Lag Between Slides in a Quiz Project

[christelb82377146]

I'm using Captivate 2019, build 11.5.5.553. Please excuse the length of this post as I've gotten no help from Adobe and my course has a deadline of 4/19 - which I'll never meet as I still have 12 projects to complete and then the entire course has to be Q/A'd.

Over the last month, I have successfully created 8 projects from a Captivate template I created that includes quiz slides and interactive slides. These projects are all Branch Aware, have two Groups, and have On Sucess = Jump to Slide xxx configured.

If the learner does not click the appropriate item on an interactive slide, a slide informing the learner of the answer is displayed. If they respond correctly, the slide jumps to the next interactive slide. So, On Success = Jump to Slide xxx; on Last Attempt = Go to the next slide. The projects are anywhere from 48 to 98 slides long.

Starting a week and a half ago, using the same template, all projects I create end up with a very long lag between slides (think 10-20 seconds - I have shortened the slides to 1 second but that made no difference). This lag shows in HTML5 Preview and when packaged and published to an LMS. I contacted Adobe support and what a joke. They said: "... it is always advised to use the File > New Blank Project and then to insert the template within the project that you want to use or publish." I responded asking if they were actually saying I shouldn't use the functionality of Captivate (New Project > Project from Template) and they confirmed. So that was my first WTF moment. (Excuse my French but I am beyond frustrated.)

But in the spirit of cooperation, I followed their instructions (sort of since I don't know where you can "insert the template within the project"). Still the same issue. I have done a complete uninstall/reinstall of Captivate; I've created a new template: I've tried using a blank project and copying my assets from my template; I've cleared my cache, cookies, and anything else I can think of. All with the same result; and, it appears that I don't even need a Group to set off the issue now.

Here's what I've determined so far:

• If Branch Aware is enabled (whether there are Groups defined or not) and I have Jump to Slide XXX configured, the lag happens.
• If Branch Aware is not enabled, the lag disappears.
• If  Branch Aware is enabled and Jump to Slide XXX is not configured, the lag disappears.

Does anyone have any troubleshooting suggestions they can provide (other than switching to Articulate)?

Thanks. ~Christel

[Lilybiri]

I try to understand what you wrote, which is not easy. Since many years I try to convince CP developers NOT to use the old template workflow (wiht the cptl file) anymore because there are serious bugs, especially when using variables and advanced/shared actions in the template file. I don't know if you have them, but apparently you are using a cptl file.  Concerning to keep a consistent design, the majority of the necessary features can be in a custom THEME. Themes appeared with version 6 and that is quite a time ago.

I suspect that what the Adobe Help tried to explain is that you need to use a Theme in a non-resposnive (Blank) project. You cannot apply a template to a project, that is  b....

Branch aware can cause slowing down, but I never really experienced it the way you describe here. Do you need it really? The navigation is also not clear to me, would like to hear more about it: is the slide you are jumping to On Success far away from the 'quiz' slide?  You talk about a quiz project, but it feels like you are not only talking about regular quiz slides, or am I wrong? 

[christelb82377146]

Thanks for your response, Lilybiri. I'll try to explain.

Each member of my team creates close to 7 projects per day (we are a software company that provides eLearning content along with our LMS). We need a template to maintain consistency in the Master Slides and Preferences dialog box so that no settings are missed or used incorrectly. To have to reconfigure all those settings for each project is not sustainable for us. I know you cannot apply a template to a project; that's why we use the functionality of Captivate to create a project based on a template (which was working until two-three weeks ago).

Having said that, we have discovered that the issue occurs whether a template is used or not. Exactly the same result when using a blank project as when using a template.

Yes, we have advanced actions. The slide that jumps to On Success is one slide away from the original slide - so not far at all. We combine quiz slides with user interactions for quizzing/knowledge check projects.

If consultants are advising against using a basic functionality of Captivate, what is the point of even using Captivate? There are more stable applications available. The only reason we use Captivate is we have a lot of time invested in learning and customizing it. But, at this point, we may have no choice but to move to Articulate 360.

Christel

[RodWard]

If this issue is occuring even on a new Blank project, then that would seem to indicate it is something related to the Captivate environment or current installation setup.

You mention that you have customised Captivate.  It's possible that some change you have made to the app is causing this issue.  Can you be more specific about your "customisations"?  

Also, you mention that you are working with a large team of developers and this problem at a specific moment some weeks ago and seems to be affecting everyone the same.  That would suggest to me that some browser update or change to your operating system infrastructure has caused the problem.  If you had not made changes to Captivate or to your template at that same moment, then the change was somewhere else and the impact you are seeing (and blaming on Captivate) may be due to that change.

If you believe simply moving to Articulate is going to solve all your problems, you are mistaken.  Every authoring tool has its own set of quirks and limitations.  But that's your call.

[christelb82377146]

Thanks for responding, Rod.

When I mentioned "customizations," I didn't mean the application itself; just the customized templates and themes.

And, based on further testing on my part (not Adobe's), it does appear to be an OS/Captivate issue.

And, yes, I agree. All authoring tools (indeed, all software) have their share of quirks and limitations. While I find the level of "quirks" inherent in Captivate to be unusually high, that, in itself, would not be the reason for moving to Articulate. The reason to move to Articulate is customer support. Adobe's customer support is non-existent. For a support person to say to me not to use a basic function of an application to resolve my problem, and then close the ticket as resolved (which they did initially) is beyond irresponsible.

[Lilybiri]

Sorry, but I still have no real answer to my questions.

I agree that your experiences with Adobe Help are not an example of good customer care, and feel very sad about that. But  - similar to Rod - I am just a user trying to help other Captivate users.

Success with Artciulate. Personally I find it much too limited, but it is your call.

[FifthThirdWheat]

Hello,

Just wondering if there was evern any resolution to this issue.  I belive I have a very similar setup in terms of the programming of my project and I am experiencing very similar issues.  Thanks!

Tim

[christelb82377146]

No resolution whatsoever. I've had a ticket open with Adobe since April and every time I ask for status, I'm told it's with the "engineering team." Apparently, this problem has been going on since 2017 so I am not hopeful anything will be done. Incredibly frustrated at the lack of "support" from Adobe Support.

[FifthThirdWheat]

I can imagine.  Were you ever able to find a work around for this, or are you all just dealing with the lag?  

[christelb82377146]

Unfortunately, no. On some projects it works; on others it doesn't. And I've not been able to find the commonality to those that don't work, or vice versa. In cases where I can't get it to work, I have to re-design my quizzes to avoid a branching scenario.