Game loads to menu, freezes loading save/newgame

[Evogelion]

This is a bit strange. I been playing Bioshock before on my computer, but today it started fizzling out on me.. makes me even wonder why I even buy computer games anymore.
Now I can load the program and get to the title menu, but when I try to start a new game or load a previous save, it freezes.
My computer exceeds the prefered requirements of the game and I have played it previously the day before. I tried re-installing the game and playing but same problem.
Can anyone give me a solution to this enigma?

My 8800 gts video card is up to date on drivers and I'm running vista 32

[Evogelion]

Wow this sure is some tech support... no reply yet.

[maf]

Post full system specs and what you have tried so far.

[heinz0s]

Evogelion, the same thing happens with me. I could play Bioshock awhile ago, but I have the same error you do. I reinstalled, I even created a new partition on my hard drive, it did not fix the problem.

Bioshock stops working. After I hit 'new game' or 'load game' the screen turns black. It does not display a loading screen or even an image. When I open task manager, it tells me that Bioshock has stopped responding.

Here is the wierd part. Any graphical, audio, control setting I set, it freezes. Except if I run the game in DX9. I have a computer that can run the game easily in DX10. Also, the game will play when I put it in window mode. But I don't want to ever play Bioshock in window mode.

The most I can do, is to open Bioshock as administrator and the same thing happens, that it freezes when trying to start the game except in window mode or DX9.

My Radeon HD2900xt is up to date on drivers and I am running Windows Vista 64

Any idea what is going on with the game? It won't let me play the way I want to.

[Evogelion]

Run it in a window instead of full screen? I can try that out..
I think vista really isn't ready for the gaming world yet.. should have bought this on 360 or just stuck with XP.
I recently purchased a racing game and it won't even launch, its not even pre-vista. All the support for it is for XP.. god I hate computers, I really need to stop buying computer games.

[PaulB]

I think vista really isn't ready for the gaming world yet.. should have bought this on 360 or just stuck with XP.

Can you not put on XP as a Dual-Boot setup ?

Works for me, the only game I've been running on Vista64 is Crysis.

[heinz0s]

I'm working with email tech support at the moment. I'm glad I'm not the only person having this issue. Because you use Nvidia instead of my brand, ATI, and have the same problems, I would not believe this is a hardware issue. Mainly because I could play Bioshock day and night without issues in DX10, only recently has it continually crashed.

If the tech support and I can find out how to solve this, I'll let you know.

[Mutha]

Wow, I'm not alone in the universe! I've got exactly the same problem. I have a high-end setup here, with dual 8800 GTX card in SLI, and nothing works! I tried several driver combinations, and nothing works.
It's very frustrating, bying a beautiful gaming machine, and not beeing able to enjoy Bioshock..!
I hope there is found a solution very soon!

Regards,

Wouter, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Dell XPS-H2C
Dual 8800 GTX
Soundblater Xfi
Vista Ultimate 32bit

[Mutha]

Ok, I tried the DX9 trick: In the game's options menu, I disabled the DirectX support. Then I started up the game and... It ran perfectly! But here's the stange part: After the game started up, I enabled the DirectX 10 support, and after a short pause, the game kept running!!!
So the trick is starting up w.o. X10, and then turning it on...

Still it beats me where this strange bug comes from.

Wouter

[heinz0s]

After some work with Tech Support, I got a way for Bioshock to run in DX10 on startup, but it crashed for me 1/2 the times I tried to start.

I was recommended to start Bioshock in Window Mode, then go into the graphic options and turn off the High Detail Shaders. Then exit to Windows so everything saves. Then I would start Bioshock again, with all high graphic settings except the shaders would still be off, and Bioshock ran beautifully. However, Bioshock still crashes on me.

I don't know what causes this. The first three months I owned Bioshock, this never occured. Frequent crashes only happened recently to my system.

I won't consider this issue resolved until Bioshock start in DX10 every time without having to loop around the game to get what I want. I'm still working with tech support on how to solve this issue.

I think I got the idea. Bioshock ran fine for a lot of us. Only recently did this constant crashing issue occur. That can rule out that there is a problem with the game. Also, Eogelion, Mutha and I have varieties of Nvidia and ATI graphic cards andd have the same problems. Ruling out that this is a hardware issue.

The thing in common is that we all run Windows Vista, and can't play the game in DX10 with some options. I think that the reason issues have popped up is because of a Windows Vista update that caused this error to occur.

It is a hypothesis based on Windows Vista being the only GUI to run DX10, and regularly recieves updates. We have varieties of hardware that exceed the optimum graphic demands of Bioshock, and the crashing issue started roughly the same time.

[DanteLa]

Based on other information I have read and what is listed here I think you are correct, the problem lies with some changes Microsoft may have made with Vista.

John

[moidoid]

My first thought too. I started getting this fault today. I managed to get it going before and was playing perfectly for several months - nearly at the end, then this. the drop to DX9 seems to work

I've made no changes to my system - it must be a Vista update. Nothing is ever simple is it? just when i thought that Vista was getting there!

[heinz0s]

If this is a Microsoft error with Windows Vista, maybe it will be fixed when Service Pack 1 releases....in November....

Anway, I'll start sending messages to Microsoft. As futile as it may be.

[alihanif]

Mmm... In my case, i can start a new game, or load a previous save, but i CAN'T save in the middle of the game, it freezes.. Why??

Thanks..

[GOZO]

Got a "freeze" in FPS-rates when changing between Farmers Market and going back to Arcade.

Not totally stop but extremely low frame rates.

Had been collecting all stuff (distilled water etc etc) needed and also using that to manufacture the Thingie (dont remember name ) supposed to be used in the lab of the flower woman later on.


Loading screen appears and you can just notice something trying to move....

Turned off game via ctrl-alt-del using the controller.


Game has worked fine until now.

Trying to relaod last point it either crashes or becomes nearly frozen again.

I will try to reload the whole farmers market from beginning of the autosave there and see what happens.


I use a Dell XPS with;

Quad core 2.7 GHz
4GB ram
Nvidia 8800GTX

DX9

Plus other bits an pieces...including Win XP pro.

Should work on that hardware... or what?

Seems like many have troubles with crashes/freezing and stuff.

Ideas??


/ Herr Flick

[GOZO]

Well well, what do you know?

I cleaned the HD and defragged. (Pretty messed up )

Started Bioshock and loaded the "Autosave" that apparently was created at the same time as it got bogged down.

Ta Ta! Game works like a dream again.

My two cents worth in this case is that the computer started some other paralell process that gravely disturbed the game.

/HF

[Strid3r]

well, i have ben looking for an answer to a very similar problem. my monitor turn off right when, or shortly after a game is loaded. right now, it does it mainly when playing NFS most wanted, but used to do it for NFSU2 as well. i purchased a new nvidia fx5500 agp card and replaced my psu as well, all fans are working and temperatures are well within range. my specs are well above requirements and both games ran fine until a short while ago. it very much seems to be a graphic issue for games requiering higher resources. i updated to the latest drivers and reinstalled the game a few times, too. cpu, gpu and ram benchmark test results come back ok, too. graphic card is fitted correctly and the 350watts psu should be sufficient, as it ran fine on the old 200watts previously installed. my tft monitor shows no signs of faults and has been working without problems previously, too.
i have been reading many previous forums but so far failed to find a solution to the problem. still, glad to know im not the only one.

[Strid3r]

ooppss, almost forgot, im running on xp sp2, using fx5500 256mb, 1gig ram

[XttR]

After some work with Tech Support, I got a way for Bioshock to run in DX10 on startup, but it crashed for me 1/2 the times I tried to start.

I was recommended to start Bioshock in Window Mode, then go into the graphic options and turn off the High Detail Shaders. Then exit to Windows so everything saves. Then I would start Bioshock again, with all high graphic settings except the shaders would still be off, and Bioshock ran beautifully. However, Bioshock still crashes on me.

I don't know what causes this. The first three months I owned Bioshock, this never occured. Frequent crashes only happened recently to my system.

I won't consider this issue resolved until Bioshock start in DX10 every time without having to loop around the game to get what I want. I'm still working with tech support on how to solve this issue.

I think I got the idea. Bioshock ran fine for a lot of us. Only recently did this constant crashing issue occur. That can rule out that there is a problem with the game. Also, Eogelion, Mutha and I have varieties of Nvidia and ATI graphic cards andd have the same problems. Ruling out that this is a hardware issue.

The thing in common is that we all run Windows Vista, and can't play the game in DX10 with some options. I think that the reason issues have popped up is because of a Windows Vista update that caused this error to occur.

It is a hypothesis based on Windows Vista being the only GUI to run DX10, and regularly recieves updates. We have varieties of hardware that exceed the optimum graphic demands of Bioshock, and the crashing issue started roughly the same time.

You are perfectly right and we should get a update soon.. correction we already should had update 3 months ago to fix these bad issues with the game. Let me see.. I bought crashshock aug 2007. Its been FRIGGIN LONG TIME and I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO FINISH THE GAME DUE THE CONSTANT CRASHING.

They said they remove the ASS HAT copy protection as soon the hot sale time is over. I'ts been over long time by now and where are the updates??

I'm NEVER going to buy ANY 2K game EVER again. And Ken Levine I hope you'r happy now. I'm going to shoot my bioshock dvd to pieces with a shotgun. And my shotgun sounds like a shotgun too, not a peagun like the game comparison.

[AngelGraves13]

http://support.take2games.com/cgi-bi...p_new_search=1

[XttR]

http://support.take2games.com/cgi-bi...p_new_search=1

Yes? Please reconsider posting if you have nothing to say. There is no answer to that problem what heinz0s described there. He is having exactly the same problem as I and many others. Only the devs can fix it with game updates. It isn't hardware, driver or Vista issue.

[XttR]

If this is a Microsoft error with Windows Vista, maybe it will be fixed when Service Pack 1 releases....in November....

Anway, I'll start sending messages to Microsoft. As futile as it may be.

I'm sorry to inform that SP1 doesn't change anything. The game still crashes. The problem is in the game.

[AngelGraves13]

Yes? Please reconsider posting if you have nothing to say. There is no answer to that problem what heinz0s described there. He is having exactly the same problem as I and many others. Only the devs can fix it with game updates. It isn't hardware, driver or Vista issue.

As I'm not sure what your problem is, I thought it best to link you to the BioShock Knowledge Base where you, yourself can look through the articles and find what you're looking for.

I'll try harder

For US Support
Phone: 1-866-219-9839
Email: usa@take2support.com

For Canadian Support
Phone: 1-800-638-0127
Email: canada@take2support.com

In order to help you most effectively with any PC related questions we need you to attach your DxDiag and MSinfo when contacting us via email.

Here are instructions on how to do this.

To create the DxDiag.txt and MSinfo.txt, please do the following:
1.) Run DXDIAG.EXE from your Start menu (click Start, Run..., then type "dxdiag" and hit Enter)
2.) Click the "Save all Information" button, located at the bottom of the program window
3.) Save the file as "dxdiag.txt"
4.) Click the "More Help" tab
5.) Click the button marked "MSinfo..."
6.) Click on the "File" menu and choose "Export" (Do not use "save")
7.) Then save the file as a Text Document and name it "MSinfo.txt"
8.) If possible, please put these files in a .zip format and attach them to your email. (When inside of your email program there is usually a "Paperclip" button or icon which is the attachment option.)
Be sure to include a detailed description of the problem you are having and the text of any detailed error messages that appear.

It will also help us if you can send a screenshot of the error message along with the both text files.

[Gavotte]

I'm having the same problem, too. Can play with DirectX 9 but if I play with dx10, it crashes as it loads into a new game or tries to load a game.

I'm pretty sure everything is up-to-date including dx10 drivers, mainly because I just built the system I'm running on and thoroughly made sure my drivers were up to date.

Even while playing on dx9 settings, I crashed as I was taking the elevator into the hospital. Only happened once, but I've been having the same problem with dx9 as I have been with dx10 since.

E-mailed techsupport as AngelGraves13 keeps recommending, hoping that yields some fruit (and quickly). If it doesn't, I'll have to return this game, as a game that doesn't work is just a waste of money.