just got bioshock

[m1ldslide1]

So I picked up bioshock at lunch today, and have been waiting all day to get home and play it. In the meantime I've been reading people's benchmark scores, and I have a couple of questions about what settings I should start with. My specs:

1280x1024
8800GTS 640 600mhz core x 900mhz memory
2.6ghz opteron
2GB of memory
WinXP

I want to maintain framerates above 30fps, and it isn't clear to me whether I'll be able to run native resolution + max details + 2/4xAA @1280x1024 and still maintain these rates.

Also I've heard conflicting reports of what enabling v-sync does with this game. I won't expect to be exceeding 60fps very much with the levels I want to set, but I'm hearing folks on other forums saying that you'll experience massive tearing even if you're averaging below 60fps. Any tips?

 

[zagood]

Framerates should be fine with 2/4xAA @1280x1024.

You'll have to test vsync for yourself, I'd recommend leaving it off.

p.s. tweakguide:
http://www.tweakguides.com/Bioshock_1.html

-z

 

[Regs]

I have a 2.8 Ghz X2 1MB L2 with a 320MB 8800GTS and able to play it at 1680 x1050 at full except for DX10 shadows because I have XP.

I did not know you could force AA, or it was even supported. High textures mean 8x-16x AF is all ready enabled.

I had image distortion from not updating my graphic drivers. Even some BSOD's because of the graphics driver. You must update to the latest!


Other than that, I think anything at or above a 7800GTX and a 2.0 GHz processor could play this game at max. It's not as demanding as you think. Especially on video card memory.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Great to hear - thanks for the input guys.

 

[Capitalizt]

Bioshock doesn't have AA anyway

The game engine wouldn't work with it...some weird thing about the type of textures they use. Looks beautiful anyway.

 

[ZappDogg]

Yup, no options for AA within the game. Not sure if you could force it in the nvidia control panel. I ran everything maxed at 1680x1050, and got well over 30fps, so you should be fine too.

 

[ethebubbeth]

According to Tweakguides, you can force AA in DX9 mode using the latest nvidia drivers. I was able to confirm this with my 8000gts, but it is not as effective as AA in most other applications. You can do the same thing in Unreal Tournament 3 actually, since Bioshock uses the Unreal 3 engine. Rename the UT3 executable to bioshock.exe and it can use the same forced AA from the control panel.