|
Macromedia Flash MX Release Notes
This document addresses issues that are not discussed in
the Macromedia Flash MX documentation. This document may
be updated as more information becomes available.
| System requirements
|
Authoring
|
| Windows |
|
Macintosh |
200 MHz Intel Pentium processor
Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows NT4, Windows 2000,
or Windows XP |
|
Macintosh OS 9.1 and higher, or OS X version
10.1 and higher |
| 64 MB of free
available system RAM (128 MB recommended) |
|
64 MB of free
available system RAM (128 MB recommended) |
| 85 MB of available
disk space |
|
85 MB of available
disk space |
| 1024 x 768,
16-bit (thousands of colors) color display or better |
|
1024 x 768,
16-bit (thousands of colors) color display or better |
| CD-ROM drive |
|
CD-ROM drive
|
| |
Playback
|
| Windows |
|
Macintosh |
| Microsoft
Windows 95, 98, Me |
|
Internet
Explorer 4.0 or later
Netscape Navigator 4 or later
Netscape 6.2 or later, with standard install defaults
AOL 7
Opera 6
|
| Microsoft
Windows NT, 2000, XP or later |
|
Internet
Explorer 4.0 or later
Netscape Navigator 4 or later
Netscape 6.2 or later, with standard install defaults
CompuServe 7 (Microsoft Windows 2000 & XP only)
AOL 7
Opera 6 |
| Macintosh OS
8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2 |
|
Netscape
4.5 or later
Netscape 6.2 or later
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
Opera 5 |
| Macintosh OS
X version 10.1 or later |
|
Netscape
6.2 or later
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 or later
Opera 5 |
| Issues for
both Windows and Macintosh |
Player Version
- Flash MX contains the r21 version of
Macromedia Flash Player 6. You should check the Macromedia
Flash Player Download Center for more recent versions
of Flash Player 6 that may have been released. You
may also check the Macromedia
Flash Support Center downloads page for any updated
debug versions of Flash Player 6. For more information
on the content debugger versions of Flash Player 6,
consult the Readme.htm file in the \Players folder
that was installed with Macromedia Flash MX.
|
| Backward
compatibility of Flash MX - You cannot
open a Macromedia Flash MX source file (.FLA) in
Macromedia Flash 5 due to the additional features
in Macromedia Flash MX. However, you can now use
the Save as Flash 5 feature described in the Using
Flash manual to save the document in the Flash 5
.FLA format. When doing this, you will lose any
new Flash MX features you may have added to the
file.
In addition, you may export your Macromedia Flash
MX source file as Flash Player version 2, 3, 4,
or 5 format (.SWF) for deployment purposes.
The best way to copy items from files created in
Flash 5 to files created in Flash MX is to open
the files using Flash MX and then copy and paste
within the Flash MX application. If you paste items
into Flash MX that were copied using the Flash 5
application, certain Flash MX features are not supported,
including:
Library Conflict Resolution
Library Folders
Flash MX Component Data
Flash MX Export Linkage Types
Symbol Source File information
|
| Backward
compatibility of Flash Player 6 - see
the Flash
Player 6 release notes.
|
| Extension
Manager - The Macromedia Extension Manager
version 1.4 is included on the Flash MX CD-ROM in
the Goodies\Macromedia\Extension Manager folder.
You may also download the Extension Manager from
the Macromedia Exchange
for Flash.
|
| Trial
Downloads - Trial downloads of Macromedia
products are available on the Macromedia
Downloads page.
|
| Video
and Sound
Video Codecs - Although Flash MX fully supports
QuickTime and AVI, you may experience issues with
particular codecs.
This is a list of known problematic video codecs
for QuickTime movie files which can crash the Flash
MX application:
| • |
Intel
Indeo Video |
| • |
SoftDV
|
In addition, Macromedia Flash MX cannot import
MPEG video streams through QuickTime.
We recommend the following video codecs when using
QuickTime:
| • |
Uncompressed
video |
| • |
Sorenson
Video 1, 2, and 3 |
| • |
Motion
JPEG A and B |
Sound Codecs - In addition you may experience
problems with some sound codecs. In most cases,
the video import panel will display a warning about
audio tracks using unsupported codecs. The following
sound codecs are not supported:
| • |
IMA 4:1 |
| • |
Some
3rd party video and audio codecs available
for Windows can cause issues like distorted
video or audio, and crashes. This can be the
case, for example, with MPEG2 video codecs
which usually come with DVD playback software.
|
We recommend the following sound codecs when using
QuickTime:
| • |
Uncompressed
audio |
| • |
ALaw
2:1 |
| • |
ADPCM |
Memory - In general, video uses a lot of
memory. You might run out of memory when importing
long video files. We recommend turning off audio
import to save memory since imported audio will
be kept uncompressed in memory.
When importing video on Macintosh OS 9.x, you may
get a warning message about lack of memory. We recommend
using Macintosh OS X or Windows to import these
files.
Like most multimedia development applications,
Flash MX will be able to handle large video or other
media files better if more memory is allocated to
the program. Application performance on the Macintosh
with large media files will be greatly improved
on machines with 256 meg of RAM or higher.
|
| Video
drivers - You may experience some problems
with Flash MX, particularly with some of the drawing
tools, if you do not have the latest video drivers
installed for your video card. Visit your hardware
vendor on the Web to obtain the latest drivers for
your machine.
|
| Network
License Detection and Firewalls - Users
who have firewall software installed may get a firewall
alert upon launching a Macromedia application saying
that the application is attempting to access the
Internet. This alert is caused by Network License
Detection code operating across a local network.
No information is sent to Macromedia during Network
License Detection.
The purpose of Network License Detection is to
prevent a single-user license from being used simultaneously
on multiple computers. Network License Detection
will detect a license violation and prohibit an
additional copy of the application from launching.
Consult the documentation for your firewall software
to determine how to prevent this alert from appearing
upon launch.
|
| Unloading
Movies - When a movie clip that is to
be removed, or one of its components, has an "unload"
movie handler(s), the movie can persist for at most
one frame longer in order to allow the handler(s)
to execute properly. As a result, when a movie is
removed (unloaded) and a movie with the same name
is subsequently created, the new movie may not play
correctly. Therefore, be sure to always rename your
movie before unloading it.
|
| Flash MX
Keyboard Shortcuts - Flash MX keyboard
shortcuts have been re-assigned to be more compatible
with other Macromedia products. You may download
the Flash MX Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference
Card from the Macromedia
Flash Support Center.
|
Reporting
a bug to the Macromedia Flash team
Found a bug? Your first step should be to contact
Macromedia Customer Support. They can help you resolve
issues and they can also log bugs. If you are no longer
eligible for support, please use the Macromedia
Software Feature Request and Bug Report form.
Note: Due to the high volume of e-mail we
receive, we are unable to respond to every request.
Thank you for using Macromedia Flash MX, and for
taking the time to send us your feedback!
|
| Windows-only
issues |
| Installation
You must be logged in as an administrator to install
Flash MX on Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows
NT.
On Windows 2000, some users who are not logged
in as administrator may receive the error "The
InstallShield Engine (iKernel.exe) could not be
launched. Class not registered" when attempting
to install Flash MX. Log in as administrator to
proceed with the installation.
|
| Searching
the Help - On Windows XP, you will need
to install Java in order to use the Search function
in the Help.
|
| Browser
support - Netscape Navigator/Communicator
4.79, Netscape 6.2, Microsoft Internet Explorer
5 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 are supported
and have been tested with this release; however,
we recommend that you use the latest versions of
these browsers for best results.
If you wish to use a different browser than your
system default browser for viewing the product help
system and Publish Preview, do the following:
| 1 |
Locate
your "Browser" folder. The Browser
folder is created automatically when you first
launch Flash MX:
On Windows 2000 and Windows XP, it will
be in
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application
Support\Macromedia\Flash MX\Configuration\
Note: This folder is a hidden folder
by default. To view hidden folders, do the
following in the Windows Explorer:
- Select the folder of interest
- Select Tools > Folder Options...
- Select the View tab
- Under the Hidden Files and Folders section,
select the Show Hidden Files and Folders
radio button.
On Windows NT, it will be in C:\WINNT\Profiles\<username>\Application
Data\Macromedia\Flash MX\Configuration\
On Windows 98 SE and Windows Me, it will
be in
C:\Windows\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash
MX\Configuration\
|
| 2 |
Create
a shortcut in this folder to the browser
you want to use as the default browser for
viewing the product help system and Publish
Preview. |
|
| Macintosh-only
issues |
| Installation
Apple CarbonLib 1.5 or later is required for installation
of Flash MX. If you do not have CarbonLib 1.5, it
will be installed for you; however you will need
to restart your machine after the installation has
completed.
To install Flash MX on OS X, you must have administrative
privileges.
On Macintosh, when installing Flash Player 6 via
the Flash MX installer, the installer will launch
a browser window. This window may obscure the installer
dialog. You must switch back to the installer application
in order to complete the installation.
|
| Memory
Allocation on Mac OS 9.X - The Flash
MX system requirements recommend users run Flash
MX on machines with 128MB of free system RAM. Users
with less than this, such as users with machines
with a total of 128MB of RAM, may experience difficulty
with basic operations in Flash MX. Symptoms of this
may include crashing, insufficent memory errors,
or redraw problems that look similar to poor television
reception. Users experiencing these issues can modify
their environments to allow Flash MX to run properly
by doing one of the following:
| • |
lower
the preferred memory setting of the Flash
MX application to 64MB, or |
| • |
increase
the amount of virtual memory on your machine
to at least 196MB |
|
| OSA Menu
Extension - Mac OS 9 users should update
their OSA Menu Extension to version 1.22. This is
a free update that is compatible with Carbonized
Mac applications. Not updating may result in performance
problems. See www.lazerware.com/software.html
|
| UFS Support
- Flash MX will not support Mac users who
have formatted their hard drives using UFS. Carbon
and Classic have a number of issues with this that
are documented by Apple. Unless you are using native
apps (AKA Cocoa), UFS is not recommended or supported
by Apple.
|
| Launching
Flash MX - On Macintosh OS 9.x, if you
have Flash 5 installed, double-clicking a .FLA file
will launch Flash 5 instead of Flash MX. You can
correct this by rebuilding your Macintosh desktop.
To rebuild your desktop, restart your computer while
holding down the Command and Option keys.
|
| Font Issues
- If you have a corrupt font on your system,
or a typeface for which the printer font is missing
or damaged, you may experience a crash. See TechNote
#15830 for more information and troubleshooting
suggestions.
|
| MP3
Export - Exporting movies on Mac OS X
that contain a sound asset with the following properties:
| • |
export
as MP3 |
| • |
convert
stereo to mono disabled |
| • |
80 kbps
bit rate |
may crash Flash MX when publishing. Selecting a
different bit rate should alleviate the crash.
|
| Problems opening
Windows created files on a Macintosh -
.FLA files created on Windows will not open on Macintosh
OS 9.X when you double-click them. This is due to
differences between the Windows and Macintosh OS 9.X
operating systems.
There are several ways to correct this:
| 1 |
Use the
PC Exchange control panel to map the .FLA
file extension to
Flash. This will allow you to double-click
the file to open it. |
| |
Or |
| 2 |
Open the
file from inside Flash by selecting File >
Open and
choosing All Files rather than All Formats.
The file can be opened
and saved on a Macintosh. It should then open
normally when
double-clicked. |
| |
Or |
| 3 |
Use
a utility such as Drop-Info or ResEdit to
edit the file's Type
and Creator. |
| |
| |
Type |
Creator |
| FLA files (editor) |
SPA<space> |
MFL2 |
| SWF files (player) |
SWFL |
SWF2 |
In the example, <space> represents the
space bar character. |
|
| Browser
support - Netscape Navigator/Communicator
4.79, Netscape 6.2, and Microsoft Internet Explorer
5 are supported and have been tested with this release;
however, we recommend that you use the latest versions
of these browsers for best results.
If you wish to use a different browser than your
system default browser for viewing the product help
system and Publish Preview, do the following:
| 1 |
Create
a folder called "Browser" in the
following location:
On OS X: HardDrive:users:<username>:Library:Application
Support:Macromedia:Flash MX:Configuration:
On OS 9.X: HardDrive:System Folder:Application
Support:Macromedia:Flash MX:Configuration: |
| 2
|
Drag into this folder an alias of the browser
you want to use as the default browser for
viewing the product help system and Publish
Preview. |
NOTE: Mac OS X users - To view the help
system, and to preview Flash movies in a browser
with the Publish Preview feature, please use Internet
Explorer. Netscape 6 is not supported for these
specific tasks.
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