Flash CS4: Movie goes blank while testing

[jacdx5050]

While testing the movie within Flash, the Test Movie window randomly goes blank, showing the stage color. The movie is still running, there's no error, it's just blank. When I resize the Test Movie window, everything reappears... Until a few seconds later, when it snaps back to blank... so I resize, it reappears, it disappears, I resize, it reappears, it disappears... over and over. Resizing even just one pixel is enough to get it to come back. Sometimes it happens every few seconds. It's enough to drive a person nuts.

This might be related to another issue: If I Test Movie with the Bandwidth Profiler on, Flash CS4 doesn't resize the window correctly to fit my entire movie in it, resulting in a big blank space underneath the Bandwidth Profiler, and that same amount of space being cutoff the bottom of my movie. I haven't seen anything like this in 10yrs of Flash development.

This is a Mac Pro, 8-core. The graphics card is ATI Radeon HD XT 2600. 6GB RAM. 10.5.3-10.5.7

The same FLA works without any issues on CS4/XP. The FLA saved to CS3 works without any issues on CS3/OSX and CS3/XP (same machine).

I have all but given up on CS4 for OSX. Between the crappy framerates, the crashing, and not being able to TEST MOVIE, I just avoid CS4 on OSX and use CS3 on OSX or CS4 on XP.

[pyrografix]

It happens quite a bit more frequently when using the DisplacementMap Filter.

Although all those filters are pretty intense Bitmap filters.

Wouldn't a simple fix be to replace the IDE's Flash player with the one that the browsers are using? It's pretty intolerable, and I can debug my applications in the browser as easy as the IDE.

[pyrografix]

Are we going to have to wait until CS5 for a fix? Or can we expect to see an update?

All of our interaction designers are on these machines, and all of them are using CS4. CS4 is pretty much unusable at this point for us. All of us experience the same crap.

[Guest]

I HAVE A FIX!!!

OK this is really weird but I think I've solved it.  When using pre-built Adobe video skins as your user interface on a secure network -- security issues arise.  Apparently these swfs aren't smart enough to know the domain in which they are located.  So I've edited the Adobe source skins. 

Anyway, these files are now working on my computer, and Flash 10 isn't choking on the video. 

You can find the FLA skins in

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS4\Common\Configuration\FLVPlayback Skins\FLA\ActionScript 3.0

Open the one you usually use and save it as a different name.  I used this one SkinUnderPlayStopSeekFullVol.fla and named it DORSkinUnderPlayStopSeekFullVol.fla.

Add this small bit of action script at the top. 

Security.allowDomain ("*");

Security.loadPolicyFile ("http://www.yourwebsites.com/crossdomain.xml"); 

Publish the file and grab the swf and place it in this folder: 

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS4\Common\Configuration\FLVPlayback Skins\ActionScript 3.0

Try making your movie with this swf instead.  This worked for me... good luck.

For more info on cross domains check the Adobe security links... but it's pretty brutal.  

Good luck. 

AC Sweeney

Interactive Media Developer

[Antifuzz]

Hi Alan,

I'm glad to hear you've fixed your problem but it sounds to me like the bug you were getting is not the same as the one the rest of us have been talking about in this thread. Yours is a hard crash when using the video playback, whereas this issue doesn't cause a crash, just the Test Movie window to go blank.

[pyrografix]

Can somebody at Adobe please reflag this post. It is not "Possibly Answered" at all. We need a fix really badly, and I would like this bug to be on the radar as "Critical" or "Not answered."

I am about to suggest to the rest of my team to go back to using CS3.  I'm REALLY close to blogging about moving back to CS3 to the rest of the world.

We can tell just how much the Flash team was rushed to get the application out the door By Adobe. (We LOVE you flash team! BUT Adobe, you need to get on the ball.)

It was definitely too buggy to be released.

[pyrografix]

Adobe please fix this.

It seems like it's getting worse. The more I use bitmapData...(which is pretty frequent) the more this problem occurs. Why can't an update be sent out to address this IDE player? I would rather forgo the damn debug player just to be able to preview when I test. I feel like we are being left by the wayside.

It's not like bitmapData or testing in the IDE is something we can avoid. We paid for this software and we expect it to be working.

I can't imagine selling such a buggy piece of software, let alone, a suite of software to any one of my clients. Our whole agency bought this crap. Why do you feel you have "creative license" to do so? It is not a "shortcut to brilliant."

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

[oldschoolmx]

I agree 100% with pyrografix

Adobe please fix this, now! It's been a whole YEAR or longer!!!

It's simply not fathomable to me that this hasn't been resolved.

A central core feature is broken here!!!

I also would NEVER EVER sell a buggy piece of software, let alone, a suite of software to any one of my clients. Our whole agency bought this crap. Why do you feel you have "creative license" to do so? It is not a "shortcut to brilliant."

You should be ashamed of yourselves.  I AGREE. It's a morally and professionally repugnant! There is no excuse.

[Mikkel Bech]

This bug is getting very annoying! I've had the same issue as everyone else: blank screen in preview very often

Mac 8-core 2,26 Nehalem

Adobe, fix it!!!!

[Antifuzz]

Jen... can we have an update if you're reading this? I know you've all been very busy lately with Max and the CS5 beta etc etc, but any progress reports on this would be gratefully received.

[RichGalvan]

Let me see if I can provide an update to this issue.

As Jen already posted we have submitted the bug to the Flash player team and we are working with them to try and get a fix in. The fix should already be in the build that they are currently working on, which is what they have been doing all this time; however this does not help all of you because its based on FlashPlayer 10.1 not 10. So, we do have a fix. The problem is getting the fix in to the older player version so that we can release an authplay (the standalone player that is used in the authoring tool). When we get the fix in, we could then make the file available so that you can manually replace the version you have.

I am will keep asking the player team about this fix and post an update when I get more information.

Richard Galvan

Product Manager, Flash Professional.

[oldschoolmx]

Richard, Jen,

Thanks for your efforts on our behalf and for the update. This is a major issue for many of us. A resolution would be a HUGE relief.

[fuzzycat007]

Richard or Jenn,

Can you post a synopsis of why this happens, please?  Are there any other solutions than waiting for a software update? I have had many crashes with Flash CS4...but now have this wierd blank screen issue in one of 25  fla modules, and have spent hours($$ to me) of trouble shooting to determine what might be the element causing it. Following this thread from it's source, it seems to happen on many configs of HD or file. It happens in Flash 10.0.2., the compiled swf whether on PC with XP, or 64 bit PC with 64bit Vista, all of a sudden when nothing has changed on screen.

I cannot say to one of my engineer clients, " Sorry, you cannot see that step of the procedure...you and I are not going crazy, it's a BUG!  They will not be very sympathetic."  And I can't charge them for lost time! 

Thanks.

Catherine

[pyrografix]

No this is a bug in the Flash IDE. It has no effect on what your client should see.

It sounds like you may be experiencing a different bug...

[jendehaan]

Hi Catherine,

This bug does not affect SWF files outside of test movie, and does not crash the machine, so it does not sound like what you're running into (if that's indeed the case). The issue described here is where test movie (Ctrl+Enter) goes blank. If you publish your SWF to the browser players (test movie in HTML), it runs fine.  So you should be able to deliver work to clients.

The cause is something to do with creating bitmaps using code (common in the tween classes), and in extreme cases, bitmaps with transparency on Stage. These bitmaps also need tweening or interaction involved to see the bug. FLA files with those elements involved seem to be affected.

As for OS, we have never internally seen the bug on a Windows machine. Some users in this thread have said they've seen it there, but we've never received a file from those users to reproduce and the files we have received from Mac users haven't reproed the bug on our Windows boxes. I can't say for sure it's Mac only, but so far we've only seen it on a Mac.

If you have a file you can send us I can take a look. (attach ZIP with FLA to forums, or email to jdh (at) adobe.)

Thanks,

Jen.

[fuzzycat007]

OK, thanks, you are right, sorry to add to the mess...but it did help to have a short description:) It's a file with long voiceover so the fla is large, I was suspecting some corrupted file...but everything I try, still results in this blank screen. I've been using Flash since V4 ...not come across this issue before.  I will get off this thread and communicate offline.

Catherine

[VelinD]

Any updates available on this problem?

Has anyone found out exactly what causes the problem to occur? - It is extremely limiting to my workflow on the projects where it occurs.

I am on a Mac Pro 3,1 (8-core), 16GB Ram, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, OS X 10.5.8, Flash CS4 + all updates (doesn't work without the updates either), Flash Player 10.1 preview.

I tried installing different player versions, and now running the new flash player 10.1 to see if that might better the problem, but it did not.

If this is in fact a player issue as suggested by Adobe, then I find it very odd that my Macbook Pro 3,1, which runs the exact same software + flash player 10.1 as my Mac Pro, can test the same movies without a hitch, ever.

[jokerStarr]

Up until recently I have not experienced the blank (white) screen bug when testing a movie within Flash CS4. However, since upgrading my machine to a new iMac i7 I now have this happen to me 100% of the time on the project I'm currently working on.

A short-term fix I have found to work to resize the test window (assuming the swf has not been locked-in as a tab). This will redraw the contents of the stage and seems to fix the problem, albeit temporarily.

I find it rather disconcerting that the problem has gone on this long, but I'm sure Adobe has heard enough bitching from others... so here's hoping it gets resolved soon  🙂

[Guest]

I am a Flash/Flex developer for a top interactive agency and I work on the best hardware available. Over the past 7 months since I first tracked this issue down I have become somewhat disenchanted with the tool I use most often here - Flash - and have been devoting more time to researching other technologies.

[jendehaan]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to thank all of the users that have helped us with files to reproduce the issue internally, and as such we now have a hotfix that addresses this problem in the player.

Please head to this page to download and install the hotfix installer:

http://www.adobe.com/support/flash/downloads.html

or directly:

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flash/updates/10_0_3/Flash_10_0_3_AdobeUpdate.dmg

Again, thank you. And sorry that this error had to be experienced in the first place.

Thanks,

Jen.

[Antifuzz]

Thanks again for your help in getting this fixed Jen. I've been using the fix for several weeks and haven't had any issues with it.

Enjoy your Christmas break!

[rob_bateman]

Hey Jen

this is really, really great news! I've downloaded the patch and everything

seems to be working fine, i've not had the problem reoccur. Good to see too

that Adobe are taking their time over the public beta release of CS5 - lets

hope this signifies a shift to producing quality over quantity with future

Flash releases!

atb

Rob

[fuzzycat007]

Yes, thank you, Jen.

I met the Flash team at MAX and they are great people...it must be the economy

< lets hope this signifies a shift to producing quality over quantity with future Flash releases!> I AGREE 100%

I have been sooo frustrated with CS4. Please take longer to test Flash CS5...as a Flash animator/developer since V4 who uses it every day in complex technical training, in addition to all the Adobe video/sound/drawing tools, I have a long list of requests...where can I send them? How can I get on the testing feedback list?

Catherine

[johnd59898678]

Thanks! Installing now.

[BinaryDi]

I heard that apple issued a fix for the problem

[pyrografix]

That is an unrelated issue.

We were experiencing issues with the Flash IDE. When you go to test your movie, you will see a flicker with the player itself. Then it will go blank to the stage color.

They have issued an update to Flash to address this issue.