This Guide will cover the Most Common Problems you may have when trying to Run the non Remaster Version of Bioshock.

First we will try to identify if Bioshock is having a Sound Issue and if it does there are fixes for it.

If there isnt a Sound Issue try to use the Non Sound Issue fixes.

We will identify if you have a Sound Issue.

- Verify you game cache with-in steam.
- Attempt to run the game again.If it fails to load again you may have a sound issue.
- Add "-nosound" (without quotes) to your launch options. To do this:
- Go to My Games panel.
- Right Click "BioShock" Game / icon.
- Go to Properties.
- Click "Set Launch Options".
- Type "-nosound" (without quotes).
- Try to run the game.

Did it work?If it worked you have a sound issue.Even if your game has presently loaded the "-nosound" launch option will not allow you to play with sound.
If you remove "-nosound" your game will likely not load again.

-Now that you are aware you have a Sound Issue continue with A-1 and so on.

-If you dont have a Sound Issue try B for most common fixes.

IMPORTANT: After using the "-nosound" launch option,remember to remove it after doing any possible fix.This will ensure that your sound will work.If you leave "-nosound" on you will not have sound, and you will be unable to figure out whether or not the change to your driver,etc has had any affect.

If you have identified in the Above Step that you have a Sound Issue then move on with A-1 and so on but if you identified you dont have a Sound Issue try these fixes:

1. Run BioShock as "Admin":
2. Navigate to you BioShock Install folder. Typically: C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Bioshock\Builds\Release

3. Right Click Bioshock.exe.
4. Go to Properties.
5. "Compatibility" tab.
6. Check the "Run as administration" check box.
7. Try to run BioShock.Did it work?If not:

follow steps 1-6 but this time also run the game in compatibility mode for "Vista" or if you are in Vista try "XP".

-Did it work? Try this Last Fix

Try running the game in a different Direct X mode.
(Launch Options are typed in without the air quotes ")

- Go to Steam My Games Tab.
- Right Click Bioshock icon.
- Properties.
- Click "Set launch options"
- Type "-dx9" in the box.
- Run BioShock.

Optionally/Additionally you can also try to Skip the Intro with "-nointro"
this would look like this "-dx9 -nointro"
note that theres a space between the two launch options.

If "-dx9" didnt work try "-dx10" if that didnt work try "-dxlevel 100" or finally "-dx11" and if these worked but you have no sound try to start the game and go to the audio options and then turn on Use Creative Eax or whatever its called.

Thank you to "lil_caesar1" and "Suley66" in the Comments for additions.

From the Dxdiag you can figure out whether or not you have a 3rd party card.
If the Sound Device list says:
Realtek HD Audio Output or Creative Sound Card,RocketFish PCI Sound Card, etc.
You have a 3rd party card.Make sure your drivers are up to date but this will likely not be enough.
Look below for more help:

Whether you have or dont have a 3rd party card, try this:

- Go to Start
- Control Panel
- Uninstall Progams
- Look for "Rapture3D", if you have this program then uninstall it. It is a sound program installed by some games.It has issues with BioShock.Get rid of it by unistalling.

- Launch BioShock. Did it work?
- If not go back to Uninstall Programs.
- Look for "OpenAL".This is an application for Creative Sound Cards.If you do not have a Creative card, delete this application.

- Try BioShock.

You will know if you have a RealTek card because you installed it yourself or you can see it on the back of your PC or you identified it in the dxdiag under Sound Devices.
The Description would be: Realtek Audio Output or Realtek HD audio output.

- Realtek Cards require stereo mixing to be enabled.
This requires their most up to date driver. Get that driver now.

Once driver is installed:

- Go to Start.
- Control Panel.
- Sound
- Click Recording Tab.
- Right click under the list of shown devices.
- Click "Show Disabled Devices"
- Stereo Mixing should now be on the list.
- Click Stereo Mixing, or Right Click and select "enable"
- Try BioShock.Does it work?
- If stereo mixing did not show up after you chose "Show Disabled Devices" you driver is out of date. You haven't been reading this guide thoroughly. Go update your driver and try again.

If the driver update did not help, or the game still would not load, or if it did load but there is no sound.:

- Go back to steam launch options for bioshock.
- Remove "-nosound".
- Try again. If unnsuccesful try another fix.

You will know if you have a Creative card because you installed it yourself or you can see it on the back of your PC or you identified it in the dxdiag under Sound Devices.
The Description would be: Creative Audio Output or Creative "something" will be listed.

- Ensure you have OpenAL or Alchemy installed.
- Either search for the program or go to Start > Control Panel > Uninstall Programs. If it is not listed there, you do not have the program installed.

- OpenAL is an emulator.Creative cards do not nativel support BioShock FMOD sound.
- Go to Creative's Website and download OpenAL. Follow their directions to get it up and running. Make sure you open "OpenAL" select bioshock and then run it.

- If you have any issues with OpenAL check their website or search the internet for possible solutions.

If you have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio card (or any X-Fi card),you need to download and install Alchemy.Open Alchemy,choose "add",then a box will open.Choose "use game path",then put the path to the file that contains all your Bioshock files into it (for me, I had to put it in steamapps\common\bioshock\builds\release).Once you do that,just choose Bioshock in Alchemy, and click the right arrow that you'll see in the middle of the program.Tada! Load Bioshock,it will work perfectly.

There is one major thing you need to make sure you do before you try this.If you're having problems with Bioshock,odds are good you have tried some other fixes for the game,such as the default.ini fix. You need to make sure you UNDO THESE FIXES.If you use Alchemy and do what I said,the game will not freeze on startup without the default.ini fix,AND your sound will work.So if you changed anything,make sure you change it back,including running it in windows xp mode.You don't need to anymore.Also,if you forget what you changed in default.ini,just verify the integrity of your game cache with Steam and it will automatically fix your default.ini file.

This is common from a rough install or a corruption of game files.
The most likely fix will be to Verify your game cache at BioShock via Steam.

If nothing helped you then I am sorry to hear that.
These are the most common issues and fixes I could find and have seen.