www.abithelp.com

well that seems to have worked-

i turned off sygate pf- and set sygate not to start at windows boot up- and started ms xp firewall- and rebooted my system.

like normal when installing games- i turn off all security other than my firewall- i fresh installed bio2- then it auto starts the game- it auto logged me on as in- on line/ on live etc. a pop up said its a update for the game- i said yes- waited a few minutes- said close game to apply patch-i closed game- said yes install etc- it installed and auto started the game and logged me in.. i started a sp game more less to set up the controls etc.. most was what i set last game-

but the vsync still keeps changing when ever it wants too.. thats ok- i check it often..

i started my sp game- and saved a hard save from esc.. messed around a few more minutes and did a quick save-- closed out of the game remove disc- rebooted my system and defraged all that good stuff- then i restarted the game and went straight to mp..

mp all worked fine- it walked me through the load out- and said go to batho for a match-- its a news paper box by the batho you can check all stats there.. the apartment is cool- you have a gene machine to load what plasmids what ever you have= you start with a pistol and shot gun and incen electro or freeze plasmids but no tonics- you can only use 2 plasmids- i use incen and electro.. but i was testing-- then you can change out your character and how it looks etc.. i played my first match- i was last 10th with 5 kills in 7 minutes- the winner had 20 kills- i guess first to 20 kills- i played like a dm match mode.. i got a few achievements and i was the big daddy too- all in my first game-

bio2 mp is not bad- it all looks good- player movement looks a lil odd- not as smooth looking as ut04 but few games are-- but its still cool- pretty map and crazy looking characters running around and the plasmids etc- i think you guys would like bioshock 2 mp game.. i closed out of the lobby it took me back to my apartment- i checked a few things and my stats- and closed out of mp to my dtop-- waited about a minute and then clicked my sp icon on my desktop- it started sp and logged me in and i started playing from save and made a few more saves and now here.. oh ya and back to my sygate pf too..

hopefully it will keep on working right- it seems to be ok now- i guess it has most new patch- or id guess it would not let me play on line.. i will cross my fingers-- maybe this will help other folks and id guess it should work with my fallout3 game too-- i guess with any of my gfwl games i will not use my sygate personal firewall.. if i need or want to use gfwl in game that is-all should be good..

i have some videos from my first game that i cant play anymore and some screens too- i will upload later-- i did not have fraps on when trying to set it up and testing and playing mp- next time i will have some screens and movies from mp.. so.

now im going to change out my firewall again and start playing my sp game- hopefully i will have no crashes-- and oh ya- not having sygate load- well thats 1 less program and frees up over 50 mbs of memory too- so all seems win win so far..

see ya

The combination of Steam and GFWL is spotty at best. Red Faction: Gurilla and Section 8 both work fine. Bioshock 2 signs me into "Live" but in the offline mode. So all I can play is the SP. If you can't log into GFWL, you cannot play online MP. Period. Wish I could at least try it once. Oh, well, I'll live.

chris i could log on before and play in offline mode too- its the on live what i could not do-- i thought it was my router blocking it.. it wasnt- it was my on system firewall- from what i read lots of firewalls and xfire and some other stuff can mess up gfwl-- but the most easy and simple step to test is- turn off your firewall--i dont know what 1 you use-- but just turn it off- dont have to reboot your system-- and start bioshock2 when its all loaded up and waiting for you to pick sp or mp what ever- that menu gui screen-- press live icon bottom of screen or press home bring up live mouse over and click your screen tag- then try and log on-- it might work- and will say if it has to do any updates etc.

but note: your sp offline game you cant play it any more- or i dont know how- i think you can move the files around in windows live file- i know they did with fo3- but hell with that-- maybe wait until you finish game you are playing now-- or if just started and dont mind starting over- then try.. but to get it all working right and playing on live is best id guess- then you know its updated and can play mp if you want to-- we could have private matches too- 10 in game-- i dont know how to do that or host games- or how good a system you need nothing on that..

give it a try chris it cant hurt- your firewall might be the problem-- just dont do it unless you are ready to start a new game if it does work-- if it dont work- nothing happens or changes-- but you know for sure its not your on system firewall--

i hope you get it right-- im not sure mine is right-- ha ha it worked perfect before i started messing with it- other than sound stutter at start up movies.. i hope i have it right now- and i hope my other installed games all work right too.. maybe my other gfwl- when ready to start a new game- i will play on live- the extra step turning on off firewalls is not that bad- and its only for gfwl games- so..

i wish i had thought of turning off sygate long ago-- i really thought it was a router or something-- ive never had probs like this- and i give gfwl and games etc rights to connect in sygate too-- sygate is old and not updated anymore- but is still great at what it does.. it dont like gfwl for sure- ha ha.. it popped into my head last night- give that a try- turn off sygate-- but dam- i didnt know- it would mess up my game i was playing-- i didnt expect it to work either-- just dont mess with it unless ready to start a new game..

have fun- see ya..

ezeht, all you have to do is go into the Nvidia Control panel & click on Manage 3D Settings & select Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams.
Then in the options click on Force Off Vertical sync & forget about it...
I checked it with Fraps & it's definitely off as it goes into the 100+ FPS range even when the game settings say it's on.
Problem Solved!

thanks muff- i will try that.. if i can- maybe..

but gees god- its a lot of extra junk just to try and play and enjoy bioshock2-- ive already had to multi install the game and deal with gfwl-- ive set sound to standard acceleration [ never ever had to do for a game]-- using ms firewall- now i have to set up bio2 in my nv control panel [ive never had to do before for any other game]- i set my basic settings and let program decide-- now i have to use game profiles in my nv drivers-- well- im not using most new most likely crappy nv drivers- im not going to install and test 50 sets of nv drivers either- or install drivers just for 1 game to work and mess up all my other games.. so id guess it is no profile for bioshock2 in the drivers im using..

bio2 is maybe 1 of the most buggy and problem games ive owned yet..

and seems ive got more stutter or lag being its all working now and connected to live-- and still have the sound stutter in start up movies-- but it had started sound stutter during a cut scene when trapped in the both and lam sends her crew and i guess a big sista saves ya and pulls you down into the water and you search bodies for loot.. so i might try out new reltek sound card drivers..

ha ha this game is turning into a freaken job.. ya. im sure my 4 gig mem kit would help some-- but bioshock 2 is just a glitchy and problematic game-- the game its self is cool-- its just poor freaken quality controls.. my old nv 182.06 drivers seem to run the game fine- lag is not to bad- its mostly if im looking around-- my fps run as high as 140 or more in game- the game is set up to use nv 3d glasses- so fps in this game can run high and have to be at least 120 hez/fps to do 3d.. [ no i do not have the game set for 3d glasses] - but id guess is why fps are so high in the game.. id guess if you click 3d settings in game- it would lock the game at 120 hrz/fps.. but most of the time my game run above 75fps never much drops under that-- but i think part of it is how i move or look around fast- its almost like the fps cant keep up with me and takes a sec to catch up.. not all the time- its just this game has lots of lighting and fx and light and dark areas in a same area- fps are constantly up and down--

ha ha the game seems to run more smooth when im recording it- using fraps and 30fps- fraps locks the game to run at 30 fps-- maybe thats why the vsync keeps popping on- its trying to lock the game fps to my monitors refresh of 75 hrz-- i think thats how vsync works- it will lock you fps to what ever refresh hrz rate your monitor runs at- if i understand that stuff right that is.. im not sure- i never have to use it.. any way- its not so bad i guess- its playable and has not crashed again- yet- hope not- cross my fingers hope to die- god bless this game and all that extra bull chit- ha ha- 2k should have did a better job on q-c..

have fun see ya..

i downloaded realtek r2.44 will install that in a few minutes..

um the bioshock read me i think it is said- last new nv drivers 196.75 had some probs and told people to fall back to nv 196.21..

today its a new nv driver out beta 197.13 but no mention of bioshock 2 in its info.. maybe i will try 196.21 and latest evga precision tool.. i can spend a day testing installing deleting and if all else fails- fall back to drivers im using now- 182.06- im going to have to test a few of my other games see how they look and play-- some drivers work better- better fps and more rich or deep graphics and color saturations etc.. its a itch sometimes to find drivers that work good over all the games you might be playing-- updating drivers can be hit or miss- it can be aggravating..

ha ha - a freaken head ake

i dont know- i read its probs with 196.21 too- and new precision has to do a work around crap-- maybe new drivers out of beta will make things better-- for now- lag is no real problem-

um- my nv cp has no profile for bioshock2- so i forced off vsync in global.. im going to install my new sound drivers now- do a defrag and give the game a try and post back later-- ha ha maybe a lot later- once i start playing- it might be early morning before i stop- unless i get crashes or something..

i will get it all good in time- i finally got gfwl- yea haa- i can play gfwl mp download dlc's etc.. redeem points cards- i have no c cards.. now if i had money- if buy the fo3 dlc's and buy borderlands and some of its dlc's-- i would be a gaming fool for a long time.. maybe get metro 2033 and wolfenstein maybe clear sky too.. oh ya. i would not need new games for a year or so

see ya..

I've been running the 196.21's for a while now, Bioshock 2 works fine with them, and EVGA works fine as well. I have been doing the long method changing drivers lately, using Driver Sweeper to get all the bits left behind and in the Registry. If not, the Nvidia installer gets really goofy with Win 7 64bit.

ezeht wrote:
um- my nv cp has no profile for bioshock2- so i forced off vsync in global..

You have to manually add it to the profiles for it to be there!
Click Add & then browse to the bioshock2.exe (SP folder) & select it (Not the Bioshock2Launcher) to add it.
Then you can set your custom settings for the game.

Currently I'm using Nvidia drivers 197.13 beta & EVGA Precision v1.91 & it runs very well on it!
My 3DMark Vantage Score is the highest it's ever been! (P7373: CPU-5973 / GPU-24647)
Running at clocks 648/1620/1008 on my EVGA (320mb) 8800GTS.

I'm sure glad I don't have all the problems you do with this game...

ya muff- my game had a few teething pains..

i finished my first play through about 530 am this morning.. i saved all the lil sistas and got the ending- el and i worked together- i helped to save her and some of her lil sistas- then she stabs me in the heart and i guess i die-- not that she was trying to murder me- i was already dying..

bioshock2 is a awesome game-- think i will play mp for a few hours- then maybe start another play through- i want to see the other endings..

anyway- i had no more crashed- start game videos still get choppy and sound stutter- but the game works fine

have fun see ya