Problems actually loading a movie on the web

[Fauxpas40]

I feel like an idiot for not being able to figure this out -- more so in that no one else seems to have questions about this.

I have been working in Flash (learning tons of AS) and am now ready to post my game on a site. Got an web-page host lined up, learned how to ftp up to it w/ filezilla and (I thought) smoothly got my Flash document (saved by Flash as an HTML file) up in the site.

Problem is, when I go to look at it, all I get is my document's background color. None of my actions, or even the shapes that I built in Flash (as opposed to AS) are showing up.

My browser plays the movie perfectly on my own machine, its just when I try to load it of the website that I have problems.

What am I missing?

[adninjastrator]

When it "works on the local machine but not the server" it's almost always a pathing issue. That includes the paths used (inside) the Flash file to all it's assets.
From an old post:
Pathing issues

Almost always when it works on the local machine and not the server, it's a pathing problem.
You can put your Flash related files in whatever folders you want, they do not have to be in the root. But if sticking them in there worked, then you know that the issue was a pathing problem.
Just remember that paths become relative to the Web page on which those Flash files are used. So for example, if your .swf is in the flash/data folder and you use that .swf on a Web page in the root, you are in effect, removing that .swf from flash/data and putting it in root. So if the .swf is loading any related files (xml, etc), the path used inside the .swf to the .xml file has to be relative to it's new location in root and back down into flash/data. This is true even though when testing the .swf by itself, it can be inside flash/data and work just fine, since relative to it's location, the path is just fine, they are in the same folder. But if that same path is used when the .swf is placed on a page two folder levels up, the relative path has changed, the old "same folder" path will not work.
So just be sure that you use addresses relative to the final locations and you can put the files wherever you want.
Start by reviewing this and then you can move on..
Best wishes,
Adninjastrator

[Fauxpas40]

I guess I must be unable to track down the files that my fla file (or my http file, depending on how I set my publish settings) is dependent on.

A thought just occurred to me - when I make a Movie Clip symbol in Flash, and export it for Actionscript, is there a file of exported symbols which is kept somewhere separate from the FLA file? If that's the case, I think I've figured out my dependency problem. If that IS the case, where would such a file be kept? I've rummaged around a little in my Adobe CS4 folder and haven't been able to find such a thing.



Thank you for taking time to help with this - I really have tried to help myself 1st but feel at a loss as to where to look.

[Fauxpas40]

Does flash include some tool with which I can look up all my file dependencies?

I am easily posting other files - test files and older attempts at my current program, - I'm just running into problems with posting my big project. With the only one I care about.

What I'm trying to post is Flash's published HTML file and the fla associated with it when I hit publish. I do call TweenLite in there, but I don't think I need to put the entire com folder up, do I? Isn't that taken care of by the publish function?

There are no videos, bitmaps or any non-Flash-generated graphics in the whole project. Help! I'm being driven to distraction!

[adninjastrator]

You can find out a lot of info about the Flash .fla by using Movie Explorer:
Main Menu Window/Movie ExplorerOf course, that has nothing to do with how the .swf is place on the web page.
What I'm trying to post is Flash's published HTML file and the fla associated with it
just a reminder that you do not need to upload the .fla, since that will not display on a Web page. It's the .swf that get uploaded.
Perhaps you could post a link to the actual Web page and get a few more eyes on the problem.
Best wishes,
Adninjastrator

[Fauxpas40]

Thank you thank you Adninjastrator for the Movie Explorer tip.

When I looked into it I found that one of my MovieClip symbols was missing. I had cut and pasted it from an earlier version of my project and all I can think is that Flash, instead of making a new copy of the symbol, had just referenced it in the other file. I deleted the symbol from my .fla and recreated it in the file and viola the game works. I love Flash again!! (Been cursing it the last coupla days.)

I'm proud enough of my progress so far on this project that I'll post a link to it anyway -- it's a game to teach HS/CC chem students how to convert a quantity in any unit to another unit.

phew!!

www convert.net23.net/SymbolRedone.swf

Thanks again!

Fauxpas40