Flash Designers, can you help me?

when I went to the “my server” link all the videos loaded

@applesaucemanny

Yes, it loads perfectly on my server, but not on the client’s, which is the problem. I’m trying to figure out why they don’t load on his server, with the exception of the first (BMW) one. It’s driving me nuts!

I wish I could help you but I can’t sorry :(

@applesaucemanny
Thanks anyway

@rawpixels anytime

I tried stripping out all the javascript on the page and that didn’t make a difference.

Same results. Have you tried comparing the file sizes of the two swf files? Are they the same?

@johnpowell

Yes, both swfs are the exact same size. This is REALLY FRUSTRATING! I had a very happy client and now he’s pissed. It has to be something to do with his web server, because all the same files have been uploaded to his server.

Are the movies external from the swf?

@johnpowell
Yes they are

Maybe the permissions on the files are messed up and the server isn’t allowing the swf to read them.

Check the permissions on the BMW movie and make sure the others match.

@johnpowell
Good idea…let me check

@johnpowell
The permissions are all the same for BMW and the rest. I can’t figure this out. Any other ideas? :)

Are the movies in the same directory? Or do you have the movies in something like /bruce/assets/BMW ?

I am going to assume you have tried uploading the videos again?

Things that comes to mind that may or may not help..

- have you checked the case of all filenames? differences sometimes won’t show up on a windows server but would on a linux server
– are you using relative paths? permissions may not allow you to pull files from your server if it’s designated in the swf
– can you navigate directly to the video file on his server? (bruceshibley.com/corona_movie.flv) does that url match what you’re calling in the swf?

@johnpowell
Yup, all the movies are in the same directory. I have tried uploading them again. It’s funny…when I view the site on Safari, I can open the “window/activity” window and it shows an error when I click on any other video other than the BMW one. It tells me the .f4v file can’t be found, plus another error message I can’t read because my window doesn’t expand enough.

This file for instance is not found…

http://www.bruceshibley.com/Corona.f4v

funkdaddy just posted some good ideas. I would listen to him.

I barely ever use Flash. But nobody else was trying to help.

OK, so his site is running IIS and not Apache. Damn.

What about altering the swf to piont to the movies on your server? It is a shitty hack but the guy wouldn’t notice and he would be happy until you can find a proper solution.

Yeah, I jumped the gun before checking what was actually being called, I thought it was all wrapped up in the swf…

basically the movies being called just aren’t there. Whether it’s in a different directory, just not uploaded, or there as a different name I’m not sure.

@funkdaddy
Great suggestions…thanks! I tried navigating to the video files from a path:

http://www.bruceshibley.com/30BMW_X6_versTV_invgen_newmix ON-AIR 01–06.flv (dialog box popped up and asked if I want to download the file)

Could it be something to do with the file name? For instance, the BMW one has underscores and spaces

Oh god.. Clean up the name. That is probably your problem. try bmw.flv

edit :: obviously you will have to alter the swf file. And I know the BMW file works but the others are probably just as bad or worse.

@johnpowell
The thing is, it’s the BMW one that works, while all the others with clean names don’t. :)

Differences I notice that may not be helpful…

- file extension for the BMW file that works is .flv, the rest are calling for .f4v
– for some reason his server gives a generic 404 page for Corona.f4v… while it gives a custom message for Corona.flv (tried a different file extension just to see if that was the problem) this could mean it doesn’t know how to serve up f4v files for some reason that’s beyond me…
– lots of special characters that aren’t being url encoded, I don’t really think this is the problem, but probably something to eliminate

You might try saving your movies all as flv’s (and clean up file name as @johnpowell suggested, just in case) to see if that works, try it on one first. His server may just have something against f4v files for some reason.

@funkdaddy
Wow, I didn’t even notice the different file names (.flv) (.f4v)

Ok, I’m going to see if I can fix this based on your advice now. Thanks so much

@funkdaddy

You saved me an ulcer! I converted the F4V files to FLV and all is well now. Thanks a lot! I will be sleeping better tonight because of your help.