Advice To Bloodlines Modders...from Tessera, modder and True Patch authorThe purpose of this article is to give some helpful and practical advice to all of you who may be interested in producing mods for VTM: Bloodlines. At first, this post may come across as just another attack upon Wesp and his well-intentioned, but poorly conceived line of "unofficial patches." If you are a current or aspiring Bloodlines modder, then please trust me for five minutes and continue reading this post... because that is quite honestly NOT what I am trying to accomplish here. Hopefully you will see the common sense in what I am going to talk about next.
First of all, we all need to understand that there is a very definite difference between a "patch" and a "mod." I realize that this distinction is lost upon some people... including Werner Spahl (Wesp5), who does not seem to understand that a PATCH should contain as little an amount of arbitrary content as possible. The reasoning behind this is quite simple: if you keep adding arbitrary changes with each successive edition of your supposed "patch," then you will ultimately make it impossible to establish a solid, working baseline from which modders can then build upon.
In my opinion, this is indeed the major reason for why there is such a limited number of actual mods available for Bloodlines. Over the years, Wesp's "unofficial patches" have introduced such a large number of completely arbitrary and subjective changes to Bloodlines, that it has become extremely difficult for any would-be Bloodlines modders to know where to start, so far as the actual construction of their mods are concerned. For example, you may begin working on a cool new mod that adds some interesting new quests to Bloodlines. And when you begin working on your mod, you start off with a copy of Bloodlines which has been patched with one of Wesp's inappropriately named "unofficial patches." So far, so good.
But then... three weeks later... Wesp decides to release yet another new version of his work. And in that new version, he may very well have changed many of the things that the initial stages of your mod were reliant upon. Which in turn means that anybody who installs your mod after applying the latest version of Wesp's "unofficial patch" will not be able to get your mod to function as intended...
because thanks to Wesp and his lack of foresight, the baseline from which you initially started your mod is no longer valid.In short: the "unofficial patches" which are constantly being released and re-released by Werner Spahl are directly interfering with the production of high-quality Bloodlines mods, due to the fact that Wesp is constantly imposing arbitrary and unnecessary changes into his work. This makes the establishment of a universal baseline for modders IMPOSSIBLE. This issue applies to ALL versions of Wesp's "unofficial patches," by the way... including his so-called "basic patch." Every single version of Wesp's work is guilty of this same transgression.
Now let's contrast all of that nonsense with the True Patch series...We recently released a new version of the True VTMB Patch, called The True Patch Gold Edition. Unlike any of the stuff being released every second Tuesday by Wesp, the True Patch has been constructed in such a way as to provide ALL Bloodlines players with a solid and reliable BASELINE for their game. More than 90 percent of the True Patch consists of legitimate bug fixes. There is almost no arbitrary content within the True Patch whatsoever. This is due to my personal and ongoing philosophy about the very real differences between a patch and a mod. Patches should fix things which were legitimately broken or dysfunctional... AND THAT'S IT. And a patch should remain as consistent as possible, from one release to the next. And lastly, there should be as few releases of a given patch as possible... so that the firm baseline established by one version continues to remain consistent and reliable.
So let's think about all of that stuff for a moment.
I happen to be a modder. And I have produced quite a few mods for various games -- Bloodlines included. I am very familiar with the sorts of hassles that modders go through, when we are trying to create something fun and interesting for a particular game. And above all, I know that there needs to be a CONSISTENT and RELIABLE baseline established for any game that we are interested in producing mods for. Otherwise, it is extremely difficult to distribute our mods and actually get people to enjoy them. If all of the end users are playing with numerous different baselines, then it becomes almost impossible in most cases to produce a mod which will work for EVERYBODY who installs it.
These are very important considerations... not only for modders, but also for every single Bloodlines player who may be interested in installing a third-party mod some day. Unless all of us start out on the same page, with a consistent and relatively unchanging baseline for Bloodlines, then the creation and enjoyment of many types of Bloodlines mods ends up screeching to a halt.
This is what makes the True Patch a much more attractive baseline for both modders and players alike. By carefully avoiding the introduction of arbitrary content, as well as limiting the number of new releases, the True Patch represents a solid foundation upon which to build.
Let me state that I do not have a problem with any of the arbitrary content that Wesp has injected into his "unofficial patches." People can produce any mods that they wish for Bloodlines. Who cares..? I mean, hey... knock yerself out, Wesp. If you want everybody to drop ammo and give out free money and occult items, then more power to ya. But it is quite a different matter when you keep releasing and then re-releasing a completely new set of altered and arbitrary content changes every few weeks... all the while disguising what is essentially a bloated partial conversion mod as a "patch." Such tactics are not only deliberately misleading on Wesp's part, but they also directly interfere with the process of developing and releasing reliable third-party mods for Bloodlines.
In stark contrast, there has been only -one- major new release of the True VTMB Patch during the past THREE YEARS. And almost every single sub-section of the Gold Edition is internally consistent with the previous version of the True Patch... version 5.04AT, which was released back in September of 2007.
It doesn't get any more reliable than that, folks.
So to wrap up this post, let me offer this advice to all Bloodlines players... and to modders in particular: we all need to get on the same page, by establishing a solid, basic and reliable baseline structure for Bloodlines.
That baseline should feature as little arbitrary content as possible -- because the introduction of arbitrary content is what MODDERS should be doing. First you need to build your house on a solid foundation... and THEN you can start making changes to the decor. With that philosophy in mind, the True Patch Gold Edition fits the bill beautifully, by offering the VTMB community a reliable set of non-arbitrary baseline materials, from which they can then proceed to develop their own mods. It is in fact the most reliable and sensible baseline patch which is currently available on the entire worldwide web. If you are a modder, then you can rest assured that the True Patch will not step on your toes... so to speak. Not now -- not ever.
We would all like to see a greater number of high-quality mods for Bloodlines. But until the community can appreciate this glaring need for a universal baseline, then such mods will continue to be as scarce as hen's teeth. All told, there are perhaps a half-dozen high-quality gameplay mods available for Bloodlines.
Just imagine how many more VTMB mods there might be, if all of us were starting out on exactly the same footing. But my efforts over the years to impress this sensible philosophy upon Werner Spahl (Wesp) and his acolytes has largely fallen upon deaf ears... hence the ongoing feud between his camp and mine, as well as the existence of the True Patch. We created the True Patch as a direct response to Wesp's refusal to agree with the common sense proposals that we tried to impress upon him, way back in late 2006. And it is his ongoing refusal to wake up and smell the coffee which has continued to interfere with the production of high-quality mods for Bloodlines. When nobody knows which way to go, or from where they should begin, the process of mod development ultimately becomes too frustrating to bother with.
I will finish by saying a few words aimed at my detractors:
Nothing within this post applies to me personally, so do not mistake my motives here. I am not whining, because I have absolutely nothing to whine about. I have always used the True Patch and I will happily continue to do so. And since nearly all of the mods that *I* have created for Bloodlines are stand-alone texture mods, it really doesn't matter to ME which baseline patch people are using. Nor do I care whether or not someone else's mods are compatible with the True Patch. That's their choice, not mine... so if they wish to release a mod which has limited functionality and which may be rendered obsolete in three weeks by Wesp's next "unofficial patch," then so be it. No, I am not saying any of these things on my own behalf, as I am completely immune from this situation.
I am saying these things unselfishly and on behalf of the entire Bloodlines community. And most especially, for everyone who is interested in seeing a greater number of high-quality VTMB mods in the future.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Happy vamping, everybody.
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