How can I make small EXE files??

[pjuarez55]

I've seen some flash EXE files that aren't 900K, but like 200K or something like that. Anyone know how this can be done? thanks.

[Northcode]

The EXE and OCX versions of the player are both hovering around 900K now so anyone that comes out with a significantly smaller executable is probably using the OCX for playback, they just aren't shipping that OCX with the EXE file. That means there is a risk that the EXE won't work on some machines (where the OCX isn't registered). That's something you don't have to worry about when you're using the Macromedia Flash EXE. You will often see EXE files in the 500K-900K range that are built using the OCX but the OCX is compressed inside the EXE and installed automtically for you before the Flash movie starts.

[pjuarez55]

So there's no way to make EXE (not OCX) files smaller than 900K? I'm pretty sure I've seen some files that had a different icon (not the traditional flash player icon) and played fixed size in the top left corner of the screen with no window, just the animation. If I find one, maybe I can email it to you to check it out? Thanks.

[Northcode]

The EXE files that play Flash USE the OCX or the Macromedia standalone Flash EXE file so their minimum size will be limited by how much either of those files can be compressed inside the wrapper EXE.

If you don't care whether the EXE you build works on every machine all you have to do is leave out the OCX.

I can eaily build you a 50K EXE file that will play Flash movies, I've done it, but it will only work on machines where the OCX is already installed.

Trust me on this one, I know a wee bit about the topic

[pjuarez55]

Yeah, I believe you . So how do you create the EXE file without the OCX? I don't see that in the Publish options, and how do you change de EXE's icon? And is the OCX installed automatically when Flash player for IE is installed or do you have to install it separately? Thanks a lot, I'me learning a lot here .

[Northcode]

If you're producing your EXE files using Flash then there's nothing you can do about the size of the EXE file except run it through UPX or another EXE packer that will shrink the size of the EXE on disk.

The EXE files that Flash produces don't have any other dependencies on the browser, the OCX or anything. They don't use the OCX, they are their own self-contained players.

You can change the icon on these EXEs and just about any other EXE file with tools like Resource Hacker and eXeScope.

Resource Hacker http://www.users.on.net/~johnson/resourcehacker/
eXeScope http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA003525/emysoft.htm#6

The OCX is used by IE to play Flash movies and third party applications (like mine, SWF Studio at www.northcode.com) use the OCX to do the Flash rendering for us. SWF Studio bundles the OCX with your Flash movie (and other files) as an EXE.

If you want to make really tiny EXE files you can exclude the OCX from some of these third party tools, but then you run the risk of that EXE not working if someone doesn't have the OCX installed already.

[pjuarez55]

Thanks. I'll read a bit and maybe get back to you with more questions. I'll check out northcode.com too .