I'm currently writing an autosplitter for the PC version of the game and I need some clarification on the rules:
>Timer starts on overwriting or creating in a save slot.
Should the timer start as soon as you hit the enter key or should it start as soon as the slot selection screen faded out?

As soon as you hit the enter key.

P.S. Thank you for showing this game some love

yep as soon as you press the enter key. So when timing manually you just press the enter key and the split key at the same time

Thank you. Please report any problems with the auto splitter:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hdc0/LiveSplit-asl/master/LiveSplit.Croc_2.asl