Bioshock + Steam = Booooo :(

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:45

I've just preordered Bioshock 2 and was really eager to play through the original again with the freebie. Sadly i'm not being so lucky, when launching the game in steam i get 'bioshock.exe has stopped working'.

Direct X is up to date
Graphics Drivers (8800GT) are up to date
Audio drivers are up to date

I've tried running it in XP compatibility mode, direct x 9 mode, administrator and i've deleted the cache files to no avail. Frankly i'm out of ideas.

Any suggestions?

[EDIT] I've also verified the steam files

gizmoy2k · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:48

have you verified the steam files?

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:48

gizmoy2k said:
have you verified the steam files?

Yus!

chaparral · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:48

Have you verify integrity of game cache ???

Edit:to late

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:49

chaparral said:
Have you verify integrity of game cache ???

As above, yus! Didn't help

The irony is, i played the original during my more piratey days, now i'm a reformed citizen who endeavours to buy everything. So, my dodgy copy worked fine but my legit copy doesn't? Bah!

[EDIT] Oh and since playing said dodgy copy i've formatted my computer so there's no remnants that could be causing issues before anyone suggests that

gizmoy2k · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:51

http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6356

Official forum, audio related??

chaparral · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:52

Disable you sound card and see if it works...

Robert1986 · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:56

lol/ I was wondering why you kept launching bioshock when I saw the little tab on the lower right pop up every 30 seconds on my screen.

I think a lot of people had issues with bioshock when it first came out. I remember I had a bunch of sound issues and ended up having to use a different sound card!

clippa · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:56

The directx update wanted to restart my computer afterwards, have you restarted? Worth a shot.

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 18:59

gizmoy2k said:
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6356

Official forum, audio related??

You are indeed right, it is an audio issue and the above does allow the game to launch. However, the bad news is i then get no sound in the game so it's not a fix, just an aid to diagnosing the issue. Thanks very much though, at least i now know it's sound related.

Robert1986 said:
lol/ I was wondering why you kept launching bioshock when I saw the little tab on the lower right pop up every 30 seconds on my screen. !

clippa said:
The directx update wanted to restart my computer afterwards, have you restarted? Worth a shot.

I've rebooted several times since then, thanks for the suggestion though.

chaparral · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:02

gizmoy2k said:
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6356

Official forum, audio related??

That thread says update the OpenAL file to fix it .

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:03

chaparral said:
That thread says updating the OpenAL file to fix it .

Ah, in my excitement to try it i only read the first post. I'll have a look at that now, thanks!

LizardKing · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:06

chaparral said:
That thread says update the OpenAL file to fix it .

Or uninstall it, worked for me

chaparral · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:07

Streeteh said:
Ah, in my excitement to try it i only read the first post. I'll have a look at that now, thanks!

Here the link for the OpenAL file/s

http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Downloads/Forms/AllItems.aspx

jmc777 · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:10

Streeteh said:
Any suggestions?

Do you have a mic handy? The game only works properly for me when my USB headset's plugged in. :confused:

I've seen others on the Steam forums mention it as a solution.

MeMeMeMe · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:19

Do you have Dirt 2 installed?
The version of Rapture3d installed with that can cause issues with Bioshock, as described here.
If so, uninstall Rapture3d and install again using the version linked on that page.

Edit: ignore my dirt 2 comment - you don't need it to suffer this problem.

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:28

Current status:

Not working.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled OpenAL. This allows the game to launch however i'm again met with the no audio issue. I don't have Raptur3d installed so it can't be that. Any other ideas?

Streeteh · 20 Jan 2010 at 19:39

Solved!

For anyone that cares i have:

Uninstalled and reinstalled OpenAL
Set the Bioshock.exe to Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode.
Disabled dx10

NOTE: The actual .exe file has to be set with this, if you do it to the shortcut it doesn't work.

Thanks to everyone that gave advice.