Flash :: I'm At A Loss

I'm At A Loss
i'd like to create a "jeopardy"-style quiz game for use in an educational setting, but i have practically zero expereince with flash. the game doesnt need to be complicated, just categories with 5 questions, when $ amount clicked on, question is shown full screen, another mouseclick, back to category view. if at all possible, i'd like to be able to load dift categories and questions from a text file. can anyone point me in the right direction to get started with this? or is it beyond my very limited abilites?

thanx!

At A Loss, Here Is My .fla, Please Help
Hey everyone, I posted a few days ago asking for help but the suggestions I got didnt seem to get me anywhere, I've tried alot of stuff with no success, I think I need a real flash wizard to help me. I have this one last thing to do but I cant get it to work and its keeping me from moving forward on this project. Here is my fla (3 mb) http://notos.bartolsfeet.com/hall2.fla

What I'm trying to do is make a scroller so that everything but a medium sized rectangle is masked, and so the user can scroll up, down, left, right to view the entire movie (basically I'd like for everything in that fla to scroll in unison). I was hoping for something similar to this http://www.flashkit.com/movies/Effec...6691/index.php
but at this point as long as everything in that fla will scroll in unison with a 'mouse over' and the animations and actions still work will be PERFECT lol, I'm desperate!! ;P
Thanks alot to anyone who helps

At A Loss...
I am trying to create a drop down menu and I thought I had done everything correctly. Apparently, I have not because when you mouseover the menu item, the hand appears but nothing drops down. I've spent the day pulling my hair out and going over everything and can't figure out where I've gone wrong. I've attached the file of my monstrosity if anyone cares to take a peek.

Thanks so much!

Bridget

Var Loss
I create a var in one frame:

Code:
stop ();
_root.onEnterFrame = function (){
var tempUsername:String = userInput_txt.text;
var tempPassword:String = passInput_txt.text;
trace(tempUsername);
}
next_btn.onRelease = function (){
if (userInput_txt.length >= 6 && passInput_txt.length >= 4 && passInput2_txt.length >= 4){
if (passInput_txt.text == passInput2_txt.text){
gotoAndStop ("NewUser2");
delete _root.onEnterFrame;
}else{
alert_mc.gotoAndStop ("CreateUserError2");
}
}else{
alert_mc.gotoAndStop ("CreateUserError1");
}
}
cancel_btn.onRelease = function (){
if (saver.data.existingUser){
gotoAndStop ("Login");
}else{
alert_mc.gotoAndStop ("CannotQuit");
}
}
In the second frame that var (tempUsername and all of them) become undefined. Why is this? (The second frame is in the same scene)

Loss Of Colour
When importing PSD files from Photoshop the colour output is different. What format can you use in Photoshop to ensure the same colour output in Flash? I am using Photoshop 6.

Possible Loss Of Quality
if i create a movie that is 100 pixels by 75 pixels, and i import a .jpg as a graphic... when i view this movie full screen, will the picture suffer from poor quality, or does the fact that flash uses vector graphics help maintain the picture quality?

PLEASE HELP.... PLEASE(Loss Of Ideas)
Hi guys..

I think i have tried everything here but this is not working.. I need help.. any help will be greatly appreciated..

I have 2 scenes in a movie a preloader and the main scene with 3 frame labels (1,2, and 3).. I also have a button called Navigate which when clicked opens a movie clip.. it shows a drop down Page 1, page 2 and page 3.. When one clicks on either of those 3 page numbers i want it to goto the appropriate frame label.. but it does not do so..

I am attaching the fla for your reference to see what is happening.

Thanks for your help
Uday

Jpg Quality Loss
I creating a simple photo site that dynamically loads jpg's through loadMovie and my problem is flash seems to be recompressing my jpgs and I'm getting some pretty unacceptable quality loss ( banding, artifacting).

I didn't notice this last night at home (using MX) but I noticed it today at work using MX 2004.

If I just load the jpg straight into the browser it is acceptable but if I load the same jpg with flash in a browser the quality degrades.

Is this normal? Can I make it so Flash doesn't recompress my files?

hers's he simple code I'm using:

Code:
this.createEmptyMovieClip("holder", 1);
holder.loadMovie("photos/"+(--num)+".jpg", 4);

Player quality settings are on high.

Site can be viewed here, the second bird shot or the plane shot are perfect examples

http://s89995399.onlinehome.us/

bird:

http://s89995399.onlinehome.us/photos/17.jpg

plane:

http://s89995399.onlinehome.us/photos/9.jpg

Var Loss In Scenes
Why is it whenever my flash movie enters a different scene all the variables from the other scene is erased? Is there any way to prevent this from happening?

Swf Byte Loss
i'm just wondering if anyone else has noticed problems when uncompressing swf files out of zip archives?

often i have swf files that are off by 2 - 6 bytes when they come out of the archives. we are currently using zip archives to transport media between servers. i'm wondering if it is a zip problem or if it is a compression problem. switching to a new archiving method (.tar) is possible, but a huge level of effort becuase a lot of the .zip's are created by applications so it will require code changes both in the applications that create them and the apps that read them. it would be much simpler to just add in a compression property to stop compressing the files.

has anyone else run into this problem before?

WMV To FLV Without Quality Loss
is there anyway to convert a WMV movie to a FLV file with out loosing video quality ?

Loss Of Sound In MX
I am running a fairly large flash mx fruit machine simulation program as a windows application. Every spin of the reels I create a new Sound() object,
attach the spin sound and start it, then stop it when the reels stop.
There are also a feew other sounds for holds etc. which happen frequently.
I have tried for days to fix this problem, but after a number of spins the sound distorts and then disappears completely. Does anyone have any ideas how I can fix this. Your help would be most appreciated, thanks.

Sound Loss
For some reason when I embed a quicktime movie in a flash swf when I publish it I lose the audio track does anybody know why?

Memory Loss
I used to do a lot in Flash, but have never considered myself to be an action script guru. However, the last time I did anything beyond creating motion tweens was in Flash MX, and right after it was released, so it's been a few years. Anyway, I have gotten to the point of not even knowing proper syntax in AS, but if I could find something basic (similar to WebMonkey's html cheat sheet) that would kick my brain back into gear I could catch up fast. Can anyone point me to some primers that would help my brain shake the rust off? I'd appreciate it.

FLV TO 3 GP AUDIO LOSS
Please help me with this one:
Using RHEL4 running fms2. The .FLVs created by FMS play well (include audio as well as video), however, when they are converted to 3gp using ffmpeg, they retain the video but loose the audio.
Any one??? Please??

Loss Of Focus
Hi
Sorry to sound like a div head - but I have a .swf background and I use javascript to open a straight bowser window. This is fine, but when I click the mouse on the .swf (now the background) the browser window looses focus. Is there anyway of keeping the browser window in focus, while being able to interact with .swf file behind?

Here is the code I presently use

button_mc.onPress = function(){
getURL ("javascript:NewWindow=window.open('','newWin','wi dth=800,height=700,left=200,top=100,toolbar=Yes,lo cation=Yes,scrollbars=Yes,status=Yes,resizable=Yes ,fullscreen=No'); NewWindow.focus(); void(0);");
}

Thanks in advance
R

Totally At A Loss.
Been trying to figure out how I can make this little jetplane thingy I made not pass the sides of the screen...

This is my code on the jet.

Code:
onClipEvent(load){
speed = 20;
xb = 20;
yb = 20;
}

onClipEvent(enterFrame){
if(Key.isDown(Key.RIGHT)){
xb += speed;
}else if(Key.isDown(Key.LEFT)){
xb -= speed;
}
if(Key.isDown(Key.DOWN)){
yb += speed;
}else if(Key.isDown(Key.UP)){
yb -= speed;
}
this._x = _x + (xb - _x) / speed;
this._y = _y + (yb - _y) / speed;
}
Now I need to get my borders to stop the jet from moving. The borders are simple lines (line tool, 1px each) along the sides of the stage. Each are called (in instance name, they're each movieclips) bordertop_mc, borderbottom_mc, borderleft_mc, and borderright_mc.

Now, I cant figure out a way that will make the ship stop in its tracks without it going haywire... I understand how hittest works, but I just dont know how to try and make the jet_mc movieclip stop moving completely at collision with a border, and still be able to have it go back in another direction when I press the opposite (say its at borderleft_mc, hit the right key and it'll go right, without it staying stuck on the borderleft_mc)

byeah... I don't know.

Performance Loss
Hi,
I have a strange performance problem, the site I have done performs fast on my PC but when it´s uploaded it performs awfully (like a 60% performance loss). The site it´s uploaded on a free server of tripod.
If I have two browsers one with the local main page opened and one with the web main page opened at the same time, the local file performs great but the web don´t.
Could the banners that they add to the site and the code that they use to display the banners be the cause of that performance lost?

maybe this thread is not very related with AS but I didn´t know were to put it, and since my site uses AS to do almost anything I put it here.

the site url address is:
http://polacofede.tripod.com

thanks,
Polaco

Loss Of Fluidity On Release
I am trying to understand the scripting needed for movie commands. I have used buttons before (i.e. "on (release), "on (rollOver)") but what I want to do is know how it works with movie events. Here are my questions:

1) If on rollover I want the movie to play from frame 2 to frame 20 and stop what would I write for the scripting?
2) Same button, but what would I use for the rollout feature? (I have 21-40 as the same as 1-20 but reversed)
3) Also, how would you write out the scripting if I wanted the same animation as the rollout for the release of the button, without initiating the rollout animation again after I moved my mouse off of the movie?

Is it better to just use a button hit area for what I want? Or do the "onClipEvent" coding?

Thanks a lot
ZogDog

At A Loss, Could You Give Me An Idea?
thank you. i have a site that i am developing http://www.starband.com/sales, username moon, password landing. under the top tool bar, supporting documents, module 5...if you select any of the links to the right (using ie6) they replace my entire browser window with a blank page. i am using colin moocks getURL javascript pop up script. i have used it on other sites with perfect success. do any flash gurus or heavyweights have any idea why this is happening? i would really appreciate any insight.

Button Quality Loss
When I import a transparent image (both GIF and PNG) they look perfectly fine when I test them. However, when I make a button and place these together as a button (up, over down, hilt), the images suffer quality loss. I've explored all my options and I don't know how I can preserve the quality.

RemoveMovieClip Memory Loss?
To learn flash, I'm creating a game.. Collapse.. SameGame.. Ya know, clicking on the like colored blocks makes them go away, object of the game is to make them all go away.

When the screen is created, I do:

code:
blocks[col][row] = _root.attachMovie(bt,bid,bid);

as often as needed, where bt is the blocktype, and bid is a unique number built off of the row and column..

When moving the blocks down, I do:

code:
for (var a=1; a <= dispwidth; a++) {
var t = new Array();
var tc = 1;
for (var i=1; i<= blocks[a].length; i++) {
if (blocks[a][i] != undefined) {
t[tc] = blocks[a][i];
t[tc]._y = fixY(tc);
t[tc].row = tc;
blocks[a][i] = undefined;
tc++;
}
}
blocks[a] = t;
}

This works as expected.. What I'm wondering..
Would flash still have memory allocated to the blocks[col][row] movie clip, although I didn't do a blocks[col][row].removeMovieClip(); ?

(Note: I have tried it with the removeMovieClip() but then, it doesnt act as it should. Acts as though t[] is just a pointer to blocks[] instead of a seperate array)

Loss Of Actionscript On Import
flash mx
I drag a movie clip from the library to the stage of a second fla, It does not bring any actions internal to the clip being imported , neither do the actions refer to levels in the second fla file to which its imported. Do I really have to recreate all the actions even stop(); or is there a neat way of preserving them?

any ideas out there?

thanks norciaman

Loss In Sound Quality
whenever i change the sound clips from event to stream, the quality just goes down the toilet.

is this normal? can anything be done about it?

Loss Of Layer Transparency
I am currently working on a Flash MX 2004 movie, which involves the staged assembly of a number of fireworks PNG images with transparent backgrounds. I have been able to place images on up to 10 layers at frame one of the timeline and these have successfully retained the transparency. However as soon as I add an image to the 11th layer the item in layer 1 becomes hidden. Adding subsequent layers appears to obscure layers 2, 3 and so on.

I have attempted to remove some of the layers from the main timeline and placed them in another graphic symbol thus only retaining a small number of layers within the main movie unfortunately I still end up losing graphics which should be visible.

Can anyone come up with a way of overcoming this problem?

LoadMovie - I'm At A Complete Loss...
my situation: dire
my timeframe: non-existant
my ability: aparrently shattered
my version: Flash MX 2K4

my task: i am creating a projector file for use on CD. this exe file has numerous scenes - some forms - and most importantaly - movie clips in specific scenes.

My problem: at first I thought it was a great idea to jsut embed all the movie files into the exe. Not a bad idea until i realized there would be approx 20-25 30MB+ Files all together. I imported - and now the files it too large to export without getting memory errors (and im running a near new p4 - vaio)

My conclusion: i know now that I should have used loadMovie right off the bat. The problem is I have NO IDEA how it works.

My question: can anyone provide me with a code - or a tutorial as to how this works? Very simple concept... user clicks on a button. buttom opens a nes scene which has some animations (for arguement sake - lets say movie curtins opening) then - i need to call an external movie (call it movie.swf) located in a folder called 'videos' which is located on the root of the disk.

I am at a complete loss - and have zero time to get this done.

Any help will be handsomly rewarded with simles and sighs of relief.

thanks flashers!
RR

Color Loss From SWF To Animated Gif
Hi all,

When I attempt to convert an animated logo from an swf to animated gif, I get a horrendous color loss. I have messed with all of the property settings, adaptive, 256 color, smooth - no luck.

I am close to just putting in some javascript code that will put up the swf file if they have flash installed and leaving the static if they don't. Is there something I am overlooking to get an exact color match or is this too much to ask of a gif animation?

Here is the page with the logo:

http://www.icebuddy.net/

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ursi

Quality Loss When Importing
When I import a file that I have saved with photoshop (as any file format) I loose quality and the pictures look lighter in color. What am I doing wrong?

Kris Murray

Loss Of Number Precision?
Hi,
I have made a simple little thing (for lack of a better word) that draws a golden spiral both with straight lines and in curves. This is not the problem though, my code pretty much works. My problem is, that although both spirals look fine on their own, there seems to be a great loss of precision, mostly, I believe in the curved spiral. Notice that as the spiral progresses, is misses each turning point by more and more each time. Is Flash rounding or something similar?
Thanks, wil try and put more detail shortly

Strange Glitch, I'm At A Loss
All of a sudden, my Flash has gone berserk. Everything in my timeline functions properly, but in preview mode or playing the file nothing works as it should. For instance, an object won't fade to transparent, nor will any object follow a motion guide.

Any clues? I've tried everything I know of without any indication what is wrong.

Error #2048 -- At A Loss
I've got some strange stuff going on. I have a SWF that is hosted on server A. I have a php file on server B that processes forms. My SWF sends form information to server B and expects to get a set of variables returned (form processed successfully or not).

The SWF is built in AS3. The code is written like this:

Code:
// SEND FORM INFO
//-- collect variables
var variables:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
variables.email = txtEmail.text;

//-- set up request for URL
var myRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
myRequest.url = "https://services.processingserver.com/postdata/";
myRequest.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
myRequest.data = variables;

//-- process loader
var myLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
//myLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
try
{
myLoader.load(myRequest);
}
catch (error:ArgumentError)
{
trace("An ArgumentError has occurred.");
txtPrompt.text = "SERVER ARGUMENT ERROR";
}
catch (error:SecurityError)
{
trace("A SecurityError has occurred.");
txtPrompt.text = "SERVER SECURITY ERROR";
}

myLoader.addEventListener(HTTPStatusEvent.HTTP_STATUS,httpStatusHandler);
myLoader.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.IO_ERROR,errorHandler);
myLoader.addEventListener(Event.OPEN, openHandler);
myLoader.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, progressHandler);
myLoader.addEventListener(SecurityErrorEvent.SECURITY_ERROR, securityErrorHandler);
myLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,completeHandler);

....

function securityErrorHandler(e:SecurityErrorEvent):void
{
txtPrompt.text = "SERVER SECURITY ERROR - "+e.text;
}
It works fine when I test it from a local file. However, when I post the form SWF to the live server, it returns an Error #2048, triggered by the securityErrorHandler function.

The remote server has a crossdomain.xml file, and the server that the SWF is posted on has the file too. This is the code in the xml file:

Code:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy
SYSTEM "http://www.adobe.com/xml/dtds/cross-domain-policy.dtd">
<cross-domain-policy>
<allow-access-from domain="*" secure="false"/>
</cross-domain-policy>
I've tried adding this code to the SWF:

Code:
Security.allowDomain("*");
Security.loadPolicyFile("https://services.processingserver.com/crossdomain.xml");
What am I doing wrong?

Best,

--eric

Synch Loss On Pause
Alright, i've done a lot of searching, and found nothing that dealt with my exact problem.

I've got a swf that has streaming wav files that are synched up with the movie. when played straight through, it is synched perfectly. however, when you right-click and stop it while testing, or pause it, and then start to play it again, it is no longer synched up.

The reason this matters is that i'm calling the swf into a controller, and when it's paused and then restarted, the synch is lost. I know it's not the pause function because the problem can be recreated in the swf that's called.

The confusing part is that i have many other files that are set up the same way, but don't have the synch loss.

Flash 8 Color Loss
I have purchased a template for a Flash web site. My problem is that I made a few changes. The test show the screen as I planned it, but when I publush the movie and transfer to the server I lose the bottom half background color. It turns white and makes it hard to see the animation. Any suggestions?

LoadMovie Causes Loss Of Functionality
I have a flash file which utilises colision detection on non-square
shapes. It works fine if loaded up on it's own, but if i load it into
another swf file using loadMovie, the collision detection seems to
ignore the irregular shape and utilises a square bounding box around
it, this messes up the functionality of the loaded swf file. I've put
in 'this._lockroot = true;' but it has no effect.
Anyone know why this is occuring, or what I can do to do fix it?

Thanks.

Loss Of Audio Quality
Some of my users complains that while viewing the live streaming of my application, the audio quality deteroriates over time. The audio tends to sounds jerky for a while and then the audio is completely lost. This happens when the video quality remains constantly acceptable, hence I don't think its a internet connection issue.
I am encoding my audio at 11025Hz and 20kbps. I wonder if anyone has encountered a similar problem or has a solution to this. Thanks!

Multipointing Quality Loss
I have setup two servers and have server to server streams going. When a user publishes a stream a netconnection is opened to the second server and once "NetConnection.Connect.Success" is received the netstream is created and then stream via Stream.get(name) is attached and publish. This works fine, the quality is the same on the second server.

The issue is when the netconnection is lost to the second server, and then reconnected. I setup the netstream the same way as when the netconnection first connected, however the quality after reconnecting is not the same.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? What would some possible causes of quality loss from server to server be? I am using the admin console to sample the streams.

JavaScript Help Memory Loss :-(
I just found out the Chromeless window is dead with IE6 SP1... now I want a regular popup with javascript...just can't remember how to do it... what's the code I have to add to my <a href> tag ??

Thanks

Is There A Loss In Movie Quality When ....
Do you lose quality or processor speed when you load the movie to be played into a parent movie? Like, if the child movie is very processor-demanding would you lose quality just because it is not a single SWF, but an SWF calling another SWF into itself?

Because I have tried this out and the child movie seems to be choppier than when I run it by itself. Also, kind've off the subject, why does flash not detect the same fonts Photoshop does? Is there any way to control what fonts Flash sees?

Thanks you guys! I'm a lurker here but I knew this would be the right place to ask about technical flash stuff.

Horrible Loss Of Quality T_T
Whats wrong? everything was fine as you can see here in the preview mode in Flash MX:
http://free.hostultra.com/~zero25x/image.html
(the lines in the back look a little messed cuz i saved the screenshot in paint, but it looks clearer)

Now look what happens when i upload the SWF:
http://free.hostultra.com/~zero25x/site.html
(also in the preview, the preloaders borders dont look so messed up, but in the uploaded version they do)

Here are the image files im importing into the flash since they were requested:
http://free.hostultra.com/~zero25x/others.html

EDIT: Changed the links, so no more exeeded bandwidth

Edit #2: nvm fixed, u can click em now. gay host >_<

Sudden Quality Loss
Been working on this site for the last three weeks and all was going well when...I preview (as I had done before) and all my JPGs are appearing at medium or low quality.

Now here's the thing: if I right click while previewing, to pull up the contextual menu, and select "High Quality", they go back to looking great. WTF?? It's like I hit some switch that auto publishes images at a lower quality. Is that possible?

Any help much abliged.
gR

Loss Of Quality Of External Swf
hi

I get a loss of Quality of my external swf. When i run the swf file on its own the quality is as it should be, when i load this swf in a mc it losses it's quality what im i doing wrong.

thanks in advance

LoadMovie - Loss Of Functionality
When I'm using loadMovie to import a swf into my main movie the whole functionality in the loaded swf is lost, all that shows is the pictures in the movie.

How can this be? And most important, are there a way around this?

At A Complete Loss..dreamweaver Question
Ok - I know it's not flash related, but perhaps someone can help - I have no idea what is happening.

I've created a navigational structure in fireworks and then exported it as a library item to use in my dreamweaver page. I insert the library item and then add the links (as it doesn't seem to pick up on the links I set in fireworks??) However, even though I've set the links, it doesn't work when I preview it in my browser. I have a background image on the index.htm page and sometimes one of the links will work and takes me into a 2nd page, however, when I click on the back to home page link (which goes to the index.htm - obviously) it goes back, but doesn't display the background image???? However, it displays other images and the navigation, but no background image. This has completed stumped me.....all of my links should be working, I've done this before, however they just aren't working.........

Loading Movie = Loss Of Sound
Hi Flash Gurus,

I have a movie that initializes several sounds on the first frame using actionscript so they can be called later in the movie.

It all works fine stand alone - sounds play when I call them in the movie. However, when I load this movie on level 3 from another movie, the sounds don't work at all.

Here's how I initialize the sounds:

_root.myBeep = new Sound();
_root.myBeep.attachSound("beep");

And then I call them later in the movie like so:

_root.myBeep.start(0,1);

So, again, it all works when i view the movie by itself, but if I load in onto another movie, I don't hear a sound.

I'm using FlashMX but exporting as Flash5.

Thanks for any help!!
[Edited by bread_man on 05-14-2002 at 11:26 AM]