Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare: DX11 3D Vision Fix (non-SLI only)

3D Vision Fix by mike_ar69



Fixed
1. Shadows.
2. Lights.
3. Fog.
4. Smoke.
5. Fire.
7. Special effects.
8. HUD.
9. Skybox.

Introduction

This is a 3D Vision fix for Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare.  This game runs on the Frostbite 3 Engine, like BF4 and DAI, and as such has many of the same issues.  It is however a "simpler" game and is generally more stable.  That being said I include many of the same instructions as we did for DAI, just to make sure.

IMPORTANT! 
1. FIX STEREO SETTINGS ONCE THEN DO NOT MESS WITH THEM
In game, if you:
(a) turn off stereo (using the pyramid or Ctrl-T)
(b) change convergence or separation
(c) alt-tab out and back into the game
 - the 3D Fix will "disable" and you will need to restart the game.  So don't do that.

To set depth and convergence to your liking, you will initially need to start the game, make the changes (and the fix will break), press Ctrl-F7 to save it, then restart the game.  For some reason the games own profile does not save the settings so you need to use BF4.

2. THIS GAME DOES NOT WORK IN STEREO IN SLI
You may have more luck than me, but *even without the fix*, I can't start the game in Stereo if I have SLI enabled - it simply won't start.  This is nothing to do with the fix.


This fix contains several "parts", only one of which is the actual shader fix for 3D rendering:
1. Driver settings
2. Game config settings
3. In-game graphics settings
4. 3DMigoto fix installation
5. SLI and profile settings

I developed and tested this fix on the following setups:
1. OS: Win7
2. Nvidia Drivers: 344.65, 344.75 and 347.09
3. Graphics Hardware: non-SLI GTX 770
4. Resolutions: 1080p, 720p

In particular I did *not* develop or test for Windows 8.1.

Screenshots






Setup

I. Game Settings
- Set the resolution and refresh rate to 60Hz and fullscreen.
- Disable V-Sync in game.  This *may not* be necessary, but is the best starting point.


II. Windows Settings
- Set the Desktop resolution and refresh rate to the EXACT same size you are using to play the game, but use 120Hz refresh rate.

III. Nvidia Drivers
- Get the latest Beta Drivers 347.09 and run the wizard and do a clean install
- DO NOT INSTALL GEFORCE EXPERIENCE and the AUDIO DRIVER.
- If want to use and optimize the game(s) with Geforce Experience install it,
optimize the game and then UNINSTALL IT! Failing to do so may result in
DirectX Errors.
- Open NVPANEL -> Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings and select the game.
Use these settings:
- Max pre-rendered frames: 3
- Power Mngmt : Maximum performance
Shader Cache: OFF
- Rest leave default.


V. 3DMigoto Options
- Once you have installed the patch as explained below open the d3dx.ini file:
- Look for :
[Constants]
x = 0.4 // HUD depth, positve [0 < x <=1] =in screen, 0=screen depth, negative [-1 <= x <0]=popout
y = 0 // Unused
z = 0.0 // Unused
w = 0.0 // Unused

- Set x = value - to adjust the Most of the foreground UI depth. (use low values).  Cross hair and some markers are separately fixed to different values.


VI. SLI and Profile Selection
1. If you have issues saving the game settings, add this game to the BF4 profile, making sure to set the same Nvidia Control Panel settings as above
2. Disable SLI.  The game does not run with 3D Vision and SLI at the same time.  You can try it, it might work, but I had no luck

Installation

1. Download the v1 fix here
2. Unzip it into the games .exe directory e.g. for me this is "E:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare"
3. Go through all the steps described above in Setup.
4. Start game

Un-Installation

1. Run the "unintsall.bat" file.

3 comments:

  1. Pew pew!! First comment ^_^ !
    Now we are defo getting the hand of crashbite...errr.. frostbite3-4 engine ;))

    Awesome job!!!! (Will grab the game and give it a test ^_^)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's dirt cheap, and well worth it. Good fun. I find it quite difficult as well, but then manic games this are not quite my thing anymore. Also runs silky smooth on a single card, so SLI is not needed.

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the fix and yeah, its a fun game.

    ReplyDelete