No Bioshock for X800/850 owners? Wait a min...

[Dr_asik]

As you may already know, the incredible action game that is Bioshock requires pixel shader 3.0 support in order to run. There is no ps2.0b mode, thus, the game will show major graphical problems on the ATI Radeon X800 and X850.

But, all hope is not lost yet! A couple of motivated people are working on a fix for we who own the best video cards ever designed. Think Oldblivion for FX video cards, but in Bioshock and for X800/850. It's still far from perfection, but, what, 2 weeks after the game's release, it's already an impressive effort.

See their forum here. Full article here.

EDIT: here's a petition to Irrational for adding 2.0 shader support in a later patch. At the time of writing this, above 4700 people have signed it. http://www.petitiononline.com/BioShock/petition.html

 

[rodney_ws]

Just upgrade man... jeez.

 

[Dr_asik]

If you will donate 1000$ to me through paypal, I gladly will.

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

A SM 3.0 card 150 is good enough

 

[Dr_asik]

Dude you're talking about my private situation like you know anything about it. But you don't and I've no reason to explain it to you.

This thread's not about me it's about Bioshock's availability to ps2.0 video cards. Jeez.

 

[Heyyou27]

All Unreal3 games require Shader model 3.0, and how are the X800 series the best videocards ever designed?

 

[pauldh]

No MOH: Airborne(also unreal3 engine) for X8xx owners either.

 

[cleeve]

I think the good doctor was saying that with tongue in cheek because he owns one, Heyyou.

Personally I think the unreal guys have made a notable error is ignoring all the SM 2.0 cards out there, many of which still have enough horsepower to push games like Bioshock.

Hopefully, the efforts of the modding community will influence the Unreal engine devs to add support for older cards, alot of which are still out there providing good service...

 

[Dr_asik]

As far as I know, Unreal Tournament 3 (tell me that's not based on the UE3 engine!) supports pixel shader 2.0. http://unreal.freakygaming.com/pc/action/unreal_tournament_3/system_requirements.html

The Unreal 3 engine allows both pixel shaders 2.0 and 3.0, its up to developpers to use whatever he likes. There's nothing in there that forces ps3.0 requirements.

 

[jepperson]

Yeah, even Crysis is going to support SM2.0. This is a pic of a SM2.0 card playing bioshock, notice the white in the background. It is not perfect put it is playable.

I have a x800xt and I am playing bioshock. I just have the demo now, as I am waiting till the fix is complete.

 

[Heyyou27]

I think the good doctor was saying that with tongue in cheek because he owns one, Heyyou.

I know, but he was so convincing I almost went and bought a new X850XT.

Yeah, even Crysis is going to support SM2.0. This is a pic of a SM2.0 card playing bioshock, notice the white in the background. It is not perfect put it is playable.

http://i12.tinypic.com/54ntrfk.jpg

I have a x800xt and I am playing bioshock. I just have the demo now, as I am waiting till the fix is complete.

Maybe they should add Shader Model 2.0 support; that screen shot doesn't look much different than under Shader Model 3.0. How does the game run on your X800XT?

 

[Dr_asik]

I know, but he was so convincing I almost went and bought a new X850XT.

Almost? Noooo, I failed.... :lol:

Maybe they should add Shader Model 2.0 support; that screen shot doesn't look much different than under Shader Model 3.0. How does the game run on your X800XT?

Yup that's basically the point. X800 and 850 are still very decent card in terms of raw performance, plus in ps2.0 you can do pretty much anything that is possible in ps3.0. Heck, Valve uses ps2.0 HDR in Half-Life 2: Episode One (and 2, judging from the screenshots).

So basically, we who own the pinnacle of gpu enginnering feel cheated.

 

[Gravemind123]

Yeah, even Crysis is going to support SM2.0. This is a pic of a SM2.0 card playing bioshock, notice the white in the background. It is not perfect put it is playable.

http://i12.tinypic.com/54ntrfk.jpg

I have a x800xt and I am playing bioshock. I just have the demo now, as I am waiting till the fix is complete.

I'm pretty sure Crysis will support SM2.0, since in the minimum requirements they list an x800gto, unless they have changed this since the initial requirement announcement.

 

[jepperson]

"I'm pretty sure Crysis will support SM2.0," didn't I just say that it would.

As for Bioshock, it plays just fine on my X800XT, no slowdowns, very smooth, keep in mind that the unofficial fix is not done completely, so there are a few missing textures here and there. I would not recommend buying the game until the fix is done.

So you know the rest of my system to get an idea how it may be on yours:
AMD 3500+ and 2GB Ram, oh and my X800XT is AGP.

 

[DXRick]

As an X800 owner I have already experienced the feeling of being left behind when the latest Splinter Cell game was released. I experienced extreme inadequacy when Oblivion was released.

However, it isn't just my AGP X800 that is inadequate. I could just buy an AGP X1950 if that was so. There is also the realization that my entire P4 3.0 865P system (built to handle Doom 3 and Half Life 2) is becoming a relic, and just updating the AGP card would not buy me much. We will need a C2D system to play the latest games.

Technology keeps advancing. This includes GPUs and DirectX. I don't feel cheated at all! I am glad that they keep advancing to provide game developers more tools to create better games. The same goes for consoles.

I predict that this trend will continue! The state of the art today will be inadequate in the near future.

So, to your whining about your X800 card I say

 

[mactronix]

To DXRick
Dont know what you are on about i upgraded to a x800xl to play Oblivion and it did a blinding job(until it died on me) .I agree with you though about the tec keeps marching on but i have some sympathy with those who cant upgrade be it budget or whatever reason.This whole thread seems a bit ironic to me as i have spent the last week on here advising people on AGP upgrades only to have the enevitable few dropping in with "your rig is c*** you need to upgrade"etc which as i pointed out is a scewed point of view as the 1950xt can be had as AGP which is about the 4/5th fastest card out there! Same thing as the good Dr points out with the x800 cards wish they had put the newer features on one and started at the x1600s
Mactronix

 

[Dr_asik]

As an X800 owner I have already experienced the feeling of being left behind when the latest Splinter Cell game was released. I experienced extreme inadequacy when Oblivion was released.

However, it isn't just my AGP X800 that is inadequate. I could just buy an AGP X1950 if that was so. There is also the realization that my entire P4 3.0 865P system (built to handle Doom 3 and Half Life 2) is becoming a relic, and just updating the AGP card would not buy me much. We will need a C2D system to play the latest games.

I agree for the most part. I have a similar system, and yes, I'm not expecting much more gaming life out of it. The next big thing on my buying list is not an upgrade, it's a new system altogether. But it's not before Christmas. In the meantime, I'd still like to have at least the possibility of trying the game, given the fact that it scales well on older systems. Oblivion isn't exactly what I would call scalable.

 

[nukemaster]

Will this work on the retail game?

time to see if a 9800pro(my brothers computer) can play it

 

[jepperson]

the unofficial patch does work for the retail and the demo in the exact same manner. as for a 9800, they haven't been getting as good of results as people with x800s. Pre x700 cards used SM2.0 and X700 and X800s used SM2.0b a bit more advanced version of SM2.0 ATI came out with.

 

[Annisman]

Yeah, even Crysis is going to support SM2.0. This is a pic of a SM2.0 card playing bioshock, notice the white in the background. It is not perfect put it is playable.

http://i12.tinypic.com/54ntrfk.jpg

I have a x800xt and I am playing bioshock. I just have the demo now, as I am waiting till the fix is complete.

This Pic looks Like ****, don't ever disgrace a beautiful game such as Bioshock with these disgusting images. UPGRADE your computer or stop whining. Maybe....just maybe, this game doesnt support SM2.0 so that they can encourage the purchase of new graphics cards that do support it. Who on earth would enjoy playing a game at 10 fps on a SM2.0 card anyways. This is like when I see those 'Which AGP card should I get thread' makes me want to scream upgrade already and join the times, this is an enthusiast forum, act like youre 'enthused'. UPGRADE

 

[Heyyou27]

This Pic looks Like ****, don't ever disgrace a beautiful game such as Bioshock with these disgusting images. UPGRADE your computer or stop whining. Maybe....just maybe, this game doesnt support SM2.0 so that they can encourage the purchase of new graphics cards that do support it. Who on earth would enjoy playing a game at 10 fps on a SM2.0 card anyways. This is like when I see those 'Which AGP card should I get thread' makes me want to scream upgrade already and join the times, this is an enthusiast forum, act like youre 'enthused'. UPGRADE

Once the patch is fixed it'll likely look better; also, we're obviously not playing the same game because I didn't think Bioshock looked all that great even in Direct X10 on my 8800GTX.

 

[sirrobin4ever]

This Pic looks Like ****, don't ever disgrace a beautiful game such as Bioshock with these disgusting images. UPGRADE your computer or stop whining. Maybe....just maybe, this game doesnt support SM2.0 so that they can encourage the purchase of new graphics cards that do support it. Who on earth would enjoy playing a game at 10 fps on a SM2.0 card anyways. This is like when I see those 'Which AGP card should I get thread' makes me want to scream upgrade already and join the times, this is an enthusiast forum, act like youre 'enthused'. UPGRADE

Umm.....yeah.....
Not all of us are loaded down with cash...so we can't afford the newest stuff.
Be nice.

 

[randomizer]

This Pic looks Like ****, don't ever disgrace a beautiful game such as Bioshock with these disgusting images. UPGRADE your computer or stop whining. Maybe....just maybe, this game doesnt support SM2.0 so that they can encourage the purchase of new graphics cards that do support it. Who on earth would enjoy playing a game at 10 fps on a SM2.0 card anyways. This is like when I see those 'Which AGP card should I get thread' makes me want to scream upgrade already and join the times, this is an enthusiast forum, act like youre 'enthused'. UPGRADE

Theres the door, use it ---->

'Enthusiast' has no connection with 'rich', so please do the world a favour and die.

 

[aziraphale]

Colin Mc Rae won't even run on anything else but a SM3.0+ card. That's life...

 

[shargrath]

I think its very slack that they wont tweak it to support sm2.0 cards when 1 person has done it in less then a month.