Macromedia Flash 5 includes new versions of the Flash plugins, ActiveX control, and the standalone Flash Players.
Replace Flash 4 versions of the Flash plugins for Netscape, ActiveX control for Internet Explorer with the new Flash 5 versions to view Flash movies that incorporate Flash 5 features.
Use the standalone Flash Players to create projectors or to play movies outside a browser or ActiveX application. Use a projector when you want to distribute movies to users who don't have Flash or properly configured browsers, or for distributing movies on floppy disks or CD-ROMs. There are no distribution costs or limitations on distributing projectors created with the standalone players.
Included Files:
Describes all files included in the Players folder.
Debugger Feature: Describes
contents of the Debug and Player folders.
Installing Macromedia Flash 5 Players: detailed
instructions for installing the Macromedia Flash 5 Players.
Removing Macromedia Flash 5 Players: detailed instructions
for removing the Macromedia Flash 5 Players.
Troubleshooting: Workarounds for common
errors.
Flash 5 Player Installer - This installs the Netscape Navigator Plugin version of Flash Player for Macintosh Power PC users. The installed plugin will also work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later for Macintosh.
Flash Player - This is the standalone player version of Flash for Power PC Macintosh users. Drag and Drop or use File>Open in the standalone player menu to view movies in the standalone players. To create a projector file for Macintosh Power PC only, open your movie in the standalone player and select Create Projector from the file menu or use the Publish command and select Macintosh Projector.
FlashPla.exe: This is the standalone player version of Flash for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. It is also used by the Publish command to create Windows 95/98/NT/2000 compatible projector files on the Macintosh. Windows projector files can be created inside the Flash editor application by selecting Publish Settings from the File menu and then selecting Windows Projector. Click the Publish button to create the Windows projector.
InstallAXFlash.exe: This file installs the Flash Player for Internet Explorer on Windows95/98/NT/2000. This player is also known as the ActiveX control. To use this file, double click it to start the installation.
Flash32.exe: This file installs the Netscape Navigator Plugin version of the Flash player on Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
FlashPla.exe: This is the standalone player version of Flash for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. It is also used by the Publish command to create Windows 95/98/NT/2000 compatible projector files. Windows projector files can be created inside the Flash editor application by selecting Publish Settings from the File menu and then selecting Windows Projector. Click the Publish button to create the Windows projector.
FlashPla.data, FlashPla.rsrc: These are components of the standalone player version of Flash for Macintosh. It is used by the Publish command on Windows 95/98/NT/2000 to create a Macintosh compatible projector. Macintosh projector files can be created inside the Flash editor application by selecting Publish Settings from the File menu and then selecting Macintosh Projector. Click the Publish button to create the Macintosh projector.
This release supports Flash 2 features only. This version does not support Flash 3, 4 or 5 files or Flash 3, 4 or 5 features. To use Flash Player Java(TM) Edition with Flash 5, select "version Flash 2" in the Flash export or publish dialogs.
There are two additional folders in the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition folder: FlashSmall and FlashApi.
The FlashSmall folder contains
a smaller version of the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition. Sound and bitmap support
have been disabled in this version in order to reduce the size of the applet.
If you don't have any sounds or bitmaps in your movie, consider using the smaller
applet in order to view the Flash movie.
The FlashApi folder contains a package, FlashApi.zip, which developers
can import into their own applets and applications. FlashApi.html contains the
documentation for the api in that package.
A Java Player Template has been included with Flash 5 to use with the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition. Be sure to select Version 2 from the Flash tab of the Publish Settings dialog. The Java Player Template links the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition files level (in the same folder) to your html file. To use the HTML created from the template you need to place the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition files in the same folder as your SWF and HTML files.
Macromedia Flash 5 includes an integrated debugger. By default, the Flash 5
authoring installer installs debug enabled versions of the Flash 5 players for
Netscape and Internet Explorer on your system. The debug versions of these players
are identical to the non-debug versions except for the addition of code to communicate
with the Flash 5 Authoring tool. The players available from Macromedia's website
are the release versions, and are not the debug versions.
Contains installers for release versions of the Flash 5 players. Note that debug, not release, versions of the players are installed on your machine by default.
Contains installers for debug versions of the Flash 5 players. Treat this directory as original source content, and copy files from this directory to the parent folder when you want to use different players.
Contains installers for release versions of the Flash 5 players. Treat this directory as original source content, and copy files from this directory to the parent folder when you want to use different players.
See Macromedia Flash Player Java(tm) Edition for more information.
To turn debugging on and off
in your browser, execute the appropriate player installer from either the Debug
or Release folder after removing your plug-in or ActiveX control and closing
your browser. See Removing Macromedia Flash 5 Players
for detailed information. NOTE: as the debug and release players have the same
version, simply executing the player installer will skip the installation; you
actually need to remove the plug-in or ActiveX control first.
To debug Published projectors, swap the contents of the Debug folder with the
corresponding files in the parent folder. To swap back to the release versions,
copy the contents of the Release folder to the parent folder. Treat the Debug
and Release folders as original source content, and their parent folder as your
working player folder.
To remove the ActiveX Control, do the following:
If after installing the Flash plug-in it does not work, here are a few things to check.
Netscape Navigator 4 Macintosh Users
To re-create your MIME type:
When Netscape runs out of memory, you may see display problems in the plugin or Netscape may hang. Some versions of Netscape install with only 4000K of memory on a Macintosh with the standalone version of the browser (the version that contains the browser without mail). You may also have this problem with the full installation of Netscape.
To increase the memory allocation for Netscape:
Adding the SWF MIME type for Macintosh Internet Explorer users
The movies in Flash Help are Flash movies. They are installed on your local hard drive. To use Internet Explorer 3.0 or 4.0 on a Macintosh to view these movies or any Flash movies stored locally, you must change your Internet Explorer MIME type Preferences.
To add the SWF MIME type to your Internet Explorer browser preferences on a Macintosh:
1 | Launch Internet Explorer. |
2 | Choose Edit > Preferences. |
3 | Under Receiving Files, choose File Helpers. |
4 | Click Add to add the following information: |
Representation: | |
Description: Shockwave Flash
Extension: .SWF MIME type: application/x-shockwave-flash
| |
File Type: | |
Application: Flash (browse to
where your local copy of Flash is located) File Type: SWFL File Creator: MFL2 | |
Handling: | |
How to handle: View with Plugin
Application: Shockwave Flash NP-PPC (Browse to the Plugins folder in your browser directory.) | |
5 | Click OK. |
To view older FutureSplash files, repeat these steps (adding a new File Helper), but in Step 4 Representation, use the Extension of .spl instead of .swf.