run the game in dx9 mode, and as an administrator! made a huge difference to me, i ran this on my laptop! not as pretty as dx10 but it runs stable like that. Good luck! many people have issues with this game crashing at the menu on dx10 mode.

Vista OS. 2.74 dual core processor. 4 gigs ram. 258 mb ATI x/1300 x/1550 card (current drivers). My rig is pretty beefy, its not that kinds lag

I've dome some research into this and it seems to be a known issue due to the game being a 'Port'. I'm not sure what that means or how it affects the game or my comp.

I have tried some solutions where you adjust the 'X' and 'Y' numbers and that helped a bit but there is still some lag. It sucks when use move the mouse and then a split second later your cursor moves. I am curious if this has happened to anybody else in the same manner.

your videocard is crap...
May I suggest updating to a HD 4870 rather cheap for the ammount of power you get now

1. HD 4780 - who make it? mb? cost?

2. Razor mouse - is it good? when u made those adjustments did the slight delay in reaction time go away completely?

I am quite the newb when it comes to comp hardware. How do you check to make sure the power supply can handle it?

Yeah, as has been said, your video card is pretty old. Plus you said "258 mb ATI x/1300 x/1550 card (current drivers)". The 1300 is an entirely different card from a 1555, so that's a little confusing, but it doesn't matter.

As far as the PSU you will need to actually look at it. On the side is a chart that shows the total watts of the psu along with the amps for each rail (I'll explain that in a moment).

It'll look something like this:



The important parts are the max watts or total power. In the above image it has 700 watts. I'd guess you're gonna be somewhere in the 350-500 watt range.

For picking out a video card, the 12v+ rails are important. In the above picture, there are 4 12v+ rails rated at 18amps a piece, for a rough total of 72 amps. The newer cards generally need at least 26amps of power. So, if you have two 12v+ rails of 12amps a piece you can get most cards, but definitely do some research to determine how much power a card needs beforehand.

And upgrading to a 4870 (which is ATI, btw), while a fantastic card, is probably too big of a step. That's a brand new card and runs for just under $300. I would highly recommend picking up a new card with 512mb vram for newer games. 256mb is just not enough anymore.

Sorry for the long post. Let us know what kind of power you have and we can make some suggestions.

Oh, and far as mouse lag goes, it could be the videocard. Try turning the visual settings down.

Well, over at TweakGuides, Koresh has a couple of settings you can change in the Bioshock.ini file for mouse lag issues. It never hurts to read the entire guide (you can find it here), but page 7 is where he has a couple tweaks for your specific problem.

Koresh does recommend turning v-sync off in the in-game settings. You should try that first.

Of the recommended changes, this one seems the most pertinent. And I quote:

"CaptureMouse=True

This setting controls the way mouse movement is recorded by the game, and in general you won't gain anything by altering it. However for people who experience mouse lag, setting this option to False may help. See the In-Game Settings section for a discussion of mouse lag and fixes."

So, in the Bioshock.ini file (which you should backup before changing anything) change the CaptureMouse to read False. Save the file. Boot up the game and give it a try.

Like I said, read through the entire guide. His guides for optimizing Windows can really help general performance.

Nvidia's 8800 GT or 9600's.

Which one of the ones you mentioned is better? The price really doesn't matter.

A better question. Which video card out there is the best right now and compatible with most games, operating systems, DirectX 10, etc. I think I want that one!

I'll post them tonight when I'm done at work.

Congrats!

No worries about not posting when you said you would. It isn't the end of the world or anything.

And no, I don't play chess online. I am terrible at chess when I don't have the board in front of me. I just don't see the pieces all that well.

Have you considered rehab?