File.Run

[rhosk]

I don't know if this is a bug or what. This is somewhat related to this thread -

http://indigorose.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13684

I resorted to a Flash Projector file. NOW, when the projector runs, there's no sound :huh and only from the project. If I open the projector on its own, the sound is there.

Basic WIN98 box. The File.Run action is in the startup (before anything else loads) with wait set to true.

I know the help guide says that NT 4 will cause problems with AMS' audio engine. Is this related??

Again, everything else in the project runs fine, both flash and ogg files, once the project is open post startup.

Something is not right with the startup sequences and different OS's. I can't get a simple intro to run cross platform at all. It's always somethin' :wow

[Brett]

Are you setting the working folder argument to the folder where the data files are located in the File.Run action?

[rhosk]

Nope, let me try that, thanks. Edit: the sound file is internal of the projector - stand-alone, ie, no data file reliance, but I'll give it a go.



PS, Dialog.SplashFlash - no sound either, so I don't think this will make a diff, but I'll try it. If I execute the swf by itself (that I use for the dialog), sound is there.

[rhosk]

Didn't work. I ran a few troubleshooting tests for you guys.

If any AMS created file is running, then Flash embedded sound doesn't work on a WIN98 box / Flash 7 installed. So, at first I thought that maybe WIN98 won't play more than one sound at a time :o

I had one executable that I thought wasn't loading any ogg's and come to find out, it was loading some default button sounds. So, I removed the ogg's and created/ran again, still no sound in Flash file while this particular app is running. Then, I disabled the Audio Engine (took a shot) under Settings, ran again, still no sound. If I exit the runtime, the flash file plays fine :huh

I realize it's only a WIN98 issue, and at this point, I'm not too worried about it. I mean, it's 2005, how many people left actually have WIN98 on their machine?? Besides, everything else in my project works good and it's fairly large. Now, WIN98-SE and :yes would be a nice test, but I have no way of knowing.

[rhosk]

Found another long discussion here -

http://indigorose.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9143&highlight=disable+engine

Exact same problem, was it ever resolved??

Hmm, seems to be several topics on this, no resolutions. Way back to version 4. Someone said that version 3 worked, but we're probably talkin' flash4 and sound was a totally different monster then.

[Intrigued]

I mean, it's 2005, how many people left actually have WIN98 on their machine??

Ohhhh.... millions still I would educatedly (word?) venture a guess. Now, as for Win 95... I'd say a very limited amount.

I definitely still want to pay attention to Win 98 folks, even if I may share a .dll that does not support such. (go figure).

:wow

[Corey]

Geographically speaking there are areas where almost all Windows users are on 98SE still and vice versa. Here in North America 98 is definitely not common at this point. In some places of the world it's very common because they are using very old computers... So it all comes down to your target audience. :yes

The more relevant question though is always, "how many of the people who are likely to respond to this project in the way you want them to are using 98". In other words let say my autoplay CD is a promotional CD to sell web hosting packages. How many people on 98 are seriously in the market for a web hosting package? Almost none. So really the thing to consider is not how much of your potential end audience is using 98, but rather how many of your (realistically) potential consumers within that demographic are using 98. :yes

A good example would be our web site. I could make it so that it's 100% compatible with Netscape 3.0, but realistically no developers are using that browser to shop for tools online. So even is we missed a hundred visits per year by not making it compatible with NS3.0, (we don't) realistically speaking we wouldn't lose any sales because software developers are almost certainly not shopping for high end development tools exclusively with NS3.0. :yes

[Intrigued]

Here in North America 98 is definitely not common at this point.

I speak from real-world experience as of July (for the part of Pennsylvania I was in) and it definitely was still very much a live and well! Windows 95 machines... well I saw less than 30 in a close to three (3) year period.

But, that's my take from being on the frontline of computer repair... via telephone and in-person (shop).

[Corey]

The trick is to extrapolate those numbers to determine how prevalent those folks are amongst your target consumer group, i.e. if you're selling Mercedes you can pretty much write them off completely...

[Intrigued]

I agree, and that is why I believe many are still using Win 98 across the U.S. for example (and Canada and Mexico and beyound)... do to lower income coming into the household. Along with the fact that many (most?) folks do not live in large cities with large salaries to upgrade at a blink of an eye.

Anywho... just my personal observation(s).

[rhosk]

Love all this conversasheeown....but any solutions out there? This has obviously been a problem for many moons, yet not a single sole from IR wants to even attempt to offer a fix or even an explanation as to why "it" happens.

Yep, gotta work-around once again, but I'm pretty tired of the workarounds, personally. One of the key features in AMS is the "Flash Integration" (and probably one of the big reasons I purchased since 4.0). I am not bashing the program at all, I love it, but you would think that it would integrate a bit more seamlessly. I've had 3 major problems in the past week where Flash won't play nice with this program. I tried to offer all I could with the troubleshooting I performed, but no one wants to step in and give a possible cause to the problem. There are at least 4 threads that I found that deals with this issue, but no answers (it appears the original posters just vacated). And if there are "millions" of 98 users still out there, then you'd think that this should be a wee-bit of a priority. Like you said Corey (paraphrasing), WIN98 (low end computer users) users probably wouldn't be interested in the software, but the go-fast users like us want the program to somehow be downward compatible, right?

My workaround was to remove the sound from the FLA, keep the projector file, and start an audio channel with the same sound(s) while the projector is playing - kinda cheezy, but the same effect. Should I really have to do that? And why the Startup Movie just gets skipped is beyond me. Can't think of a way to troubleshoot that one. It was pretty embarrasing at the initial client showing a couple of weeks ago ("um, supposed to be a 30 sec intro there, it'll be there next time, I'll fix it").

Ah, sorry for the rant, just frustrating.