BioShock

BioShock

Developers   Irrational Games OS X Feral Interactive OS X Robosoft Technologies

Publishers   2K Games OS X Feral Interactive

Engines   Unreal Engine 2.5

Release dates Windows August 21, 2007 OS X October 7, 2009

BioShock

BioShock	2007
BioShock 2	2010
BioShock Infinite	2013

Key points

BioShock may crash on startup on Windows 7 and later. See Crash on startup.

Global lighting does not appear to be working properly on Windows 8.

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
Retail		DRM: SecuROM.
Amazon.com		Windows. DRM: SecuROM.
Amazon.com		OS X
GamersGate		Windows. DRM: SecuROM.
GamersGate		OS X. DRM: Feral Interactive.
Steam		Windows only.

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

Launch the game with -nointro parameter

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

	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Bioshock\*.ini
OS X

Save game data location

	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Bioshock\SaveGames\
OS X

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
GameSave Manager

Video settings

In-game video settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Use Widescreen Fixer if normal FoV hack isn't enough.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Can be forced through the NVIDIA Control Panel/AMD Control Center.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
High frame rate		No FPS or refresh rate cap. Physics and animations locked at 30 FPS.

Field of view (FOV)

Flawless Widescreen Use Flawless Widescreen. Download the Bioshock plugin, set the desired fixes, then run the game. Notes Contrarily to common sense Horizontal FOV Lock (in the graphic options) has to be turned On.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Anisotropic filtering Open bioshock.ini with a text editor Find the following lines and set them to your desired values. [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] LevelOfAnisotropy=16 [D3DDrv10.D3DRenderDevice10] LevelOfAnisotropy=16

Input settings

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		See Mouse acceleration to disable.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		This mode hides most options menus.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller Y-axis inversion

Mouse acceleration

Instructions Open User.ini with a text editor Find the following lines in both files and set them to these values. [Engine.PlayerInput] MouseSmoothingMode=0 MouseAccelThreshold=0.0

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Up to 7.1
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 5.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	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

Use updated DLL Apply the BioShock Modern Systems Crash Fix.

Video settings not saving

Force DirectX 9[citation needed] Launch the game with -dx9 parameter.

Crashing when changing the resolution

Change resolutions while in windowed mode Push Alt+↵ Enter before going in the Video Options menu. Set your desired settings, leave your resolution unchanged then push the Confirm button. While being outside the Video Options menu push Alt+↵ Enter.

Force DirectX 9 Launch the game with -dx9 parameter.

Edit default resolution Go to <path-to-game>\Builds\Release\ Open Default.ini with a text editor. Find FullscreenViewportX and FullscreenViewportYlines under [WinDrv.WindowsClient] and set them to your desired values.

Excessive screen tearing (Nvidia)

Instructions Go to the NVIDIA Control Panel. Open the 3D Settings menu. Add Bioshock.exe to the list. Enable FXAA and V-Sync. Notes This should be necessary due to "somewhat broken MLAA"[citation needed]

Frame rate stuttering

Disable V-Sync

Force DirectX 9 Launch the game with -dx9 parameter.

Missing sound effects

Install OpenAL for Windows 7 and up Download OpenAL from here, install then restart Windows.

Windows XP (SP2) compatibility mode See compatibility mode. Go to <path-to-game>\Builds\Release and find Bioshock.exe Set the executable to run under the Windows XP (Service Pack 2) compatibility mode.

Plug-in a microphone or a pair of headphones.

Enabling Stereo Mix for Realtek HD Open the Control Panel and navigate to Hardware and Sound, then go to Sound. Select the Recording tab, Right Click on any spaces and check Show Disabled Devices. Right Click on Stereo Mix then select Enable.

Creative Audigy/X-Fi fix Open the Control Panel and navigate to Hardware and Sound, then go to Sound. Select the Recording tab, Right Click on any spaces and check Show Disabled Devices. Right Click on What U Hear then select Enable.

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.

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.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	7
Processor (CPU)	2.4 GHz	AMD Athlon 64 x2 Intel Core 2 Duo
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
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

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.