Captivate 7 HTML5 "Loading..." error in Internet Explorer 11

[AJibb]

We have moved into creating HTML5 Captivate projects which include MP4 video on certain slides.  Once published and uploaded to our server, the slides with video will occasionally and randomly (this will not happen all the time) “hang” up with a greyed-out  “Loading…” screen overtop.  This essentially freezes the unit and you can’t continue.  This only seems to be happening in Internet Explorer.

Does anyone have any idea on how to fix this? I am using Captivate 7.

I have worked through other bugs that were happening in both Chrome and Firefox, but this one still lingers in Explorer.

[Pidd]

Do the video file names contain umlauts or other non-ASCII characters? If so, try renaming them. You don't have to re-import them, just rename them in the project's library.

[AJibb]

Nothing too exotic. There are spaces, brackets and underscores, though.  I'll try replacing the spaces, though, because I know browsers often change them to "%20..."

Edit:  Just tried this, and it didn't make a difference.

[RodWard]

get rid of the brackets too. underscores should be fine.

however i strongly suspect your main issue is simply insufficient bandwidth to support your video files.

[AJibb]

I should probably clarify somewhat - on the slides where it hangs, the video does actually come up and play.  All the way through.  The "Loading..." screen just appears overtop of it, and then you can't click on any of the buttons or navigation.   It just sits there and spins.  If you refresh the page, everything works fine.

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

The "loading" animation indicates the video is buffering and that's usually a sign that your current end user bandwidth isn't high enough to sustain the video's encoded playback bitrate. 

In other words, if the video is encoded at 300 kilobits per second playback, and your actual internet bandwidth at the receiving computer is not at least 300 kilobits or greater, then unless you are using a preloader, you will find at some point the video will buffer.  The preloader percentage helps overcome the shortfall to some extent.  If the video still stops partway and buffers, then you either need to increase your bandwidth or increase your preloader percentage.

There are some other variables, but these are the main ones.

[AJibb]

Thanks, Rod.  I think you are right.  This would explain why it doesn't happen all the time, and when it does happen, it works when I refresh the screen.

[pcummins72]

We're having the same issue.  In our case, it appears to be localized to Internet Explorer 11.  We've tested our courses on Chrome (PC, iOS, and Android devices), Safari, and other browsers, and the videos load fine.  We even have a machine that still has Internet Explorer 7, the videos played fine on that machine, without the gray "loading" overlay.

[MrTibb]

Yeah, I never did find a way to fix it.  The client never complained of it happening on their end, so I just left it at that.

On further projects, I've been able to use the dual Flash/HTML5 output option, so most of the time the project is loaded up on the end user's machine as Flash - avoiding the problem.

[pcummins72]

Sorry, that should be IE9, not IE7.  The videos played fine in IE9.

[Rares Neamtiu]

Hey guys, so here is what I found out - if you leave like 0.5 seconds empty in front of the video (drag the video 0.5 seconds, don't let it start from the beginning of the slide), it won't show the grey loading on IE.

This in combination with the answer from RodWard will solve your issues.

[MrTibb]

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[msco]

So I'm having this issue too, also only in IE 11 - videos continue playback uninterrupted but the loading overlay still comes up. I'm using videos spread across multiple slides, my compression is set for a pretty low target bitrate (.5 Mbps), using a pre-loader at 100% and I'm pretty sure it's not an actual buffering problem but this IE 11 bug (loads fine on other browsers and for people in multiple different locations). I've also tried adding .5 sec at the head of each slide where a new video starts but that hasn't solved it.

Rod, any chance you could expand on what those other variables might be? It's not the connection speed, video bitrate, or pre-loader % for me.

I should also mention the project was built with the latest version of Captivate 9 and this is HTML5 output.

[RodWard]

If it's an incompatibility specific to one browser version then it could be related to the video CODEC (compressor/decompressor) being used by that browser.

I suggest you log a bug with Adobe while trying other things.

E.g. Try reformatting your videos by munching them through the Adobe Media Encoder to see if that makes them more compatible.  Try cutting the video in half to see if the sheer size of the video makes any difference.  Check that the frame rate of your project is set to the same frame rate as the video (e.g. 30 frames per second).  Test your content with lots of other users that are on IE11 before you conclude that EVERYONE with IE11 has this problem.  There could be something wrong with YOUR installation of the browser and nobody else's.

[msco]

Thanks very much for the reply Rod. I've been using AME as my compression platform, standard h264 in an mp4 wrapper, frame rates are 30 from After Effects, renders, and in Captivate. File sizes are down to 5mb - 20mb and it plays back flawlessly throttled down to a 1000 kbs connection with Chrome Dev tools, so I don't think it's actual file size. I've duplicated the problem on 2 machines with IE 11 but haven't done a broader test yet.

I'll go ahead and log the bug with Adobe while trying to get more IE 11 users to test.

[RodWard]

Does IE11 play a smaller version of the video OK?  E.g. have you tried playing just a short one minute clip of the same video in IE11 and see if it works fine?

[sharonh73592510]

Hello,

This status of this post is set to "Answered". I am having exactly the same issue 2 years on, with Adobe Captivate 2019 using Chrome and IE, scorm published to both Cornerstone and Cloud.Scorm. Can you tell me what the final solution was please?

[RodWard]

There can be several reasons why you might see a loading animation.  The solution for someone else's problem might not resolve your own.

You will need to give us more information.

[krob_delta]

Count me in too. I've got a client who is reporting this same problem with an HTML5-published SCORM Captivate (2017) course we put together. Videos play normally and completely, but with the gray overlay and "Loading..." text that effectively locks out navigation.

I'm trying to get more info from the client, as I am unable to replicate the problem on our computers/network.

In my case, Preloader is checked (using the default animation) and the percentage is set to 25%. As the video actually plays to completion, it doesn't seem to be an issue with bandwidth or codec, but rather a bug of some kind that is preventing Captivate from removing the overlay when the video has buffered the specified amount.

[ChrisRR]

Just a heads up.

I contacted Adobe support about this issue as well. I'm using Captivate 9, publishing in HTML5 and am only having this issue with IE11. I've tried all of the solutions proposed in this thread to no avail. Support informed me it is a known bug and they are working with Microsoft to fix it. There are currently no workarounds or any ETA. Since this has been an issue for 4 years though, I don't have my hopes very high.

[jim_noswim]

To anyone interested.. have found a way to "hide" the grey loading issue.

1. Click on slide with video
2. Click off stage
3. Click > Properties > Actions > "On Enter" Execute JavaScript
4. Click Script_Window > copy/paste text below and click OK.

var x = document.getElementById("blockUserInteraction");
setInterval(function(){x.style.display = "none";},1000);

5. Do this for every slide with video.