Armored Hunter Gunhound EX

This page is for the 2013 remake. For the original 2009 game, see Armored Hunter Gunhound.

armored hunter GUNHOUND EX

Developers
	DRACUE Software
Publishers
	Playism
Release dates
Windows	May 1, 2014
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Scrolling, Side view
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Shooter
Vehicles	Robot
Art styles	Anime
Themes	Asia, Sci-fi
Series	Gunhound

Gunhound
Armored Hunter Gunhound	2009
Armored Hunter Gunhound EX	2014

Armored Hunter Gunhound EX is an anime robot shooter game developed by DRACUE Software and published by Playism. It is an enhanced remake of Armored Hunter Gunhound, which was previously exclusive to the PlayStation Portable and was unavailable outside of Japan.

Gunhound EX was originally released for the PlayStation Portable on January 13, 2013 in Japan, where it was published by G.rev. A Windows version was released on May 1, 2014 by Playism, through the Playism store and Steam. Unlike the PlayStation Portable version, which was capped at 30 FPS, the PC version supports framerates between 15, 30, and 60 FPS similarly to the original Armored Hunter Gunhound. The game was supported between 2014 through 2016, with the last patch addressing an issue that required the game to be launched administrator privileges on non-admin Windows user accounts. Owners of the original Armored Hunter Gunhound were also eligible to upgrade to this version of the game for free by running the EX Upgrade Tool that was supplied by DRACUE Software. As of October 16, 2018, however, this game is no longer available for purchase from Playism and Steam due to temporary suspension of the DRACUE Software, and unlike the original Armored Hunter Gunhound, the source code for Armored Hunter Gunhound EX was never released as open source. The EX Upgrade Tool also no longer works as it cannot connect to the developer's servers.

Its exclusive fullscreen mode can cause the game screen go black, especially when played under Windows 10. See here for potential fixes. There are also some occasional visual and audio issues along with some game-breaking bugs that remains unaddressed. Keyboard bindings also cannot be remapped and uses an awkward control scheme, thus a controller is recommended.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Publisher website (unavailable)		Removed due to "temporary" suspension of the developer since October 16, 2018. Publisher storefront ceased operations since February 22, 2021.
Steam (unavailable)		Removed due to "temporary" suspension of the developer since October 16, 2018.

This game was removed from digital distribution services as of October 16, 2018.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\ex2data.cfg <path-to-game>\padconfig.dat
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/273240/pfx/

ex2data.cfg also stores configuration settings.

padconfig.dat stores controller configuration settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\ex2data.cfg
Steam	<Steam-folder>\UserData\<user-id>\273240\remote\ex2data.cfg
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/273240/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

In the Japanese version of the game, the Options menu is accessed by pressing ↵ Enter, whereas the overseas version has its Options menu in the title screen.

General settings from the overseas version

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		The game's base resolution is 960x544. Fullscreen scaling modes includes Original (no scaling), Zoom (pillarboxed), or Full (stretched).
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Toggled with Alt+↵ Enter. Window can be resized by dragging the edges.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use Borderless Gaming, but the game will be stretched to the monitor's display resolution. Alternatively, use IntegerScaler or Lossless Scaling.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		A smoothing filter can be found in the Options menu, but the setting does not work in the overseas version. Pressing F8 or F9 however disables and enables the smoothing filter respectively with Bilinear interpolation.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Game is capped between 60, 30, and 15 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Input

Controller configuration menu from the overseas version.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Uses a pre-defined set-up of A, S, Z, X, ⇧ Shift, Ctrl, and Cursor keys for keyboard. See this Steam guide to remap keys with AutoHotkey.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration		Mouse not used at all.
Mouse input in menus		Mouse not used at all in-game.
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Controller is not configured by default.
Full controller support		There is no exit option in the game. It must be forcibly closed by pressing Alt+F4, pressing Esc in windowed mode, or closing the game window.
Controller remapping		A visual guide can be used for the recommended controller set-up.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts		Xbox prompts are used in the overseas version.
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers		Game registers DualShock 4 controller as a generic DirectInput controller.
PlayStation button prompts		Only for the Japanese version.
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes	V2 controllers work natively; V1 controllers require the in-game controls to be configured with another controller since remapping does not work properly.

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)
Additional button prompts		Xbox prompts are shown in the overseas version and PlayStation prompts in the Japanese version, regardless of input method.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		Controller must be plugged in before starting up the game.
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings in the overseas version

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sliders for Music, Sound Effects, and Voice-overs.
Surround sound
Subtitles		In-game dialogue are text-based and voiced-over.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				All dialogue is spoken in Japanese.
Japanese

Issues fixed

Game always asks for admin permissions (pre-2016 update)

RunAsInvoker is a hidden Windows compatibility layer for improperly configured executables that request administrator rights but do not need them to run under regular user privileges instead. It does not work on programs that genuinely require admin permissions to function.

Apply RunAsInvoker compatibility shim to .exe through Windows Registry
Open RegEdit Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers Create a new string value named <path-to-game>\GunHoundEx.exe Set its content to RUNASINVOKER Notes Make sure there are no compatibility modes enabled for <path-to-game>\GunHoundEx.exe.

Black game screen in exclusive fullscreen mode

This game's exclusive fullscreen function can cause the game screen to go black/gray that prevents the game from being playable, especially when played under Windows 10.

Disable Steam Overlay (Steam version)
Right-click the game's title from the Steam library, and click Properties from the drop-down menu. In the General tab, uncheck the Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game option. Close the Properties window and play the game. The game should display properly without Steam Overlay.

Disable anti-aliasing settings

Go to the video card's control panel such Nvidia Control Panel for Nvidia users. Select Manage 3D settings and go to the Programs Settings tab, then added the game by clicking the Add button and find the game's executable (GunHoundEX.exe) found in <path-to-game> to add its own profile in the video card's control panel. Find Antialiasing - Mode on the game's list of setting features and set this to Off from the drop-down menu. Click Apply to save the changes and launch the game. The game should be able to play normally in fullscreen.

Run the game in borderless fullscreen windowed
The game's graphics may be distorted depending on the display's aspect-ratio.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Remove exclusive fullscreen background image (overseas version)

The overseas release of the game features a background image for exclusive fullscreen mode that is otherwise obscured by the game screen itself when upscaled with the pixel-perfect for stretched scaling.

Delete or rename neko.jpg found in <path-to-game>

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP		Vista, 7, 8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo E4300		Intel Core i3-530
System memory (RAM)	2 GB		4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible
Controller	Gamepad 8 or more buttons