Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata

Developers
	Rare
Windows	Climax Group
Publishers
	Microsoft Game Studios
Release dates
Windows	November 6, 2007
Reception
Metacritic	78
Taxonomy
Genres	Life sim

Warnings

For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v4.8 DRM

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE DRM.

This game is no longer available digitally.

Essential improvements

Play without Games for Windows - LIVE

Play without GFWL
Download the replacement xlive.dll. Extract into <path-to-game>.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Saved Games\Microsoft Games\Viva Pinata\pinata.cfg

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Saved Games\Microsoft Games\Viva Pinata\Saves\*.Viva

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			For unlisted resolutions see Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen			See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD			See the WSGF entry.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Can be forced in graphics driver settings.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		On by default, can be forced off.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Frame rate is capped at 60 FPS.

Widescreen resolution

Set resolution in pinata.cfg
Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Saved Games\Microsoft Games\Viva Pinata\ Open pinata.cfg. Set the following lines to your desired resolution. videoscreenresx = 1920 videoscreenresy = 1080 videowidescreen = 1 Notes Only 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, and 16:10 aspect ratios are supported (other aspect ratios are ignored). Setting resolutions over 1920x1200 will cause the game to revert to the default resolution of 800x600.

Windowed

Force windowed mode[citation needed]
Download and run DxWnd. Click on Edit, then Add. Set Path to <path-to-game>\Viva Pinata.exe. Set Launch to <path-to-game>\Startup.exe. Set the initial window position and size. Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed. Click on Input tab, set Cursor clipper to On. Click OK and start the game.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Force anti-aliasing
Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Search and open the game profile. Set Antialiasing compatibility to 0x00411245. Set Antialiasing mode to Override. Set Antialiasing setting to desired AA (e.g. Multisampling). Apply changes.

Input

In-game mouse settings.

You must disable Steam Input or the game will crash on launch.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Native Xbox 360 controller support.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		Found in the "Garden Options" before loading the save. Controller must be active to expose the option.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Speech, Music, Sound Effects.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Always enabled.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				US and UK English languages available.
Czech
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Slovak
Spanish				Latin American and Castilian Spanish languages available.
Swedish
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese

Issues fixed

The DVD-ROM cannot be located

This may happen if the driver's letter is set to either A or B, the SafeDisc DRM will not recognize the disk being inserted although it'll install just fine.

Change your DVD drive letter to something other than A or B[citation needed]
Push ⊞ Win+R and type diskmgmt.msc Wait for the list to load, find the respective DVD-ROM at the end of the list. Right Click on it and pick Change Drive Letter and Paths.... Click Change..., then assign a new letter other than A or B and accept the warning.

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2, Vista
Processor (CPU)	1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce FX 5900 ATI Radeon 9600