BioShock 2 Remastered

BioShock 2 Remastered

Developers
Original game	2K Marin
Remastered	Blind Squirrel Games
Publishers
	2K Games
Engines
	Unreal Engine 2.5
Release dates
Windows	September 15, 2016

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

Key points

Remastered version of BioShock 2 and its add-on, Minerva's Den. Released as part of BioShock: The Collection, which also includes BioShock Remastered.

Free to owners of BioShock 2 on Steam. Purchasing this version likewise gives a free Steam copy of the original.

Does not include BioShock 2's multiplayer mode.

Very few video customization settings compared to the original game.

Game tends to crash to desktop on modern Windows 10 PCs. Possible fix here.

General information

Official website

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
GOG.com		Included with BioShock 2 Classic.
Green Man Gaming
Steam		Also unlocks a copy of the original BioShock 2.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Minerva's Den Remastered	Also unlocks a copy of the original Minerva's Den.

Essential improvements

Fix audio balance issues

The game does not use the original audio mix, causing some audio balance issues; most notably, gun fire is much quieter as well as other sound effects. The sound effects can be restored by downloading a modified .ini file:

Restore correct audio settings[citation needed]
Download SoundMixStates.ini from Fix Quiet Guns and Unbalanced Audio - Restoring the Retail Audio Mix. Go to <path-to-game>\ContentBaked\pc\System and place SoundMixStates.ini inside.

Skip intro videos

Use -nointro command line argument

Restore uncompressed FMV audio

Download and install this mod.

BioShock Tweaker

Allows you to change settings that are not normally adjustable from the options menu (i.e. custom resolution). Point the program at the game's configuration file location.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\BioshockHD\Bioshock2\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/409720/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\BioshockHD\Bioshock2\SaveGames\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/409720/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud		Up to 128 save files (and no more than 512 MB) can be synced.

Video settings

Graphics settings.

Advanced graphics settings

Settings^{[citation needed]} are located in the configuration file location folder, named Bioshock2SP.ini

Option	Values	Description
Shadows	True/False	Shadow Maps
UseHighDetailPostProcEffects	True/False	High Detail Post Processing
HighDetailShaders	True/False	High Details Shaders
ForceGlobalLighting	True/False	Force Global Lighting False is a higher setting
UseHighDetailShadowMaps UseHighDetailSoftParticles	True/False	Use Detail Surfaces Enabling soft particles has no effect
HighDetailActors SuperHighDetailActors	True/False	Actor Detail Set both to false for low, only first option to true for medium, both to true for high
TextureDetail	Low/Medium/High/UltraHigh	Texture Detail

Input settings

Controllers need to be unplugged or disabled in game settings for mouse to work.

Input settings.

Keyboard rebinding.

• 

  Controller settings.

• 

  Controller buttons.

Audio settings

General settings.

Audio settings.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese				Added in PC Patch 3.
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian
Japanese
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, download.
Polish				Fan translation here.
Russian				Ported from BioShock 2. Available here.
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D, Z3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues fixed

Game overwrites desktop color profile

Use the -nogamma command line argument.

Frequent crashes

A new fix attempt for frequent crashes on modern PCs has been proposed on Steam limiting the game to run on 4 CPU cores max, which seems to work fine for many users.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9, 11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7 SP1 64-bit
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66 GHz AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz	3.0 GHz Quad Core
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	25 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 AMD Radeon HD 7770 1 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 ATI Radeon HD 7970 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible

Mobile chipsets and integrated/AGP graphics cards may be incompatible.