BIG lag

[SonChaser]

I have a posted Flash website (SonChaser's website). After the intro is done and the menu is active, there is a serious lag problem. When I play it from my hard drive it is fine. When I view it online, it lags. The buttons take forever to pla the movie and everything. I have a Cable connection, so I don't understand why it is lagging. Can anyone help me?? The website is: http://www.geocities.com/sonchaser2000/SCwebsite.html

Thanx for any help!

[canuckster]

I think I have your answer in a word: alpha

Alpha effects can be your worst nightmare. Yes, they're pretty, but they wreak havoc on a processor unless they're very, very sparingly used. And if you should happen to have a semi-transparent object moving overtop of a bitmap, forget it. Even the newest Pentium 4's can choke on that if they've got other app's open.

Shape tweens can also be nasty, but less so.

My advice is for you to redesign most (or all) of the alpha effects your site uses. Replace where possible with pseudo-alpha: instead of transparency, just substitute whatever colour is right behind the object you're working with. Doesn't work if the background has more than one colour, but we all have to cut corners somewhere.