Bioshock

[obobski]

so, here's one that has me stumped:

Bioshock will not run for any reason regardless of what I've done, on a system that it was running on just fine last August (and since that time, I've done nothing hardware/software wise except a reformat and added an optical drive)

things I've tried:
disabled catalyst AI (have an HD4870X2)
run in Win2k mode (have WinXP Pro SP3, and yes I had SP3 last August)
both optical drives (some Lite-On POS and the MS Xbox360 HD-DVD drive)
various audio modes (have X-Fi Prelude, again, has not been changed or tweaked since last the game ran)
uninstall/re-install (about 5 times now)
updated XP
contacted 2K tech support (still have yet to even see a reply, fuck that noise)
yelling at it (yes, a simpson's reference)

so yeah, basically TF is the issue, when it error reports its citing an issue within user32.dll and bioshock.exe itself

other hardware:
Intel DX48BT2
Intel C2Q 9550

I have zero stability issues, this is a 24/7 rock stable rig, and will run any other game on the shelf without issues

SO
what the hell

 

[hossdaddy]

have you verified the file integrity through steam?
delete, and use cleaner to remove all parts and do a reg clean, then and re-install Bioshock?

 

[obobski]

have you verified the file integrity through steam?
delete, and use cleaner to remove all parts and do a reg clean, then and re-install Bioshock?

lol.

bioshock is not a steam only game
and I did not purchase bioshock through steam

so sadly, this is not really an option for me


as I've said, I have re-installed the game a number of times, and the registry is cleaned every 12-14 hours (along with multiple real-time anti-spyware/malware applications, and bi-daily cycles of each (yeah I'm a bit more than paranoid))

 

[spine]

...along with multiple real-time anti-spyware/malware applications, and bi-daily cycles of each (yeah I'm a bit more than paranoid))

There's your problem. Resident AV software is known to cause problems with Securom (Bioshock's CD protection).

I'd bet if you disabled all your AV software that securom would be happy and then Bioshock would run.

 

[spine]

"SecuROM Product Activation does place a folder and registry keys on your system. These folders are used only for storage of license information and information to assist with disc authentication. Please do not modify or delete these files. Tampering these files may result in authentication issues."

From a securom bioshock FAQ (my emphasis).

Maybe your obsessive/compulsive registry 'cleaning' is destroying vital Securom registry keys?

 

[obobski]

There's your problem. Resident AV software is known to cause problems with Securom (Bioshock's CD protection).

I'd bet if you disabled all your AV software that securom would be happy and then Bioshock would run.

"SecuROM Product Activation does place a folder and registry keys on your system. These folders are used only for storage of license information and information to assist with disc authentication. Please do not modify or delete these files. Tampering these files may result in authentication issues."

From a securom bioshock FAQ (my emphasis).

Maybe your obsessive/compulsive registry 'cleaning' is destroying vital Securom registry keys?

I would entirely agree, except I've been using the same AV software since before I even upgraded to an ew box, with Bioshock running just fine

its never had an issue with AVG, Spybot, Win Defender, WinFirewall, or my hardware firewalls (yes)

I also didn't delete jack from the registry after a fresh install, and it failed, it also failed after a registry cleaning, same issue, so I'm not thinking thats the issue

but what the hell, lets turn it all off (cept the h/w firewall) and give it a shot

::edit
nope, still no go
turned everything off, and its still having an issue

as a side note:
it isn't even getting to the point where it asks you to authenticate your copy or tries to run copy protection
you hit the exe and it just dies

::2
some reading on 2K's forums prompted me to try some more stuff:
adjusting virtual memory
flagging the game to -dx9
deleting the user data folder (impossible, folder has not been created)

none of those worked either (but i have almost 6GB of Vmem now )

MS' support database shows the error code as: "unexpected fault, Microsoft will address the issue if a large enough number of users report the problem" in other words "we don't know WTF either"

::3
IT VERKS!
disabled InterVideo Licence Manager and some other Licence Manager crap (NOT securom, and NO this is NOT pirated software, this is the retail box version), which is afaik all the junk that Corel WinDVD 9 Plus BR installed (how else am I going to watch my HD-DVDs?)

and it works like it did last year

imagine that

 

[hossdaddy]

you can activate bioshock though steam so my suggestion was valid.

Congrats on getting it working!

 

[obobski]

you can activate bioshock though steam so my suggestion was valid.

I've never actually gotten this to work

probably because its already been activated without steam, no idea, I don't really feel like playing copy protection nightmare bonanza with the damn thing

but yeah, it verks

I'm just wondering what kind of errors I'll get the next time I pop an HD-DVD in....