Problem with flash!! help!

[pazoconnor]

Hola everyone!!
I'm having a problem when I export a .fla file to swf... the animation stops working as it should, even when I export it as a movie

the original file was:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264485098/base00_1.swf.html

and I had to change the image of the virgin mary, to this one:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264486785/Milagrosa-copia.png.html

so I came up with this fla file:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264488437/base.fla.html

but when I exported it, it looked like this:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264487044/base00.swf.html

can you tell me what's wrong and (hopefully) how to fix it?! =)

[JasonHippy]

OK, this should take about 30 seconds to fix.....

1. Open up your fla.
2. Take a look at the two layers called 'acciones' at around frames 100-120.
In the top 'acciones' layer at frame 103 there's a keyframe with the framelabel 'intro'. Now take a look at frame 117 of the other 'acciones' layer..Here you'll see a keyframe with some actionscript on it...What we've got here is a call to stop(); .

From what I can deduce, the movie is stopping at frame 117 to wait for the user to click on the 'ACCESSO A Fundacioe animo de Emaus' button. So next step:
3. Take a look at the actionscript on the button.
Looking at that we see the following...

on (press) {
	gotoAndPlay("intro");
}

This is telling the movie to go to the frame labelled 'intro' and start playing. Now if you look at the timeline, the button is visible from frame 6 to frame 117 (which is where the call to stop is).
Bearing in mind that the pressing the button causes the playhead to go to the frame labelled 'intro', what frame is the 'intro' keyframe on??

Looking at the top 'acciones' layer we can see that the 'intro' label is at frame 103.

So effectively, what is happening is whenever you press the button, the playhead is moving to frame 103 and playing to frame 117 (where the call to stop() is). So you're effectively caught in a never ending loop. Everytime you press the button, the playback will resume from 103-117 and then wait for the button to be pressed again.

The solution to the problem is to drag the 'intro' keyframe to frame 118. So what will happen now is your movie will play and stop at frame 117. When the user clicks the button, the playhead will move to frame 118 and resume playing the rest of the intro.

Problem solved.

Cheers for now,
Jas.

[JasonHippy]

What the hell happened to my code tags in that last post? Doh!
Apologies for that!!

[pazoconnor]

Jason,
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! I tried what you said, but this was the outcome:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264818694/test.swf.html

My problem is that the 'intro' doesn't begin where it's supposed to begin: with Jesus face... instead, the Virgin Mary appears and she doesn't leave!

Here's the original version, with the correct sequence for you to see what I mean:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264485098/base00_1.swf.html

why does the movie begin in frame 80something instead of 0?

OK, this should take about 30 seconds to fix.....

1. Open up your fla.
2. Take a look at the two layers called 'acciones' at around frames 100-120.
In the top 'acciones' layer at frame 103 there's a keyframe with the framelabel 'intro'. Now take a look at frame 117 of the other 'acciones' layer..Here you'll see a keyframe with some actionscript on it...What we've got here is a call to stop(); .

From what I can deduce, the movie is stopping at frame 117 to wait for the user to click on the 'ACCESSO A Fundacioe animo de Emaus' button. So next step:
3. Take a look at the actionscript on the button.
Looking at that we see the following...

on (press) {
	gotoAndPlay("intro");
}

This is telling the movie to go to the frame labelled 'intro' and start playing. Now if you look at the timeline, the button is visible from frame 6 to frame 117 (which is where the call to stop is).
Bearing in mind that the pressing the button causes the playhead to go to the frame labelled 'intro', what frame is the 'intro' keyframe on??

Looking at the top 'acciones' layer we can see that the 'intro' label is at frame 103.

So effectively, what is happening is whenever you press the button, the playhead is moving to frame 103 and playing to frame 117 (where the call to stop() is). So you're effectively caught in a never ending loop. Everytime you press the button, the playback will resume from 103-117 and then wait for the button to be pressed again.

The solution to the problem is to drag the 'intro' keyframe to frame 118. So what will happen now is your movie will play and stop at frame 117. When the user clicks the button, the playhead will move to frame 118 and resume playing the rest of the intro.

Problem solved.

Cheers for now,
Jas.

[JasonHippy]

OK, I'd not noticed that.

Well first off, the movie isn't playing from frame 80. It is actually playing from frame 1.
Looking at your original .fla, the layer containing jesus' face at the start of the animation has been turned into a guide layer, which is why it isn't appearing....
I've applied my original fix (moving the 'intro' keyframe in the 'acciones' layer)
I've also turned the guide layer back into an ordinary layer.

So now when the movie is played it appears exactly as you've described it should.

I've uploaded a zip of my solution to rapidshare. I tried to attach it here, but it kept failing. I guess it must've been a bit too large!
Anyway, the link is below...
http://rapidshare.com/files/264873439/edits.zip.html

Cheers for now,
Jas.

[pazoconnor]

THANKS AGAIN JASON for your help!!
I still have one problem though (I know... I’m beginning to annoy even myself!!) and it is that when it gets to the virgin mary the intro stops until you click on the sign ("Acceso + logo"), that it's not supposed to happen... the intro button below should appear by itself and the intro shouldn't stop in the virgin, it should continue with pictures of jesus and the apostles, etc... like in the original .swf
http://rapidshare.com/files/264485098/base00_1.swf.html

I'm SO SORRY for bothering you again!! I just think that the designer didn't give me the final fla file... that's why this fla has so many things missing! could you help me? =) (again)

Please open the .fla given by pazoconnor, and do like in the attachment and ctrl+enter to publish as .swf. Thats it done.

[JasonHippy]

Ah, I see Paz...Sorry, slight misunderstanding on my part there too!
When I looked at the versions of base00_1.swf that you uploaded, it only shows the image of jesus and nothing else, so as there was nothing to refer to, I made my deductions based on what I saw in the .fla. (Hence my thinking that the button had to be clicked before the animation continued!)

But I've just looked at the website you posted a link to in your first flash related post (the one with the scroll problem) and seen the original intro .swf in action, which I suppose I should've done in the first place....Doh!

Yes, it looks like the .fla you were given by the designer was not the final one used to publish the .swf that's on the site..Either the designer gave you a slightly earlier version, or they went on to mess around with the .fla after they'd published the final .swf for your site.

Ok, to make the .swf look more like the version on your site, we just need to remove the button (not the signpost, just the blue button overlay), and get rid of the stop in the actionscript at frame 117. and that should just about be it!

The only other things I can see that need to be done are:
1. Adding a few frames after mary fades in (she fades in/out rather quickly in your .fla)
2. Moving the 'saltear intro' button so it fades in at the start of the animation.
3. Removing the 'accesso a' text from the sign/button.
4. There's also the image of Jesus on the right that needs to fade in at the end....Looks like an extra layer with a mask is required there to stop the image from appearing outside the wooden frame!

I've made all of the changes listed above. Files have been zipped and uploaded to:
http://rapidshare.com/files/266127637/edits.zip.html

Now your .swf is a little closer to looking like the previous version.
I'll leave it to you to make your final tweaks!
Cheers for now,
Jas.

p.s. If you don't want the jesus thing at the end (see change 4), all you need to do is either turn layers 43 and 31 into guide layers, or delete them!

[JasonHippy]

Please open the .fla given by pazoconnor, and do like in the attachment and ctrl+enter to publish as .swf. Thats it done.

Hey Raja.
Doing that would've stopped the .swf from stopping (and fix the issue), but there was a little more to it than just that to get it to look like the original version on the website. There are a few other things that needed tidying up beside removing the stop(). (like removing the redundant button and its code, moving the 'saltear intro' button etc.).

For example, if you only remove the call to stop() from the original .fla; If a user clicks the button at any point before the removed stop, the movie would keep jumping back to frame 103 and playing from there. See my previous posts!

When I fix things, I like to fix 'em good! :) heh heh!
Cheers for now,
Jas.

No, Its working fine, even you clicked that button, the reason is "Its not jump to 103 as you said, it jumps to intro in 117" so its fine. But I am not analysed the whole frames, I was try to do the request of pazoconnor, thats it, anything more, please help out him.

[JasonHippy]

No, Its working fine, even you clicked that button, the reason is "Its not jump to 103 as you said, it jumps to intro in 117" so its fine. But I am not analysed the whole frames, I was try to do the request of pazoconnor, thats it, anything more, please help out him.

No, in Paz's original .fla the 'intro' keyframe was at frame 103, and the stop was at frame 117. The button code was gotoAndPlay("intro").

But it turns out that the button is not even supposed to be there. The swf is supposed to be the same as the one on the website in Paz's original post (the one about the scroll not working). The only thing Paz wanted to change was the image of mary in the intro. But the .fla Paz has is not the .fla that was originally used to publish the .swf on the original web page. It is an earlier unfinished version of the .fla.

Paz managed to replace the image ok, but there is all of the other detritus in the file (the stop, the button etc.). The stop was the main thing causing the problem with playback, but there were other problems in there, which I've highlighted and fixed!

Cheers for now,
Jas.

COOL!

[pazoconnor]

AWESOME!!!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!
both of you for trying to help me!!
I really appreciate it!
take care and the best of luck =)

Ah, I see Paz...Sorry, slight misunderstanding on my part there too!
When I looked at the versions of base00_1.swf that you uploaded, it only shows the image of jesus and nothing else, so as there was nothing to refer to, I made my deductions based on what I saw in the .fla. (Hence my thinking that the button had to be clicked before the animation continued!)

But I've just looked at the website you posted a link to in your first flash related post (the one with the scroll problem) and seen the original intro .swf in action, which I suppose I should've done in the first place....Doh!

Yes, it looks like the .fla you were given by the designer was not the final one used to publish the .swf that's on the site..Either the designer gave you a slightly earlier version, or they went on to mess around with the .fla after they'd published the final .swf for your site.

Ok, to make the .swf look more like the version on your site, we just need to remove the button (not the signpost, just the blue button overlay), and get rid of the stop in the actionscript at frame 117. and that should just about be it!

The only other things I can see that need to be done are:
1. Adding a few frames after mary fades in (she fades in/out rather quickly in your .fla)
2. Moving the 'saltear intro' button so it fades in at the start of the animation.
3. Removing the 'accesso a' text from the sign/button.
4. There's also the image of Jesus on the right that needs to fade in at the end....Looks like an extra layer with a mask is required there to stop the image from appearing outside the wooden frame!

I've made all of the changes listed above. Files have been zipped and uploaded to:
http://rapidshare.com/files/266127637/edits.zip.html

Now your .swf is a little closer to looking like the previous version.
I'll leave it to you to make your final tweaks!
Cheers for now,
Jas.

p.s. If you don't want the jesus thing at the end (see change 4), all you need to do is either turn layers 43 and 31 into guide layers, or delete them!

[pazoconnor]

oh.... crap! =( forgive my language!
it's just that I just realized that something's missing!
At the end of the original swf you will see that if you click on the menu bar it displays a menu that allows you to navigate in the rest of the site... but it the fla file there's nothing like that!!
So, I could finally do all the changes I asked for, but when I exported it and uploaded to the web page I noticed that I couldn't get anywhere else!

HELP ME PLEASE!! ONE MORE TIME =)!! how do I create one that looks and works just like the one in the swf? I assume I'll need to know programming which i don't =(

ORIGINAL SWF:
http://rapidshare.com/files/264485098/base00_1.swf.html

MY FLA FILE
http://rapidshare.com/files/266643888/base_edit_11-8-09.fla.html

[JasonHippy]

hmmm, I'll take a look tomorrow when I can get onto a Windows PC with Flash 8....I'm out and about, so I'm on my Linux PC at the mo. So no flash! :(

Cheers for now,
Jas.

[pazoconnor]

thank you!!!! =)

hmmm, I'll take a look tomorrow when I can get onto a Windows PC with Flash 8....I'm out and about, so I'm on my Linux PC at the mo. So no flash! :(

Cheers for now,
Jas.

Do u show the original swf how it looks in the output? Always when I am looking into your swf which is given by you as a link, showing a human face, nothing out of that.

Where can I find the original swf, which was the real output?

[JasonHippy]

Do u show the original swf how it looks in the output? Always when I am looking into your swf which is given by you as a link, showing a human face, nothing out of that.

Where can I find the original swf, which was the real output?

Hmm, I think that base00.swf is actually a preloader which loads the main .swf.
I tried going to the web-page and did a quick view source and made a note of the http:// path to the swf. I then made a quick html page which contained an 'a href' link to the swf and right-clicked to download it and the file is only 29k and is just the image of Christ...In other words it's the file that mistakenly Paz thought was the original main .swf.

So the file we need to take a look at is whatever .swf file the preloader is loading. I'm not sure, but perhaps decompiling base00.swf might tell us which .swf file the preloader is loading and the path to it.

I might try installing swfdec or some other decompiler later and see what I can come up with.
Cheers for now,
Jas.

Then how could you identify the problem he is telling, Jason?

[JasonHippy]

Then how could you identify the problem he is telling, Jason?

The file that the preloader loads is the one with the problem.
As Paz is offline, one way to find out the path to the file is to decompile the preloader.
That done, it should be pretty easy to download and decompile the target .swf. Then things should be pretty simple.
We'll have a .fla of the current .swf on the site, which we can compare against Paz's .fla. We can then solve the current problem.

In fact it would be easier to just open both .fla's and then insert the new picture that paz wants to use into the .fla ripped from the original .swf on the site..

Cheers for now,
Jas.

If you dont mind, do you send the original swf site path?

[JasonHippy]

Ah Paz, from what I can see of the site, I think you may have misunderstood the architecture and layout of this flash site.

I don't know, but I'm assuming that you correctly spotted that base00.swf was the swf used on the page and so you opened base00.fla and finding that the intro sequence was missing you've attempted to recreate the original intro sequence replacing the image of Mary along the way?
Otherwise, perhaps you were using a really old .fla from when the original developer was starting to develop the site.

Either way, the file you needed to alter for your change is intro.fla/intro.swf.

The site is organised in this way:

base00.swf is a preloader which has an image of Christs face on it. This .swf loads the main interface movieclip (aka base02.swf)

base02.swf contains the wooden frame and the lamp graphics and loads jesus.swf, musica_intro.swf, botonera.swf, home.swf and finally intro.swf.

Once all of the assets have loaded into base02.swf, the intro.swf is played. At the end of the intro, the home page (home.swf) and the buttons (botonera.swf) are displayed.

So I think what you need to do is:
1. Make sure that base00.fla is restored to it's original state (Assuming you have backups of the original files!)
2. Open intro.fla/intro.swf and replace the graphic of Mary in there!
i.e. Find the .fla for the file at http://www.caminaeemaus.or.ar/intro.swf and replace the graphic of Mary in there.

If you don't have all of the original .fla's for the .swfs that are currently on the live site, I can rip them to .fla for you if you like, but there is a risk that some things might not appear exactly as they were (decompilers sometimes get things wrong!)

Cheers for now,
Jas.

[pazoconnor]

here's the file...
when i open it I can see all the intro... if you can't you can go to
caminodeemaus.org.ar

thanks again!

[pazoconnor]

ok, sorry about that last message, i hadn't read yours before...
I'm still re reading what you wrote cause i don't really follow; but from what I get this is going to be SOOOO much harder than I thought! =)
I checked the intro.swf and it's just black... the intro.fla does appear to be the original intro... but the menu doesn't appear there... the file "botonera" both fla and swf are black too (with nothing in it)

[JasonHippy]

ok, sorry about that last message, i hadn't read yours before...
I'm still re reading what you wrote cause i don't really follow; but from what I get this is going to be SOOOO much harder than I thought! =)
I checked the intro.swf and it's just black... the intro.fla does appear to be the original intro... but the menu doesn't appear there... the file "botonera" both fla and swf are black too (with nothing in it)

Hey Paz.
Because of the way the site is separated into smaller .swfs, playing any of the other .swfs individually will almost certainly result in a blank black screen. But don't panic, it doesn't mean there is anything wrong!

After making your changes to any of the other files, like your change to intro.swf, where you're replacing the Mary graphic; To test your changes you'll need to run the preloader swf (base00.swf). Which will then load all of the other site components and you'll be able to see whether or not your changes have worked.

In other words, after you've worked on one of the smaller swf's, run base00.swf and wait until the bit you've edited comes along, so if it's in the intro, sit through the intro and check your change is as you wanted it. If it's in one of the other many .swfs, you can skip the intro and navigate to the page you edited, and check it that way.

Hope that simplifies things for you.
Cheers for now,
Jas.

I am little bit confused, both will continue the job!!!