Gun Crazy was made using the Game Maker engine. Usually, manually configuring the games made in this engine proves to not be a very difficult task. However, as it turns out, this game needs some additional steps before you can get to alter its config files. In this guide, I will go through how to run the game at its best and fix its most common issues as well.

Before we begin, it is worth noting that the steps below are mostly only doable in a desktop environment, as I do not have access to Steam Deck and cannot give out unreliable information.

For some odd reason, the executable you see in the game's installation directory is actually a self extracting archive rather than what actually launches the game. When you run the game from Steam, the sfx archive extracts the game files to this directory and runs the real launcher:

C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Temp\IXP000.TMP

If you quit the game, the whole folder gets deleted as well. That makes manual configuration close to impossible as the Game Maker config file never stays there, so let's fix this.

• Download and install either WinRAR or 7-Zip. In this guide I will assume that you are using WinRAR
  
• Open the game's installation directory
  
• Right click on Gun Crazy.exe and select Extract Here
  
• Delete the file after extraction or move it to another location. Then rename Project2.exe to Gun Crazy.exe so Steam can run the game correctly

Your installation folder should look like this in the end:



Feels much more normal. Now we can proceed.

Making Gun Crazy run in windowed mode is very easy. You just have to press Alt+Enter or add "-inawindow" to the game's launch commands.

However if you run the game, you'll notice that it will run in a very small window, looking barely playable. Unfortunately, the game's resolution is hard-coded; meaning you cannot change it in any way. However, we can try third party programs to deal with this.

There are tons of apps on the web for resizing purposes (such as Sizer), but I'll use DxWnd as it's more widely known. I will also explain the process as simple as I can, so even the less tech-savvy players can do this.

• Go to this web page and download DxWnd: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/
  
• Extract the contents of the downloaded archive to your PC, then run dxwnd.exe. This window will open:

• Right click on the empty white space, then select Add
  
• In the window that opens, click on the button you see below, then navigate to the game's installation directory and select Gun Crazy.exe

• At the bottom of the window, enter your desired resolution's sizes in Window initial position and size section. W means width and H means height. Don't touch the X and Y values.
  
• You can try typing the game's name in the Name field, or leave it blank to let the app do it for you

If you did everything right and didn't touch extra stuff, this should be the final result:



Now confirm the changes by pressing OK. You'll notice Gun Crazy's logo has now appeared in the program's list. First, go to DxWnd's File menu and choose the Save option in order to make the app remember your changes.
Now, double click on the icon, or right click and choose Run to play the game in windowed mode and your desired resolution.

NOTE 1:
You must run the game through DxWnd every time you want to play, or the screen size will not change.

NOTE 2:
Be aware that Steam Overlay's in-game dialog boxes and the fps counter will also become bigger as a result of this. Either turn the overlay off or deal with it.

Go to the game's installation directory and open options.cfg. Make sure that the value in front of SleepMargin is set to 1. Then find this line:
AlternateSyncMethod=0
and change it to
AlternateSyncMethod=1

Alternatively, change your monitor's refresh rate to 60hz if you are using a high refresh rate monitor.

As found by XZero on the game's discussions page, the AlternateSyncMethod config file modification from the previous section of the guide (low fps and black screen) can also fix the screen tearing issues as well.

Try the fix from the previous section to see if the issue goes away. If not, force v-sync on Gun Crazy.exe through your graphics card's control panel.

Unfortunately, there is no way to change the default keybinds on keyboard. But for those who play this game with a controller, we can use Steam Input API (or SIAPI for short) to change the keybinds.

To activate Steam Input API for your controller, plug it in and open Steam's Controller Configuration Tool by going to Steam -> Settings -> Controller -> General Controller Settings while in desktop mode. This window will open:



Find your controller there, choose Define Layout, configure the buttons and then press save when you're done. After you do this, Steam asks if you want to upload your configuration for other people who may use the same controller. Type a name for the config and upload it or don't; it doesn't matter if you upload it or not.

Now Steam recognizes your controller and is able to use SIAPI for it. But we must perform an extra step in order to use it in the game. Open the game's properties (by right clicking on its name or choosing the gear icon in its page), go to the controller tab and choose Enable Steam Input. This will force the game to use Steam Input if a recognized controller is detected.

After enabling SIAPI in the game's properties and plugging your controller in, a new option appears on the game's page in your Steam library and under the Manage option (after right clicking on it's name or using the gear icon): Controller Layout. Select this option to open the following window:



Fortunately, thanks to Valve's updates to this tool because of Steam Deck and the dev providing an official layout, the rest of the steps are way easier than what they were before. Click on Edit Layout to open the key rebinding tool as seen in the following picture:



Use the means provided to you here to configure your keys as you like.

I hope this guide has helped you fix some of the game's problems. As the game was made in Game Maker, you can expect some of these fixes to work in other games made with this engine. So don't be afraid to experiment.

Again, special thanks to XZero for identifying a fix for the screen tearing issue and sharing it. If one keeps these findings to themselves, it becomes hard to troubleshoot the problem for others. So I highly appreciate it being shared.