Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

BioShock

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 22:30, 22 October 2014 by Garrbot (talk | contribs) (→‎Video settings: updated anisotropic forcing link(s))
Template:Infobox game/row/osxporter
BioShock
Cover image missing, please upload it
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
BioShock on Wikipedia

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

Windows 7 users and up may experience crash issues on startup. See Playing on modern systems.
Global lighting does not appear to be working properly on Windows 8.[1]
Ragdoll physics and animations are locked at 30 FPS.

General information

Official Forum
BioShock Wiki - Large wiki for the BioShock series
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Requires online activation
DRM: SecuROM.
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Amazon.com
Requires online activation
Windows. DRM: SecuROM.
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Amazon.com
DRM details are not known
OS X
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
GamersGate
Requires online activation
Windows. DRM: SecuROM.
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
GamersGate
DRM details are not known
OS X. DRM: Feral Interactive.
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows only.
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
The retail, GamersGate (Windows), and Amazon.com (Windows) versions use SecuROM DRM; however, as of June 19, 2008 unlimited activations are allowed. An internet connection is required for installation.
A DRM-free Windows version is available as part of the Humble 2K Bundle.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Patch 1.1

An essential patch for retail versions of the game. The Steam version is already updated to use the latest version.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/7670/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/7670/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

In-game video settings.

Template:Video settings

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Instructions

Input settings

In-game general control settings.
In-game key map settings.

Template:Input settings

Mouse acceleration

Instructions

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game. It can be found here.

Crash on startup

This fix circumvents the main crash issues related to OpenAL on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1
Instructions

Video settings not saving

Instructions

Crashing when changing the resolution

Instructions
Instructions
Instructions

Excessive screen tearing (Nvidia)

Instructions

Frame rate stuttering

Instructions
Instructions

Missing sound effects

Instructions
Instructions
Instructions
Instructions
Instructions

Gameplay breaking issues

Minor spoilers ahead.

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.[2]

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.[3]

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.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) 128 MB of VRAM
DirectX 10 compatible
Shader model 3.0 support
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.5.8
Processor (CPU) 1.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1.5 GB
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.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/7670/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (7670) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References