Crash on startup

[ween only has one song]

I have a crash on startup with a error message saying that the user file is too short . I don't have a PopCap Games folder nor a userdata or userdata_backup, and Plants vs. Zombies won't create a new one or accept other save files. I don't have Steam cloud enabled either. Any help?

[ween only has one song]

I have uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times and I still get the crash.

[Phantom]

Verify the integrity. of your game files if you haven't done so yet.

[aaearhart]

Been dealing with this for a while now.

Saw a thread about editing screen mode via regedit. Didn't work.
Saw a thread about changing desktop resolution. Steam and PVZ both ignore it, despite restarting my machine
Saw a thread about integrity of local files. Didn't work.
Saw a thread about creating a .bat file to change startup configs. Didn't work.
Saw a thread about running the game in compatibility mode. Didn't work.

So frustrated. This is my son's fave game. We paid for it legit and can't play. May as well pirate.

[ween only has one song]

Originally posted by Robin3sk:

Verify the integrity. of your game files if you haven't done so yet.

:yinyangflip:

Just verified and there are no files out of place.

[aaearhart]

If you google that error code, you'll get a handful of threads of folks trying things. Maybe one of them works for you

[ween only has one song]

I just googled the error code and I only got results stating that I should delete the userdata folder, which I don't have.

[aaearhart]

Originally posted by Kim Kong-Un:

I just googled the error code and I only got results stating that I should delete the userdata folder, which I don't have.

When the game crashes, what error code are you getting?

[ween only has one song]

I get a popup, with the title of the window being "Error reading user file" and the actual text being "File too short".

[aaearhart]

One solution proposed (didn't work)

1. Change your desktop resolution to 1024x768. Then the game should load up......
2. Once in game, go into options and remove 3d acceleration. Then quit back to desktop.
3. change desktop resolution back to normal settings, and start PvZ again. Should load up no problem.

[aaearhart]

the regedit method:

The issue seems to be something with the program running full screen. You can reassign the registry value ScreenMode to a 0 at path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SteamPopCap\PlantsVsZombies to run the program windowed.

I got sick of doing this every time so I created a batch file that does the same thing.

Open notepad and paste the following lines in to it. There are 3 lines here (each command needs to be all on the same line)

reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SteamPopCap\PlantsVsZombies /v ScreenMode /f
reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SteamPopCap\PlantsVsZombies /v ScreenMode /t REG_DWORD /d 0
start steam://rungameid/3590

Then save as PVZ.bat

This batch file will delete the old key and give you a new ScreenMode DWORD with a value of 0, which will tell the the program to run windowed.

Also go to %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\Plants Vs Zombies" and right click on PlantsVsZombies.exe. Click the compatibility tab and select run in 256 colors. You can also run in compatibility mode for XP SP3 if you want.

Copy Steam.dll from "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam" to "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\Plants Vs Zombies".

You can do it from the command line using this

copy "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\Steam.dll" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\Plants Vs Zombies" /y

Type it all on one line; the quotes are needed.

Lastly you can change the icon by right clicking the PVZ.bat file you created earlier and click create shortcut. Right click the shortcut and hit properties, then click change icon. Look for icons in this file %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\Plants Vs Zombies\PlantsVsZombies.exe and select OK.

Now launch PVZ with the shortcut batch file and it should work every time! Mine even launches full screen.

[aaearhart]

another regedit method

type "regedit" into the Windows run bar or the search bar that appears when you click on Start in Windows
then open:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SteamPopCap\PlantsVsZombies
double click to open the ScreenMode file and change ScreenMode to 0
exit the registry editor.

[ween only has one song]

Neither of them worked. Thanks though.

[aaearhart]

the .dll method

1) Open the steam folder at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam.
2) Copy the file steam.dll
3) Open the folder C:\Program Files9x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\PlantsvsZombies - or any other PopCap game folder you're having problems with.
4) Paste steam.dll to the game folder
5) Use the .exe file in the folder to launch the game and NOT the Steam Launcher. This procedure will have to be repeated each time they update steam.

[aaearhart]

some recommended basics

-verify you're running steam with admin rights

-go to your "steam" folder and find a file called "steam.dll" copy it and paste it in steam/steamapps/common/plants vs zombies.

-if it doesnt work do a clean re-install of the game, right click the game in steam (delete local content) after that go to program files/steam/steamApps/common/Plants Vs Zombies and delete the "plants vs zombies" folder if it's still there, restart steam, download the game.

[aaearhart]

none of these worked for me