How to fix "A Vampyre Story" and make it playable

How you make your copy of "A Vampyre Story" actually be playable and fix the crash after start.

Preface

As many people know, this game is not playable without fixing it.

This guide was tested under Windows 8.1, but should also work with Windows 10 and 7.

Requirements

- utility software "dgVoodo2" which can be obtained on http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/
- a text editor, like notepad.
- if you have Steam installed under "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam" you may have to have administrative privileges to edit or modify stuff there.

For playing or setting things up you really DO NOT need these if you have your Steam installation directory elsewhere.

Step 1: set compatibility mode.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Steam installation directory. From there, enter the directory steamapps\common\A Vampyre Story\game. This is the directory where things have to be changed and in this guide, I will call this directory the "game installation directory".

You will find there a main.exe (with cute little bat symbol). Click on it with the right mouse button and select "Properties", then on the tab "Compatibility".

Activate the checkbox "Run this program in compatibility mode" and select "Windows XP (Service Pack 2). Don't forget to click on "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings".

After that, click on "OK" to activate the settings.

Step 2: install dgvoodoo2

dgVoodo2 does some voodoo tricks for older games, you can get this utility from http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2.html.

Download the latest stable release.

From this zip file you need the following things:
- copy the files Glide.dll, Glide2x.dll, Glide3x.dll from 3DFx\x86 into the game directory
- copy the files D3D8.dll, D3D9.dll, D3DImm.dll, DDraw.dll from MS\x96 into the game directory
- copy dgVoodoo.conf, dgVoodooCpl.exe into the game directory

double-click on dgVoodoCpl.exe
- confirm that the "Config folder / Running instance" is the same folder where main.exe resides.
- select your graphics card on "adapter to use"
- click on the "DirectX" tab
- select "GeForce FX5700Ultra" in the video card drop down
- select "App driven" in the Texturing and Antialiasing drop down

Confirm with "OK"

Now you should be able to run the game properly, you also will see a "dgVoodo2" watermark in the lower right corner. If you want to get rid of it, open dgVoodooCpl.exe, go to the DirectX tab and uncheck "dgVoodoo watermark" in the "Miscellaneous" section, save it with OK.

If it still freezes (check your task manager), you may have to modify the default game settings (see next section).

Step 3 (optional): modify default game settings

The default game settings are stored in the game directory in the subfolder assets/scripts/14793.bin.

I strongly suggest that you make a backup copy of this file, just in case something goes wrong.

You can edit this file with notepad or any other text editor.

Change the line from

<option name="anti_alias_level" value="2"/>

to

<option name="anti_alias_level" value="0"/>

and save the file. After that you can play game.

Step 3a (optional): desperate measures

There is another possible fix, but this causes the game to have a black screen during each pre-rendered movie sequence (press a key to skip it). Gameplay is not affected by this, you just will not see any of the sequences.

If you want to do this, modify the configuration file first.

Open the Windows Explorer, navigate to the game directory. There is a DLL file called libpandadx9.dll. Rename this file (eg add a 'x' to it).

Start the game, enjoy.

Credits

This guide is based on the discussion forum article "Possible Fix (At least for some of you)" from ⊂ipher廾awﻸ and loosely based on other sources (the DLL renaming stuff).

Source:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/313870/discussions/0/1753520396983496165/

Reason for writing this guide is to have a more permament solution for it.

[Stan L Parable]

hi, im using mostly AMD based hardware, using AMD ryzen CPU and AMD radeon GPU on a ROG strix 550 motherboard. running on windows 10 i cannot get this game to work without massive fps loss (or the fact of that matter that it starts up in full screen without using the dgvoodoo).

using 3A does make it go past the start up sequence into the new/load game screen. but FPS issues will still persist (only around an avarage of 5 fps).

peculiarly, the mouse indicator runs smooth when having at first clicked out of the game.

[shakeyourbunny]

The current build of the game doesn't really need the guide any more, it should work out of the box.

What exactly did not work, if you downloaded the game and started?

[Themistoklis]

Unfortunately it doesn't work for me. I Have Win10. I followed all steps, even 3a.

[Gilyan]

Thanks, steps 1 and 2 did it for me.

[Johno69R]

Cheers mate, you're a champ!

[shakeyourbunny]

Thank you, I updated the download link!

[Solitary Doomsday Cultist]

You need to update the url for dgvoodoo. It no longer works. I found one that does > http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/

[MiaKätzchen]

wow works.. nice thanks :)

[Emol Dandriel]

it works perfectly fine on Win 10 :) Thanks!

[Crazy Rabbit]

All works! Thanx