Version 1.1

Plants vs. Zombies 2 — PS Vita 1.1 RC25

Install pvz2-vita-latest.vpk over the previous loader. Keep your existing
ux0:data/pvz2/ game files and userdata/ saves. Supported game data remains
Android 4.5.2 ROW / version 147. No commercial game files are included.

CPU and pacing

• Main thread and helpers can run across all three application cores; removed
  single-core pinning and the main-core reservation.
• Texture conversions use a shared work queue across two helpers and the
  caller, so delayed workers no longer hold a fixed share of the rows.
• Request 500 MHz where the system accepts it; otherwise use 444 MHz. The
  performance floor is 444 MHz. No clock plugin installation/configuration.
• Fixed 30 FPS target with sleeping deadlines and vblank. No 60 FPS override.

Crash recovery

The four new dumps show allocation-failure aborts: three 4.5 MiB requests and
one 6 MiB request. Failed large game-heap allocations can now use a bounded
16 MiB fallback outside the fixed heap, subject to available USER memory and
an 8 MiB headroom check. Allocation/free/realloc ownership is covered by host
and compiled ARM regression tests. Graphics memory budgets are unchanged.

Included since the last public release (RC12)

• Synchronized graphics garbage collection, removing a reproduced leak race
  and the now-unnecessary allocator recovery delay.
• Texture update/completeness, audio queue and error-handling fixes.
• Asset descriptor reuse, archive/cache validation and faster CRC checks.
• Controller pointer and seed-tray navigation, Vita keyboard integration,
  pointer ownership repair and analog sampling restoration after dialogs.
• Logging/profiling disabled unless ux0:data/pvz2/logging/ is manually
  created after setup. Removing that directory disables it again on relaunch.

Validation

55 host/compiled ARM suites pass. The exact game allocation exception is
reproduced and the recovery path is exercised with mocked memory syscalls.
The VPK, SELF, metadata and artwork are checked; symbols are preserved locally.

30 FPS is the cap/target,
not a proven heavy-wave minimum. The allocation fallback cannot solve total
memory exhaustion or every possible crash. Shader compilation can still stall
new scenes; the reported initial-menu blue line remains unresolved.

See technical evidence. Test the same heavy wave and crash
route, and include the build ID 452-v1.1-rc25 with new reports.

VPK SHA-256:

29ff6b02df8dbed5be46657300580d0d3088399d76c08c2ba1b83b9492f5a0e1

Plants vs. Zombies 2 - PS Vita 1.1 RC12

Plants vs. Zombies 2 for PS Vita — 1.1 RC12

RC12 fixes reproduced texture upload and allocation-recovery defects:

• Correct mip handling for resized textures and placeholders.
• Consistent RGBA8 storage and conversion for packed 4444/565 texture updates.
• Checked recovery after failed alpha uploads or CPU downsampling.
• Avoids retrying a larger allocation after a smaller one already failed.
• Reports unrecoverable graphics-memory failure instead of continuing with
  resized render targets or failed placeholder storage.

Install pvz2-vita-latest.vpk over the existing version. Keep your game files
and userdata/; no game data replacement is required.

Six regression cases fail against RC11 and pass against RC12. Compiled ARM
checks verify the storage/update pixel bytes and the prior timezone fix;
shader lifetime and pixel-worker checks also pass. No Vita3K was used.

The new RC11 log contains four texture allocation errors and reaches 189600
frames. Both supplied crash dumps are duplicates of older timezone crashes.
These fixes are verified in isolated tests, but the reported latest crash
is not conclusively identified and RC12 hardware confirmation is pending.
Placeholder recovery may omit artwork. If graphics allocation cannot recover,
the app reports an error and must be relaunched. Busy-scene FPS drops remain.

For a recurring crash, retain the newly generated dump and
ux0:data/pvz2/userdata/loader.log before relaunching, plus stall.log if present.
Include the build ID and the world/level/menu action.

VPK size: 1,137,796 bytes. SHA-256:

071f5d09995b4309878663e7ca9caa39a0489ccbb977af738a9090a64c15ec7e

Plants vs. Zombies 2 - PS Vita 1.1 RC11 beta

Plants vs. Zombies 2 for PS Vita — 1.1 RC11 beta

This beta includes the loading and runtime fixes developed since the previous
GitHub source update, plus targeted shader and logging performance changes.

Changes

• Replaced the texture-worker condition handoff with per-worker notifications
  and atomic completion. Missing notifications cannot strand a completed job;
  buffers remain owned until all workers finish. Parallel conversion stays on.
• Reuses matching compiled vertex/fragment pairs during the current session.
  Each game program still gets normal linking and its own attribute bindings.
  The cache is bounded and falls back to normal compilation when unavailable.
• Moves periodic frame-log writes off the renderer. Slow storage drops queued
  reports rather than blocking gameplay; shader hits and dropped reports are
  visible in the log.
• Fixes an audio Clear/callback lock cycle, concurrent configuration startup,
  and JNI Unicode character/byte handling and reference cleanup.
• Reduces wait-diagnostic overhead and records native wait context for loading
  freezes. Retains the graphics cleanup, import, stack, time and storage fixes.

Updating

Install pvz2-vita-latest.vpk over the existing app using VitaShell. Keep your
current libPVZ2.so, game.obb and userdata/. No game data is included in
this release and no data replacement is required.

Build ID: 452-v1.1-rc11. VPK size: 1,137,128 bytes.

SHA-256:

e27a648868a47c531d164c2af96a36d8f3bcc7b73cf79354138658de63ea5d29

Validation and remaining issues

Production-code tests cover shader ownership and fallback, 500,000 concurrent
log reports, pixel conversion and lost notifications, audio locking,
configuration and JNI behavior. Compiled ARM checks exercise the shipped
VitaGL cache/link/attribute path and game program cleanup with GPU calls mocked.
The VPK's archive, executable, metadata, resource index and artwork were checked.

The latest RC10 hardware log reaches 15,300 frames without a stall report.
It shows approximately 595–599 ms of linking in two hitch windows, plus separate
busy-gameplay drops around 40 FPS and longer transition spikes. RC11 targets
repeat shader compilation and synchronous reporting. RC11 hardware FPS gains
are not yet measured; this is not a locked 60 FPS or complete-playthrough claim.
First-time shader compilation still occurs. No Vita3K was used for RC11.

For a problem, retain ux0:data/pvz2/userdata/loader.log and stall.log before
relaunching, and include the world/level/action and whether the flower animated.
For a hard freeze, let the observer collect up to 30 seconds of snapshots.
See the performance analysis for detailed evidence.

Plants vs. Zombies 2 - PS Vita v1.0

First release of the unofficial PS Vita loader for Plants vs. Zombies 2 4.5.2 ROW (version 147).

Download pvz2-vita-latest.vpk below and install it with VitaShell. Supply your own matching libPVZ2.so and game.obb in ux0:data/pvz2/. Existing users can install over the previous build and keep userdata/ and their saves.

Setup — Report a problem — Discord

Known issues

• Slowdowns during power activation.
• FPS drops when many zombies are on screen.
• You may experience crashes; the loader is very early in development.
• First-time shader compilation can stall new scenes.

This release uses build 452-v1-rc6. Its latest texture changes still need a hardware retest; full-world completion and long sessions remain under test.

Credits

The port-specific code and documentation are fully vibecoded with OpenAI Codex, directed and tested by LeZergan. LiveArea assets: standard republic; port credit in the supplied layout: KingTorro. Original game and community code retain their authorship. Full credits.