First post, by DosFreak
- Rank
- l33t++
Well I bought Bioshock today and got to experience the activation.....
I almost thought that there was no activation even though I'd heard that there was.
I inserted the CD and installed the game
It then got to a point where it wanted to "autopatch" the game.
I of course canceled the autopatch.....and the game uninstalled itself. Great.
I then reinstalled and made a backup of the bioshock directory and then autopatched.
The "patch" appears to just be the bioshock executable that is not included on the cd! Wonderful!
I guess they did this so they could update the protection in the future since the activation program is included in the Bioshock executable.
So I autopatch the game (which just puts the Bioshock executable in the game directory", and finish the install.
I then run Bioshock.exe and it wants to activate. This goes very fast and doesn't modify the game directory so I'm not sure what I'll need to backup on the system so I won't have to go through activation again.
After you activate the game works.
The following details what I've done so far:
BACKING UP THE PATCH THAT THE AUTOPATCHER DOWNLOADS. […]
BACKING UP THE PATCH THAT THE AUTOPATCHER DOWNLOADS.
1. Install Bioshock.
2. Run the autopatcher.
6. Go to "C:\Documents and Settigs\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files" and sort by last modified.
7. You should see the file "bioshock_patch.gz".
8. Make a copy of the "Temporary Internet Files" folder and then search this copy for "bioshock_patch.gz"On execution of "bioshock.exe" it wants to activate using your serial number from your manual.
Activation happens very fast and doesn't seem to modify the game directory at least not according to Windiff.
It doesn't modify the game executable.WINDIFF
A windiff of the bioshock directory before the autopatcher ran and after.
The only difference were these files in the Bioshock directory that was patched.
\builds\release
bioshock.mce.lnk
bioshock-mce.mcl
bioshock-mce.png
bioshock.exeOLD
2. When it gets to the autopatcher screen surf to "C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp"
If you cancel the autopatcher then it will delete the game!
3. Now begin the patch download.
3. Now look in this directory "{23E3D4B8-8AB1-4279-9F4C-E0B51202B426}"
4. and then in this subdirectory "{E280923D-C5D9-4728-8C79-AC9A0DC75875}" and you should see a "bioshock_patch.gz" file being downloaded.
5. When the download is done it will start patching your BioShock directory and the patch will disappear.
If someone could have a registry and file monitor going while the activation process is taking place (including a network monitor), then that would be great. The only way I can figure to try the activation out again is to uninstall the game and I'm not sure if that would clear the activation or not.
It appears the all someone needs to do is crack the activation in the Bioshock executable and then when we make our backup CD's we can just include this executable on the CD. So the process for install would then be.
1. Install the game.
2. When you get to the autopatch screen, make a backup of the bioshock directory.
3. Cancel the autopatch which uninstalls the game.
4. Copy the patched bioshock.exe into the bioshock directory.
The above assumes if the autopatch server can not be reached. If it can then you can still download the activation requiring executable and finish the install without having to make a backup copy.
Link to the Bioshock "patch": http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/installer
If your receive an "application configuration" or "side-by-side" error when executing the game then you need to execute the "vcredist_x86.exe" file on the CD. If your using 64bit Windows then you'll need to download the 64bit ver from the Internet. (I thought the "Game for Windows" label was so supposed to solve issues like these?)