Bioshock

[Lord Banshee]

Just a thought i notice while looking in the "ini" files for the demo i found some texture setting that really much all stated "normal" setting for the PC and XBOX360 default settings. So making me wonder if there is a "UltraHigh" setting and textures built into the game if one knew how to change the settings. Changing the ini does not work. Just a hoping

 

[Noema]

I'm dissapointed with the graphics.

The textures are low res; there's no AA; some of the models look really funky and the lightning is uneven. The water is the saving grace though; it's as good as we were told it would be.

But for once...I don't care. "Graphics aren't the most important thing" might be a tired cliché...but this game is so cool, atmospheric, well crafted and lovingly made (mediocre port nonwithstanding) that I'm too busy enjoying it to really be bothered by the graphics.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: n7
My comments from another forum thread: http://rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33899714

No AA = annoying as hell.
I just played the demo @ 2560x1600, & sorry, i want my AA...even if it means lowering resolution to do so, etc.

FOV didn't bother me too much, but it certainly does make things feel awfully cramped at times.

Lack of true WS support is incredibly disappointing.
Means i might i as well play at 2048x1536...

I will also admit that while i did find the game quite immersive & was impressed with how well it ran, i'm starting to feel that's because graphically, it certainly could have been alot better, but instead, it was toned down, no doubt for the *****box 360.
Seems like it indeed is much more of a port than we'd like to think.


Don't get me wrong, i thought the demo was pretty cool, but honestly, i'm very disappointed in some things, as i mentioned.
See the thread i link to for more info on what i am talking about.

I love my Xbox360 please don't call it names

Seriously I'm glad that consoles are getting good games and I don't believe the game was toned down for that reason. I'm sure it was just developer choice or lack of effort.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: JPB
Here are my screenshots. Played on rig in sig. 1024 resolution with EVERY in game detail maxed and 4xAA and 8xAF.

Frames Per Second recorded with Fraps

It doesn't actually seem to be doing any AA in your screenshots, which is in line with what others are saying.

I'm downloading it now. I'll be pretty satisfied if it runs well at 1024x768 on my aging X1900XTX.

My comments from another forum thread: http://rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33899714

I'm not too concerned about the lack of AA. I have rarely used that in recent games anyway. But the consolized interface and levels sound really bad. I was hoping they had at least gotten those things right. I will find out for myself once this thing finally finishes downloading.

My X1900xt (forced 4xAA 8X AF in driver but I dunno if it's on) averages 50fps with everything maxed. It only drops to around 30 for a few seconds at a time during a heavy fight. Running 1280x1024

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: n7
The EA style widescreen "support" of chopping the top & bottom off = z0mg wtf...:frown:

Simply unbelievable in this day & and age of widescreen.

And i hope no AA is a demo thing only, since it annoys the hell out of me seeing my $600 video card rendering nice beautiful jaggies...
Gonna be very disappointed if the full game is the same.

Apparently it is NO AA unless you get DX10 which I think is fucking bullshit

It's Nvidia's way of pushing "The way it's ment to be played" and their 8800 series of hardware. Also probably MS trying to make ppl get Vista.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Yup, it's my only complaint about that game, the graphics, it's also the reason why I'm here talking about it rather than playing it.

When I look at this: http://www.unrealtechnology.com/screens/HDRGlow.jpg

I tell myself wow, nice engine ...

But when I see that: http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5784/bio4ay2.png

It just makes me wonder if the game is really running using UE3. If only the developers would have kept such textures for the Low/Medimum settings, but no, they had to keep them for High settings and even under DX10. In my opinion it's simply unacceptable, not under a so called revolutionary engine such as UE3.

People can disagree with me all they want, i believe the terrible textures are due to a couple reasons.

First one is that this is a form of a console port, even if not directly.
And due to the the tiny amount of memory on teh Xbox 360, i think they kept textures down.

Also, Bioshock isn't really UE3 natively either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock

They do state that they moved to a modified version of UE3, but considering roots are UE2.5, you get the idea.

So basically we have another game that's not really DX10, & once again, we got raped by the f*cking console market, since as Mark Rein has stated, what point is there is spending tons on PC games when everythings' being done for consoles primarily, & consoles are far more limited in graphics capability than PCs...

Hopefully John Carmack's work with OpenGL will not be this way. Even if the PS3 takes kindly to OpenGL.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
ATI driver update
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/426

Nvidia driver update
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/424

funny how this game somehow breaks both Nvidia and ATI drivers :laugh:

I've never seen a game require both companies to release special betas

 

[Matt2]

Just a reminder, the lack of AA is a limitation of using deferred shading. It has been this way for a long time, all the way back to GRAW, if not further. Forcing AA in the CP will do nothing unless you select super-sampling.

This is a limitation of DX9 and is one of the reasons why I think we need DX10 now. The lack off AA in almost every new game is so annoying to me.

I bought the game for the Xbox360 today. I'm gonna start playing like 10 minutes.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Just a quick FYI: i just read on the official forums that if you uninstall the game prior to formatting, reinstalling OS, upgrading hardware etc etc you can reinstall as many times as you wish without having to call anyone. This is from official sources. The DRM basically only looks for 2 valid installs. Once you uninstall then it will note this and not require you to aquire a new key.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
Just a thought i notice while looking in the "ini" files for the demo i found some texture setting that really much all stated "normal" setting for the PC and XBOX360 default settings. So making me wonder if there is a "UltraHigh" setting and textures built into the game if one knew how to change the settings. Changing the ini does not work. Just a hoping

I tried that too. On Ultrahigh and High and there was no change

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: n7
The EA style widescreen "support" of chopping the top & bottom off = z0mg wtf...:frown:

Simply unbelievable in this day & and age of widescreen.

And i hope no AA is a demo thing only, since it annoys the hell out of me seeing my $600 video card rendering nice beautiful jaggies...
Gonna be very disappointed if the full game is the same.

Apparently it is NO AA unless you get DX10 which I think is fucking bullshit

It's Nvidia's way of pushing "The way it's ment to be played" and their 8800 series of hardware. Also probably MS trying to make ppl get Vista.

Actually, if you had read the rest of the thread you would know that the only way to get AA to work is to either run it on XP or force it to run on the DX9 path under Vista.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Frackal,

i don't think the ini do anything lol... I tried to change the res and FOV though ini and it did nothing also.

So i am looking forward for the correct way to set setting, maybe from tweakguide or 2kgames themselves.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
Frackal,

i don't think the ini do anything lol... I tried to change the res and FOV though ini and it did nothing also.

So i am looking forward for the correct way to set setting, maybe from tweakguide or 2kgames themselves.

To me it looks like 2K didn't put in any type of console where you could adjust things like this. They just totally left it out. It's clear to me that 2K cannot do a PC game right. They obviously think a PC is just like a console and only needs basic settings and no advanced options.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

i managed to play this on my santa rosa MBP..... it uses an 8600GT, the core is 5mhz down off the nvidia specs and i thin the memory is a full 100Mhz down though its nothing riva tuner cant fix, seems to run ok, fans kick in to full speed 6000rpm but you cant hear it with the great sound effects.

1440x900, no AA, 8xAF, graphics on High! was a little choppy at the start mind, but as soon as you get down to rapture its pretty smooth. yet to figure out what some of the more special options do like real time reflections and high quality shader and post processing, but IMO the game looks dog ugly when you set the graphics slider to medium. it loses all its pizazz, and looks really flat and lifeless.

i think to get a little more speed out of it i'd be happy to drop to 4xaf, and probably use a lower res like 1280x768 or something because on my MBP that res stretched out to fill the screen still looks pretty damn sharp.

i have to say the graphics do seem a little sharper on the PC, but that might just be because i play my 360 through my 20inch dell where it is stretch to fill the screen. it certainly plays super smooth on the 360.

overall it is rather patchy i must say, i even said on another forum that the textures looked like a mish mash of ones found D3 based games like D3, Q4,Prey then overlayed with that soft HDR bloom sheen like that in R6:vegas. no the textures really arent that impressive at times. IMO HL2 still ranks as one of the best looking games ever, and compared to this i have to say so. the water in BS is much more animated, but HL2's water still gives it a run for its money.

at least in HL2 the water conveyed depth really well, like the water on the levells wasnt crystal clear at all times, it descended into a murky brown or indigo blue, like how one would expect real water to do because of reflections/refractions/particles in the water.

my problem really, is how fantastically clean the water looks. its sea water! it should have alsorts of particles in it. when you go down in the bathosphere rapture is superbly clear, at that depth even with city lights i wouldnt expect to see much at all, i expected it to be really murky with the city lights fighting a seemingly loosing battle to pierce through the water. also that scene really isnt a graphical show case. A bunch of black blocks, with some lights and signs, a really badly done whale and a teal coloured back drop.

the orignal UT engine could of done that probably. not one of the games finest moments, especially when you just came from the amazing plane crash site.


does anyone have a link to updated mobile drivers? i think im using some hacked ASUS 8600GT ones lol

also, im realising now why i love playing on the 360..... i dont have to endlessly go back n forth through menu's enabling/disabling certain features to see what they do and how baddly they affect performance. i just pop the disc in and go.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Noema

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Noema
Very nice. That pic you posted looks just as good as the 360 version.

I'm downloading the demo now; and I've already pre-loaded and purchased the full version via Steam.

That's not saying much "it looks just as good as the 360 version" it should in fact look better :roll:

Considering he's using a 7600GT (a <$100 card), that's a respectable result. Try running other 360 ports like R6:Vegas, Lost Planet or Dirt on a 7600GT, and getting such good results.

And this is a 360 port we're talking about here; I don't expect the PC version to look dramatically better than the 360 version, except for the ability to run it at a higher resolution with more AF. AFAIK UE3 doesn't support AA either way.

DX10 might be a different story but so far I don't know how the game will look in DX10.

Are you sure its a 360 port? I think its a PC game, thats been poarted to the 360, not from it. In any case, the PC version does look better. Ive seen side by side shots comparing, and seen it at my fiends house on this 360. Actually called him up just to see it. Kinda felt bad, but not that bad.

The PC version can also crank up the AA/AF, and res. Something the console version cant do. And have DX10 effects.

Im sure we'll see comparisons from various sites, FS will probably do an evaluation as they always seem to do.

I like my consoles.. but the one thing the PC has over the 360 is a kb+mouse. That seals the deal for me.

you could, but i dont thin UE3 supports AA, not in the DX9 guise...... apparently DX10 adds that ability

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: n7
My comments from another forum thread: http://rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33899714

No AA = annoying as hell.
I just played the demo @ 2560x1600, & sorry, i want my AA...even if it means lowering resolution to do so, etc.

FOV didn't bother me too much, but it certainly does make things feel awfully cramped at times.

Lack of true WS support is incredibly disappointing.
Means i might i as well play at 2048x1536...

I will also admit that while i did find the game quite immersive & was impressed with how well it ran, i'm starting to feel that's because graphically, it certainly could have been alot better, but instead, it was toned down, no doubt for the *****box 360.
Seems like it indeed is much more of a port than we'd like to think.


Don't get me wrong, i thought the demo was pretty cool, but honestly, i'm very disappointed in some things, as i mentioned.
See the thread i link to for more info on what i am talking about.

They had another whole dev team work on PC version to make sure this wouldn't happen. This was done so people wouldn't complain ohh its an XBOX port. 2K Australia screwed up in many aspect because of their inexperience in making an awesome PC game. 1st they made the game shader 3.0 only which left all the ATI R420 owners out the cold. Imagen a person with 7600gt/6600gt being able to play the game and X850XT PE ain't able too even if his card blows 7600gt/6600gt out the water. Then added online DRM/tool kit which the Might and Magic DM also did and their game got such bad review as the game ran so bad. Anyways alot was spent on the PC version but result was not that great if you think they had a whole another team doing that version.

woah! is that true? my brother downloaded the demo, but hasnt installed it yet, its still waitng in steam to be done. he only has a X800GTO in that thing which is fine for CS and WoW but thats a bit of a damp squib if Bioshock wont run at all.

shame i cant get the 360 to look any good on our 1080p sammy, i have no idea what they did with the colour settings, its horrible stupid glossy surface + dynamic contrast and super boosted colours makes you feel sick.

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: n7
The EA style widescreen "support" of chopping the top & bottom off = z0mg wtf...:frown:

Simply unbelievable in this day & and age of widescreen.

And i hope no AA is a demo thing only, since it annoys the hell out of me seeing my $600 video card rendering nice beautiful jaggies...
Gonna be very disappointed if the full game is the same.

Apparently it is NO AA unless you get DX10 which I think is fucking bullshit

I'm running Vista w/ an 8800 GTX (DX10 enabled).
AA doesn't work, & i tried with the new beta drivers too.

Hence why i mention i hope the full game has it...

Funny thing is that 360 version has 4xAA

Anyways i forced AA to work on ATI control panel. No more jaggie lines.

do you have any proof for this? i cant say i payed much attention to whether there was AA or not, though from my understanding of how the Xenos works they could get some free AA if they didnt have to make too many tiles.

i dont think it will have 4xaa, 2 at the most, and probably none.... i think that goal of having AA in all games really was aiming too high, many 360 games just dont have AA and some like froza 2 even seem to fore go decent AF as well, and forza 2 is by no means a graphical tour de force, its pretty, but its not jaw dropping.

same with this, Bioshock is pretty, but its not OMGWTFBBQEYESBLEEDINGFROMSHEERMAGICALQUALITYOFGRAPHICS!

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Performance is great on my 7950GT, and I'm just using the 93.71s I've had for a while now. I might upgrade them later, but I don't feel like uninstalling and doing Driver Cleaner. Actually, I just don't feel like doing Driver Cleaner.

?

why do people do that? just install the new drivers over the top thats what i always do. doesnt affect performance or anything. drvier cleaner comes out for a ATI -> NV change only and that happens once in a couple of years.

i even went from a x1900xt to a x800gto and didnt even bother reinstalling the drivers for a while and it was perfectly acceptable and didnt change much once i did put new drivers in.

 

[Keysplayr]

Just tried the demo. Window XP. 162.18's. 8800GTS.

I enjoyed it. Very immersive, and a bit spooky. Graphics were decent and effects were razor sharp. Nice.

I have read a lot of negative comments in this thread, and I must say, I don't know how some of you will go on with PC gaming.
All I see are comments like, "Very dissappointed" and "What were they thinking" etc. etc. IMHO, much too much criticism and not enough gameplay. I really don't know how you guys can enjoy gaming while being this critical.

I felt the graphics were just fine and moved on to gameplay, which was very good. I was immersed in the storyline and it was easy to enjoy. Widescreen? Unless I'm mistaken, I was running it at 1680x1050. If it truly wasn't, I didn't notice enough to care. It looked good to me. And AA? Maybe I just don't look at things as critically, but I didn't feel any need whatsoever to force AA through the control panel, unless it's on by default if using XP and DX9. Dunno. If this truly is an Xbox360 port, it was a damn good one. Best I have ever seen. Runs very smooth. I didn't run fraps, but minimum framerates HAD to be well above 30fps with the smooth gameplay I was getting. And about the crashing? When exiting the game? I didn't get that. I know some here are, so what is different about your rigs? Drivers? Vista? give, give.

I liked the demo, and will buy the full version this weekend. Just try to enjoy the game. It looks good and the gameplay is good.

I'm not ranting at all at anyone. Just a little surprised at the extreme amount of criticism on a game that just might have turned out better than I thought it would, all things considered.

 

[Lord Banshee]

going along with keysplayr2003,

even though i wish there were higher quality textures, it does not effect the gameplay. And because of that i will buy the same, as soon as Circuit City here has them in stock or might buy it straight of steam. I played the demo twice and enjoyed it, what a fun game this is going to be. I am not a diehard FPS fan because they usual bore me but this looks to so different.

And about the FOV, it is possible it is set for 16:9 and the 4:3 was not meant to show more in the eyes of the developer. It did not effect gameplay.

My FPS with no GL, 1920x1200 and max everything is 15-40 w/VSYNC and i can not tell there is a slow downs at all which is great.

 

[pcslookout]

keysplayr2003 I am definitely going to get this game as well when it hits $30 or less! Shouldn't take to long! Thats what I love so much about pc games they always go down in price! Console games seem to always stay around the same price for a very long time

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
keysplayr2003 I am definitely going to get this game as well when it hits $30 or less! Shouldn't take to long! Thats what I love so much about pc games they always go down in price! Console games seem to always stay around the same price for a very long time

I'm with you. Cheaper the better. But I don't mind paying a little bit more for a game I know I would enjoy (sooner than later), now that I have experienced the demo. So, I'll pick it up this weekend.

I'm an enthusiast for sure, maybe not as hardcore as most, but I am also a gamer at heart, among other things. I try to treat this as a hobby, not as a purchaser for a company who constantly tries to find the dirt cheapest materials on the planet. It makes it a less enjoyable hobby if I have to do that all the time. So, i don't. Don't get me wrong, I look for deals and price reductions, but i don't let it rule me.

 

[KutterMax]

I tried the demo on both my 360 and my PC.

I have a pretty nice setup for my 360 - a 52 Sharp LCD and DefTech surround system. The game looks beautiful and played very smoothly on the 360 with my sitting on the couch, but... I couldn't stand the controls. With a mouse and keyboard it would have been perfect.

I then dl'd the demo on my Vista PC. I have an e6700 and a 7950GT. I use a Dell 24" LCD. I tried 1920x1200 initially but it was choppy so I dropped to 1680x1050. The game ran fairly smooth but was still choppy in parts. I definitely noticed a lot more jaggies and sitting close to the 24" monitor really made the game look not as good as it had when I tried on the 360. But...the control with the mouse and keyboard was so much better.

So I was faced with a tough choice - get the 360 or the PC version??

Ultimately the control with the mouse and keyboard was the deal breaker for me. I broke down and went to Newegg and ordered a BFG OC2 8800GTX so I can play at 1920x1200. It comes tomorrow. I'm going to pick up the PC version of Bioshock on the way home today and should have the new card tomorrow.

Hopefully the 8800 Vista issues are better now...

 

[Lord Banshee]

like i thought, the FOV was set for widescreen and 4:3 users just see little more than what was intended.

THE TRUTH ABOUT WIDESCREEN
August 22, 2007
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/home.html

Now lets hope for a SDK and a UnrealEd 3/4?

 

[Sonikku]

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: n7
The EA style widescreen "support" of chopping the top & bottom off = z0mg wtf...:frown:

Simply unbelievable in this day & and age of widescreen.

And i hope no AA is a demo thing only, since it annoys the hell out of me seeing my $600 video card rendering nice beautiful jaggies...
Gonna be very disappointed if the full game is the same.

Apparently it is NO AA unless you get DX10 which I think is fucking bullshit

Well... How else are they going to get you to buy a new shinny video card today rather then tomorrow? On the sheer benefits of DX10 alone?

ha ha ha

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: KutterMax
I tried the demo on both my 360 and my PC.

I have a pretty nice setup for my 360 - a 52 Sharp LCD and DefTech surround system. The game looks beautiful and played very smoothly on the 360 with my sitting on the couch, but... I couldn't stand the controls. With a mouse and keyboard it would have been perfect.

I then dl'd the demo on my Vista PC. I have an e6700 and a 7950GT. I use a Dell 24" LCD. I tried 1920x1200 initially but it was choppy so I dropped to 1680x1050. The game ran fairly smooth but was still choppy in parts. I definitely noticed a lot more jaggies and sitting close to the 24" monitor really made the game look not as good as it had when I tried on the 360. But...the control with the mouse and keyboard was so much better.

So I was faced with a tough choice - get the 360 or the PC version??

Ultimately the control with the mouse and keyboard was the deal breaker for me. I broke down and went to Newegg and ordered a BFG OC2 8800GTX so I can play at 1920x1200. It comes tomorrow. I'm going to pick up the PC version of Bioshock on the way home today and should have the new card tomorrow.

Hopefully the 8800 Vista issues are better now...

It actually runs fine on Vista, just don't try to force AA in the control panel.