Plants vs. Zombies

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies cover
Developers
PopCap Games
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Engines
PopCap Games Framework
Release dates
Windows May 5, 2009
OS X May 5, 2009
 
 
 
 
Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies 2009
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2014
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 2016

Key points

For Windows 8 and later use the low frame rate fix.

General information

Official developer site
Official game series site
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki - A wiki for everything Plants vs. Zombies related
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Official website
 
 Free trials are available for browsers and most major platforms.
 
 
Amazon.com
 
 
 
Origin
 
 Game of the Year Edition.
 
 
Steam
 
 Game of the Year Edition.
 
 
Uplay (US/Canada)
 
 
 
A Chrome Web Store version is also available, and is compatible with Linux systems.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PopCap\PlantsVsZombies\
macOS (OS X)

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows
Origin %PROGRAMDATA%/Popcap Games/PlantsVsZombies/userdata/
Steam <Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/3590/remote/
macOS (OS X) ~/Library/Application Support/PopCap/PlantsVsZombiesMac/userdata/

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
Origin
Steam Cloud
Saves are not compatible between Windows and OS X versions, causing saves to become corrupted if used on the other platform.

Video settings[edit]

In-game options menu.
In-game options menu.
Graphics option Option WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 Pillarboxed 800x600 only.
Multi-monitor
 
Ultra-widescreen
 
4K Ultra HD
 
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Can also be toggled with Alt+↵ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Glitches if attempting to force.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
For Windows 8 and later use the low frame rate fix.
120+ FPS
Frame rate is capped at 100 FPS.

Input settings[edit]

Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio settings[edit]

Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio CC Notes
English
Slovak
Use unofficial Slovak language file (Windows). Also contains localized textures.

Issues unresolved[edit]

Error reading user file: Failed reading file[edit]

This is an error that occurs when the save game data is corrupted, likely as a result of syncing saves between Windows and OS X and launching the game.
Save data must be deleted in order to launch the game again. Steam user ego100000 claims to be able to repair the saves in this situation.[1]

Issues fixed[edit]

BASS_ChannelSetAttributes function not found in bass.dll[edit]

Rename bass.dll[2][3][4]
  1. Rename any bass.dll file(s) found in these locations: %WINDIR%\, %WINDIR%\System32\ and %WINDIR%\SysWow64\
  2. If this causes issues with the program that installed bass.dll there, rename the file(s) back to bass.dll
Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP[citation needed]

Unable to load Steam.dll[edit]

Verify integrity of game cache[citation needed]
Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2, and as an administrator[citation needed]
Delete/rename Steam.dll[citation needed]
  1. Exit the Steam client.
  2. Go to the Steam installation folder.
  3. Delete or rename Steam.dll
  4. Launch the Steam client and let it update.

Invalid Command Line Parameter: -changedir[edit]

Add -changedir parameter[citation needed]
  1. Right-click the game in the Steam client and choose Properties.
  2. Click Set Launch Options and add -changedir
  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw 7
OpenGL Unknown OS X only.
Software renderer
64-bit executable

Middleware[edit]

Middleware Notes
Audio BASS

Issues fixed[edit]

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode[edit]

This game has frame rate issues in fullscreen mode on Windows 8 and later.
Apply necessary fixes

Apply the low frame rate fix.

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) 1.2 GHz
System memory (RAM) 500 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 65 MB
Video card (GPU) 128 MB of VRAM
OS X
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.4.11 10.5.8 - 10.6.x
Processor (CPU) 1.66 GHz Dual Core
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 50 MB
Video card (GPU) 64 MB of VRAM

References

  1. ↑ Fix: Crash on startup, Corrupt save (Mac) :: Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year General Discussions
  2. ↑ Error with bass.dll :: Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year General Discussions
  3. ↑ Bass.dll error - Steam Users' Forums
  4. ↑ Popcap framework and BASS 2.1 compatibility issue.