Optimizing bioshock 2

[D007]

Just a little fyi.
This is for people using onboard sound.
I didn't want this to get buried in the details thread, which is kind of unrelated.
I'm stuck using onboard atm.
Xfi FTL..
80 bucks and the thing never worked right.

I digress. XD
I found that setting the in game sound to mono and turning off hardware acceleration for XP users.
Will give a nice frame rate increase.
"It might make audio skip in cutscenes though, so this might not be advisable"
For some reason I was getting some laggy spikes which just seemed weird to me.
The game is really not that demanding at all it would appear.
It shouldn't be anyway, not with all those visible polygons.

I also went into the default config file. "careful in there, don't screw with anything you don't understand".
Changed these from their original.
Lowers the amount of maximum incoming sounds.
Makes it much easier for any audio processor.
Truth is some games just push audio to far.
Like Oblivion for example..lol

[ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem]
Channels=20

[FMODAudio.FMODAudioSubsystem]
MaxChannels=32

I also raised the cache size from default "i think" 32 meg, to 128 meg.
Just wanted to see if it hurt anything.
Doubt it's even useful TBH.
I wouldn't recommend going over 128 likely even if it is.
Made no visible improvement or degradation, never the less.

If you have anything to add, please do feel free.

 

[Blackjack49]

alright first of all what are the settings you are playing as and what can they be and what resolution are you playing on

 

[D007]

It's all maxed out.
You realize I'm going to laugh if you say "there's your problem" right?
8800gtx @640 core 1400 shader.
3 gb ram ddr2 800 @ 4-4-4-12
E8400 conroe @ 4.0ghz.
Bioshock 2 is the Vengeance engine.
Bioshock 1 was Vengeance engine.
Ran that at max too.

Resolution is unfortunately 1808x1004. thanks be to nvidia for screwing the pooch on the G80 core and breaking hdmi compliance.
Leading me to these ridiculous custom resolutions.
I used to play all games at 1920x1080.

I see your a new fellah here.
Welcome to the forums.

 

[KainXS]

I haven't had the sound problem you speak of though, but did you buy the sound card only for bioshock.

lol you fixed it

 

[D007]

lol..nah didn't buy it for bioshock, had it for a while.
Thing just never worked right.
Can't even get my dam system to recognize it.

fyi going hardware acceleration off might make audio skip in cutscenes, so it may not be advisable.

 

[Mussels]

i maxed it out (one GPU) at 1080p and had zero lag throughout the entire game.

I think you're onto something regarding the audio however, as mine was crap (no 5.1 sound, and various sounds would stop others playing - EG, when people talked over the 'intercom', gunfire would stop sometimes)

 

[D007]

Already a patch out lol.. link posted.

 

[Lionheart]

Theres a patch, i did get an update a couple of days ago but wasnt sure if it was for games for windows!

 

[D007]

All of my laggies went away with this patch.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=115454

 

[AsRock]

i maxed it out (one GPU) at 1080p and had zero lag throughout the entire game.

I think you're onto something regarding the audio however, as mine was crap (no 5.1 sound, and various sounds would stop others playing - EG, when people talked over the 'intercom', gunfire would stop sometimes)

Did you apply AA to it too and if so how much ?. Or did you leave it without AA by default.

Just getting a idea how to set the game up when i do get around in playing it as i have it sitting here doing nothing as i'm playing Dragon Age at the moment and the wife don't want me playing 1/2 dozen games at one time lol.

Either way in no rush in playing it as i'm waiting for their promised widescreen fix .

 

[Mussels]

Did you apply AA to it too and if so how much ?. Or did you leave it without AA by default.

Just getting a idea how to set the game up when i do get around in playing it as i have it sitting here doing nothing as i'm playing Dragon Age at the moment and the wife don't want me playing 1/2 dozen games at one time lol.

Either way in no rush in playing it as i'm waiting for their promised widescreen fix .

there were no AA/AF settings in game. Didnt need em, game looked fine.

 

[D007]

Did you apply AA to it too and if so how much ?. Or did you leave it without AA by default.

Just getting a idea how to set the game up when i do get around in playing it as i have it sitting here doing nothing as i'm playing Dragon Age at the moment and the wife don't want me playing 1/2 dozen games at one time lol.

Either way in no rush in playing it as i'm waiting for their promised widescreen fix .

Also you can't even force AA in this game unless u use nhancer.
Which I wouldn't recommend, because enhancer likes to write all kinds of entries into your registry .
Which can corrupt your game entirely.

I had to reinstall bioshock after trying enhancer, because it totally messed it up.
Every time I took a step, the entire game turned into huge polygons, tearing all over the place.

Yea after playing for a bit, you realize the game really doesn't even need AA.
It's just the polygon count that bugs me sometimes.

 

[zithe]

Silly but necessary question. Have you disabled your onboard when using the card? Sneekypeet pointed out to me yesterday that windows may detect it and cause problems. Look in device manager for any yellow exclamation points.

 

[D007]

Silly but necessary question. Have you disabled your onboard when using the card? Sneekypeet pointed out to me yesterday that windows may detect it and cause problems. Look in device manager for any yellow exclamation points.

cool thank you, i will look into that.
Much appreciated

Edit: No conflicts..
I'm starting to think thay maybe even changing anything in the config might lead to some securerom issue or something..
Idk why I get this issue that seems like a memory leak.

Also, I always turn off background programs, but duly noted.

 

[Blackjack49]

just a little idea....make sure you have shut down everything in the background that you don' t need while playing the game it helps a lot of my games out.