[Resolved] [Resolved] preloader is a bit buggy in MX.

[brandonbarr]

My v5 preloader, in MX, waits until 1/2 the movie is loaded before it moves past frame one.

the url of what I'm talking about (the source can be downloading from the bottom right link):

http://brandonbarr.com

If you go under DIR>WRITING>DIGITAL WORKS AND PROJECTS>FLASH POETRY>River/running, you can see how it worked in v5.

Here's the code:

frame 1:
loadpercent = "0%";
loadBytes = "0 of " + Math.round((_root.getBytesTotal() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb";

frame 2:
loadPercent = (Math.floor (_root.getBytesLoaded() / _root.getBytesTotal() * 100) + "%");
loadBytes = (Math.round((_root.getBytesLoaded() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " / " + Math.round((_root.getBytesTotal() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb loaded");

if (_root.getBytesLoaded() == _root.getBytesTotal()){

loadPercent = "100%";
loadBytes = (Math.round((_root.getBytesLoaded() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " / " + Math.round((_root.getBytesTotal() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb loaded");

gotoAndPlay("loaded");
}

frame 3:
gotoAndPlay(2);

In loadbarfill, frame 1:
this._xscale = ((_root.getBytesLoaded() / _root.getBytesTotal()) * 100);

In loadbarfill, frame 2:
gotoAndPlay(1);

I'm still working out the differences in actionscript in MX and 5; it's hard cuz I got halfway through learning 5 and now i'm over in MX. Is this an actionscript problem?

Thanks,

[apmorris]

You loader's doing the same thing my is on this new windows machine w/the 6 plug-in - not working. This is what I'm up to. (from a stand alone post)

going thru a major reworking of a new site, Using Flash 5 on MacOS. My wife brought home a new Windows laptop from work so, I figured I take a look at the old and new stuff I'm doing for this site. The machine is running Windows 2000 with the Flash 6 plug-in. Here's the deal. My loader doesn't load, buttons are missing, text isn't appearing (btw. this all looks fine with a Flash 5 plug-in). Are there bugs in this plug-in? Do I need to rush out and buy MX?
Any ideas on what's going on?
(The old site doesn't run a couple of scripts and has 6 bugs in it also.)
I'm freaked. I can't afford MX right now and I was beginning to see the light and the end of the tunnel of this redesign but now I'm lost in the dark.
Happy Sunday morning :|

APM

[aashu.com]

you mean to stay ... when the preloader appears ... there is already 60% loaded right ?

[brandonbarr]

absolutely, sorry.

I run it on streaming and 60% loads before the preloader shows.

Any suggestions?

[undef]

hmmm funny that...

i got the same thing..
the total size of my movie is 134kb.
but the preloader does not apear until it has loaded 47kb.

instead of test movie, i did 'test scene' on the preloader and sure enough under total bytes loaded it says 47kb.

what would make the preloader swell to that size..
it has only 2 static text fields and 3 dynamic text fields on it??

[Bapha]

Hmmmmm....

most interesting. I'm having the same problems. I'm making a site which needs a preloader. so I stick one on the first scene. it does as all of the above posts have said. so i try another and another and they all do the same thing! They load about 47%.

very strange

[oldnewbie]

Faced with the same problem, and according to my own testing, most of the time (maybe all of the time, but can't really confirm that as of yet!), this whole late show up of preloaders seems to be related to the linkage option in the Library and/or to the whole Export on first frame business.

When there's no such linkage, the old preloaders seem to work fine as you can see in this example:

http://odin.prohosting.com/~oldnew/sdds1.htm

But in any other case where linkage does occur, the same preloader ceases to function properly. In fact, it still is working properly and doing it's job, but it doesn't appear till just before the load is almost complete!

The only workaround I have found, is to build a preloader movie, in which you have to load what you now consider your main movie, into either a container clip, or on another level. The display of the preloader is then the loading bytes of your movie being loaded in this container clip or on another level, and is visible from the start of the loading process.

Once loaded, you can then either just have it play, or since it's now in the user's cache, re-load your main movie on _level0, thus replacing your initial preloader movie.

I've used the container clip in this example. Still playing around with the display once it's loaded, so don't mind that part of it, but the preloader does show up at the beginning of the loading process.

http://odin.prohosting.com/~oldnew/preload.htm

Once I finalize it to my liking, I will post a template .fla of this one, for those facing this problem.

[aashu.com]

hi ...

its not problem of MX.

Reason : Its a optimization issue. check your reports generated by MX which showing the size'z of diff. objects and frames and scenes.

Description : I am very sure that it will show that your 1st frame will show the 60% of your main movie size. and flash's core thing is it shows a frame while the frame completely loads. so when you saw it then it already loaded 60% part of the main movie. and according to the calculation applied it will show 60% loaded.

solution: You can make 1st 10 frames empty each time while you creating a new movie. i always left 10 frames for preloader thing. so when flash will start to loading frames and data ... on 1st frame nothing will be there except the preloader movie or images you used in preloader. and you can check this by the size reports generated by flash mx. and it should be around upto maximum 5 KB.

Conclusion: Always take care about this thing while you are gonna use the preloader thing in your movies. just left 10 empty frames before you start to do work in flash.

hope this helps

[Bapha]

hi aashu.com

I'm sure its not how i've optimized the flash movie because I have three scenes.

The first scene has a light weight preloader. The second scene only has text fading in and out. The third scene has the rest of the content.

So the majority of the content is at the end of the movie rather than the beginning.

And besides the preloader is designed to show the site loading from 0 to 100% instead it starts around 46%. Then it just jumps to the end and plays on. so its not a smooth operation. And this is with using 3 different preloaders - all do the same thing.

[brandonbarr]

My movie (you can D/L the source from the site) puts the bulk of the site within a menu movie clip on the 10th frame. the only thing in the first then frames is a border frame, the loadbar rectangle, two static text fields, and two dynamic text fields. The bulk of the movie has 200+ symbols (including WAVs, PNGs and MX scrollbar component) and is located in the 10th frame.

I wonder if it is an export issue; I have also noticed that MX doesn't export the HTMLs with all URLs and text properly.

Like I said, the preloader works find in v5, or if MX exports to v5.

Thanks old newbie; I'll look forward to your FLA.

I'm glad/not glad to see others are having a similar problem.

[aashu.com]

Originally posted by Bapha
hi aashu.com

I'm sure its not how i've optimized the flash movie because I have three scenes.

The first scene has a light weight preloader. The second scene only has text fading in and out. The third scene has the rest of the content.

So the majority of the content is at the end of the movie rather than the beginning.

And besides the preloader is designed to show the site loading from 0 to 100% instead it starts around 46%. Then it just jumps to the end and plays on. so its not a smooth operation. And this is with using 3 different preloaders - all do the same thing.

you are using frame based checking or using loadedBytes based checking ?

[Bapha]

thanks for the reply

i'm using a byte based preloader.

[brentasaurus]

I am also having smooth loading options in MX...I just posted a message, before I found this one, that said:

//
Is there any way to see what is exactly loaded in each frame? I use reports/outputs but I cant figure out what is loaded in each frame, especially the first. Here is a link to my report:

http://www.performanceimaging.net/flashindexReport.txt

any advice would be much appreciated.

//

its listed at:

http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=300353

I am also using a byte based preloader.

Kinda Frustrating

[aashu.com]

Originally posted by Bapha
thanks for the reply

i'm using a byte based preloader.

may i see your report and the code you wrote for the preloader?

[aashu.com]

Originally posted by brentasaurus
I am also having smooth loading options in MX...I just posted a message, before I found this one, that said:

//
Is there any way to see what is exactly loaded in each frame? I use reports/outputs but I cant figure out what is loaded in each frame, especially the first. Here is a link to my report:

http://www.performanceimaging.net/flashindexReport.txt

any advice would be much appreciated.

//

its listed at:

http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=300353

I am also using a byte based preloader.

Kinda Frustrating

hi ... seen your report ... your total movie size is around 100Kb ... and see your frame 1 which having 59KB ... so I can say that your preloader occupies more bytes then your whole movie ...

amazing ... lol ..

have to see that much heavy preloaer ... you can use light preloader of about maximum 5 KB.

what you put in the preloader movie?

used stunned graphics or what ?

[brentasaurus]

Originally posted by aashu.com


hi ... seen your report ... your total movie size is around 100Kb ... and see your frame 1 which having 59KB ... so I can say that your preloader occupies more bytes then your whole movie ...

amazing ... lol ..

have to see that much heavy preloaer ... you can use light preloader of about maximum 5 KB.

what you put in the preloader movie?

used stunned graphics or what ? [/B]

Actually my first frame has only about 5k of info in it....and when I delete or move all the info to another frame it still stated that I 50k in my first frame. So MX is loading some info in the beginning, and is causing the preloaders not to load correctly.

thanks

[aashu.com]

as per my knowledge ... on 1st frame following things affect:

- data on 1st frame
- font (embedded and others)
- text Bytes

hope this helps

[brandonbarr]

are you using any components? I think that may be the issue, as some other threads have hinted at. Or it may be the streaming issue--see the BIG long thread about how Macromedia f_____ up.

I'm gonna see it the new release of the player fixes the issue. If not, I'm gonna try Old Newbie's technique.

[brandonbarr]

aashu-are you using MX? cuz this, as best I can tell, is something that many MX people are running into. I don't think it is uncommon. And it is something MX is doing; when I load a Flash 5 version in Flash 5 and run it with the Flash 5 player, the preloader works FINE. There is only 5K or less in the first frame! I suspect Flash loads components in the the first frame, tho, even if they are elsewhere. Does anyone know if this is true?

I'm no actionscript expert, so this is flummoxing me.

[aashu.com]

yes ... obviously ... using mx.