New Bugs Added To Bloodlines: True Patch vs. "Unofficial Patch"

[Tessera]

New Bugs Added To Bloodlines: True Patch vs. "Unofficial Patch"

The purpose of this topic is to point out a very important (and critical) difference between the True Patch series of Bloodlines patches, and Werner Spahl's ("Wesp5") line of so-called "unofficial patches" for VTMB.

In this topic, I am simply going to address the issue of NEW bugs which have been added to the game, due to oversights and technical mistakes made by the authors of both lines of patches. And since I am one of the primary authors of the True Patch, I will admit right off the bat that this post is not going to be especially kind to Wesp. At the same time, let me state that this is not intended to be an attack upon Wesp... it is in fact a completely accurate statement of the facts of the matter.

Before I go any further, we need to understand what is meant by the term "new bugs." I am referring to bugs which DID NOT EXIST in the "plain-vanilla" (default) version of Bloodlines. When I say "new bugs," I am talking about exactly that: new bugs, which the patches themselves inadvertently added to the game... most likely due to a certain degree of ineptitude on the part of the authors.

In order to keep this post from straying into the "too long, didn't read" category, I will just keep it simple:


NUMBER OF NEW BUGS ADDED TO BLOODLINES BY THE TRUE PATCH: 0
NUMBER OF NEW BUGS ADDED TO BLOODLINES BY WESP's UNOFFICIAL PATCH: over 100 and counting


Those statements are accurate. The True Patch has never added a single new bug to Bloodlines during the past four years of its existence. Wesp's inappropriately named "Unofficial Patch," however, has indeed added well over 100 new bugs to the game which did not exist in the original, plain-vanilla version of Bloodlines.

Note that I am referring to the running total of new bugs added by Wesp over the years. I am well aware that in most cases, he went back in a later version of his "patch" and fixed his own mess. But it is important to keep in mind that in every version of his work, this has been an ongoing problem with Wesp. And a good part of that problem stems from the fact that his work is never fully tested before he releases it... he simply makes a new version of his work available, and then waits for the larger VTMB community to come back to him with their numerous bug reports. One look at any of the official threads for Wesp's "patch" should make that fact crystal clear, because every single one of those threads is LOADED with occasionally freakish bug reports from the users of Wesp's "unofficial patch."

In stark contrast, the official thread for the True Patch Gold Edition contains almost no legitimate bug reports at all. Read it for yourselves, and see. The only bug reports that we get around here are almost entirely in reference to tiny little bugs in the original game that the True Patch has (thus far) failed to address. But then... that's what our various Hotfixes are for. As we discover new things, we fix them... and we fix them for good. It is as simple as that.

It is also important to note than whenever Wesp went back and repaired one of his own bugs, in each case he deceptively failed to mention that it was indeed an instance of him fixing his own mess. As a result, Wesp's patch notes are deliberately misleading. They read as if Wesp is fixing all sorts of strange bugs which supposedly existed in the original game... which no doubt seems impressive to the uneducated reader. But in truth, many of those "fixes" are in reference to Wesp's own bugs... and NOT in reference to a legitimate bug which existed in the original game. It is important for all of us to understand and appreciate this troubling issue with Wesp and his work.

How do we know all of this..? We know this because of the excellent efforts of one of our tessmage.com members... an older man (like me) who goes by the name of "Schu." A few months ago, Schu began a project on his own, in which he carefully inspected and analyzed the rather humongous patch notes from Wesp's latest "unofficial patch." He then performed a similar analysis of the patch notes from the True Patch Gold Edition. He conducted his investigation quite independently... I did not ask him to do it, nor did I even know that he was involved in such a project until after he had put up a new thread about it. That's the truth, folks.

And during the course of his investigation, Schu discovered that Wesp has been far less than honest within his patch notes. As it turns out, there are indeed numerous "fixes" listed in Wesp's patch notes which are in actuality repairs to bugs that Wesp himself created, in previous versions of his "patch."

A deliberate deception on Wesp's part..? You be the judge... but for now, I am just going to stick to the facts as we know them.

This troubling subject is important and it warrants our careful consideration. It is also the reason that I keep putting the word "patch" in quotes, whenever I refer to Wesp's work. It is because he has no right to call it a "patch," not when it adds NEW bugs to the game which never existed before. A patch should FIX bugs -- not add new ones. I think that much we can all agree upon.

Not to mention that in addition to all of those new bugs, Wesp's "patch" also introduces such a large number of arbitrary changes that it hardly qualifies as a patch anymore. It is in fact a large and rather bloated MOD... and this is true for ALL versions of Wesp's work, including his so-called "basic patch."

As I said earlier, Schu is not a kid. He is an older man who possesses more technical know-how than the average layman does. So with that in mind, I consider his work to be a fairly reliable assessment of the facts. In short, I trust his judgment, because I have already seen ample proof of his ability to understand what it is that he is looking at.

So there you have it, Bloodlines players. If you are considering installing any of Wesp's "unofficial patches," then you should be forewarned that each and every version of Wesp's work has indeed introduced new bugs and glitches to Bloodlines. And you should also be made aware that a large percentage of the "fixes" listed by Wesp within his patch notes are bogus... because they are in fact fixes to things which Wesp himself broke.

Meanwhile, the True Patch has never introduced a single new bug to Bloodlines. That is a fact and everyone is welcome to analyze it for themselves, if they still have any doubts. We have already done that for you... but I also recognize that in this silly, ongoing "patch war," trust is hard to come by. I therefore invite any of you who possess the necessary technical know-how to conduct your own independent investigations of both lines of VTMB patches. And I am quite confident that at the end of your own investigation, you will discover that we are indeed telling you the truth.

Conclusion: as it stands right now, the True Patch Gold Edition is the only Bloodlines patch on the entire web which can be considered 100% reliable, consistent and bug-free. And it accomplishes all of that WITHOUT making all sorts of weird, arbitrary, foolish and unnecessary changes to the original quests, items and gameplay.

That, as they say, is the bottom line.  


- Tessera -

[Tessera]

So now, let me address the issue of the SIZE of each of the two patches...

Wesp's most recent "unofficial patch," which I believe is currently version 7.6b, has a total file size of approximately 199 megabytes before it is extracted and installed. It is also important to note that included within that file size is an installer program, which takes up a small amount of extra space... but which does not actually get installed into the game itself. It's just some extra added fluff.

And it is also important to note that Wesp's "unofficial patch" contains a large number of UNNECESSARY changes to Bloodlines, along with a slew of "fixes" that are actually repairs to bugs which Wesp himself introduced in previous versions of his "patch." We have gone into those facts in quite a bit of detail... both within this thread, and elsewhere on this board.

So we need to subtract all of those items from Wesp's work, if we wish to gain a more accurate sense of exactly how many LEGITIMATE fixes his "unofficial patch" actually contains.


Meanwhile, the most current version of the True Patch Gold Edition, including its most recent Hotfix (#5), weighs in at a hefty 485 megabytes, prior to being decompressed and installed. In its uncompressed form, it is actually closer to 800 megabytes. That's more than twice the size of Wesp's most recent "patch." Much more.

Wesp will tell you that this difference in size between the two patches is due to several optional mods which I bundled into the TPG package. Okay... fair enough. So then, let's remove those optional mods from the TPG... and then see how large the resulting archive will be:

TPG zip file, including optional mods: 485 megabytes (compressed).
TPG zip file, without optional mods:  295 megabytes (compressed).
Wesp's "Unofficial Patch," full package: 199 megabytes (compressed).

Even with all of the optional mods removed from the TPG patch, we're still seeing a final compressed size of nearly 300 megabytes, which is 100 megabytes larger than Wesp's "unofficial patch."

So how do we account for this discrepancy..?

Keep in mind that as stated earlier, Wesp's mod does not consist entirely of legitimate bug fixes. Wesp himself has admitted this fact. No, it also contains a very large number of ARBITRARY and UNNECESSARY modifications to Bloodlines, nearly all of which are frivolous in nature. Some of them even violate WoD canon, whilst others simply make the game far too easy... by empowering the player in additional ways which ultimately end up being overpowered -- ultimately eroding VTMB's replay value.

Not only that, but Wesp's "patch" also contains numerous "fixes" to things which were NOT broken in the original game, but which Wesp himself broke in one or more of his previous versions. Case in point: Wesp's recent and idiotic attempt to convert the Bloodlines engine over to a newer version of Python, which ended in disaster. And there are literally dozens and dozens of other such examples to be found within Wesp's work.

On top of all that, Wesp's "patch" also includes an executable installer program -- which is a cute gimmick, but also quite unnecessary. Plus it adds to the final file size of Wesp's "unofficial patch."

And yet... the compressed version of Wesp's "patch" is still 100 megabytes smaller than the stripped-down version of the True Patch Gold Edition (likewise in its compressed form).

Well, this is rather puzzling, isn't it..? On the one hand, we have Wesp prancing about on various forum boards, boisterously claiming that his "patch" fixes more bugs than the True Patch does. And yet, the True Patch Gold Edition... which is ENTIRELY composed of legitimate bug fixes, unlike Wesp's work... is a whopping 100 megabytes LARGER than any version of Wesp's "unofficial patch."

Rather peculiar, wouldn't you say..? According to Wesp, the larger of the two patches fixes less bugs... in spite of the fact that it is the ONLY patch which consists entirely of legitimate repairs to bugs which actually existed within the original game. Keep in mind that there are almost no arbitrary changes within the TPG whatsoever. Nor does any part of it consist of repairs to bugs that we ourselves introduced in some previous patch. None... there is no bullshit within the TPG, nor is there any unnecessary fluff.

The fact is, we have NEVER introduced any bugs into Bloodlines which did not exist before. Never... not once, during the past four year history of the True Patch series. That is the entire purpose of this thread... to point out how much more reliable and bug-free our work has been, as compared to Wesp's. As I have stated before: a patch should FIX bugs, not introduce new ones. I have always clung to that standard, throughout the development of the True Patch series.

But I wanted to take a side-trip here for a moment, and point out yet another example of how Wesp and his goons have been deliberately misleading the Bloodlines community. They have always maintained that Wesp's "patch" fixes more bugs than the True Patch does... and yet, when we closely examine both patches, it becomes clear that the exact OPPOSITE is true: that the True Patch contains far more legitimate bug fixes than ANY version of Wesp's work.

The numbers do not lie. But Wesp certainly does... and I think that once again, we have proven that sad fact. Not with adolescent smack talk... not with a bunch of contrived bullshit... not with chest beating and propaganda... but with an exacting analysis of the actual files involved in both lines of patches.

Are there any legitimate repairs within Wesp's work which the True Patch lacks..? Yes, I am sure that there must be a few. We're not perfect... so we'll keep hunting down those bugs and then add repairs for them to future Hotfixes. But more importantly, are there any legitimate bug fixes within the True Patch which Wesp's work lacks..? Oh hell yes... hundreds of megabytes worth, in fact. As I said -- it's no contest.

BOTTOM LINE: the larger of the two patches is the one which contains the greatest number of legitimate repairs to Bloodlines. And on that score, the True Patch Gold Edition wins hands-down. It's no contest. With its numerous map repairs, Python repairs, audio repairs, core Source engine repairs, model and texture repairs, dialogue repairs.... and on and on and on... the True Patch Gold Edition is by far the most effective Bloodlines Patch available from ANYWHERE. Anyone who carefully analyzes both lines of patches will no doubt come to the same inescapable conclusion.

So don't be fooled, Bloodlines players... because it's all right there, in black and white.

[Tessera]

The following was copied over from a topic in the members-only section of this board...

Wesp said that the True Patch is bigger than the Unofficial Patch due to "poor compression."

So... tell Wesp to un-compress both patches and THEN compare their total size on disk.


Shall I save him the trouble..? Because I just happen to have a copy of Wesp's patch right here. Version 7.5, I believe.


TOTAL SIZE ON DISK OF WESP's "PLUS" PATCH v. 7.5 (INCLUDING ALL EXTRAS): 671 megabytes.
TOTAL SIZE ON DISK OF THE TRUE PATCH GOLD EDITION w/Hotfix #5 (INCLUDING ALL EXTRAS): 839 megabytes.


TOTAL SIZE ON DISK OF WESP'S "BASIC" PATCH v. 7.5 (NO EXTRAS): 648.55 megabytes.
TOTAL SIZE ON DISK OF THE TRUE PATCH GOLD EDITION w/Hotfix #5 (NO EXTRAS): 535 megabytes.


Notice that Wesp's "basic" patch isn't very "basic" at all. It still contains numerous alterations to the game, hence it having a total file size which is almost identical to his so-called "plus" patch. Meanwhile, the TPG contains no arbitrary content to speak of... which explains why the base files of the TPG take up 110 megabytes less space than Wesp's "basic" patch does. But if you add in all of the extra content that each line of patches has to offer, then the TPG beats Wesp's by a mile... or in this case, by roughly 160 megabytes in its total installed size.

All of that is very interesting... but because Wesp has included such a large amount of arbitrary content within BOTH versions of his "patch," it is difficult to know what we are really looking at. So let's try a different approach: let's dissect each patch into its separate sections.

For example, one of the most important areas of either patch is the number of map repairs. The game maps are critical in any Source game... they are in fact the way in which the entire game world is constructed and presented to us on our screens. So then, which patch contains the largest number of map repairs..?

WESP's PATCH -- MAP REPAIRS: 451 MB on disk.
TRUE PATCH  -- MAP REPAIRS: 465 MB on disk.

Winner: the TPG contains a total of 14 megabytes more map repairs than any version of Wesp's "patch."


Keep in mind that all of the numbers in this post are UNCOMPRESSED figures. This is the actual size of each patch, after it has been installed into Bloodlines.


Another important area of any patch is the number of repairs it contains to Python scripts. The Python scripts are what determine numerous global variables which are called upon during the course of the game, as well as numerous other functions. So let's take a look at those, too:

WESP's PATCH -- TOTAL PYTHON FILES: 908 kilobytes.
TRUE PATCH -- TOTAL PYTHON FILES: 960 kilobytes.

Winner: the True Patch contains 52 kilobytes more Python repairs than any version of Wesp's "patch."


Hmm... Wesp seems to be losing this fight... big time. When it comes to the areas of CRITICAL repairs to Bloodlines, all versions of Wesp's "patch" are coming up short as compared to the TPG.

Alright... maybe Wesp did better than we did when it comes to dialogue repairs. Lord know VTMB is filled with hundreds of dialogue errors. So okay... let's compare the installed file sizes again:

WESP's PATCH -- TOTAL DIALOGUE FILES: 5.19 MB on disk.
TRUE PATCH -- TOTAL DIALOGUE FILES: 10.5 MB on disk.

Winner: the True Patch contains more than twice as many repaired dialogue files than Wesp's "patch" does.


Well, shit... I was betting that Wesp would at least beat us on the total number of dialogue repairs. But I guess not... because it appears that we've repaired more than twice as many dialogue files as Wesp has.


Perhaps we should look at some of the smaller, but equally critical areas of the game engine. How about the engine files themselves..? The files contained within the VTMB/bin folder, for example..? Both lines of patches contain repaired versions of the engine files. So let's look at how the two patches stack up against one another, in the area of critical engine repairs:

WESP's PATCH -- CRITICAL ENGINE FILES: 4.57 MB on disk.
TRUE PATCH -- CRITICAL ENGINE FILES: 5.18 MB on disk.

Winner: the True Patch contains more critical engine repairs than Wesp's "patch" does.


Well, this is really getting weird now. If the True Patch contains significantly more critical repairs than Wesp's patch does... then why is the installed version of Wesp's so-called "basic" patch so large..? Where is all of that extra size coming from..?

As it turns out, the bulk of that extra size is coming from what many people would refer to as "padding." For reasons unknown, Wesp has included numerous MDL (model) files within his "patch" which HAVE NOT BEEN ALTERED IN ANY WAYS WHATSOEVER. I verified this myself, by comparing several MDL files from Wesp's "patch" with the exact same files from the plain-vanilla version of the game. I loaded up each set of files in a hex comparator... a binary program which looks at two files side-by-side and then searches for any and all differences between them. It literally analyzes the two files byte-for-byte. And sure enough, the comparator could find NO DIFFERENCES AT ALL between the MDL files in Wesp's "patch" and the original, plain-vanilla files.

In short: Wesp has added UNALTERED files from the original game into his "patch." As for why Wesp would do something like that.... well hey, just do the math. The most obvious answer would be that Wesp wants his "patch" to look big and impressive, even if a significantly large portion of it DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL.

So to sum up this post: not only is the full version of the True Patch Gold Edition larger than Wesp's "patch" in its installed form, but it also contains a very significant number of critical game repairs that every version of Wesp's patch clearly lacks. The numbers do not lie... and neither am I. I invite anyone and everyone to perform the same comparisons as I have. Your results will be exactly the same as mine.

As the late Senator Daniel Moynahan from New York was famous for saying: "You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts."

Well, I have just presented the facts.   


- Tessera -

*** Feel free to copy/paste this post to any forum of your choosing. ***

[Prisoner416]

They recently had a daily deal on Steam for Bloodlines. The forum is swamped with people having error issues in relation to Wesp's mod. I managed to get one to try the True Patch and, surprise, no more errors.

If I knew more about the coding aspect, I could do better in trying to explain why Wesp's mod is only more likely to cause issues in the long run for these new players.

[Tessera]

How many times have I said it..?

Over the years, Wesp's "patch" has introduced more bugs than it fixes.
These days, most of the so-called "repairs" in Wesp's work are actually
fixes to things that Wesp himself broke... in some previous iteration of
his inappropriately named "patch."

We have provided specific examples of this, over and over again during
the course of the past five or six years. And yet, Wesp continues to
dodge these facts... instead preferring to pretend that we are "liars"
and that he, and only he, can divine the truth in such matters.

Is it any wonder that the majority of Wesp's followers are gullible adolescents..?
Because only they would be so naive and manipulable as to allow themselves
to be sucked in by peer pressure... instead of objectively weighing the evidence
for themselves, in a stringent and rational manner.

And that is also why I have repeatedly said that I did not make the True Patch
for those players. I made it for sophisticated and free-thinking adults, who quite
frankly are the only people who should be playing VTMB in the first place.