plants versus zombies a11i accessibility mod: beta guide (for pc)
For all information and latest updates regarding this rather addicting tower style defense strategy game and or any questions see this thread in the new releases room. Thanks to Clark (CG8516) and all others for their awesome work on making the game accessible. This is meant to supplement the read me that comes with the mod.
installation and setup
You can purchase game of the year edition from steam by pressing this link
the mod can be downloaded from github. Once there, press h one time, then b twice to expand the assets button and then the first link on the list that appears is the zip file you need.
if you use a dualsense or a controlller that is not x box based you will need to grab DS4windows from here
Install the game, and then extract the zip in any folder you choose its like a portable application. Most people just put it on the games directory inside the steam library folder for convenience, but this is not necessary. You will also need to install the dotnet 8 from a provided shortcut link that comes with the game (the provided 32 bit version is fine even on latest 64 bit versions of windows).
Then finally, you can open the game from the desktop or any other shortcut, wait a few seconds, and then run the PvZA11y.exe file that comes in the mod it will open a console window that will make the game accessible. It does actually not matter in which order you run the files though.
When you start, you will be presented with a dialog asking for a user name, so type whatever you want and then you will be placed in the main menu.
Important note
Once the game and dotnet 8 have been installed and the folder has been extracted, you should use the registry files that come with the game to disable full screen and 3d acceleration. If the game appears to select the wrong options or has trouble speaking menu items, Try any combination of these options: (both disabled, both enabled, only 3d, only fullscreen, before continuing. IN case none of these work, ensure that the default Display Scaling setting in windows is 100 percent. To check or change this, Go to the Start Menu, type "display" and press enter. Tab until you hear "Scale and Layout grouping, change the size of text, Apps, and other items," (if using NVDA. You should hear similar with other Screen Readers.) Don't forget to make sure your orientation is set to Landscape. (thanks KG4RDF for the tip)
basics and audio cues reference
This game is kind of a side scroller in the sense that you have to place towers of plants to defend your house which is on the left side and the the street or where zombies come from is in the right side. On the tutorial you will start on a single horizontal row where you can move from left to right only so you should place plans from left to right at first. As you progress you will get more rows. Zombies move slowly from right to left and can chew through plants until they are on the left side and then eventually you will lose if they make it all the way to the left. However, plants combined can make quite a powerful attack and destroy, slow down, confuse, toy with enemies in many ways.
Sun is your primary source of energy. Without much of it it becomes much more difficult, almost impossible to plant anything. So make sure you have sunflowers planted at the very start of a match or a level.
The mod also has several informational keys, controls, and each has some more functions depending on where you use them.
Info1: X / Square or f1 on keyboard: is your zombie scan sonar. It scans the entire row from left to right and instantly tells you how many zombies there are, the type of zombie, and their horizontal position from a being totally to the left to h being totally to the right. You can toggle this in settings so it also automatically reads if zombies are present on a row when you arrow up or down to it so you wouldn't have to press this button so much. You can also repeat dialogue text for example, in cut scenes or tutorials with this button. It also reads the money you have at the shop. It lets you rename the user you created when choosing the change user option from the main menu. It gives information about the zombies that will be in a level in the plant selection screen.
Info 2: Y / Triangle or f2 on keyboard: tells you what is on the current tile. Can be empty a plant, a zombie and so on. Can also toggle it so it reads automatically when you arrow to a tile or if the sound changes to reflect what is on the tile. It also deletes the user and your save when you choose the change user option from the main menu.
Info3: Left Stick Click / L3 or f3 on keyboard: tells you how much sun you have. Plants need a required quantity of sun to be able to be used. it gets reported when its being collected automatically with sound cues, but you can enable or disable this as well.
Info4: Right Stick Click / R3 or f4 on keyboard: tells you the progression or how much of a level you have completed.
cycling keys: Cycle left: Minus/ Left bumber / L1. Cycle right: Right: plus/bumper / R2: cycle between the plants in your inventory. Also they show your slots when choosing plants int he plan selection screen.
zombie-cycling hotkeys, for quickly finding and navigating to zombies. Default binds are comma and period (',' and '.'), and the left/right controller triggers.
As you can tell, the game mod has several audio cues. I have made an audio file with a summary of what they are that you can grab from here. They are described below as well
unavailable or occupied tile: triangle wave tone
available or empty tile for planting: sine wave tone.
scanning tiles: combination of tones when you press left or right arrow keys
edge of field: low pitched square wave tone
successfully planted: kind of like a coins sound
sun quantity increased: short musical chord
zombie alert: siren and a voice with various messages
zombie taunt: different voices in game
zombie moves closer: sounds similar to paper folding, though there are many others.
plant is ready to be used or refreshed to be planted again: two quick beeps ascending
switching between different plants: here the different beeps are square waves, panning from left to right. Some of them are available, some are not.
plant is not ready to be used or not enough sun: two descending more dissonant beeps.
game unpaused: bongo sound
game paused: dj scratch sound.
Forgot to record this one, but if a zombie is on a tile you just scanned, you will hear the same tone but in a brighter sound or as a square wave instead.
That's all for now.
Last updated: December 22, 2023