Crash on Startup

[Grey Acumen]

Okay, so $5 for 5 games by the same crew that handled my beloved Sam&Max series was too good to pass up, but lo and behold, when I attempted to start "Homestar Ruiner" it pulled up the little dialog box saying something about first time directx setup, and then when it tried to start the actual game, it just wouldn't.

The game doesn't even get to an intro movie scene or image or anything. I see the screen flicker as if readjusting for the game to run in a different resolution, a black rectangle covers part of the screen, and then an error message of "homestar101.exe has stopped working"

I have Vista, but I was able to run seasons 1 and 2 of Sam&Max without any problems, so I had thought this game should run fine.

I did a search online for Homestar Ruiner Crashes, but most of those are after the game has actually started, this hasn't even gotten that far.


and I've also just confirmed that the same thing is happening for Strongbadia the Free, and probably the entire series. Can anyone offer some suggestions? $5 is a great deal, but not when nothing you bought works at all.

So far I have already;
Deleted all files (both everything in steamapps/commom/homestar ruiner and the homestar ruiner content.ncf) and downloaded everything over again. I've also verified game files and have had them all check out just fine. Still have the same issues with all games.

[FrossetMareritt]

Having the same exact problem here. At first I thought it wasn't even doing anything, but after a close watch of the Task Manager it does start, or something does, and it disappears as fast as it shows up.

[Grey Acumen]

Okay, I found a link that offers a zip download that is supposed to have a file that sets your preferences to something that will actually run, but I would have to sign up for the forums to be able to download the file, and I honestly have better things to do right now than possibly waste my time if this turns out to do nothing. Does anyone else want to check this out?

http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8492

[trogdor1oh1]

I tried downloading that link and using the file, it just doesn't work.
No matter what, all episodes have the same symptoms: start up, then absolutely nothing. It's as if I didn't start it up at all.

I've even reinstalled Steam and ALL of my games, absolutely nothing. I've updated everything that needs to be updated. And I refuse to reformat my computer.

[Liamaj]

I get the same thing, although I don't even get an error. Just any window I have in the background flickers as if losing focus, then nothing.

There's no error in the error log, no debug options, nothing.