Hello everyone and thank for reading. I need your help here as I'm desperate! I purchased a copy (bought it, it's an original copy) of BIOSHOCK but I have no internet connection at my gaming rig. Don't ask why, I just don't. Is there a way to install and play the game without connecting to the internet? I even tried getting some "cracks" (which pisses me off since I OWN the damn game) but they can't work since I can't even go through the installation process because after installing the main game it prompts for downloading a patch.

Is there a way to bypass this and install the game? Next thing I'm gonna do is install it in another PC with internet connection and then copy/paste the files in mine. I know it's silly and probably won't work (maybe apply a crack there too) but I got to try!! I've been waiting for this game for so long and now all I can do is stare at the pretty metallic box!!

PLEASE HELP A DESPERATE GAMER!!!

P.S. I heard there are two version of bioshock out there? one with steam and one without? Is that true? In my game, I don't think I saw steam anywhere, at least during installation. Does this help at all?

sorry friend..... thanks to the idiot that came up with DRM.... Bio Shock can ONLY be played on a PC connected to the internet no ifs, ands, or butts..... even if you do crack the game you need to have the internet connected....... and even if you did have the internet connected 2ks auth servers are down all the time (which prevents you from playing the game as well) ...I'm not going to make a big speal about DRM as I normally do.... but I will say this DRM hurts not only us consumers but hurts the company as well.....

Like I said friend.... I'm sorry you are out of luck....
you could always get the 360 version to get around DRM but we souldn't have to... If we want to play it on our PCs then we should be able to.... no questions asked... but can we, NO of course not.. sorry I'll stop now as I can feel my blood start to boil...sorry blashyrkh

Was there no warning on the box about requiring an internet connection? If not, I guess you should be able to at least get a refund, but preferably getting help from 2K on how to do this. If it is on the box, then it is wise to heed these notices.

How could this help you? You will need an internet connection to install and keep Steam uptodate, and to download your games (you don't need an internet connection to play a game through Steam per se). If you bought a box in retail then you have the version without Steam.

I do not have the internet at home. I brought my rig over to a friends house and installed bioshock through steam and authenticated it. You do not need to have an active connection to PLAY the game, only to install it.

Looks like you might just have to take your PC to somewhere that has an internet connection.

Back of box and tiny bold letters:

Important Note: Game requires Internet Connection for Activation

The game is too unstable - kept crashing on me in Vista 64 so I haven't launched it again.

EB Games employees didn't know, they said they had to inform the customer, I told em about the DRM and the Net connection lol.. then I went back the next day and bought it.. there was a guy getting the xbox version, I said good choice.

Man. What a HUGE pain in the $%^*, having to drag your entire rig to someone else's house just to install a game.

So it plays when Steam is offline?

well, most steam games do, can't see why that one wouldn't

You never know....
They've pulled a lot of stuff with this game so I wouldn't be surprised if they tried something in regard to steam.

I've had some seat time with both the steam and some hammertime with the the retail.

The steam version has the same basic copy protection as the retail version.

You must be online to activate it once for installation. However, the steam version does not have a cd check at startup. Neither version requires you to be online to play.

Copying and pasting the files, as you describe will use up one of your hardware ID's. Unless the hardware produces an identical hash, your idea won't work.A

Your options that don't require violating the DCMA:

1. Bring the computer to a location with internet access.
2. Wait for Ken's promise for the activation to be removed.

Advice on "street justice" is beyond the scope of this forum. You're on your own for finding a fan made installer mod.

I live in South Africa. Thats somewhere in the bottom reaches of Africa ( No duh)

The problem is that our broadband is damn expensive.

I lugged my pc to a friendly internet place just to install.
I have had to do this twice because with no new components Bioshock refused to load no splash screen nothing. Ran executable cd icon showed dvd rom went crazy then nothing. Not to mention that for another weird reason occasionally my original Bioshock dvd is detected as a Back up dvd. i do use Daemon tools for other images and when that happened promptly uninstalled the virtual drive. A quick restart later and it plays. this has also happened when i didnt even have daemon tools installed. The game is awesome but really sometimes just a huge pain in the ass.

Thank you all for your replies. I followed your advice and took my whole rig to a friend and activated the game. It was a husle (15 pounds of desktop) but at least it all worked out and now I can play at home w/o internet connection.
By the way, I was really surpriced with the game. I play at 1280x960 all full details and it plays ok!! Amazing game.
Also, it seems that there is an fps cap on the game at 30fps (can never go over 30 fps which seems wierd). Is there a cap indeed or my rig is just not powerful enough?

Check if the vsync option is turned on. If so, turn it off. Your rig may not be powerfull enough to go over 30 with vsync on.

Is there a V-sync in-game option? I didn't see it but I'll look closer. Can I disable it from the drivers maybe?

There is a V-sync option in game under video options. Your Video drivers should have the option as well. I HATE having V-sync off so I force it on in the driver software. V-sync limits your FPS to 60 not 30 AFAIK. IMO you should only turn V-sync off to benchmark. The page tearing you get with V-sync off makes me crazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_tearing

Ok, I found the in-game option of v-sync and disabled it.
Yes, the ripping makes me mad as well but surprisingly, my fps jumped to 35-45 from being 30 and I experience no tearing at all !!! (obviously, my set up isn't powerful enough to make such high fps as to cause the tearing effect). This helped me alot performance wise.
Again, what a fantastic game!!! I love the 50's feel and the commercials!
Thank you all foryour help

Vsynk caps to 30FPS if it cant reach 60FPS on a 60Hz monitor.

Here's an idea man: bring your pc rig to a friend's house who DOES have a net connection, install and authenticate/download patches there. Not sure if you have to be connected *during* play but maybe this will help. maxcue@gmail.com