Bioshock

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:53 pm

So anyone looking forward to getting their mitts on this?

Ghengis · Post by **Ghengis** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:04 pm

what is it?

Rayzor · Post by **Rayzor** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:28 pm

Heard good things about it at work today, think I'll take a peak at the demo

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:19 pm

One of the most gorgeous FPS games for the PC and 360

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=81479

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/a- ... oshock.ars

tried the first few minutes of the pc demo last night - hoping 360 one will have finished downloading by tonight too.

ordered the full pc version which hopefully should be arriving soon.

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:14 pm

Due out 2moro I believe, can't wait to have a look at it - review in PCG gave it 95%.

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:28 am

aye, though it arrive in the mail last night

hawkeye · Post by **hawkeye** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:26 am

graphics look a bit shite to me after looking at some screenshots ill try a demo 1st i get a feeling it will be another all hype shit game

loren soth · Post by **loren soth** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:36 am

i am awaiting the game also to come though the post

then i can seee what the fuss is about

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:39 pm

hawkeye wrote:graphics look a bit shite to me after looking at some screenshots ill try a demo 1st i get a feeling it will be another all hype shit game

I think graphics are indeed poor for a modern PC game. DX10 filters make the water and other slick surface textures look nice...not quite as spectacular as I thought they might be. I did not like the graphics in Pray either when I was shown them and is this not by the same people? I feel the charecters closeup look like lead figures painted in gloss enamel paint

I am not a greay player of FPS but I did enjoy this. I only got it for the DX10 support to be honest. Fun game though (those who have played many might well have seen it all before. I am told it is a lot like Hexen?)

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:31 pm

Run it in DX9 on XP and it will probably run better.

Though I was going to buy it today until someone sent me this ...

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41921

Now I might wait for a cracked version rather than put up with that.

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:45 pm

Evzy wrote:Run it in DX9 on XP and it will probably run better.

Though I was going to buy it today until someone sent me this ...

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41921

Now I might wait for a cracked version rather than put up with that.

The game runs great as is. On 1920x1200 it's as smooth as anything. It's just that I do not think the graphics are woth all the raving. A lot of hyperbole.

I was also quite lucky and installed, activated and was playing with out any problems. It is a fun game, just I think not the next great thing.

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:03 pm

Ah I get you know.

I am still itching to play it, but not sure if I will have enough free time - still less than 1/2 thru Half Life 2 currently and cba to continue, might go back to it actually whilst deciding on Bio...

Let us know whats its like to playthrough - how long etc

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:10 pm

I certaínly will

I got just over half way through over the weekend. I am gageing that by the zones visited. I am playing it on the easiest level though as I am a bit of a newbie with FPS and by the time I found ít was OK was too far to start again

I still think it is a good game, and certianly will think about playing more FPS.

Edited for wrong charecters.

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:02 pm

i'm not far off the end. sure the graphics aren't that technically amazing but definitely sets the mood for the game and the storyline is great - better than Doom 3 and Quake 4 by a long shot.

I have it running smoothly albeit with everything turned down to low except for actors, textures and lighting at 1680x1050 which is my monitor's native resolution. not bad for a 3 year old pc though

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:30 pm

Just bought it from WH Smith in the Metal case for £27.99, stuck in work til 9pm at least tonight though, and with the backlog I have I could easily stay til 4am but... I think I will be home and playing Bioshock as quickly after 9pm as I can !

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:05 pm

Had my first blast the other night, got through the first bit, up to Medical now I think it is, so far I am really impressed, it kinda reminds me of playing the original Half Life - you know its something special and has quality, seeing your first Big Daddy, they are very impressive and some of the techniques for motion blur / being drunk / underwater etc are lovely to behold.

Playing it at night in the dark with earphones on = fooking scary as well

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:12 am

aye - rather creepy listening to ravings of the splicers and trying to guess where they are to prepare to take them on.

close to the end now. want to find myself a copy of System Shock II now.

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:56 am

Gutted....

After PC crashed loading medical - seems it didnt save so I had a quicksave about 1/2 thru the level, tried that, hit quicksave after killing a couple of splicers, game froze, crashed, rebooted, lost all quicksaves and now its back to the start, game keeps locking up as well... not sure but might need to upgrade my power supply - think since going SLI its been struggling, that or hard drive is on its way out

Gonna have a poke around the machine tonight.

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:08 pm

Evzy wrote:Gutted....

After PC crashed loading medical - seems it didnt save so I had a quicksave about 1/2 thru the level, tried that, hit quicksave after killing a couple of splicers, game froze, crashed, rebooted, lost all quicksaves and now its back to the start, game keeps locking up as well... not sure but might need to upgrade my power supply - think since going SLI its been struggling, that or hard drive is on its way out

Gonna have a poke around the machine tonight.

i had crashes with SLi enabled - turn it off for that particular game in the nVidia control panel fixed it.

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:20 pm

Ah will have a look at that then before I rip bits out..

I found it ran ok, but every time you seemed to get into a new area / lot of new gfx effects needed - it kinda hung for a 1/2 second and then carried on as normal.

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:30 pm

Byronis wrote:
Evzy wrote:Gutted....

After PC crashed loading medical - seems it didnt save so I had a quicksave about 1/2 thru the level, tried that, hit quicksave after killing a couple of splicers, game froze, crashed, rebooted, lost all quicksaves and now its back to the start, game keeps locking up as well... not sure but might need to upgrade my power supply - think since going SLI its been struggling, that or hard drive is on its way out

Gonna have a poke around the machine tonight.
i had crashes with SLi enabled - turn it off for that particular game in the nVidia control panel fixed it.

I ran it fine on SLI mode (Alternate frame 1) but I did download the latest beta drivers that specifically mention improved compatibality with Bioshock. I finished the game now, and enjoyed it so much! I loved the ending too. I wonder if there aer two endings depending on how you treat the little sisters?

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:00 pm

I downloaded the latest drivers as well when it prompted on install..

Funny you say that about the ending - the mag review I read said the only downside was the weak'ish ending - but didnt say why - so I am going to have to find out for myself

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:10 pm

I could not install the latest release nVidia drivers. Whenever I tried to install them I was told that they are 32-bit only and would not install on a 64-bit OS. (I have a 32-bit OS.) So I looked for newer ones and eventually found the latest ones still in beta and got those. They work fine and in the write-up it says they have added Bioshock compatibility. 162.44, not 162.22, is the Vista version number.

I won't say anything about the ending....but I can see why they might not have liked it. For the same reasons they could not say they disliked it I cannot say I like it. You will have to tell me how you find it

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:11 pm

Just checked and I already have a 500w PSU so I dont think its that now, will have aplay around with turning SLI off and then drivers again and see what happens, not going to bother playing it until I can get it stable though - if it keeps deleting my saves I will go insane!!

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:43 pm

I have been asking around, obvioulsy you know more about computers than I, so I had a talk to a friend in computing dept. He asks if you have a dedicated GPU PSU. What graphics cards do you have? The nVidia 8* need a 625W PSU. (I am told that they will run OK with 350w though.)

They use 350W for board, cpu etc and 500w for GPUs on the machines that have internal GPU. But you should see a message saying that the GPU has been stepped down due to lack of power if that is an issue.

Also, nothing to do with power of this thread really. Apparently SLI improvemtnt is only really noticed at high resolutions. Has anyone heard that before? I did not really think about it at the time, but now wonder why in a graphics intence game you would see an improvement at low resolution? (High resolutions being 1650x1050+ apparently.)

Anyway, I suspect you know all this so it is of no real use but it's a shame you are unable to play the game.

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:06 pm

Cars are 6800gs. Not had any error messages yet - after seeing its a 500w PSU I am now thinking its either drivers or hard drive issue tbh..

Didnt really know what difference SLI had on games - i.e no use unless higher resolutions - might try knocking one card off then before I mess aroudn with drivers again - I only went SLI as some dude was selling them cheap.

Might have another fiddle with it tonight if I get chance - was out last night. Thanks for asking around though dude - appreciate the help

Byronis · Post by **Byronis** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:17 pm

before it crashed, when SLI was enabled i didn't notice any advantage at 1680x1050

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:14 pm

Meep - thats the thing I must admit I kinda rushed into SLI without really doing any homework - a techie mate of mine told me about the dude with the cheap cards for sale, recommended it as worthwhile etc, I think games run lovely on the machine as a whole compared to the last GFX card, benchmarks pretty well but yeah I have never thought to disable SLI and see what difference there is ..... arse.

Will give it a blast after tea methinks if I can sneak outta the room whilst the missus is distracted by the big shiny silver box that is TV.

Evzy · Post by **Evzy** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:28 pm

Looks like turning SLI off has done the trick - blasted my way through to medical, quicksaved a couple of times - no gfx hang ups or crashes and loaded Medical fine. Will have to crack on with it now when I get back from me hols

Yowin · Post by **Yowin** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:37 am

Great, good to hear you can play again.