Go to the game's files under restaurants. The path should look something like this:

E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Diner Dash Hometown Hero\assets\downloads\_default\restaurants
Note: My typical location for Steam Games are in Drive E, but if you install your games in the default Drive C then check there

Now go through all restaurants and delete all "intro.swf" files.

For good measure, I also deleted the PlayFirst Logo animation (.SWF file as well) that plays upon startup. You should be able to find it within the assets -> splash folder as well.

Go back a few folders until you see the actual Diner Dash application. Right click it and select "Properties"

Now under the "Compatibility" tab, tick these two boxes under "Settings":

• Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution
  
• Disable fullscreen optimizations

Click "Apply", then "OK", then close the Properties Window.

After completing the above, you may run into an error message that reads something like: "Application load error 5:0000065434"

If you go to your steamapps -> common folder where you see all the game folders you've installed, there should be "steam.exe" missing.

Go to where you've installed Steam. For me it's:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam

Search for an .exe file that's simply named "steam". Copy it, then paste it in the common folder where your game files are.

Here's the reddit thread I referenced: Link

When you're done, it should look something like this:


When you've successfully completed all three your game should be able to run! at least for me it did lmao

I'm not really an expert on these things but do let me know if you have any difficulties with these steps, I'll try my best to help.

Thanks! 🫶💖