BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite

Developer(s)	Irrational Games
Publisher(s)	2K Games
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
First release date	Windows March 26, 2013 Mac OS X Summer 2013

BioShock

BioShock	2007
BioShock 2	2010
BioShock Infinite	2013

Key points

Quality PC port, including graphics and control options.

Aim assist is on by default even when not using a controller, but can be fixed.

Without modification the game is limited to only a single save, but there is a workaround for creating multiple save games.

Be sure to update your graphics card drivers: GeForce 314.22 WHQL Drivers for nVidia cards and AMD Catalyst Beta 13.5 for AMD cards.

General information

Port Report: BioShock Infinite.

Steam Users' Forums

Steam Comunity Discussions

2K Games Forums

Availability

Source(s)	Store unlock	Notes
Retail
Developer Website
Steam
Green Man Gaming		Physical and Downloadable versions available
Amazon
GamersGate
GameStop PC Downloads		Physical and Downloadable versions available

BioShock Infinite is a Steamworks title and as such, all versions, retail included, will require and unlock on Steam.

Improvements

Skip intro videos

Edit XEngine.ini • Link Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\ Edit XEngine.ini. Look for a section called [FullScreenMovie]: Change the following lines: StartupMovies=2KLogoSweep720p2997 StartupMovies=IrrationalLogoTest StartupMovies=UE3AnimatedLogo_ProRes StartupMovies=AMDLogo720p to ;StartupMovies=2KLogoSweep720p2997 ;StartupMovies=IrrationalLogoTest ;StartupMovies=UE3AnimatedLogo_ProRes ;StartupMovies=AMDLogo720p This will remove all Animated Videos at Start-up when Launching the game. FYI: In some cases after doing this, you might get an Irrational loading screen when starting the game, and then followed by nothing at all. If so, just delete or rename XEngine.ini and the game will automatically create a default one and the game will work again. Force-quitting the game and reopening it may serve as a temporary fix as well.

Game data

Exiting to desktop reveals how much time has passed since last checkpoint.

	Location
Configuration files location	%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\
Local Steam Cloud repository	C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<unique Steam ID>\8870\

Key mappings are encrypted which prevents sharing key bind files or creating custom commands.

Video settings

In-game graphics settings.

Graphics option	Native	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Full 3xLandscape, some people have spanned HUD.
Field of view (FOV)		Limited FOV adjustment of 15º. For fix see Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Set fullscreen mode to "Fullscreen (Windowed)".
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA. Only options are on or off.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Option is called "Lock Framerate".

Field of view (FOV)

There is a FOV slider in the game options, however it only increases/decreases FOV by 15% from the default value of 70º (59,5º - 80,5º).

FOV slider expansion • Link Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\. Locate and open file XUserOptions in text editor (notepad for example). Locate line MaxUserFOVOffsetPercent=15.000000 and change its value to 100 for maximum variability. This value is in percent and not degrees. See table below for precise field of view values. Start the game and set your field of view via slider in menu. Default FOV. Default FOV slider to the max. Slider offset set to 100 and slider set to the max.

Maximum FoV by slider	MaxUserFOVOffsetPercent value
85	21.43
90	28.57
95	35.71
100	42.86
105	50.00
110	57.14

Input settings

Input Settings	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Can be disabled via in-game menus
Controller support

Mouse speed slider tweak

Slider for mouse speed is set to very wide range, which can be unsuitable for high precision mice.

Mouse slider tweak • Link This fix will modify in-game slider and give better control. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\. Locate and open file XUserOptions in text editor (notepad for example). Locate lines MinMouseLookSensitivity=0.100000 and MaxMouseLookSensitivity=4.000000 and change values to your taste. Values 0.05 for MinMouse and 0.5 for MaxMouse works OK Start the game and set your desired sensitivity via slider.

Issues unresolved

Freezing and crashing

There seems to be a problem on some systems that game crashes every few minutes and/or freezes whole system.

2K is aware of this issue and there should be patch soon. It seems to be related to i7 processors.

Fixes that works for some users

• If you have issues with the game immediately crashing on start-up, make sure you disable any on-screen display applications (showing FPS/GPU usage) like MSI Afterburner.
• Disable overclocking or underclock your graphics card.
• Disable Killer e2200 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller or any other virtual/VPN network adapters like Hamachi.

Issues fixed

Crash on start up for some windows 7 and 8 users

Some users are experiencing crashes on start up in windows 7 and 8.

Force Start it in Windowed Mode • Link Add "-windowed" to the launch options for the game, then run the game. Once it has loaded, open the graphics options and set the game to run full screen. Close the game, remove the launch option, then restart the game to verify it works now.

Run Steam, but not game, as an administrator • Link Ensure that the game exe is NOT set to run as administrator in conjunction with setting the steam exe itself to run as administrator.

Texture streaming quality problems

When the game can't detect or detects wrong video memory size, it automatically enables only Very Low and Low options for texture quality.

There is also an issue on some systems that selection Very High or Ultra for texture quality will cause to textures never load properly and game tries to load them over and over as demonstrated here.

Low texture quality and streaming fix • Link Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\. Locate and open file XEngine.ini in text editor (notepad for example). Locate section [TextureStreaming] and change appropriate lines as shown: [TextureStreaming] UseTextureFileCache=False TexturePoolSizeReductionMB=1500 PoolSize=3000 LowPCTexturePoolSizeMB=3000

Stuttering during gameplay

Enable fullscreen mode • Link Stuttering can be fixed by enabling fullscreen mode in-game.

Stuttering fix • Link Warning: This fix introduces a new problem of not allowing you to zone into certain areas, e.g. the bank. Warning: Using this fix also causes the game not to spawn many NPCs (including background NPCs and essential NPCs) and occasionally static props. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\. Locate and open file XEngine.ini in text editor (notepad for example). Locate option bUseBackgroundLevelStreaming and change its value from True to False.

Texture Pool Size Fix • Link Set the PoolSize variable in DefaultEngine.ini to about 400 less than the total number of Megabytes RAM your video card has (e.g if you have 2048MB of video RAM set this to 1600). Then add this launch option in Steam (right click -> Properties -> Set launch options) : -ReadTexturePoolFromIni

Microstuttering

Adaptive and dynamic V-Sync • Link These forms of V-Sync significantly reduce micro-stuttering. For Nvidia cards, Adaptive V-Sync can be enabled through the driver control panel. Set Vertical sync to Adaptive. For AMD cards, Dynamic V-Sync can be enabled using the third-party program RadeonPro. Click the Add new profile icon and find the BioShock Infinite executable (BioShockInfinite.exe in [Your Steam folder]\steamapps\common\BioShock Infinite\Binaries\Win32\BioShockInfinite.exe). Click the newly created profile and click the Tweaks tab. Set VSync Control to Always on. Enable Dynamic Framerate Control and set Keep up to to 60.

Audio crackling

Audio crackling fix • Link Update drivers for your graphics card - GeForce 314.22 WHQL Drivers for nVidia cards and AMD Catalyst Beta 13.3 for AMD cards. Set compatibility mode to Windows Vista SP2. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\BioShock Infinite\Binaries\Win32 Right-click on the BioShockInfinite.exe and select Properties. Go to Compatibility tab and select Windows Vista SP2.

Aim assist

Aim assist is on by default even when using keyboard and mouse.

There are some auto aim variables in the .ini files but these variables are reverted to True every time you start the game. There is no permanent fix yet.

Temporary auto aim fix • Link This fix needs to be applied every time the game is started. Start the game with a controller plugged in. Go to controller options and turn off Aim Assist. Unplug controller and play the game.

Xbox controls even with no controller attached

Bioshock Infinite auto-detects any controllers/joysticks attached to the system including virtual ones. This could make game uncontrollable and cause camera to spin, menu contains labels for Xbox buttons.

Remove all controllers • Link Remove all physical controllers and joysticks. Disable all virtual controllers These can be included in software for gaming mice and keyboards Disable Unified Remote. Disable virtual adapter for 3DConnexion devices. To disable controller support, edit %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\XEngine.ini and change AllowJoystickInput=1 to AllowJoystickInput=0. Save your changes.

1920x1080 on 1920x1200 monitor

Scaling fix • Link Adjust these settings on NVIDIA drivers.

Multiple save games

Only one save game is able to played at any one time.

Manually move files in your savedata directory • Link Disable Steam cloud synchronization. Make a backup of your BioShock Infinite savedata directory. It should be located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[your Steam ID]\8870\remote\savedata\ Create as many subfolders as you want within this directory. Assume that each of them contains a save game. Simply move the contents of the savedata directory into the corresponding subfolder whenever you or anyone else wants to start a new game. When you start a new game, a new save file for that game will be automatically created within the main savedata directory. When you want to switch playthroughs, first move the current file in the savedata directory into a sub-folder for safe keeping (remember to name the sub-folders so you remember which is which). Secondly, move the playthrough you’d like to load from its sub-folder into the main savedata directory, which will enable you to continue from that file.

Hold to aim down sights

To change from toggle aim down sights to hold aim down sights, simply make an AutoHotKey script:

AutoHotKey script for hold to aim • Link 1. Download and install AutoHotkey. 2. Let application create sample script. This script file should open after installation. 3. Delete everything and insert these lines: #IfWinActive BioShock Infinite MButton::Send {MButton} MButton Up::Send {MButton} 4. Open AutoHotkey window (green H icon in tray area), navigate to File and hit Reload Script. Notes: This is script for default bindings where aiming is bind to middle mouse button. For aiming by right mouse button replace MButton for RButton. For bindings to other keys see Hotkeys and KeyList sections of AutoHotkey documentation for button syntaxes. If you get stuck aiming down the sights, and holding the aim key stops aiming, simply sprint and the issue will be fixed.

GUI scaling on high resolution displays

GUI elements are not scaling with resolution which makes these elements rather small on high resolution displays.

GUI scaling tweak • Link Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\BioShock Infinite\XGame\Config\ Locate and open file XUI.ini in text editor (notepad for example). Locate lines MaxResolutionUpScale=0.0 and change value to something between 0.0 and 1.0. See screenshots for examples. Default value of 0.0 MaxResolutionUpScale=0.5 MaxResolutionUpScale=1.0 Default value of 0.0 MaxResolutionUpScale=0.5 MaxResolutionUpScale=1.0

Other information

Unlocking 1999 mode before game completion

Bioshock Infinite features "1999 mode" which makes game much harder. Normally this mode is unlocked by finishing game at least once, however there is a code which unlocks this mode right away:

Unlock 1999 mode • Link On the main menu (menu with Play Now) enter: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Esc, Enter

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows Vista Service Pack 2 32-bit	Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHZ	Quad Core Processor
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Video card (GPU)	512 MB VRAM, DirectX10 Compatible ATI Radeon 3870 / NVIDIA 8800 GT / Intel HD 3000 Integrated Graphics	1024 MB VRAM, DirectX11 Compatible, ATI Radeon 6950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB free	30 GB free

Windows XP and DirectX 9 video cards are not supported.