K, so you focused on the question, which was irrelevant anyways, instead of the main points. "Windows 2000 was never meant for average consumers to begin with, and is no longer sold in stores."I was just answering your question, that's all. If it makes you feel better about yourself for me to admit it wasn't a great example, then fine - it wasn't a great example. It was just something I typed up quickly. It wasn't meant to be a great analogy, but rather another example of something that some people want to continue using past its time.
Why? Because you said so? SM2 is not "obsolete". MOST new games still use and support it. Very very few have tossed it aside altogether and supporting only 3.0. UT3 engine even supports it, but 2k chose not to use it.Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which came out almost exactly a year ago, was SM3 only. Bioshock is hardly the first in that regard. 2 years ago it would have taken a little foresight to know SM3 was going to take off (although it certainly wouldn't have been much of an assumption, considering the adoption of previous DX technologies), but 1 year ago people would have seen games like Double Agent and thought "if I want to keep playing PC games, I better get one of those SM3 cards!" Once games started supporting SM3 (which was over 2 years ago), even though it wasn't required, anybody could see that an upgrade would be good to plan for in the near future.
Because researching a video card before purchase somehow gives everyone the ability to predict the future? How the fuck would someone buying a video card a year ago know that 2k Games would support only 3.0 with Bioshock a year later?They wouldn't know about Bioshock specifically, but other games like Double Agent (and Rainbow Six Vegas) started the trend over a year ago. Anyone that had followed either of those games would have been able to see that the SM3 requirement was announced prior to release, which pushes that date even farther back.
Direct X 9 has been around for 5 years!!! Developers didn't drop DX 8 support for years later. Some even still support Dx8. No game (that I know of) has been made Dx10 only...even Halo 2 and Shadowrun that were Vista exclusive were Dx9. Care to try for another analogy?When did I say Developers had dropped support for DX9.0c? I don't expect that for another 1 or 2 years (possibly more, depending on what happens with Vista adoption). As far as DX9 is concerned, "obsolete" was perhaps too strong of a word. But it's headed that way.
Yes, Win2k was sold in stores. I used to work at Staples, and we sold quite a few copies. I remember we still had it in stock (although not on the shelf at that point) as of 2004, at which point I moved and stopped working there.
But anyone who bought a SM2 card 1 or 2 years ago should have known it would be obsolete by now.
Any gamer who buys a graphics card at retail should research the card first. If not, he has no one to blame but himself when the latest games won't run on his card.
I'm sure I'll be complaining when developers stop supporting DX9.0c
Windows 2000 was never meant for average consumers to begin with, and is no longer sold in stores...was it ever? Bad comparison.Yes, Win2k was sold in stores. I used to work at Staples, and we sold quite a few copies. I remember we still had it in stock (although not on the shelf at that point) as of 2004, at which point I moved and stopped working there.
Shader 2.0 cards are still sold in retail. The newest ones are only a 1 to 1.5 years old. Far from being 7 years old.It reminds me of the GeForce4 MX situation. A lot of clueless gamers bought them, thinking that they had a GeForce4 capable of running the latest and greatest games. At the time, cutting-edge games didn't support them. The difference is that there were quite a few good SM2 cards made after SM3 had debuted, whereas the GeForce4 MX was never a good card. But anyone who bought a SM2 card 1 or 2 years ago should have known it would be obsolete by now.
This is like people who still want support for Windows 2000. You can use it all you want, and there are valid reasons for doing so. But it's totally unreasonable to expect it to be supported after all this time.
First, that is not true of ATI's entire product line of the past two years. The 1550 models for one are not shader 3.0 compliant. Second, you are ignoring the fact that older cards are still sold in the retail channel even after they have been supplanted by newer models. For example, when I was shopping for a video card last year, I almost chose an ATI X850 model due to its slightly better price/performance ratio compared to similarly priced cards from the same online retailer. I ended up choosing an Nvidia model despite its lower average benchmark performance and fewer pipelines because of its SLI capability. However if I had chosen the ATI card, I would be pissed now since I couldn't run the game with it even though it otherwise has enough power to render this game.I'm not sure where you're getting your information about the 1550 - according to ATI's website, it supports SM3 (http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonx1550/specs.html). But let's assume that ATI is lying about that and it really isn't. It would hardly be the fault of game developers that video card manufacturers have misleading product lines.
The fact is that Irrational could have written a second set of shaders for Bioshock that are shader model 2.0 compatible just as Epic did with UT3.But that wouldn't be cost or time effective. Epic has designed UT3 to be playable on a wide range of machines. Bioshock, on the other hand, was always designed to be cutting edge. The question remains - how many people have hardware capable of running Bioshock (except the video card) and are still using SM2.0 cards? SM3.0 is becoming the norm in games now, and developers are not going to continue devoting time to making their games SM2.0 compatible. If you had chosen a X850 last year, you would have ended up unable to play Bioshock due to your lack of research. One can argue that gamers shouldn't have to research their video card purchases, but they do. That's the world we live in.
It couldn't "find the original file" when patching.
It still said update completed.
When I start the game it says version 1.1.
My options are all weird, keep getting a widescreen and windowed mode.
And the game keeps crashing when loading or starting a new game.
Yay.
Fuck.
Same deal here. Although for me it still says version 1.0 on the title screen. I guess the patch fucked up my install. That's just great seeing as how we only get three of em. Fuck 2K.
but ATI has had SM3 cards for 2 yearsFirst, that is not true of ATI's entire product line of the past two years. The 1550 models for one are not shader 3.0 compliant. Second, you are ignoring the fact that older cards are still sold in the retail channel even after they have been supplanted by newer models. For example, when I was shopping for a video card last year, I almost chose an ATI X850 model due to its slightly better price/performance ratio compared to similarly priced cards from the same online retailer. I ended up choosing an Nvidia model despite its lower average benchmark performance and fewer pipelines because of its SLI capability. However if I had chosen the ATI card, I would be pissed now since I couldn't run the game with it even though it otherwise has enough power to render this game.
I guess it's possible m$ and nivida are paying extra to prevent them from implementing 2.0+, as is often done for different reasons.I realize the conspiracy theory explanation is always the popular choice these days, but could it be that they thought their target market consisted of people with fairly new computers (meaning they have SM3 cards)? How many people have a computer powerful enough to run the game, but don't have a SM3 card?
Such a bunch of whiny bitches.
Why is the online activation such an issue.
I guess the patch fucked up my install. That's just great seeing as how we only get three of em. Fuck 2K.
Still don't get how gamers can release fixes or a work arond faster than people who get paid to do the work.
Enahs if you check the (think it's bik files) there are only 2 endings. And if I'm not mistaken they are full movie bik files (video and audio).