Forum Discussion

Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
12 years ago
Solved

Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare Issue

Hello:

Every time I try to play this game it causes my PC to reboot.

Now when I to try to start the game it may (or may not) boot up in window mode. My PC is fine with that. When I select the program to go into full screen that's when my PC reboots.

Is there something I can put into the Game Properties (Command Line Arguments) to get the game to play in windowed mode so at least I can get to the video settings of the game? (Or is there a bigger issue here?)

PC Stats:

Win 7 - SP 1 64-Bit
CPU: AMD FX 4.Ghz 8-Core processor
RAM: 16 GB
Vid: 2 AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (Crossfire)

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\PVZ Garden Warfare\settings\PROF_SAVE_profile

    Borderless:
    GstRender.FullscreenMode 2

    GstRender.FullscreenScreen 1

    I believe Windowed is.. but I'm guessing to be honest... sorry not in a position to test ATM.. Borderless if it works would be the best option.

    GstRender.FullscreenMode 1

    GstRender.FullscreenScreen 1

    ---------

    I would run a stressful benchmark on your system.  Like FurMark or Heaven... if it restarts during that... I'd start looking at either Heat or PSU not being big enough (maybe a connector isn't fully connected).

    Another thing I'd do is reinstall the drivers after a clean wipe of AMD's drivers.  I know they have improved massively in the last 6 months to a year... but good lord AMD had some serious issues when drivers in the past.  It felt like at one point I was DriverSweeping ever new driver release.

    Another thing to try would be Disabling your Crossfire (which windowed/borderless modes do I believe)... Use the latest drivers posted in the sticky on this section for Xfire to work optimally.   (if you already have them... the clean wipe from above).

    Some useful links: 

    http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

    AMD's uninstall method:
    http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/GPU57RemoveOldGraphicsDrivers.aspx

    Catalyst Uninstall Utility (seems to be removed from AMD's site now)
    http://www.techspot.com/drivers/driver/file/information/16748/

    Driver Sweeper (used in safe mode after full regular uninstall)
    http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html

    Display Driver Uninstall  (used in safe mode after full regular uninstall)
    https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=display%20driver%20remover

    If you get into trouble Safe Mode w/ Networking is your ticket home.

    If you get a BSOD on restarting, go back to safe mode, remove the Display Drivers from Device Manager.

3 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\PVZ Garden Warfare\settings\PROF_SAVE_profile

    Borderless:
    GstRender.FullscreenMode 2

    GstRender.FullscreenScreen 1

    I believe Windowed is.. but I'm guessing to be honest... sorry not in a position to test ATM.. Borderless if it works would be the best option.

    GstRender.FullscreenMode 1

    GstRender.FullscreenScreen 1

    ---------

    I would run a stressful benchmark on your system.  Like FurMark or Heaven... if it restarts during that... I'd start looking at either Heat or PSU not being big enough (maybe a connector isn't fully connected).

    Another thing I'd do is reinstall the drivers after a clean wipe of AMD's drivers.  I know they have improved massively in the last 6 months to a year... but good lord AMD had some serious issues when drivers in the past.  It felt like at one point I was DriverSweeping ever new driver release.

    Another thing to try would be Disabling your Crossfire (which windowed/borderless modes do I believe)... Use the latest drivers posted in the sticky on this section for Xfire to work optimally.   (if you already have them... the clean wipe from above).

    Some useful links: 

    http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

    AMD's uninstall method:
    http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/GPU57RemoveOldGraphicsDrivers.aspx

    Catalyst Uninstall Utility (seems to be removed from AMD's site now)
    http://www.techspot.com/drivers/driver/file/information/16748/

    Driver Sweeper (used in safe mode after full regular uninstall)
    http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html

    Display Driver Uninstall  (used in safe mode after full regular uninstall)
    https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=display%20driver%20remover

    If you get into trouble Safe Mode w/ Networking is your ticket home.

    If you get a BSOD on restarting, go back to safe mode, remove the Display Drivers from Device Manager.

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    Hey Woot:

    So I got around to trying the fixes you suggested today, finally.

    The settings with FullscreenMode 1 / FullscreenScreen 1 is the correct settings in the PROF_SAVE_profile to get the game to run in windowed mode.

    I did manage to get the game to run in full screen mode after it started in windowed mode but after that, when full screen mode is the setting, the game goes back to causing my PC to reboot upon start up.

    I did the AMD uninstall mothod and used the Catalyst Uninstall Utility. No problem. When using the Display Driver Uninstall (no more Driver Sweeper) it caused my registry to go bad (didn't create a restore point before doing all this. oops. Thank G for Last Known Good Configuration in the Advanced Boot Options.)

    I reinstalled the latest AMD drivers (14.4) and tried the game again. (Assuming it's trying to do full screen again because the same thing happened.)

    I'm assuming there's probably an issue with the video drivers and/or video registry with my PC. Someday (when I have time) I'll do a fresh OS wipe + install which may (or may not) fix the issue.

    Thanks for your help. I'll mark this as solved because you did provide an answer to my window settings question. 🙂

    Oh, and just an FYI. I do have 3DMark for my video stress test. Below are the results for the Fire Strike (DX 11 test) for my PC.

    Score 4061 with AMD Radeon HD 7850(2x) and AMD FX-8350



    Graphics Score
        4492

    Physics Score
        7808

    Combined Score
        1665


    Graphics Card
        AMD Radeon HD 7850
    Vendor
        VisionTek
    # of cards
        2
    SLI / CrossFire
        On
    Memory
        4,096 MB
    Core clock
        1,000 MHz
    Memory bus clock
        1,200 MHz
    Driver name
        AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
    Driver version
        14.100.0.0

    Processor

    Processor
        AMD FX-8350
    Reported stock core clock
        4,000 MHz
    Maximum turbo core clock
        4,100 MHz
    Physical / logical processors
        1 / 8
    # of cores
        8
    Package
        AM3+
    Manufacturing process
        32 nm
    TDP
        125 W

    General

    Operating system
        64-bit Windows 7 (6.1.7601)
    Motherboard
        MSI 990FXA-GD80 (MS-7640)
    Memory
        16,384 MB
    Module 1
        4,096 MB Corsair DDR3 @ 667 MHz
    Module 2
        4,096 MB Corsair DDR3 @ 667 MHz
    Module 3
        4,096 MB Corsair DDR3 @ 667 MHz
    Module 4
        4,096 MB Corsair DDR3 @ 667 MHz
    Hard drive model
        509 GB AMD 2+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI Disk Device

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    Windows 8 I've seen some problems with aggressively wiping drivers, specifically for AMD cards more so than nVidia.

    It is odd I'd say that Windows 7 you can't wipe them from Safe Mode without problems.

    If your up for it, reinstalling Windows is a darn good idea.

    If you want to monkey around in safe mode though, it should be totally possible between the Removal Tool, Driver Sweeper, Display Driver Uninstall.  I really dislike registry cleaners... but if that's where you think the problem is CCleaner does just that... I don't trust it but if I had to pick one out of all of them it'd be CCleaner.

    I see what your talking about Driver Sweeper being removed... interesting.

    I google'd and found it here:  http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4266-driver-sweeper.html

    Guru3d Is probably correct by suggesting DDU over it though, as it's newer and probably works better with current drivers.

    Cheers

    ** EDIT.  good job on the benchmark, the idea was more along the lines to see if it even can do it rather than your scores.  To eliminate Heat or PSU problems.  If it can handle over-the-top aggressive Benchmarks, a game should be no problem because a game won't make it nearly as hot or pull as much power.

About Plants vs. Zombies™ Franchise Discussion

Zombies trying to enter your house? Keep them in check and discuss the best gardening techniques on the community forum.27,713 PostsLatest Activity: 45 minutes ago