Moth, you're not still using the same the desktop shortcut that Steam created after initially downloading it, right?
This is very likely the source of his problem.
As stated in my original instructions, it is imperative that Steam users create a NEW desktop shortcut to the
vampire.exe executable file, AFTER they have moved the entire game away from Steam and into its own, unique game folder on their hard drive.
If you just keep trying to use the original desktop shortcut that was created by Steam itself, then you'll keep getting weird error messages that say something like
"Steam blah blah blah dll not found" or some words to that effect.
Once the entire game has been moved, the original desktop shortcut will no longer work. And this is why it is REQUIRED that all Steam users create an entirely new desktop shortcut, after they have successfully moved the entire Bloodlines installation out and away from Steam. Just delete the original desktop shortcut that was created by Steam, as it is no longer relevant after the game has been moved and patched.
So once again...(1) Move your entire Bloodlines installation to a new, unique folder on your hard drive. When I say "unique," I mean to give the new folder a new name... and it must be DIFFERENT from the name of the original Steam folder. So if Steam installed Bloodlines into a folder named "Vampire -- The Masquerade: Bloodlines," for example, then just name your new folder "VTMB" or "Vampire -- Bloodlines" or any other name of your choosing... just so long as the name is different from the original name. The reason we want the name to be different has to do with the system registry, by the way. It is one more way to prevent Steam from interfering with our newly moved and patched VTMB installation. Steam will be looking for Bloodlines to be located within a folder with a specific name. So by giving our new folder a different name, Steam will effectively be unable to find Bloodlines and so, it will cause no problems for us.
(2) After moving the game into a new and unique folder, install the True Patch Gold Edition BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE and according to the TPG's instructions.
(3) After you have done all of the above, create a new desktop shortcut to VTMB's executable file... the file that actually launches the game. That file is named
vampire.exe and it will be found within the root folder of VTMB. It is easy to find. So just highlight that file, copy it, and then right-click on any open area of your Windows desktop and select
"Paste shortcut" from the available options in the pop-up menu that will appear.
(4) After creating your new desktop shortcut, you may need to edit its properties, depending upon whether or not you used the VTMB ResPatcher utility (included within the TPG package) to enable true 16:10 or 16:9 widescreen resolutions for Bloodlines. Further instructions on how to do all of that are already included within the TPG package
(just look within the sub-folder named "Extras\Utility\VTMB Res-Patcher Utility").And after you have done all of the above, you're finished. The entire process should take less than 10 minutes. Launch the game from your new desktop shortcut and enjoy. No more bugs... no more Steam... no more copy protection... no more bullshit... no more problems. Just a nice, bug-free gaming experience.