WoD Mod FAQ

Frequently asked questions about WoD Mod, written by JemyM

Return to the WoD Mod website here

Started in October 2001
Version 1.0 (First release)


This FAQ tries to help people with common WoD Mod problems. It takes up a few problems with Redemption, but shall not be used to track down problems with Redemption. If you have problems with Redemption we reccomend you to read the unofficial FAQ posted on Nihilistics forum.


Disclaimer

Every document has to be accompanied with a disclaimer. So here it goes.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED in a "AS IS" basis. The author has done his best to ensure that every information in this document is as accurate as possible. No warranty shall be implied for any damage caused whatsoever from using/reading this document. All right, that's all!


History

1.0 First release of the WoD Mod FAQ


Before going further, read the following:

* Single Player is not supported. Play WoD Mod in Multiplayer only.
* Vampire Patch 1.1 must be installed before installing WoD Mod
* The WoDMod must be installed directly in your Vampire path

Really important tips:
* Only install Skinpacks/Maps/Addons that is delivered in .nob files.
* Never ever install a inofficial addon that contain FOLDERS except for perhaps Sounds & Music.


Contents:

General Questions about WoD Mod

Why does the manual suck?
Will you include support for different languages?
Will you include (insert World of Darkness creature here)

Crashes!

My Singleplayer game crashes!
My game crashes instantly before I even get to the main menu!
My game crashes when I try to create a game/load a map

My game crashes when I push "LAN"!
My game crashes when I go to the Select Character screen!

My game crashes when I select some skins in the Create Character screen!


Questions about 1.02
After installing 1.02 Vampire ask me for a missing .DLL file!
Disciplines seems to be missing (Summon, Rituals, Numina, Faith, Obeah)


Frequently Asked Questions, in order:


General Questions about WoD Mod


Why does the manual suck?

WoD Mod is based upon copyrighted material. We have been in contact with White Wolf, the publisher of the books WoD Mod have been based on. They have given us the right to produce the disciplines, but we are not allowed to document them more than simple descriptions.

If you havnt bought a White Wolf book yet, we reccomend you to do so. Vampire is a wonderful Roleplaying Game and a great deal of fun for you and your friends. The books are available in almost every store that sell RPG's, and you can also order the books, both from White-Wolf and major bookstores like Amazon.com
We still promise to include more info in 1.03 thou, so keep calm.

Will you include support for different languages?

To be honest, we dont know yet. Personally I wont deal with it, and none of the current members either. But there are people out there who are interested in doing so, and the only thing they need is an idea upon how to do it and still make the games compatible with the english versions. We fear that it will increase the strings ALOT (see My game crashes instantly before I even get to the main menu! below). Keep tight, its not impossible. If you have an idea upon how we can do it, or are interested yourself in taking on this mission, send me an e-mail.

Will you include (insert World of Darkness creature here)

Our plan are very strict. Our programmers are limited, and Vampire is a limited game. We are following a priority list as much as we can. Everything we add must be a World of Darkness entity, and we will never implement rules or houserules that doesnt exists in the books. Therefore we also wont do any "quick & dirty" addons.

Planned addons, for each client
Changeling
Changeling is put on hold becouse of lack of programmers. If you are a Changeling fan with programming skills, or if you have friends who are, you are free to join our team. Until someone does, Changeling will continue to be as it is today.

Hunter
Hunter is placed on hold until WoD Mod 1.04. In 1.04 the Hunter client will be in, and let you use WoD Mod to play a Hunter. Even if Numina and Faith isnt really Hunter powers, we will re-add them to Hunter (it feels like a natural place to place them), but they probably wont be changed from how they work today. What will be in the first Hunter isnt decided yet, but it will probably be limited like the first Werewolf was, and then more things is added in each version.

Mage
Mage still misses useable Foci's, Spirit and Matter. There are interests to continue to work on Mage, but the remaining stuff is very difficult to add. As soon as the current interested members have decided what to do, Mage is re-opened as a active client. Right now its frozen and delivered as it is now, just like Changeling.

Vampire
Our main goal is to implement the original 13 clans with rules as close to the original as possible. We are doing this in a certain order that follows:
1.02 - All basic disciplines (not clan disciplines) needs to be fully revised and work like they do in the book
1.03 - The already added, but not yet revised Clan Disciplines for the original 13 clans will be fully revised and work like they do in the book. Theese includes: Protean, Obtenebration, Viccissitude, Serpentis and Dementation
1.04 - The missing Clan Disciplines for the original 13 clans will be added and hopefully work true to the original rules. Theese includes: Quietus & Chimestry
1.05 - The paths used by Giovanni and Tremere will be added with exeptions. We can already promise a revision of Lure of Flame, Sepulchre Path and Bone Path, but we are still not sure about paths like Movement of the Mind (difficult to implement), Path of Conjuring, Path of Neptune and Weather Control.
1.06 - Revising the added, but not yet revised remaining clans. This includes: Daimonion, Thanatosis, Obeah & Temporis
1.07 - Maybee adding frequently requested clans. Maybee..

Werewolf
For each new version of WoD Mod there will be more gifts added. We are working on the most simple gifts first, and then add stronger and stronger gifts. For now, non Were-WOLVES are not planned. Theese inclues things like Bastets. We are focusing on the main 13 tribes, and thats it. There might be more support for Metis later on, and we are anxious to see new antagonists coming from our Skins & Modelling team. Expect a Nexus Crawler sooner or later.

Wraith
I have desperatly tried to find programmers interested to take on Wraith with no result at all. I have pimping nearly every damn corner of the Wraith-Online communities, but nothing, NOTHING. I wont waste more time in trying to find Wraith programmers. If you are a Wraiith fan with programming skills, or if you have friends who are, you are free to join our team. Until someone does, Wraith will continue to be as dead as the creatures it describes.

Other creatures
This includes stuff like mummies, gypsies, sorcerers etc... The reply is simple. Take a look above. Do you think we ever will have time for them? Your reply to that question answers your own.


Crashes!

My Singleplayer game crashes!

Reason:
WoD Mod where never made for use with the Singleplayer part of the game.

Solution:
Dont ever play WoD Mod with "Singleplayer".
It wont work, and is not supported.
If you choose to bypass this warning, its up to you.
Dont ask me or any one in the team how to solve problems with the Singleplayer part of the game.
Play it without WoD Mod and it will work.
WoD Mod is only created for Multiplayer


My game crashes instantly before I even get to the main menu!
My game crashes when I try to create a game/load a map

Reason:
You have too many inofficial Addons installed wich causes your game to crash since a special type of limit is reached (read the technical explenation below)

Technical explenation...
Most older (and some newer) addons for Vampire contains a file named "NLS" beneath the folder "Strings" (You can browse .nob files by simply opening them with WinZip).
The NLS file is a textfile that can be opened with Notepad/Word/Wordpad (notepad reccommended).

The NLS file was supposed to translate the games language into English that we can understand. For each line in this textfile one part of the game is translated and one "string" is added.
A bug in Vampire have created a limit of the maximum amount of strings you are allowed to have in your game.
Whenever vampire have reached its maximum limit it will crash instantly.
Strings from maps isnt added to this limit until the map is actually loaded within the game. If you try to load a map (create a game) and vampire crashes, then the limit was reached when the game tried to add the maps strings to the strings that was already loaded.

Solution:
You need to get rid of a few Addons...
You dont need to get rid of everything, but the more, the better.
But wich ones should you keep?

Here is a walkthrough in how to manage your game, something we all need to learn sooner or later with the bugs in Vampire.

You can download this file that does the next two steps automaticly.

1. Backup
Create a folder beneath your vampire folder named "Backup"
Move all your files named something with ".nob" into that folder.

2. Restore the original NSI files
Enter the Backup folder and find the following and put them back into your Vampire folder:
Codex.nob - 1,7mb
Levels.nob - 223mb
LMaterials.nob - 83mb
Local_Eng.nob - 176mb
Resource.nob - 148mb
Sounds.nob - 94mb

3. Rename your addons
Now your WoD Mod will work without problems... But it wont be too funny since all your addons are gone...
Your next step is to make sure what nob files you should use and not...

Begin to rename all your addons by adding a short description in front of each one.
This is not neccessary but will defenitly help you in keeping control over what addons you have installed.
This will not affect the pack at all since the name of the file have nothing to do with what will turn up inside the game.

For example:
Rename Cabin in the Forest.nob to Map-Cabin in the Forest.nob
Rename Final Nights.nob to Skins-Final Nights.nob

4. Restore all your maps
Now you can grab all files starting with "Map-" and put them back into Vampire. Maps will not affect your game as long as the author havnt done any larger mistakes.

5. Choosing your Skinpacks/Weaponpacks
Skinpacks & Weaponpacks is worse becouse they are the cause of the problem you are experiencing.
If you have read the reason to your problem you can start to check all your files for .NLS files. If you find a package that have too many lines in the .NLS file you might consider to remove it.
Some newer addons dont have a .NLS file at all, you can safely add all thoose packs into your Vampire folder. It isnt dangerous to have 1-5 skinpacks with .NLS files, but above 10 is way to many.
Even if the pack contains a load of strings, I can reccomend the "Skins Galore 1" from Mod Haven. It contains enough skins for most players and they are all bugfixed. It might be a better choice against having 10-20 separate skinpacks.

If you dare to do so (not to fun thou) you can simply delete the .nls files inside the nobs... some names wont show up correctly inside the game, but it saves you alot of problems.

Keep the ones that you dont need in your Backup folder for future usage, or delete them if you wish.

If you have removed enough, your game will work again!

TIP!
There are many skinpacks out there that adds the original Nihilistic models into your game. If you know that you have installed a such pack you can safely remove "Rabbit.nob" from the WoD Mod folder. Its a good start since its a total waste of resources to load all NSI skins TWICE...

My game crashes when I push "LAN"!
My game crashes when I go to the Select Character screen!

Reason:
You have at least one character that was created with another Mod.

Solution:
Run WoDMod - Crypt Manager (See your WoD Mod folder in the Start Menu)
Make sure you have no non WoD Mod characters in your WoD Mod Crypt and no WoD Mod characters in the Standard Vampire Crypt.


My game crashes when I select some skins in the Create Character screen!

Reason:
You have at least one skin that is incompatible with your Video Mode

Solution:
Either change your Video Mode into 16bit, or report this error to the Author (remove the skinpack that contains this skin, or avoid it within the menu).
Tell the author this:
Whenever a .TGA is saved to use with vampire it must either be saved into 24bit mode, or have a selection saved as "Alpha 1" inside the document (when saved in 32bit).

If all else fails, send me a mail jemym@home.se or post your question in the forum
Dont ask me or the forum questions that havnt anything to do with WoD Mod

Questions about 1.02

After installing 1.02 Vampire ask me for a missing .DLL file!

Reason:
You have installed Vampire in a incorrect folder, you have probably accepted the "Default" path when you dont have Vampire installed there.

Solution:
Re-install WoD Mod, when the game asks you for wich path you would like to install Vampire in, click Browse, find your way to the Vampire folder, klick ok, and then proceed as normal.

Disciplines seems to be missing (Summon, Rituals, Numina, Faith, Obeah)

Reason
There is a limit in Vampire that force us to reduce ourselves to a maximum of 31 disciplines. Some of the ones that where removed in 1.02 to leave space for others are:
Summon - This is not a PnP discipline anyway and therefore doesnt fit our basic idea of WoD Mod - To follow the rules 100%
Numina, Faith - Theese are not Vampire disciplines. They will be available in the first version of Hunter beyond christmas
Obeah - This discipline is removed until fixed
Rituals - A mistake. A patch might fix this.

Solution:
To re-enable a discipline you need to manually edit a file within VampClient.wmc (in the WoD Mod folder)

If you didnt knew, a WMC file is nothing else than a normal ZIP file with no compression.
So rename VampClient.wmc to VampClient.zip, unpack all the files into a separate folder.
Find the file: misc/game.ndg
Where you see ## in front of Rituals (or whatever) just remove thoose, and the group will be back in WoD Mod. Dont be fooled! Even if stuff like "Quietus" and "Chimestry" are there, they are not added to WoD Mod. They are only there to be activated in the future.

##DGRP_Thau_Summoning
##DGRP_Thau_Rituals
##DGRP_Obeah
#DGRP_Faith
#DGRP_Numina

*IMPORTANT*... The limit applies to you to. Dont add them all and expect WoD Mod to work. You might re-enable one perhaps two, but if you add more you will loose stuff like your storyteller abilities, then your Viccissitude, then your Visceratika.
None of theese are supported by us anymore. You are on your own while using them. Summon will be completely removed in 1.04 and all characters using "Rituals" needs to be recreated when 1.04 is released.

After editing your file, pack all the files together again, using NO compression. (Compression: None). Name your file "VampClient.wmc" and put it back in your WoD Mod folder.


If your question is not covered by this FAQ, send a e-mail to one of the following:
If your question is about Werewolf, ask SuTech
If your question is about a Model or Skin, ask nEoN_gOd
If your question is about WoD Mod, Vampire, or anything else, ask JemyM