Are the GPU drivers not functioning properly in this game?
Are the GPU drivers not functioning properly in this game?
One of my friends recently wanted to play Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 again because it’s gaining popularity on his PC, but he couldn’t. The game kept stating that the drivers for his AMD RX 6500 XT GPU were outdated, currently at version 0.00. He attempted reinstalling the game, redownloading drivers from the website, and watching numerous YouTube videos or Reddit threads, but nothing worked and the game still wouldn’t boot up. Any thoughts?
Save the file, set it up, and execute the program. Afterward, update the newest device drivers.
Using that game has consistently required disabling integrated graphics within the BIOS or device manager. This is necessary so the game can properly identify the correct AMD driver version.
He has a second display and I believe he mentioned using it off for some reason, which causes the other monitor to show black. Is there any solution to this issue? He’s willing to attempt a fix but is hesitant about losing the entire setup. Any suggestions?
Which version of Windows is needed? It seems to be an older title, likely needing DirectX 9. You might attempt to run it inside a virtual machine with Windows 7 installed.
Similar issues arise with other titles built using the Frostbite engine, like Battlefield or Mass Effect: Andromeda. These problems tend to appear mainly on systems without an nVidia graphics card. EA partnered with nVidia for their "The Way It's Meant to Be Played" initiative, which often results in compatibility issues for AMD or Intel platforms. Many users report driver version 0.0 errors stopping the launch of other EA titles, but not on nVidia hardware.
It might be worth giving this a chance, assuming it was an oversight—perhaps due to less effort rather than poor design. This perception contributes to why some players dislike EA games.
The best solution involves both turning off the non-nVidia card and ensuring its driver is completely removed from the system. In Device Manager, select View... Show Hidden Devices and uninstall the drivers for the disabled device.
Also, recently I noticed used GTX 960 4GB cards now cost under $30, which could be useful if you're looking to play EA games on a budget.
he’s using windows 10, and I’ll discuss the issue via windows 7 later today.
I’m not a big tech fan, so I’m wondering if disabling the non-nVidia card and its driver completely would cause many problems. I’m worried it might affect his whole PC and all his games. If that’s the case, would he need to restart everything every time after finishing a game? Just curious because I don’t really understand how much effort or impact this could have.
There shouldn't be any side effects apart from being unable to use any monitors connected to the integrated graphics. As with Windows XP, Windows 10 permits installing multiple cards from various manufacturers simultaneously. Windows 7 does NOT support this and requires all cards from the same manufacturer to run under the identical driver. This presents a significant issue if you have integrated AMD graphics from an older generation or architecture compared to a discrete GPU—such mismatches would prevent proper operation in Windows 7, potentially causing crashes or BSODs, and could even trigger the IGP to be disabled. Therefore, the IGP should also be turned off in Windows 7. In any scenario, your friend can perform multiple boot configurations (including dual installations of Windows 10), allowing switching between operating systems with just a reboot.