Bioshock 2

[floppybootstomp]

I've never received unwanted attention on Steam.

Which may be a bad thing or a good thing

 

[Abarbarian]

Ok they would not let me be abarbarian on steam or aviking. So I reinvented meself as ------------------------------------------wait for it ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- as --------------------------------------------------------------------amortician.

 

[floppybootstomp]

First thing I thought of was Morticia out of the Adams Family.

Or was it the Munsters

Good name

 

[Ian]

Ta V_R, never seen that option before

 

[V_R]

Abarb: you have to accept friend requests so unless you do you should be ok. Just common sense is needed.

Ian: no worries.

 

[V_R]

Bioshock 2 System Requirements Released! (SecuROM act limit: 15)

US, January 20, 2010 - Steam has posted the PC system requirements for BioShock 2, giving gamers about a few weeks to upgrade their machines if need be.

One thing to note, however, is that the game will use SecuROM and have a 15 machine activation limit. Does yours make the cut?

Check the details below:

Minimum
OS: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.4Ghz or better, Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0Ghz Processor or better
Memory: 2GB
Graphics: NVIDIA 7800GT 256MB graphics card or better, ATI Radeon X1900 256MB graphics card or better
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 11GB
Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0C compliant sound card or onboard sound

Recommended
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core 2.60Ghz, Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Dual Core 2.13Ghz
Memory: 3GB
Graphics: NVIDIA 8800GT 512MB graphics card or better, ATI Radeon HD4830 512MB graphics card or better

Other Requirements
Initial installation requires one-time internet connection; Ability to save game, earn achievements, receive title updates and online play requires log-in to Games for Windows LIVE; software installations required including Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries, Games for Windows LIVE client, Games for Windows LIVE Client Patch, Sony DADC SecuROM, Microsoft DirectX.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/106/1062217p1.html

 

[floppybootstomp]

Nobody else up for the quad offer then?

We only need one more to obtain Bioshock 1 & Bioshock 2 for £20.25 per person.

So fars it's me, Ian & Abarb.

 

[Ian]

Thanks for the updated specs V_R I think your machine can handle that game ok

I've got Bioshock 2 pre-ordered with Amazon, but can easily cancel it as long as it's a couple of days before it's due. I can probably leave it till about the 5th Feb, so if we don't get the 4th person until that date then I'll leave the pre-order intact.

 

[V_R]

Nobody else up for the quad offer then?

I feel a bit guilty for jumping ship now, it was my idea after all.

Ian, i hope so! That was a quick copy and paste from the IGN link. Not my wording.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'll have a word wiv me mate Roy, he has an i7 machine - I built it for him - he may like 2 good games for 20 quid.

 

[Abarbarian]

I feel a bit guilty for jumping ship now, it was my idea after all.

So you should you rat

Ability to save game, earn achievements, receive title updates and online play requires log-in to Games for Windows LIVE; software installations required including Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries, Games for Windows LIVE client, Games for Windows LIVE Client Patch

Whats all this crap then ? I thought it was a Steam game.

 

[V_R]

It is a Steam game. Its also a GFWL game, like GTA was etc. A pain? Yes. But once its set up you wont notice it.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'll have a word wiv me mate Roy, he has an i7 machine - I built it for him - he may like 2 good games for 20 quid.

Nope, Roy's not interested, not only is he feeling the financial pinch but told me he hasn't played any computer games or even his PS3 for a few months.

He must be getting old

So, anybody else up for this? Time is running out

 

[V_R]

http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/article/bioshock2pcmegafeature

BIOSHOCK 2 PC Q&A

Did you change the UI/HUD for the PC version of the game?
We made quite a number of significant changes to UI / HUD for the PC version of the game. The decision was made early on not to support controllers at all in order to ensure that we got the mouse and keyboard control absolutely right. This of course required a redesign of large parts of the UI and the player HUD. For example, we removed the Weapons and Plasmid Selection Radials in favor of a custom created Weapons Selection Strip which more accurately reflects the keyboard layout.

How did you deal with widescreen? How will someone on a regular monitor and a widescreen monitor see the game?
We support single-screen 4:3, 5:4, 16:9 and 16:10 resolutions. The game has been optimized to ensure that all game elements such as menus, HUD, UI, etc appear exactly the same regardless of what resolution the user is running the game at. The only major difference for 4:3 and 5:4 users will be the smaller Field of View compared to a widescreen resolution.

What’s the FOV and can you change it?
The FOV cannot be changed, and it is set to 75 degrees vertically. The default for users with widescreen monitors will be that they have a horizontally expanded viewport as compared to 4:3 or 5:4 monitors.

What graphical settings are customizable? (Resolution, vsync, etc.)
There are quite a lot of graphics options that the user can change, both in the main menu and while in game. In game hotswapping allows the user to change things like texture detail and lighting on the fly to best match their rig.

We have also implemented some DX10 specific options for users with DX10 compatible Graphics Cards. Bioshock2 will auto-detect whether the user has a DX10 compatible Graphics Card and adjust the settings automatically.

The full list of customizable graphics options for BioShock 2 are:

DX9
- Resolution
- Graphics Quality
- Actor Detail
- Texture Detail
- Vertical Sync
- Shadow Maps
- High Detail Post Processing
- High Detail Shaders
- Real Time Reflections
- Distortion
- Force Global Lighting

DX10
- Resolution
- Graphics Quality
- Actor Detail
- Texture Detail
- Vertical Sync
- Shadow Maps
- High Detail Post Processing
- High Detail Shaders
- Real Time Reflections
- Distortion
- Force Global Lighting
- DirectX10 Detail Surfaces (DX10 specific option)
- 3D Stereo Vision (DX10 specific option)

Do you allow gamers to customize their controls?
Yes, we do! As you can see in the screenshots, we support control customization. Jake will talk about this in the PC podcast next week for those of you who want to learn more, so stay tuned.

How did you deal with the mouse handling for the game (like acceleration, etc)?
BioShock 2 uses the OS Mouse speed settings as a default. BioShock 2 also supports 3rd party mouse applications such as Logitech SetPoint.

Mouse acceleration is now off by default and other options such as sensitivity and inversion can be changed in-game. There is an in-built mouse acceleration feature which the user can enable if desired.

Is there LAN play?
No. Unfortunately we don’t support LAN play for MP. The Game For Windows – Live service allows us to include all the functionality that LAN play provides, with added security and gameplay options such as achievements and a social messaging system which really enhance the BioShock 2 MP experience.

What are the digital distribution options?
The digital distribution options for BioShock 2 utilize both Steam and Direct2Drive.

How does multiplayer work on PC? Is it different than consoles?
Besides the obvious PC specific control and UI changes which were required as a matter of course to ensure the PC experience is consistent, the PC version of the MP game is exactly the same in both structure and content as the Console version.

While there are some minor differences in the way that Games For Windows – Live handles things like game requests compared to Xbox Live, for the most part, it is exactly the same.

How does matchmaking work?
We use the Games For Windows – Live matchmaking service, which generally takes things such as the users Gamerscore, their “zone,” etc into account when matchmaking players. We also rely heavily on latency based matchmaking to ensure that the user is not only playing against someone of a similar skill level as themselves, but also someone who has roughly the same type and speed of internet connection.

Do you support dedicated servers?
No. We use the Games For Windows – Live servers to allow for more accurate matchmaking, as well as more comprehensive stat tracking and anti cheating functionality.

Do you support any special display modes? BioShock 2 has been designed from the outset to take advantage of NVIDIA’s GeForce 3D Vision displays.

 

[Abarbarian]

Only a few days to go now.

Ain't anyone going to step up and be the fourth muskateer ??

How about you Alf ??

Taffycat it would be a great pair of games for you to try out !!

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'd actually given up on this and I'm that broke I transferred all funds in my Paypal account to my bank account yesterday.

But if it does happen I'll keep my word and stay part of this, though it may take about a week for funds to go into my Paypal account.

But I'd imagine the deadline for Ian to cancel his pre-order with another supplier may have expired by now.

Alternative is it's £25.00 elsewhere but of course you don't get Bioshock One for a freebie. That doesn't bother me too much as I already have it but a little disappointing nevertheless.

 

[Ian]

Yep, today is the deadline day for my pre-order, so it doesn't look like we'll be able to go ahead with it.

Should be a good game though

 

[Abarbarian]

Shame we could not go for this. Never mind by the time I want to play Bio 2 it will have come down in price anyway.

Looks like a good series. I been too busy with one thing and another and snow and ice to play much lately and I seem to have got stuck in Stalker.

 

[V_R]

Well i finally got round to playing this yesterday, enjoyed it. Very like the first, but that is no bad thing.

Came to play it today, "Failed to Load Save Game"

WTF!


Quick bit of reading around, seems Bioshock 2 doesn't like it if your Documents are not in the default location (C:\Users\YOURNAME)

I have moved all the my documents from the user profile folder to a separate 500gb Samsung F3. this was one of the first things i did when i first installed and set up Win 7 back in October.....

A Directory Junction should work, but still this is a glaring oversight in the basics of programming the game is it not? All my other games can cope with the new location without a hitch.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well i finally got round to playing this yesterday, enjoyed it. Very like the first, but that is no bad thing.

Came to play it today, "Failed to Load Save Game"

WTF!


Quick bit of reading around, seems Bioshock 2 doesn't like it if your Documents are not in the default location (C:\Users\YOURNAME)

I have moved all the my documents from the user profile folder to a separate 500gb Samsung F3. this was one of the first things i did when i first installed and set up Win 7 back in October.....

A Directory Junction should work, but still this is a glaring oversight in the basics of programming the game is it not? All my other games can cope with the new location without a hitch.

Rough justice