diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 4930abcbe34d312c92940c76a239dc1257f134c6..f119092f1afe895afa023592188718bac721cd32 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ install:
 
 script:
   - PYTHONPATH=. pytest tests/pytests
+  - python setup.py install # install to use python lib in c code
   - mkdir build
   - cd build
   - cmake -DCOVERAGE=ON ..
diff --git a/src/ale.cpp b/src/ale.cpp
index c0dd3af929f592acbe411f13f94922347616b33c..6e139f71396000f6acf56c63b0e481ea5b9dbcc3 100644
--- a/src/ale.cpp
+++ b/src/ale.cpp
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ namespace ale {
      // Import the file as a Python module.
      PyObject *pModule = PyImport_Import(PyUnicode_FromString("ale"));
      if(!pModule) {
-       throw runtime_error(getPyTraceback());
+       throw runtime_error("Failed to import ale. Make sure the ale python library is correctly installed.");
      }
      // Create a dictionary for the contents of the module.
      PyObject *pDict = PyModule_GetDict(pModule);