*OLD*Official Bioshock Thread

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
To be clear, I never said the game was crappy. I am sure the game is pretty good, though I wouldn't know since I have not played it. But I can tell you already that the game does not deserve the high scores it is getting with some of the issues that are plaguing it.

And, perhaps I am wrong on this, but I was under the impression the latest patch or R6:Vegas added AA support... If this is the case, then your statement is incorrect and UT3 games will (if patched or supported out the box) have AA.

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me if you love the game or hate it, I just wish some of these reviews would have mentioned the 'cons' along with the 'pros'... The widescreen issue I can live with, but the lack of AA I really can't. Once you go AA you never go back...

But really at high enough resolutions it gets hard to tell the improvements AA makes. Maybe you can, but I really can't. Either way it sounds like it could come about in a patch similar to R6:V, and the same goes for the widescreen thing too. And it's even possible they'll add SM2 support at some point to give those of us with older but still capable cards a go.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
To be clear, I never said the game was crappy. I am sure the game is pretty good, though I wouldn't know since I have not played it. But I can tell you already that the game does not deserve the high scores it is getting with some of the issues that are plaguing it.

And, perhaps I am wrong on this, but I was under the impression the latest patch or R6:Vegas added AA support... If this is the case, then your statement is incorrect and UT3 games will (if patched or supported out the box) have AA.

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me if you love the game or hate it, I just wish some of these reviews would have mentioned the 'cons' along with the 'pros'... The widescreen issue I can live with, but the lack of AA I really can't. Once you go AA you never go back...

Re: R6 Vegas, I think they said in a future patch they're going to try to implement AA, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the latest patch, and they may have been referring to a DX10 build which would make AA possible. I don't know, but R6 was also an amazing looking game regardless.

I don't speak geek fluently, but this seems to say no AA on PC in DX9:

From http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?article_id=602522

PCGH: You are using deferred shading. Will there be any chance to get FSAA working with DX9-Level-cards? What about DX10-cards?

Tim Sweeney: Unreal Engine 3 uses deferred shading to accelerate dynamic lighting and shadowing. Integrating this feature with multisampling requires lower-level control over FSAA than the DirectX9 API provides. In Gears of War on Xbox 360, we implemented multisampling using the platform's extended MSAA features. On PC, the solution is to support multisampling only on DirectX 10.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: flenn

dont know, mine works great vista 64 ultimate

swtethan,

Can you take a quick peek in Device Manager and compare to mine:

Realtek High Definition Audio
Driver Date 8/10/2007
Driver 6.0.1.5464

Thank in advance.

That's what my Device Manager shows and I'm not getting audio either on Vista x86. This is on an Asus P5K (P35 chipset) board, too.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: sirjonk

Originally posted by: sirjonk

I don't speak geek fluently, but this seems to say no AA on PC in DX9:

From http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?article_id=602522

PCGH: You are using deferred shading. Will there be any chance to get FSAA working with DX9-Level-cards? What about DX10-cards?

Tim Sweeney: Unreal Engine 3 uses deferred shading to accelerate dynamic lighting and shadowing. Integrating this feature with multisampling requires lower-level control over FSAA than the DirectX9 API provides. In Gears of War on Xbox 360, we implemented multisampling using the platform's extended MSAA features. On PC, the solution is to support multisampling only on DirectX 10.

Yep, I would agree. It seems pretty clear... Well, UT3 and any game based on it just lost my money unless they find a work around... This of course only applies as long as I am holding into DX9 due to XP.

I have Ultimate Vista - retail copy, but since you can only install it on two computers for the lifetime of the OS, I am not going to install it on my current rig and will wait for my next build. That means, essentually, that no UT3 based games for me until I make the full switch to DX10, in which case I am in NO hurry to do.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Cabages]

I spend all day trying to get newer drivers installed, all while CCC fails to start, and I keep having to uninstall, clean, reinstall. Finally I give up and uninstall every piece of ATI software, something I know will give me further headaches in the future.

I then boot up to the same problem. CCC keeps randomly closing. I download ATI tray tools to manage what I need.

I then finally manage to start bioshock without it crashing on me. I then get a lovely surprise that for some reason the textures seem almost plastic from farther away, but as you get closer and just stare at an object, the real texture comes out.

Thats okay though. I downloaded another copy of the demo because I didnt think I would ever get the steam copy to work. Its just the pinnacle of my day when winrar decides to report that the biggest, probably the most important file in the package, is corrupt.

Sure, I guess I played enough to gauge whether it will run well on my system. But if I can look forward to texture problems and all around ATI conflicts, im also looking forward to death.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: sirjonk


Pass up, even from the bargain bin, what might be one of the best FPS games ever because no AA (not even visible at high resolutions and with alternative blend effect implemented), and no co-op. K.

Btw, no Unreal3 engine game has AA in DX9, so make sure you cross off about 30 upcoming games from your list, including Gears of War.

Can't wait for Crysis to come out so some people can say, "Eh, it's ok. But the crabs under water can move really fast. And everyone knows crabs don't move fast underwater. Clearly, this game sucks."

You're going way over the top, and exaggerating to try and make a point. Which didnt work. Crabs, and 30 games? Not even close.

No AA, and no true WS support is something to be upset about to him, and to myself too. No WS support in 2007? Are you serious? No AA? It just boggles the mind why they went backwards so many years in "features" that are very common place. AA much more so than WS.

You claim your cant tell in high res'. I play at 1920x1200, and I can tell. People who play at 1024x768 (have mercy on them) can probably use the jaggies as a stair master they are so pronounced.

Who gives a crap? I'm playing with no AA, no true WS at 1440x900, and I'm completely and utterly amazed at how awesome this game is. And I've only played 3 levels of it. Get over all the dumb graphical complaints and play the damn game.

 

[Polish3d]

Thankfully, AA can indeed be enabled with DX9 via the control panel. And it does make quite a difference, I'm glad it can be used after all

 

[nubian1]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: nubian1


True except that the X1950pro card which was/is high on my list & the Nvidia 7xxx cardsare not DX10 capable!

DX10 though seems so far like not much to talk about anyways, but if I upgrade the next card I get has to support both while not breaking the bank.

I can understand your perspective better now *I think*. You bought the last card with the intention of using it as long as possible, making the necessary adjustments to eye candy and res along the way. Now, a blockbuster game shows up that requires the only feature it lacked v. the competition at the time, SM3. So, you don't want to end up spending any more money just to have the missing feature set i.e. DX10 support, potentially bite you again. With the current "mid-range" DX10 cards being lackluster in price-performance, you are bumming. Hopefully, a patch or workaround will show up soon, so you can use your X850XT PE.

Exactly!!

I am now actually thinking of getting an 8800gts based card now! The ati DX10 cards, except for the uber 2900xt, are IMHO a performance joke.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: Noema

Originally posted by: andytarokun


To be honest, Graphics on XBOX 360 version (with my 42 inch HD Plasma) looks better than PC version.

Wrong.

Right. The problem is the guy's sh!tty HDTV (DrJones), not the 360. The guy looks like he bought some junk LCD HDTV. WTF is up with that ugly banding and crap colors? The only thing those pics tell me, is the guy needs to quit shopping at Wal-Mart for his HDTVs. AWFUL looking! Just AWFUL!

 

[MetalMat]

It has been a while since I picked a game up on the fly without first playing a demo, but I travel alot and wanted something to play on my downtime, so the CC 40$ pricetag was good enough for me.

Runs ok on my laptop, cant really crank the graphics up but they look good enough to me on low/medium on my lappy ( ATI Mobility Radeon X1700, 1 GB Ram, Intel Core 2 T7200 2 ghz). Will certainly run much better than on my old Radeon 9800 pro desktop.

So far I like the game and look forward to playing it some more, but I just dont think I am a big fan on the whole "scary sci-fi" theme. I did not really like F.E.A.R. so getting this game was a shot in the dark, but I was itching for a new FPS and this got good reviews. I was kind of looking for a more Deus EX type game though, this seems a little less RPG involved than Deus EX was.

Graphics look good, but I am more impressed by Gears of War on the XBOX 360. This is probably just cause I cant crank it up all the way though.

I will probably go ahead and put it up on the forums when I am done with it in a couple weeks or so, but I am sure this will be fun for the time being.

 

[Polish3d]

I hate to say this but the super-low quality textures on most things is actually detracting from the experience to me. It's annoying that the lighthouse in the beginning is all high-res and then it just drops. 1/3 of the game looks 2007, 1/3 looks 2002, 1/3 looks somewhere in between. I don't quite get why it is so difficult to get some decent freaking textures in a game, particularly an all-indoor game. This is not cool, it drags down the game IMO. HL2 is 3 years old now and has better textures than this game does, particularly on objects

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Frackal
I hate to say this but the super-low quality textures on most things is actually detracting from the experience to me. It's annoying that the lighthouse in the beginning is all high-res and then it just drops. 1/3 of the game looks 2007, 1/3 looks 2002, 1/3 looks somewhere in between. I don't quite get why it is so difficult to get some decent freaking textures in a game, particularly an all-indoor game. This is not cool, it fucks up the game IMO. HL2 is 3 years old now and has better textures than this game does.

I feel the same exact way.

 

[Modelworks]

The developers are going to catch a lot of flack for this one.
There are so many things in the game that were clearly done because of the console limitations.
This game could have been awesome if the developers had done a version for the pc and one for the xbox like everyone thought.
I watched an interview with a developer and he said that there were two teams. One for the pc and one for the xbox.
What he mentioned but didn't expand on is that the pc team only worked on the interface and menus, very little else was done to make use of the greater hardware in the pc.
I HATE PORTS !

Maybe the community can take the game and mod it to the point it will be what it should have been out of the box.
I might be willing to give it a shot.
Hopefully others might too.

 

[HAgEEmAH]

Reporting in on how Bioshock runs on my rig. It runs smoothly at 1440x900 with all options on(except DX10 options, since my 7900GS doesn't support it). It slows down on certain parts, but is still playable. Smoothly to me is approximately 30FPS. The game looks excellent and I love the game so far. I highly recommend! So does my roommate!

 

[Shadowknight]

Found out the problem with my system... my laptop's video card (mobility 9600) only has Smartshader 2.0... and you need Smartshader 3.0 for it to work. Still, after doing some driver stuff, I managed to get it to at least start, even if all I could see was some flames on some water (literally, that's ALL I could see. Mouse cursor was still invisible too). Eh, guess I'll download the demo again and try it on my main computer (which DOES have a SS 3.0 card).

 

[Viper GTS]

So is the full version any less buggy than the demo? I've yet to successfully finish the demo and exit the game of my own accord. I made it once to the very end where it cycles through features of the full version but crashed before it returned me to the menu.

I have the new nvidia "bioshock drivers" and I've even turned all my OC's back to stock. The last three attempts have crashed twice in the airplane, & once right before you pick your first plasmid.

I really do want to play this but fuck if I'm going to drop $50 on something that acts like this.

Viper GTS

 

[Zenoth]

My Demo never crashed once, but it did ran slower than the final version (I got it on Steam). The final version runs negligibly faster at some places, but other places I noticed some substantial differences such as the introduction. Your crashing might just be related to hardware instability/over-heating/un-stable over-clocking. I myself am using ForceWare 163.44's.

 

[HeXploiT]

I am sorry but this stinks. The damn thing looks like a port. In 1920x1200 it doesn't look any better then 1280x1024 which is probably about what the xbox 360 does. Textures are blurry & crap. The water affects look nice but again the textures are crap. I am quiet disappointed. Graphically this game has nothing on Oblivion or even BF2. I thought we were supposed to be breaking new ground here.

For the record i played it in xp with everything maxed on an 8800gts. Unless AA is implemented & Dx10 works a miracle i have to say this thing has been way over hyped all in the name of a once great title in System Shock.

 

[Polish3d]

Yeah I agree.

This game somehow looks better to me at 1280x1024 1:1 than 1680x1050 (native). I'm not sure if its because the screen is stretched (along with the already low-res textures) to make it WS, or if its simply because its harder to see the flaws at 1280x1024 than at 16:10

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
The developers are going to catch a lot of flack for this one.
There are so many things in the game that were clearly done because of the console limitations.
This game could have been awesome if the developers had done a version for the pc and one for the xbox like everyone thought.
I watched an interview with a developer and he said that there were two teams. One for the pc and one for the xbox.
What he mentioned but didn't expand on is that the pc team only worked on the interface and menus, very little else was done to make use of the greater hardware in the pc.
I HATE PORTS !

Maybe the community can take the game and mod it to the point it will be what it should have been out of the box.
I might be willing to give it a shot.
Hopefully others might too.

It makes so much more sense now.

I've suspected this was nearly entirely a port from the beginning now, but there's people on various forum screaming that z0mg, there were two separate teams.

But that makes total sense.

Would explain why it basically everything about it feels like a port...since well, it is.


Oh, & as for AA, please don't try to tell me that it's not noticeable on higher resolution displays, because it freakin' is.

I didn't spend $1700 on my display & $600 on my video card to run things @ 2560x1600 with jaggies everywhere.

The first thing i noticed was lack of AA, as i simply don't play games w/ no AA.

AA is pretty much required for me to appreciate graphics, & part of the experience of Bioshock is the wow factor of the graphics.

Except along with the wow is jaggies everywhere & crap textures all over...


Don't get me wrong, the demo was fun, & i bought the game today, but i'm not impressed.

Thus far, the only way that's known to get AA working on my setup is to rename the shortcut to disable DX10 to get AA to work, & apparently that causes instability.
W
T
F.

:frown:

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: lupi
If you go to widescreen you will see less actual screen material than the same non widescreen image is what he's saying.

True......The Field of View ( FOV ) in Bioshock is set way to low for widescreens. From what I've read on the forums it does not change at all when you go to widescreen resolutions It's probably set at 70 degrees instead of the 90-100 degrees it should be set for widescreen monitors.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: sirjonk

Originally posted by: solofly
Well after reading all the drawbacks about this game I think I'm gonna hold off for now. No AA, no proper widescreen support, WTF is this?

Did I misread the post about AA in the Unreal3 engine or did it say that NO U3 based game will have AA in DX9? I have to say, I didn't notice jaggies at 1600x1200.

To get AA to work with Bioshock you need to download new Nvidia's beta drivers to force it. Worked well for me. I have to agree though with everyone else on AA in that any games without it I just can't play. I've really grown accustom to having no jagged lines and even at my native rez of 1950x1080 I can notice the jagged lines.

Also the lack of proper widescreen support via the FOV is very disappointing from what would be a stellar game. If I had to give it score between 1-10 I'd give it a 9. Those few nagging issues that have been mention are what prevents it from being a 10. The game play and story line is fun and engaging but the technical issues drag it down 1 point IMHO. Hey no ones perfect not even Bioshock.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: sirjonk
Did I misread the post about AA in the Unreal3 engine or did it say that NO U3 based game will have AA in DX9? I have to say, I didn't notice jaggies at 1600x1200.

That's what I read, AA was only going to be available in DX10.

I could see jaggies at 1440x900, try looking at the tail fin of the plane as it sinks. Mine looked like it was made out of Lego :thumbsdown:

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: Frackal
I hate to say this but the super-low quality textures on most things is actually detracting from the experience to me. It's annoying that the lighthouse in the beginning is all high-res and then it just drops. 1/3 of the game looks 2007, 1/3 looks 2002, 1/3 looks somewhere in between. I don't quite get why it is so difficult to get some decent freaking textures in a game, particularly an all-indoor game. This is not cool, it drags down the game IMO. HL2 is 3 years old now and has better textures than this game does, particularly on objects

Well said Frackal. While some may consider gameplay and time setting unique and immersive in this game, others see the graphic flaws first. Come on man, this is 2007. This game has received so much hype, yet HL2 beats it hands down in terms of "best use" of technology (then and now) and graphic consistency. I just finished playing HL2 all over again and was so happy I did.

I don't want to knock the game, but I have to give it a thumbs down in terms of initial graphics impressiveness. I'm only twenty minutes into it, enough to speculate gameplay will be fun, but enough to be dissapointed with the graphics. Is this why I have a Quad and 8800GTX? No.

I've identified myself as someone who values eye popping graphics over gameplay or storyline. In particular, two games purchased upon release have taught me that: Stalker, and now Bioshock...

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: Drift3r

To get AA to work with Bioshock you need to download new Nvidia's beta drivers to force it. Worked well for me. I have to agree though with everyone else on AA in that any games without it I just can't play. I've really grown accustom to having no jagged lines and even at my native rez of 1950x1080 I can notice the jagged lines.

I think in XP but not Vista. With Vista 64 & nVidia beta drivers I can't see a difference enabling AA in the control panel. The first link says AA can be enabled in XP but says he hasn't tested Vista yet. The second says in Vista you have to disable DX10 to get it:

Tweakguides author discusses AA & Bioshock

Post #4 on enabling AA

Both links lead me to believe it's Vista/DX10 related. Why did I grab Vista when it first came out? Oh yea, something called DX10, supposed to blow my socks off...