Dementation and Dominate disciplines.

And of course many more misc fixes.

+Made Romero boink possible after zombie quest and Wong Ho stand up.
Activated asian vampire laptop screensaver and cover sound variable.
Fixed basic poster quest order and only Nosferatu getting CD email.
Corrected several downtown NPCs stats and Beckett's cut lines again.
Added netcafe entry update for Ash and fixed Venture Tower handles.
Fixed final Masquerade violation crashes and five bad opening doors.
Corrected console errors on game start and a museum guard AI place.
Restored plaguebearer quest log, Regent line and Kerri waiting line.
Hid male Gangrel player model hole and rearranged UP Python scrips.
Prevented zero Humanity in Johansen dialogue and delayed Nines line.
Corrected Anders/Ingvar and Larry's quest errors using sound files.
Repaired bad Ocean House basement sprite and traffic lights on hubs.
Locked morgue freezers, fixed text issues and improved level names.
Improved observatory cutscene cameras and fixed high stats tutorial.
Fixed killing downtown Ming and replaced boat-ending asian vampire.
Corrected tutorial issues and restored one sign, thanks vladdmaster.

Thanks go to kinnsy for spotting this first.

Eurogamer has a retrospective article for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It also talks about Werner "Wesp5" Spahl, and his famous unofficial patch that keep the game alive.

It even has a catchy opening parargragh.

On November 16, 2004, two games powered by the Source engine were released for the PC. The first was quickly heralded as a modern classic, leading to its creators becoming one of the most influential companies in the games industry. The second was largely ignored, resulting in the closure of its developer and the scattering of its designers to the winds.

"It was dumped on the market at the worst possible time - most people didn't even know we were out," says Brian Mitsoda, the former lead writer on Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines "Both fans and the Troika devs are always going to wonder what the game could have been like with another six months."

Bloodlines was sent out to die. An unfinished game released prematurely by its publishers Activision, it didn't stand a chance on the shelves, especially alongside the hotly anticipated Half Life 2. But the commercial death of Bloodlines wasn't the end for the game. Thanks to a German analytical chemist with a passion for fixing broken things, Bloodlines has received not six months of additional work, but nine full years.

This is the story of two men who breathed life into the same game - one before it was born, the other after it died.

Wesp has released his unofficial patch v8.6 update for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Some of those tweaks are as follows:

+Restored Confession turnstile, King's Way animation and six decals.
+Restored discipline crosshair, tutorial graphic and some particles.
+Restored Dominate Command instead of Trance, thanks to EntenSchreck.
+Restored embrace and discipline hud particles, thanks EntenSchreck.
+Improved Presence dialogue options and raised haven bum cash to $10.
+Improved getting new discipline and keeping the .38 in the tutorial.
+Added new idle animations, some with whispers, thanks EntenSchreck.
+Added Humanity losses and gains to SM blueblood and tutorial guard.
+Made Pearl of Dubai Charisma powerup again and fixed Mercurio money.
+Removed Toreador and Ventrue stats bonuses and improved library map.

Returned Steyr AUG Sabbats to Hallowbrook and Zulo fire sensitivity.
Moved possible Gimble's entrance block and fixed minor text details.
Made Beckett invincible at the pier and updated walkthrough issues.
Corrected XP and restored log for unravelling Knox and Bertram plan.
Fixed Phil and Vandal dialogues and raised Well Educated penalties.
Fixed Romero moving strange if you block him and minor text issues.

Wesp keeps om truckin' with v8.5 of his Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines. A snip on the restores content from this release:

Restored Content (+)
+Added and fixed some last library textures, thanks to burgermeister.
+Restored Ocean House valve, sprinkler, cans, doors and some sounds.
+Restored two menu effects and unused Pisha eyes for LaSombra female.
+Restored Malkavian disciplines Veil and Voice, thanks EntenSchreck.
+Restored ten scenery props into sewers and Hallowbrook Hotel levels.
+Restored water, steam, fire and vomit effects, thanks EntenSchreck.
+Restored character creation questions and a sewer-cabbie animation.

Wesp5's unofficial patch for this game has reached v8.1 and has been released. The link to the patch download: http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php

The link to the changelog: http://forum.dlh.net/thread.php?threadid=37032

And the changelog itself:

v8.1 26.06.2012
----
+Restored third person Thaumaturgy animation, thanks to EntenSchreck.
+Fixed tutorial guard Humanity issues and getting stuck with Gimble.
+Added Fortitude, Potence and more particles, thanks to Entenschreck.
+Restored private dance for Misti and Beckett leaving the warehouse.
+Improved new idling and new bats, thanks to Entenschreck and Malkav.
+Restored Andrei scene and Presence effects, thanks to Entenschreck.
+Moved new Gary poster quest items around to prepare for library map.
+Improved poster quest logs and canceled Vandal quest on paying him.
+Added missing Animalism particles and update to Ash's Leopold quest.
+Restored an Ocean House ghost sequence and missing tutorial sounds.
+Added Blood Eye as Purge partial resistance, thanks to EntenSchreck.
Improved cameras of Nines' intro, roof exit and epilogue cutscenes.
Fixed claws usage in gallery, Hallowbrook Hotel and Grout's mansion.
Corrected Yukie and Pisha dialogue issues and restored Nines' line.
Restored Venture Tower bodies after Sabbat attack, thanks to Malkav.
Removed illogical first SM quest info and fixed minor text details.
Fixed impossible warrens start location and teleporting at junkyard.
Added cfg and scripts for modding, thanks to Dheu and EntenSchreck.
Restored three more histories for each clan and minor level details.

I play around with Vampire: Bloodlines every time Wesp puts out a major-version Unofficial Patch - with v8.0 just released, I guess I have to reinstall again. Grab the file from The Patches Scrolls or read the notes here.

It's hard to believe this hasn't morphed into another game entirely after all this work from Wesp...Unofficial Patch for Vampire: Bloodlines has hit v7.9 - details and files from the Patches Scrolls:

v7.9 22.11.2011
----
+Restored Giovanni spirit, video victim and fifty five scenery props.
+Changed condition for forklift sequence and restored Protean icons.
+Added option to send Gimble to Vandal and a museum panel inspection.
+Restored final two music pieces, thanks to Malkav and Rik Schaffer.
Corrected Romero not mailing and Vandal not giving additional lines.
Fixed chandelier and camera rod textures and drinking glasses clip.
Removed newspaper from downtown in basic and fixed minor map issues.
Added Packfile Explorer 3.9 to Extras folder, thanks to Dave Gaunt.
Fixed Hitman quest problem and restored lines of Lu Fang and Carson.
Repaired dancer behaviour at Confession and added it for Glaze too.
Restored Blood Hunt music, ballroom shaft of light and Sin Bin sign.              

Wesp5 has released his v.7.8 unofficial patch for this game. It can be downloaded from here.
A changelog list can be found here. For good measure, here are some of the changes:

+Added Masquerade violation on public sweeper kill, thanks to Malkav.

+Made artificial claws do only lethal damage according to WoD rules.

+Restored hidden sequence about Obfuscated Sabbat in SM but moved it.

Added original particles to basic so it will revert them from plus.

Toned new music on the pier down and improved Obfuscate description.

Repaired Victor loop and added glass breaking sounds to beachhouse.

Vampire: Bloodlines Unofficial Patch/mod v7.7? Holy crap. Files and notes via The Patches Scrolls.

Surely there's noone left who doesn't yet own the fabulous Vampire: Bloodlines but, if so, Steam have it on weekend sale for $4.99.

Wesp has advanced his Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines, which mostly re-enables some unused soundtrack music. Find it at The Patches Scrolls.

Wesp has released v7.4 of his Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire:Bloodlines. Files and details at The Patches Scrolls.

Wesp just keeps keeping on with v7.3 of his Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines released at The Patches Scrolls.

Unofficial Patch v7.2 for Vampire: Bloodlines...can you believe it?

Aussie site Games On Net has a Retro Road Test for Vampire: Bloodlines.  The short article has a score of 3/5 and the author doesn't sound entirely convinced:

Using the first version of Valve’s Source engine, the game has aged remarkably well in some ways, and … not so well in others. Although there are a few disturbing instances of Uncanny Valley Syndrome, in-conversation character models are lovingly detailed and fluidly animated. Outside of conversation, in combat and general exploration, things are not quite so pretty. Animation becomes stiff and twitchy. All but the most basic actions look ridiculous – especially ones related to fighting. Environments are evocative but terribly cramped, which has the unfortunate effect of undermining their pretence to gritty authenticity. With no cars save a lone taxi, tunnels that end in brick walls, and skyscrapers that apparently only consist of a few floors, you never get a sense that you’re in a real place.

Wesp just keeps keeping on, with his Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines hitting v7.1.  Change log here.

If you remember the effort to merge the Companion 1.4, Camarilla v1.3 and ClanQuest 2.0 mods for Vampire: Bloodlines, the initial release of the resulting merge is now available.  You can grab VTMB2010 from Planet Vampire, with details in this thread.

The latest 7.0 community patch for Troika's Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines is available at The Patches Scrolls, along with a full change log listing fixes since the 6.9 patch.

The release of this updated mod has been announced on the Gamebanshee forums by Gamebanshee member hk00107 - Wesp's unofficial patch is included as are other features, such as ten new quests, a variety of other mods and much more. Here are the hightlights - this link also allows you to see what  integrated mods are in it as well. You can also download it from here.

Highlights of Clan Quest Mod
•10 totally new quests - one for each clan and a quest for evil players! Each quest is written and constructed to match the clans' ambiance and feel; dig up dirt with the Nosferatu, work deals with the Ventrue.
•Packaged installer, seemlessly includes many other mods for installation, including Camarilla Edition, Arsenal Mod, and a "Nightmare Mode" combination of Pop's Difficult Mod and PnP Combat Mod
•2 brand new cut scenes - Featuring full voice acting
•Over 550 new dialogue lines, with main characters voiced by semi-professional voice actors!
•The new quests feature genuine WoD lore and facts; learn more about the Masquerade than ever.
•Meet 15 new NPCs including a members of the dreaded Assamite and Lasombra clans.
•Powerful new quest rewards, including stat increases and even learning a fourth discipline!

Writing machine Michael Anderson has a retrospective for Vampire: Bloodlines at Gear Diary:

However, playing as a Malkavian in Bloodlines is an experience unlike anything else in gaming. I mean, seriously, how often do you get to have a heated argument with a Stop Sign? Seriously – you can approach a stop sign and get into an argument. The dialogue options are hilarious throughout the game. But don’t mistake that as meaning you’re a one-dimensional side-show freak, either. Malkavians see everything that is going on and are very often better in tune with reality than the other classes – and even some of the characters themselves! Of course, sharing is caring, so one of the best things you can do as a Malkavian is to confuse or spread your insanity to other characters.

Here's an interesting one.  We've reported on the Companion and Camarilla mods for Bloodlines in the past - now comes this effort to integrate these together with Wesp's v6.9 Unofficial Patch.  Full details in this thread on the Planet Vampire forums and thanks to Acleacius for the tip.

There's a new very ambitious mod called Bloodlines: Antitribu in development for
Vampire the Mascarade: Bloodlines. It will feature seven new playable clans, new weapons and a new storyline. Here's the start of the synopsis:

Antitribu literally means "anti-tribe," or "against the clans." The term is used to describe a division within a vampire clan which opposes the main body of the clan in terms of Sect loyalty. Since philosophical divides are one of the definitions of a bloodline, and antitribu factions are generally described as such.

The stereotypical antitribu bloodline is a branch of a Camarilla clan which has joined the Sabbat. While all seven Camarilla clans certainaly have antitribu representation within the Sabbat, the term also applies to factions within three independent clans (and one bloodline) which have joined the Sabbat and, in one case, a branch of one Sabbat clan which has joined the Camarilla.

Acleacius sends word of the Bloodlines Revival Project, a work-in-progress, which aims to convert Bloodlines over to the latest Source engine code:

The Bloodlines Revival Project is a community effort to update the original Vampire Bloodlines game, bringing it to the current Source engine. To achieve this, a dedicated team of hobbyists are working on converting the original content into the new engine. This has the following benefits:

• Fixing all of the bugs still found in the original games (the original developers were only able to release one patch - it's up to us!)

• Among these bugs were slowdowns, bad framerates, quest issues, graphical problems/glitches, and a serious control issue present for most people that locks up all controls for several moments periodically.

• To bring the fans of the game an SDK to work with

• This allows fans to make their own Bloodlines content - maps, textures, quests, npcs - anything and everything

We are releasing this as public domain. All source code for any tools our team creates is freely available and we will never charge anything for what we release.

You can read the forums here and check out a teaser trailer at Youtube.

Holy cow, Wesp just keeps on truckin'.  The Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines has reached v6.9.  File and details The Patches Scrolls.

The Escapist have a retrospective on Bloodlines.

Sadly, Bloodlines was the last game that Troika would ever make, as the company folded just a few months after its release. With more money, time and manpower, Bloodlines could have been a genuine masterpiece rather than the cult classic it eventually became. But even though it stumbled out of the starting gate, Bloodlines accomplished something great: More than five years on, there is still a dedicated community creating unofficial patches and restoring cut content, a feat that few games - even incredibly popular and well known ones - can boast. Great games may inspire awe, but Troika's swan song stirred a feeling in players that is just as powerful: devotion.

Logan Westbrook is a news room contributor for The Escapist. Occasionally he updates his blog at http://www.verbscience.com.

Unbelievably, Wesp has yet another update to his Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire: Bloodlines.  The file is here at the Patches Scrolls and the relatively short notes here.

Wesp's Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire Bloodlines has hit v6.7.  As always, you can grab the file and check the changes at its home at The Patches Scrolls.

That new play through I started with version 6.0 is starting to look seriously outdated.

Wesp's Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines has hit v6.6.  If you recall, this update was going to have one of the biggest content updates and there are certainly a number of changes, although I'm not sure what would be considered the "big" additions.  Grab the file and read the notes at The Patches Scrolls.

Acleacius let us know about an exchange with Wesp on the PlanetVampire forums where he says the v6.6 Unofficial Patch will be one of the "biggest" content updates, which sounds exciting:

Acleacius, please don't start playing 6.5 because 6.6 will be released soon and this one has the biggest content restoration in one go ever, so I really need to get some good feedback!

The Camarilla Edition is a mod for Vampire the Masquerade that promises to bring the Bethesda style sandbox experience to the game.

Here is the info about the game, screens and the download link.

VTMB: Camarilla Edition is an Expansion Overhaul that completely changes the game mechanics and
how we approach the game of Bloodlines. After playing through Bloodlines over 10 times the replay
value has decreased, and we started thinking of ways to improve the game to make it much more realistic.
I have long since been a fan of Bethesda's Open Ended Sandbox games so that is the feel I wanted to
bring to Bloodlines.

One of the biggest problems with Bloodlines is that you never get the sense of BEING a Vampire. I mean
you have powers and you drink blood, but only to fuel those powers most of which are extremely short
lived. Not only that but I have never dropped below a humanity of 10 because I was never in danger of
going hungry. So what we did was completely overhaul how everything from Feeding and Regeneration,
to Bloodpool and Disciplines work, giving you a completely new experience to Bloodlines unlike anything
you've played in the past.

Below are some of the features included in VTMB: Camarilla Edition.

Complete Discipline Overhaul / Game Balance.
- One of the biggest changes in Camarilla Edition are the Disciplines. We went through and overhauled every
aspect of each Discipline paying careful attention to every minor detail. With our overall goal in mind some
of the Disciplines got a minor tweak while others were completely replaced with new ones. Some of the new
Disciplines include...
Dominate - The Forgetful Mind (Target based allowing the Vampire to vanish from sight)
Dominate - Enslave (Target based seduction, the NPC will follow you as your new BloodDoll)
Thaumaturgy - Theft of Vitae (Target based allowing the Tremere to siphon blood from a distance)

Note: Most of the old Disciplines have been overhauled to the point of feeling like brand new powers.

Regeneration
- You now regenerate very slowly over time and feeding will not speed up regeneration much at all. You
will be relying on the discipline "Blood Heal" ALOT now.

Bloodloss
- Your Vampire will lose 1 Bloodpoint every 3 minutes in any zone except the tutorial. The timer runs even
during dialogue forcing you to feed every so often. No longer will you be able to skip carefree through
the mission maps with a full vial of blood.

Note: As you lose blood, your health will be weakend.

Hunger/Frenzy
- Now going hungry has major drawbacks. When your Vampire reaches 1 point in their Bloodpool they will
automatically frenzy every 30 seconds until they find blood. Keeping your humanity high will be tough but
crucial for the Masquerade.

Histories
- Most histories were overhauled for game balance and concept reasons. The histories will weigh much
more on the characters, both positives and negatives. A few new Histories were also implemented.

Skins/Eyes
- These have been extensively reworked in several ways. First off most of the PC skins have been overhauled
or tweaked in some way. Many of the female (and even male) skins were pretty ugly so we pulled together
our resources to bring you alot of new material. Several unique NPCs have also seen a change to their
appearance, including the automobiles and construction equipment.

Also we felt it was very unrealistic that alot of humans had Vampire eyes. We went ahead and fixed that!
Every single human that had Vampire eyes we fixed so that they look human again, and every single
Vampire that had human eyes now have Vampire eyes (check out Smiling Jack). Also Clan Gangrel now
all have something in common with their new greenish/yellow glowing eyes.

Music
- New Music was carefully implemented within bars we felt were lacking. The Asylum in Santa Monica has new
music as well as Confession and The Last Round in Los Angeles.

UI/Interface
- Walk/Run has been turned into a toggle using the SHIFT key. You now may click SHIFT to change from walk/run
instead of holding down SHIFT. Also alot of people didn't know that Wesp implemented a camera function that
allows you to turn the camera different angles. You can do this by hitting the arrows on the number (10-key) pad.

Attributes/Abilities
- We made these change for better game balance and felt the synergy between the Attribute or Ability worked
better with the appropriate Feat.
Wits -> Defense
Intelligence -> Hacking, Research
Manipulation -> Haggle, Intimidate

Thanks Armin.

Wow, the stamina of this guy.  Wesp has a new v6.5 Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines.  From The Patches Scrolls:

Plus Edition changes:
+Added mugger to Chinatown and pinball player sequence to Last Round.
+Granted humanity when comforting Copper and removed loss for Nines.
+Lessened Dragon's Breath damage and made bolts buyable a bit sooner.
+Added SM haven key and missing particle effects for a lot of claws.

Restored content:
Restored unused shovelhead to Hallowbrook and alternate Tong model.
Restored newspapers to Skyeline and junkyard and added one downtown.
Restored Protean warform hopping and basic stats, but lost the info.

Fixes:
Made the bad luck talisman not sellable and corrected Knox's secret.
Fixed log bugs for Haxxor, Gargoyle, Pisha, Lily and pimpin quests.
Improved netcafe and pawnshop trigger issues and some text details.
Stopped one-shot-killing Larry and Copper been gone for transfusion.
Increased claws range and lowered Desert Eagle accuracy on running.

Wesp marches on, releasing v6.4 of his Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire: Bloodlines.  Grab it and the patch notes at The Patches Scrolls.

Eurogamer has a nice look back at Vampire: Bloodlines-

I love the sunshine, and I've rather a taste for garlic, so I've decided I'm probably not a vampire. It's taken a while to be sure, though. The world of Bloodlines is so arresting, so marvellously cohesive, that it's difficult not to be entirely taken in. Despite the ageing visuals, the places and people of this gritty, gothic Los Angeles are frighteningly real.

Real, that is, except when an NPC hovers across the room eight inches above the ground. Or gets shot, only to fall and cry out in pain three seconds later. When a texture flickers on and off in front of you, or the game crashes you back to the painful reality of your hideously cluttered desktop. In many ways, Bloodlines was the greatest game in the world. In many others, it simply wasn't good enough.

A new month and we have a new patch available for Vampire: Bloodlines bringing it to version 6.3.

+ Added Mitnick quest for library card and changed Gary's quest items.
+ Increased Dragon's Breath damage and created a separate round type.
+ Placed a katana into Fu Syndicate and a girl into VV's private pool.
+ Added humanity point and lines for giving Lily's items back to her.
+ Swapped crossbows in temple basement with Steyr AUGs like in ending.
+ Removed humanity loss for killing victims at the Hallowbrook hotel.
+ Added explosion and boss flag for the Venture Tower Dominated guard.
Fixed missing Dima and Russians issues and cop and Bruno subtitles.
Improved Gargoyle logs and delayed phone dialogues to fit animation.
Fixed edicts errors generated by use of Auspex, thanks to SunBlade.
Exchanged Venture Tower guard models and armed them with Steyr AUGs.
Fixed Arthur/Knox issue and Kiki's standing hair, thanks to MooCHa.
Corrected Beckett bonus dialogue and two missing Ocean House sounds.
Removed three more plus items to improve basic patch compatibility.

Wesp just keeps on truckin', with v6.2 of his Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines now available at The Patches Scrolls.

I'm amazed there is anything left to tweak but Wesp has found more changes and release v6.1 of his Unofficial Patch for Bloodlines:

v6.1
----
+Restored active fragmentation grenade from Nines, thanks to Lenuska.
Made Hannah's vents unlock and removed SM blueblood after Dominate.
Added two more times to feed from Heather and fixed Sin Bin PC text.
Fixed dialogues for Patty, Gary, Romero, Pisha, Arthur and Beckett.
Made Auto-Level button unambiguous and fixed icons at the warehouse.
Doubled explosion damage of shellboxes and fixed Leopold Society's.
Restored an unused poster to parking garage and six more to netcafe.
Fixed getting a second key from Empire clerk and minor text issues.
Prevented museum guard from dropping multiple storage room keycards.
Made Jack acknowledge stealth killing the tutorial sneaking Sabbat.
Moved Empire hotel computer to backroom and raised helicopter noise.
Fixed log update issue when killing Boris and a Cal dialogue issue.
Made it possible to trigger serial killer quest from all newspapers.
Fixed tutorial humanity bug and other python errors, thanks to mzz.
Restored laughter of Mr. Ox and a few sounds around the Ocean House.
Corrected a wrong sign in warrens and removed icon of Mitnick's PC.
Swapped wrong manhole covers for Griffith Park and Giovanni Mansion.
Removed test button in Ventrue clan popup and minor level problems.
Improved sound effects of morgue doors and Kamikaze Zen vault doors.
Fixed texture error with the third Gangrel armor, thanks to MooCha.
Restored some missing sound schemes and fixed a few particle errors.
Added missing third card playing thug to conversation at warehouse.
Corrected console bugs and replaced grenade icon, thanks to Lenuska.
Fixed Protean level 5 melee switching and Giovanni guard awareness.
Restored missing Malkavian lines for Damsel and some last subtitles.

A nice interview with Brian Mitsoda over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun focuses on his time with Troika on Vampire: Bloodlines.  Here's a sample:

RPS: How did you go about creating the plot and dialog? Can you describe the overall process? There’s a number of writers credited, plus the design team, what influence did you have in that wider creative circle?

Mitsoda: The basic plot was kind of there – there’s a new prince in town, there’s a group of anarchs that are pissed, ties to Gehenna event, and Jack and the sarcophagus being a major story point. The designers (about five people) discussed some ways to tie everything into the hubs and levels. With the broader elements agreed upon, we had a lot of control over our sections of the game. Keep in mind, it was a small team doing everything – two writer/designers, one modeler/senior designer, and two owners/producers/designers. With just a few people overseeing every aspect, it doesn’t take as long to reach a consensus or keep plot straight.

Over time, I became primarily tasked with writing the majority of the characters and dialogue, and that helped with consistency. I probably had to argue points a few times, but because of time constraints or faith in my abilities, I was given a lot of freedom with characters and their quests.

An interesting mod has been released for Vampire: Bloodlines that allows you to recruit certain NPCs, embrace humans to birth Childe and form a party with your followers - you can even possess your followers, allowing you to check out different clans and disciplines. Check out this promo video and this one on embracing, outfits and poses.

Here's the feature list for CompMod from the official site:

• Ability to embrace some select NPCs later in the game.
• Ability to possess your traveling companions and use their special abilities from afar (if desired).
• Place party members around your haven in an assortment of animated poses
• Tell party members to change outfits.
• Supports installable outfit packs.
• Over 250 dialog responses were crafted from existing audio to support new transition conversations with companions.
• Access to secondary traveling inventory through companion dialog.

And Wesp is up to v6.0 with his Vampire: Bloodlines Unofficial Patch labour of love.  Apparently the new version also includes the v1.2 official patch, which is a nice move with Activision dropping the Bloodlines official page.  Grab it from The Patches Scrolls.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Jim Rossignol offers up a retrospective of the long defunct Troika's classic cRPG, Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines entitled Forever Young;The Tragedy of Bloodlines, which basically asks why games like this are so hard to come by:

There’s a bittersweet flavour to playing Bloodlines. It’s not because of the vampiric moodiness and the twilight tales that it tells, nor the real-world tragedy of its costly development finally undoing brave development studio, Troika. No, the sense of sorrow comes from the realisation that there’s nothing like this on the horizon. The idea is begged: why should there be so few games like this? Oh right, because it’s so very hard to do.

Bloodlines - a clever, multi-faceted RPG - is a rare animal. Even under the blazing light of Fallout 3’s recent release, there’s a sense that we’ve not yet reached our promised land of games that do more, games that do worlds, games that do people. Bloodlines points the way to those games. Indeed, there’s a sense that these games might just be becoming a myth. Like the plight of an animal species on the verge of extinction, the lack of games comparable to Bloodlines is one of the great tragedies of our time.

Bloodlines gets another unofficial patch at The Patch Scrolls. The notes are here.

I've just decided I'll replay this when it gets to v10.  Wesp continues his work on Vampire: Bloodlines with a new v5.8 Unofficial Patch / mod available at The Patches Scrolls.

The work continues with a new Unofficial Patch for Vampire: Bloodlines.  From The Patches Scrolls:

(+) indicates changes to Plus version
+Restored Skelter with his dialogue to Lucky Star during the endgame.
+Adjusted maximal ammo to match clip size and raised rifle accuracy.
+Moved Fat Larry into Confession alley and restored Fae Charm reward.
+Restored crossbow bolts and rifle bullets buyable from all vendors.
+Made Toreador start with Appearance +1 and increased falling damage.
Changed severed arm pickup sound and added two missing mode sounds.
Fixed taxi driver, E, Razor, Yukie, Mercurio, Nadia and Jack issues.
Made Larry send spam email to show that vendors update their stock.
Swapped several Ventrues with helipad SWATs and fixed their texture.
Removed second tutorial enemy for Presence because of common popup.
Prevented talking with Chunk when someone else attacked the Gallery.
Corrected sliding doors, some handles and an icon at Venture Tower.
Fixed logs for Copper, Heather, werewolf blood and Metalhead quests.
Corrected wrong icons at the Ocean House and Jezebel Locke's trunk.
Made Astrolite undroppable again and added a Regent Blood Hunt line.
Unified burning barrel and fire explosion damage on several levels.
Turned the Firemage and Ventrues into females for male clan members.
Fixed issues for bums, Pisha, Copper, Empire clerk and Bishop Vick.
Added missing cabbie aura to three maps and fixed minor text issues.
Corrected Temple maps start orientation, inspections and a tin can.
Improved corpse variety in warrens lair and a Blood Hunt enemy pair.

Onwards to v5.6 for Wesp's Unofficial Bloodlines Patch.  Quite a large change log for this far along - from The Patches Scrolls:

Download link: www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php

(+) annotes changes for Plus Pack only.

v5.6 03.09.2008
----
+Made Jack remove .38 to fix exploit and repaired broken Isaac logs.
+Decreased crossbows criminal level and fixed Sin Bin state reload.
+Fixed broken Empire hotel card printer usage and made it plus only.
+Restored first dot Domination options for Tremere during dialogue.
+Added overlooked humanity losses and restored sheet music of basic.
+Disabled true sight for Vick, Killer, Cathayan and Blood Guardian.
+Made Romero train up to Firearms 4 and Beckett up to scholarship 3.
+Increased xp gain on freeing Ash and delivering Imalia's magazine.
Added a few Shin Guntos to sewer hunters and improved end fade out.
Adjusted double Ithaca reload sound and added several drop sounds.
Repaired Barabus quest re-update and a wrong Zhao died quest state.
Corrected faulty Isaac lip-synchro and several minor text details.
Added sound to Kiki cutscene and fixed Hollywood bus stop map typo.
Removed a talk icon in diner and corrected lg firearms book value.
Made player get a look at Gimble's hand and fixed some map details.
BSPEdit updated to edit several prop stats, thanks to RobinHood70.
Fixed dialogue issues for Ming, VV, Trip, Boris, Vandal and Damsel.
Made unfinished Regent's plague quest fail in case you betray him.
Fixed ghouling quest not updating and improved Bertram's quest log.
Added Vandal gesture for females and fade out at the tutorial end.
Resolved bug when entering the Fu Syndicate while being obfuscated.
Prevented continuing E's quest after you failed it by killing him.
Fixed dialogue bugs of Skelter, Arthur, blueblood, clerk and Venus.
Added a missing light switch and missing door sound to King's Way.
Removed reference to Ricky at Glaze and made upstairs guards fight.
Repaired several cut off dialogue lines and a few lip-synch issue.
Moved Jack down to Skelter and improved Tin Can Bill's expressions.
Included 64bit install and memory tools, thanks to Iain Patterson.
Removed buggy SM haven board and Mercurio's note after you met him.
Moved Ash song from Empire hotel to the unfinished museum diorama.
Added default 1.2 map and python files to tools, thanks to Offkorn.
Restored katanas to Tongs and removed the one at Fu Syndicate.
Turned hospital into Elysium area during your encounter with Pisha.
Fixed dialogues for Jack, Mercurio, Regent, Razor and taxi driver.
Changed three history humanity penalties to avoid humanity of zero.
Lowered surf computer difficulty and added a Gargoyle quest state.
Made Tawni laptop reflect mission and fixed Zygaena and Yukie bugs.
Stopped Maria and Victor from dropping invitations they don't own.
Added inspection nodes to some trapdoors in the Giovanni crypt map.

Holy cow, will they ever stop?  Wesp's incredible work on Vampire: Bloodlines has hit v5.5.  Here are the notes, courtesy of The Patches Scrolls:

(+) indicates changes in the 'Plus'-version of this patch

+Moved Pyro Crossbow from Society to Syndicate instead of bloodpack.
+Changed new stealth rules so that only highest sneaking is harder.
Made Ocean House quest failure update when reconciling the sisters.
Fixed details with Isaac, Boris, Jack, Heather, Mercurio and Phil.
Implemented ZVTool and added readmes to tools, thanks to ZylonBane.
Lessened vents fade outs at Skyeline Apartments and fixed a decal.
Added second T-Rex sound to museum and corrected some text details.
Restored xps at Glaze for peaceful approach and fixed the monitor.
Fixed morphine quest after warehouse and .38 ammo tutorial exploit.
Added blood loss when ghouling Heather and having fun with others.
Made Sin Bin ATM indestructible to avoid breaking connected script.
Improved card printer usage and added a few more inspection nodes.
Restored original descriptions for crossbow bolts and rifle rounds.
Added several missing doors and adjusted SM endgame bus stop maps.
Moved restored female raver to the Asylum and fixed teeth textures.
Hid Giovanni crypt trapdoor icons and fixed Nadia and zombie bugs.
Removed second Dominate tutorial enemy and Johansen basic problems.

Wesp's Unofficial Patches for Vampire: Masquerade continue on their merry way, now reaching v5.4.  The forum at The Patches Scrolls with the notes was down for me at the time of writing, so we'll add the changes later.

Yep, v5.3 of the Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire: Bloodlines is out.  Here are the notes from The Patches Scrolls:

 v5.3 15.05.2008
----
+Tweaked new stealth rules and made rating visible at Tawni's place.
+Made first person view melee fighting possible, thanks to Offkorn.
+Restored plus conditions for hg firearms, computer and dodge books.
+Made braid raise perception and improved Fu Syndicate test timing.
Fixed blood return and purge and added xp for hacking freezer code.
Removed warehouse bum before cutscene and made tubes not sellable.
Added some idle expressions to Gimble and Jack during the tutorial.
Fixed minor dialogue bugs, a Dane computer issue and version info.
Restored Jeanette scene for females and Larry's quest for everyone.
Prevented surplus CD quest email and corrected Maria dress detail.
Fixed Beckett's scholarship bonus and Pearl item, thanks to MooCHa.
Removed Tzimisce creation burning death and an Empire door handle.
Fixed occasion of Yukie not getting her sword and minor map issues.
Corrected looping conversation and look-through duct at warehouse.
Restored beach house inspection and changed Eldritch Prodigy bonus.
Corrected wrong newspaper icons and restored valve and oven icons.
Replaced sky at the Ocean House hotel to get rid of oversized moon.

Wesp's Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire: Bloodlines has hit v5.2.  Here are the notes from The Patches Scrolls:

 v5.2 23.04.2008
----
+Made occult braid raise unarmed feat instead of computer knowledge.
+Restored several persuasion, stat updates and research conditions.
+Made stealth harder and restored melee and defense powerup effects.
+Fixed Nadia humanity loss and moved a recorder at Grout's mansion.
+Corrected unofferable gum and renamed asian vampire "The Cathayan".
Re-added lost guard model and fixed Russians discipline reactions.
Added about hundred expressions to thirty NPCs and a .38 for Flynn.
Placed cops at SM conversation and some missing lamps into museum.
Forced player in DMP cutscene and offered Vandal's quest later too.
Added Skelter quest state and fixed Isaac and Barabus log updates.
Improved Heather and Malcolm dialogues and cash description limits.
Fixed Imalia's quest second chance and repeating Romero fun sound.
Removed bad warrens re-entry sound and adjusted the clipboard date.
Auto-closed warehouse door and placed Temple bar up on his guides.
Fixed overlooked Shin Gunto, Galdjum and flamethrower basic issues.
Added junkyard sound using a car and fixed downtown bus stop name.
Restored Gangrel frenzy damage and some first discipline durations.
Fixed minor dialogue bugs, some basic/plus mixups and a few props.
Replaced Misti clones at Vesuvius and added a few inspection nodes.
Adjusted hospital scream and several wrong door and weapon sounds.
Unlocked one Temple door for Yukie and secured two others later on.
Locked Red Spot back door and restored missing gesture for Damsel.
Removed humanity loss for killing any kind of hunters on main hubs.

I missed this a few days ago because Rock, Paper, Shotgun's penchant for clever headings drew a blank at the time. Kieron Gillen has kicked up a piece based on a part of Vampire: Bloodlines that moved him. Could be considered spoilerish, although if you haven't played it by now, honestly, get to it. Here's a snippet:

I take her back to my sanctuary and tell her what’s going on. She doesn’t believe me at first. “Vampire and Ghoul?” she asks, “Is that some kind of Fetish Slang?”. I persist and the stain of truth sinks into her. But when she recovers from the initial horror, she doesn’t care. She loves me in the way the flame loves the air or the arm loves the needle, except a thousand times worse. I know it’s fake and it’s only what I did to her that made her like this. But no matter how artificial the affection is, it’s still a tongue lapping my ego.

Proving that Wesp is some sort of modding robot, The Unofficial Patch / mod for Vampire: Bloodlines continues development with a surprising number of changes for v5.1.  Here are the changes courtesy of The Patches Scrolls:

 v5.1 08.04.2008
----
Removed Intimidation powerup of grenade prop and added it to basic.
Restored Protean 4/5 damage and some enemy discipline resistances.
+Made Tseng sell Shin Guntos and normal crossbows instead of Slater.
Restored unused name plate, throwing star and library card models.
Fixed new item models and female Tremere glasses, thanks to MooCHa.
+Made only Mercurio sell SWAT rifle rounds and Pyro Crossbow bolts.
Restored five vendor and three context icons and Giovanni's cabbie.
+Made Yukie invincible at Temple and streamlined Gary's phone call.
Restored hotel guard and warehouse Markus models, thanks to gardeb.
Added fade and sound when loving Romero and sound to pimpin quest.
Restored second Sabbat into warehouse and fixed MP infos and clans.
Improved Santa Monica rain speed and visuals, thanks to ZylonBane.
Armed sewer hunters with GLOCKs and sword hunters with Shin Guntos.
Restored a Gargoyle gesture and removed some of Regent and Prince.
Added special Jeanette email and repaired super-sensible Fu guards.
Removed Romero returning from basic but added him to pimpin quest.
Placed female bums into SM and adjusted cash inventory description.
Made cameras stackable and renamed SWAT rifle "Remington M24 SWS".
Added Firemage animations and fixed subtitles for dominated victim.

Fixed many enemies not damaging each other even when Blood Boilded.
Delayed Boris' Dementation reaction and made Dima leave when sent.
Turned all armor and Ocean House pendant not stashable or loosable.
Locked buggy Temple door for good and fixed more props and sounds.
Repaired Tseng shelves problem and added a missing Shu quest state.
Corrected Vandal, Isaac, Misti, Victor and Luca dialogue problems.
Added sound for Giovanni sliding doors and two missing email lines.
Fixed Lu, Heather, Gargoyle, Regent, Trip and Ash dialogue issues.
Renamed Cathayan "Fernando Cougat" and fixed Heather's morgue date.
Corrected bad Jeanette quest update and made Cal getting re-hired.
Fixed several left over basic/plus stat details, thanks to Offkorn.
Added warehouse start astrolite check and fixed minor text issues.
Removed unfitting sounds at Lotus Blossom and some dialogue pauses.
Fixed asking Malcolm about saved Heather and Knox's quest looping.
Re-fixed Thaumaturgy with non-humans and fixed Newscaster position.
Fixed double doors at Giovanni Mansion and removed Bruno's clones.
Added a Vandal line for females and fixed two Venture double doors.
Made Chang's threat stay in dialogue and fixed Lily's diary dates.
Moved female disease bum close to Last Round to make her lines fit.

Wesp's work with Vampire: Bloodlines marches onwards, with v5.0 of his Unofficial Patch/mod now available from The Patches Scrolls:

 v5.0 17.03.2008
----
+Made more basic/plus changes using variable and fixed text details.
Added netcafe entry update for Ash Rivers and delayed Tawni's one.
+Made Bach and Shu drop both weapons and removed a basic carry-over.
Added museum and Bertram log states and Blood Buff in Elysium tip.
+Added xp for Copper and poster quests and matched basic/plus order.
+Moved Tawni poster to Tremere bathroom and restored a Regent line.
Made Hatter drop screenplay on death and corrected Blood Boil info.

Stopped Skelter from blocking you and adjusted Hannah's book dates.
Added breaking sound to warrens vent and Ocean House floor boards.
+Restored Vandal's alternative for Nosferatu and warehouse bonus xp.
Fixed basic Ra blade description and it's invisible stats in plus.
Made sarcophagus key not giveable and fixed a basic Imalia exploit.
Improved Tommy's quest log and fixed Regent and Trip endgame bugs.
Removed inappropriate Buddha moving sound and included python code.

Wesp annouced at Gamespot that the 4.9 patch is out at the Patches Scrolls.  

Avantenor writes in to say Wesp's latest (v4.8) Unofficial Vampire: Bloodlines patch/mod is now available in German at The Patches Scrolls.

Wesp's Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire: Bloodlines has been upped to v4.8.  From The Patches Scrolls:

v4.8 22.02.2008
----
+Recovered grenade as Intimidation powerup and fixed netcafe laptop.
+Created new Gary quest to swap pull toy prop with poster of Tawni.
+Added humanity points for granting money to haven bum and Mercurio.
+Made killing pier cops result in loosing humanity and gave one the baton only.
+Changed Pearl of Dubai powerup to Charisma so Nosferatu can use it.
+Swapped Gary's quest order and his CD for a box with vacuum tubes.
Made Isaac give his gift earlier and SWAT cops use Steyr Augs only.
+Exchanged knowledge requirements of high computer and dodge books.
Fixed side quest breaking bug at Empire Hotel after speaking to Boris.
Made Carson pack his laptop and fixed bad loading tip word choice.

Fixed Imalia still being pissed off when you sold her the magazine.
+Added overlooked humanity loss when killing Phil at the SM clinic.
Corrected bad Ming Xiao, Tzimisce fatguy and Ra blade damage stats.
Restored sound to Bach's grenades and fixed minor dialogue issues.
Delayed reaction to changes of Heather's state in medical computer.
Updated netcafe entry for Tawni Sessions dependent of quest state.
Placed serial killer card more reasonable and restored more sounds.
Prevented continueing the Tawni quest after you have been noticed.
Added gestures to a Jack tutorial line and fixed stealth kill icon.
Fixed Ming dropping out of dialogue and a possible Gary phone bug.

Wesp never gives up it seems...on to v4.7 of the Unofficial Patch/mod for Vampire: Bloodlines.  Here are the notes courtesy of The Patches Scrolls:

(+) denotes further improvements and restored content
v4.7 14.02.2008
----
+Created seperate quest for freeing Ash from the Society of Leopold.
+Added seperate quest and an xp for saving Heather by ghouling her.
+Created seperate quest for Gary's posters and lowered some of them.
+Added seperate quest for exploiting thin-blood Copper by the pier.
Made inventory icon and damage stats visible for the Protean claws.
Added patch version information to base character creation window.
Forced talking to Boris sequence even if you removed Dema silently.
Prevented Gary's posters from appearing also in your unused haven.
Restored cash box item into Gallery Noir and added inspection node.

Seperated Malcom's overlapping diplomas and fixed some more sounds.
Removed Heather reference on Malcom's computer after she has left.
Repaired bugs regarding quest updates when talking to the Mandarin.
Turned power on and timer off on re-visiting the Kamikaze Zen map.
+Fixed bug that prevented the CD quest to initialize in a rare case.
Removed Kuei-jin's burning death and invisible block at warehouse.
Locked a double door in Ming's temple that would open accidentally.
Added quest logs for Isaac's gift and replaced Dane report object.
Fixed a Vandal endgame condition and removed more Nadia not-voices.

Yet another Unofficial Patch for Bloodlines as Wesp's mod hits v4.6.  As usual, the file and change notes are from The Patches Scrolls:

 v4.6 04.02.2008
----
Included fixed engine.dll and improved installer, thanks to MooCHa.
Changed damage of Ming's spit to bash and fixed minor text issues.
+Added male seduction feeding to the SM blueblood and Tommy Flayton.
Added log for sending Patty to alley and fixed two connected bugs.
Synced scream in hospital and rotated bus stop texture in downtown.
+Added option to keep Heather alive, but without getting the armor.
Prevented Tremere from being able to loose their haven for treason.
Fixed re-persuading or killing Tommy Flayton after quest was over.
Made Romero give you ammo with his rifle instead of magic box fill.

Restored overlooked Dodge powerup into Ocean House for basic patch.
Made Empire door locks consistent and added sound to Sin Bin kick.
+Adjusted NPC reloading of both crossbows and added some missing xp.
Hid invisible block at the theatre and corrected a few more props.
+Fixed new Danielle lines, Gary's poster order and Bertram CD quest.
Restored missing xp for second Pisha item and removed Nadia sound.
Fixed killing the Gargoyle after persuading him and a dialogue bug.
Corrected Heather not giving silver ring when you already got one.
Removed dialogue loop for McFly and restored another missing sound

Yep, Wes has released a new Unofficial Patch at The Patches Scrolls for Vampire: Bloodlines, taking it to v4.5:

Changes in 4.5:
Lowered Dane computer difficulty and fixed more sounds and objects.
+Repaired Blood Buff not adding up and blocked Ash sewers map hole.
Restored three cage dancers and Venus' laptop into club Confession.
Added Lotus key board inspection and fixed trailer key inspection.
+Swapped two of Gary's quest emails and restored a silent Tung line.
Restored Giovanni cutscene sound and created an installer version.
Improved first Heather scene and updated MP clans and descriptions.
Added sounds to Muddy, Ash, Pisha, ghouling and jumping cutscenes.
Merged light-gone-after-loading fix with MemFix, thanks to Wabbite.

Made Vandal acknowledge payment and repaired wrong nosave messages.
Repaired text of Isaac, Trip, Gargoyle, Cal, Mercurio and Therese.
Fixed Mitnick appearing after quest and more invisible python bugs.
Made new Danielle lines rotate and more speeches stay in dialogue.
Removed morphine from CS and register sounds playing without Doris.
Fixed missing detail on Chinatown sewer map and minor text issues.
Adjusted Presence chance and description and anti-cheat conditions.
Lowered money from Julius to $100 and made leaving Pisha clean up.
Fixed the known inventory-and-container-bug, thanks to RobinHood70.

The Energizer bunny should be the mascot for Wesp, who has released a v4.4 Unofficial Patch for Vampire: Bloodlines.  Via The Patchess Scrolls, here are the notes:

Made basic patch install as default and removed overlooked changes.
+Removed crossbow from Sin Bin and fixed Yukie double swords issue.
Included memory and widescreen resolution tools, thanks to Wabbite.
Many Malkavian lines added for blood dools, thanks to RobinHood70.
+Removed humanity for Dementating McFly and tutorial .38 on default.
Swapped Lily cutscene Phil with scrubs and adjusted Vandal's line.
Made it possible to specify which clothes Heather should wear next.
Restored SM haven for traitorous Tremere and fixed sewer shortcut.

Re-did Ginger Swan knowledge fix and warehouse re-entering stopper.
Corrected boss flags for Mercurio, Chastity and Tzimisce Creation.
Fixed Venus' reaction for persuading Boris and Asylum email issues.
Restored newscaster and Cal lines and fixed minor dialogue errors.
Repaired Imalia's quest failure message and new Vandal alternative.
Fixed possible random crashes on exiting Grout's Mansion and Dane.
Corrected hostess not getting elevator and phoning without a phone.
Added inspection to text at Society and a few more missing sounds.

...and grab the file here.

Wesp's work on Vampire: Bloodlines continues, with v4.3 of the Unofficial Patch now available at The Patches Scrolls.  Here are the notes:

Changes in 4.3:

Improved Bach and Johnny cutscenes and the Chang brothers immunity.
Added Nosferatu option for Vandal's quest and a gascan inspection.
Unhid special situation in Chinatown and fixed prostitute hair bug.
Restored over 60 unused lines, thanks for the list to RobinHood70.
Prevented dead Chunk from dancing and fixed Lotus tub guy reaction.
Restored over 30 missing sounds and removed crackhouse respawning.
Made prostitute leave you when attacked and removed some more keys.
Raised Romero training stats and added Intimidation option for Ji.
Allowed some more feeding from Heather and improved her last scene.
Restored crossbow damages and fixed Blood Buff effect for Tremere.
Installer created as seperate archive, many thanks to Paul Moloney.

Made Pisha's quests fail on fight and fixed gallery bar inspection.
Fixed Vandal's freebie and Venus' cut rate, thanks to RobinHood70.
Repaired dialogue bugs of bum, Mercurio, Tseng, Yukie and Danielle.
Corrected sewers level load orientation and two comfort reactions.
Fixed new line on phone not working and minor log and text details.
Unstuck Ricky and swapped a few prostitutes to seperate like ones.
Repaired Cal not letting you up and dead Mercurio sending an email.
Corrected Flynn giving guymag for free and a Nadia dialogue error.
Fixed laser beams again and removed Patty's corpse from Confession.
Repaired Jeanette scene blood condition and Giovanni backtracking.
All dialogue and python scripts streamlined, thanks to RobinHood70.

Gamer'sHell has posted Tessera's/Acrimonious' alternative patch for Troika's Vampire:The Maqurade-Bloodlines along with this information:

Patch v1.2 is required if you have the retail version of the game

This is a repair patch for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, intended to do nothing but fix bugs that were still present within the game, following its release. This patch will not change any other aspects of the original VTMB, other than to restore any broken (but intended by Troika) content that the official patch from ActiVision failed to repair. Thanks: Steven.

 

Note that this is different to Wesp's well-known Unofficial patch series.

Wesp's work on Vampire: Bloodlines continues with v4.2 of his unofficial patch/mod now available from the Patches Scrolls:

Changelog for patch 4.2:
Made Tawni quest show failure at once and added Tourette condition.
Reconstructed Bertram's pc and incooperated text of unused emails.
Added inaccessible Blood Heal and Blood Buff infos to loading tips.
Restored over twenty unused lines for several NPCs, thanks to mzz.
Translated russian words and fixed Boris' and Chunk's fight scenes.
Updated BSPEdit tool and fixed laser beams, thanks to RobinHood70.
Made Milligan leave after Intimidation and Pisha react accordingly.

Fixed clipping and blocking Venture Tower debris, thanks to MooCHa.
Removed last respawning at Giovanni mansion and alert state error.
Corrected clerk adressing women "Sir" and some badly placed decals.
Repaired possible syntax issues for many dialogues, thanks to mzz.
Corrected Mitnick's position, some subtitles and more text details.
Made SM blueblood stay dead and cop cars on pier vanish correctly.
Fixed some dialogue problems of Knox, Skelter, LaCroix and Heather.


As usual, prior installation of official patch 1.2 is mandotory if you want to upgrade to version 4.2.

Yep, another Unofficial Bloodlines patch/mod from Wesp, taking the version to 4.1.  From the Patches Scrolls:

Another unofficial patch put out by Werner is now available, fixing a broken quest in 4.0 and adding the usual bunch of bugfixes & changes.

Put morphine into cs cabinet and fixed a Danielle Persuasion error.
Added a humane farewell line to Heather and fixed a Tourette loop.
Lowered hacking skill of Asylum computers and swapped Copper lines.
Made police investigate gallery crime independent of your actions.

Prevented Humanity from reaching zero and removed loss for pendant.
Fixed parking garage exchange and removed gum when sold to Copper.
Corrected a Vandal condition and several similar dialogue problems.
Repaired broken Romero quest return and several minor text issues.

You can also grab the file from Worthplaying.

Wesp's Unofficial Patch for Vampire: Bloodlines has hit v4.0, with the details at the Patches Scrolls:

Another unofficial patch to Bloodlines is now out, updating the game to version 4.0. As usual having official version 1.2 patch installed is mandatory.

v4.0 17.08.2007
----
* Created Appearance powerup and made Isaac give it instead of Charm.
* Made Strauss reward you with the Fae Charm instead of usual money.
* Recovered chewing gum to sell to Copper and stashed it on the pier.
* Restored rat crowd to warrens and ancient text to Leopold Society.
* Placed library keycard at Ramen and fixed some minor text problems.
* Moved dogs into junkyard and Skelter to Nines' side at one ending.
* Swapped cop Anacondas with Ithacas and made Pisha leave eventually.
* Restored Romero to be back after his quest and fixed zombie scene.
* Fixed cut off conversations and restored a hidden one to warehouse.
* Restored hidden models to Dane, to Blood Hunt and on junkyard map.
* Made armor absorb half the aggravated damage and raised Blood Heal.
* Removed cop cars from the Santa Monica pier after the police left.
* Added Fu Syndicate emergency doorcode and restored tire iron skill.
* Recovered three unseen newspapers and repaired a newspaper mix up.
* Restored two item models and renamed "Replica Katana" "Shin Gunto".
* Made Mercurio's email arrive later and fixed several email issues.
* Repaired warrens electrical terminal computer and fixed many props.
* Added some missing inspection nodes and made diner cook move more.
* Restored warrens door difficulty and fixed switches at observatory.
* Fixed Tong sounds at Zhao's and Hannah, Milligan and Pisha issues.
* Repaired Trip and Vandal not choosable at endgame in special cases.
* Re-changed Eliza and Thistle effects as they didn't work randomly.
* Added missing doors to Venture Tower rooftop and Blood Hunt levels.
* Fixed several name issues and explained others using loading tips.
* Changed Giovanni vampire guard stats and restored Dane crane icons.
* Turned your Santa Monica haven into Elysium area when Jack visits.
* Improved Barabus' hack position and made PCs accessable afterwards.
* Corrected Chunk's brother's subtitles and changed Chunk dance fix.
* Reformatted Sin Bin inventory pages and fixed more minor PC issues.
* Removed humanity for killing Milligan directly and fixed card bug.
* Placed Russians more inconspicuous and removed the two added locks.
* Put Heather's name in the morgue file in case you left her to die.

Or just download it here. 

It's simply amazing how much community support Vampire: Bloodlines attracts, with yet another unofficial patch release from Wesp.  Here's the patch notes and download link, courtesy of the Patches Scrolls.de:

Made female Sabbat LaSombra only and swapped some Hallowbrook guns.
Restored Eliza and Thistle effects to their original descriptions.
Added icon to Giovanni lever and lowered Leopold barrel inspection.
Locked Johansen in and fixed a possible bug in the Giovanni crypt.
Made Venture debris stay longer and be visible through the windows.
Allowed only one visit to each supply destination at taxi endgame.

Fixed Steyr Aug damage and hid unimplemented dialogue history keys.
Removed Wong Ho and Ming dialogue loops and added Luca domination.
Fixed doors at Venture Tower and Temple and a lip-synchro for Phil.
Corrected Al's mumbling at the beachhouse and apologizing to Knox.
Prevented entering burning warehouse and fixed all-clan Domination.
Fixed some overlooked basic patch details like Galdjum at Tseng's.

Thanks, Dark Savant.

Wesp's Unofficial Vampire: Bloodlines patch has hit v3.8.  From the Patches Scrolls:

* Made NPCs act comforting to more disciplines and added male sounds.
* Altered duplicate Lu Fang conditions and re-added Nadia sentences.
* Restored cabbie and E lines and fixed some for Bertram and Strauss.
* Made Mercurio sell Steyr Aug earlier and sorted Larry's inventory.
* Added humanity loss for telling Johansen that you won't rescue him.
* Increased Blood Heal healing rate and improved activation details.
* Made Galdjum prolong Blood Buff and Heal and Vandal more talkative.
* Added Dominate for Danielle and prostitute and fixed Milligan bug.

* Added and corrected inspection nodes for containers at Ocean House.
* Fixed Glock running animation and corrected SWAT crosshair errors.
* Swapped teleporting female Lasombra and fixed a Nines dialogue bug.
* Modified placeholder names and descriptions of four upgrade books.
* Lowered difficulty of one critical door to fit with new Blood Buff.
* Corrected Blood Heal and Buff tutorial popups at high resolutions.
* Fixed Potence, Ravens, Trance, Wipe and Hysteria issues and sounds.
* Repaired completing Larry's quest being impossible in basic patch.


Download it at The Patches Scrolls:
official patch 1.2: http://dlh.net/cgi-bin/dlp.cgi?lang=eng&sys=pc&file=vtmb_1_2.zip&ref=ps
Werner's patch 3.8 (requires patch 1.2): http://dlh.net/cgi-bin/dlp.cgi?lang=eng&sys=pc&file=vtmbup38.zip&ref=ps

Thanks, Dark Savant.

Thanks to Dark Savant for letting us know new fan patches have been released for Vampire: Bloodlines.  Wesp has updated to v3.7 and the alternative patch hosted by Tessera that caused some recent controversy has been started over and released at v4.04.

Wesp has released a new 3.6 unofficial patch/mod for Troika's Vampire Bloodlines.  Of particular interest is the inclusion of a "Basic Patch" for those looking for some simple fixes rather than the wider tweaks Wesp includes in the full version.  The patch notes are rather long, so head over to Planet Vampire to read the notes and grab the file.

[update] The file still won't show on 3DGamers, so here's the link at http://www.planetvampire.com/files/vtmbup36.zip

The alternative unofficial patch for Vampire: Bloodlines we recently linked has been withdrawn following various controversies and will be restarted from scratch.  Currently, the work is based on and extended from Wesp's well-known patch and debate has raged at RPG Codex on the extent of Wesp's changes and whether appropriate credit was given to the various contributors, so the alternative team has decided to "reload".  Head to RPG Codex for the full details.

An alternative Vampire: Bloodlines unofficial patch has been released by Tessera.  Based partly on Wesp's well known Bloodlines patches, this work removes the modification aspects (such as re-balancing, skin and weapon changes and so forth) and concentrates purely on bug fixes to provide an experience Tessera believes is closer to Troika's original intent.  Hit the link for the details and this thread at RPG Codex may also be of interest in understanding the thrust of this mod.

News from Asbjoern that Vampire: Bloodlines has been released on Steam at $19.95

The amazing community work on Vampire: Bloodlines continues with a new unofficial v3.5 update released.  You can grab it from Gamers Hell and the usual mirrors (185Mb) and here's the new stuff:

Placed Yukie into endgame Temple like planned and fixed more props.
Swapped Boris' Colt with a Glock and updated CIS computer details.
Added female Desert Eagle and gave it to hunters, thanks to MooCHa.
Restored about ten unused lines from Jack, Knox, Trip and LaCroix.
Inverted Milligan humanity loss and clarified a tutorial quest log.
Lowered flamethrower lethality and Eldritch Prodigy damage effect.

Fixed missing stealth kill sounds for replica katana and bush hook.
Restored Protean claw effects and solved some smaller text issues.
Added missing lamps to the Ocean House trailer and locked the door.
Stopped Doris from falling in floor and the need to reset options.
Fixed wrong auras of Ash, Barabas and Julius and raised dog health.
Unified irregular maximal ammo values and changed some ammo worth.

The work on Vampire: Bloodlines continues with a v3.4 unofficial patch released.  This particular release has a surprisingly large number of changes/fixes, so hit Worthplaying for the full notes and the file (180Mb).

The great community work on Vampire: Bloodlines continues with an unofficial v3.3 patch being released.  You can grab the 150Mb file (and full notes) from Worthplaying and here are the new additions:

• Replenished Misti's blood and repaired broken Tremere blood return.
• Awarded xp when releasing Julius and restored Ming/Fu connections.
• Made ghouling Heather easier again and added camera moving to cfgs.
• Gave katanas to Temple and Society enemies and removed respawning.
• Prevented Boris' door from closing and Dema from vanishing in view.
• Fixed hospital screams and dialogue bugs of Arthur, Cal and Pisha.
• Shortened Ventrue loading tip and some histories names to fit page.
• Removed some more flickering decals and fixed many floating props.

The excellent community work on Vampire: Bloodlines continues with an unofficial v3.2 patch just released.  The 130Mb file can be grabbed from Worthplaying or 3D Gamers.  Here are the notes for this version:

• Restored cat model to 609 and removed flickering blood on the Dane.
• Added humanity loss for killing innocents in several combat areas.
• Modified bad discipline effects for non humans, thanks to Populism.
• Used hidden Ithaca sound, gave Colt to Boris and fixed more props.
• Renamed Bloodsuckers' to Bats' Communion and updated female Sabbat.
• Made Imalia and Mitnick turn better and Isaac give his gift later.
• Fixed hunters spawning on main hubs and another Imalia's quest bug.
• Repaired possible freeze on freeing Lily and left over respawning.
• Corrected GLOCK name, modified clothing text and added cl_smooth 0.
• Made sure the fast Nosferatu dies and rendered Empire TV inactive.
• Improved first Heather dialogue and fixed Vandal and Bertram lines.
• Changed Yukie log, two pc prompts and wrong level re-enter sounds.

Worthplaying let us know the latest v3.1 Vampire Bloodlines Unofficial Patch has been released. The file weighs in at 115Mb and here's the latest fixes:

• Unbarred Ming's temple door and hopefully fixed Beckett's wait bug.
• Made Copper leave for infusion and restored Pisha's meal cutscene.
• Removed hunter when Ash is gone and erected more tipped over props.
• Turned character screens music off and lowered Venus' cut to $125.
• Fixed ammo in Romero's trunk and reduced zombie spawning frequency.
• Restored Jeanette/Therese struggling scene and a few Heather lines.
• Made speech stop when Bruno enters and fixed some Giovanni guards.
• Corrected errors in dialogues of Christopher, Milligan and Jezebel.
• Deleted theatre statists and restored Larry's quest for Nosferatu.
• Changed some weapon infos and moved Giovanni Mansion diving boards.

Darkened Beckett's glasses and fixed some others, thanks to MooCHa.

Added speech to Jack's cheat lines and lessened Ming's bar weight.

Granted humanity for persuading Therese and Jeanette to make peace.

Lowered baseball bat, tire iron and new katana skill requirements.

Erected several tipped over props and added a few inspection nodes.

Corrected a few bugs in dialogues of Milligan, Julius and LaCroix.

Moved the bum in the abandoned building and restored his fast exit.

Fixed entering the pawnshop crash caused by sound, thanks to Bogj.

Renamed new blade to 'Replica Katana' and made Trip sell crossbows.

Tseng will offer the SPAS directly and the flaming crossbow later.

Made Larry's quest independent of buying and fixed briefcase scene.

Released trapped Fu Syndicate guard and added Julius killed lines.

Changed flaming crossbow text and added some more inspection nodes.

Corrected typos and lines for newscaster, Lily, Copper and Vandal.

Removed another warehouse spawning and restored beachhouse weapons.

Fixed superguards at Giovanni Mansion and the bonus Sweeper lines.

It's time for another unofficial retail patch for Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines, upgrading the first-person action role-playing game by Troika Games to version 2.7. As always, this is an unsupported, third-party patch, and this release applies another dozen gameplay tweaks and bug fixes as detailed in the meticulously formatted change notes.

This is an unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines by Troika Games. It is built upon Dan Upright's great unofficial oma patches and works for english retail and Direct2Drive versions only!

To install it extract this archive into your game folder keeping the directory structure intact and backup any files being overwritten if you want to remove it later. A complete reinstall is another option.

This patch attempts to fix many bugs and improve other things but no guarantees are made, since not everything could be tested. It can be installed easily on top of the official 1.2 patch from Troika Games.

The more basic changes are listed at the top of the version history, then bug fixes and more. It is recommended to start a new game after patching to avoid odd behaviour, like e.g. humans becoming vampires.

Because of the restoration of the histories the patch comes with the original config.cfg, so change all the options to your liking again. If you get problems with the histories in the tutorial just skip it!

v2.6
----
Added missing xp for plague quest and fixed Hannah quest state bug.
Made Tseng not offer blood as he doesn't even know about vampires.
Venus will now give you a constant $250 payment when you visit her.

Removed another double Malkavian line and clarified two quest logs.
Fixed a bug that reset Yukie's quest if you spoke with Ming again.
Made Chunk not be in the Asylum anymore after you met him downtown.

* Made Mitnick mail his reward already after the first schrecknet hub.
* Raised chances for Jeanette and Therese peace and Jeanette winning.
* Lowered Persuasion requirements for all Giovannis to the same value.
* Hacking and lockpicking powerup models centered, thanks to DDLullu.
* Modified xp and log for one plague quest state, thanks to Acleacius.
* Made Mercurio morphine quest update if you already had some on you.
* Fixed xp gain for entering Gallery Noir by seducing Chunk once more.
* Removed a surplus Malkavian line and altered some answers to Venus.
* Restored missing Masquerade redemption for ways to get rid of Patty.
* Fixed Glock walking animation and changed the Ra blade description.
* Repaired VV and Jeanette sending you their emails at the wrong time.
* Corrected a condition when telling Damsel about the Chang brothers.