[Solved] swf cuts out before set number of plays - Windows

Flash (SWF)
1

Like the title says, I’ve set an SWF screensaver to play 5 times - on Mac it plays as it should (5 times, then stops), but on Windows it plays almost to the end of the first play, then stops. This is a timeline-based animation.

Any ideas? Thanks.

2

Great question: To handle looping with a SWF, iScreensaver asks the SWF for what frame # it is playing about 10 times per second. If the frame number ever goes down, then iScreensaver assumes that the SWF has started over and that counts as “one loop”.

In most cases this works fine, but there are some cases where this won’t work properly. For example, if there are any internal timeline navigations that jump backwards (or forwards) this can cause confusion.

The fact that it’s behaving differently on Mac vs. Windows is strange. Some ideas:

  • different version of Flash Player installed on Windows?
  • You have JavaScript disabled under IE?
  • You have a Flash security violation, and the settings are different on the two machines?
  • the Mac is faster than the PC, and the SWF is very short (e.g. under a second or two tops). If the looping is very fast, the frame #s may go so quickly that there’s no time to detect the looping properly.

As a general rule, if you need precise control of a SWF timeline, it’s best to have that control be built into the SWF itself so it automatically loops 5 times. Set the SWF to play “Forever” in iScreensaver. Then, the SWF should call the iScreensaver “next” command which will tells the screensaver to go on to the next item in the sequence.

Details here: http://iscreensaver.com/help/flash.shtml

3

Thanks for the quick response. I think it only right that I humbly declare OPERATOR ERROR. It seems I had set my display power settings to shut off after 2 mins (was testing effect on screensaver a few days ago, and never upped the time back to something more reasonable), so my 2 1/m min animation was going to sleep at 2 min - DUH!

So reset that and all is working as it should. Sorry to have taken your time, but your response included some interesting info (the 10 times per sec frame # check) and some things to consider in other situations, so something was gained from the experience.

Case closed on this one, and thanks again.

4

No worries, and thank you for explaining your solution so others may benefit.