Bioshock demo is up on Xbox Live.

[Parn]

Just went up. 1.3 GB. GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO

[Otis_Kat]

Going, Going...waiting...


Don't expect to play this demo today. Been downloading since the second it went up nearly an hour ago and only at 30%.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Otis_Kat on 2007-08-12 19:38 ]</font>

[Parn]

I'm not, I have to go to bed shortly so I get a good night's rest for work. The excitement remains all the same.

[VioletSkye]

time to put my 360 back together lol.

[NPCMook]

"Don't wait, Incinerate!"

[Kent]

I downloaded it over night and played it during Game Club today. When I said I was controlling the game right after your character surfaces at the beginning, the responses ranged from "OMG" to "STFU" to "Bullshit!" amongst the calamity that ensued when people saw it in real-time.

Pretty impressive, being that it wasn't even being shown in HD on the projectors we have.

[amtalx]

This game is sexy. The art and graphic design are great. This is going to be a busy year with Halo 3, Bioshock, Metroid, Stranglehold and whatnot. Are Too Human and Mass Effect going to make it around this year?

[Niered]

Mass Effect Im pretty sure was confirmed for this year, I wouldnt hold my breath for Too Human though. That games not coming out of development for awhile from what Ive heard.

Anywho, Bioshock. Sexy game, or sexiest game ever?

I dont own a 360, (my roomate does, but I cant leech offa him until school starts obviously) so Im debating buying it for my lappy, problem is, I want the game to be at least SOMEWHAT pretty. It can handle Half Life 2 with no problems (granted thats on medium settings) so what do you guys think about Bioshock? Or should I just wait to play it on a screenlag free 360?

[VioletSkye]

Heh, it was almost a year ago that I posted a thread on Bioshock here and it's funny how things have changed. I never really liked PSU after playing it for a short time and now Bioshock is almost here and that giddy feeling I had when I first checked the game out is rushing over me!!!

Original thread, please do NOT post in it as it is almost a year old.
http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=119773&forum=9

@Niered, minimum requirements for this game are quite a bit higher than I've seen for most newer games, so I'd wait for the PC Demo first to see how it runs on your laptop.

Minimum System Requirements:
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz Single Core processor

System RAM: 1GB

Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550).

Sound Card: 100% direct X 9.0c compatible sound card

Hard disc space: 8GB free space


Recommended System Requirements:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor

System RAM: 2GB

Video card:
DX9: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better)
DX10: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better

Sound Card: Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-13 21:23 ]</font>

[Niered]

Hrm, I fulfill the minimum's, but just barely. I think Ill wait this one out for my roomate to buy it, beat it, and then Ill simply play it.

[RuneLateralus]

Hey, my Macbook Pro looks like it should be able to handle this game nicely from those specs....which is good, cause this game is an Unreal 3 engine game, my hopes of handling UT are looking up.

Still getting this game for the 360. But damn, is this demo going to make the next 8 days seem very long.

[DizzyDi]

A lil trick to unlock the hard mode in the demo.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3161979

[Rubius-sama]

I was stunned by the demo. Truly an amazing FPS...very creative. Wouldn't mind a little bit more story to it though.

[Skuda]

It's times like this I wish I had a 360...

[Solstis]

My poor macbook is not pulling that. Well, at least Civ IV works fine with bootcamp.

[Sord]

On 2007-08-14 21:53, Skuda wrote:
It's times like this I wish I had a 360...


agreed, luckliy my computer at least meets the minimum specs

[Darkly]

times like this i hate my 360 ( it just HAD to stop working didn't it) because something good always happens when you send your xbox off!

[VioletSkye]

Downloadable Art Book (http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/artbook.html) - This is a release by 2K. There are some things that may be considered spoilers so check it out at your own risk lol.

[McLaughlin]

There's a...Hard Mode?

*cries*

[Eihwaz]

I hope the PC demo comes out soon. Irrational has been saying they'll release it before August 21st, but that doesn't leave much time! Like, four days!

[DLShAdOw]

On 2007-08-17 11:44, Obsidian_Knight wrote:
There's a...Hard Mode?

*cries*



I thought the normal mode was really difficult too. At one point I almost got checkpoint locked in a life chamber that had like 5 enemies waiting outside.

[VioletSkye]

PC Demo will be available on Monday at 7PM EST, for anyone who wants to see how well (or poorly) it will run on their pc.

I'm looking forward to seeing how well DX10 compares to DX9 as I'll have it installed on my XP partition and my Vista partition lol.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-19 14:16 ]</font>

[NPCMook]

You guys found normal mode difficult? I ended up breezing through Normal mode =

[VioletSkye]

Looks like FilePlanet subscribers can start downloading the demo now.

[Blitzkommando]

I've got it preloaded on Steam and I anxiously await its release.

[VioletSkye]

Managed to get the un-encrypted PC Demo before release http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_innocent.gif

Looks like I have a reason to stay up a little later tonight http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif

[Eihwaz]

I'm positive I meet all the system requirements...except for processor.

With a GenuineIntel with a speed of 2993 Mhz, do I stand a snowball's chance in hell of running Bioshock?

Yes, I'm aware that the minimum required processor speed is in the Ghz range. ._.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Eihwaz on 2007-08-19 22:18 ]</font>

[VioletSkye]

your processor is higher than the minimum required. 2993MHz is basically 3GHz.

I still have my older desktop machine that I can use to help people determine how it may run on older systems. Tomorrow I'll load it on a pc with the following:
2.5GHz Intel P4
1GB of RDRAM
6800GT

I also have a pc that was donated to me by a customer I built a new computer for that I can test on. Specs:
2.4GHz Intel P4
1GB of RAM (I'll have to turn it on and check to see what type.)
And I'll load my 6800GT since I don't have any older cards than that at the moment.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-19 22:48 ]</font>

[Kent]

Um... People found the demo difficult on Normal?

I first played it while showing it to other students at my college's Game Club, and I got hit approximately once throughout the demo. It was really easy. :/

In other news: PC demo comes out today. I should download it, just to see how well my new lappy fares.

[Eihwaz]

Oh, that's good. I seem to have higher-than-required stuff across the board, so I should be able to install it, at least. It probably won't look as good as in the videos, but I'll be able to get my BioShock on, at any rate.

...which should be sometime after 7:00PM, when the PC demo finally goes public.

[VioletSkye]

well, i can tell you that on my older system, the result was less than acceptable. For one thing, it wouldn't even play in full screen without crashing my system. I played in Windowed mode at lower settings and even then it wasn't the greatest playing experience. All drivers were updated btw. Definitely try the demo first before buying if you have an older system and anything under 6800GT. This was on the 2.5GHz system with 1GB if RAM and a 6800GT.

Eihwaz, let me know how the demo plays on your machine.

After messing around with the settings, I was able to play in Full screen at 1024x768 with Medium settings. Not as bad as I thought, but still nothing to write home about. I'd say if you aren't a graphics whore, then it may pass as acceptable, otherwise you may want to grab the 360 version if you have one.


**UPDATE**
Looks like a known issue with the demo crashing after you get to Rapture on some machines. There is an nvidia driver update that should be available tonight which will hopefully address that issue. Lots of talk on the official forums about the demo crashes.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-20 11:17 ]</font>

[McLaughlin]

What was your impression of the demo itself, VioletSkye?

[VioletSkye]

Loved it!! When I have some time I'll post some pics of it running on my main pc which look spectacular. Thankfully I haven't had any issues with it running on that one http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

The only thing I wish was that the demo itself was longer. You play a VERY short little intro, and then a brief beginning tutorial-like level in Rapture and thats it. It was cool to be able to Hack the sentry machines http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

It also gives you a taste of a few Plasmids and a brief encounter with a Little Sister and Big Daddy (first in the beginning movie of the Rapture level and then again later on in the Rapture level (although you don't interact with them directly.)


Interesting Note**
It mentions PS3 in the ConfigINI.IBF file lol. Also that looks to be where weapon info is stored for anyone wanting to mess around with weapon damage/fire rates. You an also change how many bullets the guns hold at one time as well as maximum stack and other things. I have to head out but I'll look for other stuff later.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-20 13:03 ]</font>

[Eihwaz]

On 2007-08-20 09:42, VioletSkye wrote:
Eihwaz, let me know how the demo plays on your machine.

Will do. I'll start the download as soon as I can. I hope I can play it tonight, though this is unlikely, all things considered.

[VioletSkye]

If you get crashes, check your Event Log. if it mentions msvcr80.dll, then download it from HERE. (http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr80) Unzip it and place the file in your Windows/System folder. It fixed my system crashes.

Also if you want to, try the newer beta drivers (released today) to see if it helps with framerates. BETA Drivers (http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html)

Lastly, if you still get crashes, try ALT+TABing out of Bioshock while it loads theapture level and go back in when you heard that the level has loaded.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-20 16:04 ]</font>

[Eihwaz]

Well, I downloaded the demo last night, and just got around to playing it.

It loads, no crashes, but after the opening cinematic, uh, everything seems kinda...glitchy.

I can see nothing except the fire and random large pixels floating around. It looks pretty bad. To further complicate issues, I can't see my mouse pointer, which makes changing (read "lowering) the settings extremely difficult. Even running it in windowed mode, with low just about everything, I still can't see anything.

Any ideas?

[VioletSkye]

List your specs (especially your videocard make and model and what driver you are using.)

My older test PC can run the demo in 1024 x 768 with medium settings. The framerate isn't great but it's playable. The beginning part of where you take control should look similar to this:
http://psofiles3.home.bresnan.net/beginning.jpg

On a side note, I just got home with my Bioshock Limited Edition box (or whatever it's called.) The Big Daddy figurine is kinda cool http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-21 16:44 ]</font>

[Eihwaz]

Video Card:
Driver: RADEON X600 256MB HyperMemory Secondary
DirectX Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6561
DirectX Driver Version: 6.14.10.6561
Driver Date: 4 Aug 2005
Desktop Color Depth Not Detected
Monitor Refresh Rate Not Detected
DirectX Card: RADEON X600 256MB HyperMemory
VendorID: 0x1002
DeviceID: 0x5b62
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Desktop Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Primary Display Size: 13.39" x 10.63" (17.09" diag)
34.0cm x 27.0cm (43.4cm diag)
Primary Display Type Not Detected
Primary Bus Type Not Detected
Primary AGP GART Not Detected
Primary VRAM: 256 MB
Primary Monitor Vendor Not Detected
Primary Monitor Model Not Detected
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 6x

This is the complete profile of my graphics card, as per the survey conducted by Steam. I figured it would probably be a good idea to save this for future reference. In terms of other stats that are in question, I've got a gig of RAM and a GenuineIntel processor with speed 2.9 GHz. I meet or exceed the other requirements.

At any rate, I think it might be a driver issue. I tried to update my driver, but that failed miserably, so I removed all the stuff I had just installed...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Eihwaz on 2007-08-21 19:07 ]</font>

[Rubius-sama]

Heh, this is why X360 is teh pwnz0rs. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[VioletSkye]

Eihwaz, the problem is your videocard. The x600 is simply not powerful enough. The minimum ATI card they have listed is the X1300 series of cards. The x600 only has support for Shader Model 2.0. I just don't think it's going to handle the game even at the lowest settings because it can't support the basic features the game utilizes (namely Shader Model 3.0) So essentially, it's not a driver issue but an issue with the fact that your card doesn't support SM 3.0, and honestly with only 4 pixel pipes and 2 vertex pipes, it wouldn't run at an acceptable framerate even if it did support SM 3.0 (I think you may be hard pressed to see anyone with an X1300 even running the game decently at anything over 800x600 even on low settings lol.)


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-21 21:17 ]</font>

[Eihwaz]

Ah, I see. This sucks. *goes to uninstall demo*

How difficult is it to, say...install a new graphics card? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[Blitzkommando]

On 2007-08-21 23:01, Eihwaz wrote:
Ah, I see. This sucks. *goes to uninstall demo*

How difficult is it to, say...install a new graphics card? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif


Do you know how to use a screwdriver, plug in a power cord, and have the ability to check for a clip that holds something in place? If you said yes to all of those then you can install a graphics card. The hardest part will be uninstalling the old drivers (and making sure they are all cleaned out) and installing the new drivers for the new card.

[Kent]

My new lappy runs the demo perfectly, with all settings maxed, and at a resolution of 1280x720. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

I haven't tried it any higher yet... Because I picked up the 360 version, and it's sapping away my life as I type.

[VioletSkye]

Interesting articles I found on the widescreen support for pc and Xbox 360:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41880

http://kotaku.com/gaming/widescreen/bioshocks-widescreen-pissing-people-off-291697.php

Supposed "fix" for this issue:

http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5927

**UPDATE** The fix works AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HUGE difference in the FOV. If you are using the pc version and have a widescreen monitor I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend using the fix.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2007-08-23 21:25 ]</font>