Preloader only shows up after 50%

[bboese]

I'm putting together what is essentially a movie gallery and obviously would like to include a basic preloader. I'm working off of the totrail found here (http://www.actionscripts.org/tutorials/beginner/Smooth_PreLoader/index.shtml) .

It all seems pretty straightforward but the preloader doesn't show up until my movie is about 50% loaded. I even tried using the downloadable example from that link and adding my content to it but still had the same result. It's as if flash has to load half of the file before it can start functioning as wanted. Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing this? My movie is at www.akbdesignstudio.com/test/ (http://www.akbdesignstudio.com/test/) if you would like to see what I mean.

I'm using Flash MX 2004 so was working off of that example file and not exactly how the article says to do it in terms of where you place the actions. You can download my source file here (http://www.akbdesignstudio.com/test/preloader_test.fla)

[sophistikat]

frame 1 is 64KB and frame 2 is 62KB... thats why you only see your bar at 50% because the first 50% is your first frame. something weird was going on with your file, so i made a new one and copied your content and changed the preloading script a bit and she works now.

[Flash Gordon]

have you searched the forums for that problem yet?
http://actionscripts.org/forums/showthread.php3?t=74988

[bboese]

Sorry I missed the fix in the forums. Was working on little sleep here. Thanks for the info. I figured it had to be the frame sizes, but after recreating the file several times I figured I was missing something obvious which makes sense. I was using the Export in frame 1 options for my clips. Thanks for the help.

[nathanaaron]

Alright, I think I have a similar problem; and I am new to all this Flash/Actionscript stuff, though I think I've done a really great job of learning it in a really short time. BUT, my problem is this. I've built the preloader mentioned in this thread, and at one TIME, it worked great for me. But, I'm having a problem with it now (don't ask me, whenever I get something fixed, it seems to mess up something else in the file?!) the problem is, if you go to www.nathanaaron.com (http://www.nathanaaron.com) you will see that upon entering, you see a white box, which is where the Flash file SHOULD be, and you should be seeing the preloader, but it's not showing up until the file is finished loading, then the preloader shows for a split second, and on to the file.

I'm NOT sure if the soundfile has anything to do with it, as I have to (for reasons I don't know?) make the soundfile "export in first frame" under linkage. Because if I DON'T do this, the sound file will not load and play. Could they be causing one another problems?

This used to work fine, so that's why I'm pulling my hair out and can't for the life of me figure out what is going on, or what I've done! I'm attaching the FLA file as well, PLEASE help me out! I appreciate it!
testbeta.zip (http://www.nathanaaron.com/testbeta.zip)

[Flash Gordon]

use a sperate preloader then. Most people use that anyway.

[nathanaaron]

Hey Flash Gordon,

Thanks, I think your preloader is great, and was working wonderfully for me before I did WHATEVER it is I did! Perhaps I could use a separate preloader as you say, but could you give me a little more info. into how that works, and what exactly you mean? Thanks! I know you all hate these "newbie" questions, but we really appreciate the help every time!

[Flash Gordon]

but could you give me a little more info. into how that works, and what exactly you mean?I don't follow....? What are you asking. And I'm just as big of a Noob as you....

[oldnewbie]

You can uncheck the "export on the first frame" box (but leave the other one checked...) and drag your sound on a layer on unseen frames between your preloader frames and the actual starting frame of your movie...

Or you can use this seperate preloader only movie, which will load your movie, cleared of your present preloader...

http://odin.prohosting.com/oldnew/preloader/preload.htm

http://odin.prohosting.com/oldnew/preloader/preload.zip

[Flash Gordon]

Oldnewbie, In your preloaders, why do you load seperate swf's into a level and then load them into a container? I have look through your code several times but never really quite understood that. Thanks for the help!