BioShock
Cover image missing, please upload it | |
Developers | |
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Irrational Games | |
Publishers | |
2K Games | |
OS X | Feral Interactive |
Engines | |
Unreal Engine 2.5 | |
Release dates | |
Windows | August 21, 2007 |
macOS (OS X) | October 7, 2009 |
Warnings
- The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.
BioShock | |
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BioShock | 2007 |
BioShock 2 | 2010 |
BioShock Infinite | 2013 |
BioShock Remastered | 2016 |
BioShock 2 Remastered | 2016 |
General information
- Official Forum
- Steam Community Discussions.
- Steam Users' Forum for game series
Availability
- For the Retail, GamersGate (Windows), and Amazon (Windows) versions of BioShock, SecuROM DRM is enabled. However, as of June 19 2008 you are allowed unlimited activations. You require an internet connection to install the game.
- There is no Mac version on Steam.[1]
Improvements
Patches
Patch is currently at Version 1.1. It is heavily recommended to patch to the latest version, as the un-patched game can become unbeatable at one point. If purchased or activated from Steam, the game is automatically patched to the latest version.
Skip Introduction Logos in Steam
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Skip Introduction Logos in Windows
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Game data
Save game location
Save game cloud syncing
Template:Save Game Cloud Syncing
Video settings
Field of view (FOV)
- This fix does not work with the German censored version of the game.
- You must disable the Horizontal FOV Lock (Options, Graphic Options, Horizontal FOV Lock) otherwise the game will be Vert- instead of Hor+.
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Input settings
Mouse acceleration
There are two configuration files that you will need to modify. They are located at C:\Program Files (x86)\2K games\BioShock\Builds\Release\DefUser.ini
and %APPDATA%\Bioshock\User.ini
.
Open up both files and make the following changes to each one:
1) Add this to the end of each file:
[Engine.PlayerInput] MouseSmoothingMode=0 MouseAccelThreshold=0.0
2) Find the section of the file with the key bindings. It will look like this:
A=StrafeLeft B=AmmoSelectionDown C=Duck D=etcetera
Change one of the binds to J=set Engine.PlayerInput MouseAccelThreshold 0.0 | set Engine.PlayerInput MouseSmoothingMode 0
, with J being replaced with the key of your choice.
3) Do a search and replace on both files, replacing every instance of Speed=2500
with Speed=500
if you are a lower sensitivity player, or maybe "Speed=1000" if you like higher sensitivity.
4) With all of that, everything should be fixed. Not quite. Each time you start a new game the mouse will be screwed up until you press that key that you bound to "set Engine.PlayerInput MouseAccelThreshold 0.0 | set Engine.PlayerInput MouseSmoothingMode 0". So, press that each time you start a new game or level or spawn or whatever.
5) Disable Vertical Sync in the graphics options to reduce mouse lag. This will cause graphical tearing, so it's up to you which one is more important.
Audio settings
Issues and Fixes
- TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game. It can be found here.
Game-Breaking Issues
Extremely minor spoilers follow, but they detail glitches that should be avoided. In order of possible encounter:
In Arcadia (the fifth level), do not have the Scrounger tonic equipped around the time you search Langford's Safe. The safe holds a required quest item. To fix this issue, you must reload an earlier save and remove the tonic by visiting a Gene Bank. Once you have the item from the safe, you can safely use the Scrounger tonic for the rest of the game.
In Fort Frolic, do not leave the level using the Bathysphere that you begin the level next to. If you do leave Fort Frolic using that Bathysphere then when you return to Fort Frolic the curtain that needs to be open to perform the "Cohen's Masterpiece" quest will be permanently closed. If this happens then you cannot get to the Fort Frolic exit Bathysphere to progress to the next level. Source
In Fort Frolic, it is possible to get trapped in Rapture Records. When trying to kill Silas Cobb, don't use the Hypnotize plasmid. If you do and the Big Daddy kills Cobb before he's able to perform a scripted task, you must return to the main map by killing yourself. (The Incinerate! plasmid at your feet works well.) Reloading an old save is also an option. Source
If your saves to do not go far enough back then the first two are game-ending issues. Technically, modifying the save file or using a trainer would also fix the issue, but neither solution has been documented.
Excessive Screen Tearing
If you are noticing excessive tearing on Nvidia cards, Go to the control panel, 3D settings, add the Bioshock.exe to the list, and under options enable both FXAA and Vsync. This forces the stay at your refresh rate and fixes the somewhat broken MLAA that caused tearing.
Can't Change Resolution From 1024x768
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Alt-Tabbing
If you run at a different resolution than your desktop resolution, BioShock will not be fullscreen when you return to it. To fix this, change the resolution to anything other than its original resolution, and press cancel when it asks you to confirm. Alternatively on Windows, hit Alt + Enter.
Audio
No Sound
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Crash on startup in Windows 7 64-bit
With some Windows 7 installations, Bioshock will crash on startup due to a bug with how OpenAL is implemented. To fix this:
Instructions |
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Alternatively, uninstalling OpenAL and/or Rapture3D can resolve the issue:
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System requirements
Windows | ||
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Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | Windows XP | Windows 7 |
Processor (CPU) | ||
System memory (RAM) | ||
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 8 GB | 8 GB |
Video card (GPU) | DirectX 9.0c, Shader Model 3.0 | nVidia GeForce 7900 GT (DirectX 9.0c) nVidia GeForce 8600 (DirectX 10) 512 MB of VRAM |
macOS (OS X) | ||
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Minimum | ||
Operating system (OS) | Mac OS X 10.5.8 | |
Processor (CPU) | ||
System memory (RAM) | ||
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 8 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | 128 MB of VRAM (Note: Requires an Intel processor. The game does not support Intel GMA integrated video chipsets (older Mac minis and MacBooks), but does run on GeForce 9400M graphics cards or better.) |
References
- Pages needing cover images
- Windows
- OS X
- Games
- Invalid template usage (Series)
- Invalid section order
- Invalid template usage (Fixbox)
- Pages with broken file links
- Missing section (Availability)
- Missing section (Save game cloud syncing)
- Missing section (Video)
- Missing section (Input)
- Missing section (Audio)
- Missing section (Localizations)
- Missing section (API)