Plants Vs Zombies Battle For Neighborville PC Archives

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville marks the third game in the popular series from PopCap and EA that transforms the original concept of Plants vs. Zombies into a competitive, multiplayer class-based shooter. Much like the previous games, Battle for Neighborville is filled with tongue-in-cheek humor, characters, and unique visuals that make for one of the most unique multiplayer third-person shooters you’re likely to play all year. It’s also pretty good too, which is certainly a good reason to check this out despite the already busy game season we’re currently in the midst of.

When you boot up Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville for the first time, you’ll be introduced to the new hub world that gives you access to a variety of different options. This hub world is also populated with other players and gives players an opportunity to show off their unique cosmetic upgrades outside of battle. The hub world gives access to a shop to spend in-game currency on random cosmetic upgrades, an area to switch out your current character, access to the two single-player campaign sections for both Plants and Zombies, the various multiplayer modes you can access, and lots more. It also introduces you to smaller functions, like side quests, which come into play during the single-player campaign. 

The single-player campaign is spread out amongst two different open-world maps, both for Plants and Zombies. While there are some differences in dialogue and characters between the two sides, the missions structure and hidden collectibles are essentially the same. You’ll earn experience for defeating the opposing side, consistent of respawning A.I. controlled enemies, bosses, and challenging encounters against special foes. You’ll also earn cash and tacos, both of which are used for either purchasing random loot consisting of different cosmetics and player icons, or for purchasing maps for the areas that will reveal collectible locations and so on. You can also complete daily and weekly challenges across the single-player and multiplayer modes, which will also grant you another type of currency used to purchase items off a battle pass type seasonal system. 

Character classes in Battle for Neighborville are spread across 10 different characters for each side, divided up into Attack, Defense, and Support categories. There are some balancing issues here and there, which appear to be more of a work-in-progress looking at recent patch notes, but overall you should find some success with any character you choose. Each character has three unique abilities that work off of a cooldown function, and each of the 10 characters on both sides feels pretty unique overall, even if they share some similar mechanics here and there. 

My only real issues with Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville comes from the spotty server connections and lag that I’ve encountered. I’ve been booted back to the start screen multiple times due to server issues, I’ve had awful amounts of lag in both the hub world and multiplayer maps, and overall the launch feels a little rough on PS4 so far. It’s not a consistent issue, you’ll definitely get smooth matches here and there, but when you’re chugging away at single-player content and get booted back to the main menu because the EA servers decide to have a hiccup, well, it’s a little frustrating to say the least. I’m sure this can also be worked out over time, but it was enough of a nuisance during my time playing that I felt it was worth mentioning. 

Outside of the server issues, I’ve certainly enjoyed my time spent with Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. It’s a solid follow-up to a unique shooter series that I don’t think gets enough attention, and if you haven’t given this series a shot yet, this would certainly be a good jumping on point. It’s a nice alternative to the more serious multiplayer shooters out there and even serves up a solid alternative to more like-minded games like Overwatch. You may want to give it a little time to iron out some flaws here and there, but definitely check it out when you get a chance. 

Note: EA provided us with a Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville PS4 code for review purposes.

This is a community post from Contributor Joshua Shuttleworth.

EA recently announced a ‘Founding Neighbor’ program for those interested in playing the newest Plants vs Zombies game, Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, before its official release on October 18th, 2019. The newest entry in the series features similar gameplay and design as the 2 previous spinoffs Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare  and Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. 

I decided to jump in and see what the new game had to offer their most loyal fanbase. For $30.00, a $10.00 discount from the standard edition, you get early access to the game as well as weekly rewards and access to a special Discord channel to discuss the game. EA was quick to note this is not a beta test or Demo; no major changes are being made before the full launch of the game on October 14th. Founding Neighbors will also see all of their progress and unlocks carry into release.

The first week brought a PvP mode, dubbed Turf Takeover, which functions as an objective based game where one team fights to complete four objectives within a time limit and the other team works to prevent them. I’ve played around three hours of this mode so far and I have found myself enjoying it. 

Battle for Neighborville definitely shares some DNA with the Hero Shooter genre. Once you load into a match you’ll choose from one of ten characters, each with their own special abilities and playstyle. Much like Overwatch, Battle for Neighborville tells you the main role each character should take: Attack, Defense, or Support.

Every character has a customization menu that lets you choose from skins, hats, and accessories, all of which are unlocked through the in-game store, gatcha-style drops, and single-player content. Upgrades are a new mechanic where you allocate seven points into differently ranked passives like more health near multiple enemies, greater XP gain, health after a vanquish, etc.

Promoting a character, which can be done once they reach level 10, acts similar to prestiging in Call of Duty. The character level is reset back to 1 and some permanent unlocks are received for the effort. So far it appears these will be primarily special upgrades that are more helpful or specific to each character’s playstyle. For example, I promoted Sunflower and received two new upgrades that both mean I heal myself while providing healing on other players. Promotions are defined by stars on a character’s selection menu and at the vanquished screen. I definitely found a correlation between promotion levels and skill of a player, though I don’t think this will always be the case. 

After every match players will earn coins based on their performance. The math that goes into determining this value isn’t apparent but I’ve earned as low as 250 coins for joining a match that was ending and as many as 20,000 coins for performing in the top three during a match.

In Battle for Neighborville you will have a few different options for spending coins: Gacha rewards, Rux’s Emporium items, and additional XP.

The Gacha rewards appear to take the place of the sticker packs in the previous games. While I think the new animations and purchase animations are great, I can’t help but feel like it’s giving out less cosmetic rewards for more coins. The Reward-o-tron will shoot out 1 random reward for every 30,000 coins you give it. So far I haven’t gotten any duplicates so I’m not quite sure if that’s a concern or not. While you can certainly earn this sum of coins relatively quickly in playing matches, the rewards you get don’t feel up to par with the previous games. My first reward was a ‘shout’ that I was told was rare but didn’t feel special at all. There was no fancy animation, color, or event font changes compared to the ‘common’ or default options.

Further rewards included some cosmetic items which I was more excited to receive. Disappointingly, there’s no way to choose items for a specific faction like you could in the last two games. I find myself enjoying the plants side more, so I’d prefer to get lots of plant cosmetics first rather than a new left shoe for a zombie character I don’t play. 

Rux’s Emporium items are entirely locked away at this time. Rux was present in the last game so I think it’s safe to assume we’ll see the same style shop selling limited time items for coin. Rux’s job during the founder weeks is just to hand out the founder’s rewards, but I’m interested to see what direction this shop will take.

The final mechanic you can spend coins on is XP. For the sum of 15,000 coins you can get a small boost of XP for whatever character you’re walking around the main hub as, which immediately nets you 1 level. As long as Battle for Neighborville doesn’t release the capability to buy coins for real money I’m okay with this XP system. Once you can buy better upgrades for real money, even if it takes a few steps, I fear we might hear the cry of ‘Pay to Win.’ This is EA we’re talking about after all, the same people who refer to their loot boxes as ‘Surprise Mechanics’. The earlier entries, and even mobile games, are no strangers to letting you buy your way through them.

I don’t feel EA has changed too much of the gameplay around since the first two installments but I don’t think the game suffers from it. Primarily, the changes seem to be for quality of life: dedicated sprinting on every character, minions no longer cost coins or resources and are instead on a timer, and the hub battle area is now multiplayer.

I’m playing on the Xbox One X and I’ve found the game to be particularly good looking. The Frostbite engine really does this game well. Animations are tight, gameplay is fluid, and the fidelity is certainly on par with other recently released games. While playing I saw a solid 60FPS in PvP matches and 30FPS in the main hub area which, although jarring, is better than having it be 30FPS throughout all modes.

Overall I’m enjoying the gameplay of Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville so far. The game has a lighthearted feel to it that makes me feel less upset when I get vanquished and I find myself having more fun doing objectives when there’s not a lot at stake. The large amount of characters and depth of upgrades should result in many different playstyles for every player. I will say though that at this time the modes are limited and I’d really only suggest picking it up if you can’t wait until October 18th.

This page will tell you how to modify Plants vs. Zombies.

Modification will allow you to change the art, sound, animation, and many other features of Plants vs. Zombies.

Before Modifying

There is a file called "main.pak" which contain files that you are using later on to edit. You'll have to extract the pack first using this tool.

• data: Contains the game's font.
• properties: In this folder, only LawnStrings.txt should be messed with. This file contains all the texts in the game, like Almanac entries, Crazy Dave's speeches, etc. Game of The Year version has a new file: ZombatarTOS.txt (Zombatar's Terms Of Service), but it's NOT recommended that you mod this file, since you may violate some laws.
• compiled: This folder contains files in a .compiled format, and they define the body parts placement and movements of characters in the game (For more info see this topic). Modifying them is possible, but pretty difficult (See this topic).
• images: Contains various images (but not all, unlike what the name suggests) in the game, like lawns backgrounds, items in the game, etc.
• particles: Contains images for "particles" like splats, chunks, explosions,... and zombie heads when they're decapitated.
• reanim: Contains the characters' body parts, like plants, zombies, Crazy Dave, and more. This can be used to change pictures and stats of plants.
• sound: Like what the name suggests, this folder contains various sounds of the game and could be modified like the images too. Most of them are in .ogg format, with the exception of 2 in .au format. The game's music is in here too, in .mo3 format. Programs like OpenMPT can open, edit and save .mo3 files

Change venue

Go to images folder, find background1.jpg (Day), then copy the file to your folder and edit it with photo editor, such as Adobe Photoshop. After editing, replace the original file in the images folder to the file you have created.

Change Almanac entry

Note: You can also use a hex editor or Cheat Engine.

Go to properties folder, open "LawnStrings.txt". then find the entry you want to edit. For example:

[PEASHOOTER_DESCRIPTION]Peashooters are your first line of defense. They shoot peas at attacking zombies. {SHORTLINE} {KEYWORD}Damage:{STAT} normal {SHORTLINE} {FLAVOR}How can a single plant grow and shoot so many peas so quickly? Peashooter says, "Hard work, commitment, and a healthy, well-balanced breakfast of sunlight and high-fiber carbon dioxide make it all possible."

The meanings of the words surrounded by an { or }:

• Almanac:
• SHORTLINE - Just like the keyboard key: "Enter."
• KEYWORD - a word describing what damage or things it does. Changes the font color to brown.
• STAT - makes letters red.
• FLAVOR - the description of the plant and/or zombie. Only seen at Almanac entry but can also be used anywhere else in the Almanac description. Changes the font color to brown.

Crazy Dave:

• PLAYER_NAME - Your name.
• NO_CLICK - Triggers Crazy Dave without clicking. Just mouse it. Used at shop and during the 7 seeds prompt (as you press yes/no instead of clicking him)
• NO_SOUND - Makes Crazy Dave speech silent. Used at shop.
• SCREAM - Makes Crazy Dave scream.

Get Survival: Roof (Night)

1. Go to Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, then quit after a while.
2. Change the value to Whack a Zombie and kill every zombie (including Zomboss) and collect sun.
3. Then Change it to Survival: Roof or Survival: Roof (Hard) or Survival: Roof (Endless).
4. COMPLETE.

Switch Plants

You can make a Peashooter give sun or a Sunflower lob melons if you want. All you have to do is go into the compiled/reanim folder and switch two files (like Sunflower and Peashooter). Make sure the names are exactly the same or the game will not be able to start. If you want to have two of the same sprite for plants, just duplicate the file for Sunflower.reanim, and call another one Threepeater.reanim. Make sure the real Threepeater file is renamed something else. You can do this with other images too, like making the Melon-pult shoot wheels, or you can make the pictures for anything change.

Modifying animation trajectories

Note: this will only work for reanim.compiled

First, download the necessary files from this video:

Then open up one of the .fla files that you wanted to change the animations with. Make sure to not remove the anim layers included in the .fla files. This'll make your game crash so fair warning. If you want to add additional files, you can drag those pictures into adobe flash.

After you're done editing your plants, or zombies' trajectory, make sure to put every additional files you have added (if there's any) to the reanim folder, or otherwise the game will crash. Then find the FlashReanimExport.jsfl included with the fla files and drag it into Flash. If an error pops up, it means that you've done something wrong. But If there's no error, it will create a EXAMPLE.reanim on the folder. Now for the last steps, you need to cut it and paste it on the compiled\reanim folder and open up PVZUtil 1.0 to convert your reanim file into a .reanim.compiled file. Enjoy modding!

Gallery

See Modify Plants vs. Zombies/Gallery of mods.

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