[Amanda]

Ok, so I bought Bioshock ( super awesome game) for my pc, the first time I tried to install it, I didn't realize I had to have internet. Now I have internet and it installs and all, but I can't get it to play. It gets through the begining credits and I guess before the start up screen it encounters a problem and has to close. What should I do? I want to play this game really really bad, but I can't get it to work, I'm going crazy. Please help me!

[madmatt2006]

Hello Amanda do you know what make and model your PC is?

[Amanda]

No, I'm not sure what make or model it is, a friend gave it to me... This is a pretty awesome site! Can't believe I never heard of it before.

[madmatt2006]

Yes we are fairly new! could you download and run this program http://www.belarc.co...e_download.html Belarc it will tell us what hardware is in your PC we need to get what graphics and mainboard is in it. Please post this info then we can get you a new video driver to try

[Amanda]

I wasn't sure if you actually needed all of that but here is the part I think you may need.

REMOVED COMPUTER INFORMATION

This post has been edited by Amanda: 07 February 2010 - 01:39 AM

[madmatt2006]

They have a Live Update Online here http://www.msi.com/i...c=downloadindex for MSI drivers try that and post back the results.

[Amanda]

That didn't work, it just said processing please wait all night... It got hung up or something while searching for something.

[noop]

Where error is it specifically giving you when you startup the game? Also, do you know what graphics card you have?

[Uncle Fester]

Having played this recently - great game - first thing I notice is the lack of RAM. Bioshock minimum req 1GB, for future ref graphics card should be DirectX9.0c with 128mb RAM(NVidia 6600/ATX X1300 or better).

Hope this helps...

[Amanda]

The message pops up and says Bioshock exe. Has encountered a problem and needs to close. Then it gives you the options to debug, send error report, or do not send. I've tried them all, doesn't seem to do anything. I have no idea what kind of graphics card is in this thing, like I said in an earlier post, a friend gave it to me.

[Uncle Fester]

Quick and easy way to check - right-click the desktop and select properties from the menu that appears. On the dialog box that appears click on the 'settings' tab. You should see a picture of a screen with the words 'Display: Plug and Play Monitor on...' what follows is a short name of the graphics adapter present, if any. Try this

[madmatt2006]

I found the manual for the mainboard here http://74.125.153.13...lient=firefox-a is has a separate graphics card when you ran Belarc did it mention what graphics card or video card. We need to work out what one you have

[Amanda]

Ok, I don't think I have one, here's what the display properties box says: NEC MultiSync E500 on NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300.

For madmatt, here is everything I got from the Belarc advisor report:

REMOVED BELARC ADVISOR REPORT

I might just be out of luck with this one huh??

This post has been edited by Amanda: 07 February 2010 - 01:38 AM

[madmatt2006]

Hi Amanda your PC has a GeForce PCX 5300 the FX5 series driver should work. Use the download link here http://www.nvidia.co...75.19_whql.html and install the driver also install direct x from MS here http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en and install this also reboot then try the game

[noop]

Here are the system specs that are needed to run the game as a reference:

Minimum:
Operating System: Windows XP (with Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista;
CPU: Intel single-core Pentium 4 processor at 2.4GHz;
System RAM: 1 GB;
Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM and Pixel Shader 3.0 (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550);
Sound Card: 100% direct X 9.0c compatible sound card, 8GB of free hard drive space.

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
System RAM: 2GB;
Video Card: DX 9 - Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB RAM and Pixel Shader 3.0 (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better), DX 10 - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better;
Sound Card: SoundBlaster® X-Fi™ series (optimized foruse with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards);

[Amanda]

Well guys, I was really excited when I thought we had it this time, but we didn't, I still can't play it, I checked to see if I met the system requirements, and unfortunately, I only have 512MB of system RAM, sooo, I guess I won't be playing it anyways. Well guys, thank you all so much, even though we didn't get this one, you stuck to it, and that is impressive considering I was thinking at first this would be some kind of scam, but it's not, I'm definately going to recommend this site to all my friends that have PCs. Thanks again!!

This post has been edited by Amanda: 07 February 2010 - 01:36 AM

[noop]

When you click on the Debug button, what error does it give you? You could probably play the game with 512MB of ram but it will be in lower quality.

[madmatt2006]

Also from memory in Belarc it mentioned you have 2 free RAM slots we could guide you on how to fit extra memory (Very Easy) it would be fairly cheap for you PC. But I'd post the error first like Noop said we maybe able to get it going with this info

[Amanda]

The message just says there is an error, when I click debug, send error report, or don't send, then the message just closes. So I checked the error report details, I can't copy and paste it, but this is what I got from the error signature, I have no clue if this will help or not but this is what it says:

AppName:Bioshock.exe AppVer:1.0.0.0 ModName:Bioshock.exe

ModVer:1.0.0.0 Offset:00294470.

Like I said, I don't think this is what you were hoping for, there is another details link that I can click on to get more details, but most of it is just a bunch of stuff that doesn't seem like it would be important. Nothing on there actually says what my error is as far as I know. If I do have to get more RAM, how much money are we talking about here, because I'm going to be honest, I have a very tight budget, so the cheaper the better. My friend that gave me the computer, may be able to find me some or may even have one that I can have. I'm shocked you all are still trying at this considering it's just been dead end after dead end.

[noop]

This problem looks like a common problem when you have a lower/older end graphics card. Here is what you will need to do as our last resort.

Do you run Windows Update very often? You should run Windows update and make sure that your OS is up to date.

Next, download the latest NVIDIA drivers and install them:
Here is the download for the NVIDIA drivers for the PCX 5300: http://www.nvidia.co...75.19_whql.html

Restart your PC after installation and see if it works. You may need to remove the older drivers, otherwise you may get some conflicts. Go into Add Remove Prorgams and look for the NVIDIA graphics driver. If you see it in the list, remove it, don't reinstall.
Next, run the new installer. When the new installer finishes, restart.

After doing both, try Bioshock and see if it works.

Good luck!
noop