1.) the preloader will check the totalBytes/loadedBytes for whatever TARGET you point it to 'watch/check' ..

You can have 3 preloaders in the MAIN.swf for example...

1 that runs displays when the movie starts..to show howmuch of the main movie is being loaded..

but you can also have those other prleoaders watch empty/blank movieClips so when you load your external.swf's into them... it will only check the totalBytes of the content being loaded into THAT target and how muchg of it has been currently loaded...


2.) yes you can do it that way.. I would look into using the movieClipLoader() class.. as it has callback you can use to trigger your actions once the things are started to start, on each onProgress, on complete and on Initi (also onError)...