Well I did buy it, download it and install it - but as soon as I hit the "Begin" button it crashed to desktop !!
So I've had to post for help at Humble Support.
But I'm sure I will GET help

I can only guess at what the problem is, Mad.
It seems to be a standard AGS-type game, similar to the Wadjet Eye games.

You might try emailing the developer at
http://www.crashablestudios.com/p/contacts.html
as well as Humble.

I also bought it, and it seems to be running fine for me -- started it up, clicked on a few things, made a save, loaded the save.

I put my game folder in my Documents folder.

The first thing that happens when you click "Begin" is a cut scene.
So maybe you have a codec problem.

The same thing happened to me and I ran the game as ran as administrator and it worked. Maybe this will help.

OK. I'll go to the Glitches Board and ask how I "run a game as Administrator" and then have another go

EDIT :

Just remembered how to do it !!
So I right clicked on the game icon and selected "run as administrator" and the game started up - but as soon as I hit "Begin" it still crashes to desktop

[I might hold off going over to the Glitches Board until after Humble Support get back to me ]

EDIT 2 :
Somebody sent me here, anyway !!!!

Wasn't me.

I still think this is a codec problem.
I could upload a save from the beginning of the game and you can see if you can play from it instead of using "Begin," but if you have a codec problem you might have a crash every time the game tries to use a cut scene.

EDIT...

I've zipped my Alum save folder and uploaded it here
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3or5xua6k173fgt/Alum.zip?dl=0

The save location for Windows 7 x64 is
C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\Alum

where <username> is whatever your username is on your computer.

See if the game made the Alum save folder for you. If it did, just unzip the Alum.zip file and copy the agssave.001 into your save folder.

agssave.001 is probably my first save, but if it doesn't work you can see if one of the others will.

agssave.777 and agssave.999 are probably automatic saves, what the game calls "checkpoints."

I'm not sure if the game needs the entire save folder in order to run.
Probably not, but I included it just in case.


If your game plays OK from my save, then we know the problem is probably related to playing the cut scenes.

Hi Jenny100

I checked and there is no "Save" folder created so I download your zipped save folder (thank you) and "extracted" it to the C Drive address you stated and I can see all the saves there.

Then I started the game up and clicked on LOAD instead of BEGIN and was promptly told "there are no saves yet".

Most of my saves go into "Local" or "Roaming" though so I might try putting your saves there instead.
[I've no idea, of course, whether that's a sensible thing to do or not !! ]

Anyway, I'll let you know the outcome.

Cheers.

Mad

EDIT :

OK. I've tried putting the extracted folder in both Local AND Roaming but on starting the game up and choosing LOAD I get the same "there are no saves yet" message

DRAT !!

But thank you for trying to help

Mad, you have to place saves into "C:\Users\*\Saved Games\Alum".
And you can try different settings from winsetup.exe!

Mad, this game puts its saves in an unusual place --


If the C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ folder isn't there, create it and put the Alum folder inside of it.

I haven't seen that location for saved games before either.

"If the C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ folder isn't there, create it and put the Alum folder inside of it."
____________________

Hi.

OK. This is what I did ....

First I created a new folder called Alum (on desktop) put the zipped saved games from Jenny100 into it and immediately extracted them.

Then I navigated to C:\Users|Username|Saved games and put the Alum folder (full of the extracted saves) there.

Then I launched the game and clicked on LOAD and got the "no saves" message.

[I also tried doing the same thing in LOCAl and in ROAMING with the same negative result.]

So what am I doing wrong ??

Cheers.

Mad

Try taking them OUT of the ALUM folder first and putting them in the Saved Games folder. The game may not be looking for a folder named Alum.

That doesn't work either, Draclvr

No matter "where" I unzip the package from Jenny100 I always get a folder called "Alum" inside of which are a bunch of saves.

Maybe I need to rename the folder ??

The save file location was...
C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\Alum\agssave.001

I zipped the Alum folder and sent it to you.

The game may not recognize the folder unless it creates the folder itself.

If anyone wants to troubleshoot, the screenshot Mad emailed me had this error message:

There's no "room8.asc" in the game folder, though I suppose it's possible that the file is generated on the fly when you run the game.


Where are you running the game from, Mad?
Since the game didn't have an installation, I extracted the game zip file (the file downloaded from Humble) into my Documents folder. I also renamed the folder to "Alum" because the original name was "Alum build for Humble Bundle" and I thought it was too long. I don't know if renaming the game folder changes the name of the save folder inside the Saved Games folder. I wouldn't think so, but games that don't use installers can be a little odd. See if it makes a difference if the name of the game folder matches the name of the save folder.

I haven't purchased this game yet, Jenny, but I downloaded the file you provided in Drop-Box (just in case I need it). Thanks SO much.
Sandy

Well .....

After all the messing about that was getting me nowhere and in a fit of uncontrolled pique I removed all Alum files from my computer (apart from the original zipped download) ran CCleaner and restarted the machine.

Feeling quite a bit better after that, I unzipped the download (again) clicked on the exe icon and launched myself into the unknown

Holding my breath I clicked on "Begin" **** and it Began !!!!!!!!

So as soon as I had cursor control I made a save and quit and went searching for the saved game.

I found it in D:\Saved Games
[There were three entries .... agssave.001, agssave.777 and agssave.999.]

After that, just to make sure it was all actually working, I re-launched the game and loaded the save - and everything was fine

I have absolutely no idea why this game didn't behave properly before. I didn't do anything differently AT ALL the second time.

Anyway, thank you SO much, Jenny100, for going to all that trouble in trying to help, and to those others of you who also came up with ideas.

You are all truly appreciated

Cheers.

Mad

I'm glad that you got the game running, Mad. It gave me the impetus to want to purchase it for myself. ENJOY!
Sandy

I hope I will enjoy it after all the palaver, Sanford

And I hope YOU enjoy it too

I'll bet running ccleaner was what fixed it -- Something to remember if you ever have problems with another game that doesn't have a normal installer.

Glad you found a solution and are able to play the game.

I think that would all make me dizzy, Mad!

Oh, I always run CCleaner and then reboot after any inopportune events

But also, as a follow up ....

I'd contacted the developers as well as Humble Support and today got a very nice emailed reply from them in which they said :

"Looking at the code this crash should only happen had the intro music not started."
AND
"I am sending them a new build to fix this."

All of which sounds good to me.
[A developer who "cares". Wonderful !!!!]

Cheers.

Mad

Great, Mad.
Though if that were the problem, I'm still not understanding why it succeeded the 2nd time you unzipped and ran the game.

Thanks, Mad. I "bit the bullet" and purchased the game from Humble Bundle at $3.00 cheaper than from STEAM, and it's DRM free. I held my breath when I pushed "BEGIN", but only good things happened. YAY! All I need now is a decent English Text walkthrough, and I'll be happy. LOL. There ARE Video WT's but I prefer the written word.
Sandy

Me neither, Jenny100 !!

But at least I CAN play the game and hopefully, now, no one else will have to mess about as I did

And all the best, Sanford. I hope it's a good game and that you enjoy it

Thanks so much, Mad. HAPPY GAMING!
Sandy