BioShock

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BioShock

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Developers
	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
BioShock	2007
BioShock 2	2010
BioShock Infinite	2013
BioShock Remastered	2016
BioShock 2 Remastered	2016

Key points

Using launch options you can skip intro videos.

Field of view, antisotropic filtering, and mouse acceleration all require hacks to toggle, see their respective sections for details.

General information

Official Forum

BioShock Wiki - Large wiki for the BioShock series

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability

For the Retail, GamersGate (Windows), and Amazon.com (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.

Essential 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 intro videos

Instructions

Instructions

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/7670/pfx/

Save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/7670/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

In-game video settings.

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Instructions

Input settings

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Mouse acceleration

Instructions

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish

Issues unresolved

Subtitles Issue

The in-game subtitles run very fast, where the first part of any dialog is correct, but the other parts just appear and disappear very quickly

Issues fixed

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.

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.

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

Instructions

Stuttering frame rates

Instructions

Instructions

Instructions

Can't change resolution from 1024x768

Instructions

Bioshock will not be fullscreen when alt-tabbing to it

Instructions

Instructions

Audio

No sound

Instructions

Crash on startup in Windows 7 64-bit

On some systems, Bioshock will crash on startup due to a bug with how OpenAL is implemented. To fix this:

Instructions

Alternatively, uninstalling OpenAL and/or Rapture3D can resolve the issue:

Instructions

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	7
Processor (CPU)	2.4 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 x2
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	128 MB of VRAM DirectX 10 compatible Shader model 3.0 support	nVidia GeForce 7900 GT nVidia GeForce 8600 512 MB of VRAM

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.5.8
Processor (CPU)	1.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	128 MB of VRAM

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.