Simple Modding Techinques to Get You Started

There's actually a lot you can do to mod the game without knowing a lick of python or anything about shapes, meshes, or modelling.

If you've installed The Camarilla Edition, or The Final Nights, Tessmage's or even one of Wesp's later patches, you've got a bunch of text files that the game reads upon loading (this is why it takes a few seconds for the initial splash screens to show up). Most of these are located in Bloodlines (main install directory)\vampire\vdata, so that's where I'll start. I'm not going to go through every file, as many are either self-explanatory (credits.txt) or else aren't used (or at least not used for "simple stuff"). Since these are loaded when the game starts, generally all you need to do to test your changes is exit the game and launch it again. You can extract the whole bunch, with the VPK Tools if you want the 'original' files (follow the tool instructions).

Files under \vdata\system
charcreatewizard.txt - this file is used when you choose the option to answer a bunch of questions to create you character. It creates the decision tree for the various questions which ends in you choosing a clan.

chareditor.txt - chooses the music that plays and the volume level during character creation and the menu screen.
*** Note on music*** - the game can play .mp3 files (and I think .wav) so long as they have NEVER EVER EVER been played by Windows Media Player. WMP adds a bunch of crap to the music files that chokes the game. God only what or why (album art, music length, stuff like that). As soon as the music is played WMP alters the original file without prompting. There's no way around this other than not using WMP (VLC is a very good and freely available alternative).

clandoc000.txt - Here you find the clan names and descriptions as seen by the player. The models for male/female and the various armors are set here, so if you want to have you nossie look like a toreador, all you have to do is copy the lines M_Body0 through F_Body5 from toreador and paste them into the nossie section - armor 0 is light clothing, armor 1 is heavy clothing, armor 2 is light leather, armor 3 is heavy leather, armor 4 is body armor, and armor 5 is riot gear. Hands are what you see when lockpicking. Gender determines whether the clan can be played as male, female, or both (if you use the copy/pasta technique above, you can put in "missing" male and female models for a mod like The Final Nights and set the clans to be playable by either gender).

The History line here isn't used (even if you have histories enabled - the histories you can use get determined in another file). "ClanEffect" is used by the all-important traiteffects file. The only reason to really change this is if you wanted to leave the original lines for a clan untouched (but you do have all these files backed up anyway, right?) so you could create a BrujahNew clan, for example. "Is_BlueBlood" determines whether you can feed from rats and bums. 0 means you can, 1 means never from rats, maybe from bums. You also set the order of precedence for attributes and abilities, and their starting values (default 1 for attributes, 0 for abilities).

You also set the disciplines the player has to choose from here, and the starting values for each (default 1). You can add more disciplines to a clan, but be careful taking disciplines away if the player might go through the tutorial, as there is one room for each of the clans default disciplines, and without the discipline the player won't be able to progress (without modding the tutorial, in which case we're out of the realm of "simple stuff"). Another thing to note is that while you could assign all the disciplines to a clan, the player will only be able to put points into the first nine as a window covers up everything below that. The disciplines also show up on the character sheet in alphabetical order, not the order you list them in. If you do add more disciplines, the first dot costs 10xp IIRC. Be careful with this - Celerity + Obfuscate = easy mode for dummies, as an example. Don't worry though, there are ways to make the game much, much more challenging which we'll get to.

disciplinetgt_00x.txt - this is where the new disciplines are defined. Don't like the new disciplines? Delete the offending file, change the flavor text back and you're back to vanilla (for that discipline).

experience_table.txt - this determines how many experience points you get for completing a quest stage. Remember that experience modifier only affect experience gains of 3 or more points. So if you were to add 2 to every exp reward, then set the experience modifier to -2 (in another file we'll get to) you'd be right back where you started. Personally, I never liked receiving two points for completing the tutorial then seeing a splash screen telling me to go spend them when there's nothing you can get for only 2 XP - like the game devs wanted to taunt you right from the start... If you're playing CE and think the college gives out too many "free" XP, you can take some out here.

feats.txt - what attribute+ability each feat depends on.

histories000.txt - This is where you can create histories with their short and long flavor text and determine who is eligible for them (by clan and by gender). The actual gameplay effects of the histories are defined in the traiteffects file.

items.txt - if you want to change the starting equipment, whether for all kindred, a specific clan, or a specific history, this is where you do it. You set up the StartingEquip package here (look at Player_Kindred and Player_Chica), and then assign them in traiteffects (see how important that file is?).

levellingtemplate_000.txt - Troika used the same system in Arcanum. It checks the first line, if you have that value it goes down to the next. You could combine this, changes in clandoc, and experiencetable to create a "level-based" XP system for a clan if you wanted to. To make sure the player wouldn't then just make his own choices you'd have to find the "autolevel on" button, then both activate it and disable it. I think that would work, but I haven't tested it.

npctemplatexxx.txt - this is where the information for all the npc's, bosses and otherwise, are kept. Think that security guard is too much of a pushover? Ming's a pussy? Now you can change that (Mwa ha ha ha!!!).

rules_tables.txt - the buy/sell adjustments for haggle are in here. The rest is beyond "simple stuff".

stats.txt - easy stuff to change in here would be the default cost to raise attributes and abilities, as well as the starting amount of points to spend in each category. Also your max bloodpool, humanity, and masquerade. If you set max Masquerade to 4, you'll never lose the game to a Masquerade violation, and will have the 'fun' of hunters waiting for you everywhere. A challenging option in TFN, where hunters actually 'hunt', but you can see what you think elsewhere as well.

traiteffects000.txt - The mother of all files. This is where you set every clan's abilities, as well as the effects of every history and "occult" item in the game. Note that % bonuses are NOT cumulative. So if you have a history that sets obfuscate duration at 200%, then pick up an item that "increases" obfuscate duration by 25%, what you've really done is DECREASE the duration to 125%. I'm not sure how it determines which effect takes precedence in the case of multiple items + history + claneffect. You can increase or decrease the cost of any attribute, ability, or discipline. You can change the durations of disciplines. Change starting equipment. Set bonuses and penalties for each armor type. Give bonuses or penalties to any attribute, ability, or discipline. Set ratfeeding bonus (which also sets if they run from you) and experience bonus or penalty (for awards of 3 or more points).

You think wearing body armor should make you five times as likely to frenzy? You can set that here. Malkavians should have a bonus +3 to Obfuscate? You can set that here. The last two levels of Obfuscate are overpowered so should cost twice as much? Ninja's start with a Shin Gunto? Pirates are cooler than ninjas and get +3 perception and seduction? You get the picture.

The easiest way to make a change is to copy a section that changes something similar (you want to increase the duration of Auspex, so you find a section that increases the duration of Obfuscate), then change the Internal Name (Obfuscate to Auspex) and/or number value to what you want. There's far too many things that can be changed to list, but fortunately, just about everything is changed by something, so whatever you want to do, you've got an example to work from already in this file.

vendors.txt - sets the inventory of the vendors in the game, what stage the item becomes available, and whether it's an item or ammo. Ammo is only available if you have the launcher (gun) in your inventory. So let's say I hate running around shopping, which I do. I can add every gun type under the "ammo" section of Trip's inventory, make sure AmmoOnly is set to "1" and set MinStage to "1". Now Trip can sell every ammo from the start of the game. Game balance-wise I've changed nothing, because Trip won't show me the ammo for the Desert Eagle or Colt Anaconda until I've managed to beg, borrow, or steal one somewhere. The item names come from the filenames in the vdata\items directory. There is no rocketlauncher :sniff: . You can add any item from that list - so weapons, armor, occult items, and books are all fair game (note: CE and I think TFN changes some of the books into things that are not books. You can't actually add items to the game, so double check when you start changing inventories around).

A note about "occult" items: You can only have one of each. So let's say you allow Vandal to sell the weekapaug thistle (remember you can change its cost in the file under \items) and you buy it. Later you come across a container that would have that item in it. The container will be empty because you already have the item in your inventory. The reverse is also true: if you get the item from the container first, it will no longer be offered for sale.


Files under \item:

These are the items a player can 'have' in some way or another. You can change the cost, both to buy (item_worth) and to sell (player_sell). For guns you can change how much the ammo costs to buy, as well as how many rounds are in a clip. For all weapons you can change the damage - both by the number and type of damage and the lethality. I don't know the exact formula used, but play around with the numbers a bit and you'll figure out what you want. Remember these values are loaded up when the game starts, so they're easy to test. You can also change the base skill requirement to use them.

"occult" items - here you name the EquipEffect - the actual effect is defined in traiteffects. Occult_min is unused - that was a stat that you would need to raise to be able to identify and use occult items.

Books - You can set the research required to use books (but see note above about some books being already changed by mods). You can also change the actual skill and description as well: if you think, for example, that the book on stealth could be better used for something else. The three tiers are dots 1+2 / dots 3+4 / dot 5.

Files under \vampire\cfg

skill1.cfg - here you set the max amount of ammo each weapon type can hold. There's also a damage number for both player and NPC for each weapon type. If there's a single difficulty slider for the game, this is it. Drop the PC damage and ramp up the NPC damage and see if you can still save Zhao with your eyes closed...

There's plenty more that can be done, but hopefully this will let a few more people get their feet wet modding the game, and maybe we'll see some more good mod's coming up down the road. Or at least have more people giving the game another playthrough or three.

Very good description, mouser. I'll move it to the modding tips section.

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Just curious if anybody out there has messed with any of this stuff to "personalize" their game (modded or not).

Not sure if this thread is dead or not but to respond to the guy above me, i have done quite a bit of tweaking of mods to better suit my gameplay and style. My changes may seem like "cheats" to some, but i assure you it's in my own best interests of "being" the Vampire i am playing.

I couldn't help it, as an RPG, i envision being sired by a lower generational Vampire, therefore being more powerful than your typical vampire. (LaCroix did say your sire was an "Upstanding member of their society" AND also let you live, therefore he recognized some kind of idea of your strength and potential) I know, geeky RPG stuff lol. So in that context, i added boosts to some stats as well as increased buff durations. With blood loss over time and relatively low blood pool, (Still trying to figure out how to modify that :/ ) using disciplines, especially blood buff was very expensive, particularly against multiple enemies. Just 3 cops shooting at you at the same time seemed ludicrous that i would Final Death so quickly. But even with the "boosts" I've added, the game is still plenty challenging. I still have more than comfy close calls when facing multiple hunters and aggravated damage foes. Saving Ash in the sewers was still a nightmare lol

Aside from boosting certain stats through items and histories, i did make some balance changes as well. Money is not easy to come by. And experience points is rather low considering the amount of quests and some of their objectives.

All in all as stated by the original post, tweak here and tweak there as your playing and you'll find what's enjoyable to you to play more than once, which is the whole point of mods; re-playability. Good luck!

I just registered to say that I found this super helpful. I admit I've read Dheu's more in-depth development guide included in Wesp's patches but as a total newbie to both Python and modding Bloodlines, most of it went right over my head. I'm really grateful for any beginner-level tips on how to tweak the game and this is exactly what I needed. Thank you.

Hi Dingsi,
welcome to the forum.
Yep I know exactly what you feel about Dheu's manual. I felt the same way when I started modding bloodlines. Now I use it as a welcome reference.

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marine2k6 wrote:

I couldn't help it, as an RPG, i envision being sired by a lower generational Vampire, therefore being more powerful than your typical vampire.

I've been away from gaming for a bit (and this game in particular). Did get to beta Secret World for a while - why does it seems like games are going backwards in feeling 'alive' and having decent animations (yes, I know that world isn't exactly 'alive' like LA, but still...).

Anyway, my personal theory is you were sired by Caine. Part of that support is that there is no limit to the amount of powers you can use at once - I've had Protean, Potence, Fortitude, Blood Buff, Celerity, and Obfuscate going while testing - and the game display actually looks like it was designed to handle this (the little scroll thing keeps changing shapes). Think about it - what really make Antediluvians so powerful is the three or four thousand years of chronicles they've played through. Their character sheets are so full their dots have got dots.

Since I've played a couple more times recently, and more going back, I'll give some suggestions (homework assignments, if you will) here for new 'modders' to try:

Note: some of these make the game easier, some harder, and some are just 'for fun', but all are useful practice. Figuring out exactly where and what to change is part of the exercises, though with what I've written in the first post, you shouldn't have too much trouble.

1) Set Masquerade to have a maximum of 4. You'll still get masquerade violations, but never get that 5th killing one. You will, however, have the fun and added challenge of being jumped by hunters almost everywhere you go (assuming you let it sit at 4).

For a 'fun' variant of some of the above, you can set humanity to max, min, and default 10, as well as masquerade to max 0. Now you can go through the game as a rampaging protean batman. Or, set humanity to four - I find that lets you function well enough, but you still get the fun of never knowing when you're going to frenzy.

2) Make some personal histories: Add some starting equipment, like a sword or a gun, and adjust some traits. Play around with 'costing' and 'capping' skills and abilities.

3) Add some extra disciplines to a clan. You may want to make a few more experience points available, or maybe not.

4) Change the starting number of 'dots' for character creation: how many for the primary, secondary, and tertiary categories. You can also change the number of initial dots available for disciplines.

5) Up the damage NPC's do with guns. I've been playing with them doing the same damage PC's do. Gunfights tend to end quickly, one way or the other (even with increasing the heal rate of blood heal), and I've managed to keep Zhao alive exactly once.

6) Change what abilities and skills feats are based on. Note that you can actually choose three, for a max of 15 instead of 10 (and two or even three of those can be the same).

7) This isn't covered by my main post above, but isn't too hard to figure out. You can alter the dialog files a bit so that the prince always gives you the haven after Elizabeth Dane (even regardless of clan), and the Regent so you can always get the Tremere haven if you want. Note: DONT MESS WITH WHAT THE NPC ACTUALLY SAYS - only the conditions that set whether or not the lines are said, both for you and the NPC.

Nothing like telling the Prince to go fuck himself, being dominated, then having him thank you for your service and reward you with a haven (you can also do this for embracing a childe if you've got that mod installed).

8 ) Alter your max blood supply. This works well in combo with adding disciplines. This can go either way - you can make the game easy and play a super-vampire, or you can up the challenge of NPC's so that you need to use all those disciplines, which means you need to feed that much more often, running the risk of violating the masquerade (or spend a lot more money buying blood).

9) Guns - alter the clip sizes, reload and fire times, and damage. Remember that these also affect the NPC's as well. I remember the first time I made the Colt Anaconda really powerful and was having a good ole time till security guards started one-shotting me. I know the 'aresenal' mod does a lot of this, but you can still tweak it yourself. You can also decrease the amount of ammo you can carry - combined with increasing the cost of ammo, this can really make playing a 'gunrunner' very challenging. Or increase it, and not have to be bothered with switching guns because your ammo keeps running out.

In fact, increasing the cost of ammo, even with no other changes, can go a long way to solving the 'I've got more money than I know what to do with' problem. You'll find you take more careful shots and aim better when there really is a limit to just how often you can use your guns. Start with $5-6 a round for 'normal' ammo, and $10 a round for the 'good' guns, and work from there.

Another way to make money 'worth something' is to add normally unavailable items to vendors. $3k to $5k seems to be a good range. Personally, I think you should be able to acquire anything, but not able to acquire everything. One of these days I may try to figure out just how much money you can expect to make in a 'normal' playthrough (or maybe Zero or Malkav has already done that).

10) Finally, dig into the NPC templates and change a few of them. Doesn't have to be anything drastic, just do something so that it's noticeable in the game.


If you can do those 10 things, you're well on your way to being able to create your own 'mod' of the game, tailored to the strengths, difficulties, and playstyles you want it to have. Ideally all play styles should be equally viable, but that's very hard to achieve in practice.

It's also very easy to share your 'mod', since all you've done is change .txt files. You can give those files to someone else and all they have to do is drop them in place: the best way to do this is start from the /vampire directory, and make empty directories down to your files, this way they can just drop that folder into their main install directory and 'merge'.

mouser9169 wrote:

marine2k6 wrote:

I couldn't help it, as an RPG, i envision being sired by a lower generational Vampire, therefore being more powerful than your typical vampire.

I've been away from gaming for a bit (and this game in particular). Did get to beta Secret World for a while - why does it seems like games are going backwards in feeling 'alive' and having decent animations (yes, I know that world isn't exactly 'alive' like LA, but still...).
...
If you can do those 10 things, you're well on your way to being able to create your own 'mod' of the game, tailored to the strengths, difficulties, and playstyles you want it to have. Ideally all play styles should be equally viable, but that's very hard to achieve in practice.

It's also very easy to share your 'mod', since all you've done is change .txt files. You can give those files to someone else and all they have to do is drop them in place: the best way to do this is start from the /vampire directory, and make empty directories down to your files, this way they can just drop that folder into their main install directory and 'merge'.

Just remember to tell people exactly, which version of which patch/mod you have used as a basis for your mod. Else you run the risk of creating buggy, instable things, because each patch/mod can have made other changes to these textfiles as well.
And if you go public, don't forget to get the permision of the original authors. In case of a mod as basis, this also includes getting Wesps permission, because every mod is built on one or another version of his patch. But usually that is no problem, if you stick to the "rules": give credit, don't charge money, make sure your mod isn't confused with the original patch/mod it's based on, and can't be played without a legal copy of the original game.

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Childe of Malkav wrote:

mouser9169 wrote:

marine2k6 wrote:

I couldn't help it, as an RPG, i envision being sired by a lower generational Vampire, therefore being more powerful than your typical vampire.

I've been away from gaming for a bit (and this game in particular). Did get to beta Secret World for a while - why does it seems like games are going backwards in feeling 'alive' and having decent animations (yes, I know that world isn't exactly 'alive' like LA, but still...).
...
If you can do those 10 things, you're well on your way to being able to create your own 'mod' of the game, tailored to the strengths, difficulties, and playstyles you want it to have. Ideally all play styles should be equally viable, but that's very hard to achieve in practice.

It's also very easy to share your 'mod', since all you've done is change .txt files. You can give those files to someone else and all they have to do is drop them in place: the best way to do this is start from the /vampire directory, and make empty directories down to your files, this way they can just drop that folder into their main install directory and 'merge'.

Just remember to tell people exactly, which version of which patch/mod you have used as a basis for your mod. Else you run the risk of creating buggy, instable things, because each patch/mod can have made other changes to these textfiles as well.
And if you go public, don't forget to get the permision of the original authors. In case of a mod as basis, this also includes getting Wesps permission, because every mod is built on one or another version of his patch. But usually that is no problem, if you stick to the "rules": give credit, don't charge money, make sure your mod isn't confused with the original patch/mod it's based on, and can't be played without a legal copy of the original game.

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Thanks for the disclaimers

Although part of me wishes somebody would start making money off of this game (and similar ones). Then maybe (in my pipe dream world) developers would start making titles like this again.

"If death were a tragedy, so then would be birth." (paraphrase from Pisha)

Tell me another American made game that will even touch a topic like that. Most of the RPG's I have, and almost all of the ones I replay are either 'way old' or come from Japan. The Secret World is probably the closest thing that's come out in a while (and that's from Europe), but the mechanics were just killing me while I was testing it, and even then it seemed to go out of its way to 'avoid' asking too many hard questions.

Here's another simple tweak to change combat difficulty: In \vampire\vdata\system\rules.txt, near the top of the file, you can find "Damage Info" with Soak and Defense Difficulty for pc and npc. For a successful check on these feats, you need to roll the given number or more on a d10.

I have set it to 7 for both in my personal games. Makes for much more challenging, and unpredictable, combat. Play with it.
If you are a softie, make it even more difficult for npcs and easier for the pc. If you want to go for really tough fights, make it harder for the pc, and easier for the enemy...

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I would like to make a little modification on character sheet of V:tMB, but I don't know how should I make it. If the character's clan is the Tremere, then I want to display two extra information on the sheet. Both informations would be a specific ranking info. Those first ranking data would be the main rank of the Tremere in the Pyramid ("this would be a fix value: "Apprentice"), those 2nd ranking data would be the circle number of the Apprentice. I don't know how can I modify the display of the character sheet at all, so please help me.

It seems no one can help me to modify the displaying of the PC's character sheet.

Unfortunately, I have another problem. I was trying to embed a new NPC into a map file (BSP file), but it doesn't working. I have used the VPKTool for this purpose. Firstly, I have load the BSP file of the map where I want to place my own NPC, secondly, I append the brief code of the new NPC to the end of file like this:

Code:

{
"classname" "npc_VDialogPedestrian"
"angles" "0 0 0"
"model" "models/character/npc/unique/Giovanni_Mansion/Christopher/Christopher.mdl"
"targetname" "LtMalkowitz"
"origin" "1247.09 2737 -7422"
"solid" "6"
}

At last I saved the modified BSP file via pushing "Write new data" button of VPKTool. Although the saving was happened successfully, when I load a saved file from menu wich connected to this map, I can't find my embedded NPC. I was also looking for the new NPC by ZylonBane's ZVTool, but in game I can't find it. What was my wrong? Can you help me to find out what was my fault?

I also get an error message: Nodegraph out of date. AI disabled - after a longer download...

The error message is quite normal after a change of the map. Nothing to worry about.

I don't quite understand about that savegame. But if your character has entered this map before, the changes don't get registered. If you want to test map changes you need a save file with a pc who has never before visited that particular map. Or create a new pc on the map, using the map map_name console command.

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Hello guys.

Unfortunately, I've encountered two new problems about editing of the DLG files. The first problem is a nasty and mysterious one. I've created a new NPC for a new Tremere quest and just made a new DLG file. The DLG file generally is working well, but I can't using disciplines from dialog files (at the moment, I've just tried this on Dominate discipline). I don't think that would be some kind of syntax error or what, because it is working with Persuasion, Intimidate and even with the Seduction trait. Only the Dominate discipline was what I couldn't using, but I need that, because I want to give a possibility to the Tremere character for a conviction with Dominate discipline using.

I have another problem about testing. For testing, I must always declare a 'pc' object and associate it with 'FindPlayer()' method on consol for example, the using of SetQuest and GetQuestState methods. Can I set or get the value of a quest manually, without declaring a new 'pc' object (I mean without using of the SetQuest method)?

Please help me.

Code:

{   1   }{   Hola, senor. Have we ever met?   }{   Hola, senorita. Have we ever met?   
}{   #   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }
{   2   }{   You will sending Mr. Malkowitz to us and you will not remember what you
did at all.   }{   You will sending Mr. Malkowitz to us and you will not remember what you
did at all.   }{   11   }{   Dominate 1   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }{   }
{   3   }{   I’m working for the USCIS. You should send tomorrow Mr. Malkowitz to me.
Without this act, I can’t guarantee those promised Green Cards for all of your family members...   
}{   I’m working for the USCIS. You should send tomorrow Mr. Malkowitz to me. Without this
act, I can’t guarantee those promised Green Cards for all of your family members...   }{   
11   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }
{   4   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   5   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   6   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   7   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   8   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   9   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   10   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }
{   11   }{   Yes. I will send Leeland to you and I will forget this.   }{         
Yes. I will send Leeland to you and I will forget this.   }{   #   }{   
pc.GetQuestState("Malkowitz")==1 or pc.GetQuestState("Malkowitz")==5   }{
pc.SetQuest("Malkowitz", 3)   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }
{   12   }{   Okay. See ya then.   }{   Okay. See ya then.   }{   }{   
}{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }
{   13   }{   (Auto-End)   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   }{   

Dominate in dialog is limited to clan Ventrue. This is hard coded. See Dheu's manual, chapter IV.3 for further info. If you don't need more than level 1 dominate, you can easily use thaumaturgy instead. Just look it up in any Pluspatch or CE dialog with dominate 1 option. The function is located in vamputil.py.

When using the console, you can manually type in the full command: __main__.FindPlayer().WhateverFunctionNeededHere()
If I recall right, you can also declare a pc alias in autoexec.cfg. I don't do much ingame testing via console, so there was no need for it yet.

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Childe of Malkav wrote:

Dominate in dialog is limited to clan Ventrue. This is hard coded. See Dheu's manual, chapter IV.3 for further info. If you don't need more than level 1 dominate, you can easily use thaumaturgy instead. Just look it up in any Pluspatch or CE dialog with dominate 1 option. The function is located in vamputil.py.

When using the console, you can manually type in the full command: __main__.FindPlayer().WhateverFunctionNeededHere()
If I recall right, you can also declare a pc alias in autoexec.cfg. I don't do much ingame testing via console, so there was no need for it yet.

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Thanks, Malkav. I owe you much. I don't know what would I do without your tips.

Hey, there.

Unfortunately, I have a new problem. Now it's time to create some functions and methods for the game in Python, but I can't compile the source file. I don't know how was I wrong, but despite of Dheuster's guidance, from the console I can't do compile my Python source file into a compiled one. I'm typing: "import trmchrons.py" in console, but there will be no compiled files. I have only one way to compile Python source via Pyscripter and although it works (after compiling, I copy the compiled files into "Vampire/python" folder and rename it to its final name), there is a nasty problem about it. When I want to use my methods in the beginning it works, but after I modify something on the code and recompile it, console doesn't want to update. Console preserves the previous Python method and simply doesn't want to load the new method into the memory. It's a real pain on my ass, because I'm not able to test my modified and recompiled scripts - Every time when I recompile a Python script, before any testing, I must quit from the V:tMB and I must restart it.

My questions is...
- how can I import a NON-COMPILED Python file (a PY file) into the console for compile (can I compile with V:tMB console or not?)?
- how can I update my earlier imported Python scripts after a new compilig?
- should I really quit from the game after the import of every newly compiled Python stuffs?

Hey community.

I want to make some new custom events for the PC in the class "events_player". I've created some methods for testing purposes and I was trying to embed them into a single map ("sm_hub_1.bsp"), Exactly, I was trying to make some new player events for the higher levels of Thaumaturgy, but unfortunately it doesn't working. As we knows, there are two existing Thaumaturgical events (OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl1 and OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl2) and these are workingm but all my attemts to create new events for the higher levels (OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl3, OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl4 and OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl5) was unsuccessful. Of course, with VPKTOOL.EXE I was embedded the necessary meta data into "sm_hub_1.bsp" file, but except the general "Node Graph Date out" error I got nothing special result. As you can see, I've tried to make a level 3 Thaumaturgical event...

Can you help me? What was my fault? Why don't want to work my successfully compiled python methods?

Please help.

Code:

{
"classname" "events_player"
"targetname" "events_player_plus"
"enabled" "0"
"origin" "0 0 0"
//"OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl5" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateThaumLvl5(),"
//"OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl4" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateThaumLvl4(),"
"OnActivateThaumLvl3" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateThaumLvl3(),"
"OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl2" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateThaumLvl2(),"
"OnActivateThaumaturgyLvl1" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateThaumLvl1(),"
"OnActivateDominateLvl2" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateDominateLvl2(),"
"OnActivateDominateLvl1" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateDominateLvl1(),"
"OnActivateDementationLvl2" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateDementationLvl2(),"
"OnActivateDementationLvl1" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateDementationLvl1(),"
"OnActivateAnimalismLvl2" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateDementationLvl2(),"
"OnActivateAnimalismLvl1" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateDementationLvl1(),"
"OnActivatePresense" ",,,0,-1,OnActivatePresence(),"
"OnWolfMorphBegin" ",,,0,1,OnWolfMorphBegin(),"
"OnWolfMorphEnd" ",,,0,-1,OnWolfMorphEnd(),"
"OnActivateCelerity" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateCelerity(),"
"OnActivatePotence" ",,,0,-1,OnActivatePotence(),"
"OnActivateObfuscate" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateObfuscate(),"
"OnActivateFortitude" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateFortitude(),"
"OnActivateAuspex" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateAuspex(),"
"OnActivateProtean" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateProtean(),"
"OnFrenzyBegin" ",,,0,-1,OnFrenzyBegin(),"
"OnFrenzyEnd" ",,,0,-1,OnActivateEnd(),"
"OnPlayerKilled" ",,,0,-1,OnPlayerKilled(),"
"OnPlayerTookDamage" ",,,0,-1,OnPlayerTookDamage(),"
}

If youi know about Events_Player, you should also know that the available input and output events for the different map entities are hardcoded. So no methods for disciplines above lvl 2.

And please, if you have questions about new things, start a new topic.

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Hi Child of Malkav.

First of all, thanks for your quick response. Yes, I know that class "events_player" and all of its elements is hard coded, but I hope I can make somehow a custom event instead of the lacking events. I would need to make some new custom events above level 2. But how can I do that? I would create a new class inherited all the elements of "events_player" class or what? I really need a help.

Anyway, I would gladly post my every new questions for a new topic, but I can't do this. Unfortunately, my user, because I'm not an administrator, hasn't a permission for creating new topics.
Can you give me a permission?

Hm, the only thing I can think of is testing if higher levels trigger lvl1 or 2, and if they do, make the distinction via python script.

For creating new topics you're right for this part of the forum. This is more intended as a reference. Usually I move things in here if I think they are of a general interest for modders, and provide ideas or answers to FAQs.
So if you need advice, create a topic in the ask a question part of the forum. There you don't have to be a moderator or admin to create topics.

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I hope this isn't a loaded question but her goes...

I have played around with modding some myself. I've modified some of the items stats on weapons, created a few new skins for things, etc. But is there a way to introduce a new "unique" item into the game so only you have it and not all NPCs?

For instance: I have created a new Hellfire Desert Eagle that does aggravated damage and has a cool new look. But just adding that in with the vdata\items as a "desert eagle" gives it to everyone. Can I actually place it, or have it sold in the game somewhere, so it's unique and only available to me; like the Tal'mahe'Ra Blade, etc?

Thanks for any information.

Should be possible if you copy the stats for your new weapon in the description of an unused item, like some of the books (item_p_research...) in CE, and mke it available from one of the vendors.

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I just started modding and just looking at the Python codes gives me a headache right now(I've been looking at it for the past few days). This is really great stuff you guys are putting up here, though. For some reason, I didn't even think of editing these files. I knew that they could greatly effect the game, but I just passed over it I guess. Anyways what I'm trying to say is thanks for putting this stuff out there. I can relax for a little bit and just tweak the small stuff. Maybe it will help me when I begin modding.

mouser9169 wrote:

You also set the disciplines the player has to choose from here, and the starting values for each (default 1). You can add more disciplines to a clan, but be careful taking disciplines away if the player might go through the tutorial, as there is one room for each of the clans default disciplines, and without the discipline the player won't be able to progress (without modding the tutorial, in which case we're out of the realm of "simple stuff").

I'm still not a great modder or anything, but couldn't you just set it so that instead of telling you to do your third discipline it would just repeat a previous discipline? Just set it up to repeat your first discipline and that should be it, right? I don't know if that would cause a problem in the game or if it would be easy even, but it just sounded simple at least.