Create your own list

Advanced guide for creating your own custom Wabbajack modlist based on Fashionista.

MO2 Plugin Writing

Creating your own List

Here is some information I have found on modding this game using Wabbajack and ModOrganizer2, that I am organizing here in case it comes in handy for anyone else, as well as to make it easy for me to find if I need it again.

Setting Up Mod Organizer

  • Mod Organizer needs to be installed as the Portable Version.
  • The plugin for the game is here: \ModOrganizerFolder\plugins\basic_games\game\game_vampirebloodlines.py
  • The GameDataPath = "vampire" is the path that it defaults to for installing mods, you probably want to update it to Unofficial_Patch

Stock Game Folder vs Root Builder

There are 2 main options for setting up the game for a Wabbajack list and I will try to outline the pros and cons of each method here.

Stock Game Folder

The Stock Game Folder method copies all the game files into a folder in Mod Organizer and then launches the game from this folder.

Outdated - GOG is not currently working so I would suggest using the Stock Game folder method at this time.

Pros
  • Probably the easiest to set up
  • Will let you have multiple lists installed without having issues with other lists
    • This is currently not a big deal as this is the only VtM:B list, but this could change in the future.
  • You can add an ENB to the Stock Game folder
  • You can install the Unofficial Patch to the Stock Game folder and this is the easiest method to add the patch
  • Faster
Cons
  • Can only support one platform and I have found a lot of people own the game on GOG, or can get it easier in certain countries that do not allow them to purchase the game.
  • Certain Mods might not work unless you do a hybrid method also using root builder, as mod folders are a bit all over the place with this game.

Root Builder

Pros

  • Can support multiple platforms. Currently only:
    • GOG
    • Steam
  • Can install mods to the root of the game folder so certain mods will work

Cons

  • Can be much slower to launch the game if you try to run the full game or all the mods through it
  • Harder to set up and work with

Root Builder Setup and Info

Any mod or files in a mod that you want to go into the root of the game folder you would put inside a folder named “root” when setting up the mod.

Unofficial Patch

When setting up the Unofficial Patch in the game, the process is a bit different than you would think.

  1. Start by making sure the game is installed and then browse to the installation folder.
  2. Grab the vampire.exe file, make a copy of it and paste it into a new folder, preferably close to the root of the drive.
    • This is because of the limited maximum path length in Windows.
    • So something like C:\Temp.
  3. Download the Unofficial patch.
  4. Double click to install the patch and then when it asks where you want it installed, change the path to the folder you set up in step 2.
    • This is done as the Unofficial Patch needs to patch the EXE of the game, but we don’t want all the files and folders added to the stock game, as we will be adding them as a mod in Mod Organizer.
  5. You need to pick the Core Version or the Plus Version
    1. Core is the Base Game
    2. Plus is Cut content from the game.
  6. Once it finishes installing, open the folder that’s selected and it should have a bunch of files and folders in it now.
  7. We are going to add all the files in the Root to a Mod and then all the files inside Unofficial_Patch to another mod.
  8. We are doing this so that we don’t have all 1.2GB and 15,000 files load using root builder giving us a nice speed up.
  9. Create a new empty mod called something like Unofficial Patch in Mod Organizer.
  10. Create a new folder called Root inside this mod folder.
  11. Move all the files in the root (other than the Unofficial_Patch folder) into this mod.
  12. Create a new empty mod called Unofficial Patch.
    1. Move all the files inside the Unofficial_Patch into this new mod folder.
  13. Done.

Reshade setup for the list

Follow these steps to set up and configure ReShade properly:

  1. Prepare the Folder
    1. Create a new folder with the name of the ReShade profile you want to make.
    2. Copy the following files into the new folder:
      • LICENSE.md - I have attached this here LICENSE.md
      • vampire.exe - This can be pulled from the Steam or GoG folder for the main game.
  2. Step 2: Add the ReShade Configuration
    1. Download the ReShade preset you want to use (if you haven’t already).
    2. Copy the .ini file for that preset into the folder you just created.
  3. Step 3: Run ReShade Setup
    1. Launch ReShade Setup by running:
      • ReShade_Setup_6.5.1_Addon.exe
    2. Accept the warning screen by clicking OK.
    3. Click Browse and select the vampire.exe file you copied into the folder.
    4. Click Next.
    5. When prompted, select DirectX 9.
    6. Click Next.
    7. Click Browse again and select the .ini file you downloaded earlier.
    8. Continue clicking Next until the installation finishes, then close the setup tool.
  4. Step 4: Clean Up
    1. Delete the temporary vampire.exe file from the folder.
    2. Open the ReShade.ini file in a text editor.
    3. Add the following settings or edit them to enable hotkeys for toggling effects and the overlay: 
        [INPUT]
  ; Toggle all effects on/off
  KeyEffects=123,1    ; Control + F12

  ; Toggle the ReShade overlay on/off
  KeyOverlay=122,1    ; Control + F11
    4. Add a folder called Root to the mod folder and copy all the files inside it other than the metafile into it.

ModDB Meta Files

ModDB Meta Files are a bit of a pain to create do to the download method it uses.

When you click download it will open an iFrame for the download location you will have to right click the iFrame and then open it in a new window and use that url to create the Meta File.

The Contents of the file will look something like this URL https://www.moddb.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines/addons/new-female-pc-by-skeletoff

[General]
installed=true
manualURL=https://www.moddb.com/addons/start/174197
prompt=Wait for the download to start automaticly for NewPCMod.1.rar

Step 5: Wabbajack Compile Settings

When building the list in Wabbajack, you need to adjust the compile settings for the ReShade mods to ensure everything is included properly.

Required Compile Settings

  • AlwaysEnable
  • NoMatchInclude

Why These Are Important

  • AlwaysEnable Ensures the mod is always included in the list, even if it is not checked by default. This way, players can still choose to enable it if they wish.

  • NoMatchInclude Inlines all files that cannot be found in archives. This is why we added the LICENSE.md file — it guarantees that the build will include all necessary files, even if they aren’t part of a recognized archive.

ENB Settings for the list 

[INPUT]
KeyUseEffect=123 ; Shift + F12
KeyBloom=120
KeyOcclusion=121
; ...

Information on Modding the Game

Editing the Main Menu

There are 3 parts to the main menu that I have found:

  1. The Logo on top
  2. The Particles that Float around the page and effects
  3. The Background or Skybox

The logo is 3 different files in unofficial_patch\materials\interface\mainmenu\:

  1. *.tth
  2. *.ttz
  3. *.vmt

TTH stands for Troika Texture Header, and TTZ for Troika Texture Zipped. TTZ is where the actual bitmap is stored, and a .vmt file is a Valve Material Type file used by Valve’s Source Engine to define the material properties of surfaces in video games, such as color, texture, and reflections. These files are typically text files that contain key-value pairs specifying various material attributes.

The easiest way to edit the file is to use a .bat file that the Unofficial Plus Patch includes in SDK\SDKBinaries\tools\Texture Utils\ and simply drag the TTH file into the TexConvert.bat. Then edit the image using your favorite image editor and to convert it back into a .tth and .ttz just drag it into the .bat again.

You should not have to edit the .vmt unless you changed the name of the files but just naming the files the same as the .vmt is good enough.

The Particles

The particles are the objects bouncing or floating around the screen in the background, and the effects on the background like color overlays or things like smoke or fire effects.

The only ones I have edited are the floating images and they look to just be mm_*.tga files that are 128 x 128 in size and are located in unofficial_patch\particles.

[!TIP] Converting all the TGA files to black will remove the image from displaying. This is handy if you want the background image to display.

If I edit the effects I will post more information, but nothing so far.

The Background or Skybox

The Skybox is in 2 places from what I can figure out with the following files:

  1. unofficial_patch\resource\
    • mainmenuparticles.txt
      • This looks like where you set certain things about the skybox such as:
        • The Name of the Skybox
        • What Music plays
        • What the camera does and if you can do things like look around or have it rotate
        • What Particle Effects are loaded and more
  2. unofficial_patch\materials\skybox
    • mm_*.tth
    • mm_*.ttz
    • mm_*.vmt
    • mm_*bk.vmt
    • mm_*dn.vmt
    • mm_*ft.vmt
    • mm_*lf.vmt
    • mm_*rt.vmt
    • mm_*up.vmt

    The TTH and TTZ are the same format but a larger size, probably 1024x1024 or 2048x2048 in size.

    The naming convention for the files works out to be:

    • bk = back (rear face of the cube)
    • ft = front (forward face)
    • lf = left (left face)
    • rt = right (right face)
    • up = top (ceiling face)
    • dn = down (bottom face)

Example of the mainmenuparticles.txt:

MainMenuParticles
{
    camera_fov        "45"
    camera_near       "2"
    camera_far        "4096"
    camera_rotation   "0"
    default_skybox    "mm_skybox"


music             "music/vampire_theme.mp3" //(By @joylunamusic)


    Particle
    {
        emitter       "M_Clouds_Emmiter"
        origin        "[0,0,-30]"
        angle         "[0,0,0]"
    }


    Particle
    {
        emitter       "M_Clans_Emmiter"
        origin        "[0,0,-30]"
        angle         "[0,0,0]"
    }

    Particle
    {
        emitter       "M_Cels_Emmiter"
        origin        "[0,0,-30]"
        angle         "[0,0,0]"
    }


}

Example of the mm_*.vmt:

"UnlitGeneric"
{
    "$basetexture"    "skybox/mm_f"
    "$basetexturetransform" "center .5 .5 scale 1.8 1.8 rotate 0 translate 0 0"
    "$detailscale" "1"
}

Massive thanks to the all the modders still active for this amazing game, none of this would be possible without Wesp5 the creator of the Unofficial Patch who is still updating to this day.

Thanks to iAmMe, Gallahorn, Luca|EzioTheDeadPoet , iAmMascha , Schrubbls, Neochiken, ShifuYaku, Kaeltis, Decimal, Miss Corruption, Scrab and many others for their help encouragement and patience as I break things.

This is a hobby project - please consider supporting:

Neochiken | iAmme | Gallahorn (Amazon.se gift cards)

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